In our workshop on Blood Brothers we used many of the explorative strategies in order to help us understand how the characters were feeling at different times during the play.

We used thought tracking in our workshop. Throughout the scene we would stop and create a still image a number of times, then one or more of the characters would improvise and say what was going through their mind at that time. We did this in the scene where Edward came back from University. This was good because the characters feelings to each other had changed drastically and they both had completely opposite views of each other. Edward can’t wait to see Mickey again and expects to get a big warm welcome home but is shocked to find that Mickey had lost his job and couldn’t care less if he was there or not. Again, this helped us in making our physicality reflect the character’s feelings. It also helped us to know how we should react to the other people in the scene, whether we should be angry, happy, pleased to see them etc. In this scene Edward acts very openly towards Mickey but Mickey turns away from Edward and closes himself off from him. In the drug scene, I found whilst playing Mickey that thought tracking really helped me to understand how desperately he wanted his drugs and how he would do almost anything to get them back. He gets angry very easily with Linda and he is both physically and vocally very edgy and agitated.

We used forum theatre during the scenes, anyone in the audience can go onto the stage and replace any of the characters if they thought they could improve or change the way that person was being played. This helped in many ways. We learned from each other how to play a certain character in a different, maybe better, way than we usually do. Also it helped to see where we were going wrong in various places.

We did an exercise to help us with the drug scene. We all imagined that we were in Mickey’s position and our drugs had been taken. We had to imagine that they could be anywhere in the room and we had to find them. By the end of the exercise the room was in a huge mess. I think that it helped everyone understand what it would be like to be in that situation. This helped a lot with our workshop because knew that we really had to show our desperation when playing Mickey.

        Another useful strategy was ‘marking the moment’. A number of people in the group would read through the scene. Whenever the pace changed or the group thought it should change, the rest of the group would react by clapping. This helped especially in the scene where Mickey returns. I noticed that the tension in the scene started low as Mickey and Eddie talk slowly together. Then the pace is picked up as Mickey begins to get more frustrated and the conversation turns into an argument. Then Eddie, who is insulted, slows back down again before exiting.