15th July 2018

Today in class we were asked to create some images that reflected the word “rejection”. I forgot how difficult it was to devise but in the end we were able to create a piece of drama which encapsulated what we, as an ensemble, thought represented the word “rejection”

Later in the lesson we were shown a Ted Talk of a creator of a show that explored a businessman’s adventures in dreams and reality. To do this, she designed multiple atmospheres and effects using multimedia. Her designs are so jarring and creative that they really captured my attention, even if it was quirky and strange. I thought that made it all the much better! When I watched the video, I was so shocked at the way she was able to interact with sound and light to create and enhance the atmosphere. I enjoy watching videos like this as I am now more inspired to experiment with using multimedia in my future theatre projects.

 

4th October 2018 – CP 

Here is the link to our planning and ideas doc.

Our main stimulus was this poem by Charles Bukowski from his book “Love is a Dog from Hell”

We wanted to play with the idea of success and what it means to other people. We thought this was an important issue to address especially today where everyone is becoming so competitive, whether that be in grades, schools or careers. We questioned the sacrifices make in order to be ‘successful’ and whether by achieving success,  they compromised their happiness.

Initially we thought of using a Brechtian style because he used theatre as a way of bringing political and social issues to light, however we realised that this was an intention for several practitioners. In the end we decided not to focus on a practitioner and rather create a piece that we thought best portrayed our intention.

OUR INTENTION: For the audience to realise the relativity of success and what ‘success’ means for different people.

I thought it would be interesting if we had the audience in Thrust. This is so that they are looking at each other and might be prompted into thinking about the people around them in relation to success. I also thought it would be more impactful if we asked them rhetorical questions (“Are you a winner?”, “Is this what you want?”, “Are you happy?”, “Is this success?”) directly to force them to reflect on what the word really means to them.

Here is one of our final rehearsals before our actual performance and here is the Final Performance

Here is the link to our Audience’s Thoughts after watching our performance