Drama Portfolio ~ Fear ~ Hanaa Anwar ~ Ms.Routledge ~ 10.2 ~ 11G
RESPONSE
In workshop one there was two forms of drama; straight improvisation and teacher in-role. This was structured by having the class in a semi circle and the teacher walking in straight in-role as the manager of the youth hostel. The teacher said in-role that we were 'experienced therapists' this automatically made clear on the role we were to play so we were quick to think as the form was straight improvisation. Structuring the drama as a semi circle of chairs gave the impression it was a meeting of some sort. The opening of the circle where the manager sat showed the meeting was being lead by a person of higher status. In the second half of the workshop the class was working in pairs, the form was still straight improvisation. We were carrying on from being therapists in this youth hostel but one of the pairs was now the girl we were treating with therapy. This is where our stimulus came in to use. Our stimuli was a picture of a girl screaming, holding her head in pain, surrounded by a lake with two people walking away. This was drawn by the girl who was in therapy. The aim of the drama was to try and get as much information out of the girl about why she had drawn this picture, what it represented and find out who she was, using therapy, as she didn't talk. The stimulus helped us with the form because we couldn't plan what we were going to do but from the stimulus we could see what drama we could create. Both pairs knew what the therapist would be doing but no one knew how the girl was going to react this was good because the straight improvisation would mean each pairs drama piece would differ.
During workshops two and three the significant moment in our drama piece was when the disturbed girl, who was being treated by therapists, was taken to a river. This was suggested by a therapist as the girl had drawn water in her picture so maybe taking her to a river would open her up. Her reaction to being taken to the river was a frightened one. The girl became scared and then saw a cigarette being lighted this frightened her even more and she ran in to a corner. This showed the therapists that not only did she have a strange reaction to water but to open flames too so maybe something had happened in the past involving flames and water that had caused her to have such a reaction. This was the significant moment in the drama however due to lack of time we didn't get to symbolize it as much as we would have liked. If we had the time, I would put a red spotlight on the disturbed girl, when she ran in the corner, and then play some dramatic classical music to signify her panic. While the red spotlight would indicate the danger she was in before that made her scared of the river and lighter. After that I would do a flashback showing what actually happened that had made her so frightened.
In workshop four we had to create a nightmare sequence based upon a phobia. Our group talked about the kinds of phobias we could do but due to lack of time we were not able to create the nightmare sequence. If we had the time to form it I would have chosen the phobia; 'fear of clowns'. The form of the drama would be nightmare sequence (stylistic). I would structure the nightmare sequence using: -
* Music (fairground music)
* Masks (clown)
* Lighting
* Keywords
* Vicious circle
I would start off by having the music playing at a slow speed and the volume quite low; gradually I would speed the music up and increase the volume. The girl would be walking but as the volume increases so would her pace. At this point I believe her thoughts would be jumbled, to show this, people off-stage would shout out her thoughts for example; 'what is happening?', 'where am I?' the voices would be echoed for a bigger impact such as; 'where am I? ... am I ...am I ... am I ... I ...' hereafter I ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
I would start off by having the music playing at a slow speed and the volume quite low; gradually I would speed the music up and increase the volume. The girl would be walking but as the volume increases so would her pace. At this point I believe her thoughts would be jumbled, to show this, people off-stage would shout out her thoughts for example; 'what is happening?', 'where am I?' the voices would be echoed for a bigger impact such as; 'where am I? ... am I ...am I ... am I ... I ...' hereafter I would suddenly turn the lights off and stop the music to create a sense of panic and anxiety within the girl and audience, as nobody knows what's going to happen. In the darkness I would bring on four people in clown masks, position them around the girl, but not too close, then turn the lights on but have them on full and all colours such as bright red, blue and green. Red being the brightest creating a sense of danger and the green would give the stage an eerie atmosphere. The girl would realise immediately and try to escape; her pace would be almost robot-like because the panic of seeing the clown masks has made it hard for her to move, to emphasize this, the people in clown masks would be very quick when moving and circle her almost as if she was being suffocated. The girls' thoughts would now be ones of shock, terror and panic. At this point I would make the masked clowns shout her thoughts out at her; shocking her more, as the most thing she is terrified of is now thinking her thoughts too. This is where I would end the nightmare sequence by switching the lights off suddenly and make the masked clowns go off stage leaving the girl on the floor. When the lights gradually come back on she will have just woken up unexpectedly as if she had an awful dream and lying on her pillow would be the clown mask and I would end the scene with her mouth open in fright.
In workshop five the form for our first drama piece was sculpting a tableau. This is when one person creates a tableau then holds their position and lets another person literally sculpt them using their hands to change their physical posture. The person I was sculpting was meant to be hitting someone from behind. From where I was standing this looked unrealistic so I sculpted by moving their arm closer to the person they were attacking so it would look more forceful, plus, I made them look away from the person they were hitting because this would look as if they knew it was wrong and they didn't want to get caught, in the tableau there were SAS officers looking for violent people so effectively it would look like the person was being weary incase she/he got caught. Afterwards, our class did a drama piece; the form was forum theatre, teacher in-role and straight improvisation. It was structured by having rows of chairs where we all sat and at the front was where the teacher in-role stood playing the part of the SAS meeting speaker. The point of the drama was for the teacher in-role as the SAS speaker to inform us that we had been specially picked to do a very high secret mission and so we would have to move away from our homes for around six months and not tell our families why. Using forum theatre for this drama piece worked very well because when the speaker told us we were on a top secret mission and would have to move away without telling anyone was quite a shock so obviously we all in-role had an opinion about it. Forum theatre is good to use for something like this as we control when we say or do something and everyone gets an opportunity to voice their opinion. The straight improvisation worked well because it made everyone have something different to say each time.
In workshop six the class had to before hand set up the scene of a disused warehouse. We did this by having chairs flung all around the place some broken, some free standing, and some stacked up as if they had not been used in ages. We also turned the lights off assuming that no lights worked in this warehouse. We used rostra tops and legs and had them just lying side by side or not fixed together properly to create the impression of a disused space that had not been looked after. The form of this drama was a tableau to start the scene off then straight improvisation where the class played either 'have nots' or undercover SAS officers pretending to be 'have nots', thought tracking with our first thoughts of what we thought of the warehouse and the meeting that was due to take place inside, the last technique used was teacher in-role, this was unexpected as it was straight improvisation and we were not expecting the teacher to come in-role as a police officer checking to see if any 'have nots' had broken into the warehouse. When this happened it created a real sense of electricity and panic amongst the group however it was up to us to keep this electricity going by staying in-role and reacting how we thought a 'have not' would react in this situation. This was vital for the undercover SAS officers as they could not blow their cover.
DEVELOPMENT
In workshop one I played the role of the disturbed girl found and taken in by the youth hostel. I was having therapy done to me by a music therapist. She was playing different music to me and I was responding by drawing down on paper what I was trying to get out or my particular feelings about the therapy. At first my body language was quite negative as I was turned away but this was because I was feeling alone and scared and nobody understood my problems. When the therapist started playing the music I felt that expressing myself and my feelings on paper was a great way as I was from another country and I did not understand English very well and therefore had no other way of communicating apart from pictures. When the therapist played fast dramatic music I would become quite scared and start drawing quickly as I felt I had a lot to get out as I associated the fast dramatic music with bad memories, I drew a ship in the sea and then I drew a man the therapist was trying to figure it out however I couldn't confirm if she was right or not because I didn't understand.
Dear diary,
I've been a therapist for almost twenty years now and in my entire career I've never come across such a case of severe shock and fright before. I have a new patient I don't know her name or background, she was found in a shopping centre and brought in, at first communication with her was non-existent. She was withdrawn and silent however, the music therapist got her to draw her thoughts down and the results were quite interesting. She drew a boat in water and a man with a sad face. When the music therapist showed me this I thought maybe she would open up more if taken to a place where there was water as she had drawn a lake of some sort in a previous picture. But I was wrong, the sight of the water made her weep and fortunately for us but unlucky for the poor girl we also found that she is completely petrified of open flames even such small ones as the ones on lighters as stupid Barry the minibus driver lit his cigarette in front of her and she completely lost it running straight into the nearest corner she could find. I'm going to phone my professor as this case is one that requires great care. I am afraid if I do too much she'll lose it completely but I am also aware if I do too little she may never recover from what seems to be a serious psychological problem.
Class discussion on phobias:-
* Arachnophobia - Xenophobic - Death - Cotton
* Heights - Superstitions - Blood - Fish
* Animals - Fire - Hospitals - Acrophobia
* Love - Claustrophobia - Clowns - Piecing
* Dark - Buttons - Dentists - Bananas
* Insects - Flying - Homophobia - Space
* Water - Beards - Needles - Cars
* Passed on to you from family/friend (transference)
* Personal experience
Symptoms:-
* Sweaty palms - Panicky - Freeze
* Shake - Speechless - Fast heart breathing
* Go pale - Fainting - Goosebumps
* Regurgitate - Heavy breathing - Screaming
* Impatience - Fits - Cold/shivers
In workshop five we created a tableau which was then sculptured for the final piece. I played the role of a diplomatic police officer, one of my colleagues was carrying on beating a 'have not' I was opposed to this as the 'have not' was already dead, so my spoken thought for that tableau was; 'Leave her alone she's already dead' I thought this would be something different to say as I guessed most of the officers would be saying negative things towards the treatment of the 'have nots' but I gave my character a conscience and this made me stand out. During the teacher in-role drama piece where the teacher played a SAS meeting speaker I didn't get to share my in-role thoughts about how my character felt about being chosen to go on this top secret mission. My thoughts were; 'what if the 'have nots' find out and murder us'. I thought this because I had been chosen to become an under cover spy in the form of a 'have not' and as they were a dangerous cult I was afraid of what the effects would be if we were caught out. My inner thoughts were; 'the money is great but so is the risk' I thought this because we were being bribed into accepting this challenge as the money was so great. The amount of money was hiding the risks that were also involved. So effectively I was weighing up the pros and cons, seeing if the risks out weighed the pay. I then thought that 'if I die will my family still get the money?' because if I did accept the challenge and died I would want the money to go to my family as what is the point of risking your life if there is nothing for your family left behind.
In workshop six we were working as a whole class some of us 'have nots' and some of us undercover SAS officers as 'have nots'. As it was straight improvisation, when the police officer (teacher in-role) barged through the disused warehouse we were secretly occupying everyone was shocked, both in and out of role. I was startled initially, but because I was in-role as an undercover spy I had to pretend to be tough and prepared and as I had to show I was against the 'haves' I got my gun out and was in the position to shoot the police officer. The reason for this was because as an undercover spy I had to conceal my identity.
EVALUATION
In the first part of the pair work in workshop one Nikesha played the role of the disturbed girl. Her body language was extremely negative at first. She showed this by withdrawing in to her seat and refusing to make contact with me (therapist). After explaining that no questions would be asked she finally agreed to lie down. She did this reluctantly by facing her legs away from me this showed that maybe she was lying down so I would stop asking or maybe she was scared of what might happen if she didn't listen. When she lied down she was quite stiff and straight with her legs and arms folded this gave me the impression that she was not in the mood to open up her feelings or tell me anything.
In workshops two and three I enjoyed Hayley's group as their performance was extremely deep and meaningful. Their storyline was 'the disturbed girl had killed her twin'; I liked this because most groups automatically thought if the girl is disturbed then she must have been a victim but Hayley's group had thought that maybe she is disturbed because of something she has done, this was distinctive and made their group noticeable. In the nightmare sequence the disturbed girl had killed her twin by drowning her, now the audience knew this it was clear to see why the girl was petrified of water from the previous drama pieces we created. The techniques they used were devil and angel. In the beginning this was successful as it showed the inner feelings of the girl after she had murdered her twin and why she was so disturbed, as her facial features showed her very worried. This was because her thoughts were ones of paranoia and guilt, she showed this in her physical features, and the way she walked quickly and took uneasy steps no rhythm in her walk as she was so worried and guilty. This came across thoroughly to the audience and sometimes devil and angel were unnecessary because the body language was so clear.
In workshop four I watched Ieasha and Riellas' performance. Riella had arachnophobia and when she saw a spider she totally lost control. I liked the way she showed this as it was very comical, for example, when she first saw the spider she let out a high pitch scream, which even made the audience a little frightened, and then she jumped out of her seat too. But the thing that made her character believable was that as soon as she saw the spider till the end of the scene she never took her eyes off it and when you are that scared of something of course you would want to know where it is at all times to keep yourself away from harm.
WORD COUNT = 3000
Drama Portfolio ~ Fear ~ Hanaa Anwar ~ 11G ~ 10.2 ~ Ms. Routledge
