Task:
         We performed what we have devised so far for Mrs Christa from our devised piece.  As a group we designed some more outlines for the performance and decided what we shall all be working on, which we will be fleshing out over the holiday (This weekend, and next weekend as we have China week in between) so we will have four days to complete the task.  We also discussed the technical aspects and what sounds and lighting we should have.

For the technical aspect we decided on a constant heartbeat, it would almost become background noise after a while, if the right sound file is chosen it could help create the atmosphere of being trapped, while also serving as a reminder that we are inside the body, as the different aspects of the psyche.  As for lighting we decided that we would go with a red, which we then amended to a dark dingy blood-red, as Lulu said "almost like a dungeon" with a trapped sensation (also the lighting arrangement, which normally hinders progress in an awkward circle, helps us create that trapped feeling) and an off-kilter colour, blood-red not normally being a lighting colour that would be seen helps show that something is not right.

To work on:
         Mrs Christa told us that we should progress emotionally slower.
I will slow down the transition from a character that seems emotionally stable to the wreck that the character actually is.  I might not actually get all the way by the end of the performance.

The character not deteriorating completely could change the character's believability and/or impact, it could both strengthen or weaken the character, by not showing the whole deterioration it could not carry the whole impact of the almost madness that takes over the character, on the other hand completing the deteriorating could be taking it too far.

Character + plot + line development

My character:
     I am playing the part of the brain that says there is nothing wrong, whether or not it believes it.
     (We are going with the three parts of the brain idea)

Starts off:
     Seeming fine
     With the words "Nothing's wrong"

Slowly disintegrating over the time of the performance.  Because of the strain (not sure if that is the right word) of deluding them(/my)self into at least saying (if not believing) that there is nothing wrong.



Lines and stuff:
(This will most likely be changed/replaced/completely ignored when we compile lines later)

Starts with my speech:
"Nothing's wrong
Nothing
"


Then Sein
"Something is wrong" -> "We need help"
Then Lulu
"Something is wrong" -> "We can deal with this on our own"
(I have forgotten which of the others goes first)



Then characters meet
They do not see each other, but they realise they are there
we are symbolising this with a sound collage (is it?)
Lulu - "We mustn't tell" (or equivalent)
Sein - "We must tell" (or equivalent)
These two lines build, one after the other, untill...
Me - "THERE'S NOTHING WRONG"
The lines then build, as a three, one after the other
(but at some point I might say "nothing" or "there's nothing")
(this shows the instability of my character, the others are saying the same thing, but mine is changing)
untill they get to the high point when I scream
"SHUT UP"
and then say timidly
"there's nothing wrong"

NOTE:
Progress emotionally slower

IDEAS:
Don't talk for a bit, just kinda try to escape
Try to convince others of point of view
Maybe stuck on boxes
Noise:
          Heart beat
Lulu can say to me something along the lines of "No, there IS nothing wrong"
or she can "egg me on"



The end:
Sein - "I am going to tell, we need help"
Sein tries to walk away
Lulu grabs her
Lulu - "No, you can't tell, you can NOT tell"
Sein screams "help"
Lights go out



Suggestions and stuff:
If the first speeches (apart from mine, because that will make my character seem wrong from the start) start of with the same line, but end on different conclusion, it could make where each character stands on the problem easier for the audience to understand.

Form of theatre
- Absurdism - NO, and if you didn't get it the first time NO
- Children's theatre - doesn't really fit our theme, plus it takes longer to write
- Naturalism - no, because we will be using the normal conventions, and we might change locations
- Surrealism - maybe, depending on our desired outcome
- Realism - maybe, depending on our desired outcome

Desired outcome
What do we want the audience to feel?
- Questioning relationships (between characters)
- Perception of reality


Ideas
Step 1 - Kill or be killed
Step 2 - Competition for everything

Step 3 -
    Places were we pretend that there are no competition
    Family
    Teachers?
Step 4 - Lost?
           - Combining ideas
           - Maybe absurdism :(

RESTEP TIME!!!

Step 1 - Social media and absurdism
Step 2 -
             Good, saying things you can't normally say, BUT we aren't doing the good

RESTEP TIME AGAIN!!!

Step 1 - 3 parts of the brain
             like a split personality
             one part wants to get help
             two don't for their separate reasons
                          to discuss later

what is reality

dangers of getting help vs. not getting help

questioning why people don't want to get help, or even let people know
or why people don't ask

:( absurdism :(

TODO talk to SeIn

In class ideas for betrayal

- Group of friends
- back stabbing
- Family
- Pain
- Students
- Girls
- Kill or be killed
- Secrets
- What is real

IDEAS
Lulu's ideas
     Social media betrayal

Realism, Naturalism, Absurdism, and Surrealism

Realism
Realism has:
       Believable characters.
       Authentic costumes that fit the characters and locations.
       We (both as an audience and as actors) are more used to realism, because realism had a major influence on western plays and movies.
       The stage (or set) is often believable.

Note: The word believable is used within the confines of the play, there could be elements of magic, or something else, but if the characters believe it and the world seems real then the word believable fits.

Most of our performances that we do/have done are in the realistic style, we seem to be wired to think in this way, it being very hard for us (as we have shown in class) to adjust anything to be (for example) Absurdist.

Naturalism
Naturalism is more realistic than realism.
The characters are often lower class, as opposed to the middle class of realism.
Stage time generally equals real time, so a three hour show would be three hours in the world of the play, but the absolute maximum time would be a day.
Costume, sets, and props are very thought out, attempting to be perfect for the time period of the performance.
Generally Happens in one place, however it could still be a main place, for example inside a house, and just outside the front door.
Often the characters are "victims of their circumstance".
There can be Taboos explored, for example suicide or prostitution

Absurdism
Absurdist plays often seem to have no plot, that is not to say they have none, what happens is the plot, however the plot does not follow the usual style.
Absurdism has pauses, where as a normal play, if a waiter is called then they would come, however in an Absurdist play, if the waiter is called there could be a delay between the words being said and the waiter coming, that is not to say that either the waiter will not come immediately, or even not come at all.

In class today we performed an Absurdist piece, we turned a coffee-shop scene that we had developed last lesson and turned in to the absurd.  We first came up with an idea, which we quickly replaced with a convention that we wanted to test, to turn on it's head.  I found this first part to be among the hardest, not only did we have to come up with quick instantaneous ideas, which I am not good at doing, but they had to be absurd.  We then changed our scene to fit the convention we were testing (it was that Children are not usually allowed in public alone, usually it is just adults alone).  After we had accommodated to that the plot of the scene proceeded to become weirded and weirded untill it was almost hard to see how we had got there from a coffee-shop.  I found that I do not like absurdism, in the sense that it is (for me) harder to perform, devise and understand, the latter of these I quite like when I have to do a performance.

Memories, Images and feelings that this song provokes in ME

Happiness
Bravado
Reaching further
Reminds me of the energetic moment after coming of stage
The low pulsing note was disconcerting
Stardom
Abstract colours flashing
Slowly building

Brainstorming words based on fame

My words
Known
Reasons
Needed
Wanted
builders (not the job)
Memorable
Contributors
Strivers
Lost
Gone
Permanent
My words are not Celebrities, the words are for famous people, I see fame and celebrity as different things.


My photo:
(its from tavaana.org)