The point at which we marked the moment was when Rosalia said “Look at you, it’s a good thing I’m driving.” What we did was freeze, as she was about to say it, just after I say about the bottle I find. Then while we were frozen she says it, and then we carry on. Marking the moment meant it showed the audience that something was about to happen, and therefore adds tension by the way Rosalia says her line in a drunken manner. It is also ironic, as it is not a “good thing” that she’s driving.
This exercise helped me understand the play more, as it showed what can happen from a tiny misjudgement.
In another lesson we used Emotion exercises to really show the emotions of our characters. In my group were Sarah and Holly, and we were given number three. This meant that we had to perform a scene where there are three friends, where two betray the other one.
In this me and Holly basically tease Sarah about her wetting the bed, after she told me not to tell anyone about her secret. In this I used two main facial expressions, and a happy laughing one when before we see Sarah and I tell Holly the secret, then again after we tease her. The other facial expression is a faking upset not guilty look, which I used when Sarah asked me if I had said anything. I also used my body language, one way was a huddled up, giggly manner when I was talking to Holly. Then as soon as Sarah came along I stood up as tall as possible to show that I’m more important and stronger than her, to show status.
I used my voice when me and Holly were whispering and giggling I used a low pitch and tone, fast pace and low volume to show how much of a secret it was. Then immediately after I used my voice in a giggling way to show how evil and devious we were. Then the other way I used my voice was when Sarah asked us what we were talking about, and we both used a high pitch, loud and hesitant voice. We used these as we thought the hesitation showed we had to think and make up what we were saying, and a high, loud pitch to show the shocked, lying side.
This helped me to understand how Judy and her mother felt when they first meet, as there must have been a lot of resentment between them, and that they were probably lying. Also it helped me to understand the way they would have tried to act.
In another lesson we used mime to music. We used the music to help us understand the emotions of the scene. As the song was about not being safe in your own skin, and how you feel that related perfectly to Judy and how she actually felt at the time. The song helped my group, which was me Holly and Sarah, as it was showing us Judy’s thoughts when we first meet her mother after the accident. As we had three in our group we had it as Judy’s mother and sister.
We originally had to make a scene using words, then we had to cut out the words and adapt it. We did this but we kept one word as we thought it was too important to leave out – it was “sorry”. In our scene with words we had Sarah as Judy in a room and then me as the sister and Holly as the mother come in, but I shout at Sarah and say how she has ruined everything and blame her. Then she says she is sorry, then I go to leave and she explains herself, then we hug.
In mime we had to use our body language and facial expressions a lot more. So every action and expression were over exaggerated a bit. Sarah had a sad facial expression on the whole way through, and huddled up her body to show how she had confided herself and to show her guilt. Then Holly was always open and caring in the body language to show that she wanted to improve the situation and it was the same with her facial expressions.
However I was more outward in my body language, and always sat facing away from Sarah to show my resentment towards her. Then my facial expressions were sad and angry to show the aggression I had towards Sarah. Then at the end when me and Sarah hugged to show we both felt alone and upset, Holly had a huge smile on her face to show that she was happy that everything was going the right way. Then when Holly joins in the hug, it shows everyone that it will be all right in time.
Originally I got really annoyed when I was told I would be performing my spoken performance. Afterwards I realised it was so much more effective mimed as you could see the emotions and feelings between our characters more, and miming also brought more to the scene.
Acting out this scene helped me to understand the different emotions of the characters in the scene, and how forgiveness is important between Judy and her mother.
In conclusion my favourite exercise was the mime to music because it was so touching and amazing how the emotions showed through in this scene. Also because I think it was my best performance, and gave me the greatest understanding towards the play.
These exercises helped me understand the play because they showed me the emotions the characters felt towards one another. How the drinking that Judy and Joanne did may have seemed a laugh, and that Judy thought she was doing the right thing by driving, and that she only did it for Joanne, but how it ended for the worse, and how she felt, and that she didn’t mean to. Then how each character’s emotions change constantly throughout.
I think that drink driving is intolerable, and I don’t have any sympathy for them, and I feel they should be punished. I feel this way as not only has one of my friends been damaged by a drink driving accident, which was not his fault, and now he has brain damage. But I have also been hurt in a drink driving accident, so you can see why I do not like drink driving and how it can come to an unfortunate end.
These drama exercises have helped me to understand the topic of drink by helping me to understand what the families of the victim and causer go through. It has helped me realise that the punishment is not harsh enough, as people re-offend. Also, offenders should get help, not just a fine.
I think that even though it was Judy’s sister, Judy being put in jail would make her feel even more guilty and remorseful. I think that it is the only way she could understand the consequences of what she did, then on top of that had a fine, a 2-year driving ban when she comes out, and in jail she should be rehabilitated. Then for the second time she should have had a longer term, even life, as she took the life of a young girl, and have her licence revoked permanently.
I really enjoyed this topic as it helped me to understand all the things families have to go through in an accident, not just in a drink driving accident. It has helped me realise that rehabilitation is really the only constructive way we can help the causer of the accident, and to help prevent them from re-offending. Also I have realised that we do not punish the offender enough if they have taken a life, then go on to take another life.
We need to bring in a harsher punishment and stricter laws about drink driving. I did find this topic challenging, as I know people who have been the victims of drink driving accidents, who themselves and their families have been broken and scarred for life, and the offender got away with it relatively scot-free. So all in all, from this topic I have gathered knowledge on how accidents happened from you thinking I’m only a little over the limit, and that there should be some way to stop this happening to save lives.
