Week Three

This is our third week of rehearsals so we started to look at what costumes, objects and music we could use and how we could make them abide by the strange making rules. We also talked about montages and how they can be used as an effective strange making device. A montage is a way of showing progress of a certain character and the passing of time. The most famous montage is in the film 'Rocky' when he is training to become a boxer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACJ_yn6zXLs. The music provides the montage with the pace and also helps disconnect the audience with their emotions.

 

Jack gave us all some rules to stick to when devising our piece:

• Have to include music in our piece (singing or audio)
• Must have objects
• Must all have a costume
• We have to find new ways of directly addressing the audience
• Must show the audience that we are actors who are acting
• Must break the fourth wall
• Must include some strange making effects (for example speaking in the third person, voicing stage directions and changing costume on stage)

Jack also asked us to write down, roughly, ten things that might happen in our scene. We came up with these points:

1. Entre the space singing the theme tune to Take Me Out
2. Maya introducing the show
3. I hold up the clap sign
4. Maya introduces Danny (Hitler) and we play a song
5. Getting to know Hitler and all girls except us three turning off their lights
6. Hitler showing off his talent
7. Eleanor (girl number one) turning off her light and explaining why
8. Hitler questions girls
9. Hitler turns off my 'light' and keeps Ellesse's (Anne) on
10. Hitler finds out that he chose Anne Frank

We decided to change our idea from last week as we felt it wasn't impactful enough and wasn't very Brechtian. So this week we looked at the guidelines Jack had set us and we made sure we included all the points in our piece. We have included a lot of music in our piece, such as the Take Me Out theme tune, a song for when Hitler comes down the lift and a song at the end of our piece. Songs are a very good way of breaking the illusion for the audience. Songs also help keep the piece fresh and new.

We don't have many objects, but the ones we do have we are going to try and make them a key feature. One object we have is the sign I will hold up saying 'Clap Now' and 'Boo Now'. We're thinking of having a microphone for Maya, but instead of using a real one, we were thinking of using a banana, as Brecht believed that the objects should be weird because you are then using the alienation effect, which is very Brechtian. Costume wise, we're keeping it very obvious. Maya will be in all black, Danny will be in a Hitler costume, Ellesse in a period dress and Eleanor and I in normal clothes. I need to bring in a hat of some sort to put on when I become the stage manager holding the sign up. I will be outing this hat on onstage and therefore changing character onstage, thus including the strange making effect and reminding the audience we are actors. Once Eleanor has turned off her light, I then break character and hand the hat and sign over to her, again reminding the audience this is a performance.

We're addressing the audience directly by telling them when to clap and when to boo. To make our piece impactful, we will have them clapping at the shocking parts, for example when Danny says he killed six million Jews, and having them boo and the parts they agree with, such as when Ellesse says Danny should shut down the 'industrial ovens'. We're hoping this will unsettle the audience and therefore make our piece effective and memorable. I think we have broken the fourth wall in our performance as there are no boundaries between us and the audience due to the fact that they almost become part of our piece as they are the 'take me out' audience.

For next week I need to have an established and bold character because at the moment I'm only standing and putting on a hat occasionally. Brecht believed in strong and defined characters, so I will work on creating a typical single, if slightly desperate, female to fit in with the stereotypical perception of women on dating shows.

BNP Political Protest Research and Idea's

The British National Party (or most commonly known as the BNP) are a far-right political group in the UK that focuses their political policies on anti-immigration and anti-integration of the EU. The party also advocates the reintroduction of capital punishment and opposes same-sex marriage. They believe that the UK should move to become a fully self-sufficient country, which should encourage British teachings and values only. This therefore means that they will not allow any other culture to be taught or embraced, thus creating an all British UK. The BNP also believe that welfare should only be provided to full British people but only after thy have completed a certain number of hours in some form of beneficial work which the government will provide them with. Nick Griffin has been the Head and Chairman of the BNP since 1999 and harbours strong views against the immigrants of Britain, stating that they are all 'creatures and animals'. Here is a link to a speech he gave at the Trafalgar Club on November 9th this year. Although Griffin is talking about creating a better economy for this country, I feel like he is doing it in a way that will isolate and estrange anyone who is not British from being allowed to experience this new Britain, which I feel is unfair and cruel.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUEd2qfZyGc#t=1483  this is also another link to a short clip from Question Time which shows views from members of the public, other Politicians and Nick Griffin himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIHNJP9e9EQ

The reason we have decided to use the BNP policies as the subject for our protest is because collectively, we all had similar strong views against them and what they stood for. Our group has a mixture of different ethnicities and backgrounds, meaning that the anti-immigration policies the BNP want to introduce would directly affect our families and our audience's families too. We felt strongly opposed to these policies, we felt the passion we all shared would help us create a strong and hard-hitting protest which everyone can relate too. WE also felt that the anti-immigration policies fit in well with the theme of our Brechtian piece and that we could use a lot of the ideas and techniques in our protest to make it powerful and effective. I also feel that it will offer a nice contrast to our performance, as Brecht was left wing and obviously the BNP are far-right, so to perform this piece which is against far-right wing policies using a left wing theory would create a diverse protest.

We began to brainstorm some idea's of how we could create this protest and make it memorable. We looked over the Brechtian techniques again and decided that using songs and chants would be a great way to involve the audience and also captivate them. 'We shall, We shall Not move! Not move!' was a chant we came up with and it's said with the same rhythm that the famous song 'We Will Rock You' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4MJqLmKfHois set with. I think it will be catchy as it's a well known rhythm and I think it will show our passion that we have for our protest topic. Our group also liked how we could use this chant as a double meaning as we're talking about how we will not leave the UK because of our ethnicities, but also how we will not leave our chosen site until our protest is done and we have got our message across. We came up with the idea of getting pictures of Nick Griffin and ripping them in front of the audience while saying 'Down with the Bloody BNP' we also thought we could burn pictures of him too and sing 'we're letting Griffy burn, brun, burn.' in the style of the Elle Goulding song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGyEd0aKWZE. We feel that these will catch on and hopefully the audience will join in. We also liked the idea of a rap as this is a prominent in urban culture and is again very catchy. Khai started to improvise with some lyrics and we came up with a hook line 'fuck the bnp'. Having decided that we would station our protest on the stairs just outside the foyer, we were thinking that it would be an interesting visual if we tied ourselves to the railings as we chanted and sang as we felt this would have an effective impact on the audience.

 

We also think that at some point we should tell the viewers some facts about the BNP so they can create their own judgement. We are hoping that these facts will shock them and make them oppose the BNP like we do. We like the facts:

 

- Reach an accord with the Muslim world whereby they will agree to take back their excess population which is currently colonising this country, in exchange for an ironclad guarantee that Britain will never again interfere in the political affairs of the Middle East or try to dictate to any Arab or Muslim country as to what their internal government form should be- Deport all the two million plus who are here illegally;
- Deport all those who commit crimes and whose original nationality was not British;
- Review all recent grants of residence or citizenship to ensure they are still appropriate;
- Offer generous grants to those of foreign descent resident here who wish to leave permanently;
- Stop all new immigration except for exceptional cases;
- Reject all asylum seekers who passed safe countries on their way to Britain.- Abolish “anti-discrimination” laws which prevent people from making a free choice;
- Abolish the “Human Rights Act” which has been imposed on this country through the European Union, and which is nothing but an excuse to prevent British laws stopping the scroungers of the world parasiting off this nation;

We all agreed that these facts were the most shocking and the most removed form people's minds. Our school is quite liberal minded as a whole, so this makes us feel that we will be able to show them that these views are wrong and cruel far easier than if they were more right-wing minded. We also thought we could include some words form the youtube video named 'My Tram Experience' in our protest some way, as this was a viral video and really highlights what they BNP want to say.

 

http://www.bnp.org.uk/ -----This is a direct link to the BNPs website.

 

These are photos of the information sheet we got given today on Brecht's theatre techniques.

Week Four

As our protests are tomorrow, this week we quickly went over some Brechtian techniques which reminded me of what I need to apply in our performance tomorrow. Here is some of the information:

 

-Brecht was a Marxist/ Communist, he believed in a left wing ideology and challenged Aristotle's ideas about theatre

-He "believed good theatre should have a unity of time and place and have a liner drive. It should be well made (well structured) with a resolution or catharsis at the end. It should be naturalistic so the audience should suspend their disbelief and therefore by into the story or the drama in order to engage fully."

-Brecht challenged these idea's on theatre. He said he "believed theatre should be epic" meaning that the performance should be episodic; each scene should be separate from one and other and have their own story lines (therefore be non-linier). Each scene should be judged on their own efforts and there should be no cause on effect

-He believed in breaking the Fourth Wall and making the audience sustain their disbelief by becoming an engaged audience and not a passive one

-He did this by being harsh. The lighting was hard (naturalistic) and the actor's wore little make-up. He didn't want anything to look pretty/perfect, he liked the piece to look bare boned and realistic. He believed the actors should do the music themselves and demonstrate their characters instead of becoming them.

-The action is without climax and catharsis so that the audience would be distanced from their emotions, thereby having an honest reaction to the piece

-His pieces were over the top and very theatrical, often having the actors in bright, bold colours and changing on stage into their different characters. This was to break the illusion and to remind the audience they are watching actors act out a performance (the v effect)

-Brecht used signs and projections to inform the audience what was happening on stage so that nothing was left to the imagination

-He used songs to divide the action up and to distance the audience from their emotions. he allowed the viewers to see the actors warming up on stage and let them see what the actors do to prepare for a show

-The themes in his plays were often very relatable to the working class

-Brecht believed that the distinction between theatre and real life was blurred and he felt that the audience should be enthused with energy that makes them want to change things in their lives after leaving the theatre

-The ideologies of Communism are ever present in Brecht's theories of acting. The philosophical side "suggests the characteristics of human nature is creativity" which relates back to Brecht's work

-Brecht's way of rehearsing is very much structured around the idea of Communism. When rehearsing a Brechtian piece, everyone is equal and everyone chips in to create the performance. The actors often do their own music and the lighting is basic and even. This way of rehearsals in very different to say Stanislavsky, who was a Right Winger which also reflects in his rehearsal methods; There is one director who directs everybody, much like a Capitalist state

-"The world created by the worker does not belong to them, it belongs to the owner of the production. The rich." Communists describe this as alienation, meaning that you don't own your own creation. This idea is present in Brecht's theories as the actor is separate from their character, much like the worker is separate from what they have created. This obviously links in with Brecht's idea of Strange Making/the V effect/ alienation. Firstly, it shares the same name and secondly, the audience are distant form their emotions and don't share their emotions with the actors; nor should the actors be sharing their emotions with the audience

-Brecht's use of The V effect is political because it links to the Marxist theorem of alienation as people go to the theatre to distant themselves from their lives, so they might leave the theatre and change their lives outside the theatre.

-Brecht wanted there to be no fourth wall so his audience could be allowed to get angry and if they wanted, leave the theatre and go and change something in their lives.

 

Brecht was against:

• the fourth wall
• anything that re-enforces Capitalist thoughts/theorems
• theatre just being there for entertainment/ bourgeois theatre
• plots, he didn't want a realistic life
• the actors sharing their emotions with the audience and vice versa. He didn't want their to be any emotional communication

 

 



This video explains Epic Theatre and why Brecht uses it. This clip helped me understand this technique a lot more as I could see it being played out.

Protest Rehearsals

As our choreographed protest is tomorrow, we spent todays one hour lesson working out the structure of the piece. We're going to open with Hana re-enacting the 'My Tram Experience' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRnP1GakX3Q. We're then going to tape her mouth and go into the chant, 'let us in, let us stay' where we shall be reaching out to the audience. Once we're said that a few times, we go into another chant (WE SHALL, WE SHALL NOT MOVE! NOT MOVE!) we think these chants will captivate the audience and make them listen to our protest. We are also taping ourselves to the stairs in hope of standing out from the crowd.

Once we're chanted a few times, we are each going to shout out facts about the BNP immigration policies, then rip up a poster of Nick Griffin. We are also going to hand out these posters and say 'Fuck the BNP' and tell the audience to rip up the posters. That's when we go into the BNP rap which Khai is going to rap and Ben will provide the beats. We're all going to say the chorus which is 'if y'all love niggers and Asians then follow me, fuck the BNP'. We're hoping this will captivate our audience and hopefully they will join in. We are going to keep this on a loop which will hopefully create an atmosphere of focus and the protest will be alive and vibrant as well as relatable.

This is the fact I will read out:
-Reject all asylum seekers who passed safe countries on their way to Britain.



 



This is one image we shall use for the posters we are going to rip up.

Protest Performance Evaluation

I think the techniques and devices we used throughout our protest or performance worked well as they caught the audience's attention, allowing them to learn more about our subject and form their own judgement on what was being displayed before them. I think we got people fired up which was our aim; we wanted the audience to get into the protest and almost become part of the performance. Our overall aim was to challenge people's thoughts of the BNP and help them see that their political ideologies are racist and immoral. 

I feel that through our use of chants and song (WE SHALL, WE SHALL, NOT MOVE! NOT MOVE!)  we created a bold and intriguing atmosphere which captivated people to come over and watch us. I personally feel that this very Brechtian technique worked the best as it included the audience and therefore they felt connected to our piece. The BNP rap worked particularly well, as our target audience found it relatable and they could easily join in.  A group of year 10's joined in with Khai and Ben while they were rapping, either beat boxing or creating beats with their hands or feet. I noticed that most of them chanted the hook like 'fuck the BNP' as this was very accessible and as the whole group was saying it, the line was the loudest and therefore drew in most of the attention. This created a buzz around our group which therefore invited more people to come and have a look at our protest. As this rap happened about every five minutes, we always had a fresh new audience joining in or listening to the lyrics. The rap helped our viewers understand the very complex political ideologies we were voicing and I felt like it helped them realise what we were protesting about was shocking. I think a rap is an excellent way of getting a political point across as they are very catchy and everyone can join in with the beats or some of the lyrics.  Because of this rap, I noticed that a lot more people were joining in, either ripping up posters of Nick Griffin or tapping either Shyanne's or Hana's mouths. I think these techniques were extremely successful as they got everyone involved and effectively put our point across.

The use of 'My Tram Experience' dialogue was very effective and it worked because it was something that the audience had seen and disliked, so therefore they were drawn into our piece to see what it was about. Whilst we booed the words of the tram lady which were being voiced by Hana or Shyanne, the audience seemed to be forming around us, as the sound of the booing and the recognisable words from 'My Tram Experience' captivated them and they were drawn to these negative sounds. I think this made the protest more relatable and therefore even more engaging to watch. This coupled with the fact that they could help us tape the lady's mouth shut, made them feel like they were part of the protest and that they were helping, therefore it made them feel as if they were fighting against something they disagreed with. Due to this I think our protest became more effective, as it helped the audience to realise they were opposed to the same issues we were and thus made our message more relatable and alive.

Fluidity, focus and vocals were defiantly our challenges and something we could've improved on. As we were situated outside with other groups, it was hard to be heard vocally and visually as we were continuously competing with four other protest groups. This, therefore, made it hard to know when we should change our words and move on. This then disrupted the fluidity of our piece, so often it would be staggered and not all of us would be on the same chant or lyrics. This combined with the fact that we were back to back meant our piece was slightly disjointed as we couldn't always hear each other so we didn't know when to move on. Because of this our focus wasn't fantastic, but we soon honed down and listened carefully to each other. Trying to keep the audience's attention was hard to maintain. as often they were on their way to a lesson, so they didn't have time to stop and listen to our protest. I found trying to make my voice heard hard, as often I'd say something and someone would walk by or snigger at me. This made me feel quite defeated at some points. I think this was because I was being too aggressive with my words, and they misunderstood passion or anger, so I started to talk to them and I found that this technique worked more effectively then using the aggressive approach.

I think we adapted to each audience member well. I found that most people knew who the BNP were and who Nick Griffin was, but some didn't so I explained to them what the Parties ideologies were, which I think helped them understand out protest as we told them about it, so they could see why we were protesting. I noticed that most people who understood didn't really want to talk to us, they just ripped up a poster or said 'yeah, Fuck the BNP', and the people who didn't understand wanted to find out more. I think this was a good sign that our protest was accessible to everyone. I think we chose a good topic as a lot of people agreed with us, either nodding their heads or joining in with the chants/rap. I think the reason for this was it is such a blood boiling topic and it relates to everyone and their families. I genially felt that we were very noticeable. I think our protest worked because it wasn't illusive, they didn't have to read into anything after if they didn't want to.

I think the site we chose to hold our protest on was a success because there was a lot of foot fall and therefore more people who wanted to join in. I think our decision to tape ourselves to the stairs was a daring but noticeable as it stood out and helped us focus on the task and our energy which contributed to the ethos of our protest. Being taped restricted our spacing, so therefore made us focus our energy on the people leaving or entering the foyer which contributed to making the atmosphere bigger and more energetic. Like I said, the taping and the site made us unavoidable to the people who were within that area, as they couldn't leave or enter the foyer without going through us first. This then made it easier for them to hear our questions about the BNP and they were able to answer them. The 'let me stay' chant was made more effective by this small space as we could reach out and grab the audience members, creating an effective plea. This made them stop and listen as they were forced to hear our pleas and then our main points. As we were doing this, I encountered a few people laughing or taking the mick, so I stopped doing this and started asking question like 'what do you think of an all white British UK?' and that soon made them stop laughing and realise the seriousness of our protest. I think the paper ripping was another fantastic feature of our protest, as it worked well after we had explained who the BNP were and what they stood for. Their need to vent their frustration and anger was met with being able to tear up a picture of Nick Griffin and simultaneously aid our protest and captivate more people to come and watch. This became very popular with our audience as it linked with the catchy hook line 'fuck the BNP' and gave them something to channel their anger with. I think this gave our performance the fluidity we wanted and the connection with the audience we aimed ot have.

I think it is important to include the audience while doing a protest, because otherwise their is a fourth wall and you can't reach out to them. Music worked best for our group as the chants and rap drew in most of the crowds. When there were less people, I couldn't help but feel slightly awkward, but I pushed through and made my performance bigger so we would draw in more viewers and participators. Overall I feel our protest was incredibly vibrant and visually and vocally interesting, which resulted in us being able to put our point across efficiently.