Through the second reading the relationships of the characters came through. Linda was someone who Lisa turned to; she trusted her and could ask for advice from her. Lisa’s boyfriend appeared unreliable and unfaithful, because he left her when he found out about the baby. I don’t believe Lisa had a very good relationship with her parents, otherwise she would not have mentioned that they would ‘kill’ her. Character Brainstorm – Lisa Hot – seating of Characters- Lisa and Brian To develop the characters, we used the explorative strategy of hot – seating.
This is where a person sits down, in character, and is asked questions about his or herself. They answer as if they were the character, with no help and with no pre- prepared material. Hot – seating helps in creating a clearer, more developed and detailed character. We hot – seated two people who played Lisa and her boyfriend, Brian. I believe that hot – seating the two characters was very successful, we learnt a lot about the two characters, and some of their true identity was uncovered. Their real feelings towards each other were revealed and we were all able to go away with a clearer picture of the characters.
To improve on Hot – seating in the future, I think that the audience should think about their questions carefully, and try to ask relevant questions. Forum Theatre- Lisa telling her Boyfriend she is Pregnant Forum theatre is where some people act out a scene or piece, the audience, can interrupt at anytime, and make alterations or suggestion as to what will happen, they act as directors exploring the different ideas that can happen.. A member of the audience may also change with one of the actors at any time in the performance.
We put the use of forum theatre to action, on the scene where Lisa tells her boyfriend she is pregnant. This should have given us plenty of chances to alter the scene, but not many were acted on, I think this was because it was the first time we had down this, and people were a little unsure of what to do, or how the rest of us might take it. An idea that was explored was that Brian, Lisa’s dim boyfriend, lost his temper for the first time. I believe that this would have worked but we didn’t get to find, because the character of Lisa was so overpowering.
If we were do use forum theatre again, I think we would all make more of an effort to contribute, so that more ideas are explored and we get the most out of it. What I have Learnt – Relationships and Pregnancy From the practical I have learnt the following about relationships and pregnancy;I was in a group with.We began by discussing what we had done in our previous groups and how we were going to mix and match all of our ideas. We brainstormed all the ideas that could be a result to what was in the text. We used the idea that Lisa’s boyfriend left her and her parents wanting to kill her to build on and create our play.
Once Lisa found out she was pregnant and her boyfriend left her, we decided that it would go downhill from then for Lisa. It ended with her killing herself. From the text my group and I thought that Lisa was afraid of her parents especially her farther. We also thought that she was a bit drastic; we showed this by making her kill herself in the end and showing the relationship between her and her farther, from when she was small and how it deteriorated as she got older. The other group had a very different take on the whole play.
In their play the farther was a very quiet character that didn’t have much of a say or influence on the whole, instead the mother did, in our play it was the other way round. Their ending was very different to ours; they chose to pick up on what Lisa said at the end, that she was going to be successful and rich. In their play Lisa married Brian and they became rich and so did their parents. What was also different was that they also used what she said at the end, about the money, to show that they were poor at the start. I don’t think anything was similar between any of the two plays.
Our plays were so different. Their mother was a stripper ours was a delicate, powerless housewife. Theirs was a happy ending ours was sad. Brian stayed with Lisa in theirs in ours he took off. I only got the chance to see one other group and their play related to the text, but it would have been good to see a group’s play which did not relate to the text and if it worked or not. The work that we did using forum theatre may have influenced the other group’s work, because we explored the idea that Brian took the news well, in the play it was apparent, because Brian and Lisa stayed together.
Brain taking the news badly influenced our play, as in the end he didn’t like what he heard and took off. Space was a vital use of drama medium in the plays, because there were many different settings, and space was very helpful in being able to differentiate between them. I believe a group that used space well was my group. For each different setting we had a designated area, which made it very easy to follow the play. The setting we used the most, the bathroom, was set out in the middle, then Lisa’s lounge to the right, then the bus stop where Lisa and Brian met, and where she told him she was pregnant.
The use of space made it a lot easier to act and mime, because everyone knew where everything was, for example the telephone or coffee table. The other group use the different qualities of characters well played Brian, who in their play, was very posh and reserved, she showed this by speaking properly, pronouncing her t’s and r’s walking with her head high with a straight back who played the mother was very loud and boisterous; she showed this through her use of voice and movement. She had very big movements, a loud voice and never stopped talking.
who was the farther was the opposite, he was quiet and calm throughout the playdid this, by only speaking when required, and when she did she was quiet and spoke at the same tone throughout. She had small unnoticeable actions which didn’t make her stand out at all. Their group had a range of characters, most of them were like chalk and cheese. These different characters help create the different relationships between them all revealed her internal by her external a lot. The little things she did, like fiddling with her fingers which showed that internally she was a very nervous person.
You could tell that she was shy because she never made eye contact with any of the other characters through the whole play. She used her voice, movement and speech effectively. She had a very quiet voice, which she hardly ever raised, and she never actually talked directly to anyone. Her speech, her words were neither rude nor powerful. She spoke quickly which showed how nervous she was. Her movements were quick and small, the kind that nobody would notice. The use of movement, speech and voice reflected her character, a small, powerless housewife.
I was most impressed by I thought her performance was really good. Her character was really well played from the twitching to getting the glasses of water when anyone got angry or upset. You wouldn’t notice it unless you worked with her. It is the little things she did which made the difference. She was very good at keeping the group working and making them concentrate, but she was never bossy. To improve my play, I would try to make my character stronger, and have more of an impact. I don’t think I would change anything, just improve. So that it would be perfect.
