SS - Schizophrenia scene

Today we started to create our piece and I thought we would start us off with a big movement piece about my characters schizophrenia. I felt a movement piece would be a creative way to show the voices in my head. 

SS - Asylum Idea

Today we decided that we are going to do a promenade piece about an asylum. We want to put the audience on edge and crate a creepy performance but we don't want to do a horror maze. So we discussed and planed our characters.

Dan M: doctor

Freya: nurse

Dom: visiting phycologist

Tom: second coming of Jesus 

Meg: thinks she is 6

Ellie: unwed mother (we're set in the 60's)

Toby: looks normal

Kyle: doesn't speak 

Ashley: slow

Dan S: criminally insane

Me: schizophrenia  

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a medical disorder of the mind.

People with this disorder often do not behave the way most people do towards others. They also may not know what is real (this is called psychosis). Some common signs are strange beliefs, unclear or confused thinking and language, hallucinations (such as hearing voices that aren't there), poor interaction with others, less expression of feelings, and not doing much.

Diagnosis is based on observing the person and what he or she says about experiences such as hearing voices. Problems have to last for at least six months before the person is diagnosed as schizophrenic.

One error is that schizophrenia means that people have multiple or split personalities. This is not the case. The mistake may come from the fact that the name 'schizophrenia' comes from two Greek words meaning 'split' and 'mind'. 

People with schizophrenia often have delusions or hallucinations. A schizophrenic delusion is a belief that is very different from what other people with the same way of life believe. Hallucinations are usually experiences of hearing voices that don't exist. These voices often say unpleasant things to the person. Many people can hear voices like this without being schizophrenic, for instance right before falling asleep. This is called a hypnagogic hallucination. The brain cannot tell them apart from normal sounds that are heard. This is not yet fully understood by science.

SS - Fort Amherst - History

The primary purpose of all the Medway fortifications was the defence of the Naval Dockyard. This was largely the result of the Raid on the Medway in 1667 when the Dutch fleet inflicted heavy damages on the dockyard. Defences were planned for the dockyard from 1708 and land was then acquired by two Acts of Parliament in 1708 and 1709. The land was surveyed in 1715 by the Duke of Marlborough. The first plan of defences was an enceinte (ring of fortifications), from Gun Wharf,Chatham, to north of the village of Brompton.

In 1755, the 'Prince of Wales' Bastion, 'Prince Williams Bastion', 'Kings Bastion', 'Prince Edwards Bastion', 'Prince Henry's Bastion' and the 'Prince Fredericks Bastion' were all built. These and the ditches, built during the Seven Years' War (1756–63), became known as the Chatham lines and were entered by four gateways with bridges. The fortifications were designed in 1755 by Captain John Peter Desmaretze of the Board of Ordnance and consisted of a 9-metre-wide (30 ft) earthwork ditch and a 3-metre (9.8 ft) parapet.

In 1757, an infantry barracks (for a troop garrison) was built to man the defences.

During the American Revolutionary War (1778–83), the lines were enhanced and strengthened. The strongpoint of the design were two Redoubts - 'Amherst' (at the southern end) and 'Townsend' (at the northern end). Amherst Redoubt later became Fort Amherst. Each was equipped with 14 42-pounders, 10 9-pounders, 8 6-pounders and 2 4-pounder guns.

In 1779, during the construction, workmen found an existing foundation of a Roman building. Several finds, including pieces of Roman brick and tile, were made. Roman coins were also found, including one of the Empress Faustina, and one of theEmperor Claudius. The finds were recorded by Rev. James Douglas, working as Lt Douglas with the Royal Engineers 'North Lincs Militia, who later wrote a book describing all of his archaeological research - Nenia Britannica.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15) the Chatham defences were enlarged and considerably strengthened. Further batteries were added (such as the Cornwallis Battery) and the ditches revetted (lined with brick), to the plans of General Hugh Debbrieg, chief engineer for Lord Amherst. Debbrieg had originally helped in the "Cumberland Lines" planning with Capt. Desmaretze. His plan for the Chatham lines, drawn by Joseph Heath and dated 1755, is kept at the British Museum.

Also in 1802–11, prisoners, mostly convicts from St Mary's Island, were set to work on extending the tunnels and creating vast underground stores and shelters, new magazines, barracks, gun batteries and guardrooms. More than 50 smooth-bore cannons were also mounted. The last building works were completed in about 1820. A maze of tunnels, used to move ammunition around the fort, were dug into the chalk cliffs.

A second gun battery, 'Townsend Redoubt', was built at the northeastern corner of the dockyard at the same time as Fort Amherst. Both forts were inside the 1756 brick-lined earthwork bastions known as the "Cumberland Lines", which surrounded the whole east side of the dockyard down to St Mary's Island. These have now been built over.

Fort Clarence in Rochester and Fort Pitt, on the Rochester-Chatham borders, were built in 1805–15 to protect the southern approaches.

Although the Lines were never put to the test, their design would have made a formidable defence against any invasion force.

In 1820, because of improvements in artillery equipment and greater firing ranges, the defences were declared obsolete. The entire fortified area was then used as a training-ground during the Victorian era, with practice sieges becoming so popular that they attracted thousands of visitors to Chatham. VIPs were seated on the Casemated Barracks that once stood in the Lower Lines and also on Prince William’s Barracks within Fort Amherst itself.

One such siege is described in Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers. Fort Amherst has been described by English Heritage as the most complete Napoleonic fortification in Britain and as such has great national historical significance.

In 1959, the site was scheduled as an ancient monument.

The fort was still in use during the Second World War when it served as an Air Raid Warning command post. It later underwent restoration to make more areas accessible to the public. An attempt was made by the Royal Engineers, to convert the Fort into a display ground for their military vehicles, as an offshoot of the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, but this was prevented by a lack of finance.

SS - Deciding on Fort Amherst

Today we decided to perform at Fort Amherst, we took a vote and Fort Amherst won. We then split into groups and created some ideas to do at Fort Amherst. My group and I created an idea from this picture of Fort Amherst.

Our idea is that a crying child is found by the audience members and some cast, the cast then talk to the child and try to find our who he is and where his parents are. However the child just keeps responding with he has lost his parents and he crawled through the whole in the wall. As the cast attempt to lead the child away he hears the voices of his parents coming from the whole in the wall and so he runs and disappears through the whole. We latter find out that there was no child and that he was a ghost that died here in a cave in.

The other group wer given another picture of Fort Amherst, this one was in the tunnels and they created a piece about an asylum. Their idea started with the audience being led in to the tunnels by a doctor and then once they are in the song "seven devils" starts to play and they created a movement piece where the others were patients and moving around in a way to creep out the audience. Once their brief movement was over the doctor tries to move the audience out but a patient stops him takes the clipboard and coat and explains that they are in fact the doctor and the previous doctor needs to sit down so they can take the audience away.

SS - Ideas (Nazi + Power)

Today we split into two groups to create more ideas for our performance. One group had this idea of a dystopian future where (for some reason) we have lost all electrical power and so we have all come here in search for a power source.

My group came up with a concept of a changed history, what if England lost WW2 and we were in the control of the Nazi's. We though we could bring the audience around the fort and give a tour explaining how the world has changed "since the furhur won the war". We can find out points in history and re-imagine them to fit Hitlers ideal world. 

SS - Dockyard - possible idea

We looked at this room, which is a part of Chatham Dockyard, and thought about what we could perform here. We had a concept of a group of people all coming here to get to a safe haven of sorts, we thought that it could be set in the future and society as we know it has collapsed. Each of us have come from different backgrounds (to create contrasts in characters) and we have all got a message to get here as there is a boat to take them somewhere better. We created an opening to a piece where we entered through the windows and stuff and meet each other for the first time.

SS - Initial Ideas

Our first lesson we brainstormed ideas of locations we could use for our piece.



















I'm open to the idea of using a graveyard at night because it already sets an ambiance for a performance and with a grave comes an easy topic to base our performance on, death or the dead. However this location has some issues that we would have to prepare for if they occur. As it is an outdoor location weather will be an immediate issue we will have to prepare for strong wind or rain. Also the time we perform will depend on how much natural light we want for the performance. We would also have to find a graveyard that will allow us to use it as a performance space, which would be difficult and then we would have to travel there with our costume/props to rehears  and perform the final piece. Travel will cost money and the use of the grave will probably cost money as well. Then we have to think about the ethics of performing on top of someones grave, I am not comfortable with performing on the top of someones grave, I feel it is too morally wrong even for me to do.



I like the idea of using the woods to create a performance because I feel that the possibilities are endless to what we could do. However, like the graveyard, as it is an outdoor venue we will have the issue of weather and time that could work against us. Also we will have to find the owner of the land that we wish to use, to gain permission to use said land. This might be a private owner or the council and how long it takes to gain permission will depend entirely on who owns the land.



To use Chatham Dockyard would be cool, I think that it might limit what we can perform but I really like the idea of using the period location to create a piece. However to use the Dockyard will definitely cost money and to perform outside or inside will be up to us but if we use outside then again the issue of weather will be predominant. We will have to organise a way to transport there which will cost money.

39 Steps - Style + Transitions

The 39 Steps is a melodrama and so in the creating of the performance we have to present the characters as extremes of their stereotypes while keeping Hannay as normal/realistic as possible. The comedy in the show is very slapstick as seen when Annabella dies, the salesmen/policeman/porter/newsboy have their skit and the professor roles on stage. Another aspect of the 39 Steps is the use of the 4th wall break, used when Hannay and the newscaster is addressing the audience. We wish to include more 4th wall breaks throughout out act to bring forth the comedy of the show, in places such as Mr Memory and the salesman skit. We also felt that we would perform in the style of "the play that goes wrong" as it will coincide with the style of the play nicely. The combination of "the play that goes wrong" and the breaking of the forth wall allows the transitions from one scene to another to be quite simple. This is due to the fact that they then don't need to be over complicated or stylistic, it can simply be someone walking on and setting the stage. However for some scenes there is too much for the transition to be simple, this is why for the train scene and the crofter's house we are utilising the curtain and pre setting it before the scene then revealing it when needed. We are also using the noise the curtain makes as it closes as a sound effect for when we pull the communication chord on the train.

39 Steps - Characterization + Voice

Voice is all about the way we speak, we use it to show character and emotions. Characterization is all about how we play a role, physically and vocally. For 39 Steps, both of these aspects are vital to the performance. The majority of the characters are over the top, exaggerations of people. Compere and Mr Memory are the stereotypical west end performers brought to an extreme, Annabella is an extreme portrayal of a spy, the Crofter and Margret are over the top Scottish man and wife. Even the professor turns from one extreme to another, going from an embellished aristocrat to a parody of a Nazi. The way we give our characters their embellishment is by over exaggerating their movement and physicality of their person. The embellishment of the physicality of the characters can be seen in the role of the Crofter and the Salesmen/Porter/Newsboy/Mrs Higgins/Policeman skit. As we are multi-rolling characterization will be essential to differentiate the various characters.

Voice will also be important to portray the characters. We will have a range of accents to show the different characters, from German to upper class British aristocrat to British working class to Scottish. All of which bring various tones to each character. Some of us will be playing women at points and so will have to alter their voice to make it more feminine.

39 Steps - Pace

Pace is the speed in which something happens, so in terms of a performance Pace is the speed in which an actor performs. Also when a performance has a fast pace it generally has high energy as well. The comedy of the 39 Steps primarily comes from is fast pace and high energy and so we will use it to our advantage.  For scenes like Mr Memory and the train, high speed and energy is required for the jokes to be funny however for scenes like Annabella Shmit and Professor Jordan, pace isn't a necessity to be funny. That humor resides more in character and physical comedy. Mrs Jordan's moment I think is funny due to a contrast in pace, I feel that Hannay is on edge and anxious and therefor is rushing and bringing the pace up but Mrs Jordan is calm and collected and therefor slows the pace down, making the scene comical.

Pillowman- discarded lighting idea - Act 1

39 Steps - Vaudeville

Vaudeville is a type of performance tat is made up of a range of short skits, each are generally separate and unrelated form one another. These skits can be popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. Vaudeville was popular in the USA and Canada from the early 1880's to the late 1930's.

The Birth of Vaudeville
In the US, before the Civil War , theatergoers enjoyed performances of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. However, as the years progressed people seeking diversified amusement found new forms of entertainment. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies (i.e. circuses) touring through cities and towns. Amusement parks, riverboats, and town halls would often show tame presentations of variety entertainment. The saloons, music halls and burlesque houses tend to cater to those with a taste for the risqué. During the 1840's, the minstrel show grew to enormous popularity and so was another type of variety performance that became apart of vaudeville. A significant influence of vaudeville also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Medicine shows traveled the countryside offering programs of comedy, music, jugglers and other novelties along with displays of tonics, salves, and miracle elixirs, while "Wild West" shows provided romantic vistas of the disappearing frontier, complete with trick riding, music and drama. Vaudeville incorporated these various traveling amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in America's growing urban hubs.

In the early 1880's Tony Pastor, a theater manager, capitalized on middle class sensibilities and spending power when he began to feature "polite" variety programs in several of his New York City theaters. Pastor famously staged the first bill of self-proclaimed "clean" vaudeville in New York's Fourteenth Street Theater on October 24, 1881. This date has become known as the birth of vaudeville. Pastor barred the sale of liquor in his theaters, eliminated bawdy material from his shows, and offered gifts of coal and hams to attendees, hoping to draw a potential audience from female and family-based shopping traffic uptown. Pastor's experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit.

Pillowman- Evaluation

This performance of Pillowman was possibly the worst performance I have ever been a part of. We didn't know our lines well enough and so in the two scenes we done we were jumping around the script, losing our place and trying desperately to get the plot back on track. Due to this, I feel that none of us got to show our characters or their relationships with each other as well as we had in rehearsal. This is why I feel that in order to make this performance a thousand times better, we need to do it as a workshop performance, with scripts in our hands to keep us on track.

Pillowman- Day 10- Run What We Have

Today we ran through everything we have again and it went well. We still need to learn lines however this time we felt the relationships were better but we need to look at the emotions of our characters and ensure that they are being portrayed while we perform. These emotions along with the relationships will create the dynamics of the performance and ensure that it doesn't become flat and boring.

Pillowman- Day 9- Run Act 1 and 2

Today we ran act one and act two and it went well, we just need to learn lines now so that we can focus on the delivery of the performance and ensure that the relationships we have worked on are clear when we perform.

Pillowman- Day 8- Stories

Today we discussed how we are going to perform the stories inbetween the three acts. We didn't want Kataurian standing alone on stage monologing the two stories so we discussed performing in shadow to help narrate the stories while Kataurian tells them. We decided against that because there isn't enough room on stage to put up a screen to perform behind while having the regular stage as well. So we also talked about prerecording the shadow movement and then just projecting that on the back wall. So we are just going to do it that then.

Pillowman- Day 7- Death scene

Today we crated Kataurian's death scene, we looked at how we were going to stage it. Naturally we brought back the desk with three chairs, filing cabinet and torture equipment. We looked at the proximity of the characters during the build up to Kataurian's death, focusing on the change of the relationships between the characters and change of options about each character during the build up to his death. We also looked at the physicality of how we were going to move Kataurian from behind the desk to needing on the floor to being shot.

Pillowman- Day 6 - Character Profile

Katurian is a Russian writer whose stories are based on Franz Kafka/The Brothers Grimm, his character is based of Josef K. from The Trial by Kafka. Katurian is brought in for questioning about his possible involvement with the killing three children, the nature of said murders resemble the plot of Katurians stories hence why the police believe he is involved. Kataurian is brought in with his brain-damaged older brother, Michal. Kataurian has been Michaels guardian ever since he saved him from their parents who had tortured Michael for Seven years. Kataurian loves Michael as if he was his child, he has looked after him and ensured that he is safe, happy and healthy. Michael claims he is innocent however it turns out that it was Michael after all, he was influenced by Kataurian's stories. He wanted to spare him from being executed by the police, so he killed Michal himself with a pillow. He confesses to six killings (the three kids, his parents, and his brother) on the condition his stories are saved. Detective Tupolski wants to burn his stories after his execution but Detective Ariel secretly saves them. 

Pillowman- Day 5 - Relationships

Today we had a long discussion about the relationships between all four characters. We discussed Kataurian and Michael, their complicated lives and close brotherly relationship. We shared ideas on why we each thought Michael and especially Kataurian reacted how they do in the play.

We then discussed Ariel and Tapulski's relationship, how they feel about each other, how their differences in rank effects their relationship, how they feel about each of their approach to detective work. 

We finally discussed Kataurian's relationship with Ariel and Tapulski. We talked about what both Ariel and Tapulski think of Kataurian and how that changes throughout the play. We discussed what Kataurian thinks of the detectives and how that changes as Kataurian discovers more about why he is being questioned and what his brother has done.

Pillowman- Day 4 - Act 2

Today we started to put together Act 2, we talked about the set and decided to keep it simple again. We wanted to use a block to establish a small stage (cell) for us to perform in, we also wanted to only have a couple of pillows for Michael to sleep on and one for Kataurian to kill Michael with at the end of the scene. We also wanted to do something cool with the lighting to help establish the setting. We discussed having a spotlight kind of thing lighting the block and part of the stage in front, but have gaps in the light to give a barred window effect so the audience know we are in a cell.

We again looked at proximity of the characters and discussed a bit on how the relationship between Kataurian and Michael differs from Kataurian and the detectives (Ariel and Tapulski). We then discussed how this relationship differentiation affects the proximity during the performance. 

Pillowman- Day 3 - first scene

Today we finished setting the first scene. The atmospheric music that we planned to open with didn't take shap as we created the first scene. Instead we looked at the proximity of characters and how we were going to perform our roles. We also talked about how we were going to set the stage a bit. We discussed having a simple stage with just a desk and three chairs around it one for Katurian, one for Ariel and one for Tupolski. We also wanted a filing cabinet for visual aids and a desk on wheels with some props on like (pliers, a battery, cables and a saw)

We spent some time looking at the character Ariel and specifically his aggressiveness throughout the scene. We want his anger to ebb and flow to give his input to the scene some dynamics. We felt that if he played it extreme constantly the audience will get bored of it and it will have less of an impact.

Pillowman- Day 2 - Opening

In our second rehearsal we discussed how we are going to open our performance, we talked about how we are going to set a mood for the audience to walk in on. We decided to start with Katurian siting alone behind a desk with a dirty/stained bag over his head and have some atmospheric music playing as our audience walks in. This will really set the mood that we want our audience to be in when they sit down for this performance.