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The purpose of the course was to make an introductory venture into defining ourselves as dramatists. After a brief overview of the development of theatre it was clear that generally dramatists engage in dramatic activity largely to explain the world they live in to themselves and others.

In order to build an idea of our ‘worlds’ we shared experiences of major events and reflected using a variety of drama strategies on the effects these had had on us either directly or indirectly as individuals. By so doing we gathered material for our dramatic presentation.

Our first decision was to discard the material from our first session, and make a fresh start. We picked a situation we could all relate to: the female world today; a hairdresser’s. We agreed to develop our own ideas for the show individually and then merge them together in the following session.

At our next meeting it became clear that we all intended to create a critique of capitalist society and its inequalities . Therefore this became the main theme of our sketch. As we continued working the message we were trying to transmit became deeper and more serious. From a simple criticism of the superficiality and lack of solidarity prevalent in capitalist societies, we developed a critique of more specific subjects such as homelessness, anorexia, gun and knife crime and consumerism. In order to portray these subjects credibly a lot of research was needed to produce viable stats and effective images for the power point presentation.

As with devised theatre during the 1970’s (Oddey 1997) we worked in an artistically democratic way.  Once we had a clear theme and situation for the sketch, I wrote an initial script to take as a starting point, because, as I said to my companions, “it’s easier to criticize than to create”. The purpose of this draft was to situate ourselves so  we could then develop our own characters individually but in coordination, therefore managing to keep our own personal touch even within the fusion of the group’s ideas.

The initial draft changed greatly throughout the ensemble of the show. Specially when, two days previous to the final representation, a new member joined our group and we had to add a new character to the plot. Surprisingly, this last minute newcomer actually managed to tie the whole sketch together in a way that we had not yet achieved.

Different positioning, mime and plays between silence and sound created the imaginary space of the hairdressers and the street outside. Within this space, we used monologues to involve the audience and explain the characters’ psychological backgrounds. Inspired by “Pains of Youth” we used fluid lighting (Bicât & Baldwin 2002) to create a “flashback” atmosphere, during which we grouped ourselves in a semicircle in allusion to Greek theatre. Thus stressing the importance of the person in the spotlight, as well as their initial isolation and subsequent use of the superficial fashion world to conform.

At the beginning, we interacted with the audience to make the stage world easier to identify with. The tramp asked the audience for change, thus allowing them to compare their own reactions with those of the actors.

The freeze frame towards the end of the sketch was used to accentuate the feeling of polarization and dislocation amongst the characters. It occurred during the most dramatic part of the show. While one character stabs another, she freezes and thinks aloud to the audience , after which the three other characters ignore her and continue talking, stressing the lack of compassion and solidarity. “Speech is a continual evasion, desperate rearguard attempts to keep ourselves to ourselves”. (Pinter in Mayberry 1989).

We combined music and ICT as a closing piece to the show. The song addresses the same main issues as the sketch, (see accompanying CD). I downloaded the thirty images in the powerpoint from google and flickr and chose them for their strong visual impact.

In conclusion, this experience was challenging. Initially I discovered that I’m not an actress, I’m good at exaggerating my feelings but find it hard to immerse myself in a psychological frame that I have not previously experienced.

However, during the show I didn’t just act out another character, I became someone else. It was a magical experience.

Bibliography

Bicât, T. & Baldwin, C. (Eds), 2002, Devised and Collaborative Theatre: A Practical Guide, Great Britain: J.W. Arrowsmith

Brook, P. 1972, The Empty Space, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, Ltd.

Kershaw, B. 1992, The Politics of Performance- Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. Great Britain: Routledge

Mayberry, B. 1989, Theatre of Discord: Dissonance in Beckett, Abee and Pinter. USA

Mitchel, K. (Director) 2009,  Pains of Youth. The National Theatre: London.

Oddey, A. 1997, Devising Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook, Great Britan: Biddles Ltd.