The audience will automatically take a dislike to this family. They show no affection to each other and the mother and father are particularly hostile to their three children, as they are to each other. We also notice, in this introduction to the family, that money is no object to them. The way the daughter asks for her fathers credit card to buy some new clothes shows this.
The introduction to the “Poor” family is very contrasting to the way that the family treats each other, but the setting is quite similar. The family is eating lunch and this family too, is very stereotypical. Although we notice the family’s lack of wealth straight away, a feeling of warmth and sympathy is present within the audience.
The mother and father are noticeably struggling for finance. When the daughter (just like in the previous scene) asks for money the father gives her the change out of a £5 note grudgingly. This is a huge contrast to the “Rich” family.
Throughout the rest of the performance, we switch between the families, seeing how the “Rich” family quickly loses their money and how the “Poor” family wins a fortune. The effect of the two events is very similar. Most of the “Rich” family become noticeably closer, whereas most of the “Poor” family stop caring about each other and focus on material things. However, both families have one thing in common. The effect of the sudden change loses them each one member. In the “Rich” family the father finds that facing life without money is unbearable, so he takes an overdose of pills. Similarly, in the “Poor” family, the mother becomes so drunk that she chokes on her own vomit. We never see the reactions of the families.
Characters
“Rich family”
Douglas Parks-Young (father) –
Rob Shaw
Elizabeth Parks –Young (mother) –
Suzanne Keller
Edward Parks – Young (youngest son) –
Reece Davis
Beatrice Parks- Young (daughter) –
Sophie Bowen
Charles Parks- Young (Eldest son) –
Jon Rickman
“Poor family”
Father –
Reece Davis
Mother –
Sophie Bowen
Tom (twin son) –
Jon Rickman
Tim (twin son) –
Rob Shaw
Biancia (daughter) –
Suzanne Keller
We developed our characters by using the “hot-seating” method. We also cast the characters as to whom we thought could act them well.
Genre
The Genre for our improvisation was Tragedy. Most of the drama was fairly stereotypical as to what is portrayed as a “Rich” and “Poor” family. However, the two deaths at the end of the piece transforms it from a Naturalistic drama into a tragedy with the two deaths.
Review
When we were first set the task, my group first decided to do a prison drama, but after 3 lessons we decided that it was going nowhere and we were better off starting with a completely new idea. With our new ideas we put together “Grass is greener…?” At first there were not too many problems but as the deadline to perform drew nearer the group became divided. It became difficult to organise lunchtime practices because of other engagements. Some members of the group were not as enthusiastic towards the project as others. When it came to decisions, we usually managed to reach a mutual agreement, although sometimes arguments arose.
I did work well with most of the other actors in my group, although I was a bit annoyed at some peoples lack of enthusiasm. I particularly worked well with Sophie as we usually had the same ideas and helped each other along with the actual acting, giving advice on what was good and what was not. There were several compromises that we as a group had to make. If one of us wanted something changed, we went on a majority vote and if it went against them, the person had to back down unless a mutual medium was found.
I tried to make sure that everyone in our performance had an equal part, rather than one or two people stealing the spotlight.
We decided against using costumes as it would have been very difficult changing between the families. We did use a few token props to create the scene. Also we took advantage of the lighting and sound system to create special effects.
Our set changed a lot throughout the performance, which made it quite hard to move things about without notice. However, I think that we managed to cope well with what we had.
Our performance defiantly had a moral to it. The old phrase “Grass is greener on the other side” is the title of our improvisation. From our play, we hope that the audience learns that 1) Money does not end all problems
and
2) Money does not buy happiness
If we were to do improvisation again I would defiantly get more organised more quickly as we had to cancel several performance dates because we were not ready. Also I would have maybe polished it off to perfection, as there were some awkward pauses in it.
On the whole I was quite pleased with our improvisation piece, and it was very fun to work out in the early stages.
“Grass is…
Greener?”
Drama Improvisation Theory
Suzanne Keller
Suzanne Keller 10ST
