Single - Applying Acting Styles - Blog 19 - 03/11/16

Today we began our first scenes for our acting styles performance. We were put in the following groups and placed into scenes from various plays:

People, Places and Things: Lorna (Emma), Hope (Doctor), Ollie K (Foster), Lewis (Paul) Kat & Ollie (Nurses)
Waiting for Godot: Kat, Ollie M
Undecided: Rob, James

We began by arranging some of the set such as the desks for the reception, the bed for the patient room and the chest of drawers of drugs. We have two tables forming the reception desk which then get replaced into two separate tables, one for Doctor's desk and the other for a medical bed which sits on. When Emma blacks out, we have a black out and her medical bed and chest of drawers of pills are turned over. When Emma awakens, she is on the floor centre stage covered in fake blood.

I feel that this is a very emotive few scenes as this showcases Emma's introduction to rehab. We then started to go more in depth with the analysis of our characters. We began by discussing our characters and our interpretations from when we went to see the play and then discussed the journeys they go on throughout the plot. We made a note of this on mindmaps relevant to each character. We not only wrote what we thought of each character but what our characters think of each other; this is all linked by the colours. Below are the opinions of each character on the other:

Emma:
Given facts: Wants to go back to work as soon as possible; was previously an actress, Has multiple aliases throughout the play (Nina, Emma, Sarah, Lucy) (as result of her acting career?), has a dependency on drugs, has a poor relationship with her parents (because of her addiction or what she's put them through?), in denial about needing help, very complicated character.
Paul's thoughts: Afraid to reach out to God, "Another one", Coward
Foster's thoughts: He cares about her but doesn't want to become attached to her, has follow procedure with her
Doctor's thoughts: Doesn't understand Emma very well, poser, feels that she's trying to escape reality

Paul:
Given facts: Homosexual who lost his partner of 18 years to heroin usage, unstable mentally (possibly schizophrenic)
Emma's thoughts: Unusual, needs a lot of help, thinks he might have a point
Foster's thoughts: wants him to do well, empathetic, wants to help him
Doctor's thoughts: problematic patient, clever, very loud

Foster:
Given facts: works at the institution, an ex-patient, nothing surprised him
Emma's thoughts: angered that he took her cigarette, he's going to help not hurt
Paul's thoughts: unfair, soulless
Doctor's thoughts: good listener, free spirit, best patient she's ever had, middle man

Doctor:
Given facts: Works at the institution, confident, cracks a joke here and there to relieve some tension, nothing surprises her
Emma's thoughts: Confusing, looks like her mum, doesn't know how to act around her
Paul's thoughts: unfair, soulless
Foster's thoughts: saviour, friend, boss