Jan 18th: Drama

On January 18^th, we were doing about devising a piece of forum theatre as we would be in- cooperating a scene using forum theatre into out Theatre in Education pieces.  First of all, we discussed whether there are some subjects not to be dramatized because of the content they may contain or personal reasons.  As time goes on, we are pushing more boundaries in drama and dramatizing subjects and theme’s that wouldn’t be acceptable a few years ago.  Some people think that we’ve gone too far already, others believe there are no boundary’s at all and we should be free to portray what we wish through drama, after all, it’s only acting.  But we each have to think to ourselves, what is my responsibility as a deviser/play Wright/ director?  My responsibility is to understand the boundaries and how far ‘too far’ is.  I also have to warn and send out a message if there is a sensitive theme within the piece I am involved with.  There is a debate as to whether forum theatre has the power to change people’s attitudes and opinions towards something.  I personally think that if you capture and engage the audience from the very start, then if they’re open-minded enough, they will be manipulated into changing their opinion or attitude towards the subject in question.  Also, the piece itself has to be powerful with a very strong message for the audience even to listen to what the spec actors have to say.  Spectators is a term used to describe forum theatre performers as they act within the piece, but they can set it up so the audience can take part and them be a spectator so the word spectator is used to describe the job these people do. 

Within our groups, we planned a conscience alley.  Ours was about a boy who had a dilemma about whether or not he should continue to take dance lesson and whether to tell his parents about it.  Here is a diagram of our planned conscience alley.

  

We also planned our forum theatre.  We set up a small scene and most of it was improvised but we had a basic script to base it on.  This would be a problem if we did it for a real audience as it has to be the same each time.

This is our basic script.

Dad bangs door open.

Dad: What is this I hear about dance?  What are you? A girl or a poof?!

Son: I’m not a girl dad, and I’m not gay!  I just like dance.

Dad: Well I don’t like you dancing; you’re gonna be a builder, just like your old man.

Son: It’s my life and I’ll do as I please.  You don’t choose my future, I do.

When we did our pieces for each other, I was appointed the role of the joker. 

I wrote up the whole lesson in full.  Here is my account of it.

First of all, Miss Woffinden asked us to answer the register by telling her and the rest of the group what we had researched for homework.  This was helpful because if someone has researched something you were unsure of, then you were informed on that convention as well.  I researched mantle of The Expert which is a technique usually used by teachers in a class.  It is a simple way of inco-operating drama into education. 

I then wrote about forum theatre.

We discussed ways to use forum theatre such as asking the audience what should happen next or even asking them to take part.  We discussed having a board at the front where the joker would write the possible solutions that the audience have come up with. 

I then wrote about the conscience alley and our forum theatre which I have already covered. 

When we were rehearsing our piece, we tried it with Frankie and me instead of Olly and Jack, me playing the mother and Frankie the daughter who wanted to be a footballer.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to rehearse it properly so went with the boys’ version.  I was assigned the role of the joker.  The joker is out of the drama and is the one who asks the audience what they think is going on in the drama and gets people to come into the drama and contribute.  The joker’s job is to engage the audience and they have to create an environment where the audience feel safe and confident.  I think the joker is an important job because they break the fourth wall and aren’t ‘acting’ as such so the audience find them easier to trust as they seem more genuine.  Tomas, Seb and Fran performed their piece while everybody else but I formed an audience.  I then went into the centre of the space and asked them what they thought was going on in the scene and who the characters were.  The group then performed the piece again and afterwards, I asked if anybody wanted to come in and offer a solution.  Frankie volunteered to replace Seb, the child of the two arguing parents.  Her idea was the child coming in the middle of the argument and announcing they were running away.  We discussed this afterwards and questioned realistically, whether or not this would happen or not in real life.  Next, Emily had a go and suggested that the parents get counselling.  After this, I asked whether anybody else wanted a go at being the mum or the dad and both Frankie and Emily had another go but nobody else would.  They came up with ideas such as one of the parents trying to calm the situation down and communicating with the other better.  Afterwards, our group performed our piece but we didn’t have enough time to allow anyone to come up and take part in the drama.  I think this lesson was very helpful as it highlighted the benefits and the problems with forum theatre.  I think that for our piece, I would like to be the joker as I think I did a good job in lesson and enjoyed being part of the drama but not as an actor.  I also think that we should try and do our scene in a different style because we did our very realistic and Stanislavsky but I would like to have a go at Buell or Brecht theatre. 

We each received a sheet of convention noted from Miss Woffinden.  This is very helpful as we don’t have to look all over in our notebooks for our notes as they are now all together.