Devising 10

Film 1 section of your work today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wYl4cgcn14

Describe what is happening in this section and how it fits in in relation to the rest of your scene

This is all of the work we have done so far. Due to the fact that one of our group members suffered an accident and was injured, we had to create a rough script and read off of that to fill in for Max. This was difficult to do however we simply read in for him and ran through what we had worked out. In our most recent rehearsals we developed our scene and decided to remove the game of poker, since it wasn't relevant to the story line and simply have the cards be lost in the sea. We also added a final peak of drama whereby Rick is hit in the head with the boom of the boat. Vera, Heta's character, then has a monologue, panicking and professing her love to a now-dead Rick. The scene ends with the rest of the group stood around his body having just received a call from Rick's girlfriend, who the others did not know about. We decided to add this drama since it felt like our scene had begun to "wander", after a lot of conflict at the beginning and less in the middle we felt it needed something to "Pick up the pace" right before the end. 

Describe how you have used your rehearsals to develop these ideas 

After beginning to question the group dynamics in our previous rehearsals, we saw the dramatic possibilities of Rick being the one who gets hit.Certainly it's one of the most due to the fact that he has the most going for him. He has a job and a family and responsibilities, he wants to be on the boat least. We thought it was interesting about how he is so eager to leave and then he gets killed, almost as if there's a sense of it coming. We debated the idea of Xanthe being the one who dies, since she is the most unhappy. It would be more of a release for her, an escape, however I raised the idea that she still has more to learn. I liked the idea of her learning from this, or learning the value of life and having to go on. There's also a real tragedy about the idea of a man who has everything going for him and is loving living his life as it is dying instead of a girl who wants nothing more than to be at peace.

This drama also gave us a chance to fit in some lovely time for Heta to act. She gets a real release, her character Vera essentially lets go of everything she's been holding on to and not saying, telling the other characters the bitter truth. There then comes a lovely moment when she tells Rick that she loves him, a sort of final goodbye.
During rehearsals I felt that Yunusa hadn't really contributed much and wondered whether he was being held back by anything. The whole group made an active attempt to bring ideas out of him and questioned him on the decisions we were making and in the ended he came out with some fantastic ideas, such as instead of us using an actual boom or sound effect it should be all physical theatre. We liked this idea, since we hadn;t used much physical theatre before, and it was then my idea to use some more physical theatre by incorporating the "swaying" we'd been looking at during our Movement classes into the end to symbolise the storm picking up and us being thrown off the boat. 

Notes

After the work we did, we decided that we needed to establish the danger of the boom more. We needed to show the danger earlier on in the piece. This doesn't need to be done in a huge, obvious way, we simply need to add one or two occasions where we stress the danger of it. Heta also had a great idea that Craig could actually ask Rick to secure the boom

We were also told to be more aware of the audience. Our performance will be shown with the audience "In The Round" which means they will be seated in a semi circle.This means that there will be audience from almost every angle, so not every person in the audience will be able to see every single part of the scene. We need to make sure that we don't "Block" any part of the audience.

We were also told to look into shock reactions and such of actual killings. We need to really think about how we' react to seeing Rick die.

Due to the fact that Max has suffered an injury, as a group we had to make a decision about what to do if he can't make the performance. Our Plan B is that instead of Craig sailing the boat Xanthe will, since she is the only other character who has a background privileged enough that she would have access to and know how to run a boat. My alcoholism will be the reason for the boom not being secured and hitting Rick.
Hopefully Max will be in the performance, however we felt the need to have a plan B just in case. 

Devising 9

Research on depression

Symptoms of depression include long term feelings of sadness, loss of interest in things that one used to enjoy and sometimes anxiety. Physical symptoms include tiredness, lack of sleep, lack of appetite, lack of sex drive and sometimes feeling aches and pains. Depression can sometimes comes along with addictions to things such as gambling, drink and drugs. When one is in depression, one often feels like their life is not worth living, and often those in depression recognize that they are not the person that they used to be, or that they have become someone that they aren't truly like. Sort of like there aren't themselves, they are a different person. Those suffering from depression can find themselves feeling guilt-ridden easier, being irritable and finding it difficult to make decisions. Sometimes someone in depression will move or speak slower and have sudden changes in weight and appetite, and will often avoid contact with friends. Depression doesn't always come from a specific moment in one's life. One with depression can enjoy happy moments, however sometimes it's not a true, deep feeling of happiness and will be/feel overshadowed by the more constant feeling of depression. Depression isn't always a tortured sadness, it's more often described as a numbness. It's more constant and endless than grief, which is why it often feels more inescapable. 

Antidepressants are often prescribed by GP's to treat - not cure, treat - depression. This can be very effective to some people, however they are sometimes seen as a "Quick and easy" treatment, used to numb the sadness a little and reduce likeliness of suicidal thoughts, however they will never ultimately cure the source of a patients depression, they simply increase chemicals called serotonin in the brain, which is what raises one's mood. Possible side effects of antidepressants are nausea, drowsiness, insomnia, anxiety, headaches and sometimes in those under the age of 25 suicidal thoughts.

The way that I am playing Xanthe is that she is numb and sad. She suffers from anxiety, particularly during moments of social tension, for example when her friends start arguing, which leads to her drinking. whilst she knows how to sail and enjoys music, she has no real interests or passions and no plans for her life or ambitions. When Paige and Vera start arguing over Xanthe's lost poker cards, Xanthe feels guilty - as if it's her fault they're arguing because they were her cards. I chose to have her walking pace slightly slower than usual and all of her movements are heavy, as if she's exhausted. 

I have also decided that she will suffer from self harm. This won't be a huge story line and not immediately obvious, she will wear either a long sleeved cardigan or something to cover her wrists - which will be an active decision from Xanthe to do so as not to arouse suspicion - however after Rick's death, which Xanthe will undoubtedly blame herself for due to her drinking and lack of attention to securing the boom, Xanthe will start scratching at her wrists as she succumbs to a shock induced minor panic attack. This will be another part of her anxiety, scratching at her wrists when she gets stressed, however she will distract herself by drinking.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Depression/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Antidepressant-drugs/Pages/Side-effects.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/antidepressant-drugs/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Xanthe's alcoholism

Xanthe will feel ashamed of her alcohol problem and try to hide it from her friends, however laugh and brush it off as a bit of fun when they spot her drinking. She will get trembles and tremors immediately before drinking, to show her dependence. Another sign of an alcohol problem is when drinking cycles are interrupted, so if Xanthe gets her drinking interrupted then I will show annoyance which will then be quickly hidden. 

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/alcohol_abuse_alcoholism_signs_effects_treatment.htm

Devising 8

Film 1-2 minutes of devised work in class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Go9xktsebY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Explain what is happening in the except and how it fits in with your full scene

The scene involves both verbal and physical drama between Craig and rick, which leads to Xanthe almost toppling overboard. The group discuss Paige's home life and it is revealed that Paige and Xanthe both have drinking problems. We are hoping to not add too much drama to the rest of the scene, perhaps a little emotional drama in the dialogue, but we like the idea of both elaborating and expanding the devising we have already done and exploring the personal and emotional situations of all of the characters.

Describe the process of making the decisions shown in the excerpt

We  started off with the idea of the argument between Craig and Rick building through small jibes and stressful questions from Craig, eventually ending with them having full scale conflict, however we felt that this didn't show their actual friendship very well. Rick does like Craig, he's just worried about his family and work back at home, and we didn't want it to appear like he "had it out" for Craig. We also thought of starting with everyone in full scale conflict and arguing at the beginning of the excerpt, however we didn't think it was in the girl's nature to argue, especially since both Vera and Xanthe just want everyone to get along.

One of my ideas was that perhaps Xanthe could actually join in the argument, but the group decided that since she is in the middle of clinical depression she would neither have the energy or the emotional "charge" to be bothered with conflict but she is also there trying to feel something or find some sort of happiness, so she would just want everyone to get along.

We liked the idea that we should all begin to talk however, using subtle stage directions such as the poker game to give the group something to do and show their boredom, and the alcohol to highlight the personal troubles that both Paige and Xanthe are going through.

Notes

It is shown that in the piece Xanthe has an alcohol dependency and I began to reflect on how she feels about it. Would she show it? I think that Xanthe isn't hoping anyone will notice, when Craig asks what she's drinking I am playing her looking like a fox caught in headlights. She doesn't want to trouble anyone so she brushes it off laughing and offers him a drink. She and Jade are both drinking buddies, however Xanthe uses this as more of a front, and excuse to drink without it being questioned. 

Another question that I asked myself was whether she was a peacemaker. It's not in Xanthe's nature to try to get everyone to get along, she has no interest in it and since she's usually and outsider and a troublemaker herself it's a bit self contradictory. However, there is a line where she refers to the group as some of the people she loves most in the world. She might consider this as a last ditch attempt at finding happiness or meaning in her life, and the trip most definitely means more to her than to some of the others.

We began to question the dynamics of the group, it started out as a holiday that the best friends all go on yearly, however we decided as a group that perhaps actually they haven't even seen each other in a long time, maybe even a year. Are things still the same? Are they as close as they once were? Definitely for Rick, with his family and new job, he is beginning to move on with his life. Paige moves between friends a lot, she's definitely the least bothered about being there. Craig is delighted at the opportunity to sail, he is very attached to his friends however he, like Rick, is beginning to move on with his life and go his own way. Craig and Xanthe organised the trip, being the ones who have enough wealth and opportunity to be able to get hold of a yacht, however for Craig it's more for fun than to see his friends again, however he loves the idea of a yearly tradition where they all get to see each other again. Vera can sense that they aren't as close as they used to be, I think she is seeing this as a sort of test to see if they are as close as they once were. Xanthe feels the most strongly about them all, I think she considers them to be her foundation and she's in denial about the fact that they aren't as close as they once were, possibly why she comes over to join the argument between Craig and Rick, distraught at the appearance of cracks in the group. This will be incredibly difficult for her to come to terms with and could lead to some really interesting drama. 

I think that Heta and Jade need more dialogue, there is so much character between them that could be really fun to explore, I'd like to take time in the next session to elaborate on their characters and dialogue. I'd also like to look at why all of the group are on the trip and what they'd like to get out of it. 

Devising 7

"Screws fall our all the time, the world is an imperfect place."

 Xanthe can be one of the funniest people you will ever meet, as long as you're on the right end of it. She can quote anyone from a John Hughes movie to Henry David Thoreau, just to prove her point even if it's on something as mundane as a debate on what TV program to watch that night. She is mysterious and desirable, perhaps because she gives of an air of being complex. However she is lost. She sees herself as unimportant, unwanted. She has no place in the world, no direction. Perhaps she has spent so long like this, so long feeling sad, that it has become normality for her. And that is the worst part, sadness is the every day mundane. 

She clings on to the small things in life: her friends, her books, a morning cuppa.

She doesn't tell many people what it was that made her this way, but those who she does tell are people who she trusts and keep quiet about those kinds of things. I haven't yet worked out what made her the way she is. Maybe it was nothing. Not everyone has a story. Maybe something happened to her but that didn't cause her to feel the way she does. Some people are just sad. Maybe she fears that, maybe she fears there's no way to fix herself because what's wrong is part of who she is. Maybe that's why she feels so hopeless and lost, because she feels like she was born to be sad and broken.

Devising 6

Describe the status exercise

We got into pairs and were given a few lines of script to play with. We took turns giving our characters "Sir" and "Smith" different statuses, such as Sir high status and Smith low status, both battling for highest status etc. and we discussed the effects of status again.I thought it was interesting how sometimes both the characters battling for high status could be quite comical, and when Andy asked Izzy and I to try playing the scene with both of our characters trying to get the other to sympathise by playing up our low status, the whole class found it very comical. I think that an audience will often root for the "underdog" in a situation, and sometimes it's interesting to see an actor - or even a person in real life - play up their character's underdog status to get sympathy/empathy. This could be interesting to play with in our devising. 

I like the idea of status fr Xanthe, especially in relation to the other characters in our group, Craig who is charismatic, goofy and lovable and Vera who is kind, loving and wise for example. Xanthe feeling so lost and self destructive would be a huge contrast to such emotionally strong characters, and I think playing with status might be a really good idea to help the audience empathise with her instead of assuming Xanthe's a sarcastic, hard, unlikable character.

Sum up and describe the discussion the class had

As a group we collected together all of the ideas and instant reactions we had to the stimulus material. A lot of key themes which started to appear were those of the danger and torment of the sea, both physical and psychological, the ideas of a group of people trapped together with nowhere else to go and the emotions of escape/pilgrimage/wanderlust that people feel towards the sea. We started piecing the bits together and at first had the idea of a group of people on a boat, trapped, perhaps a Noah's Arc of sorts after a huge natural disaster. However, the discussion soon edged towards interesting places at sea, in particular the Bermuda Triangle. The group liked the idea of a bunch of people stranded on an island in the middle of the triangle. For some it is an escape, for others a cage, and for some it is just an accident. I think this will be so much fun to work with since there is no concept of time in the triangle. People are from different times and different places, they have been there for longer and shorter amounts of time than others and everyone has to adapt to survive.

Devising 5

Describe the status exercises

Eye contact: In this exercise we were labelled A and B, first A's had to walk about the space making eye contact with people and choosing themselves when they wanted to break it, whilst B's walked around the space and the minute they made eye contact, they dropped their gaze. Then we swapped roles. This exercise gave us all automatic status, often if we were choosing to hold gaze then we felt powerful and confident, whilst if we dropped our gaze then we often felt like we had something to be ashamed of, or that we were less than the other people in the room in some way.

Um and Uuummm: We were put into pairs and once again labelled ourselves X and Y and we had to improvise a short scene in a shop. X had to add a short "Um" before everything they said, whilst Y had to add a long "Uuummmm" after everything they said, we then had to swap. Similarly to the first exercise, whoever said the short "Um" often felt less than the person who added the long "Uuuummm".

What is status for actors?

Status is not necessarily social status, such as class or amount of money, but your status in a group of people. For example, if you look at a group of people you will see some who lead conversations. They can acquire people's attention, they have a confidence in their own voice. You will also see people who don't talk, maybe who follow others and don't lead the group. As an actor, I must observe this and use it in my devising. Sometimes I must play someone with relatively low status, but I must also be able to demand the audience's attention. 

How can you use this in your devising?

Using status will be interesting for me, since Xanthe - my character - isn't popular. She doesn't demand attention, and she doesn't think herself above anyone else, however she isn't shy or easy to ignore. Her mystery and wit means that she's hard to ignore, but she isn't popular by any means. She feels like an outcast from the group, so her status is quite low but her presence is noticeable. This will be fun to work with if I'm paired with high status characters.

What have you discovered about your character

Xanthe is becoming more and more interesting to me as I discover more about her. I started exploring why she craves intimacy and acceptance but has a wall up against everyone who tries to give it to her, and I think that she must have some childhood problems. I think perhaps she never felt part of her family, for example she questions whether her father is truly her father or something along those lines. She has a lot of problems with being an outsider, she has very few friends and the more people dislike her the more she retaliates with wit and sarcasm. I think she's struggling with depression, she isn't suicidal but I think she's bored with feeling sad. is this arrogance or laziness? Being more willing to just give up than try and better her life? She flirts and gets attention to feel like part of something and like she has a role in society, preferring this to feeling lost and unwanted.

What other characters could your character know?

Heta's character, because she's kind and thoughtful and sees beneath the surface. She wouldn't judge Xanthe, she would see through her hard surface and sarcasm and take care of her.

Sav's character, she's ditzy and kind, like a mother figure, again she'd be nice enough to not shun Xanthe and wouldn't get offended by her sarcasm.

Sophia's character, her gypsy background would mean she's not one to judge someone immediately and make them feel like an outsider. her adventurous side would attract her to Xanthe's mystery and she's also protective enough that she'd come to truly care for Xanthe.

Izzy's character, she likes to get into trouble and is similarly sarky and flirtatious, she and Xanthe would be partners in crime.

Max's character, because he used to be teased for being a dancer. He and Xanthe could be childhood friends, the one boy who Xanthe would never sleep with and he could be like a younger brother to her. She lets her wall down around him. She see's girls loving him now and suspects the worst because she herself is the worst with other boys. Perhaps tension could arise when he really falls for another girl and she's not used to sharing him.