Lesson 3 Homework 3 - 20.11.2014

Q1: You were given the marking criteria for developing for this project. You need to complete the sheet, you would have started this in the lesson – the sheet must be uploaded to your blog.

A1: This was what I wrote on my sheet as we weren't given a hard copy: 

'I think I have worked at a merit, the roll on the wall exersice really helped me develop my character because it made me think about the conflict in my character between what they feel and what they show. This helped me in my devised peice as we were thought tracking and therefore I could show the contrast between my feelings and what I show.'

Q2: You were asked to continue to be guided by the style of the play – it should feel physical – you couldn't use any props/chairs etc. 

• What did you develop and create? How?
• How did your homework help you develop the tale practically?
• Explain what you did as your character. Why did you make these choices? (Think about character- voice/physicality.) 

A2: 

• We did this exersice but our cover teacher didn't mention anything about the physicatlity of it. We were allowed to use chairs and we just devised a normal scene. I will write about what we devised but i can't talk about the choices we made to make it phyisical. 

In our devised scene we choose to be friends having a drink at a bar, creating the atmosphere of the East end which is where East End Tale 1 is set. Over the drinks we were discussing the new person in town, the east end descibed as a person in tale 1 is the new person in town. This also shows the audience that he has a large reputation in the East End as random people who aren't related to him are discussing his appearance in town. While this discussion was happening Lloyd, who's was originally the bar tender, steps aside and demonstrates the qualities we are talking about. He then become the 'East End' as a person. We related the different aspects of 'East end' to our own lives and experiences, for example in the script it states he hates smoking due to abuse from his father who smokes. We then related it to Jed, who is smoking in the bar and used it as a reason to ask him to stop smoking. My homework helped me enormasly as I had a better understanding of the character and a clearer picture in my head while acting. It is very hard to create an image in a scene of something you have no awareness or contex off. Due to my homework I could visualise the 'east end' more easily giving me a more accurate protrayal of the aspects that the 'eat end' holds. It also meant overall I was more confident as I felt prepared, this gave my preformance a boost and gave me a lot more freedom and confidence when devising as I had a lot of background knowledge. Allowing me to contribute to the divising of the scene freely. As a character in a bar with a group of friends, I chose to be someone with quiet alot of confidence. It was a typical friendly gathering, with me voice I decided to drop the t' sand h's to give it a slight cockney feel. My phyisicality was very relaxed as these are my dear old friends, the senario wasn't one where everybody is very akwared and you're with your 'friends' yet no one trusts each other or feels free to speak their mind freely. Linking with the confience that I projected out, I was also the one who'd speak the rumors and gossip. Of course, all the other character's talked about what they had heard but my character was the one to tak about specific rumors or stories showing a connection in the area and a popularity is the community.

Q3: In new groups of 5/6 you re-read Tale 6. You had to underline all the people mentioned e.g brother, landlord, mother…

• What did you underline in the text? - take photos, or write the list. Individually you decided on a character they you had underlined to create a role – on – the – wall for. You were given the sheet for this in the lesson. Upload this on the blog. 

A3: List of characters that were underlined: 

• I'm ('So i'm sitting behind the bar')
• Landlord ('cos the landlords a tight bastard')
• Brother ('Waiting for my brother to finnish work')
• Mother ('Mother and son')
• Son ('Mother and son')
• She's (' While she's all frinedly')
• My ('Cos my poor')
• Warm tired women ('Warm tired women, turning back from the bar')
• Hard sly man ('Has knocked into hard sly man')
• People ('People looking over')
• Whole pub ('And the whole pub's holding their breath')
• We ('We made something happen')
• Everyone (' And everyone breathes out')
• Brother ('Cos my poor trembeling brother can't hold the glass straight')
• Mum ('About how his mum died')
• Daughter (' She's saying about how her daughter's in America')
• Mum ('Doesn't want mum intruding')
• Daughter ('He's remebering his own daughter')
• Baby daughter ('That his baby daughter was the last person he kissed')
• them (' And one of them makes a joke')
• I ('I don't know how it ends')
• He's ('He's remebering his own daughter')

Roll on the Wall Sheet:  

Q4: Using the roles you had developed you created some scenes that show how these characters exist outside the play.

• What scene did you develop?
• What drama skills did you use to do so?
• Explain what you did as your character. Why did you make these choices? (Think about character- voice/physicality.)

You then shared the work with the class and reflected.

• What was effective about the characters they had decided to explore? 
• Did the scene help you understand anything new about the play or another character?

A4: In our group we had 4 Hard Sly men, of which I was one of them, the hard sly man's mother and the landlord. We created a scene which involved some thought tracks and monolouges yet each character was always present in the room and connected to what the character/s were saying. At the beginning, we presented the audience with a simple scene at the bar. One hard sly man out of four was buying a drink from the landlord, a drink that was way over priced while the other three sly men were frozen in a cluster and Jed, who was the hard sly man's mum, was also frozen sitting down on the floor as if she was in a bed. There was then a short bit of dialouge between the hard sly man buying the drink and the landlord about how over priced it was. This then gave the landlord the oppertuintiy to step out of the scene and preform a thought track. This thought track completely went against the first image of a tight, selfish landlord and instead presented us with someone 

Lesson 2 Homework 2 - 13.11.2014

Here are the exercises you did. For each one you should write what you learnt about the play by doing the task. Don't just describe the exercise. Say why you made the choices you did:

Q1: Working on the Prologue.

What did you create and why?

What did another pair do that was effective

A1: When working on the prologue I was paired with Tara.We decided to create an almost sinister atmosphere with the concpet of the taxi driver. After all, you are getting into a car with an unknown person, handing your power away to the unkown. They could take you anywhere or refuse to let you out of the Taxi. This was reflected in our piece. The staging was symbolic of who holds the power in a Taxi. Tara, who was the passanger, sat down on a chair while I circled her, walking slowly and confidently. The circling represents how in a taxi you are trapped and everything surrounds you. The levels also show that the passanger is powerless as the taxi driver is in control of the cab and therefore holds all power. There was also a contrast in behaviour, while the passanger was dissmisve and shy the driver was bold and confident knowing he is in control. Roseby and Matilda did something that completely changed the scene and imidiantly I was engaged in their work. They took their scene which seemed to be an everyday scene with no particular issues raised, and turned it into a very symoblic and tense scene. They took and average taxi ride and added the issue of abuse. It automaticly made the scene more meaningfull. They carried this  concpet on into their actions by making them quick and frantic creating a tense atmosphere. This atmopshere makes the abuse mentioned become more of an issue as it being shown as something that is very difficult, tense and generates fear instead of showing it as something that is very laid-back and relaxing by preforming actions with ease and no rush.

Q2: Hot-seating

Why is hot-seating an effective technique to use in a rehearsal? What did you learn about the driver? What questions did you ask? 

A2: When hot seating you have to think on the spot as your character. Thinking on the spot helps you to become and develop your charcter as you have no time to think or plan what you are going to say. Therefore in order to do it effectly you must just become your character and speak as them, saying only what comes to your mind. This enables you to think like your character. I learn a lot about the taxi diver as who he is as a person, what kind of attitude he has and the way he thinks. Specificly, we focused on what bothers him about being a taxi driver and what he enjoys about his job. The taxi driver actuallt gave out a very posative attidue towards driving which I like as to me a taxi driver isn't a very good job yet he seems to make the most of it. A question I asked was 'Don't you ever feel uncomftable letting a random stranger into a car with you.' This is again focusing on the opinion he has as a taxi driver. I asked this becuase I know I would hate to be a taxi driver, so by asking questions that get the hot seaters opinion it means I can push mine away and take the opinion they just gave me, otherise my own opinion of not likeing that job would have come through into my character.

Q3: Ensemble taxi driving:

Explain what you did as a taxi driver. Why did you make these choices? (Think about character- voice/physicality.)

What did other people do?

How did you work as an ensemble? 

A3: When being the taxi driver, I made the choice to be a male in his thirties who has the build of a construction woker. Broad shoulders, well built yet not muscular as he spends most of his time sitting in a car. I choose to be butch and cockney as it is set in the Eastend. I made the choice for my voice to be very deep and I spoke with a cockney accent. My voice was very laid back and casual, just like as if your were having a conversation with a friend about nothing much in particular. My phyisicality was very macho, my legs were open like a confident male and I was bent over my legs with my arms proping me up as they rested on my legs. However, when I was bent over I had a straight back and still gave out confiedence, it was not the submissve action of someone with out any confidence. Someone else in the group decided to make their taxi driver very effeminate. I really like this interpratation as it was very unusual. It showed thinking out side the box, however in all the times I have been in taxis I have never come across any effeminate taxi drivers. That doesn't mean there aren't any I just think its very unlikely and very true to reality. Although I applude them for their originality and creative outlook. We worked brilliantly as an ensemble, in the exersice Mr.Worden would pick one persons character of the taxi driver and after listening to them act out the script we would join in being their character. This worked extermely well as the whole class fell into a rhythm of the way we speak. This meant that we would know when and how to say the lines without having to listen or watch the original persons charactre and th rhythm of the way its said would tell us.

Q4: TALE 8

Write some examples of what you underlined or take some photos of your script.

A4: 

Q5: You were put you into groups and has asked you to come to the class next week with ideas, character research and drawings of the characters you are exploring.  This should be put on your blog. 

A5: East End Tales 1


East End Tales 1 presents what the East End would be like if it was a boy. From the way the speaker talks about the East End I can infer its probaly a women as she describes him as sporty and sexy. I think that the writer is secretly describing a typical young person in the East End and using the 'East End' as a boy to represent common aspects and emotions of a young persons life in the East End. In the text it talks about violence from parents to young people, unemployment, the motivation needed for a young person to succed, inderpendance and the survival skills developed to stick up for your self. All of these aspects are linked. For example the motivation need for a young person is suggested by this quote. 'Okay, so he has a future. Sort of. He'd rather play football. Wouldn't they all? Or playstation' This is then linked to unemployment and the hardships of finding a job which is show in this peice of text 'But unemployed'. Its linked because it represents a cycle of hardship, every young person has trouble finding a job and knows that unemployment is high, this then impacts thier motivation as they see no point in trying because the odds are against them.

Some bullet points on the East End as a boy:

•  Had  a hard life so knows how to stick up for himself. Hes a 'hard man' on the outside but inside hes sensative

• Tries to study and do we'll in college but he struggles. He gets sidetracked with gaming, fights, sport and his emotions. 
• Has a 'toughest in the area' reputation.
• He cares about hi apperance and is secretly insecure but never shows it.
• Has had a troubled chidhood and can't deal with it being brought up. He tries to forget but he can't

Lesson 1 Homework 1 - 06.11.2014

Q1: Write a response to the text. What did you think of it and why? What is the play about? You were asked to write notes as we went through - type these notes onto your blog.

A1: I really liked the play. I think a lot of the topics rasied were very sensitive yet issues needing more awareness from society. I think it covers many different perspectives of the eastend and the issues raised, creating quiet a diverse image of what the eastend is like. I liked this as it seemed very true to life, things never have just one side to it and often don't turn out how we think they will. For example East End Tales 4 presented someone helping an elderly lady, showing compassion, kindness and sympathy whereas East End Tales 5 shows domestic violence and abuse in the east end. However, it shows how many different people respond to this aspect of the East End in the community. In 'East End Tales 5' you have the Father who refuses to acknowledge it, pretending it doesn't exsist, turning the TV up ever louder to drown out the noise so its like its not happening. Then you have the reaction of the mother, accepting that it happens, concerned about what is going on and trying to do something about it. Finally you have the character of the women being abused, submissive and afrid to speak out, reling on someone else to speak out for her... Although no one ever does. The play is about the East End at present, however I think the writer has used this topic as a gateway to rasing a lot of issues and aspects of life that go unoticed. It shows many examples of situations in the East End giving the audience a intense yet fairly accurate view on the East End. The play has no characters or stage directions/describtions giving us the freedom to interperate and preform as we like. This way no one preformance is the same, each one showing unique aspects of drama. It could also mirror how each situation looks different through each persons eyes, representing how each action in the east end is recivied differently.

Q2: What was your favourite tale? Why?

A2:  My favourite tales was 'East End Tales 5'. I think out of all of the issues raised 'East End Tales 5' raised the most important issue of our time. Domestic Violence... However, I liked it becuase it presented it through someones elses eyes, not through the absued or abuser perspective. It seemed, to me, to be stating an important point that becames more relavant each year. How do you respond to witnessing domestic violence? Many people refuse to accept that these things happen, like the father character in this tale. It makes it a lot easier for abuse to occur and a lot harder to prevent it. 'East End Tales 5' presents the issue as the cold hard reality that it is, it made me think and question our society, not only in the Eastend. I think this should be the main goal of most theatre, designed to make you think hard and question your world. This tale did that perfectly with an issue I believe to not only be extremly important but something that doesn't recive enough awareness in our society.

Q3: At the start of the session you were asked about what you thought of the East End.
What did you know at the start of the session? What knowledge did you develop by the end of the session?

A3: At the start of the session I didn't really know that much about the East End. I had been to Brick Lane ( around that area) but i had never experienced the East End in its true colours. I had seen Eastenders and from that I took a very negative view on the East End. All I had to go on was the typical negative view, that TV and no first handed experience had given me. I though it was this place were there were a lot of drugs, stabbing and gangs. A place with a lot of drama (like Eastenders) with very strong characters. I guess some of this is true but this only shows the negative things. Jake and Mateo, who live in the East End, gave us a view that shows both posative and negative. They said the negative image were shwoing is true but there are some good things too. There is an every day life like everywhere else, young kids just chilling in parks having a good time, a lot of busissness men going to and from work. They pointed out that the East End is very diverse with a lot of ethnicitys about and few white british people. Pubs are very important in the East End, both posative and negativly. They provide a nice community hang out for people after work yet they can also cause trouble as drunk people can often start fights easliy. At the end of the lesson this negative sterotype was removed and something a lot more balanced was put in its place, showing the negative and posative side to the East End just as East End Tales did.

Q4: What did your group do when you were asked to explore one of the tales?

A4: Our group was asked to explore 'East End Tales 6'. First we had the idea to retell it as a converston between friends at the same pub that it was set it. The story bouncing off each other as we all tell it yet are hearing it for the first time. This then developed in thre friends, one of which tells the story over a pint at the pub. Once the two characters in the story meet, two of the friends peel off. They go to where the story teller points and re act the story as she tells it, representing what the story teller can only see in her head. As she tells the story she acts as if her firends are still there, yet she distances her self from them and becomes absorbed in the tale. Telling it as she looks out the window clearly in thought. Lastly, in order to fit our play into the time frame we trimed the text down to key senetnces that describe what happens and also gets the meaning across, therefore fitting into our 2 minute time frame.

Q5: Start a research post on your blog. You will need to keep adding to this research over the term. You need to research the East End. Find out about the history of the East End. Research some events that have happened recently in the East End. Research some of the events from the text.

A5:  A Timeout article about what to do in the East End. This tells me a lot about what is popular in the East End and also about the type of people who go there. This article is clearly aimed at regular customs of the popular shops showing me what people are into in the East End.
 http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/east-london-essentials-6

The programme 'Educating the East End' shows how teenagers can be in the Eastend. It shows one school, Frederick Bremer School and all of the programme is filmed in the school. Therfore its a non-fictional show. However, it only shows one school meaning the teenagers shown in this example are not nessaceraly every teenager in the Eastend.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-the-east-end

Eastenders however is a soap. This means its a fictional shows and all things in it are made up. Some of it is losly based on the Eastend but most plot lines are extremly exagerated and unlikely to happen to the same group of people over and over again. It also only presents a very negative aspect of the Eastend, giving a lot of people a very negative view on the area.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=eastenders

This article gives us some infomation on Jack the Ripper and what the East End was like in the time periodd that he opperated in. It coves these main points about the East End in the the 1880s:

1. Why were living conditions so bad in the East End
2. How did people surivie
3. Who were Jack the Rippers victims
4. Why couldn't the police catch him
5. How did the Jack the Ripper story end.

Why were living conditions so bad in the East End?

How did people survive?

Who were Jack the Ripper’s victims?

Why didn’t the police catch Jack the Ripper?

How did the Jack the Ripper story end?

- See more at: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/explore-online/pocket-histories/jack-ripper-and-east-end/#sthash.FDmo9yQi.dpuf

Why were living conditions so bad in the East End?

How did people survive?

Who were Jack the Ripper’s victims?

Why didn’t the police catch Jack the Ripper?

How did the Jack the Ripper story end?

- See more at: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/explore-online/pocket-histories/jack-ripper-and-east-end/#sthash.FDmo9yQi.dpuf

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/explore-online/pocket-histories/jack-ripper-and-east-end/

This is an article about a photographer,David Bailey, from the East End in 1961
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/13/david-baileys-best-photograph-60s-london-east-end 

This is about a play that raises some issues about childrens road saftey in the East End. This tells me a lot about the attitudes of the East End not only about the kids but also about the parents. The fact the a lack of road saftey is so common could mean that parents don't pay much attention to it.
http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/education/half_moon_theatre_shines_its_light_of_east_end_children_s_road_safety_1_3902749

Pubs features higly in this play. This article is about the best pubs in East London. By looking at this it gives me a better idea of what the pubs are like and what makes a good pub in East London.  http://www.timeout.com/london/bars-and-pubs/best-pubs-in-london-in-east-lon

This is the website of the writer of East End Tales. It gives a little bit of background knowledge on the play and how it was written. http://finkennedy.co.uk/East-End-Tales

Here is a small extract from the website:

'It was written as part of a Half Moon Young People’s Theatre Scriptworks project for Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets, London. The story ideas were developed by a group of Year 10 Bengali girls over a number of weeks through a mixture of improvisation and written exercises, before being shaped and written up in a lyrical style.The stories range from short contemplations on the nature of east London, through to longer tales of domestic violence, the drudgery of low-skilled jobs, petty crime and high density living. '

Some background information on the writer of East End Tales:

Finn Kennedy attended Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2001 and graduated with a Distinction MA Writing for Performance. His first play, Protection, was produced at Soho theatre in 2003. Since then he has continued to write plays in a ensemble group narrative style such as Stolen Secrets, Mehndi Night and East End Tales. For the past four years he has been the Writer-in-residence at the Mulberry School for Girls. 

This is a link to a interview with Fin Kennedy with The Guardian. This gives me some insight into the concepts behind his work and to who he is as a person. It gives me the knowledge to understand the angle at which he wrote East End Tales and therefore helping me to understand the play as a whole. 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/aug/01/socialcare.guardiansocietysupplement3

Photos of the East End at present: