Month: May 2016

ITEM 1:

Introduction:

Our assessment was built and evolved around the stimulus of Aylan Kurdi’s death, and effects it had on his fathers life after. Aylan Kurdi was fleeing with his family from Syria, (due to danger from ISIS like millions of other Syrians) and was crossing the Mediterranean sea, where he was driven in an unsafe boat steered by a smuggler and eventually it capsized. Hours later, he was found dead on a Turkish beach, washed up on the shore, and a journalist took a picture of him being picked up by a Turkish officer and the picture went viral. His death was a real wake up call to the world, and now governments are picking up on these smugglers who are charging these vulnerable refuges a lot of money to be taken across these vicious seas, which are sometimes fatal and devastating.

Since we had been discussing frequently about refugees and Aylan Kurdi’s death specifically, we decided that it would be interesting if we had done our rehearsed improvisation around that idea. We decided to do it on his his dads life after his families death, so that we could give the audience a better idea of how exactly he might have felt, and how he was able to cope with the death of his children and wife on a daily basis.

Our central question was: “Can the father forgive himself for the death of his family?” We decided to pick this as our central question, as we felt that it would be interesting to explore the answer through our acting, and it’s also a question which the audience can think about and can form their own opinion on.

I felt that having the connection between son and their father was a advantage to us, as it caused a great deal of tension in certain scenes. For example, in the scene where the father is asleep and wakes up to his sons being beside him, there is real tension here for the audience, until he finds out that they are just ghosts. This almost created an atmosphere of false hope for the audience, which broke the tension and brought a strong sense of sympathy for the father, which really helped strengthen our performance on an emotional level. So these conflicts of different atmospheres and tensions really intensified our performance.

When we first started crafting our piece, we felt not to have as much of the sons in the act, as we thought it would weaken our play and we wanted to concentrate on the father more specifically, and look into how he coped in his day to day life, however, we found that having more of the sons in the scenes came as an advantage, as it helped the audience understand what the father is going through in more detail. Having kids in our play also helped, as generally, when there are kids in a performance there is a level of sympathy given to the play from the audience, which definitely boosted our piece on another level.

Aylan Kurdi’s dad holding Aylan’s hand (left) and his other son on the other.

We decided to explore the idea of a day in Aylan Kurdi’s dad’s life after the tragic death of his sons and wife. We got this idea, as we thought that this event that occurred, was a turning point in the importance of what refugees were and still are going through in that specific chapter of their journey to safety, and how we, as people who live in more powerful countries, can help out. In the process of making our little play, we had this scene where we wanted Andre (one of the boys) to walk on his knees so that he was at more of a kids height in proportion to when he acting alongside a adult character in the play. We decided to scrap the idea, as we felt it would look a bit strange and unrealistic if we had him walking around on his knees, and it wouldn’t be appealing to the audience.

In our scene, we had three main characters who were: Aylan Kurdi’s dad, and his two sons who performed in a ghost form throughout the play. We decided to have the kids in a ghost form, as we believed it was more effective in creating the notion that he was going mad, by seeing his sons as ghosts, and how no one else can see them apart from him. In the play, we decided to keep the names of the characters as ours in real life, so that we leave the audience with something closer to home, and not something that the media had given or labelled. We wanted to leave the audience thinking about what this play was related to. We also felt that it was important to leave them with the decision of what THEY thought the scene was revealing/referring to. It was important that we made the ages of our characters to be of Aylan Kurdi’s, his dads and his brothers. We aimed to have Aylan around 4 years of age, his brother 7 and his dad 35-45. It was essential that the audience was able to recognize this, as the play would have been made more realistic, so when the two brothers had lines, we put on a small kids childish voice to portray their age, and of course by then, it would have been quite clear that his dad was one of the only main adult characters in the scene.

I found it quite easy to develop my character into a similar kid to Aylan Kurdi. I found it easy as I thought about it like this: Aylan Kurdi was just like any other 4 year old kid, so I had to think: What was I like when I was four years old? What kind of things did I do? This helped me a lot as it put me in his “shoes” therefore prepared me to get into character a lot easier and more comfortably. It then felt more natural in that role, and that’s important as we want it to look as realistic as possible and not so artificial.

As I mentioned before, in order to communicate my role to the audience fully, I needed to polish things like how I moved on the stage, and how I used my voice. In order to fulfill this, I had to put on a child’s voice, to communicate to my audience my characters personality through my acting. An example of this, is in the scene when the dad is asleep, and he hears his sons’ voice whispering “dad” constantly, and it gets louder and louder and the dad wakes up. This was captivating and emotional, as it gave the audience an insight into what the dad was seeing and hearing in his head. It put the audience in an awkward, but effective position as it left them in the dads situation which helped them experience that part of the play, and feel what he felt. My movement on stage was also significantly important, as this would also reveal to my audience what my character was like. To do this, I had to move around stage like a little kid, almost bopping on my step and walking clumsily to signify my child like movements.

I think our piece was successful in communicating our central question which was: “Can the father forgive himself for the death of his family?” I believe this, as we showed the audience how exactly the father felt. For example, in the scene where the father couldn’t even eat when he got home from work. This shows how bad he felt, and how he could barely do simple daily things such and eat and sleep, which are essential in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The death of his children really tipped his life upside down, and I think the audience understood this throughout our piece. To develop our performance, so that we communicate to the audience better, I think that we should add more expression and character into our kids roles, so that we can tell the audience what kind of relationship they had with the father, and what their personalities were like individually and I think that this could possibly apply to the dad as well. This way, the audience have a better perception of what kind of characters they are watching.

In our play, the use of improvisation was key as it added an element of originality, which brought a natural look to the play. It helped the audience understand the play better and also helped us, as actors, as it developed our improvisation skills which would be important if we were to continue into drama as a future career. An example of where we used improvisation, is in the scene where we were walking around the dad while he was asleep, and we had to improvise and think of what questions we were going to ask him about why he didn’t save the children. It’s fair to say that improvisation definitely solidified our performance as a whole to a certain extent, and certainly in that specific scene.

ITEM 2:

The situation that we decided to to explore was, what Aylan Kurdi’s dads life was like at home after a day at work. How he felt, what he ate, how he moved etc… This idea actually came from Item 1, and we felt that developing it further, would give us better material to work with. I had this idea where I wanted my character to pray after coming back from work and piling his clothes. I wanted this idea, as I felt that in his position, religion was a reason to live for, to believe in, and was also a realistic piece of material. I thought that this action would have been important to the play, but since my play was already too long, adding it would have extended my scene too much.

Throughout the scene, there was only one character, and that was Aylan Kurdi’s dad. As I mentioned in Item 1, I felt to have the Dad around 35-45 years for age, as it would have been a reasonable age to go with. We developed the characters physical background by not forgetting his age, and how he’s getting a bit older and his emotional state at the time, however, that is a discussion for later in the topic.

I developed the character I played by putting myself in his shoes, by thinking how I would feel if my family died, what I do, how I would walk, how I would talk. This helped a lot, as it put me into character quicker and easier and my scene was more realistic, which bound a strong connection between me and the audience. My character was based on the research I done on Aylan Kurdi and his death, and I found that developing his dad after his tragic death was more interesting due to: him, his life’s position and emotional vulnerability at the time and maybe even right now. This character came from our discussions in drama about Syrian refugees, and I found that exploring this specific event, which was a significant turning point in refugees and there safety, was important part of making our world today a better place.

The way I communicated my character to the audience, was very important in portraying a realistic and emotional piece. How I moved was very important and I communicated this to the audience by slouching when I walked, this portrayed almost no emotion and physical vulnerability, which shows to the audience what state his life was in. My facial expression was also important in communicating my characters mood to our audience. I did this by putting a straight face throughout the play to show my audience that my character was sort of depressed, and had no emotion to show after his life had been turned upside down. When I talked, I used a flat voice in the beginning, but as my character explained to the audience his thoughts, I got louder and my character got more frustrated and showed more facial expression.

Improvisation helped me a lot as when I didn’t know what to do, I improvised. For example, when I killed myself that was improvised, but looking back at it, I would have put a black cloth on me to symbolize death. Improvisation also gave my scene a more natural look than if it was rehearsed.

I think our piece was successful in communicating our central question which was: “Can the father forgive himself for the death of his family?” I believe this, as we showed the audience how exactly the father felt. For example, in the scene where the father couldn’t even eat when he got home from work. This shows how bad he felt, and how he could barely do simple daily things such and eat and sleep, which are essential in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The death of his children really tipped his life upside down, and I think the audience understood this throughout our piece.

ITEM 3:

Introduction to my presentation:

• During this presentation I will take you through ideas for the set of my scene such as: costumes, lighting and sound which I will use to develop my scene and bring it to life.

Design ideas for the set:

• Living room attached to kitchen
• Untidy set
• Worn out brown sofa with a pillow and blanket
• Little coffee table with a few dirty plates on it and a plate with untouched food accompanied by large photos of his two dead sons and wife
• A Small fridge in the corner
• Scattered clothes
• Massive pile of un-opened mail next to the door

Costumes:

• Our main character will wear a white creased shirt, grey boot cut trousers and conservative smart shoes, which represents the visual impact on the audience. This shows the struggle the character is facing after the tragic death of his children and wife.

Lighting and sound:

• In the beginning of the play, the spot light focuses on different parts of the room which are significant in reflecting his struggle after his loss.
• The lighting slowly fades away from different parts of the room, focusing on the main character as he enters the scene.
• The music needs to be “underscoring” all the action taking place. Some melancholic music ,which starts slow, and builds up throughout the scene, will be played. It will end suddenly as he is about to commit suicide to create tension and atmosphere.
  • Red dim lighting will be present throughout the scene to symbolise sadness in his mood.
  • As he kills himself, a quick “snap” in lighting as it turns off.

Conclusion:

• To conclude my aim was to maintain a constant mood when choosing different design ideas in order to bind an emotional connection between the character and the audience.

A while later, Pip receives a visitor late at night, Abel Magwitch, the convict who he met all those years ago. After Magwitch got sent to Australia, (basically prison in Australia) he decided that he was to make a living and a fortune there through farming (we assume). Magwitch reveals that it was him infact, who had been the benefactor this whole time, and who had been supplying Pip with all this money (not Miss Havisham). Pip is extremely shocked. Magwitch asks Pip if he could live with him, and Pip decides to look after him. (Chapter 39)

One day, the man who smelt of soap in Miss Havishams home (Jaggers), arrives to tell Pip that an unknown benefactor, has funded a lot of money for Pip to become a “gentleman”. He says that Pip, has “great expectations”. Pip wrongly thinks that Miss Havisham is the benefactor (Chapter 18). He buys a new suit, and heads for London the next morning. (Chapter 19)

Another worker at Joe’s blacksmith den is Dolge Orlick. He is a terrifying man, who bullies Pip and scares Biddy by eyeing her constantly. One day, he gets into an argument with Mrs Joe, which ends in Joe punching Orlick. Later, Mrs Joe is found with her head bashed in from behind, by an anonymous attacker. They think it was Orlick, but they can’t be certain. Biddy comes to live at the house to look after Mrs Joe. (Chapters 15-17)

Pip becomes a regular visitor to Satis House, and meets Miss Havisham’s “friends” (who only want her for her money) and in one specific day, he meets a man who smells of soap. (Chapter 9)

Pip feels ashamed of his low class, but a nice girl called Biddy comforts Pip, but Pips mind doesn’t change. To make himself closer to Estella’s standard, he decides to go to school learn to read and write.(Chapter 10)

5 years later, Miss Havisham calls Joe to Satis House and gives him 25 gunieas (equal to £1.05), to fund for Pip to become his apprentice. Pip isn’t fond of this, as he doesn’t want to be seen working as a blacksmith by Estella, because he thinks that she then wouldn’t like him. (Chapters 11-14)

A few days later, Mr Pumblechook takes Pip to Satis House, which belonged to a wealthy lady called Miss Havisham, who wants to see children play. She has not left the house since her husband walked out on her, on her wedding day. She now stopped all the clocks in the house, still wears the same dress and still has the same food since that day. (Chapter 7/8)

When Pip arrives at Satis House, he is told to play cards with Miss Havisham’s beautiful adopted daughter, Estella. Pip falls in love with her straight away, but Miss Havisham raised Estella to seek revenge on men, since what her husband done to her on her wedding day. Estella constantly bullies Pip, he feels “common” or “ordinary”. (Chapter 8)

We learn that Pip is uneducated and can’t read or write. His family died when he was young, and has to live with his older sister, Mrs Joe Gargery and her husband Joe, who is a blacksmith. Pip loves Joe, but we find that Mrs Joe (Mrs Gargery) is always bullying them. Mr Pumblechook and his friend Mr Wopsle like to downgrade Pip. (Chapter 1)

One evening, Pip goes to visit his parents graves when he meets an escaped convict which persuades Pip, (by threatening him with a young man that he knows who will taunt Pip physically) to get him some food and a file. (Chapter 1)

Out of the frightening thought of the young man hurting Pip, he wakes up late at night and goes to meet the convict at the same place where they met. Pip gives the convict his food, and goes back home. (Chapter 2/3)

The next day, as Pip is having dinner with his family and friends, (Mr Wopsle, Mr Pumblechook etc) the soldiers find the escaped convict that Pip met. The convict does not sell out Pip, and decides to take the blame for stealing the file and food. (4-6)