Performance evaluation.

Today we performed our site specific piece , ' selhurst prison'. Overall I was happy with the piece though I feel there were moments that could have been improved.

I thought our group used the features of the site really well. We used both levels of our sight and created meaning through what it meant to be on each level. I especially felt that we used the site well when we were prisoners in the cells. We used the circles in the metal to poke our fingers through and look at people through. We also climbed on the railings and showed our want for escape and help by using the site as aid to physical movement. I thought a strength of our piece was our ability to use the site in a ver physical way which then helped to explain our story without verbally telling the audience all.

Another strength of our piece in my opinion was the use of soundscape a the start of our piece. We used the metal on the sight and our own voice to create a disturbing sound scape which then set the mood for the rest of the piece. The audience had their eyes closed here and were being toured around the sight. They were guided and touched the site as they listened. I feel this really bought out feeling from the site and emphasised what mood the site created for us when we had been devising.

I feel we succeeded in emerging the audience into our site and created meaning from our site. We used lots of elements from the site to create and influence our piece which I feel was mostly very apparent. We also showed some characterisation and variation in emotion. However there were elements of our piece that could have benefitted with more time. I feel there were clear dips in the performance and parts which didn't quite work with the site. When the prisoners were marching up and down the hallway in circles this could have been a bit boring. I feel it was unnecessary as it probably wasn't clear enough that we were representing the lines and circles of the site. We could have developed this by using more interesting physicality and perhaps had more substance to the movement. This part of the piece I could imagine being slightly tiresome.

I feel we could have also improved further the relationship between the guards and the prisoners. There was clear hatred from the guards and fear from the prisoners. Yet it wasn't clear enough why the prisoners actually rose up in the end and got over this fear. This part of the piece also had little link to the site , and this section could have been in any location with two levels. So our piece could have had more work done on certain sections which I personally feel were at lower levels to the rest. Also more work on our individual performances would have benefitted the piece as at times I felt it wasn't quite there.

However though our piece had some flaws I am proud of my groups work. I feel we really embraced our sites and used multiple things from it. From physically using the site , to taking peoples memories of being in the sight and influencing our piece in that way and from using the colours and features of the sight to create our vision.

Site research

I wanted to ask people about how our site made them feel , in order to better feelings used in our piece. As I talked to people there were any different memories and feelings. One person had felt isolated and intimidated in the site when they had first joined the school. They had lost their class room and found themselves outside 905 with a bunch of older music students. The site had given her a feeling of isolation. 

Others told me about specific conversations the site reminded them about. I was also told about someone having their first fight with their best friend and feeling really upset and hurt. She said she felt trapped in the situation . I think this is current to our piece as it is all about being trapped. 

Photo's of our site

the numbers on the lockers really inspired our theme of loss of identity in insititues 

we have used these metal cubes as inspiration for our cells. They reminded us of metal prison doors , also the wholes made interesting acherctexture which we use for our soundscape. 

 

Additions and finalisations to the piece.

Using our site effectively has been one of the biggest challenges during this project. We have often got caught up in ideas and slightly disregarded the site. When working on pieces we began to focus on identity further.

The site has its own identity. It is slightly forgen to us theatre students as it is the music and dance building. Therefor we wanted to show clear exploration of foreign identity. We will be using masks in the piece which the prisoners will wear. This symbolises the people all having foregn identity to their place. Also it shows how in institutions like schools and prisons personal identity can be stripped as people become members of one body.

To show individuals stories and defying of systems we have decided that in the scene of abuse with one of the prisoners , the mask will be taken off. This not only shows taking a stance for own identity but shows isolation. On talking to people about memories of the site they mentioned feeling alone sometimes in a swarm of people they were not familiar with. Or being in large groups of people they knew waiting for a lesson. By using masks we are exploring both aspects of the sites effect on peoples emotion.

We also further took architectural features to inform our movement. We have begun focusing more on the cirlces that are a huge feature to the site. This informs the patterns we walk in. Also as the site has a mixture of circles and lines it shows the contrasts between the guards and prisoners. Though they are in the same place their nature is opposite. Therefor the guards will walk in straight lines whereas the prisoners will be more circular.

Finally we looked at using the audience in our piece. We had not explored this prior to our last rehearsal. However by the guards controlling the audience at the beginning of the piece , a connection between the prisoners and audience is made. Showing how sites can have the power to target and isolate people

Penultimate Lesson Rehearsal

As we really started developing our new prison idea i feel the piece finally began to move on. We decided to make sure our plot was very simple. By doing so the site would be used more effectively and we would be able to focus on using different elements to our site in a way the audience could clearly interpret.

We have began to take bits of text from the walls and really look at our site and use different elements in the piece. For example the circular windows in the ceiling are big circles of light. This can be used as a sense of hope for the prisoners and we have began exploring physically using the balcony with focus to the light.

In past weeks the main challenge for the piece was using the site effectively. We were constantly getting caught up in ideas and having ideas that didn't really go anywhere. However this week we have really started physically exploring the site. Using its architectural features to support physical movement and to move the story along.

Further Development

As we began our devising we realised we had reached a stand still in our work. We had an idea we were all happy about yet it seemed putting it to practice was another thing entirely. There was no real narrative to the peice and we didnt think it used the site effectively.

We decided to go more with our original idea of being trapped , the site is has lots of small holes and barriors. We then thought of exploring a prison. There are lots of lines in the site influencing guard straight line walking. There is also a strong divide between the upper balcony and the corridor below. Symbolising the guards and prisoners and being trapped and being free.

We want to explore a prisoners story and use that to further relate to the site. We will use a story that started when the prisoner was in their last year of school , that way we can use the actual site as the school. Thus finding different ways to manipulate the site.

Next week we want to really look at bringing our ideas to stage , it would be particularly interesting to use bits of physical theatre as our site had so many archetextural features that would be perfect to use for physical movement.

further development of ideas

From last rehearsal my company developed our original ideas. We wanted to develop the idea of a narnia type world but relate it deeper into our site. We have decided we will have three dancer characters who are from the land and 2 theatre students characters. This shows how the building of our site is the dancers building and being in theatre we are foreign to this area. However we thought it was important to make these characters not so obviously defined by strand. As we all like the idea of a mystical land we are turning the dancers characters into mystical creatures with dance like physicality. We are still working on our story line and experimenting on how we can use the architectural features to help narrate our story. We are particularly interested in using the metal circles in the balcony to influence are story and movement. Also the lockers create really interesting spacing that it would be interesting to explore further.