Evaluation of chasing pavements

Every Single lesson (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) we would split into our groups and start our rehearsals for our devising piece. We didn’t have a schedule however at the beginning we would discuss whether we wanted to create a new scene or improve the scenes that we had already formed.  Every few lessons we would brainstorm our current ideas and just talk discuss what we thought about them.

Throughout the rehearsal process myself and other members of the group would experiment on ways we could use stage combat that is used with in the piece. Some members and I have been to some workshops in the past which has allowed us to use a slightly wider variety of stage combat and also allowed us to experiment  with our technique slightly more. Personally I think that the “punches” that were being thrown in the show were believable to an extent, I think that the only thing that didn’t make it believable was that there wasn’t much of an effect on the character that I was beating (black eye/broken nose).

Overall I think that the performance went good, there were a few minor errors that weren’t meant to happen however I think that we just went on with it and got it done with. One thing that I think really worked with our performance is that the scaffolding in the back worked rather well through put the whole thing; it was used pretty well for the date scene, the movement scene, the other date scene, and the stage combat scene. However I think that it mainly based around it when it wasn’t really necessary.

In my opinion as a group I personally think that we didn’t work well together due to too many distractions and at the week before the show few people decided that scenes we had come up with were too “cheesy” which I didn’t really agree with but other people agreed so I just had to go with it and make up something new. Another reason I say this is that during the process of developing the ideas people weren’t taking it seriously enough and it became fairly irritating when ideas that are good were being put down because some people would say they didn’t like the song when it would have fitted nicely.

When looking at the techniques, I think that it went quite well as there was quite a variety (Movement, Monologs, Split Screen, Stage Combat, Slow motion) . 

After our performance as a group we discussed what we thought went well (www = what went well) and then if there was anything we could improve (ebi = even better if). Even though we thought that the performance went well, we thought that there were a lot of things that could have been improved. I agree with all the ebi’s, but ones that I would really say that matches my opinion is the “more naturalistic” as it did seem a bit farfetched and really unrealistic however that is something that the group also agreed with and we said that it would be more engaging to an audience if it was something that they can relate to.  Another point that I agree with is “developing of characters”. I would probably say this is the most important point in the ebi’s as when we cut off characters, personally I don’t feel that the audience felt the emotions that we were hoping and by developing a character we can really engage with the audience so when someone they like gets cut off they feel upset or the emotions that we aim for them to feel.

Single - Brainstorm Analysis

This is one of our first brainstorms for the piece called “chasing pavements” , when we looked at what the title of the devising piece was, we looked at the lyrics to the Adele song. The lyrics say “Should I keep on chasin’ pavements, even if it leads nowhere?” .The word chasing seems to be a key term in our ideas as it’s based on people chasing hope that they can make a change to this futuristic based piece.

So in this photo the group decided that we would focus on more of our story line than what to base the piece on.

(1)    As you can see we had rules out characters in which we wanted to play and we tried to make it so that everyone wanted to play the part that they wanted to. This way we all would get to do something that we would put as a target and attempt to achieve. So at this stage, I wanted to play a soppy character as I tend to always play an angry character who shouts a lot.

(2)    This is when we started to talk about our previous ideas and tried to come up with some sort of plot for the piece. Eventually we had got a rough idea on what we wanted to perform however we just needed to attempt them and see if they worked and if we felt like they could have been used well enough when performing. 

 Once we had got to the next stage of developing our brainstorms. We had our introduction sorted and our 'training' scene also sorted by this point which left the rest of the story. We originally was going to have a physical theatre piece however due to some people being dancers in my group, we developed it so it became a movement piece. Also originally my character was going to start getting depressed and anxious as the girl he loves is cheating on him, he isn't 100% sure, however he has suspicions which lead to the whole depression thing, Personally I wanted it to stay like that as it would have made the audience feel more sympathetic for the character and therefore people would have felt bad when he gets killed off.

This is our final "plan" and as you can tell we have added a lot to our piece over the few weeks, Instead of opening the piece with the whole Graffiti on the wall thing. We had recorded some footage so that it started off with a news report which helps set the scene of "Chasing Pavements". It then goes into the original opening, we added a lot of stage combat into our piece as well, I think that it was good to use as the whole setting of the production is based in a post apocalyptic setting and you would try and defend yourself as much as possible. However I think in some cases it too much. We have added the "mission planning" scene to the plan as it allows the audience to get an understanding of how some characters think and feel (Craig). Instead of having Spencer and Jeremy talking all night and then having Sam and Ruby talking all night, we decided that we could use monologues as it gives us a chance for our audience to learn about their pasts. Personally I think that was a good idea as I find monologues rather easier to perform as it helps me think and feel like my character. Instead of having a 'cheeky' little affair going on, we worked out that it could potentially be better if we have two different relationships. However doing this meant that the audience wouldn't see that anxious side to my character. We added in a split screen and another report to show how the 'rebels' feel about their previous tasks and also to see how Jeremy starts to change from a fairly loved up character (When around Sam) to someone who will threaten to beat up a fellow member of the group right in front of her. So instead of having a whole piece on depression etc and making the audience feel sad, they are meant to feel sad due to the fact that he gets kicked out of the base. Personally I still think that the depression idea would have worked better.

Single - Character Profile

Name: Jeremy Smith

Role in Group: Combat Specialist

Age when becoming a rebel: 7

Backstory: At the age of 7, he was asleep on a cold autumn night when it happened. His father Rou Smith and mother Lucy Smith ran into his room. They had very little time however they managed to get Jeremy to safety. They were in such a panic and didn’t know what to say, they kissed his forehead, told him to run and to look after himself. Rou then assisted him as he climbed down the side of the house, as Jeremy was about to reach the floor his father let go of the bit of rope he was holding, Jeremy had a small fall however he heard his parents shouting with someone and he saw torch lights all around the house. He didn’t know what to do but just stand there at the side of his house, speechless as to what was going on. What he was about to witness changed his life. Gun shots were fired and his parent’s bodies were thrown out of the window. They heralded towards the floor and their faces staring at Jeremy.   Jeremy started to run, the faster he ran the more he started to well up and the tears streamed down his face. As he was running JAMIE’s swat van picked up on his movement and attempted to track him down. He could hear the van quickly gaining on him and just as he thought it was game over, someone grabbed him and pulled him out of the way, picked him up and ran out of the town.  He squirmed and tried to fight off this stranger, but did not succeed, after a long and tiring fight; the stranger put him down on the top of an old abandoned library. She takes off her mask and reveal’s her true identity. She tells him that her name is Sam and that she has seen the entire country burn and rot because of JAMIE. She then asked him if he wanted to stay, he was hesitant at first and still in shock but after the years past he adapted to the life style and decided to live with Sam.

Crimes: Murder, Assault, Vandalism

Hobbies: Fighting, Trying the be the Alfa – Male

Single - Writing in Role 2

I love her. I can’t even begin to explain the struggle of trying to have someone who doesn’t necessarily feel the same. I’ve felt like this for so long and now I feel like I am old enough to express these feelings. I know that I have to do these things when I’m left alone with her, I can’t let anyone know as well, he’s always watching. You can never trust anyone and I mean anyone but Sam. I just can’t help but tell her everything and anything. She’s practically raised me to be the person I am right now. I try my best to be a good person when she’s around. I fight off people that bring negativity into our home however she seems to get mad about that and for some reason it’s always my fault. That’s the only thing that annoys me with Sam. She never lets me protect her from danger, she thinks that she’s capable of fighting and killing everyone but I Know, one day she’ll need me but only when she’s pushed me too far to pull me back. 

Single - Writing in Role 1

It’s been going on for too long now. I just can’t help myself. It’s like I don’t know who I am half the time, maybe I need help? Or maybe I just need to find a way to resolve this “problem”. You see, I think I've inherited it from my father. He may have died like a hero but I had always despised him. The way that he would lie to my mother, the way he would go to beat my mother when he got mad. I hated him but he saved my life. One thing that really gets under my skin is that Spencer, my one true friend never takes my side, never backs me up in an argument, just sits there and watches me crash and burn. I've always taken his side, even if he’s in the wrong; I've always stuck by him. And the other day when he told me to back off from Ruby. She deserves a whole lot worse than what I was going to do, hell I’d push her off the top of the base if I could. And as for Spencer, I have nothing but the most disrespect for him, pure hatred.  He’s supposed to be my best friend, not some cocky, arrogant person who never defends me. I will come back and I will make sure they know who the real leader is. Nothing will stop me. 

Single - Response to the stimuli

When choosing music to add to our piece it was quite tricky as everyone had different views on music for certain scenes. As I looked at the lyrics for the song "Chasing Pavements" by Adele and a song called "The River" by Parkway Drive, it seems to me that both songs seem to have a common thing with hope, love and pain. The thing I like about "The River" is that it tells a story through the song, you might not be able to tell due to some heavy vocals however when you read the lyrics you can hear the feel the pain that the person may have felt.

"You were the first, you wouldn't be the last
What the river took, we could never replace
And as the pain set in so did the realisation
You were never coming home
For nights we lay awake
Wishing for answers, hoping against all hope
And if love could change the course of fate
These nights, we move mountains
But as the news filtered down the line, the impact shook us
Shook us to the core
Loss struck like a dagger in our aching hearts"
The lyrics above are from "The River" and I believe that you could make a piece a lot easier with these lyrics as it already has a story, however there could have been a piece based on this song, or it could be how people could cope in situations in which tragic events like this occur.

"The River" by Parkway Drive (with Lyrics) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5BDE3LPqck

Single - Back story of Jeremy

The back story of the character Jeremy is in my opinion rather depressing and upsetting.
When he was at the age of 7, he was asleep in his bed one night when his parents came running into his room and they opened the window, let his crawl down from the ledge and into the garden, as he was climbing down he heard the sound of doors being kicked down within the house hold, as he reached the ground in his garden he hid in a bush and looked up at his window, he witnessed his parents trying to climb out but getting pulled back into his room by soldier and then shot. He runs away as fast as he can, he bumps into Sam and and bursts out into tears. She then raises him and over time they begin to struggle, they are more and more vulnerable as time goes on. That's why they start the rebellion, however over time Jeremy begins to get more "greedy" and acts like a leader however he is put back in his place.