The piece at work showed Stefan on the floor because he had just fallen off his chair, and the colleagues around him laughing hysterically at him.
When we did the short scene at school, it did a more in depth look at what his life was like at school than the freeze frames that we did, as it included movement, and lots more speech. The two bullies’ were teasing him and finally they started to hit him, whilst two boys who were walking past stopped what they were doing and just watched and laughed. This scene was similar to the scene at work, the people who were teasing him were doing it more maturely and less noticeably than the children at school were doing it, and although they were laughing at him, they did it as if thy were adults. It showed Stefan falling off his desk and everybody at work laughing at him, no one tried to help him up, and they just went off for their dinner break.
The interrogation scene that we did was good because it showed us how the police treated Stefan and got the confession out of him by using blackmail, and pressurising him into things that he knew and they knew were not true. Our scene showed Stefan being asked the ultimate question that would supposedly get him out of the station and is able to see his mother, as long as he signed the piece of paper. We had him being pulled back by two people from our group, and they started to walk around him muttering things like “just sign it” and “you can see you’re mother”. These words were repeated faster and faster until the point when Stefan broke free of this slight hallucination he was having because of the pressure, and after he signed the paper, he was arrested.
The forum theatre that we did helped us to understand why the police hid the evidence, and this was because they had worked very hard to try and bring Stefan to justice, although they now knew it was not him, but because he was defenceless, they knew they could get the confession out of him. I thought it made a strong impact when one police officer (me) entered whilst the other officers were having their dinner break, and he showed them a document proving that he was not guilty, as he was infertile. They way that I walked on was good because I walked on as slow as possible whilst reading the document, it seemed as if I was really angry and very shocked. As soon as the other officers saw the evidence that cleared his name, they dismissed the evidence, saying things like “Its rubbish, I’m still gunna’ bring him down”. This showed the audience how the police felt, and why they felt how they did.
When we did our end piece that had all off his life displayed in one scene, I thought that that was good, as it showed him from childbirth, and how he slowly started to be seen as a criminal and a nobody. The class also thought that our presentation was good as we got a lot of positive feedback from the class, who were pointing out strong points that we used, like covering all of the points and events that happened to him. Our piece was lots of scenes put together; it had 9 short scenes altogether, which built up his life.
Our final piece consisted of these short scenes:
- Stefan being born
- Being picked on and bullied at school
- Being picked on and bullied at work
- Being arrested for the girls murder
- Interrogated by the police
- Locked up in prison
- Released from jail and meeting his mother
- Collapsing in his home 18 months later
- His funeral – attended by his mother who died 6 months later.
I think that for each of the pieces that we did we could have showed Stefan’s feelings more, the action seemed to be on his surroundings and other people, and Stefan didn’t speak that much. For the interrogation we could have included a lot more, as ours didn’t have as much interrogation as everyone else’s did. Another improvement that we could have done is included more speech, although we wanted to show Stefan being bullied and how he felt by body language, facial and body expressions, we could have included a lot more speech, which combined with body language and everything else, could have made our pieces better. When we performed our pieces, we tended not to use all of the space that was available, so maybe we could have spread the props out more, so then the acting wouldn’t be too cramped and seem confined.
Evaluation
I think that this workshop has taught me a lot more about the story than I immediately knew, we know can understand the story much better than we originally did when we were told it. It has taught us that some people (not all) have opinions on people with abnormalities. Because Stefan was different to everybody else and because of the condition that he had, people treated and thought of him differently then they think of people who are the same or similar to them. Because people knew that Stefan was an easy target they knew that he was unable to defend himself, therefore he was picked on and humiliated by lots of people. I have learned that although the police are here to bring people to justice and fight crime, they can sometimes themselves be like people who criticize them for what they are, and have prejudices towards people, which is the reason in the first place why they got a confession out of Stefan.
Although capital punishment may be strong justice for some people (say the family of Lesley Molseed), I can see why it is a harsh way of justice. If Stefan Kiszko had been executed for Lesley Molseed’s murder, it would be very difficult to imagine how he must be feeling. He would know that he did not commit the crime, but he still would have paid the price for it.
It must have been a massive shock for the family and friends of Lesley Molseed, for sixteen years they had believed that they had caught the man who was responsible for her death, but suddenly, they found out that he wasn’t the killer. They must have despised him as soon as he was convicted, and hated him every day since, but when they suddenly find out with no warning that he is not the killer, they must be petrified that Lesley’s killer was still out there somewhere. They have definitely not had justice; until this man is caught then they must live their lives without having any justice whatsoever.
SHORT SCENES
Caroline’s group – positive
- Caroline who was playing the part of Stefan looked like Stefan might have done, geekishly, socks tucked into trousers, shirt tucked into trousers, tie tucked into trousers, top button done, hair tied back, bag pulled right up tight. She did good acting, she seemed quite strange, her voice was clear and when she was being bullied she seemed scared.
- Nikki acted like a teacher would have done, very formal, telling the children off if she saw them doing anything wrong.
- They used the space well, tables were spread out and there was enough distance between each of the characters, so you could see what they were doing.
- The bullies seemed like bullies.
Improvements
- When they were doing their still image they were all moving, they should stand still.
- When the coffee was poured onto Caroline she didn’t seem hurt, she should have acted as if it was painful.
Liam’s group – positives
- The facial expressions that Liam did were good.
- They all did good body language, especially Liam.
- They storyline was good, developed well.
Improvements
- The first scene that they did was not very long.
- Johnny didn’t talk much
- Liam played Stefan a bit too sarcastically than he should have done.
Tanya’s group – positives
- Laura seemed defenceless when she was being bullied.
- The others seemed like they were actually bullies
- The violence was good; it looked real and did not seem comical.
- The actions that each character did were good, like when they were making fun of Stefan.
- It was funny when Tanya spat in Stefan’s drink.
Improvements
- Workers don’t say things like “respect geek”, children are more likely to say that.
- Workers wouldn’t chuck papers at people; again this is more likely to be done in school.
- Although it was funny when Tanya spat in Stefan’s drink, I doubt adults would play these sort of tricks on one another.
INTERREGATION SCENE
Liam’s group – positives
- The thought tracking that they did in each scene was good, it made the play seem very good.
- Johnny played his character well; he played it quiet, which is what Stefan would have done.
Improvements
- Sometimes there were times when they kept on smiling because it was funny, but they did well to control their laughter.
Tanya’s group – positives
- The police officers were convincing, you could see why Stefan buckled under the pressure they were putting onto him.
- They didn’t move when they were thought tracking.
- Police officers and Stefan used good expressions and body language.
Improvements
- When they were performing they sometimes laughed.
- They seemed too squashed together and didn’t use the space very well.
Caroline’s group – positives
- Good facial expressions
- The drunk test that they did was very funny
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The thought tracking that they did was good
Negatives
- Sometimes you couldn’t hear what they were saying; they need to speak louder.
- When Caroline had a tantrum I didn’t think that it worked, I doubt that Stefan would have done that, as he is more the quiet person.
FINAL PIECE
Caroline’s group – positives
- Nikki played the doctor very well
- Paula acted well
- Kim played a good mum
- The flashbacks were good
Improvements
- Sometimes they didn’t speak loud enough
- I got a bit confused at some points where it wasn’t clear what was going on.
Liam’s group – positives
- Johnny played Stefan well.
- The flashbacks that they did were good, mixed in with performance.
Improvements
- Could have made the play longer.
- Sometimes stood with back to audience.
Liam’s group – positives
- Body language was good.
- Plot was good.
Improvements
