Below is the still image picture: -
Overall I think our still images were very teaching, touching and educational. Although a few were very similar they all told a different story. Some taught about how people are treated in different class systems i.e. poor to rich. Others taught how friends are worth more than money. All however were teaching a different story.
Response phase part two
In this section we devised a scene that showed the lives of Mickey and Eddie before they met and then during their friendship/brotherhood together. It shows what they have been through together throughout their lives.
The scene starts out with Mickey (Simon) being in jail and Eddie (Liam) getting prepared to visit Mickey in jail. Eddie advances slowly towards Mickey and says “I remember the days that we all met”, They then point at each other to show that a flashback is about to occur. The flashback now shows Eddie and Mickey meeting for the first time. Adam and Charlotte both play the two characters in this section of the flashback. They engage in a conversation about each other. Mickey asks for a sweet and is given a few. Mickey now asks if Eddie is soft. Eddie replies in his upper crust well spoken tones, un-affected by the question “No I don’t think so.” Mickey says “ you wanna be best mates, we could be blood brothers, give us your hand.”
They both pretend realistically to swap blood and this small scene draws to a close.
The parallel scene reopens and the two brothers advance slowly towards one another once again. This time it is Mickey’s turn to say something, Mickey says, “When we were younger we had some real fun.” They once again point at one another to show that a flashback is about to start and it involves both characters. A new flashback opens which is set in the park. There are three children in this scene, Eddie, Mickey and Linda. Mickey (Liam) shoots his older brother’s air pistol at a statue in the park and misses. Eddie (Simon) now has a go and struggles to pull the lever. Eddie is a soft ‘Mummy’s boy’ but tries to impress Mickey by acting tough. Once Eddie pulls the lever the power is phenomenal and he falls back on to the grass. The pistol fires and the rubber bullet is seen to bounce off of all the park walls before actually nearing the statue. All three laugh. Linda (Charlotte) decides she should have a go. Both boys laugh behind her back and pretend to try and give her some confidence. Eddie says, “Women can’t shoot.” Both boys burst into fits of laughter, which is encouraged by Linda tutting. Linda holding the gun steady, shoots and gets a satisfying ‘ping’ off of the statue head, dampening the laughter from the boys
Eddie and Mickey say in conjunction with one another “beginners luck.” Linda convincingly says, “let’s try again then.” Eddie seems to struggle for words so Mickey says, “come we, better be off, Sammy’ll notice the bullets missing.” They all turn and gulp as they see a Policeman stood watching them. The policeman seems satisfied that he has caught someone doing something they shouldn’t. However, he decides to ask them what they are doing anyway.
The Policeman (Adam) says “ Allo, Allo, Allo, what have we here. Three little children doing something they should not be doing I see. Just what are you doing.”
Eddie is no longer speechless saying in one big squeak, “ Waiting for the ninety-two-bus sir.” At this point Eddie is roaring with laughter and wonders why no one else is laughing. The Policeman stutters and says “PARDON.”
Eddie decides to say it again as he thinks no one has heard him. Now both Mickey and Linda are trying to get his attention to tell him to shut up. Just as Eddie decides to repeat himself the Policeman bellows “I heard you the first time boy, just who might you be?”
Eddie looks at Linda and then Mickey who are both extremely white faced and trying to stop him saying anything else, roars even more with laughter and splutters “Adolph Hitler.” Eddie stumbles about producing the ‘nazi’ sign and laughing even more. Linda and Mickey both look as though they are about to faint and without laughing sneak off.
Both the Policeman and Eddie shout together “Where are you going.” The Policeman now says to Eddie “ You’re coming with me sunshine.” Eddie seems to be lost for words as he has no one with him and has never been in trouble before with the police. Eddie starts to say something but nothing will come out of his throat. Instead he makes a run for it barking, “wait up guys.”
The Policeman realises he is too slow and mutters ”bloody kids” as he walks off stage. The flashback closes and the parallel scene reopens.
Both men stop pointing and ‘come to life’ once again. Eddie advances again and says, “In the end we both went our separate ways.
Now another flashback opens and it involves everyone from the start. This flashback is like two parallel images being played at the same time.
Eddie is in University and Mickey at the Dole office. Both are meant to be set at the same time. Thus putting the ‘blood brother’ theme back into the play. When one is acted the other is paused and it passes across the each time the finger is pointed to the live scene.
The scene opens by Mickey (Simon) being at the dole office asking how much he will have this week. The dole man (Adam) replies from behind his bullet proof glass shield “Ten pounds ten pence, sir,” Mickey replies,“How can I live on that.”
The finger is now pointed towards Eddie and a girl from University who are together at a party. The girl (Charlotte) asks Eddie (Liam) what is wrong. Eddie replies “ There seems to be something missing or at least someone missing.” The girl asks, “Is it Mickey?” Eddie replies “ Yes, I think so, I would love to see him again.” The girl tells him to ring him up.
The finger is pointed back towards the dole office and the scene reopens again. Mickey bellows “ How can I live on a tenner, I av a family to feed ya know.” The dole man replies “Take it or leave it.” Mickey replies “I’ll tek it but it aint enough,” Mickey stands up and looks at Eddie in the parallel scene and says “I need to see Eddie again.” Mickey acts as if he has seen Eddie but is actually looking right through him.
The other parallel act comes to life once again. They advance towards one another again and Mickey says “twas so reassuring to ‘ear is voice again.”
The finger is now pointed at Eddie to show that the flashback will begin, starting with Mickey. Mickey rings Eddie and seems to be depressed, he rings him out of self-pity and is hoping for a bit of reassurance from his best mate.
Eddie answers the phone, also depressed. They both shout the others name and seem relieved. Mickey says “How are ya Ed”
“I’m fine replies Eddie, and the Uni is great, there is booze, girls and loads of laughs.”
There is a pause, and after about fifteen seconds Mickey says “I’m in jail.”
“What for?” demands Eddie.
“ I took part in an armed robbery, it was Sammy he needed a door man.” At this point Mickey breaks down into tears and says “I need ya ‘ere Ed.”
Eddie sighs and says “which one is it?”
Mickey sobs and says “what.”
Eddie now sounds tougher and says “which prison are you in you big goof.”
Mickey sniffs and says “Hunchester Gaylin in Blackpool.”
Eddie replies “I’ll make an appointment to see you next week sometime, ok?”
Mickey nods and says “Uhhuh. Bye then.”
Eddie sympathetically says “It is for a week bud, see you”
The other parallel scene opens for the last time. Mickey and Eddie both say in conjunction with one another “that was last week.”
The whole act closes as they meet one another and sit to talk.
DEVELOPMENT
The opening act for the development phase of Blood Brothers is based on the parents of Eddie, Mr and Mrs Lyons. It revolves around Mr Lyons discovering the truth about the birth of Eddie. He has always believed that his son was born whilst he was working away. However, it seems that Mrs Lyons adopted Eddie from the Johnstone family, who had twin boys (Mickey and Eddie) but could not afford to keep them both.
The scene opens in the church at the funerals of Eddie and Mickey. The Minister delivers his sermon to the crying congregation.
The scene moves on to show Mr and Mrs Lyons, later in the day, sat in their home. Mrs Lyons is informing her husband that she has something that she must tell him.
Mrs Lyons: “I have something to tell you.”
Mr Lyons thinks, “no please, we’re not going to try for another kid.”
He replies “Yes love?”
Mrs Lyons thinks “Are you going to tell him? You’ve got to tell him. You had better tell him now.”
Mrs Lyons replies: “Erm … I … erm …” Her conscience urges her to continue. She says, “You know … it’s … erm … about Eddie”.
Mr Lyons thinks “Not our Eddie, he wasn’t, was he?”
Mr Lyons says “Go on.”
Mrs Lyons says, “He wasn’t ‘our’ Eddie.”
Mrs Lyons thinks, “That wasn’t that hard was it? Now finish it off.”
Mr Lyons thinks, “You … had … an … affair… with?”
Mr Lyons says “He wasn’t?”
Mrs Lyons says, “No he … “
Mrs Lyons interrupts her stuttering, “Wasn’t mine? You!! Affair!! Who?”
Mrs Lyons thinks, “Say it right and pull yourself together. You should never have kept the secret.”
Mrs Lyons says, “He was Mrs Johnstone’s.”
Mr Lyons thinks “How did that work out?”
Mr Lyons says, “How?”
Mrs Lyons says, “He wasn’t ours, yours or more importantly mine! She gave me him at birth. We could not … and they were expecting … easy!”
Mrs Lyons thinks “Well done, finally, you got it out”.
Mr Lyons tuts and says “Secrets? Great!” He storms out.
The scene closes.
Another scene opens to show relatives and friends back in church attending the funeral of a different person.
The Minister delivers his sermon on Mr Lyons and everyone begins to cry. The scene closes.
In conclusion to the above three scenes, we feel that we used exploratory strategies to portray acts of thought tracking and cross cutting in a thoughtful and empathetic way. The scenes showed how Mr Lyons must have felt at the point when he discovered that the son he had loved and cherished was not his own flesh and blood.
As part of our portfolio we were asked to create an abstract ‘dream type’ sequence for Mrs Johnstone at the end of the play.
We began by dividing memories of Mrs Johnstone into two sections, those that were happy and those that were sad.
The scene opens with Mrs Johnstone (played by Charlotte), stood alone, saying “I remember, remember the good and bad times”.
The act then continues in an unreal, dreamlike and abstract way.
Mrs Johnstone gives a locket to Eddie, as a ten year old, before he leaves to live in the countryside with his adoptive parents. It has a photograph of both Mrs Johnstone and her son Mickey together. Eddie believes it is for him to remember what Mickey looked like. Mrs Johnstone has given it to him so that he can recall his birth mother (herself) without knowing it. She closes the door and goes to sit down on the settee. She realises there is no settee and sits on the floor accidentally, as the ‘Repo men’ have previously removed her furniture. She had not paid her bills. This small sad scene closes.
Scene two opens with happier connotations as the Johnstones are moving house. Two children are trying to drag their bags across the pavement, but cannot move them. Mrs Johnstone picks up both bags and heaves them onto her shoulder. Mickey shouts “Come on Sammy, we’re going to be late.” Sammy appears and they trundle offstage towards the railway station.
In Scene three, Mickey (played by Adam) has now been released from prison and is taking anti-depressant drugs. He has tried to free himself of these.
Mrs Johnstone enters the scene and tries to remove his pills. Mickey shouts “I need the pills” and snatches them back. This small scene draws to a close.
Scene four is a flashback to happier times. Mrs Johnstone is peering from her window whilst the children play football outside in the street. Happy sounds come from the street, she smiles and says “My children.”
The final scene is the death of both Mickey (played by Adam) and Eddie (played by Simon). The boys are on stage by themselves. Mickey points the gun at Eddie. A loud heartbeat noise can be heard. Mrs Johnstone and the police enter the scene. She shouts, “NO, that’s your brother.” The police aim at Mickey and kill him as he shoots Eddie. Both boys fall to the ground in slow motion. The frantic Mother is held back by imaginary police while she is screaming and crying. The pace of the heartbeat slows down as both boys hit the ground. Their heads hit the ground and the heart beat stops.
The scene draws to a close.
Mrs Johnstone appears and says “it seems very vivid, almost like a dream to me, both boys were born on the same day and died on the same day at nearly the same time. It seems like a dream to me, just a dream.
In conclusion to this small section of the Development phase I feel that it was shown to be ‘dreamy’ but realistic at the same time. Mrs Johnstone appears as the person who ‘forwards’ the dream and brings it to life. She seems to be both happy and sad in certain areas of the play. Overall I feel that we tried to use movement, pace, levels, sound, tempo and mainly we tried to draw a climax throughout the play, starting with a happy memory and finishing with a sad one.
EVALUATING ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE GROUPS WORK
During our exam we were instructed to evaluate another persons work within our drama group. I have chosen the group of Daniel Taylor, Jenny, Amy Edmonson, and Charlotte Garside. This act is basically meant to be a dream. Similar to my groups acts seen above.
The act begins with Jenny being the Mother in the dream who is actually Mrs Johnstone. She is woken up by the Ghost of the past. The ghost of the past is Amy, she shows Mrs Johnstone the past of her life. The past is where all of her boys are playing Cowboys and Indians. Everything is really friendly and a happy atmospheric feeling is felt around the room. Mrs Johnstone smiles and then notices that Eddie and Linda getting very friendly. She realises this but can not stop it. She looks to be thinking why she did not notice this before. Mickey reads a poem about the past. Danny plays Mickey in this act.
I think this first small scene shows relevance to the text and picks up on where Mrs Johnstone went wrong in her life.
The Ghost of the past takes Mrs Johnstone back to bed and a few moments later the Ghost of the Present wakes her up.
The Ghost of the present who is played by Charlotte shows Mrs Johnstone Mickey’s family. Linda and Mickey are stood smiling, both holding the baby together. This act seems almost unreal and very artificial, almost like a smile is painted onto their faces. Following this a funeral is present where Eddie and Mickey are buried after a shooting. Mrs Johnstone tries to stop the shooting over Linda and is pulled back by the ghost of the present telling her it is no good you can stop nothing then or now.
I think that this small scene is vital to the play because it shows a few clips of how she could have been a better mother. Mrs Johnstone is noticed here to look like she has nothing left and seems very depressed.
The ghost of the present takes Mrs Johnstone back to bed and she falls back to sleep.
Moments later she is woken once again by the ghost of the future who is played by Danny.
The ghost of the future tells her to come with him as there is something she should see. The pace has slowed and the sound has also decreased in volume.
An image can be seen of Amy who is portraying Mrs Johnstone repeating herself. She says “I am such a bad mother.” She tips more pills into her mouth and repeats her words again. She repeats this motion several times. The real Mrs Johnstone breaks down and repeats her words. Suddenly she looks up and says “this is the future.” The play carries on and when she looks back the environment has now shifted to a graveyard where a coffin is being lowered into a hole. We know it is a graveyard as we can see the expression on Mrs Johnstone face as she reads the plaque aloud. The plaque reads ‘In the fondest memory of Mary Johnstone who took her own life into her own hands.’
At this point Mrs Johnstone whispers in a horse voice “can I change this?”
The voice of the Future says “of course you can, it’s the future.”
The ghost of the future takes Mrs Johnstone back to bed and she instantly falls asleep.
All of the characters that played ghosts also played the parts of the past, present and future.
In conclusion to this, I feel that the play showed both real life and dream life mixed in together to give an abstract feeling. Although the acts seem to have ideas taken from the play ‘a Christmas carol,’ it seems to me that the ideas were only based around this and overall were acted out very well and therefore were shown to be very believable.
Menace
We were also instructed to recreate the final scene with movement and a minimum of words, using only stylised drama to capture the essence of the mood of the scene. We were also told to use repetition to reinforce the key moments of tension.
We decided to use just two characters, these were Eddie and Mickey. Simon played Mickey and Liam played Eddie.
The lines that we were allowed to use are listed below:
- I stopped taking the pills.
-
Linda and I are just friends.
- Blood Brothers wasn’t it, remember?
- I thought I was going to shoot you.
- You had a twin brother.
We were to concentrate on the following:
We started our act by having both Eddie and Mickey both sat down day dreaming but both thinking of something to say.
After a while Mickey says “I stopped taking the pills…those pills.
Eddie nods in reply obviously not thinking about what he just said.
After a few moments Eddie says “ Linda and I ARE just friends…and just friends.
Immediately after this is said Mickey jumps to his feet and yells in his face “Blood Brothers wasn’t it…WASN’T IT? I thought I was going to shoot you…going to shoot”…At this point Mickey produces a gun and rams it into Eddies jaw and repeats his line again “Blood Brothers wasn’t it.”
Eddie jumps up and at the same time both Eddie and Mickey say to one another “you had a twin brother.”
Both look startled and in anger Mickey shoots Eddie. The police appear and put several bullets into the chest of Mickey. Mickey is blown across the room by the impact of the bullets. Both boys fall to the floor and the scene closes.
In conclusion to this small and once again abstract, I feel that it produced some real life drama at the same time of it being very sketchy. It showed what could have been said when they met for the final time. Throughout the scene the pace/tempo was constantly being changed. It started out very slow but speeded up as the scenes progressed.
The mood started off quite warm and happy and turned darker and more ‘edgy’ as the scenes progressed.
The movement was very still to start but got more ‘moving’ as the play moved forward. The movement however did not get smoother but it got very jittery and fast in the matter of only a few seconds.
I feel however that this scene was one of our best performances because it was very abstract but at the same time realistic.
Overall I feel that the drama exam was a success as we could portray the parts of all characters and main aspects of the play quite sufficiently and successfully due to the fact that we each got issued a Bloodbrothers novel/play to work from.