copyright

Since we have used an existing story that has been written by someone else. Also the fact that it's someone else's real life experience means we need to be careful with how we use it as they might be sensitive with it for example, going on television(Not that it will!) or putting it in a published book(not that it will do that either!).

We should be careful that it isn't ours, and should give credit to the author. We should also contact the author, telling them about how we have used it in our piece and why, to let them know. But we should have done that at the beginning actually and got permission from her.

In addition to this, Imogen covered 'Perfect' by Pink as the audience came in. I think it should also be noted that this isn't our song, this isn't the one we wrote.

West Yorkshire Playhouse Funding

The West Yorkshire Playhouse a huge company and therefore is funded in many ways.

At the beginning of January 2011, the West Yorkshire Playhouse was awarded a grant of £1.4million from the Arts Council to fund a two year programme of research and development. The West Yorkshire Playhouse said that this funding will help them to communicate with audiences and gain feedback, work with communities in and around Leeds, help develop relationships with new and existing artists.


'Funding for the Playhouse comes from Arts Council England (£1,100,000), Leeds City Council (£820,000), Leeds Education Authority (£84,000) and West Yorkshire Grants (£97,000). The Playhouse has over twenty-five corporate members in its Directors' Club including Evans property group, Carlsberg Tetley, Yorkshire Post, ITV Yorkshire and Leeds Metropolitan University.' - http://www.theatreandshowflyers.com/theatre-details.asp?custid=480

They will also get money from tickets they sell for the plays they put on.

The 'First Floor' project at the West Yorkshire Playhouse recieves no regular funding or public funding. The playhouse is constantly looking for new and sustainable ways to fund it, but now has to rely on fundraising, project funding and deliver work. If you wish to take part in an activity you have to pay a small fee of, normally, £1 to cover workshop costs.

Health& Safety!

Health and safety is important when you have an audience, because you are responsible for them as well as yourself.

You must make sure that fire exits are always available. You don't know when a fire will happen (Unless you expect something could happen due to a certain scene in your performance.) and your audience definately won't. Make sure they know where it is by pointing it out, or at least having a visable sign. Of course, keep the path to it clear.

If you're using anything, such as a large prop, which could possibly fall onto the audience if knocked over, make sure a space is cleared around it or move it away from the audience.

Your own safety on stage is also important.
-Keep wires out of the way, or anything you could fall over.
-Wear sensible shoes if you're going to do a lot of moving around.
-Don't move heavy props on your own.
-Rehearse so you know where things will move to.

PLTS / Contributions.

Last Tuesday, we thought about our contributions to the T.I.E pieces. Here's what we got;

Effective Participators;

- Discuss and resolve concerns;

We were worried that we wouldn't meet the deadline. We didn't meet the first deadline because we were unorganised, so we decided to be a little more organised e.g Making a timeline of what we would do.

We had a disagreement about something to do with the skeleton. We weren't sure if we wanted to put flowers round it or not, as a group, we decided not to.

- Present a persuasive case for action;

We needed to borrow the skeleton, but at first we couldn't have neither the new one of the old one. We had to be persuasive, and we eventually got a skeleton. It was the old one, but it was better than none at all.

Each of us had to present our idea for T.I.E pieces at the start of the unit, back in December. We had to create a presentation on a subject of our choice, which would then be voted on by the class. I found the anorexia/body image presentations very persuasive, that's why I decided to join one of those groups.

- Propose practical ways forward, breaking these down into manageable steps;

We made a couple of timelines, one at the beginning where we didn't meet the timeline, then one after the new timeline had been set. I tried to stick to this and make references to it whenever I thought it would help the group.

- Identify Improvements;

Imogen rewrote the script from the problems we had found whilst watching certain parts. Some parts didn't make sense, some parts we thought needed slowing down or speeding up, and some just needed sometime more in them. We scrapped some ideas, and added more in. The first scripts was very short, so we had to keep adding parts in.

Team Workers;

Collaborate with others towards common goals; 

Well, first of all we all had the common goal of creating a successful T.I.E piece and completing it before the deadline.

To do this, we first needed a script which we all took part in. We all sat round a computer, worked out who should be who, how they would speak, ect. We all decided to follow the story Imogen had found, 'The Skeleton In My Closet' as the backbone to our story.

We all had to act in the T.I.E, because we had small groups.

- Reach agreements, managing discussions to achieve results;

We had alot of discussions about conventions, scene ideas, characters, ect. We had to reach agreements on what we wanted to use, and what would really create an effect, because we couldn't use ALL our ideas, there were too many. I tried to explain which would be useful/ would have a good effect or show the theme of anorexia against what could just be a waste of time.

Provide constructive support and feedback to others;

Me and Imogen gave Emily and Beth feedback while they were doing the 'Mirror Scene'. Such as if it would be better to face the audience or face each other, ect.
We gave feedback to other groups when possible. This was often when we saw unfinished parts in rehearsals, or if we were asked to look over sometime that might be put in but needs looking at.
I filled out questionaires for other groups after their performances, trying to give them as much useful feedback as I could by giving full answers with things to improve, and things I liked.

Performance& Feedback!

We have finally performed our TIE pieces! I was pretty nervous all day.
We had the first two lessons to rehearse our pieces (One and a half really) and I think that was very useful to refresh our memories about the piece, since we only got to rehearse once a week.  Our costume was simply all black and everyone had brought in one prop.  This extra time was very useful. The only thing we didn't do was organise our workshop.Our performance was period 5, and my nerves were building after the other groups had performed. They were all brilliant. It was also a 2-1-2 day, so we didn't have lunch time to set up like we'd expected, but we managed to set it up fine.
We thought we were  only performing to one year 8 class, but we performed to two and afew sixth formers (A level drama class). The room was really full, but all of the audience seemed to listen and no-one was disruptive.Sometime before our performance, Imogen was playing Pink - Perfect on Sebs guitar, and we thought that it fitted almost perfectly with our piece, so we asked her very nicely to play it while the Year 8's came in and sat down. I think it was very effective because it's a well known song as it has been on the radio for a while, and the audience didn't need to think too hard what it was about so it gave an instant effect.
The performance went  very well, I didn't notice any mistakes and nothing came up in the feedback, so that's great.
The workshopafterwards was sort of off the top of our head, Beth decided to do some hot seating after the performance because she knew her character very well. They asked a few questions in the hot seating and the questions seemed to flow more when we had got them started then died down. The questions were relevant showing that they paid attention to the piece, and also shows that we chose the correct target audience and correct language in the piece that they were able to follow.

Our Feedback;

Mr. Truscott; He picked up on the song at the beginning. I think he was abit confused as to why we used that song and not the one we had spent time writing in the lessons which was written specifically for our TIE piece, but he still liked the song choice.

Miss. Bentley; She loved Beths use of 'direct address'. She asked us if we'd meant to do most of it but most of the parts that she had pointed out were just natural things we did and we weren't planning them as a certain technique.

A Level Class;
They had different feedback sheets on the piece. A list of what they said;
- Direct Address was really well done.
- Strong imagery, e.g the skeleton. Shocking to the audience.
- 'Fat, Trapped, Alone' - 'YES' 'Brect 'Slap-Tickle Technique'.
- Good audience choice to talk about anorexia with

What could we improve?

- 'Fat, Trapped, Alone' would have been alot better if we had thought of a way to get more people involved, e.g getting other diploma members in the audience?
- Include more statistics/facts about anorexia/eating disorders.
- Hair needed to be tied back.


I'm impressed with how well the theatre went. I expected it to go well, but I expected some noticable mistakes, but I don't think there were any.  I feel relieved that it's now over!

7th June!

This was our last proper rehearsal time before our performances and we unfortunately had to go to an exam before we had any rehearsal space, but we managed to rehearse in a corridor in school. It was better than no rehearsal at all.
The practicing in the corridor went well. Lines are pretty much perfect, everyone knows what they're doing, and everyone is a part of the performance.


PLTS's!;
Be organised - Kind of.
Manage emotions  - Yes.
Go for it, finish it - Almost.
Manage risks - Pretty much.

Creative Thinker!;
Imagine -Yes!
Question assumptions - Kind of.
Take creative risks - Yes!
Make links - Kind of.
Effective Participator!;
Persuade others - I think we've all persuaded each other to try different ideas.
Identify issues - Definately!
Find solutions - Yes.
Get involved - Yes.


Reflective Learner!;

Set yourself challenges - Yes, definately for me! Drama is a big challenge.
Plan - Do - Review - In the process of reviewing!
Invite Feedback - Yes.
Share Learning - Yes.


Team Worker!;
Take responsibility -  We've all done our bit!
Evaluate the team - Yes.
Build team strength - Definately, I think this has gotten better as the unit has gone on.
Manage the team - Yes!

Independant Enquirer!;


Reach conclusions - Kind of.
Evaluate the evidence - Kind of.
Explore a question - Kind of.
Staying objective - Sometimes.
The Independant Enquirer section is definately out weakest! I think we could work on staying focused on the task we need to be doing. I can't think of any evidence we can evaluate, apart from when we were researching into anorexia and eating disorders and we decided how we could fit these into our piece.

7th of June targets

Here are some targets we need to complete by the end of this lesson;

1. Have a rough idea of what we will be doing in our workshop. (Drama conventions, ect.)
- Conscience Alley.
- Role On The Wall.
- Physical Theatre.
2. Have a smooth, looking at problems, run of the piece and feel comfortable with it.
- Lines.
- Movement.
3.  Get some more feedback and improve.

17th May!

On the 17th of May, we the results from our last unit. I got a B, which I thought was alright.

  12 = C
  24 = B
  36 = A
  48 = A*

The part I was lacking in was feedback, which was a difficult part because the only people who got the most feedback were the ones who's videos were actually put forward to the panel, I feel. I'm happy with my mark, because it could have been worse. We know for the current unit that feedback is VERY important.

In rehearsals, we got a little distracted by props again. We had the skeleton out again. We had a scarf(or something like a scarf) draped behind it and we stuck some fake flowers through it to see if it would make a nice effect. I think it looked too busy, and though it made the prop stand out, it was too much.However, we managed to get a few run throughs done though. Tom, Francesca and Sebs piece is looking really good, I recorded it and now only little bits need fixing. Their movement between scenes is really interesting because it's not just simply walking from one place to another. There's slamming of chairs, ect.

One problem I noticed was getting the dress off the skeleton in time for the next scene. It needs to be on there to add an effect that it's small and the main character was very skinny, but the dress snags on the bones of the skeleton and it's difficult to get off. This would affect the pace of the drama which could possibly leave the audience a little confused or the skeleton could possibly fall apart, which would be very annoying. Other ways the pace could be slowed down was if someone forgot a line or missed lines. This would leave the other actors confused and could lead to loss of confidence for the person who forgot/missed a line.

Contracts!

First Hour;

Today we found out our deadlines and performance dates!
We had to reschedule them because our pieces were no-where near ready!

Our performance date is Tuesday 14th June, Period 5 during a Year 8 drama session. Year 8's were our prefered target audience, and we will have most of the day to rehearse/watch others pieces as it's a diploma day, making it easier to free up the day.

We were also given a 'contract' which was an agreement between the school and the theatre company. The company gives the school a 'list' of requirements for their performance. Afew examples of questions are;
- Accessibility
  - How easy is the access to the performance space?
  - Do you have any loading bays for set and or props?

- Are the students used to seeing theatre work?
  - How familiar are the students with the theatre?
  - Do they know different theatre conventions?
  - Are they completely knew to the theatre?
- Audience
  - What is the target audience for the piece?
  - How suitable is the piece?
  - How many seats does the performance space have?
  - How many viewers does it hold?

We were given a contract given to the school by 'Splendid Productions.' for a piece that had been into school recently called 'The Trial' as an example of a contract.

Second Hour;

We ran through the script a couple of times, before we decided to get the skeleton down. We are now using the old skeleton, as we were told last week that we could keep it downstairs in the drama store cupboard because it isn't used. So we now have a skeleton! It was a slight challenge getting the dress on the skeleton, but we did eventually, and it looked pretty cool!
That's one more prop sorted!

Bertolt Brecht - Physical Theatre

Physical Theatre
Some people believe that Brecht first introduced physical theatre.
It's often theatre with added movement, or even dance added. It could also be a live musical performance.

'Many physical styles of theatre such as mime, Commedia dell'Arte, slap-stick, clowning etc can be categorised as physical theatre. Any movement-driven theatre can also be called Physical Theatre.'http://www.4dr.co.uk/whatis.php

'The Good Woman of Setzuan '

Bertolt Brecht

- Born in Augsburg, Germany
- 10 February 1898. 

- Died in Berlin on 14 August 1956.
- He was a poet, playwrite and theatre director.

 'Brecht created an influential theory of theatre—the epic theatre—that proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection.'

Prop& Costume!

We had a little time before we had a real space to rehearse in so we sat down and discussed our props and costume to help with this homework.


Definite props

The dress - This is probably the most important. It shows her past and how skinny she really was. It's one of the only props (other than a possible skeleton) that really shows the anorexic message.

Lectern - This is for Imogens narrating. We thought it would give a good story telling effect. This could also be exaggerated using a big book.

Clothes Rail - To hang the dress on, 'REVEAL the skeleton and dress'. Also acts as a mirror later on.

Props we'd like;

Food(Cake/chocolate, ect.) - This will be used in the 'flashback' scene where the anorexia's power is shown.

2 Identical Jumpers, just different sizes - Larger jumper for Emily ('Anoreixa') to wear and look 'bigger'
Smaller identical jumper.

An underskirt - Emily has this. We just haven't tried it with the dress. It's to exaggerate the small size of the dress.

Costume;
We don't have any set costume yet. We will just be trying to be our characters. E.G; Children, a mum, ect.

Blah Blah Blah & Konflux

BLAH BLAH BLAH

'Theatre company Blah Blah Blah is a young peoples theatre company in Leeds, touring theatre to young people and family audiences across the country. It works regularly with acclaimed writers and has a unique approach to creating work for performance via dialogue with audience and participants. Our investment supports the provision of high quality touring theatre for young people.'

I think some of their funding comes from people donating to them as a charity, as I found a charity link;http://www.charityportal.org.uk/detail.php?id=1019647753

On google, I found a poster or something of a piece they had done called 'Stuck';



'Some things we can change and some things we are stuck with whether we like it or not'This was designed for youth centers. I think this is a great way for them to reach a young audience, mainly teenagers, because some people may go to youth clubs because they don't have anything to do and seeing theatre might be a great thing for them. I like how they go to young people, but not into a school.

KONFLUXKonflux theatre is mainly for younger childen, mainly touring primary or infant schools. Although they do have an 'Aimhigher' part of the company aimed at year 9 students

'Konflux Theatre in Education is a York-based theatre company touring throughout the United Kingdom with workshop programmes and performances for young people.
Our programmes involve working interactively with groups of schools and all types of venues, incorporating drama as a intergral part of personal and social development.We believe in using drama and theatre as tools for creative learning. Our work inspires imaginations and engases young peoples interest and involvement.'
Their 'Aim Higher' part came into our school last year. Sadly, I didn't see it, but I saw many reviews of it by others who did see it and it sounded pretty good!

26th March; Rehearsals!

On the 26th, Miss Wolfenden was busy with Year 11 exams, but we still had an almost full 2hours to rehearse. I think this really helped out piece, as now it's just a case of learning lines and making sure it's long enough.
Emily decided that the beginning wasn't introducing the piece right. We came up with the idea of the two children playing with a barbie/bratz doll because their bodies are known to be too skinny and out of proportion.

26th March ; Music.

Once again, we worked on our songs and played them back to the group for some more feedback.
  First up was Abi, Jack, Oli and Frankies group. Frankie was just getting used to playing the piano with two hands, and even though she said she'd made mistakes, I don't think I would have noticed it without her saying so.I also think that Abi's drums was very loud and if it was recorded, maybe there would be some way they could make that fade into the background on audacity.
  Second was Seb, Frans and Tommys. I missed the cornet straight away, I think it gave a nice introduction to their music piece. In the feedback the group gave, the piano being taken out was mentioned. I think the piece is great either way. If it will be live, then Seb playing and singing on his own would be easier, and the cornet could also be played because Fran wouldn't be needed to play piano.
  And lastly, Imogen performed our piece. The microphone helped massively and everyone could hear the lyrics alot more clearly. Mr Truscott said that the diction could still be improved however.

The Worm Collector - Touring TIE

Here's a screenshot of the description for 'The Worm Collector' on the West Yorkshire Playhouse website. (http://www.wyp.org.uk/)

At the top it states that the director is Gail McIntyre, who came into school to talk to us last Tuesday. Gail had brought in leaflets about this piece and told us a little about the lead role.

In the second paragraph is briefly saying what the play is about. There's probably some way that schools could contact the playhouse to find out more.

Underneath, there's 'examples of school work from the previous tour.' This could also provide extra information for schools.

Reviews
I found a good review here; http://www.thepublicreviews.com/the-worm-collector-west-yorkshire-playhouse/

The play itself is described as, 'A medley of comedy, sincerity and tragedy.'
It 'combines all the elements of good theatre.'
Nothing here is said about the acting though. Maybe there were very few actors as it is a TIE piece.

The set was described as, 'Simple and effective.'
It mentions that the minimal use of props was useful for focusing the audiences attention on the character of Mark.

A 'video design' was used. I think this means a video was projected behind, but I'm not sure.

Once everyone had settled down and everyone was in the conference room, Gail introduced herself. She is the Associate Director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has resposibility for everything that happens in her projects.  She said something along the lines of; 'If something goes wrong, it's my fault. But everyone takes the credit once it goes right'. If anyone has a problem, they come to Gail for how to fix it. Gail gestured to some leaflets she had brought in, one of which had been into our school but it was for the year 8s.
Gail has worked at the West Yorkshire Playhouse for a while now, and has been involved in five of the christmas plays!

Gail said she loved TIE work, and she loved bringing it into schools. Their youngest age range for schools is 3 - 5 year olds. Gail explained that even though they start with a certain age range, the teachers in schools sometimes decide that they'd like it to be for an older group or a younger group. This means a piece has to be tweaked slightly.

What styles of theatre do you use in your productions?

“It’s not always up to us. I really want to do a TIE piece on Child Carers but I have been told I would not be funded for this. A piece about knife crime is wanted so I have to do this otherwise I will not get paid. I also really want to work with different cultures; Especially the Asian/ Indian cultures of theatre.”
I think this is fair enough because I believe knife crime does need to be made more aware and I'm sure Gail will get a chance to do a piece she's more passionate about one day.

How are your projects funded?

“The touring in schools work with our TIE pieces are funded by Education Leeds, but this funding stops at the end of this year (2011). The work done at the Playhouse is funded by the Arts Council but other specific productions i.e. - knife crime – are funded by The Home Office, or The Royal Armouries ect... We are also paid for commissioning monologues.”

I think it's good that they're paid by these companies to do specific projects and they're not just allowed a room to perform in.

Is there a hierarchy for the roles/ responsibilities within the company?

“Whatever happens, I am responsible for everything! I make nearly every decision about what is happening concerning TIE. The hierarchies are led by different artists. For example the actors, playwrights, singers, poets ect... Make their own decisions about their own pieces. You have to decide who is the most skilled at individual things with their abilities. Within the theatre you have to be collaborative.”

How long does it take you to produce a TIE piece of high quality?

“If we commission a piece in 2008, we tell the writers and they have a year to produce a script, (they may have multiple scripts to write at once!). We usually play for two years ahead. We then rehearse 9-5 Monday- Saturday for 3-4 weeks. Then the designers and set and props crew ect... need time to work out what’s going on in the piece. You have to work out how you want it to look, how you want people to see it and what they will see.  As well as the rehearsal schedule to think about we have to book the tour and work on the workshop to follow the performance.”
The rehearsal time there is long. That's probably why ours arnt finished, because we don't have a block time to do it and by the time it rolls onto the next week, we've forgotten bits of it!

Are some age groups more difficult than others?

“No they are all just different. I have to find the things that will encourage and inspire people and decide which age range it will have the biggest impact on. To do my job your really have to be in touch with any age group to connect to them properly.”

Do you use songs and music in you performances?

“Yes in different ways. The music in the show First Cut portrays the life and emotional journeys of the character. In the Worm Collector we use sound effects to create an atmosphere and explain where you are without actually being there. This sets the scene whilst being versatile.

Music and sounds makes the journey unfold and tells the story. We try stuff in rehearsals to see what works and what doesn’t.  Music for younger ages like Visiting Grandpa, for 3-5 year olds is more appropriate as it engages there minds in a more fun way.”  

The music we'd written for our piece showed a story, so it's pretty similar to the 'First Cut' idea for the music.

How do you connect with the different audiences?

“Forum theatre is a good way to get the audience involved, depending on the audience. In The Snow Queen, the actors who play the robbers rob the audience (without harassing them). This is a fun way to connect the audience with the performance and make them feel part of the story.”

I think forum theatre is a difficult technique, or it is for me. I'd never have thought about the robbing idea though!

How do you get different audience types into the theatre?

“There are different ways to do this. Advertising helps a lot. The Playhouse is a very lucky company and has a very clever and very big marketing team.  

Encouraging schools and engaging with creativity is the other way to get audiences.  We just have to work out what different audiences want.”

Have you ever acted and directed yourself at the same time?

“No, I really don’t think anybody should ever act and direct themselves at the same time. You can tell who does this because of their expressions in the performance. They are never fully connected to the character and it’s very hard to do so when you are acting.”

I've never noticed this in anything I've seen, but I can imagine it would be hard to know how everyone elses characters need to ask, but keep your own too.

Do you gather inspiration by seeing other peoples work?

“Yes you have to otherwise it is very hard to think of something original without seeing a starting point. There are no new ideas; they are what you make them.”

Have you ever had any projects where you feel you have just had enough or couldn't wait for it to be over?

No, Never. Things I have worked on have become slightly tedious or challenging because of the combination of colleagues I worked with but I never ever have had enough of a project.

This is shows she really does enjoy the job and probably knows that most projects will get tedious!

Do you enjoy your job?

Yes! Very much. It’s a very challenging job. It’s very challenging to find what it is that will make a great piece. What will inspire people? You know a piece is good if the actors feel part of it.

It was great to meet Gail. She seemed to like answering all our questions and even said she's interested in coming to see our TIE pieces when they're finished!! I didn't find it scary at all, just quite exciting. I think it would be great for someone like Gail who's done TIE for years to see our pieces. I think it has definately made the groups want to make their pieces something special, it has in ours. She would give us great feedback if we asked for it because she makes pieces like this, but more important and they have to be perfect.

Rehearsals!

Miss Wolfenden suggested that we decide which are our most important props and why they were most important.
The Dress; We asked Miss Dennis if she could have the dress a small size, to make it look more like a size 4/6 as our story is about someone who suffered from anorexia.
The Skeleton; We thought a skeleton from science would be a great idea, because our story is called 'Skeleton In Our Closet'. We chose a skeleton because this further shows the point of anorexia.

We also made a timeline. This way we can see how close we are to the deadline. We can also tick off things we've done on there.




-{In rehearsals! Rough set. We only had one rail at that time out of the possible two.

At the end of the lesson, we had to perform. We'd only quickly ran through our script and put a little movement into it, so it wasn't perfect. The fact that we'd used a real story made script writing easier and it also gave us more ideas. However, we need to show we've done something of our own to it.

 We also made a questionaire, which we were going to use to find out how much people knew about anorexia, and what they thought of body image.



March 15th - Song Writing!

At the beginning of the lesson, we had a little time to rehearse our pieces and get them ready to show the class.

The first group was Tom, Seb& Francesca's and their groups T.I.E piece is going to be about 'Children in Divorce'. I loved Francesca's cornet in the beginning of the piece, because no-one had an instrument that sounded like that. I think she should have played a little more in it because it really did set a good mood in the piece. The song had the right kind of mood, and I think it was really well made.

 

 

The next group was Frankie, Abi, Olly and Jacks and their issue is Gender Equality. Their topic isn't as 'negative' as everyone elses groups, so looked forward to theirs. I love how it was more like a pop song, with rapping, drums and guitar. The only problem was that the lyrics weren't very loud and the instruments over powered them. What I did hear of the lyrics were well written though. I loved it, it was a nice change from the other issues.

 

 

Next it was our groups turn. Imogen was the only one who sung and played, mainly because no-one else had such a skill like Imogen does. Also, we only chose a guitar because we think the piano ruined the feel of the song and we wanted it to be as though it's a story she's put into a song and played on her own.
Our feedback;
The group thought that Imogens diction needed to improve so the lyrics could be heard and that would be a problem because the lyrics that could be heard were powerful. Also, the song ended very quickly and that would improve the song a little better if it were closed better.

 

Questions for Gail McIntyre

A section of our criteria says that we need to interview TWO people who work in and around T.I.E. Miss Wolfenden said that she is trying to organise a lady called Gail McIntyre to come in and answer any questions we had, just like we did in the previous project.

 

Are you paid to do specific themes in theatre or do you choose what you do?

Are there any themes you think shouldn't be dramatised?

Who decides on themes?

How do you fund projects?

Do you have any charitys set up?

Do you keep your company small and easy to travel or do you work in a specific area?

Do you work with a script or improvising?

If you work with a script, who writes it?

If you prefer improvisation, is this the most important thing you look for in your actors?

Do you use music in your pieces? If so, do you write it or do you use previously existing music?

 

Miss Wolfendens Lesson 8/3/11

First off, we handed in our homework and we were given the criteria for our T.I.E unit. For homework, we had to go through it and mark off what we'd done, set any deadlines and work out when we might do other things. After this we got into our groups and did abit of quick planning and organising. We discussed what we'd done over the past week to help the group.

Next, we headed over to the drama studio and because we hadn't got a script yet, we decided we needed to start on that so we headed over to an ICT room and we got around half of it done. We had to think of some subtle ways to add facts and figures to educate our audience but we couldn't think of any! We asked Miss Wolfenden what we should do and she said that T.I.E was about educating the audience without them knowing so we couldn't just shout out random facts about anorexia because it would be a little weird.

Jobs in T.I.E

For homework, we were told to research jobs (a particular one, Konflux). I couldn't find the one mentioned, but I did find a site with various jobs on it:

http://www.uk.stagejobspro.com/
It has many many MANY jobs on one of the tabs. They're situated all over the country and there's a wide variety. Unfortunately, you have to sign up for jobs and things to get a good look at them, so I couldn't research a particular job. But if I were to look for a job in the arts, i'd definately figure out the signing up. You can search certain jobs, or certain employers too. There's a tab for professional actors and you can add your own job, so it's pretty self run:)

1st of March - Miss. Wolfendens Lessons

The first thing we did was look at a piece of our homework, which was to create a PLTS table about our group. Alot of people hadn't done it which made it difficult so they were made to think of feedback off the top of their head. I had apparently done too many people on the grid because I thought it ment the whole group and each section of the PLTS, not just the main title and our little T.I.E group. Some feedback I got was that when Ollie took a quick look at my grid, he said I was being too modest about myself and that I could do alot more than I said I could.

The next thing we did was plan what we were going to do to get out T.I.E pieces done in time. We have been given a deadline of the 5th of March. We got big calendars for the time we had left, and we realised then that it wasn't much time at all! We have alot of time off in April due to the easter holidays and work experience. We decided to get the costumes sorted in the holidays aswell as the all important dress. We had a think about a wardrobe we decided we needed. We wanted this, the skeleton and the dress to be the main focus of the set but when we asked science if we could borrow a skeleton, we were only allowed to borrow the one with both its legs and an arm missing! So Emily suggested using a bust from textiles instead.
I think we'll get it all planned out in the end now we've realised how short a time we've got.

What is T.I.E?

Here's a simple, yet informative defininition I found on http://theatre-education.co.uk/what-is-theatre-in-education/:

'Theatre in Education started as a separate art form and educational activity in Coventry at the Belgrade Theatre in 1965. A group consisting of actors, teachers and social workers were brought together to create a community outreach team.'
I think this explains the past of T.I.E.

My own definition would be:
A piece of theatre to inform a certain age group about a topic they might be interested in or need to be educated in. It is usually a small group of people so the company can travel easily, also using minimal props and set. Some T.I.E companies also offer workshops to incorperate lessons or drama skills into the performance.

Miss.Wolfendens Notes.

I read through Mrs.Wolfendens notes and was particularly interested in how they prepared over the easter holidays.
We already tried this over the spring half-term holidays, but we weren't very successful. Everyone got something but when I look at Miss.Wolfendens notes, it's barely anything. They had thought ahead to the performance and the workshop ideas, where as we had barely done research. We could have some more workshop ideas, but Beth has been ill and only had afew.

From these notes, in our group we may need to:
- Plan how long our piece of theatre will be.
- Research our theme
- Focus on one particular issue within the theme. (Health, Herdatory, Who else it affects.)

Dance.

DANCE
Dorling Kindersley
First published 1998 by Dorling Kindersley Limited.

We had a task to read a book about an art form, and then quote it in our blog. As you can see, I chose a Dance book because I'm very interested in dance.

'Every human society practises dance, either solo, in couples, or in groups. People around the world use dance to express their bodies. In this way, dance can be a celebration of the emotional, mental or physical human self.'

I like this because I think it pretty much sums up what dance is about. Many cultures do use it for celebration. Some dances have been lost as new dances took place, and when we are happy we often feel a small need to dance. Some religions such as hindu use dance as a way of worship.

'We all have a sense of ourselves and of other people through space and time. In dancers, this sense is highly developed.'

This small statement reminded me of the exercise the did the other week with Mr Truscott. We all knew when to go, even with our eyes closed.

I always liked dance because it contains almost all the art forms. You dance to music, you perform, and you choreograph. All art forms are used in each other. But the next quote almost seperates it from drama and theatre.

'Dance does not always simple tell a story. It may be used to bring people together, by reinforcing their shared beliefs about their place in the world and their relationship.'
I love my majorettes, because I met many of my best friends there. Most of us share similar intrests, but even if we don't we all have at least one intrest, and that's our dancing. We also spend alot of time together at competitions and training. So this statement means alot to me.

But on the next page, it goes from saying not all of them don't, to alot of them do. It lists ways such as facial expressions, miming, and movements that have specific meanings, similar to drama.

A part I found really interesting was the make-up and costume design. Did you know that in Kathakali, a special seed called the chundapoo is washed, cut and inserted into the eye to make it go red just for costume?

'Dance costumes enhance the performance in a wide variety of ways. For example, in traditions where there are no stage sets, costumes help the audience make sense of what is going on.'
Some dancers use masks, even though a dancers face is the most expressive part of the body. Apparently, this is so performers can let go of their own identity and devote themselves completely to their dance.

Music Lessons

February 1st

We had to get up infront of the class one after the other and improvise on the keybord. Mr Truscott had set up a backing track and we had to improvise a rhythm using only black notes. We all did it successfully and were very suprised they all sounded decent. This was because we were using a pentatonic scale and whatever order you played them in, they would all work together.

We got into pairs and I was working with Imogen. We both gave pentatonic improvising a go, but Imogen decided she would do that so i was left to play the cords. We added a backing track, which failed when it came to performing so we had to choose a random one.

 

February 8^th,  

 

We looked at various pictures on the board and had to quickly come up with a piece of mood music.
One was a sunrise. The pieces were happy, and note were generally higher.
Another was a man in the shadows. Mood music for this was sinister and contained lower notes.
For homework, we had to find a piece of existing music to fit them.

February 14^th,

We all chose a percussion instrument from the trolley, such as maracas, tambourines and even triangles.
We were told to close our eyes, and only play the instrument when we felt it was best.
Some people automatically became the main rhythm to follow and others added to it. Olly and his cowbell stood out the most, and everyone just followed that beat. We thought it was great that we could make something like that so naturally.

We tried again. This time, some people swapped instruments and we started again. Mr Truscott told Olly that he had to try not to lead the piece this time. It didn't work so well. We thought this was because we over thought it and tried to make it better than the one before.
We tried a third time, and Abi took the lead with a hand drum. We still couldn't match the first time!

The next exercise was the think of a 4 note tune on either a xylophone or glockenspiel and we did the same again. It was very random, because the two instruments had different pitches and some people prefered the low notes to high and vise versa. There were mixed opinions on this piece. I thought it was pretty good, but other people didn't like the mixed notes.

Next, we had to write a graphic score with an instrument of our choice. I did a few 4 note tunes on an xylophone. Then we chose our best idea and made a graphic score with it. We had to experiment with it. Make it get louder or quieter. Add another sound at the same time (I TRIED to play a cymbol at the same time by hitting it on the table. That didn't work very well!). Make it get faster or slower. We added these to the graphic score. Mr Truscott then asked people to show it to the class. First he played someones, but he couldn't quite get it how it was supposed to be. He said graphic scores arn't always accurate.

Skills I have to offer!

In Miss.Wolfendens lesson, she suddenly told us to get in a line at the front of the class and quickly think what we'd have to offer if we were in a real T.I.E team. We had to imagine we were on the Apprentice kind of. I panicked slightly, especially after Beth delivered an excellent performance. I wasn't sure wether we had to make a little performance, or just say.

I decided to just say what I thought I had to offer. I thought of these from past experiences and also from the past 5 minutes!

Here's what I got:

• Good researching skills, as I'm often on the computer/laptop.
• Varied stimulus search as I surf through music, watch plenty of films, and read books.
• I get along in the group. If I'm told to do something, I'll just do it.

It's not much, but it was different to everyone else's in the group. I immediately ruled out improvising. Though that's a skill i'm working on.

Hot Seating!

Hotseating is a character building technique. Someone is put under a spotlight or 'hotseated' and they have to answer questions from the audience as though they are the character. It helps them find out more about their character and how they would act in certain situations.

In the lesson, Mrs. Wolfenden and Tomas were hotseated. They then told us how the felt about what had happened and gave each other feedback. Afterwards, we added to the feedback and told us what we thought as an audience.
We discussed that quick thinking and good improvising was needed in the activity, that little bits of costume or props helped people get into character and that these interviews should be slightly uncomfortable as that shows the actors are needing to think about their characters and perhaps think ahead to what may be asked next.

10 Hotseating Questions+Answers for my character.

(8 year old girl)

1. Do you care about your body image?
   Not really. When some girls talk about it, I think for a little bit, but mum always said I was too young to worry about silly stuff like that. I think I'm normal. I think...

2. What do you know about dieting?
    Not alot. We're told about healthy diets at school and told not to eat too much chocolate and eat more fruit. And my sister complains about them cutting down on unhealthy stuff in school sometimes. Are they making us diet?

3. What do you think of celebrities?
    I think they're pretty. And skinny. But they probably have someone to tell them more about healthy dieting. Everyone likes celebrities, because they're pretty and they've got money I guess. I wish I could be a good singer like Miley Cyrus and be as pretty as her too.

4. Do you read magazines?
   Sometimes. I read some of my sisters. They have alot of clothes and gossip about celebrities that my sister doesn't like. Mums has weightless stuff in, sometimes I can read them. I'm not really bothered.

5. What do your friends think?
    My friends don't care, like me. Or, they've never said anything atleast. We all like different celebrities. Chloe complains thats some are too skinny or too pretty. Mandy tells us we look like certain celebrities or we would if we were taller or skinnier. I don't care.

6. What do you think about boys?
    My sister tells me they have germs but I only think they do if they've been playing too much football or playing in mud. Boys are nicer to me than girls, but my sister says they're the cause of everything bad.

7. How often do you exercise?
In P.E at school, obviously. And I go on bike rides and I walk to school. But that's pretty much it.
 

15th February.

What could I bring to the group?
I think I could bring research and stimulae to the group because I spend alot of my time on the computer, listening to new music or watching films. I have some experience of performing but not in drama. I danced in my majorettes troupe in competitions for two years. I think it's the not knowing that holds me back from performing drama.

Which skills could I improve?

I know I definately need to improve my improvisation skills and acting. I wouldn't be a good director either as I can't be very bossy but I don't think I should try to improve too many things at once. I'm too shy, and maybe this performance will help me to be less shy. I hope so anyway. In this unit, I hope to improve my performance and improvisation skills.

Overview.

Dec 7th
We were told what our new unit was going to be about, Theatre In Education companies (T.I.E), and we searched for companies in Yorkshire, and mainly Leeds. We created a profile/fact file each for a different company. It was difficult because we kept finding touring companies based in London and a lot of companies did plays aimed at younger children in primary school or below. We found a select few, and these were helpful as we weren't sure what they did. Now we know they create pieces of theatre to inform people about a particular issue.

Dec 14th
We had to think about what kind of issues we were going to perform. If we were going to perform to primary school children, we would probably choose bullying or something that happens in primary school. Higher years can deal with more serious things, such as divorce and anorexia.

I chose the issue cyberbulling and suicide because of cyber bullying. This was because I saw a film around the time the homework was set and it stuck with me. Also, if we were to perform this to younger children, I could take out the suicide part and just include cyberbullying.

I learnt that bullying isn't just on the playground and not just by people you know face to face.

Jan 4th

I thought other peoples research was much better than mine. Most of mine was in the film, which no-one else had seen yet. Imogen and Beth who both did anorexia had real stories within the family so it was much more personal to them, and someone did Children in divorce where their parents had divorced when they were young.

At first, we decided what the group would study. These were; Gender Equality, Children in divorce and Anorexia. Next, Miss. Wolfenden put us into group she thought would work well together but some people weren't interested in that topic or didn't get along with someone. We did a quick shuffle round until we were happy with groups. I think the gender equality group worked well with two boys and two girls, and the divorce group all had divorced parents. Imogen and Beth in my group had researched anorexia before and Emily had researched body image so this worked. I also had an interest in anorexia so I was happy to be in this group. I wasn't bothered that my topic wasn't chosen because it was abit depressing.
I think you do need to be passionate or interested in a theme to create a decent piece of theatre because researching becomes abit more fun and interesting and more ideas will pop into your head. There's no point being involved in something you'd disagree about because you just wouldn't put your all into it!

Jan 11th

We filled in an aduit sheet with red, amber and green. Red meaning we didn't have a clue what it was, Amber meaning we'd heard of it before but we weren't sure, and Green meaning we knew what it was and could explain if needed. I realised I didn't know alot at all, and that made me feel abit stupid and behind in the group, but drama isn't my strong point and thankfully other people could explain well so I learnt alot.

 - What is a soundscape?
A sound scape is a collection of appropriate sounds which create an atmosphere for a certain scene. E.g. A rainforest soundscape would contain bird noises, rain and other animals made at different times.
 - How did we use it?
We used the above example of a rainforest. We sat in a circle and assigned certain noises to each person. In the background, we clicked for raindrops, rubbed our hands together for heavier rain, and patted our hands on our thighs for even heavier rain. This gradually got louder and quieter and inbetween this we had various animal noises being made such as birds and gorillas. We then split into two groups and made two seperate soundscapes. One group sat inside the others circle.
- What worked well + what didn't?
 It sounded really good in a circle because you felt like you were actually there and the gorillas were really really good! but it was difficult to keep up the background noise when you had to do other noises aswell.

 - What is a conscience alley?
 A conscience alley is where two different choices/ advice is given. Normally it's done in an alley formation with two lines down either side of the character with the dilema. As the character walks down, advice is given from either side. One side will give one type of idea, the other will give a different type.

 -How did we use it?
We did it from an anorexia point of view. Beth did an monologue type thing and everyone else was in two lines on either side.
One side of the line was giving her reason to eat. We chose to give each person a role. One was a friend, oe was a doctor, one was her mind, and one was her mum.
On the the other side, there was a how she saw herself in the mirror, a false friend telling her how the boy she likes won't like her unless she loses weight, and wanting to fit into a smaller dress.

Jan 18th

Devising using Forum Theatre.
We quickly created some forum theatre in our prepared groups. We already had a base story, so that was good. We just had to figure out what outcomes could possibly happen.
In forum theatre, the audience can come into the drama and make a completely new situation. Actors have to be really good at improvising incase they havn't thought of the new situation.

Some things might be too extreme to be dramatised, or dramatised to a certain audience. As a playwrite, we need to know what is too far and what could offend people. There's a chance that it will probably offend at least one person and if it does then we need a way to help this person.

I think drama does have the power to change how we see things sometimes, even if it's only for a little while. The point of TIE drama is that it hopefully will educate people about the topic. Some films have definately made an impact on me.