However, I still believe that our piece was successful in meeting the criteria of a Creative Adaptation, and also in keeping to our dramatic intentions to create an eerie atmosphere and to make the audience feel uncomfortable. Our physical theatrical techniques used were greatly praised when we performed to our peers, who gave us feedback which was so positive towards our stylised movements that we felt it was a good idea to repeat this dance throughout the piece, and show a breakdown of the characters’ emotions. We felt this worked particularly well as the audience could recognise the same dance that they had previously seen at the beginning of the play, but to see it performed in a more vigorous light allowed them to understand further that relationships in the play were deteriorating.
I felt that our piece was particularly eerie for the audience due to the fact that we made sure none of our characters were ever off stage. Even if they weren’t part a scene we would have them standing at the corner of the stage, either watching on, or with their backs turned. This added to the idea of being watched constantly, making the audience feel uncomfortable and potentially scared by our characters, wondering why they were there. We also did this to reflect how the character of Ms Wallseat felt, as she was constantly on edge, due to her fear of the threatening character of Ms Williams.
During the scene between Miles and Ms Wallseat, we had Ms Williams walk across the top stage smirking and watching over them. This worked effectively as it allowed the audience to realise that it was in fact Ms Williams who had corrupted Miles so much to the point where he felt extreme hatred towards Ms Wallseat for entering their household unwanted. It also made the audience even more wary of Ms Williams, as she creepily walked through the shadows of the top stage, making them fear her even more.
Practically every emotion felt by Ms Wallseat was felt by the audience, so when Ms Wallseat was threatened by Ms Williams, the audience were too. This links to our overall aim to make the audience go on an emotional journey with Ms Wallseat, as everything she experiences for the first time, is also experienced for the first time by the audience.
Overall, I felt we achieved our overall aims, however if performed again, we could most definitely have added more scenes which more fully establish how unwanted Ms Wallseat was. With the time we had, it was understandable, however if we had been given more time, a scene to convey Miles and Ms Williams rejecting Ms Wallseat in a much more clear way, and to allow the audience to understand why she wasn’t wanted, would have indeed added to the full effect of the piece.
Health and Safety
When devising our play, we had to be particularly conscious of the health and safety precautions. Although we hardly used any props, we made sure that after each scene, the unnecessary ones were to be taken off before the next scene started. For example, a lantern had been left on stage in a rehearsal, and when I was rehearsing in front of an audience I tripped over the lantern. After that, we made sure that this lantern was taken off immediately after it had been used in order to ensure this didn’t happen again.
We also made thoroughly sure that there weren’t any sticking out pins or nails on the stage, as it is a wooden stage which is fastened together with nails, in order to ensure that there was no risk that we would accidentally step on a loose nail.
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