The Wall

I spent the Easter holidays feeling feeling very stuck and unable to continue with devising my piece. Before the break I'd had feedback from my presentation, which initially felt positive, though as the holidays went on I found it hard to develop the suggestions and felt like scrapping the idea and starting all over again! I had a tutorial with Dianne after the break and it really helped to clear my head of the old ideas, and embrace a new character.

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.