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Introduction

GCSE Drama: Portfolio of Evidence. Paper 1 Unit 1 Refugees - Task 1: Response Phase - Mike Wells 11AM We were initially given two texts to progress from. The first, a photograph of a female Jewish refugee in 1938 arriving in Britain. There were no captions or headings, just the photo itself. At the outset, we were very interested in what we were expected to do as the text was very stimulating. We then had to create a background, something of a history for our Jewish girl, and produce a fact file. We decided on an age of just 16 and we thought it would be very rewarding if we added the idea of her witnessing her mother's death and believed that we could produce some great ideas and develop dramatic techniques of an emotional standard never before practised in our course. We had to choose between either an emotional scar or a valuable piece of information stored in her head and decided on the first one. We thought that if we had her see her mother being shot at just the age of 9 we could take these ideas further in our work. We were instructed to create a prized possession for the girl and we thought that the idea of a photograph of both of her parents together would be an interesting prospect and would have an excessive amount of sentimental value to her. ...read more.

Middle

The mother then escapes but the filthy Nazis get her and place the gun to her head. The soldier didn't move and Marisa covered her eyes up. The mother was screaming things at her daughter telling her to go and it was just like the tableau but with sound. This position remained for about six seconds until the two soldiers looked at each other and laughed and pulled the trigger. This marked the moment well as it built up tension. I thought the idea of a German accent would create realism and make it more horrific for the audience. It worked well. The way the Germans called the mother a bitch and a bint etc created an image for themselves. Scary, filthy and horrible. The second scene was one where Marisa arrived in Britain. In one corner was an innocent friendly looking man calling out names of refugees. Marisa is pacing what is supposed to be a railway station and there are two other men bumping into her as though she didn't exist. This created a perfect mood, where Marisa felt unwanted, alone and extremely scared. The remaining character is a tramp sitting at the side of the stage. He is begging for change and food and for a few moments, Marisa notices him and looks deep in his eyes. This lasts for about six or seven seconds and this is where we marked the moment. ...read more.

Conclusion

To emphasise Choman's feeling of being 'in the middle' and the pressure on her, she is seated in between her two parents facing the audience. Her father says that she will not be spending as much time with her 'new friends' as she would like to because he believes that they will get her in trouble in the long run. Besides, drinking is against their religion. We marked the moment by after about a minute of Choman being ordered around by her parents she storms out of the room. Her parents' facial expressions tell the story alone. It is blatantly obvious that this behaviour is highly unlike Choman and the influence of her new friends has changed her significantly. We marked the moment with sheer silence as the two parents are speechless with shock. The difference between the two texts except for the format was the idea of creating a history and a story already being set out ready for you. Our knowledge of a Polish refugee in 1938 was far superior to that of a modern day Kurdish refugee. This may have allowed us to produce work of a higher quality and avoid stereotypes as much as possible because when there is limited knowledge in a certain area of work, the results will be similar but when the students know about the subject already, the ideas may vary somewhat and develop more successfully. ?? ?? ?? ?? ...read more.

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