Evaluation of The Final Political Performance

I enjoyed performing in a space where a lot of obstacles popped up, due to it being in the library. The site we chose to locate our performance was quite cramped and so it was important to use the given space in the most productive way possible. Our performance conveyed a strong story line, especially as it was physical as well as vocal. We didn't just split scenes and devise sections but took the audience on a physical journey around the library. I thought the use of props and set was intelligent as we utilised books in more than one way and staged parts in a unique fashion. It was unfortunate that we didn't have a large number of audience members , especially at the start when we were having to interact with them to speak of our favourite book character. Following that was the song on the stairs, which I believe was very effective and really helped kick off the performance.The violence and intention really came across in the volume, marching and unison of the piece. I think one more rehearsal would have just clarified when people come in, as a lot of people weren't in time and forgot when to start.

One of the most successful pieces of the performance, in my opinion was when we were as an ensemble in the columns near the computers. Such simple lighting made it very effective and the passion in the synchronised lines made it come to life. I feel like it went very quickly and was rushed-but that might possible be because we were used to running it through and getting it blocked. Manny's section of the text really challenged all of us as actors to help him out and prompt his further lines. Once I got up to say my part of the line, Manny had moved onto the wrong line and so I said the beginning for him. Thankfully he continued into the rest of his monologue. I was aware that other people also helped him out and it just pleased me that everyone had each other's backs.

I was very surprised that not one person laughed throughout the whole performance as we had rehearsed several times and still managed to smile and certain lines. There were comical parts in the play that should of had a greater reaction but I guess people felt too dependent on each other to give out a mutual reaction. An audience will always be different and will always react differently so it's just down to the right time and people to get the best responses.
The devised book part, after Ernesto's speech seemed very rushed to me. A lot of people were getting through their line quickly and it put me off so when it was my turn I switched my line but luckily it was a synonym of the original word that I messed up. I've realised that if i'm not in the moment or even a bit anxious (no matter how big of the part in a performance) I find it easy to trip up on a line even though I know it back to front.
In rehearsals the transitions were clean and polished but once it came to having an actual audience that weren't familiar with the space, it caused some confusion on where to go and what the best spot to watch would be. It's a major disadvantage that most of the library space is packed ; it was hard for the audience to see some parts but it also worked to our advantage of being an intimate space where light and sound could clearly be seen or heard.

In conclusion, the final scene of our play was the strongest and most visually striking. We ended with two meaningful stories ,which I felt really had an impact of some of the people in the audience. That bit included the most thoughtful gestures and movement to emphasise its reason.Various Brechtian techniques were imputed at that time and worked effectively with our concept.



From some of the feedback -

Protest Evaluation

It was all so worth it! All the hours we spent in the library and time outside of school to try and figure out a creative way for a theme we were uncertain on, paid off. So far we've done so many directed plays that it was refreshing to devise a piece that relied on our own innovative ideas. I have no idea why but me and a majority of the other actors were exhausted and drained after only 20 minutes of performance but I guess it meant we were doing something right.

Throughout the performance we had a persistent high level of audience interaction and thankfully many people were wanting to get involved with our piece. People were willing to talk to me and my group while still being in character. Honestly it was challenging because people would do anything it took to try and make me corpse my character and so I did manage to laugh at certain points. However we received a lot of great reactions at the peaks of our performance when we weren't being in the moment. A lot of people seemed to sympathise with my character and go along the idea of helping me, while others just tried to distract me.

It did take a lot of time for the audience to come in and when my group were coming to the point of a dramatic climate such as the argument and whenever we managed to get a few people they were rushing off to get somewhere. I guess the main positive for groups performing in the cafeteria was that the majority of people were there , whereas we had to wait for people to pass through.A problem that I individually experienced was some people didn't understand I was included in the 'immigrant group' due to the fact that I wondered about to talk to people and came to the other actors when I was supposed to. We had set times and points when we thought it would be best to create a chaotic scene.

Malala

Between 2007 and 2011, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, led by Maulana Fazlullah, destroyed more than 400 schools, many of them providing education for girls, the local administration says.

Taliban restrictions:

From the age of eight, females were not allowed to be in direct contact with males other than a close "blood relative", husband, or in-law .Other restrictions were:

• Women should not appear in the streets without a blood relative or without wearing a burqa
• Women should not wear high-heeled shoes as no man should hear a woman’s footsteps lest it excite him
• Women must not speak loudly in public as no stranger should hear a woman's voice
• All ground and first floor residential windows should be painted over or screened to prevent women being visible from the street
• Photographing or filming of women was banned as was displaying pictures of females in newspapers, books, shops or the home
• The modification of any place names that included the word "women". For example, "women's garden" was renamed "spring garden".
• Women were forbidden to appear on the balconies of their apartments or houses
• Ban on women's presence on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind.
• 
  

“She is a very good student, and very well-mannered. There was no hint of pride in her, despite all of her fame,” Tariq Ahmed, Yousafzai’s social studies teacher, told Al Jazeera. “She was very friendly with all her classmates. She did not ask for, or receive, special treatment.”

"Religious education is for the afterlife, and the education we receive at this school is for this life."

- Ziauddin, 12, Pakistani student

Monologue

You know when you’re ready to tell someone a piece of bad news and have gone through every possible scenario in your head of how you badly they might respond to the situation-well it wasn’t like that at all. After having told my children that our local library was coming to a close, the house just seemed a lot livelier. The only sort of reaction I got out of them was a shrug and a puzzled face from George- and even that wasn’t intended because it took my son time to comprehend that the library wasn’t an actual myth. I mean I didn’t understand, I was sure at least Jenny was a bookworm. She’d manage to take out 8 books a week! But then in the end she just admitted she used it as free bragging rights to insist she knew more about the rainbow magic fairies than her friends did. I guess they cared less and I more than I thought I would. But that’s not even the problem. How was I going to pay for all my children’s resources if I’m the only parent in the house. I’m going to have to save up on one of those iPod screens aren’t I? Or one of those- what do you call them-..kindles. All my life, I’ve tried to bring up my kids without having to rely on the evolution of technology and what do they do-shut down its ancestor of knowledge. I’m telling you, if Dickens knew about this, he would not be pleased.

I was given the circumstances of a single mother with two children and had to use it as my stimulus to write a monologue in relation to the closing down of libraries. I mention two children, one a 6 year old girl and the other a ten year old boy/ I researched the types of books that a girl of that age might enjoy and went through best-sellers, popular suggestions etc. One of those books was the 'Rainbow Magic Fairies' book series, which I thought would be perfect for a younger girl. In addition I was aware of the book series as it was very popular when I was a child. 

Dramatic Vs. Epic

Brechtian Techniques

Verfrumdungseffekt/ The V Effect/ Distancing/Alienation/De-familiarisation-The actual term translates closely to distancing, not physically like proxemics but mentally so that the audience doesn't feel connected to what they're viewing. This initially causes the audience to question everything they don't understand or don't have the answer to. This technique is very useful when it comes to highlighting a particular point in the piece to emphasise its significance, It doesn't have to be done in an obvious way but it could mean that the particular section is perhaps more heavily lit, slowed down, frozen,just a way to attract more attention to the intended piece. In other case the weird is exaggerated as a way of alienating by making the familiar look strange to make the audience look twice at the situation. I personally think Brechtian techniques have the strength of subverting expectations as the actors are free to play around with the methods and technicality of fulfilling and leaving the hows and whys up to the audience. Of course they have the intentions and ideas for those themes but they aren't obvious and revealed in the performance. De-familiarisation is just another way to remind the audience that in reality they are watching a piece of theatre and are there to enjoy themselves but to question and be inspired by, rather than empathise with. In specific areas the director may decide to spotlight a gesture someone is carrying out; therefore find a way of changing it. For example an important line could be altered through tone, volume or pitch. Alienation gives an audience member enough time to examine and rethink the in-the-moment performance. Bertolt Brecht avoids emotional investment without killing the interest and engagement of the audience. I feel like a lot of Brechtian work is utilised in plays with a parable as it's an exciting way to inspect some crucial topics of social ad political work.

Epic theatre breaks the fourth wall-an imaginary wall between actors and audience which keeps them as observers. They are active members throughout of the theatrical experience as they are kept thinking throughout, not switching off. Brecht encouraged actors to get dressed on stage into any costume for the audience to see.

Placards-

: Taken from BBC Bitesize














Spass- This translates as 'fun'. The whole point and purpose of theatre, without the intentions of educating, is to entertain people! Even if the message itself is serious Brecht realised that comedy could be an excellent way of engaging the audience and forcing them to think about issues. Spass is a method to break tension whenever felt that the audience are falling into the routine of emotional connection. Examples of spass could be: a comic song, slapstick or a stand-up routine. It’s ‘silliness’ in effect but often makes strong social comment in the way it’s used in the treatment of a serious subject.

Gestus- Gestus captures a moment or attitude rather than delving into emotion. Brecht and his actors studied photographs of the plays in rehearsal to ensure each moment worked effectively. Could the audience tell by the actor’s gestures alone what was happening in the scene? Brecht referred to characters by archetypal names such as 'The Soldier' or 'The Girl' ,similar to the time of melodrama when you stuck to one stock character and summed them up with a general name everyone would respond to.

Class exercises

Moody objects.

In this exercise we explored the combination on physicality and emotion in a weird way. It followed the idea of alienation that the spectators shouldn't be emotionally engaged with what they're watching; that job is made much easier if what they're watching is deemed as abnormal.Examples that we were given to embody were: an angry , a sexy chair and so on. By juxtaposing the two concepts, you make the audience question what's in front of them. People are free to have several interpretations and different perspectives, that way it can be personal or open to judgement. Unlike a piece of plot which you find in dramatic theatre, you aren't lead to the answer and are made to answer your own enquiries individually.

Pregnant Woman+ Capitalist Man.

The core production of Brechtian work comes from the exploration of social class, hierarchy and political issues. Through this element of devising , actors create bold caricature-like characters that represent their social ideologies through the use of their bodies. We're all aware of social stereotypes but this can be practical in Brechtian work, where we're already familiar with certain figures.Physicality should instantly reflect some basic background information and insight into an epic character's life.It should be achieved ina simplistic way as the characters are constantly in and out of the piece.
The pregnant woman carried out the line of 'how will I provide?' and the capitalist man- 'am I meant to care when reacting to the statement-the factories are closing down.Actor, as predicted, went with similar characteristics such as wide, spread apart legs; a cigar, a stuck out stomach and chin for the capitalist man to indicate his superior upper class.