Tuesday 31 January 2017

Single - Devising Unit (Ghost Stories) - Blog 7 - 31/01/17

Today we decided to scrap what we came up with yesterday as we felt that it was very basic and needed more thought put into it. Although we will keep in mind the good things we can take away from what we created such as the fade in/out of the lights to represent the passage of time.
We then started working on our scene for the suicide scene. We wanted this to be a physical section but not dance-y. Although something like an extravagant dance would look nice, we didn’t think it would be very effective at portraying the emotions of our character. We wanted to show not only how the murder of Lee Rigby haunts Danny but how his previous life events affect him mentally too. 

Below is the movement we came up with. 

  • The piece begins with Rob sat at a table with a notepad, trying to write his suicide note as Danny Cornelius. Ollie, Lorna and I are scattered across the stage in different places and levels looking depressed; Lorna on the floor, me on a chair and Ollie standing on a chair. This is to show the elevating levels of Danny’s depression.
  • Rob performs a short monologue where Danny asks himself what does one put in a suicide note. When this monologue ends, Rob stands and Lorna sits where he once was whilst Ollie and I take our chairs we were using to the back.
  • The music transitions into a slower beat so Ollie and I walk back into the scene quite robot like, taking one step or performing one action per beat. The setting has changed into a shop and we Ollie and I pick up a few items and place them on the counter for Lorna to scan. This is all very abstract movement despite being a naturalistic setting. I exit the store first and then stop midway across the stage, Ollie then catches up and once we’re level, I stick out my arm in front of his chest, we both squat and as we rise I turn to face him.
  • I push his chest and tug at this chain, which Ollie then takes off and gives to me. I push him away slightly and I hold out my knife arm threateningly. I then walk off briskly towards the table and Ollie walks off in the opposite direction. By this point Lorna has set up the table so it’s on its side facing stage right. During this entire shop section, Rob has relevant speech relating to what’s happening.
  • I walk over to the turned table as the Danny now and interact with it as if it were a cash machine. Lorna enters from the back and looks towards me she steps backwards until we’re back to back and she raises her gun up to my head. Ollie is standing behind the table and for the next 10 seconds, he rises hands me money, I lift my arm over my head and give it to Lorna. After these 10 seconds, she turns to face me, pushes me and runs off. Ollie and I lower the table down so that the legs are facing upwards, and during this whole section Rob again has relevant speech.
  • Ollie and I stand in front of the table at either end facing each other and Lorna is on her knees on the table; representing Lee Rigby. Using hand puppetry, we both manipulate Lorna. We raise up each of her arms and throw them down, we raise her up by her shoulders then let her droop down, I lift her up by her chin and have her face left. She then goes into a sort of back bend and Ollie slits her throat where she falls to her knees facing back to the right.
  • Ollie steps further away and pulls her forward off of the table and laying face up. We circle her and then Ollie mimes handing me a knife. I stab her 3 times piercing her stomach and as I connect with her stomach her torso and legs lift up. Ollie and I then lift her up but through her down almost immediately.
  • We finish the murder section by Ollie stabbing her a few more times resulting in her death. During this torture scene, Rob lifts the table back up to normal and continues speaking.
  • We then have a blackout and when the lights come back up Rob is standing in front of the table with Ollie and I standing to the side of it holding rope across Rob’s neck. Rob “finishes his suicide note” and then Lorna, standing behind Rob on the other side of the table, pulls his head down and Ollie and I lower down which leads to Rob falling back onto the table dead.

Next lesson, we will try to collect ideas on what our third main scene should be about.

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