T.I.E

T.I.E

Evaluation:

The whole purpose of producing and performing a 'Domestic Violence' piece for 14 - 15 year olds is so that we was able to show that in order to give the message that abuse does happen was by simplifying it so the message was delivered easily instead of over complicating it. The reason why we targeted 14 – 15 year olds is because they are now at the stage of trying to understand life where they want to go and who they want to be. I think it’s important that at this age they are aware of reality and understand that things as bad as domestic violence actually happens. Firstly we started off in separate groups and thought about the ideas we came up with to give out the message about abuse and violence. The first piece we came up with was the introduction which included a montage of each person coming on stage and repeating such lines as ‘he hits me and I like it’, someone else could also say something like ‘I wonder how Stacey is doing she hasn’t been answering my calls lately’ as each person came onto the stage, the level of volume increased as the lines were being repeated. This helped build up the tension, we went from saying the lines quite low to then shouting it out which really helped build the introduction. This also indicated towards the audience that the heavy shouting meant that something either serious or dangerous was going to happen. The target audience for the project was aimed at 14 – 15 year olds, the reason specifically in the introduction I walked onto the stage and started saying ‘he hits me and I like it’ is because after doing research I found out that some women whilst being abused convince themselves that the abuse that they’re receiving is right and it’s supposed to hurt because that’s what love is. As a group we was able to structure how we will perform out piece by writing down that we will start of by doing our montage then move onto simone and bictons piece and then try and weave in mine and Charles scene. We also decided to include consciences, this is so that the audience was able to understand each characters inner thought and how they felt. We thought this was a good idea because as the characters were delivering their lines, they would freeze then out will come their consciences and will tell the audience how they are feeling why they are feeling like that which would really help the children understand, we done it this way because it was more creative and interesting to watch

In order to develop and expand our idea’s we decided to introduce forum theatre, for example when we set up the scene we were all in an semi-circle and before a scene took place each student set up the setting for each piece, before my scene came on Mahin stood and went ‘There’s a girl!’ then Rebecca stood up and went ‘Yea and her name is Imogen’ then Mahim went ‘And it’s cold’ then Prince stood up and stated ‘Yes it’s cold because it’s winter’. This was a very creative way to introduce the piece because it allows the audience to set up the scenes in their heads. As a group we then decided in order for the characters to understand and the audience to grasp and identify who each person is, as soon as someone mentions a character’s name whilst setting up we all in the semi-circle leaned forward whilst the character came in the middle and started their scenes. This created more tension and suspension as the main characters step forth we leaned forward and gave a lot of concentration on them.  The whole point of this piece was to give the message that domestic violence and abuse does actually happen and that people need to realise that when others do talk about it it’s not something that they should take lightly. We thought that most people when they touch the subject about abuse they do it in such a boring and basic way which may be the outcome that most people won’t take in the incidents that happen in abuse. But by doing it in a different form such as the semi-circle it looks more professional and odd because the students will be thinking what’s going on. By adding in the setting up of the scene and people randomly describing the settings and how the location of each character may be it added in an aspect of creativity but simplicity which would be easier for the children to understand what we are talking about. Whilst we got into working on our piece we discovered that the consciences were no longer working so we decided to cut that out. I felt a bit unsure when we removed the consciences because I thought it would have been really cool and added more of a flavour to the project but as we got into the play more I was able to see that removing the consciences was a great move because the way things developed and became more basic and realistic was better than adding in lots of things and over complicating it. When it came to rehearsing with Nick and Yusuf a lot of changes started to happen, we also tried to figure out different ways we can show emotions without over complicating and being over the top. Such as in the beginning of my scene when I walk onto the stage, with Charles seated watching football I have to try get his attention, instead of usually shouting and raising my voice I thought to myself what’s a simple and basic way to get his attention whilst showing emotions and making it clear what I am doing, I then decided as soon as I walked in I standing in front of Charles blocking his way of watching TV, originally I was supposed to be shouting saying ‘turn off the TV, look at me why don’t you care’ I then decided to ask the question if he loves me. By adding in this random question in this sort of situation it brought a sort of ‘what the hell..’ as in people wouldn’t expect me asking such a question randomly, it also made me understand my character as in she’s quite messed up in her mind and believes that living in abuse is good because that’s the way things are meant to be.

As we went further into rehearsing I felt more comfortable in finding different tones and pitch in my voices whilst doing my scene for example when I ask Charles ‘do you love me’ it felt more natural for me to do it in a more deeper commanding tone, when it came to projection I really pushed myself to make sure every word was understood and heard. I also experimented in trying to add in emotions whilst I was talking and made sure if I was upset or close to tears you could hear the sort of stammer whilst I was talking. Or if I was angry I adding in a sharp blunt kind of breathy sound in my voice this was very fun because not only was it helping me settle into my character it also helped me for the future if I had to take on an emotional or angry character I would be able to add in  a flavour into the way I talk because I was able to do it here. When it got into the point of moving around in the space when doing my scene especially when it got into the point of me being angry it felt natural to stomp after him trying my hardest to grab every bit of his attention, even when he doesn’t want to give it to me. Whilst Charles was trying to move away from me instead of me grabbing him or holding him back I thought it would have more effect on the audience if I use words to play with his mind and then that would grab his attention. For example when he walks away from me not wanting to listen to me I then say something insane like ‘The things you do to me secretly I love it..’ because my character is so wild and unexplainable using words instead of action has so much affect because the audience waits for the reaction instead of trying to guess what happens next. In conclusion I felt that throughout this project I have developed and understood in order for me to play a character I have to be that character I have to be their mind set I have to be their voice I have to be their feelings without that I’ll just be reading lines and not understanding them. Also by being aware of space voice and projection made me realise how important it is to add in each of these because without adding into projection and voice the audience will not be able to understand or see how you are feeling it would be the same tone throughout the scene. I think the contribution towards this project was amazing there was many points where I thought because I came to the class quite late I’m not ready to take on a main role but if I didn’t push myself then I wouldn’t realise that yes I can do this role and perform it really well overall I think this project was amazing because i9 was able to find out different techniques and methods that I am able to learn.

 

Esther Olagunju.