14th June - Feedback for the Divorce Piece

In this group -
Francesca Hippey,
Seb Ainsworth and
Tom Willshaw.

Is this an effective piece of Theatre In Education and why ?

Yes! This was a very effective piece of Theatre In Education as the audience got involved with the piece and like Emily, Imogen and I got us very emotional and nearly in tears! I also liked how the piece was very personal to the actors and showed their true emotions, as well as their acting abilities. This was very professional and mature. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming.

What conventions did they use to engage the audience?Music - In the backgorund,
Song - Seb, his guitar and some very emotional lyrics,
Direct address,
Physical theatre,
Hot seating.

How well did they work as a group?

Very! They held each other very well and as a group, performed a very strong piece of Theatre in Education. They made no mistakes that were recognisable and had clearly all worked hard.

Things to improve:
At times, Seb wasn't making eye conatct with the audience during the direct address. This is key for direct address and is what makes the audience feel part of it. Seb needs to make more eye contact next time.

Other than that this piece was fab and I really enjoyed watching it and seeing how it effected different members of the audience.

14th June - Sixth Formers feedback

A group of A level drama sixth formers watched our piece and gave us a more in depth, and helpful bit of feedback for our piece. They are studying A level drama and so have more of an understanding and knowledge of Theatre in Education.

Here is what they said:
Natasha -

This is an effective piece of Theatre In Education because:

Very powerful imagery that would be shocking to the audience.The inclusion of the audience and interactivity ensured the performance was effective and educational.

What conventions had we used and were they effective?

-songs to introduce topic

-Thought tracking

-strong imagery; Skeleton which anchored meaning, very effective.

-Audience participation- Brecht's- tickle/slap technique - "Trapped, Fat, Alone." YES,very effective.

Performance based added comments:

Really good managing of questions in hot seating activity.

Poppy -

Was this an effective piece of Theatre In Education?:

-Imogen did well to maintain singing during the pupils sitting and moving.

-Use of narrative and direct address informs the audience

What conventions had we used and were they effective?:

-Unison of questions.

- Mirror sequence- unique , well done!

-Audience participation.

Any more performance comments and improvements:

- The menu sequence improved.

-Hair needed to be tied back.

-Good audience choice to talk to about anorexia.

-Beth clearly knew her character.

-Would have been better to include statistics about anorexia.

- Needed Beth's character to leave before moving on after the hot seating.

Gemma -

Was this an effective piece of Theatre In Education?:

-Good sense of reality when putting across the thoughts of Stacey.

-Informative whilst being enjoyable.

-Involving the audience.

-great representation of the skeleton representing Stacey's body.

What conventions had we used, were they good and effective?:

-The mirror images

-The repetitive "fat, trapped, alone." - could be improved by more shouting and more build up.

-Song at the start worked very well, with the lyrics complimenting the piece.

Anything we could have improved on any more comments?:

-To be more open when acting, open arms.

-More gestures.

-Beth was Great at managing questions in hot seating.

-Good use of freeze frames.

-Direct address was done well.

This feedback is very helpful and a lot more in depth than the year 8's feedback. I  liked having a variety of age ranges viewing our piece as it gives us a variety of feedback to help us evaluate our piece.

14th June - The Performance!

Today was the day of our performance. It was here at last! I couldn't wait to perform! It was a mad rush all day, while everybody did last minute rehearsals, line run through's and sorted out props etc...
Our group spent our time wisely, rehearsing in costume, using our props (some of which was our first time using them!) and going over our lines. I felt that I needed this extra last minute time just to feel a little more at ease when performing.
We originally were only going to perform to one class of year 8's but instead performed to two year 8 classes and an A level drama class. This was quite unnerving as the audience space was so full but I enjoyed seeing so many people when performing and using my Direct Address.
The year 8's seemed to really get involved in the performance and the drama conventions and their feedback was really reliving and appreciated. They filled in the questionnaires quite happily and gladly and really got involved when it came to Hot Seating. They asked some really good and appropriate questions and helped me develop my character further with their participation.
During rehearsal, Imogen was playing around on Seb's guitar and started playing Perfect by Pink. I knew immediately that this song would be perfect for Imogen to sing as our audience were entering. Imogen decided not to sing the song we had previously written as she felt uncomfortable and had an issue with her nerves so I wasn't going to push her to sing this song. But after lots of 'persuading'! Imogen decided she would do it. I knew this song was right because it is all about self image, self belief and links well to our performance. It had a great effect on people and Mr Truscott even mentioned it during the feedback session which was videoed.
The hot seating was interesting at the end of the piece as some audience members asked me some questions which I hadn't thought of at all and so this really increased my confidence to answer the questions.
Overall the day was really fun, entertaining and enjoyable. It has improved my confidence loads and helped me to relate to my character even more for the evaluation.

7th June - Group PLTS

During this lesson, Emily and I managed to start another frame for our mirror as our other one has gone missing. Unfortunately we had to go to an exam and couldn't finish it off. Imogen didn't have an exam, so instead of learning lines or helping herself, she kindly offered to finish it for us and by the sounds of it did a fantastic job! We also managed to do a full run with every body's lines perfect!

Emily and I have really improved our physical theatre scene, Courtney remembered her lines very well and I really liked how Imogen now is 'Part' of the performance and she interacts with the characters as her role as narrator.

I think everybody worked really hard and we had come such a long way since the beginning.
The PLTS and wheather we do them well or not:
PLTS - Self Manager:
Be organised - Check!
Manage emotions - Sort of,
Go for it, finish it - Nearly!
Manage risks - Check!
PLTS - Creative Thinker:
Imagine - Definitely!
Question assumptions - Sort of,
Take creative risks - Yep and they definitely pay off!
Make links - Sort of,
PLTS - Effective Participator:
Persuade others - Oh Yeah!
Identify issues - Check!
Find solutions - Almost,
Get involved - Most of us,
PLTS - Reflective Learner:
Set yourself challenges - Check!
Plan - Do - Review - Plan - Yes, Do - Yes, Review - Almost!
Invite Feedback - Check!
Share Learning - Definitely!
PLTS - Team Worker:
Take responsibility - Most of us,
Evaluate the team - Check!
Build team strength - Yes! Our team works really effectively and bonds well,
Manage the team - Check! We all take it in turns to manage our team,
PLTS - Independent Enquirer:
Reach conclusions - Sometimes!
Evaluate the evidence - Sometimes!
Explore a question - Sometimes!
Stay objective - Sometimes!

Overall our least confident category is being Independent enquirers and we need to work a little harder on this one as a whole.

7th June - Feedback

Here are some targets we need to complete by the end of this lesson;

1. Have a rough idea of what we will be doing in our workshop. (Drama conventions, ect.)
- Conscience Alley.
- Role On The Wall.
- Physical Theatre.
2. Have a smooth full run of the piece and feel comfortable with it.
- Rehearse Lines.
- Movement.
3.  Get some more feedback and improve.

7th June - Pavla Beier interview

It is really helpful to have two interviews from two completely different people who virtually have the same job, Gail McIntyre, the Artistic director from The West Yorkshire Playhouse and Pavla Beier, the Artistic Director at Blah Blah Blah Theatre in Education company. Gail came into our school and allowed us to interview her directly where as Pavla asked us to email our questions, she then replied with a lot to say!

In Pavla's Interview, what interested me the most was the when she said that they don't have children coming to them and they prefer going to the children in their surroundings. This is because 'using a familiar space to the children IE- their classroom or school hall transforms the performance in an imaginative way.'

I really agree with Pavla as it makes the set seem more real as it was once their hall or classroom and now it's a ....... (for example : A jungle).

Being given two Artistic directors interviews really helps us to compare and contrast the two sets of answers.

7th May - 3 Targets to acheive before the end of the lesson

At the start of the lesson we each thought of three targets to achieve before the end of the lesson. Mine are:

*Learn and Practice Monologues,
*Full run through of our performance,
*Evaluate own piece and re draft our evaluation form.