Rehearsing Amanda and own devised pieces

Rehearsing Amanda and own devised pieces:

AMANDA STAGING:
As we are performing our political piece of "Amanda" in a Brechtian style, our interpretation of this short play is going to have a stage layout to reflect this so that the audience are reminded that what they are watching is a performance. We are going to do this by arranging the audience seats so that they can see Amanda in the middle, the individual devised performances around the edge and other audience members from across the room - "Theatre in The Round Staging". I think seeing other audience members watching the performance will be intriguing and reflect the Brechtian technique we are studying effectively as the audience are aware of other audience members reminding them they are being influenced by a performance and it is clearly not real life. I think this is clever staging and feels quite episodic and each devised piece is very sectioned off from one another, showing the each politicians isolation from the rest of the world and other humans. It is only at the end with "Amanda" do all these over-whelming thoughts come colliding together and I think all of these aspects of this staging help making the audience a learning, observant, challenged and actively engaged audience. Additionally, as Brecht used signs in his theatre each of the devised pieces in every corner will also have a sign depicted where the politician is to reflect this.

Feedback for our group piece of Amanda:
- Our collective group ensemble piece of Amanda must have more energy as it is what the pieces beforehand build up to. Our energy is going into our words well but not travelling very far. I agree with this comment and think we all need to open up our voices more and connect them more with our physicality as we are studying Gestus and direct it more to others around us, across the room, who said the line before, to Amanda very directly if appropriate and in the spaces the audience is going to be. I feel I improved this sense of energy and Brechtian technique on two more of my lines where I am describing where Amanda is with my physicality and voice more effectively and when I become frustrated with others negativity and talk of work. Whilst I am much more pleased with these particular lines I need to do the same with all my lines and continuously react as this play has a lot of simplicity but will only retain an engaging energy if the performers that make it interesting, engaging and stop it from its simplistic nature from becoming slow-paced or dull.


Feedback and development for my individual group's devised piece:
- We need to base our politician on an actual person as although we know they work in education we are unsure of who exactly they are. Therefore, as a group we researched in the library and decided to base our political character on Michael Gove - Head of Education. Although this may seem like naturalism as we are researching a character it is not completely necessary to go to the extent of which Stanislavski would as Brecht did not intend for this to happen, however, it is useful to have a name and know a bit more about who we are portraying. As this is an abstract piece and our politician is being portrayed by a girl - Angelica - we are naming them Michelle Gove which may seem less familiar to the audience but this will help them to use their creativity and it is okay if it is not transparently clear who the politician is as "Amanda" herself has no exact identity either as it is irrelevant in the piece as the emphasis is more on the fact that she's human.

- We have created short flashback scenes played by the ensemble of the toilet and bathroom furniture which are performed in front of the toilet scene at the same time as they are being described to show brief scenarios of Michelle's life before merging back into toilet/bathroom furniture again. We feel this will enhance the vivid imagery going through Michelle's head, showing that past events feel really real and on-going to her as if it is happening right next to her in her own bathroom as she tries to block it all out. The scenes we have included are Seamus portraying a young homeless person playing the guitar as he has no more money or job due to the drastic change in education and he is ignored by Michelle. Rebecca described the scene in which she changes the law where I portray her doing so and other politicians pressured into agreeing with the new system due to the head of education (Michelle's) opinion. These scenes add pressure and guilt to Michelle's conscious as she is visabley uncomfortable hearing about hem and watching them back. As an ensemble all of us surround Angelica/Michelle chanting "WE ARE THE FUTURE" louder and louder until she has an outburst. Finally the last scene shows Michelle and her reflection deciding to "face another day" but are mobbed by reporters (Seamus, Rebecca and Me) with Michelle replying "STOP! I'm human just like you". I feel this has improved our piece immensely as we are challenging the audience and showing the multifaceted side to politicians far more than before. This is due to portraying her in her worst light, through these newly added scenes and flashbacks, confirming a typical "thoughtless politician" outlook causing the audience to them negatively but we also challenge this view as we show her stresses and her guilt and she says "I'm human". To emphasise our point we end our scene by the ensemble physically embodying sink and repeating the opening phrase but slightly differently. "Imagine. Okay. A toilet. Just like yours".

- Costume and props:
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- A piece of clothing that provides a small hint to our character: as I am playing the politician in the flashback and a ensemble character I am going to have blazer that I wear and bring in.
- For our devised piece Seamus will bring in a guitar