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.

First Lesson , developing ideas

Today we began working on our piece in our companies that we will perform in our chosen site. My company is working in the balcony and hallway area outside room 901. This space is rather unique and has a few special features. Under the Balcony is a large set of lockers. This feature has always interested my group. Lockers can symbolise being trapped , or something belonging. They are also a a useful feature to use as people can get in and out from them or use them as other props.

We would really like to create a type of Narnia world in our piece. We would use the lockers as little doors to crawl out of , creating interesting use of our sites features. Also as the site we are in was built for the dancers in Brit we want to incorporate dance and relevance to the dancers in our magical world. Building on the idea of belonging with the lockers i think it would be interesting to explore this by my group being very foreign to the audience , and showing this through participation. Though our site may at first glance look plain and boring we want to show our characters to find it amazing , thus opening up the site to the audience and showing beauty in unconventional ways.