Teresa and Kelly bring a table and two chairs onto the stage.
Scene Two
Characters in scene - Kate (after)
Kayleigh
Techniques used - Flashback
Kate and Kayleigh walk onto the stage and sit down at the table. We put the table at the side of the stage, so that when it came to the flashback scenes I could sit at the table and narrate. This would also be a more effective way to help the audience understand, as it is far easier for them to know exactly which characters are which at all times. It was a much better idea than me walking Kayleigh through the scenes because it meant we would not get in the way of the other actors. Kayleigh asks me what it is like being homeless. We put this line in so that we could show the audience that being homeless is not a desirable situation to be in. Also, it helped to build up my part a little bit and gave me a chance to show the audience what my character felt about the mess she had made of her life because of drugs. Then Kayleigh asks me how it happened, I tell her it all started that night we went clubbing a few months ago and she offers to go and get us both a coffee before we go any further. I accept and Kayleigh stands up.
As soon as Kayleigh stands up, Teresa walks on stage and the next scene begins.
Scene Three
Characters in scene - Kate (before)
Drug dealer
Good conscience
Bad conscience
Kate (after)
Kayleigh
Techniques used - Flashback
Narration
Teresa’s character is dancing, while Kayleigh, standing offstage, flicks her collar up, and places a baseball cap on her head. These items symbolise the change in character from Kayleigh to the drug dealer. As the dealer, she walks up to Teresa and asks where Kayleigh is. When Teresa tells her she has just gone to get another round in the dealer remarks on what a great mate Kayleigh is and how she is always up for a laugh. We did this to build up Kayleigh’s part and also to get the conversation onto the subject of drugs. The dealer asks if Teresa’s character (Kate before) is up for a laugh and when she says yes, the dealer asks if she would like to but some whizz, (amphetamines). Kate (before) is unsure, but the dealer persists so Kate (before) pays for the drug and the dealer leaves the stage, takes off her hat and turns down her collar, so the audience will know that Kayleigh has switched characters again, and rejoins Kate (after) at the table as Kayleigh. Kate (before) is left alone wondering whether she should take the speed or not, when her consciences start to talk to her. Dora, tries to persuade Teresa to take the speed, and Kelly tries to stop her. In the end the bad conscience wins and Teresa takes the drugs. We used to consciences, because we thought that it would be interesting to show both sides of the argument, and how they conflicted or coincided with Kate (before)’s thoughts and feelings. Also we all agreed that it was a good way to show the audience what Kate was thinking, by having the two consciences arguing, the people who watch the play will understand that the consciences are figments of Kate’s imagination, whose dialogue reflects what Kate is thinking. We thought we needed something at the end of this scene, to really point out, to those who didn’t know, Kate’s side of the story, so after the consciences have said their lines, they disappear and I narrate the scene. We thought it was important to point out Kate’s
past, and tell the audience that Kate had never tried drugs before, to show how easy it can be to become quickly immersed in the drug taking scene, and say how curious about drugs she was. We also decided to show how peer pressure affected her decision, by telling the audience how everybody else is taking drugs, and she wants to take them to ‘fit in’ with her friends. After I have said this Kate (before) takes the drugs and walks off stage. Kayleigh has been seated at the table for some time now and when Teresa leaves the stage, we start speaking.
I tell Kayleigh how it wasn’t long until I was addicted, and in serious trouble. We wrote that line to show how fast a bit of recreational drug taking can have disastrous effects, and to set the scene for then next part of our performance.
Scene Four
Characters in scene - Mother
Kate (before)
Kate (after)
Kayleigh
Good conscience
Bad conscience
Techniques used - Narration
Flashback
In this scene we show Teresa’s character stealing from her mother to pay for her drug habit. We decided to show her having a really good, trusting relationship with her mother, so that it would come as even more of a shock when Kate stole from her. The bag is just behind her mother, when Kate asks if she can borrow £1. Her mother, totally trusting, tells her to get it herself. Kate goes into her mother’s purse and takes £15. She walks out of the door, even pausing to give her Mam a hug before she leaves. We thought it was important to show how drugs can make you lie and steal, even from those you love. Her two consciences walk on stage to talk to her, and we decided that if we had the two consciences circling Kate, but very slowly so the audience could still see their facial expressions, it would show the audience how confusing the situation must be for her, almost like voices spinning around in her head. She decides to take the money, despite the efforts of her good conscience, and walks off stage.
Kate (after) is still sitting behind the table at the corner of the stage and as Teresa walks off stage Kate turns to Kayleigh and tells her how stupid she was, how her mother always supported her and she just let her down. We thought it was really important to show how bad Kate felt about stealing from her own mother, to show the audience that although the bad conscience had talked her into stealing the money, Kate was not really a bad person, she was just confused.
Just as Kate (after) finishes her line Kate’s mother walks on stage, ready for the next scene.
Scene Five
Characters in scene - Mother
Kate (before)
Kate (after)
Good conscience
Bad conscience
Kayleigh
Techniques used - Flashback
Narration
In this scene we gave Kate’s mother a monologue so that we could show the audience how distraught she was when she discovered that her daughter had been stealing from her. I thought that placing a monologue here would give the audience an insight into what Kate’s mother was thinking, and build up Dora’s part. We thought it was really important to show drugs have consequences for other people too, not just the person who is taking them. We thought this was important because someone in our audience could be using drugs and may not have considered the effects their problem is having on their family. Then Kate walks in and her mother throws her out of the family home. We thought it was essential for the actors playing these parts to show a lot of emotion and sustain their roles throughout the performance in general, but particularly in this scene because we had to show the audience what a devastating effect having to throw her daughter out was having on the mother, and what emotional pain being disowned by your mother was causing Kate. Then Kate (before) storms out of the house and collapses in the street, weeping. Now, while Dora is changing back into the bad conscience, Kelly’s character, the good conscience appears to Kate and kindly and gently, tells Kate not to worry, and that she can sort it out if she tries. We thought it was a really good idea to show the conscience being so forgiving, because if the conscience was angry, Kate would not want to give up the drugs. Also we thought it was a good idea to show Kelly standing still when she speaks to Dora, so the audience can see she is not confusing at all, however, as soon as Dora is changed and appears back on stage, both the consciences start to circle her again. Kate is so upset and confused by the consciences that she screams at them to leave her alone and runs off stage. The consciences walk off stage, with the good conscience shaking her head, showing her disapproval at Kate’s decision.
Scene Six
Characters in scene - Kate (after)
Kayleigh
Techniques used - None
Once again the attention of the audience is drawn to the conversation between Kayleigh and me. This is the part of our performance when the character Kate (after) shows the audience how sorry she is for stealing from her family and taking drugs. We did this by having Kate tell Kayleigh how she feels on stage. Even though she is still homeless, we thought it was important to end our piece on a positive thought, so that our audience would realise, even if you do get yourself into a dangerous situation such as this, you can get yourself out of it, there is no reason to give up. To do this we decided to show Kate clean, totally off drugs and taking her own life in her hands again. We also thought it was important to show how hard it was for homeless people to get their lives sorted out, so that people wouldn’t think the only reason people like Kate are homeless is because they are too lazy to work. To do this, we put in a line about how it was difficult to find a job without a care of address and vice versa. We thought that showing the audience what a vicious circle of homelessness you can get into by giving in to the temptation of drugs would discourage them from trying drugs themselves. Then we thought, to really end our improvisation positively, Kayleigh could offer to help Kate, and Kate could show her independence by answering she wants to try and help herself out of the mess she got herself into. I feel t6hat this was a really good line to add, as it helps to disprove the stereotype that all homeless people are lazy layabouts, by showing our audience that some of them are trying to help themselves, they just need an opportunity to do so. Then they say their goodbyes, and both characters walk off stage. The whole group decided that this positive ending was a much better idea then having Kate die of collapse at the end of scene two, as it shows people how, if given a chance, some people really can change.
14th November
We were set targets at the start of the lesson;
- Have a basic prop and costumes list
- Create character details
- Have a completed stage plan
We had already completed our scene plan for homework, so we were able to start creating our character details immediately.
Character Details
Kate (after) played by Kate Graham
Kate is homeless, and desperately trying to sort her life out again. She deeply regrets what she did, and realises that she has made a big mistake. Kate goes against the stereotype that we have, that all homeless people are lazy, or substance abusers, for although drugs are the reason why Kate is on the street, she has not touched any drugs since the day her mother threw her out. Kate is supposed to show the audience how, if you make a mistake, all is not lost and you can try again. To do this we had to give her a strong, dependant character. Kate is not a bad person. She was just misled by her so-called friends.
Kayleigh
Kayleigh was Kate’s best friend at school, and represents everything that Kate’s life was before she became addicted to drugs. We did this by giving Kayleigh a strong, fun character. She is supposed to show the audience what Kate’s life could have been like if she hadn’t let drugs take control of her the way she did, and could still be like, if she manages to pull herself out of the rut she is currently in. Kayleigh is a kind and loyal friend, illustrated by the way that she selflessly offers Kate a place to stay. She is also understanding, as she knows getting herself back on her feet is something Kate feels she has to do to redeem herself.
Kate (before)
Kate is a typical teenager, she thinks she knows best and isn’t prepared to listen to anyone else’s opinion. She thinks that drug taking is something new and exciting, and she desperately wants to be like her friends. She is very curious about drugs, she hasn’t ever tried them before, but people she knows have told her it’s brilliant. She doesn’t want to steal from her mother, but she really wanted the money for her addiction. The way she let her mother down was just the wake up call she needed, to get away from the drugs, and stop them from ruling and ruining her life. This character is supposed to make the audience see how easily young people can be influenced by those around them. I think all young adults can identify with Kate, as we all know how easy it can be to be tempted. I think it was really good that we made Kate such a universal character, as it means more members of our audience will be able to see where Kate went wrong in her life, and stop themselves from making this mistake.
Drug dealer played by Kayleigh Scott
The drug dealer is not a very nice character. All she cares about is money and herself. She doesn’t care about what happens to the people who buy her drugs, so long as nothing bad ever happens to her. The audience is supposed to dislike her, because of her uncaring, selfish personality.
Good conscience played by Kelly Davison
This character speaks to Kate and tells her she should not be taking drugs and stealing. Sadly, Kate doesn’t listen right away, she gives in to temptation, but Kelly’s character wins through in the end, and Kate begins to sort her life out. The audience is supposed to be able to see how she only wants the best for Kate, and we hoped that when the audience saw Kelly playing this part, they would understand that just like Kate’s conscience, there are always people who are ready to help you. The good conscience is the embodiment of all Kate’s doubts about taking drugs. She is there to convert Kate’s thoughts into words, so that the audience can see the mental trauma Kate is going through. We created this character, by looking at Pinocchio, and more specifically at the character ‘Jiminy Cricket’, who plays a good conscience, his posture is quite straight, and the language he uses is gentle, he doesn’t shout, or get angry. We decided Kelly should mirror this in her performance, using gentle movement, sweeping gestures etc, as it would be an excellent way of portraying a the character, and showing the strong moral backbone that the good conscience character has. We talked about the expressions Kelly should use, and decided that the best, would be a ‘disapproving’ look when the bad conscience spoke, and she saw that Kate was being tempted by the words the bad conscience spoke, and that a look of sadness would be appropriate when Kate gives in to the temptation. The character of the ‘good conscience’ is so angelic, and forgiving, that she wouldn’t be angry, even when Kate didn’t listen to any of her advice and steals from her mother.
Bad conscience played by Dora Mather
The bad conscience is a very selfish character. She is Kate’s bad side, the part of her mind where she doesn’t care about anyone else, just her own pleasure. The audience can see by the way she sneers and moves around the stage with total disregard for anyone else’s safety, even nearly hitting Kelly’s character at one point as she circles Kate, that she doesn’t care about anybody else. She is the self centred immoral part of Kate’s brain, and unfortunately, this is the part that Kate initially listens to. When the audience look at this character, they are meant to despise the way she tries to ruin Kate’s life. We discussed the expressions and movement Dora would have to use to play this character, and decided that a snarl, or disgusted look, whenever she looks at Kate would be most appropriate on account of the fact that this character hates Kate and wants to do her harm. Also, we decided that sharp fast movements would be best, in acute contrast to Kelly’s slow gentle movement.
Mother played by Dora Mather
It is obvious by the way that this character moves and speaks to her children, that she loves them dearly, too much to let them waste their lives away on drugs. She was very upset when Kate stole from her, and while some people may think it was a bit of a harsh reaction, she truly believes that she is doing it for Kate’s own good. She hopes that by throwing Kate out, Kate will finally come to her senses, get off the drugs and come home. She can’t have her younger child growing up with a drug addict for a big sister, what sort of a role model would that be? She trusts that Kate will eventually see the light, and do something worthwhile with her life. She believes that she has raised Kate as well as she possibly can, and now she must choose her own path in life. We thought that by giving this character such an honest, loving personality, we would be emphasizing how wrong it was to steal from her. I think this was an excellent way to portray the character, as it showed the effects of both the temptation to steal, and the temptation to take drugs, on those who love you.
When we had finished discussing and creating our character details, we started the task of writing our props and costumes list.
Props and costumes list
Blanket - This is for Kate, when she is homeless. We thought it was especially important to show how cold and friendless life on the streets is, and the blanket shows how when it is cold outside, we can go inside, but Kate can’t, because she succumbed to temptation, she is banished to sleep on the cold, unforgiving streets.
Scruffy clothes - We thought it was very important to show life on the streets how it really is, so clothes were very important. If Kate was sitting begging for money in Gucci or Prada, it just wouldn’t fit into our representation of homeless life. The thick jumper and tracksuit bottoms Kate was going to wear had to be scruffy to
show urban homelessness as it really is.
Table and chairs - These are on stage, so that the audience can understand the split stage better, in front of this table, Kate is having flashback scenes of the past, and behind it Kate is still in the present time, in the café with Kayleigh having a cup of coffee.
Dress - We thought, that in scene three, because Kate was in a club, it was important to have her dressed as if she was in a club, therefore Teresa said she would wear a dress or some form of clubbing outfit.
Suit - For the part of the play where Kayleigh plays Kate’s friend, it is important to show her dressed in smart clothes, to emphasize what Kate could have been, had she not got mixed up in drugs. Smart clothes tell us a lot about the person wearing them, they obviously have a good job and a lot of money, to be able to afford such items, and they care about their appearance, they have to look presentable wherever they are, work or just out shopping.
Baseball cap - We decided that when Kayleigh changed characters very quickly from being a smartly dressed woman with a good job to being a drug dealer, a baseball cap would be the easiest piece of costume to change, and the most symbolic, as a lot of ‘rough’ people are stereotyped as wearing baseball caps and tracksuits. So, seeing as we did not have enough time for Kayleigh to get changed fully, when she puts on the cap and turns up her collar, she becomes a totally different character.
‘Halo’ and white costume - We decided to depict the good and bad consciences as an angel and the devil. We did this because it would be easier for the audience to discriminate between the two characters, and also because the clothes would reflect the character’s personalities. So Kelly decided to bring in a white clothing to wear, and I said I would bring in a silver glitter hair band, to look like a halo. We dressed the good conscience in white because, white is stereotyped as being a good, clean, pure colour, and this is what we wanted the audience to see each time they looked at the good conscience.
Horns, fork and black clothes - With Kelly bringing in white clothes, we decided Dora should wear black clothes, to contrast with the white. We also thought red would be a good colour to use, but nobody had any red clothing, so we decided to stick with black, and improvise by having Dora wear horns and carry a pitchfork. This meant that the contrast between the good and bad consciences, occurs not just in dialogue, but in costume too. We decided to use this colour of clothing because, in contrast to white, black or red are often seen as being ‘devilish’ colours, dangerous, and threatening.
Flowered scarf - We decided that as Dora as well as Kayleigh in the earlier scene did not have sufficient time to change between scenes, Dora too should have something symbolic to show that she had changed her character. We decided that she should take off the horns and leave the pitchfork off stage, and put on a flowery scarf. We chose the scarf because many mothers are stereotyped as being ‘chintzy’ or flowery, and we decided that the scarf would clearly communicate the fact that the characters had changed, and are now very different.
After our props and costumes list was finished, we started on our stage plans.
Stage plan
Scene One
After this scene Kelly and Teresa come onto the stage and take the upturned table, turn it the right way round and put two chairs behind it. This is our café. The upturned table is there, to represent an area of the street that Kate is begging in, a shop doorway. Also, when the scene is over it makes the scene change quick and effective if the table is onstage, ready to be turned over and used as to show the characters are in the cafe.
Scene Two
We deliberately kept this scene in the top left hand corner of the stage so that it would be clear to the audience that the following three scenes are actually Kate talking Kayleigh through what has happened in the past.
Scene Three
Halfway through the above scene, Kayleigh stands up and becomes another character immediately. Her old character is picked up again when she sits back down at the table.
Scene Four
We deliberately moved this scene quite far forward on the stage so that when Teresa stands up and the consciences talk to her, we could use the second part of the stage, while Dora goes off stage, changes and re-enters as the bad conscience. This makes the best use of the available space.
Scene Five
In this scene we had to be very careful because when Dora’s part as the mother is over, she has to get changed while the good conscience (Kelly) speaks to Kate (before). Then she walks back on stage as the bad conscience. Again we decided to put the actors where they are able to make the best use of the available space.
Scene Six
During my monologue in this scene, Kayleigh and I walk forward so that I am speaking directly to the audience. We did this because it gave me an opportunity to show the audience how Kate was feeling more directly, instead of speaking to other people and having the audience draw their own conclusions about what Kate is feeling from their conversation. Then we both walk off stage in opposite directions to show how after they have spoken, they both go back to very different lives, Kayleigh with her busy career, and Kate back to begging on the streets so she can afford some food.
We had met all targets for the lesson, so at the end of the lesson, we each promised we would bring in our props and costumes for the next lesson.
21st November
When we came into the lesson, we were set the following targets;
- Have finished creating the piece and be focussing on rehearsal and polishing our piece
- Have identified all props and costumes
- Have made a scene plan, stage plan and character profile
Seeing as we had already met all of the lesson targets already, we focussed on rehearsing our piece. Half way through the lesson, our teacher evaluated our piece, and gave us the opportunity to make any necessary changes before we would perform next week.
When she had watched our work, she made the following suggestions;
- Make it more obvious that the drug dealer is indeed dealing drugs, be much louder
- Make it more obvious that Teresa is stealing from her mother
- Progress the characters of the two consciences further, make them more outrageous, louder and much more confident
- Dora should play the part of the mother more emotionally, be louder, more aggressive and confident to really show the audience what the mother is feeling.
We decided to make the following improvements to our piece. Dora and Kelly both tried to be more angelic or devilish in their actions, because the way they were moving around the stage, meant the audience couldn’t really see the full extent of their acting skills, and Dora developed a much more emotional response as the mother, by using her voice to really show what Kate’s mother was feeling. We made it much easier to see that the drug dealer was dealing drugs by making the dialogue clearer, so the audience was left in no doubt as to what was going on in the club. We then had the problem of how to make it more obvious that Teresa was stealing from her mother. We decided to have Teresa ask for a loan of £1, and have her mother, being so trusting, tell her to get it herself. Then we have the mother facing the audience while Kate (before) goes in her purse, just behind her and in full view of the audience, and takes some notes, not just coins. I thought that perhaps we could have Kate leaf through a handful of notes and take three, just to show she had in fact taken notes. We decided that this was a good way to illustrate to the audience that Teresa’s character was indeed stealing money, not just borrowing a pound coin.
At the end of the lesson, everyone was very happy with our improved piece and promised we would all bring in the appropriate props and costumes for next week, when we would watch others perform, and then perform our piece to our classmates.
28th November
We were given an hour to prepare our performance. We used this time to rehearse and improvise, seeing as quite a few people had forgotten their props. This meant that Teresa’s character, had to be in a club in her school uniform, and Kelly’s character had to play an angel wearing a black skirt. There was the option of wearing a skirt that our drama teacher had in the costumes cupboard, but Kelly didn’t want to wear it, so she just used her school shirt as the angel’s costume. The halo made sure that people knew she was an angel, so this wasn’t really a problem. I forgot to bring a handbag in for Kate’s mother, so Teresa’s character will just have to steal money from her mother’s coat pocket. This will not really be much of a problem, as the audience will still be able to see what is going on, and I remembered the halo, scarf and my costume, which was all we needed to perform. Then the hour was up and it was time to watch the other groups, before we had to perform ourselves.
Group One Debbie Carter
Ashleigh Hutchinson
Melanie Howell
Kristin Howard-Smith
Michelle Hanratty
Mark Winter
Sean Taylor
I thought this was a really good performance. The characters of the two consciences were really strong, and well developed. They used facial expressions well and used costume to get across their character’s personalities. T he consciences were played extremely well by Ashleigh and Melanie, and I thought they came across as being really confident and totally at ease with their situation, and with performing in front of an audience. In the middle of the play, the characters are in a nightclub and I thought the way they changed the lighting, to make the scene darker was really good, as it gave the actors a chance to use movement whilst in character. They used the available stage well, and their response to the task given was both imaginative and creative. I did think that at some points in the play Debbie could have built up her character by using more dialogue, but she made up for the lack of speech by using movement well to show what her character was feeling. She did make a mistake in the first scene, by standing up and immediately going to lie back down again, which was a bit con fusing as I didn’t know where she was supposed to be, but she soon realised her mistake and corrected it. They all created and sustained their roles really well, but I thought that the boys in the group could’ve built up their roles more, as they did not really say much, but Sean used some excellent facial expressions in the end scene. You could really see how guilty he felt for spiking Kristin’s drink. They combined two temptations together, the temptation to sneak out and the temptation to take drugs, this worked well and I think in general the play was a success. Using humour as a medium to get across their don’t do drugs message was ingenious, and it definitely stuck in the mind of the audience.
Group Two Sarah Dew
Vicky Laws
Claire Tonge
I thought that this was a well created and imaginative response to the temptation task we were set. They were very sensitive toward the subject matter but, I thought they could have shown some of the consequences of truanting and stealing, not just what happens immediately. I thought they all created and sustained their roles well, and used movement, gestures and their tone of voice to accurately respond to each other, whilst in character but Sarah could have shown a bit more emotion in her facial expression. I loved the way they tied three temptations in with each other and overlapped them successfully, for example, when Claire was being bullied into truanting and stealing by the other two characters. I thought this worked because the actors made each issue as important as each other, they didn’t have one major problem and have everything else secondary to that. I also liked the way that the other two characters became consciences for the character at the front of the classroom because it was a good way to make use of a limited number of cast members, and still have all the characters they wanted to have in their play. I was slightly confused as to whether the characters changed, or if the good and evil masks were symbolic, and the actors were still playing their original characters, but the way they rotated was excellent. Claire’s character in particular used movement, voice projection and facial expressions to really show her character to the audience. The only other problem the group had, in my opinion, was the confusion at the end of their performance. This happened when Claire stole some vodka, and set off the alarm on her way out of the store, and the girls ran off. They ran in the wrong direction, and it looked as if the girls were running straight back into the store they had just stolen the vodka from.
Group Three John Collins
Mark Smith
Qalid Le Pau
The first thing I noticed about this performance was the set up. The actors had set up the stage in such a manner that half the audience couldn’t see their faces. Seeing as the stage plan hardly ever changed, this was a major problem throughout the whole play. John’s character had a bit of a strange accent, it was quite hard to understand him at times, but he used movement and posture well, to really sustain his character well throughout the performance. I was a bit confused as to whether John was a conscience, an imaginary friend or a real friend. I thought he was a real friend, until I saw that Qalid’s character, was not responding to what he was saying, so I came to the conclusion that Qalid couldn’t see him. However, saying that, Mark, was not responding to John’s dialogue as much as I thought he would have been if he could see John, but as he did occasionally speak to him when Qalid wasn’t there I came to the conclusion that Mark’s character just didn’t want to speak to John in the presence of his father, played by Qalid. I think John could have used costume better, to make it clearer to the audience who, or what he was. At times their voices were too quiet, or two characters tried to speak at the same time as each other, but when you could hear them, the performance was excellent. It was humorous, and John had excellent comic timing. Another humourous aspect was the idea, it was a really original storyline, which I later found out that John had based on ‘Drop Dead Fred’, which makes it clear that his part was definitely an imaginary friend, not a conscience. Qalid’s part was very small, and could’ve been built up a lot more, but what he did say was very clear, and easy to understand. His voice was very expressive, and John used some excellent facial expressions to really show the audience what his character was feeling, without the use of dialogue.
Group Four Kate Graham
Teresa Cook
Kayleigh Scott
Dora Mather
Kelly Davison
I was quite nervous before we started our play, but once I was on stage, I didn’t feel nervous any more. I thought that in scene one when I and Kayleigh first met, we could’ve been more surprised to see each other, and a bit more affectionate toward each other, but this was difficult, as I don’t really know Kayleigh very well and to hug a total stranger in front of all your classmates is quite difficult. After that the play didn’t go too well. The consciences circled too fast, and weren’t as expressive as they were in rehearsals, and generally lost confidence once they got out on stage. The mother’s monologue was cut five or six lines short and some of the actors in the flashbacks forgot some of their lines. I think this was due to a lack of confidence once they were no longer rehearsing, but performing in front of an audience. Also because of several people forgetting lines, the play was quite a bit shorter than we had anticipated. Apart from these problems, the performance went well. It was original and different from the other group who also concentrated on the drugs issue. I think the problems we experienced could be improved by some of the actors in our group having more confidence, and not being afraid to play a role to the best of their ability in front of an audience. This is definitely one of the main points our group has to work on in the future. We had a discussion with the rest of our class, and we got some really important feedback, which could help us to improve our piece next time. The main point our peers made was that the consciences need to be much more extrovert and outgoing. The actors who played these parts had the best characters in the piece, but they played them down. I personally think they rushed them off as quickly as they could so they could get off the stage, and away from the audience’s scrutiny. Dora and Kelly rushed on stage, and circled Teresa too quickly. This mean that Teresa, who was supposed to look at each conscience as they said their lines, was literally left with her head spinning. Our group will improve this next time by rehearsing much more so that nerves will not make people forget their lines. Some more positive feedback we received informed us that our audience believed the way we had structured the play, the focus going to Kate (before) and then back to Kate (after), was a well planned and strong idea, that the storyline was original and that we used the dramatic techniques in our play to really enhance our performance. The audience felt that my character made good use of costume, and that I used my voice well, making it louder, clearer and more expressive, to really get my character’s thoughts and feelings across to the audience. I myself thought that Kayleigh’s characters both as the friend and as the drug dealer were confidently played, and in particular the drug dealer, really came across well. It was a good performance from our group, but I feel we could have done a lot better if our group was more confident, in particular the two consciences. It is something that we will definitely work on for our next piece.
We were asked to evaluate ourselves, and decide what marks we thought we should get.
Self assessment
First Objective
7/10 - I felt I showed a good understanding of practical skills and techniques
Second Objective
7/10 - I thought I had developed an imaginative and relevant response to the task set
Third Objective
16/20 - I felt that I created and sustained my role well throughout my performance
Actual Assessment
First Objective
7/10 - My teacher felt I had shown a good understanding of practical skills and techniques
Second objective
6/10 - My teacher felt in order to score higher marks for this objective, I needed to move more.
Third Objective
17/20 - My teacher thought I created and sustained my role very well
Total Marks
30/40 or an A-
I was very happy with the marks I received, although I felt I could have built my part up a bit more. I was slightly worried that if I did build up my part more, because of the length of our play, it would look like I was giving myself all the lines. I think the whole play needed to be built up a bit more, so we would all have much more dialogue. I also think that this would give other people in the group a chance to come out of their shells more, and really show their acting skills, like I tried to, even though I did not have one of the best parts, (which were the consciences, you could really have a chance to be an outrageous character and show you acting skills very well if you had one of these parts).
Group Five Rhiannon Laybourne
Donna Lakeman
This group had some major problems with absences, and had to come back and perform this piece in their own time.
I thought that the topic of temptation had shown us how temptation can come in many different forms, especially for people our age. I am very pleased with the progress of our group, but I feel that confidence is a major issue for us. This is something we will definitely have to work on in our next topic.
