14x14

Our contemporary showcase was an almagamation of scenes from the plays that we'd read and analysed as a whole. The initial thoughts when reading the play was that we'd find a pair and pick a scene from the selection to do an in depth scene study and performance. Subsequently we all chose relatively strong scenes which all had their story to tell.

After being informed that our scenes could be used in a showcase sense we were allowed to have more than one partner and pick more than one scene. My first partner was Eden, and we picked a scene from 'One for the road' purely for the gritty storyline. As we looked more into it, we found that there was so much more appeal to it; an example, the unspecified nature of the entire piece was incredibly captivating. Alongside that we also thought about how if we read our scene as two women, instead of two men, how it would feel. The script is not necessarily gender specific which is why it worked well  switching both genders; there was also a nice twist to the regular 'damsel in distress tale' with the partner being a woman. Another grasping aspect was the air of ambiguity, there is no evidence within our scene what's happened prior to the captive personally, we're informed on the wife and son but not her, herself. Also changing Nicholas to Nicola added to the perplexity of the scene, as an audience member, and a female, the thought of a woman inflicting such acts onto another woman  is beyond harsh and nonchalant especially as females are meant to be more emotionally attached and maternal like.

My second scene study was Danny and Jade from Motortown. I was completely excited by this scene as this is the moment in the play that the audience get to witness the sheer madness that occurs within Danny's mind. The scene starts with what is an incredibly down-played kidnapping and as Danny gets increasingly frustrated and angry within his own thoughts and feelings. He taunts, tortures and then kills Jade; my main cause of excitement with this piece was the fact that I would get the chance to play the role of the victim, whereas I'm accustomed to stronger, female characters. This role would be challenge and I was completely and utterly up for it. 

My third scene study was the character Three from the play Hang. I am utterly biased as I'm a massive debbie tucker-green fan, however, this is definitely one of my favourite plays by her. In this section I had chosen, this is point of realisation that the person guilty of the crime against her has written a letter. This letter is withheld for weeks and the contents are never revealed to audience. To get into the character mindset. I watched programs like Criminal Minds and Cold Case to help me get in the mindset of the mysterious crime. I also would observe mothers in public with their children and how they may have reacted at the sign of danger towards them. I tried to use these elements to create a rounded performance, my biggest struggle was getting into that motherly mindset (it's not for every household, but I'm aware in my household in particular, that whenever my mother is not well or upset, she conceals it very well).

Below are some images of our plans for the show:

As seen above there was a change at the final moment (the day before) for my scene with Tom to be cut as the scene was not at the standard that every other scene was. This was due to our juxtaposing work dynamic, and I also believe we both had a lot of extra responsibilities that we were juggling alongside working on our show. The decision for myself to do a monologue from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry was made; this meant that I had less than 24 hours to go over the monologue and polish it before the performance. I read the play and then researched the trial in grave detail; every aspect of the story made me want to do the monologue more when I first looked at the evidence. The speech in particular also lead well to the themes of the show and worked well as Saskia closed the show with a monologue from the play Confirmation.

Writers

From the small amount of information we gathered about the writers from the plays as well as our own prior knowledge, we had to pick a writer, research and create a presentation on them. Myself, Saskia and Corrina chose debbie tucker-green, the video below shows what we found:

(link should work - Ella has the video)

Mark Ravenhill was another point of interest that another pair did. This is their video:

(same as above)

Forced Entertainment Workshop

Based in Sheffield, Forced Entertainment is a group of six artists who work together to create theatre. 'The work we make tries to explore what theatre and performance can mean in contemporary life and is always a kind of conversation or negotiation, something that needs to be live. We're interested in making performances that excite, challenge, question and entertain other people. We're interested in confusion as well as laughter.'

The company has been working as a team since 1984, whilst also participating in theatrical practices outside of the company. Their elements of exploration within plays have extended from playing games, playing with silence or dressing to intoxicated story telling. Some plays have even been stretched from 6-24 hours. The company do use texts, dance, movement and improvisation.
'We've made serious work that turned out to be comical, and comical work that turned out to be deadly serious, digging deep into theatre and performance, thinking about what those things might be for us and what kinds of dialogue they can open with contemporary audiences.
As well as performance works, we've made gallery installations, site-specific pieces, books, photographic collaborations, videos and even a mischievous guided bus tour. In many ways the company itself - a unique 30 year collaboration - is the bedrock of everything we do, a rare example of people building, maintaining and continuing to develop a vocabulary, way of working and innovating together over a long period of time.'

We had the opportunity to both have a workshop with one of the members as well as watch one of the performances by the company. Within the workshop we focused on ensemble work and listening to each other; given the simple task of writing down 5 things we're scared of each before compiling our answers. My group's list is as follows: being alone, dying, forgetting my family, being lost in a country where English isn't the first language, deep waters, rejections, railing, the devil's hour (between 1-3 am), rats and spiders. Our task was then to arrange ourselves in a line, and each person had to read out the entire list, however, we couldn't say more than one thing at a time (e.g. rats and spiders), only one person could speak at a time, and it had to be done a random order.

The people within my group were very good at listening at each other, as a result, there were maybe only one or two overlaps and there was a storyline that was beginning to form in the audience members and actors minds. We also played with silence which created intensity with the chosen terms. It was an informative and engaging workshop to participate in.

Below is a video clip of the play 'The Notebook' that we watched at Cambridge Junction.

Introduction

Contemporary Theatre to me is the practise and production of theatre performances which break the bonds of the 'norm' within theatre. This can be by the incorporation of dance, movement or even digital-like props (projections). Ultimately, they are post 1950's plays written about issues of that time which are easily adaptable or available for translation in society today. 

We were given many plays to read both as a class and by ourselves, the list is as follows:

'One for the Road' by Harold Pinter

- An unnamed totalitarian state torments in turn a tortured prisoner, his wife and child. First performed at the Lyric Theatre Studio, Hammersmith, in March 1984.

'Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads' by Roy Williams

- Fueling the xenophobic tensions is the blind venom of Lawrie, captain of the pub team; the articulate propaganda of Alan, active member of a anti-immigration party; and the hatred of Glen the landlady's son, bullied and confused. The dialogue snaps with alarming authenticity in William's challenging play about what it meas to be British, and how people define it- whether it is a bulldog tattoo, or violence against those who don't fit in.

'Motortown' by Simon Stephens

- This play premiered in 2006  at the Royal Court Theatre, London. 
Danny returns from Basra to an England that is foreign to him, the play's episodic structure leading him through a bleak and bitter portrait of the country he fought to save. His brother tells him that his ex-girlfriend doesn't want to see him after being frightened by the letters he wrote home. Danny visits her only to find she is now with someone else, sending him on a journey through his once hometown, a place of questionable morals and men selling guns, anti-war protesters and middle class swingers.

'Pornography' by Simon Stephens

- Britain feels like the centre of the world. World-changing politics, gigantic charity concerts, the chance to host the Olympics; everything's happening, and everyone's talking about it. In schools, offices, streets, shops, parks and homes - there's a buzz in the air, a sense of anticipation. The world's eyes are focused on Britain and you can feel the energy and possibilities. Bu in less that an hour in central London, everything will change.

'Shopping and Fucking' by Mark Ravenhill

- The play opened at the Royal Court Theare, London, in 1996 and is central to the 90's movement sometimes called 'in-yer-face theatre'. 4 main characters from pop stars are used to show them buying, selling and stealing whatever they can - drugs, sex and ready meals. Mark used to work in the City but now is a recovering junkie; after a topless audition for a shopping channel Lulu is asked to sell ecstasy by her interviewer; Gary, who has been sexually abused by his step-father, is an underage prostitute looking for someone to fulfil his violent fantasies; Robbie tried to make enough to pay the threatening landlord by setting up a phone sex line with Lulu.

'Hang' by debbie tucker-green

- A crime has been commited. The victim has a choice to make. The criminal is waiting. A shattering new play about one woman's unspeakable decision.

References:

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/one-for-the-road-iid-134594

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/sing-yer-heart-out-for-the-lads-iid-15198

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/motortown-iid-14115

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/pornography-iid-131694

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/shopping-and-fucking-iid-11765

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/hang