Teechers - John Goodber. Our play is a social comedy called Teechers and is all played by just 4 characters

For this play I did much research, both in school and out about different subjects to do with the play. My first act was to study all the different teachers of the  school, I hoped this would help me into understanding my role as Mr Nixon more. I mainly looked at their body language, such as their stance when they in a walking or standing position and also their posture. When they spoke I considered their tone and also when they raise their voice and at what type of situations they do this in. Other than researching on things to do with my role, I also researched such things as when it was written and also the author, I did this to develop my knowledge of the play I would perform.  Firstly I researched the author; John Goodber, i did this so i could know more about his views and why he believed them. To help towards this i also looked at the time it was written and saw that comprehensive school such as the one in the play, had very bad conditions and many believed that all deserve a good education, no matter their social status. This all affected my character as Mr Nixon shares these views, so in order for me to get the audience to understand them, I had to.

For our group rehearsals we often used different techniques, this way it helped us learn more about the play and the roles we have undertaken rather than just learning the lines we had been given. One of the few strategies we used was hot seating. This is where a member of your group is given questions but they must play their character. This helps us create our character more as we gradually build them up more as we answer more. I think this technique helps us connect more with our roles as we start to have more understanding of them, this is helpful in drama as if you do not know your character, and you may play him/her in a wrong manner. Another technique used was improvisation; this can be difficult at times as you have to improvise a piece but involving your characters. Yet again this is a rehearsal strategy that helps you to connect with your role and identify it.  To aid us in learning lines and cues, we often did ‘line run’. This helped us remember our lines as we had to keep repeating them, and gradually learning them off by heart. By doing this, we also decided on our cues and any gaps we may have in between different speeches. The play was then made alot smoother as we all knew when to come in.