Cruelty Free World

One of the main themes of my solo is testing on life in the name of science.  I have recently been reading many posts on the Cruelty Free World's Facebook page and it has given me further motivation to create this piece.
I think by linking my research on current animal testing with previous human LSD tests to create the idea of the possibility of all scientific test being taken on humans in the future, then my audience may be more inclined to relate to my point and understand that what is happening today (with animals) is wrong and should (and can) be stopped.

Presentation

After presenting my current solo idea to the group, it has become apparent that my idea is a little too complex for a 20 minute piece! I think I now need to focus on narrowing my idea down so that it won't need rushing on the night.
One piece of feedback I got from my presentation was that the idea of humans becoming immortal would be too much for the audience to get their heads around at the end of the show. I am thinking of scrapping the immortal idea now, in favor of simply stressing the point that animal testing is wrong. I will be showing this through the story, and highlighting elements such as the possibility of humans being tested on in the future.
I am considering combining zone 2 and 3, and the savage and test subject characters to simplify the story.

Mission Statement

Through the element of promenade performance I aim to take the audience on a journey into their future, showing them life on Earth post-World War Four.
I plan to present the audience with with characters they can relate to, playing scenes designed to highlight moral choices and actions.
My main intention is for the audience to leave with a sense of appreciation  and motivation. To enjoy the lives they have in the belief that they can make a change to their future.

Characters and Costume Design

I currently have 3 characters in mind for my solo piece. The first is a scientist at the research lab, where the audience will be taking their 'tour'. She is going to introduce them to the show and tell them about what the company are researching (improvements to health and well being, longer lifespans etc - all lies!) She will only be present in the foyer before the show, as she will be interrupted by a message on her earphone alerting her of an 'escapee in lab 12', she will then leave and the audience will be guided into the theatre by FOH.
The next character the audience will meet is the Savage. She is going to try and communicate with the audience and attempt to trade her sticks for audiences possessions (nothing will be taken off stage - she will give everything back!) The Savage has been brought up after the nuclear war and has no concept of the English language, so she communicates using her own various tribal-style grunts. The savage exits as a siren sounds and a voice-over explains that this is means that scientists are out looking for new 'volunteers' for their research.
The third character is a girl (aged about 12) and she has just managed to escape from the science lab where they were doing tests on her. She is hiding in an old den she used to live in with her sister and explains to the audience what really happens in the lab.The scientists say they are trying to create a perfect world where no-one will ever need medicine again. But in reality, they are putting 'volunteers' through painful tests in order to find the right genes and chemicals needed to create an immortal race.To make an immortal human, they impregnate female 'volunteers' who grow and give birth to them. When an immortal baby is born, however, the mortal mother dies due to the overwhelming levels of chemicals the child has left inside her. The girl (test subject) tells the audience that she is going to wait in the den for her sister to escape from the lab, before complaining of a stomach ache and showing the audience her scarred belly.

Set Design Draft

This is my first draft of a set design. I am hoping to have the Harvey Theatre split into 3 stages using the curtains. This way I can have 3 different scenes which the audience can walk through. As my solo piece is going to be promenade style, each stage needs to be easily accessible for the audience. I will discuss with Matt what options I have, and I will suggest maybe having someone as a stagehand to manually work the curtains.

Fantastic Planet

This is a film called The Fantastic Planet - originally 'La Planete Sauvage' (translates to 'The Wild Planet') - and it was made in France in the 70's. The film is set on a planet where aliens dominate, and they keep humans as pets. The wild humans are seen as vermin and the aliens try to get rid of them - as if they were pests. The humans manage to steal one of the aliens 'learning devices' and with that, all of the humans are able to know what the aliens know. Long story short, they fight at first but then agree to live together peacefully. I like the concept of this film, the way the aliens treat the humans at first is exactly how we treat most other animals.
I think the story works because although the film is set in a completely different world, it has enough similarities with our world for us to relate to it, and gives us a powerful message. I want to create my own world for this solo piece and I have let my imagination run away with me a bit! But I think in order for my audience to understand the piece, I need to keep relating back to our world and society.

Pilobolus Dance Theatre

This is a video of Pilobolus Dance Theatre's "Shadowland", I think it's beautiful. I especially love the dog character and think it would be great to create something so simple using just a sheet and some lighting.

Christmas Homework

Over the Christmas break we were given this poem:

I have eaten

The plums

That were in

The icebox

 

 

And which you

Were probably

Saving

For breakfast

Forgive me

They were delicious

So sweet

And so cold.

We had to create a piece based on this, and I liked the style the poem was written so I thought I would continue the story and build on the character further. I liked the idea of having someone who felt compulsed to confess everything they had done, and thought it would be quite sweet - though a little sad - if it was an older lady who was becoming gradually more forgetful and wanted to get eveything out in the open while she still could.

 

Forgive me

Please

Now I near

The end

 

I know there’s

Not much time

For us

to speak

 

I will confess all

I’m sorry

For everything

I can remember

 

When I was young

About 6

I stole a sweet

Stripy mint humbug

 

At seven

I stole chocolate

2 squares

From my Dad

 

At eight I was good

I wanted

A bike

For Christmas

 

At nine I screamed

And shouted

As Santa was

Not real

 

Through my teens

I ate a lot

Drank a lot

Too

 

I was happy

Everyone else

Thought I had

problems

 

I met you

You made me happier

Still

Thank you

 

I left that tap on

When we went

on holiday

Not a burst pipe, sorry

 

I found ten pounds

In the street

I spent it on sweets

Didn’t share

 

I found your shirt

The one with

The flowers

I hid it again

 

It’s not the flowers

Flowers smell

Nice,

Pink’s not you

 

Pink is the colour

I forgot

Last week

Remembered now

 

Also forgot someone’s

Birthday

Quite a few

Feel bad

 

Had the lady’s tea

In the next bed

When she slept

Felt sick

 

Hid my dinner

From last night

Not sure where

Can still smell it

 

Think I might be tired

But I

Am never

Really sure

 

Think I will walk

And find

Someone

To speak to

 

I found you

And I took

Your blue

 

Handkerchief

 

I forgot the room

The name

Of it with

The sink

 

A box in it too

Cold box

With a light

Food and ice

 

I have eaten

The plums

That were in

 

The ice box

 

 

And which you

Were probably

Saving

For breakfast

 

Forgive me

They were delicious

So sweet

And so cold.

Ways of Seeing

In class we looked at different optical illusions and discussed how we could take the brief literally. If someone was to perform a play in darkness it would be completly different to a play which is fully lit. If you were able to limit the ammount of set the audience could see, they might think of different locations. Another way of seeing we discussed was beeing able to see ony one persons point of view (E.G. One letter or one side of a phonecall) I found this idea interesting and found I could link this with some of the research I had been doing for another module (ELP). I'd been looking into the 'underdog' in politics and how in many countries (UK included) there are many people who do not get thier voice heard (general elections, wars, wikileaks). I also thought about how, in some of these countries there are women who don't have equal rights and how they have to wear scarves and long clothing to cover themselves. With this in mind I decided I wanted to perform as a female character who is suffering from hardship - though I did not want to make it too obvious what her situation was. I like to leave some room for audience interpretation.
For this piece I used a larval mask with a headscarf on. I began by crying, using controlled breathing and contorted body movements to depict the sadness. I used 2 props. I had a book by Nietzshe - "Thus Spake Zarathustra" from which I read the passage entitled "Voluntary Death". I thought this would be an appropriate chapter to be seen reading as I wanted to show the character at her lowest point. The other prop I used was a selection of coins which I shook at the audience as if asking for spare change.
I used very simple lighting for this piece, I used a push-light infront of me with the main lights turned off - this created shadows of myself on the walls behind me and I was very pleased with the effect.
I composed my own sound with my fiance (and bandmate - Marjorie's Garden Party) and it is an experimental soundscape which includes guitar and both our vocals. I included some spoken verse in the recording which I took from the 'Voluntary Death' passage in the Nietzshe book, and then played in backwards in the recording to give it a more distorted sound.

 

 

I felt like the overall feel of my piece came across well, and everyone seemed to understand the character. I would like to experiment further with music and lighting.