Site Specific: Day 9
Today we discussed ideas we previously thought up as a group and began to think up a storyline of how a physciatrist is shown around the asylum by the abusive doctor.
We printed out some photos of the fort and began devising a scene in two separate groups. Our group went for the picture of the church area in order to create piece for the man who thinks he is the second coming of Jesus. In this scene, he and three of us are praying to the Lords Prayer, begging for sanity. We really wanted to show our desperation in our praying and the insanity of the person who was playing Jesus' second coming. The nurse showed the physciatrist around before the fake Jesus gets angry for him interrupting, showing his unstable mentality.
We then discussed the possibility of the electric chair and how we could incorporate the electric chair in our piece. I thought it would suit my character well, as he is silent, so they may have used it to try and trigger him into speech.
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the head and leg.
I searched for what the electric chair may feel like for someone to experience and came across this...
The current surges and is then turned off, at which time the body is seen to relax. The doctors wait a few seconds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the inmate's heart is still beating. If it is, another jolt is applied. This process continues until the prisoner is dead. The prisoner's hands often grip the chair and there may be violent movement of the limbs which can result in dislocation or fractures. The tissues swell. Defecation occurs. Steam or smoke rises and there is a smell of burning. (Hillman, 1992 and Weisberg, 1991) U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once offered the following description of an execution by electric chair:
...the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire....Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber. (Ecenbarger, 1994)
I know that the use of this chair was to kill, but we can incorporate this into our piece as it was used to help try to cure mental illness by essentially passing a current through the brain to jump start it. Therefore, we can use the same principle of the electric chair, and also have some factual information in the piece to explain to the audience why the electric chair is being used.
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Site specific: Day 8
We had our tour of fort Amherst today, and I think it definitely helped start to trigger some ideas and how we could stage particular scenes. In addition we also were able to assess potential areas that were big enough to perform in and those that were not big enough, which was a shame as some of the smaller areas were very nice and atmospherical, such as the small rooms with wooden beds in them.
However as some of the tunnels are so narrow and steep stepped, trying to fit an audience in there would be very hard, if not impossible, so we would have to pick our performance spaces carefully.
Another problem we encountered was the fact that we didn't know our way around the tunnels, therefore we would have to keep the promenade performance fairy basic in terms of where we wanted to go, as we would never have time to learn our way around well enough in order to confidently lead an audience from room to room without embarrassing ourselves and getting lost. So that may be something we have to think about.
We did also find out that the fort is one of six in Medway and one of those six was used as a mental asylum up until 1963. Therefore this revived our idea of the mental hospital we originally thought of. I came up with the idea that those chosen to evacuate were actually brainwashed in the end and not evacuated, but turned crazy by the authorities. It was a very basic idea, but we could come back to it as we continue to develop our current evacuation idea.
Personally, I think the space is great for a performance. It has a sound system which allows us to play music or sounds in there to add to any atmosphere we wanted to create. As well as a power source to help light our way if we feel necessary. It also has plenty of spooky features and corridors that you can see below, that hold a very eerie aura, and provide a very striking and realistic setting for spooking an audience.
We had our tour of fort Amherst today, and I think it definitely helped start to trigger some ideas and how we could stage particular scenes. In addition we also were able to assess potential areas that were big enough to perform in and those that were not big enough, which was a shame as some of the smaller areas were very nice and atmospherical, such as the small rooms with wooden beds in them.
However as some of the tunnels are so narrow and steep stepped, trying to fit an audience in there would be very hard, if not impossible, so we would have to pick our performance spaces carefully.
Another problem we encountered was the fact that we didn't know our way around the tunnels, therefore we would have to keep the promenade performance fairy basic in terms of where we wanted to go, as we would never have time to learn our way around well enough in order to confidently lead an audience from room to room without embarrassing ourselves and getting lost. So that may be something we have to think about.
We did also find out that the fort is one of six in Medway and one of those six was used as a mental asylum up until 1963. Therefore this revived our idea of the mental hospital we originally thought of. I came up with the idea that those chosen to evacuate were actually brainwashed in the end and not evacuated, but turned crazy by the authorities. It was a very basic idea, but we could come back to it as we continue to develop our current evacuation idea.
Personally, I think the space is great for a performance. It has a sound system which allows us to play music or sounds in there to add to any atmosphere we wanted to create. As well as a power source to help light our way if we feel necessary. It also has plenty of spooky features and corridors that you can see below, that hold a very eerie aura, and provide a very striking and realistic setting for spooking an audience.
Tuesday, 24 May 2016
Today, we took charge of our own ideas as our teacher wasn't in. This lead to us listing the ideas we already had and thinking of where we could take them. It still remains very hard to think of where we could go but in the end we came up with the jist of a storyline in which we could develop on.
This idea, comes back to our mental asylum idea, however, this time, we included the idea of a physciatrist investigating the asylum and the actions of a corrupt and abusive doctor. We had to think of characters though. Which the picture shows below
Obviously, we still need to think of a few characters of mental patients for us to play, we also included a nurse in our piece, to assist the doctor and show how the doctor has also corrupted this nurse into an abusive and evil person.
Personally, I'm thinking that I'd like to play a silent character, as I think that kind of personality will work well in the tunnels. It would also allow my body language and facial expressions to convey my feelings rather than speech. Which I think would be quite a challenge not being able to say anything, having to rely on my understanding of the characters body and movement to create a very creepy and spooky identity.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Site specific: Day 7
Today, we began to work on the storyline of our idea. It took a long time to decide where we wanted to go with it, we discussed various ideas about the power struggle. Was it a war that caused it, or something political. We didn't decide on what though.
Instead we discussed where we would go with the story. Perhaps the fort is an evacuation point to allow those chosen ones to get out of the county to a mysterious, secret better place. But how would we show this?
We thought up a few stimulus ideas to help get some pieces going. We got split into groups and asked to come up with a piece on that idea. Our groups stimulus was relationships. Obviously it's easy to think of the normal heterosexual relationship between a boy and girl and their love drives each other on. But that would be boring. So we thought up the idea of two brothers and a sister, trying to evacuate the fort. But as the sister is in a wheelchair, she is rejected as she isn't deemed worthy or useful. Yet another person is allowed to evacuate straight away, leaving the brothers with a dilemma of staying with the sister, forcing her on or leaving her behind. Which we didn't get the chance to develop.
I think that now we are beginning to work on our idea, we are moving in the right direction, and I can begin to feel ourselves making progress, as slow as it is. Once we get to see the fort, I think it will trigger a slightly more creative edge to us, allowing more depths ideas to take place. The last thing we want is a cheesy, unimaginative, 15 year old style performance. We need to think carefully, but now we have a direction that we all see together, I think the performance will start to form from here.
Today, we began to work on the storyline of our idea. It took a long time to decide where we wanted to go with it, we discussed various ideas about the power struggle. Was it a war that caused it, or something political. We didn't decide on what though.
Instead we discussed where we would go with the story. Perhaps the fort is an evacuation point to allow those chosen ones to get out of the county to a mysterious, secret better place. But how would we show this?
We thought up a few stimulus ideas to help get some pieces going. We got split into groups and asked to come up with a piece on that idea. Our groups stimulus was relationships. Obviously it's easy to think of the normal heterosexual relationship between a boy and girl and their love drives each other on. But that would be boring. So we thought up the idea of two brothers and a sister, trying to evacuate the fort. But as the sister is in a wheelchair, she is rejected as she isn't deemed worthy or useful. Yet another person is allowed to evacuate straight away, leaving the brothers with a dilemma of staying with the sister, forcing her on or leaving her behind. Which we didn't get the chance to develop.
I think that now we are beginning to work on our idea, we are moving in the right direction, and I can begin to feel ourselves making progress, as slow as it is. Once we get to see the fort, I think it will trigger a slightly more creative edge to us, allowing more depths ideas to take place. The last thing we want is a cheesy, unimaginative, 15 year old style performance. We need to think carefully, but now we have a direction that we all see together, I think the performance will start to form from here.
Site Specific: Day 6
Today, we finally agreed on an idea. We began by splitting into three groups and tasked with trying to find links between the pieces we discussed in the previous lesson, at regular intervals, we moved around the groups, explaining the ideas we had come up with before reforming our original groups.
We all had came up with very similar ideas revolving around a tour of fort Amherst in a futuristic setting with no power in it. With this in mind, we all came into one big group and began developing the idea into a piece we all agreed with and briefly deciding where the story would go. Like many of us said, we need to be careful we do not turn this piece into something like a film, such as saw or mazerunner, as it would be very easy to go in the direction of a full out horror. Another problem with going all out horror, was that we wouldn't actually have the public liability insurance to interact with the audience in the way we would have wanted to, nor would we be insured for anything that went wrong during the performance, hence it would be too difficult to pull off.
We did come up with the plans of a final idea. I think it still needs a bit of developing as it looks sparse, however, I believe this will come with another lesson of thinking time.
One issue that remains a constant is the arguments between the class and how people become very fixed to their ideas. It brings the mood down and energy down and becomes very hard to come up with ideas without the whole class's attention and this leads to the process becoming very boring and draining. I think the sooner we begin working on the same idea, the hardest bit will be out the way.
Today, we finally agreed on an idea. We began by splitting into three groups and tasked with trying to find links between the pieces we discussed in the previous lesson, at regular intervals, we moved around the groups, explaining the ideas we had come up with before reforming our original groups.
We all had came up with very similar ideas revolving around a tour of fort Amherst in a futuristic setting with no power in it. With this in mind, we all came into one big group and began developing the idea into a piece we all agreed with and briefly deciding where the story would go. Like many of us said, we need to be careful we do not turn this piece into something like a film, such as saw or mazerunner, as it would be very easy to go in the direction of a full out horror. Another problem with going all out horror, was that we wouldn't actually have the public liability insurance to interact with the audience in the way we would have wanted to, nor would we be insured for anything that went wrong during the performance, hence it would be too difficult to pull off.
We did come up with the plans of a final idea. I think it still needs a bit of developing as it looks sparse, however, I believe this will come with another lesson of thinking time.
One issue that remains a constant is the arguments between the class and how people become very fixed to their ideas. It brings the mood down and energy down and becomes very hard to come up with ideas without the whole class's attention and this leads to the process becoming very boring and draining. I think the sooner we begin working on the same idea, the hardest bit will be out the way.
Monday, 16 May 2016
Site Specific: Day 5
Today, we finally began to narrow down some of our ideas. I think this was desperately needed as the longer we continue without an idea, the less time we will have to create a piece and the more arguments will arise.
We began by splitting off into separate groups again and told to think of one very indie, quirky idea that we hadn't discussed before, based around an inside picture of Fort Amherst. The group I was in came up with the idea of a murder mystery style performance. We would invite the audience to the performance disguised as a drama awards evening and plan to take it in a new direction with a staged murder and a tour through the tunnels to get out. The ideas are as below.
As we rejoined as a class, we all pitched our ideas back to each other to create this brainstorm of all the ideas we had thought of so far. We then discussed which ideas would work well and what wouldn't. I think the main issue for the piece my group came up with is that some of the class were not keen on how we would merely be playing ourselves instead of a character. In addition, some were concerned that it would be too real for the audience and some of them may freak out or find it too much, although that was the effect we were going for, to make the event a near reality. The thing I am still finding difficult at the moment is how everyone seems to defend their own ideas and tries to run with them as much as they can, forgetting we are functioning as a company, also it became apparent to me today that we see the ideas we come up with as so rigid, and flaws are picked out all the time. The point in coming up with these ideas are not to be rigid, they are open to manipulation and adjustment, maybe even linking some different ideas together. I think once we settle on an idea we can develop it as at the moment it feels like we are trying to come up with such a rigid idea, or a complete idea that we have to stick with. However, we did discuss how some ideas can link into each other, but at the moment I think it is important to remember that we can always change the details of an idea once we have picked it. The base of the idea will be there but it will change as we develop it.
I think once we get to Fort Amherst and are able to see and feel the location an idea will be a little easier to come by. I think the important thing is to go with an open mind and not go with pre conceived ideas in our heads, as this will suppress the creative process considerably.
Today, we finally began to narrow down some of our ideas. I think this was desperately needed as the longer we continue without an idea, the less time we will have to create a piece and the more arguments will arise.
We began by splitting off into separate groups again and told to think of one very indie, quirky idea that we hadn't discussed before, based around an inside picture of Fort Amherst. The group I was in came up with the idea of a murder mystery style performance. We would invite the audience to the performance disguised as a drama awards evening and plan to take it in a new direction with a staged murder and a tour through the tunnels to get out. The ideas are as below.
As we rejoined as a class, we all pitched our ideas back to each other to create this brainstorm of all the ideas we had thought of so far. We then discussed which ideas would work well and what wouldn't. I think the main issue for the piece my group came up with is that some of the class were not keen on how we would merely be playing ourselves instead of a character. In addition, some were concerned that it would be too real for the audience and some of them may freak out or find it too much, although that was the effect we were going for, to make the event a near reality. The thing I am still finding difficult at the moment is how everyone seems to defend their own ideas and tries to run with them as much as they can, forgetting we are functioning as a company, also it became apparent to me today that we see the ideas we come up with as so rigid, and flaws are picked out all the time. The point in coming up with these ideas are not to be rigid, they are open to manipulation and adjustment, maybe even linking some different ideas together. I think once we settle on an idea we can develop it as at the moment it feels like we are trying to come up with such a rigid idea, or a complete idea that we have to stick with. However, we did discuss how some ideas can link into each other, but at the moment I think it is important to remember that we can always change the details of an idea once we have picked it. The base of the idea will be there but it will change as we develop it.
I think once we get to Fort Amherst and are able to see and feel the location an idea will be a little easier to come by. I think the important thing is to go with an open mind and not go with pre conceived ideas in our heads, as this will suppress the creative process considerably.
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Site specific: day 4
As we only had a 50 minute lesson
today, we we're split into three groups and given different pictures of fort Amherst that where all outside.
As ever is the case with devising. We found it very hard to come up with ideas. However in the picture we were given we did manage to come up with a short piece. In this piece we would find a small child crying in the corner of the wall. Two men on a tour would discover the child and try to help him. However, the only thing the child would say is how he lost his parents and that he came from the blocked up hole in the wall. Eventually voices of the child's parents began to ring out from no where as the child disappears through the hole, leaving the two men completely dumbfounded. We went with this idea mainly because of Fort Amhersts rich ghost history and thought it would be fitting and appropriate to create an eerie ghost story, as it is a subject that can open up a lot of potential story plots. Our picture is below.
The other groups both set their pieces in a slightly more distopic, futuristic setting. One thing that I really liked about what one group done was how they interacted and involved the audience again. They lined us up outside the room and brought us in. Before immersing us in the scene and telling us that we were soldiers. The part I liked was how some of the people in their group were in the line with us and began asking questions and answering back, which had us all completely fooled as we didn't know they were part of it. Adding a sense of realism to the piece. I really liked idea of including actors in the audience as it helps bring the piece to life and will hopefully lead to it being more effective by drawing the audiences attention and making them feel a much stronger sense of fear, confusion or disbelief.
The third group also went down the futuristic line. Creating a very confusing piece about trying to find someone who has the key to the countries energy crisis. I liked the idea of how real the cause of the storyline was, as it is quite an apparent issue and could well be a problem in the future. However, I'm not sure how we could incorporate such a story based on out Fort Amherst location. I think there are many ideas and aspects from all groups that we can take and help to create our final idea that we are all happy with.
The hardest thing is trying to create something that is mildly relevant to the location and being able to do a lot with it. Plus the size of our class of 13 doesn't help with trying to create that many characters. I think once we set an idea we want to follow it will be far easier to come up with characters and story lines, one because we will have more time and secondly because everyone will be working on the same piece so, in a way, we will have more ideas between us in order to create the piece.
Monday, 9 May 2016
Site Specific: Research
As part of choosing our location, we decided it would probably make sense to research the area, in order to see if we could gain any more ideas from the history of the Fort. On Wikipedia, I found some information on the history of Fort Amherst.
What I did find out is that the Fort was originally built in the 1660's in order to defend Chatham's naval dockyard from an attack launched by the Dutch.
In addition, Fort Amherst was also heavily used during WW2, due to its location near to London and the network of underground tunnels, proving valuable to England's defence. However, as a group we all agreed that trying to devise a piece around WW2 would be far too cliché and difficult to do without being stereotypically GCSE and somewhat cringy.
I think one of the main problems we face as a group is the size of our group and the strong opinions the members hold. This made it very difficult to finalise any ideas, let alone come up with any. People talk over each other and start to argue about very minor details. I think we need to step back and accept what has already been decided, but work together and not get stuck on any potential ideas that we have come up with.
As part of choosing our location, we decided it would probably make sense to research the area, in order to see if we could gain any more ideas from the history of the Fort. On Wikipedia, I found some information on the history of Fort Amherst.
What I did find out is that the Fort was originally built in the 1660's in order to defend Chatham's naval dockyard from an attack launched by the Dutch.
- 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.
- During the Napoleonic (1803–15) the Chatham defences were enlarged and considerably strengthened. Further batteries were added (such as the Cornwallis Battery) and the ditches lined with bricks
- Also in 1802–11, prisoners, mostly convicts from St Marys 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.
- 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.
- In 1959, the site was scheduled as an ancient monument.
In addition, Fort Amherst was also heavily used during WW2, due to its location near to London and the network of underground tunnels, proving valuable to England's defence. However, as a group we all agreed that trying to devise a piece around WW2 would be far too cliché and difficult to do without being stereotypically GCSE and somewhat cringy.
I think one of the main problems we face as a group is the size of our group and the strong opinions the members hold. This made it very difficult to finalise any ideas, let alone come up with any. People talk over each other and start to argue about very minor details. I think we need to step back and accept what has already been decided, but work together and not get stuck on any potential ideas that we have come up with.
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Site Specific: Day three
Today we decided on our location of where we would want to perform our piece. We narrowed it down to 4 main choices which were...
With this in mind, we split into groups to devise a piece based on a picture of Fort Amherst.
This was the first picture of Fort Amherst that we had seen outside, so it opened up a few more opportunities as to what we wanted to do. As we were in the same group that brainstormed the idea of the mental asylum, we continued on with this idea. Of course, we need a storyline, however, without the whole company together, it is hard to try and devise one. This is why we opted against trying to create a very dialogue heavy scene, as it takes far too long to come up with quality dialogue, plus we would run the risk of it not even being used in the final piece. This is why we cam up with a relatively short piece based on the mental patients free time. This linked to the picture of being outside, as the scene would take place when the patients get their small amount of time in the sun and fresh air.
Now all we would have to decide is what our patients would be doing to make them unstable. We looked at a few conditions and I came across one called autophagia. I found this definition on disorder.net and found it interesting how the condition could also be harmful to others, opening up the opportunity for cannibalism and a back story.
"Autophagia is the act of a person eating their own body part(s). It’s not categorized as a mental disorder, nor a symptom of a mental disorder, as dictated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, Autophagia could be classified under the DSM’s “Impulse-Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified.” ICD involves failure to restrain from any kind of impulse, drive, or temptation to carry out an act that’s harmful to oneself or other people."
In our scene, we wold have someone playing the doctor leading the audience around, introducing them to the patients. One by one, we were introduced, interacting with each other and making our traits obvious, whilst breaking the forth wall with the audience and getting in amongst them.
The next part involved the doctor ringing the bell, and all the patients running into a circle, as if we knew what the bell signified, play time. This shows how, like dogs we were controlled by the sound of the bell. We got the audience to gather in a circle with us, getting up close and personal, before switching who played the doctor in an attempt to confuse the audience before leading them out.
I really like the idea of a mental asylum and I think that\t the location provides a brilliant atmosphere for something like that. My main concern would be how different we could make it. It would be hard to stage dialogue in a very interactive piece. Also, changing the doctors after every scene may become a little predictable as would the way we lead visitors around the patients. I think it needs a very careful thought process, but we have to remember that we are yet to finalise any ideas on what we want to perform.
Today we decided on our location of where we would want to perform our piece. We narrowed it down to 4 main choices which were...
- Fort Amherst
- Chatham Dockyard
- Upnor Castle (but would cost £800 to hire out)
- Upchurch Orchard
With this in mind, we split into groups to devise a piece based on a picture of Fort Amherst.
This was the first picture of Fort Amherst that we had seen outside, so it opened up a few more opportunities as to what we wanted to do. As we were in the same group that brainstormed the idea of the mental asylum, we continued on with this idea. Of course, we need a storyline, however, without the whole company together, it is hard to try and devise one. This is why we opted against trying to create a very dialogue heavy scene, as it takes far too long to come up with quality dialogue, plus we would run the risk of it not even being used in the final piece. This is why we cam up with a relatively short piece based on the mental patients free time. This linked to the picture of being outside, as the scene would take place when the patients get their small amount of time in the sun and fresh air.
Now all we would have to decide is what our patients would be doing to make them unstable. We looked at a few conditions and I came across one called autophagia. I found this definition on disorder.net and found it interesting how the condition could also be harmful to others, opening up the opportunity for cannibalism and a back story.
"Autophagia is the act of a person eating their own body part(s). It’s not categorized as a mental disorder, nor a symptom of a mental disorder, as dictated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). However, Autophagia could be classified under the DSM’s “Impulse-Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified.” ICD involves failure to restrain from any kind of impulse, drive, or temptation to carry out an act that’s harmful to oneself or other people."
In our scene, we wold have someone playing the doctor leading the audience around, introducing them to the patients. One by one, we were introduced, interacting with each other and making our traits obvious, whilst breaking the forth wall with the audience and getting in amongst them.
The next part involved the doctor ringing the bell, and all the patients running into a circle, as if we knew what the bell signified, play time. This shows how, like dogs we were controlled by the sound of the bell. We got the audience to gather in a circle with us, getting up close and personal, before switching who played the doctor in an attempt to confuse the audience before leading them out.
I really like the idea of a mental asylum and I think that\t the location provides a brilliant atmosphere for something like that. My main concern would be how different we could make it. It would be hard to stage dialogue in a very interactive piece. Also, changing the doctors after every scene may become a little predictable as would the way we lead visitors around the patients. I think it needs a very careful thought process, but we have to remember that we are yet to finalise any ideas on what we want to perform.
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