20/11/14 EET homework 3

You need to write about the lesson this week, reflecting on the exercises you have done and explain how you have developed your understanding of the play, characters and themes. 

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.

Task 3

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.

You wrote:

INTERIOR: Things the character thinks and feels.

EXTERIOR: Things that people say about them, what they look like.

As some of these characters only exist in a mention by another person you had lots of creative freedom to develop the roles. 

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

For example, the character in tale 6 speaking is waiting for his brother to finish work. They might explore a scene of the brother at work. You needed to make up what he does etc. You needed to focus on creating roles that are believable and should keep in mind the context of the play, the east-end.

• What scene did you develop?My group staged the piece by having one person perform their individual devised scene while the rest of the group stood to the side and were silent as they watched the monologue being delivered. In my scene I used the role-on -the -wall sheet to create the character of the hard sly man's mother and staged the scene in a hospital ward.      
• What drama skills did you use to do so?Largely improvisation because although we were given an opportunity to think about what to do we weren't given much time and we obviously had no script so I had to pretty much make my piece up on the spot. Also making sure that I was articulating my voice and putting in as much expression and emotion into my voice as I could.There wasn't a lot of moving around in my scene because my character was not very mobile being terminally ill and in extensive care so I focused more on my voice.
• Explain what you did as your character. Why did you make these choices? (Think about character- voice/physicality.)Within the group work that we did I played the part of the mother of the hard sly man. I was stuck in a hospital bed unable to go outside and in extreme pain with no idea where my son was or what he was doing.This influenced my performance because instead of standing up like others in my group I had to lie down on the floor as if it were a hospital bed.I cried out desperately for pain killers from the nurses trying to put as much pain into by voice as I could.    

Last task:

You should continue to explore the East-End through research. Keep uploading this to your blog too! 

13/11/14 EET homework 2

Today you have continued to explore the text.

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:

Working on the Prologue. 

You created the prologue in pairs by adding in the other character’s lines.

What questions is the taxi driver asking and answering, what lines aren't in the text?

What did you create and why?

Me and my partner just looked at the part of the prologue that we were given and tried to figure out what text was missing. The paragraph we looked at and in fact the whole of the prologue seemed like we were just reading one half of a conversation. So we just discussed what the passenger's questions and responses would be and tried to keep the east end feel to the speech as we added in lines.We didn't want to change the piece too much because we the taxi driver and passenger relationship going and not make it seem like a completely different story.One are fist run through with others watching we performed the short extract by having the taxi driver sitting down on a chair facing stag left while the passenger was standing with his back touching the chair facing stag right.The idea behind not facing each other was to show the divide between the passenger and driver and to represent the intriguing concept of  two people shearing a conversation without making any eye contact. 

What did another pair do that was effective?

A Lot of the groups completely remade he scene into something really different which told a completely different story.This was most apparent and effective in a group which I think contained Roseby and Matilda but I can't be sure. They turned a scene that was just a rather casual conversation into a much more in depth story. One which covered the effect of abuse within the home with out changing much of the text.It also kept perfectly to the theme of the rest of the play as tail 5 has domestic violence as a focus.Yet the scene seemed to stand out on it's own more because the scene now had a completely different feel to it compared to the original text.I think that it really worked.  

Hot-seating 

You continued to explore the TAXI DRIVER.

You did a whole class hot-seat.

Why is hot-seating an effective technique to use in a rehearsal? 

Hot -setting is an effective technique because the people posing the questions are furthering their understanding by exploring different aspects of the character they are questioning. It also benefits the person being questioned because it challenges them as an actor to improvise and having to think up answers on the spot deepens their understanding of what it means to be that character.

What did you learn about the driver?

Ensemble taxi driving:

Whole group activity to explore being a taxi driver.

You all became taxi drivers and created some improvised movement, thought of some lines that the driver might say. 

Developed moments of ensemble work – could potentially be part of the final piece.

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

Unfortunately I feel that I portrayed my taxi driver much like everyone else did, in that we were all creating the same sort of character: sloughed,tiered,confident in himself. Perhaps there was not as much variety as there could have been but then again it might be a good thing that we all had a similar way of portraying a taxi driver.In creating lots of characters with the same feel to them we are subconsciously agreeing that the driver should be rough around the edges and a rather stereotypical east ender. I imagine that this will make it easier for when we do the final performance because we all share the same ideas.    

What did other people do?

There was definitely a camp taxi driver within the mix which was completely unexpected and there were quite a few creative choices being made. But mostly everyone created a driver of a similar persona.There was a lot of us leaning back in chairs and spreading out our legs in order to look lazy.Almost everyone's faces were tired looking to show the effect of driving all day and all night.I saw that lots of arms were relaxed and slack with only one hand on the steering wheel to show that the driver is a confident bu relaxed driver.  

How did you work as an ensemble? 

TALE 8 

In groups you read through TALE 8. 

You needed to underline anything that suggested a location, weather, or atmosphere to them.

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

Eerie 
And hail stones bombard the darkness
She's standing in this alley-way
But to Michelle, queen of the concrete jungle

CREATE/REHEARSE

Once you'd done this you went through anything you'd underlined and created a series of sounds and some movement to develop the scene. 

You were asked to focus on creating the atmosphere and think about being the buildings, the weather, and the atmosphere.

You were allowed to use some of the lines from the text – however you might have decided to just use your sounds and movements to tell the tale.

You then SHARED the work with the class and reflected.

What was effective about the sounds they had decided to use?
The cawing of crows and the drumming of hail stones on rooftop and pavement were created by me with my voice and a plastic chair to create an eerie atmosphere.Other sounds like the chattering of monkeys were added to certain parts of the piece to illustrate the metaphorical jungle which Michelle was queen of. Throughout our piece we used very few words and I think the only line that was spoken was the phase"queen of the concrete jungle".

•

What was effective about the movement they had decided to use?
When it came to creating the concrete jungle scene we made monkey sounds and pretended to be different jungle animals.We used are bodies to make the narrow alley ways through which Michelle walked by making two lines facing inwards.     

How did the work make you feel?
To be honest a felt a little foolish jumping around like a mad thing, waving my arms around and portending to be a monkey. However I suppose it is good to get out of your comfort zone when it comes to theatre.It helps to build up your confidence and allows you to become more comfortable with different and unanticipated scenarios.      

What could have been developed further?
We could have creatd a more eerie atmospphere at the begining by adding more soinds to the piece.As well as reinforcing those sounds with creepy actions and sinister movement.If we had had more time we might have elaborated on the idea of the east end woman being "queen of the concrete jungle" which is a phrase that is very effective at creating imagery for the audience.In order to further this idea some of us could have bowed down to her while others waved palm leaves at her to keep her 'majesty' cool.

Do the sounds and movement have the same impact as just reading out the lines? Is it a better way to help tell this story?

I think that speaking the lines allows the audience to use their imagination to create an image for themselfs of the setting and atmosphere. If we take my favorite line in the scene "queen of the concrete jungle"  for instance, when spoken aloud the audience can interpret what is being said in there own way and picture in there mind the setting that is not laid out on stage. However, this is theatre, not a book, using sounds and movements is a much more bold and startling way to deliver a story to an audience member. And also gives them less time to comprehend and come to terms with what is likely as series of abstract and interesting movements happening on stage. I therefore think that sounds and movements have more of an impact on the audience but do not allow them the same freedom that comes with spoken word.

6/11/14 EET homework 1

1. Write a response to the text. 

• What did you think of it and why?

I liked the fact that it was completely different from any other script that I have read before. The whole play is a monologue and it seems like one big poem because the lines are rhythmic.

• What is the play about? 

The play is made up of a series of short stories each about different people in the east end from shopkeepers to cabbie drivers. It gives details about what life is like for them living in this culturally diverse part of London. 
2. What was your favourite tale? Why?
I think that my favourite tale is east end tales 7 because of the tension that builds up throughout the scene and the rhythmic beat to the lines seems to mirror the fast pace of the scene.   
3. 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? 

To start with I had no idea about what the east end was like and only knew that WhiteChapel was part of the East End and that Jack the Ripper was responsible for murders back in the Victorian era in that part of London. I guessed that the area was quite poor but I am not sure what made me think that.

What knowledge idea did you develop by the end of the session?

That the east end is quite culturally diverse and that there are areas where there are both rich and poor in close proximity.Football is apparently very popular and pubs seem to be associated with the east end. Like most places there are drugs, alcohol and violence on the streets.
4. What did your group do when you were asked to explore one of the tales? 
As a group we worked through prologue and tale 1 and then split up the prologue into sections, allocating different sections to different people.We ran through it a few times trying out the east end accent and in my case failing, I don't feel accents are my strong point.We then agreed that we should sit down for the scene on chairs in a line facing the audience.Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and we were told that our piece was too long and that we should shorten it but when it came to performing the shortened tale it ended up lasting just 30 seconds. The teacher said that he timed a small section of our rehearsal and it came to 2 minutes which was all the time we were allowed to perform in. Anyway there was a mishap which meant we only performed a bit of what we rehearsed. 

5. 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.

From the earliest time the east end has attracted trade and industry because of it's close proximity to the river Thames and Lea including dirty trade like tanning and tallow works.In 1827, the new St Katherine Docks opened, and with it, the need for large numbers of dock workers. There was no shortage in the East End. Alongside a swelling local population, the area had long attracted immigrants fleeing political unrest and religious persecution. Between 1870 and 1914 they were joined by thousands of Jewish settlers from Poland, Romania and Russia. Wages were pitiful and disease was everywhere:in 1866, a cholera epidemic swept the East End, killing 3,000 people.No wonder then, that crime, drunkenness and violence were so common.Gangs, prostitutes and robbers roamed the unlit alleys that, by the late 19th century, had become known as ‘The Abyss’. Perhaps the area’s darkest moment came in the late summer and early autumn of 1888, when Jack the Ripper carried out a series of horrific murders on Whitechapel prostitutes. He was never caught.  

Imran Khan’s career has developed in a way he could scarcely have predicted when he qualified as a solicitor in 1991. Less than two years later he was approached and asked if he would represent the devastated Lawrence family whose son Stephen had been the victim of a brutal racist murder in Eltham. The men arrested had the charges dropped. After an unsuccessful private prosecution and years of campaigning, the McPherson inquiry concluded that there was institutional racism in the police force. In 2012 two men were finally convicted of the murder and jailed for life.
A busy man, Imran Khan is for once in his office, nestled between high Holborn and Bloomsbury. The lawyerly, almost genteel setting is a far cry from his early days growing up in east London where he suffered himself at the hands of racists. He traces his determination to make a difference in society to that experience.

“It was every day, going to school facing the trials and tribulations of avoiding a kicking because of the colour of your skin, and you thought, ‘Why isn’t any one doing anything about this?’ You realised there is a reality that most of society doesn’t believe or doesn’t want to believe exists. Living in the east end of London with racists and football hooligans,  it was a very different place to what it is now, and there wasn’t any one around who said ‘I know that reality, I want to do something about it and change it’.”

• Research some events that have happened recently in the East End.

The Hackney Empire was a technological wonder when built in 1901 which attracted acts from all parts of the world. While Chaplin had appeared here a few times before heading to America to gain fame and Stan Laural had perfected his act here, Marie Lloyd was the most important star to appear here before the First World War.

Famous both in the national press and public, Hackney Empire brings the old, black and white together to create a cosmopolitan audience every Christmas. There is a huge line of leading touring productions, world famous orchestras, international opera companies and top comedians and musicians lined up to perform here in coming seasons.

It was in December 1937 that the historic Rio Cinema opened here as the “Classic”. It was the mark of television in the 1950s that led to a reduction in audiences; so to restore enthusiasm, the Dalston Classic changed names to Classic Cartoon Cinema, Classic Continental Cinema to finally return to the “Classic” within a year.

However the Dalston Classic was once again re-launched as the Tatler Cinema Club in 1968 and went on to show blue movies and live strip shows to finally close down in 1976. It was finally in 1999 that it got a complete refurbishment to open as Rio Cinema with Grade II listed status.

Cinema that is often ignored by the mainstream is shown here. The annual Turkish and Kurdish film festivals, midweek Classic Matinees and the Saturday morning Children’s Picture Club all feature at the Rio.

It was Jay Jopling who had set up White Cube Hoxton as a second, larger gallery space in 2000 in an old light industrial building of the 1920s. It houses an uninterrupted exhibition space with free admission. This “Inside the White Cube” space was launched in 2002, encompasses two floors, viewing galleries, offices, conference space and related space and dedicates a yearlong exhibition.

A wide range of artists of all mediums like Mark Quinn, Damien Hirst and Antony Gormley had showcased their talents here in solo or group exhibitions. Hoxton boasts of a strong art community and culture, various galleries, public art space, bars, restaurants and clubs. With so many abandoned warehouses having been converted into artists’ studios and the highest concentration of artists in Europe, East London is the place for art enthusiasts.

Shortly before last year's Olympics Professor Anne Power of the London School of Economics quantified the task of improving life for east Londoners, many of whom are not loaded with loot.
She pointed out that the people there have been poor compared with those in the rest of London for at least 200 years and, referring specifically to the borough of Newham, likened the effect of London's docks closing to the devastation the equivalent loss had on Liverpool. Basically, it shut half the place down.
That's the big, forbidding backdrop against which any catalysing force - cultural, social or economic - released by last year's athletic feats in the Olympic Park needs to be assessed.

26.09.14
A German synth pop band drove in their van for sixteen hours to reach London for a series of gigs only to awake after their journey to find their vehicle and its entire contents had been stolen.

30.09.14
Drugs worth hundreds of pounds, cash and dangerous weapons were seized during a police raid in an east London back alley.

Officers swooped in on Captain Cook’s Yard, Mile End Road, last Tuesday after they were tipped off the area was being used for selling cannabis

30.09.14
A teenager has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after he was stabbed during a fight on a bus in east London.

• Research some of the events from the text.

Domestic violence is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. 

Posted on 12.06.14

'Great timing – I was really pleased to hear today that the world premiere of Phil Maxwell & Hazuan Hashim’s film, From Cable Street to Brick Lane, an independent, feature length documentary dealing with the fight against racism and fascism in the East End of London, is taking place at the Genesis Cinema, Whitechapel, on the evening of 5 July'