Learning New Things

In todays lesson we watched the other groups performance, after their performance we all sat and had a long talk. Mr. Evans gave a lot of feedback to the other group. Personally, I learnt a lot from the discussion we had today. I found everything Mr. Evans said very interesting and it made me realise how important communication and team work is when your working together. In our group everything started running smoothly when we became comfortable with each other and we all took leadership and when we wrote the script that is when everything feel into place. At the start our group had a low communication because it was the first time a lot of us worked together however we over came all our issues and now we work really well together. Whereas with the other group there is an evident lack of team work and leadership. This made me realise how important it is for there to be leadership roles and that we need to push our selves if we want to succeed. This lesson won't only help me get good grades but it also taught me some different lessons that will help me in my life later on. Overall, I think it was good that we just went of criteria and sat down and got straight to the point of all the issues. 

Feed-back

During our lesson on November 12th 2015 we had a long discussion about having to work as team. We also had our first dress rehearsals, and did a full run. Overall, our feedback was positive, However we needed to be more emotionally connected to our character in order for me to do that I have to memorise my lines better because the paper being in my hand it taking away from my true potential because Im not confident enough so I just read. We also discussed props and decided who would do what. 

Tech Run

We had our Tech Run today, it took a long time however we were able to complete everything today. We have written up a Que. for Pedro who will be doing our lighting. The only thing that needs to be done now is our music, we will discuss our music and costume in our next lesson. Overall today was a very productive lesson because we completed our Que. so our full dress rehearsal will run smoothly. 

Testing lights for the Drug Dealing Scene 

Pedros Que.

Testing lights for the Interview scenes 

Lastly we also made a few changes to the script and added a few more lines to the narrator so that there was a more obvious transition between scenes. I think the changes help tie the play together a lot more. 

Rehearsals

In todays lesson we only rehearsed, we were able to run through the script two times. Personally, I think we could have worked a lot better. I found that the boy were not taking things very seriously, which made it harder for the rest of us to make good use of our time. However, I did notice the my memorisation of the script is continuing to improve. 

Full run Rehearsal

In our last lesson November 2nd 2015,  we did a really full run through of our script. I think we worked really well as a group during this lesson. I think all of us have improved since the first few run throughs of the script. We also did a full run through with Mr. Evans and got his feedback. While discussing with Mr. Evans he said that it was good, and our intended message was getting across. In relation to that feedback, our group decided that during our tutorial we'll take the time to work a little bit on the lights so that we can soon do a run through in costume with lights and everything. Mr Evans feedback made me more confident, because we no longer need to worry about whether our message is being delivered or not. So we can now just focus on rehearsing. 

Rehearsals

During our rehearsals on October 22nd 2015 we didn't work as well as we could have. We weren't as active and motivated as normal however we did manage to get through the script 2 times. However, I did notice that I was using my script a lot less in this rehearsal than I was a couple days before. Although, we didn't work as well I think this lesson was helpful because we did become more familiar with the script and I think that this rehearsal helps us become not only more familiar with the script but also more familiar with the our characters. 

Sam and Howard running through their drug buying scene 

Rehearsals with Script

During our rehearsals on October 20th 2015 we had the final draft of the script with us, the first thing we did was read through the script as a group. After that we did a run through of it. We faced a few problems when doing this because when the other side of the stage was supposed to be frozen they moved around a lot and were talking. However, in the second run through we did it was a lot more put together. In addition I noticed that I didn't use my script as much as I did in the first run through. 

Drama Script – Just Say No

(Light out – completely black, then slowly come up on right side of stage only)

Nariel: Here with us today is Katie Scott, the sister of Ben Scott the recent victim of a legal high (pause). She has agreed to meet with us today to talk about the death of her brother, and also to talk about legal highs. Ben Scott was the victim of Mephedrone (Me-feed-drone), one of the most commonly used legal highs. Mephedrone killed 52 people in the UK alone in one year. To get us started, what was the relationship between you and your brother?

Lauryn: We were very close, my brother and I have always been very close because our parents are both lawyers and didn’t regularly have time for us. I always helped him with any problems he had, I was like a mother to him and I treated him as a child more than I treated him like a brother.

Nariel: Did you know about Legal highs before today?

Lauryn: I’ve heard about legal highs before but I didn’t know that they killed. I mainly thought that legal highs were either alcohol or high intakes of caffeine. (short pause) When I found out how my brother died I was shocked because I didn’t know about the different legal highs out there.

Nariel: We know that there were others found with your brother, however Ben was the only one to pass away. Were you familiar with your brother’s friends?

Lauryn: I knew his friends quite well I mean they were over a lot of the time but they all seemed like really good kids. They have never gotten into trouble in school, so when I found out they were caught high on drugs I was very surprised.

Nariel: Did you notice anything different about Ben in the nights leading up to his death?

Lauryn: Well a few days before his death he came home around 12pm and he seemed a bit nervous and out of it. So I asked him if he was okay, and all he said was that he got into a fight with his friends. (Right side of the stage freezes; lights go out on right side and come up on the left side)

(Truman, Howard and Danny frozen)

Erin: (points to Truman) this is Ben, Katie’s brother. (Points to Howard) this one right here is Johnny he’s a little bit naughty and breaks a few rules. (Points to Danny) This is Tim he’s a good kid and never gets in to trouble; he is also Ben’s best friend. (Snaps fingers)

Howard: Hey guys! Look what I got from a friend. (Shows bag of drugs)

Truman: Omg, what is that, is it what I think it is…

Howard: Yes, man they’re drugs, but wait they are legal I got them from a friend.

Danny: (Tries to grab bag) Ooo… Can I have a look?

Howard: (pulls away) nope not now… Lets meet back here tonight and try it out, I mean it is legal so what’s the harm?

Truman: No, that’s a terrible idea, I’m not coming back here tonight I don’t want to risk anything.

Danny: What the hell dude, come on they’re legal nothing is going to happen.

Truman: No thank you I don’t want to risk anything we could get into big trouble if someone catches us.

Howard: Fine be a wimp, go home then…

(Truman, Howard and Danny freeze / prepare for next scene)

Erin: Ben went home that night frightened and worried about what might happen to his friends. (Erin Freezes)

(Lights go out on the left side of the stage and come on the right Lauryn and Nariel unfreeze)

Lauryn: I didn’t really think anything of it because it’s very normal in a healthy relationship for people to fight.

Nariel: Do you know what happened after the fight?

Lauryn:  No not really, but the next day he asked me to go to the park, so I assumed that everything was back to normal.

Nariel: The other day I was talking to an officer about your brother’s case and he said that Tim one of the friends confessed to bullying Ben on the day of his death.

(Lights go off on right side of stage and come up on the left side)

Erin: Tim and Johnny were playing at the park when suddenly ben walked over and sat at a bench close by. (Snaps fingers)

Howard: Look who it is the boy who’s to scared to take drugs.

Danny: Ahaha boo hoo, poor baby scared of a little powder you know you missed out you little scaredy cat.

Howard: (messing up his hair) no one likes you anymore, why couldn’t you have just come to the part last night it was a lot of fun?

Truman: (Hides face in shame and tries to hold back tears)

Howard: Dude lets leave! (pause) This piece of junk isn’t worth our time

(Howard and Danny begin to walk away)

Truman: Wait, wait Howard could you come over here (Howard walks back to Truman and Danny exits)

Howard: Man what do you want I have better things to do with my life

Truman: I changed my mind, I want to take some drugs I don’t want to be a left out coward who’s scared of a little powder.

Howard: There isn’t any left but I can take you to my mate and we can get some more.

(Lights go out on the left side of the stage and come on the right Lauryn and Nariel unfreeze)

Lauryn: I wish I had paid more attention to him that day, If only I had realized. He came home with a friend and asked if he could borrow some money, I can’t believe I was the one who paid for the drugs. I gave him the money and he went off and bought drugs (Become teary)

(Lights go out on right and open slowly on the left)

Howard and Sam: Hey what’s up dude (high-five)

Howard: I have a new customer for you his names Ben

Sam: Could you ask him to leave for a moment (Truman goes to the back and walks around) What’s wrong with you man, don’t just come here bring random people of the street. Don’t you dare ruin my business!!

Howard: He isn’t some random dude I found on the street, he’s a friend

Sam: How long have you known him, can you trust him? What are you going to do if he blurts to the cops. You’re putting my business at risk.

Howard: He doesn’t know anything, he’ll keep his mouth shut I promise you.

Sam: I don’t want you doing this no more, you hear me

Howard: Okay, okay… I don’t see the big deal your getting money and anyways isn’t this suppose to be legal

Sam: I don’t care if its legal or not I don’t want anything being traced back to me.

Howard: Okay I understand

Sam: Now give me the money and leave, don’t do this again I’m warning you

(Exchange money and drugs then lights go out on left side and slowly come on, on the right side)

Nariel: Don’t blame yourself; you couldn’t have known that was what he would use the money for.

Lauryn: I know but I blame myself, I practically raised my brother I should have known something was going on.

Nariel: Is anyone else in your family addicted to drugs or has a history with drugs?

Lauryn: Our father use to be addicted when I was first born, he would stay out late and it would sometimes scare me. However, after him and my mom got into a fight he agreed to go to rehab and since then he has been off drugs.

Nariel: How do you think life will change for you know that your brother has passed away?

Lauryn: It will change a lot; we were always there for each other. I’ll no longer have anyone to talk to about my life and everything. He was an amazing listener and always knew the right things to say. I really hope that more people become aware of legal highs and their actual dangers. 

Nariel: Your brother was peer-pressured into taking drugs but do you have anything to say to anyone who may be thinking of taking drugs to help with depression or they might even be experiencing the same thing as your brother.

Lauryn: My advice to them is JUST SAY NO. You may be thinking in that time that things can only get worse but that is not true there are many different ways to get help. There is a quote that states, “Drugs are hell disguised as heaven.” Your just putting yourself through hell that at the time seems better but is just making things worse. Risking your life isn’t the way to get help. JUST SAY NO… Just because its called a Legal High doesn’t mean it’s safe… Think before you act and JUST SAY NO..

Nariel: Lastly, have you ever thought about taking drugs?

Lauryn: When I was 15 years old a friend invited me to a party, when I got to her house there wasn’t many people in the room I was a little confused and then she told me that they were taking Mephedrone. I sat down for a bit and thought about it but in the end I JUST SAID NO. At the time I didn’t know that Mephedrone was a legal drug, but I think what affect me the most is that I almost took a similar drug so that could have been me.

Nariel: I’m sorry to hear that, you’re an amazing person and I’m sure many will benefit from this. Thank you so much for agreeing to speak to me today.

(ALL LIGHTS GO OUT)

THE END J

A Big Change

We had a double period today which we used very well, we finalised our entire performance and then performed in front of Mr. Evans. After watching the performance he gave us a lot of feed back, after a group discussion we came to the decision that we would make a very big change. 

Discussing possible changes and improvements

After getting feedback from Mr. Evans we made changes to characters, and we change the base of the play. Now, we all have one role which will hopefully make it easier to get into character. We also finalised and wrote a script so that rehearsal time will go much smoother. 

Feedback from Mr. Evans: 

- We all need to work more on our tone, we need to speak with more confidence and louder

- Changing the layout on stage

-Changing the characters around

- Surrounding everything off the interview 

The feed back our group got today was very helpful, because we know have our own characters it will be easier because we won't need to worry about having all these different personalities in mind. Overall, the think I found most helpful was the feed back Mr. Evans gave us about basing everything off the interview. When Nariel and I were writing the script I noticed how the whole performance seemed more connected and put together. I think the changes we made today will have a huge impact on our final performance. 

We were testing out different ideas that we could try

Making Changes

In todays lesson we spent the most of it writing down and finalising some of our dialogue. We then sat down and discussed things about our play with Mr. Evans and we made a big change, we completely removed one whole scene. However we now have an idea of how our 4th and final scene will be. Another big change is that we changed from illegal drugs to using legal highs. We did this because many people now about common drugs and their effect however, few people know about the dangers and consequences of legal highs. 

Critique of Phantom of the Opera

"The Phantom of the Opera" is a well-known musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of many of the world best musicals, including Cats the Musical, Sunset Boulevard, and many others. The Phantom of the Opera is about a man disaffirmed from birth, he is known as the Phantom (Ghost) and he lives in the sewers beneath the Paris Opera House. The Phantom falls in love with the chorus singer, throughout he demands that she always be the main role and to make sure this happens he threatens everyone else but they rarely see him thats why he is known as The Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom of the Opera is a very well written play, and well thought through. There is a smooth transition through all scenes. I personally thought it was a good play, and the use of different effects (both sound and stage) worked well with the theme and plot of the story. I am not a fan of Opera singing however in the Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber included more than just Opera singing, there was also more modern singing a long with dancing for this reason it appealed to me and grabbed my attention. Not only was is written well but it was also excellently directed (by, Harold Prince) which is evident through the amazing musical that was performed on stage. Overall, it is a great, well-written play with excellent actors.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and the well known mask from Phantom of the Opera 

The Phantom of the Opera had very great actors and actresses. There were many great performers however there were 2 characters who stood out to me though their very outstanding performance. Firstly, the one who mainly stood out to me was Madame Giry, played by Tina Walsh. Madame Giry stood out to me because she had a strong personality and showed her emotions and expressions really well. Although she wasn't a big character she had a big personality which grabbed my attention. Tina Walsh did a fantastic good interpreting her character and showing her emotion to the audience. Secondly, I was also intrigued by the Phantom played by Brad little. Throughout the entire play, the Phantom did a great job in staying in character and expressing his emotions. The Phantom came from a bad childhood and had a hard life growing up and although they didn't say this in the play it is evident that he had a bad life.  Brad Little plays the character really well. The reason I say that he stayed in character throughout the entire play is because I felt that some smaller characters didn't act the same they did in the beginning, they weren't as good with emotions in the end as they were at the very beginning of the play. However overall everyone did a great job, because 2 hours is a very long time and although the emotions weren't as strong in the end it was still a great ending. 

In this picture it is evident the amount of emotion Tina Walsh shows in her face. I think this is a great picture to explain my previous thoughts on Tina Walsh's performance. 

Brad Little as the Phantom

One of the reasons the musical was so good was the staging. The staging of the Phantom of the Opera was spectacular, all transitions between sets were smooth and very quick. One of the breath taking scenes was the one in the Phantoms home (sewer underneath Paris Opera House). I think that the scenes that took place in the Phantoms House were the most spectacular. The staging and use of props smoke and lights made it very interesting and it grabbed my attention. The use of the small twinkle lights gave of a very creepy vibe and mixed with the smoke it look very cool. Also, what I thought was quite interesting was the fact that the Phantoms house matched his personality. Another part that was very effective in conveying a message to the audience is how at the end when he sits on the chair and then disappears and his mask is left and then the light followed the mask I thought that was very interesting.   

Developing our performance

Overall I think that todays class was very productive and we did quite a lot with our time. At first we weren't very focused and had a bit of trouble starting from where we left of before the holiday. However after we re-freshed our minds we were on the right track. Personally I think I performed well and was focused throughout the lesson. However, I personally found it hard moving from one scene to the next, and I think its like that for the rest of the group as well. So at the beginning of every scene we ask Mr. Evans to give us a few ideas and based off of that we build it and make it more of our own. 

We were trying out different things we could try in order to get our message across.

 To refresh our memory we started with our first two scenes which were already finished and from there we started our third scene. We had an idea of how we wanted it to be, but as a group we weren't able to get our ideas from our head on to the stage so we kind of explained to Mr. Evans what we wanted and from there he gave us different ideas. I really like how our third scene was more emotional and different to our first and second. After practicing and spending time on our third scene we moved onto the fourth one. In the fourth scene I have to act very angry and I have to show a lot of emotion in order to get the message across. At first it was hard for me but after I broke out of my comfort zone I found it a lot easier for me to do things. 

In this picture Danny and I were practicing the part in which we are arguing this is the part that I had to show a lot of emotion.

We were discussing the topic that we were arguing about.

Developing our 1st Scene and Starting the 2nd

In the beginning of todays class we focused on developing and adding to our first scene. Once we finished and were happy with the product we started on our second scene. We faced a lot more difficulties in our second scene because we didn't know how to continue the story. We came up with a short piece and showed it to Mr. Evans, we discussed it and decided we weren't happy with it so we made some changes and played around with it for a while until we were happy. Overall we have completed our first and second scene. However, there is room for improvement so as we move along we'll add or take away different parts. 

In the above picture Truman and Howard were acting and the rest of us stood around and thought of things we could add or change. 

Opening Scene - Setting the Story

In todays lesson we set the foundations of our performance and started on our opening scene. At the beginning of the lesson we went over the story we read and researched in the previous lesson then got to work. We discussed and planed our first scene then started to actually act. Todays lesson was a new and fun experience, I was excited to actually start acting. 

After performing it for Mr. Evans he told us a few thing we could change and improve on and after applying those changes the performance was a lot more serious and conveyed the message a lot more clearly and I think it made our performance much better. However we will continue to develop it as we continue. 

All the changes made our performance more put together 

It also gave the other members more significant roles

Our first idea included a lot of dialogue which took away from the dramatic element, however when Mr. Evan changed it and removed the direct dialogue the performance was a lot more dramatic and sophisticated. 

In todays lesson we did research about a real life story relating to our topic Drug Addiction. We found a story about a girl named Savannah who started using at age 10. It was interesting reading her addiction story and learning about how she started and how and why she stopped. The thing that most got my attention was the fact that she started using at age 10 and that the reason was her parents were also users and they got her into it. Researching helped our group get a more clear idea of the ideas we could use for our performance. We also found so very inspiring quotes. 

"Recovery is a process, it takes time, it takes patients, it takes everything you've got"

Overall, all the research from the lesson will help us in creating our performance, and we will probably use the quotes that we found. 

Group Agreement and Mind Mapping

Yesterday in our lesson we discussed as a group which different things to include in our collaborative working group agreement. When writing our agreement we thought of different possible things someone or everyone could do to make the group and the process better and easier.

Group Agreement:

Group Agreement
Agreement 1	We agree to listen to each others ideas with an open mind
Agreement 2	We agree to always participate in group discussions
Agreement 3	We agree to do the roles given to us by a member of the group on time
Agreement 4	We agree that we need each other in order to create a good outcome
Agreement 5	We agree not to change someone else’s work but to talk to them about it and contribute our ideas
Agreement 6	We agree that we will support each others creativity
Agreement 7	We agree to respect each others rehearsal time and we agree to no disturb one another when rehearsing

These are the different agreements we came up with we all tried hard to contribute to the agreements and while we were writing them we made sure not to have agreements that were written differently but meant the same thing.

After discussing our group agreement we started brainstorming and mapping our different ideas and possible things we could relate to. Our final chosen topic was Drug Addiction.

We all contributed to our mind map and we work really well together while doing it. We wanted to keep in more brief for now and tried to make sure we didn't get into to much detail. We did this so that when we start creating our performance well have a more open mind. 

We then thought of our starting point (Stimulus), we chose four different pictures and added captions to them as to why we choose them