Devising Process

- We began this section of the course by first getting together and discussing what makes a good team member, we did this so that we all knew what was expected of each other throughout the year.
- The next stage was a brief devising project to help enhance the purpose of teamwork and start to get our creative ideas out
- After this, The initial stages of devising were built, this included thorough practise sessions with emphasis on creativity and imagination
-We were then put into groups and given a stimulus, ours was 'Headspace'; this is where the project really began. We began by brainstorming the key things we could think of which would be relevant ideas for a piece- small brainstorm below, click on image to enlarge

-Once we decided on a rough idea we began to create a 3 frame story as a way to help build a plot and a direction to go, As first we had planned to have the piece based around mental healthier and a young girls thoughts around school but as we explored more, we decided it would be better to have a performance where there is no set time or place, it will mainly be dialogue based around senses in relation to mental health, the reason we chose to do mainly nonsensical dialogue is so that it is clear we are reconstructing mental health in our performance by using techniques from playwrights such as Artaud, Pinter and Berkoff

-  In order to prevent us from over-analysing our pieces we had to do a small task, in which we were given a word and 10 seconds to get into a position, one by one. We could also move the people around us to create a freeze frame, once we had done this we then had to come up with a thought track and then elaborate this to make an abstract scene, this helped us all very well as we learnt that it was better to improvise then improve rather than over-talking and ending up with nothing.

- We have been creating small scenes and we are (slowly) beginning to come up with a piece, however because it is nonsensical it is difficult to figure out a plot and then work with it scene by scene. We decided to hold on to any ideas and come up with a plan which included creating a short storyboard and also thinking about how we wanted the audience to feel. We decided that we want the audience to think about themselves and how they view mental illnesses, so they don't just walk away from the performance confused, to do this we intend to show the various personalities and perspectives that people may have such as resentment, confusion or ignorance.

The genre of our play may be considered as psychological, in some ways a mild horror or a thriller, we intend on making it quite an ambiguous piece but clear enough so that it can engage an audience

Over Analysing 

We have notice that we have a problem with over analysing our scenes instead of getting up and practising. This wastes a lot of time as we are spending way too long thinking our a great idea when we should be using the time to perform and perfect.

In order to help us get in the routine of not over analysing we took part in an activity based upon this.

Sir chose a word or phrase and we had to create a still image from this. However to make this harder we went one after the other, reacted to what the person before at done and only have a few seconds to get into a position. 
 
This helped because we didn't have time to over think things which resulted into creating a good piece of drama.

Plan and Schedule

In order to meet our deadline we have created a plan. We will do this by creating a time line which goes through the devising stage. Each scene consists of what dramatic techniques we wish to use, the time we will spend to complete the scenes and the practitioner.

We have decided to do the first three scenes in one week, leaving the last two scene to complete in the next week. After this we have two week to refine and perfect, ready to perform. 

Physical Theatre

In one scene we are going to use physical theatre to emphasise the the chaos of paranoia.   

Scene 1: schizophrenia (child)

"Pure imagination" plays and reveals an empty stage. we all run on from different areas and act child-like. Lisa and Michelle playing together, John and Aimee interacting and Ellie sitting by herself, when the music fades Ellie is sitting laughing to herself and Michelle asks why. Ellie asks whether we can see "them" and makes references to them around the room. John asks if Ellie has imaginary friends but Ellie claims they are real and goes in to a long discussion about the people she can see to the children but eventually to the audience. as she does this the others run off in different directions and bring on chairs ready for the next scene. lighting remains natural throughout apart from Ellie's part which has a spotlight on her when she talks about number 13. the aim of the scene is to make the audience sympathise with Ellie's child character talking about schizophrenia - yet this isn't mentioned. practitioners included in this scene may be Godber because there are no props and acting is relied upon to set the scene.

Scene 2: insomnia - all life areas

The lights become slightly dimmed. Aimee stays in place but swings around and lays down...the chairs arc around her. she gets out of "bed" and says her piece to the audience then goes back down. the people around her are saying things and they slowly become more monotone and sinister as random occurrences from life are said...they get more sinister as the stages of life continue. there is then a collation of sounds and voices played over the top until there is a car crash sound, and the lights go extremely bright. Aimee says to audience again...Ellie and Michelle to go her and be nice then Lisa and John are mean to her about sleeping, she then says that she's fine, just a bit...then gets up and leaves Michelle to fall, to which she says "down" ready for the next scene. possible practitioners to relate to this scene is Sarah Kane for the sinister and abstract nature of it, or Pinter for the same reasons plus nonsensical language being used and the feeling of being trapped in a room by these people who represent her thoughts.

Scene 3: depression, young - middle aged woman

Lisa and Aimee standing on opposite chairs and pull Michelle up as if on puppet strings and let her go again. Michelle asks for doctors but finds out she has none, then becomes her own doctors. there are two opposite chairs and Michelle sits on each side pretending to be doctor then patient, blue lighting occurs as Michelle sits down as doctor and red light occurs as she sits down as patient. she runs back and forth having a conversation with herself about her depressive feeling but the doctor shoves them off. Michelle then breaks away and speaks to the audience about how she feels from the doctors and patients point of view. the aim is to have the audience dislike doctor's character and sympathise with the patients character. after these insights Michelle sits back down in the doctors chair and becomes a chair herself but lights go back to normal and she sits there a while ready for the next scene to begin. the main influence for this scene is Berkoff because of the absurdest nature of the acting as it is very upbeat for somebody with depression as well as exaggerated

Scene 4: paranoia, young man

Michelle is still sitting there and makes comic line about being a chair and a doctor and Ellie then walks in and becomes a TV. the two have a bit of a conversation and some banter then Lisa comes in as the phone and the conversation between the furniture continues and Lisa cues Aimee as a stereo to come in and everyone makes a little song up - there is then a loud bang to indicate that John has come home and all the furniture decide they will mess with him again. as he comes in he is interrogated by all of the furniture and each person becomes two different furniture objects. they are ripping into him till the point where they destroy him and make him outburst making the others run off stage and he then gives his monologue about paranoia but again not mentioning it himself. he mentions something about his Sargent and this brings everyone back onto the stage. when the army bit is done everyone lays down while John turns on a metronome in preparation for the next scene. Artaud and theatre of cruelty are inspirations for this piece as well as theatre of the absurd with physical theatre and the juxtaposition of comedy with menacing effects on the individual.

Scene 5: OCD and ending

A metronome is going and the whole group do a routine of regular activities...on the second time round Lisa sits up late but they don't wait for her and she tries to get them to stop but they can't hear her and so she feels helpless. when the others have finished their routines she says her monologue about having OCD. each of the other actors then sits up and says the name of the illness they were portraying and then walk up to 5 bowls of water as there is strobe lighting to wash the make-up off and then we all say "we're still human"