Site Specific

Risk Assessment - 

Hazard	Involved	Likelihood	Severity	Control Measures in place
Trips and falls	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Even	Mild	Audience will be given a briefing before the performance by staff and a teacher, cast will also mention it throughout. The cast will rehearse and be familiar with tunnels as well as having a safety talk.
Accidents on stairs	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Likely	Medium	Audience will be given a briefing before the performance by staff, cast will also mention the steep stairs before going up them.
Items falling from a height	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Unlikely	Medium	No items up high, not attaching anything into the falls that could fall.
Fire	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Unlikely	Severe	No open flames used during the performance.
Light sensitive reaction (epileptic seizure)	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Possible	Medium	Strobe lighting only used at one point in the play and kept down to 10 seconds.
Health problems (cast scaring audience)	Cast: 12 Audience: 15+	Unlikely	Medium-severe	None of the cast are jumping out from inside the tunnels; there will be no hiding of the cast.

Site Specific

Over the past couple of lessons we have been finishing off scenes and rehearsing scripted scenes, just generally working on our performance.

We worked on the two movement pieces we have created, the schizophrenic scene and the one including all of the mental patients (seven devils). We have really just been going over the movements, making sure everyone knows what they are doing so that everyone is in time and it looks effective.

Site Specific

Movement pieces-

Schizophrenic - In this scene we basically all act as the voices in Carl's head, so we all surround him then break off into a line where we repeat a movement sequence referring to the control and frustration inside his head. Then we pass Carl along the line making him adopt our personality with simple movement that we make him do in a puppeteer way, then we all spread out and again start a repetitive simple movement that we all follow from Carl that is all to do with his head. After this has built up Carl looks around and is overwhelmed by everything in his head and screams which is a common occurrence for his character. 

Electric chair - this scene was primarily dialogue but we decided to add some simple movement to make it more interesting. It involves four of us imitating the movements of either Kyle or the doctors and references to his not being able or wanting to speak.

Seven Devils - this is the movement piece that we started devising when we initally had the mental patient idea. All of us are sitting around the room on chairs, when the singing on the track starts we come to life and have 8 jagged movements reaching out to the audience. We then do some simple movement like turning and banging our chairs in unison, then we move around onto different chairs. For inspiration for part of the movement I watched some music videos which featured some contemporary steps which is where I got the idea for the reaching section which we repeated. Here is the video of seven devils.

Site Specific

Today we set the final order for our scenes and worked out what we were going to do where in the tunnels. We created a kind of flow chart of what we are going to do which was quite difficult at the start cause we were not sure how much space there was at each point but as group we worked out what we thought would work best at each point as we worked our way through the tunnels.

We worked a bit more on the story line, making sure to tie the psychiatrist in. Our piece is going to be set in the 1960's and we know that a nearby hospital would have been All Saints hospital in Chatham, so he is going to be visiting us to complete some research for his PHD.

Again we worked on developing the doctor idea and decided that we would have them at the end revealing somehow that they were all in fact mental patients and they were just role playing. To bring it all together we are going to have hints throughout the piece about how the doctor and nurse are not real and are in fact as dangerous as the patients themselves. Here is a pictures of the running order and plan we have created.

Site Specific

Character development :

My character is quite a messed up person. You would think she is quite innocent and simple because of the way she speaks and her childish mannerisms but the reason she is stuck at her age is because she killed both of her parents at the age of 6. I think she has some kind of psychiatric trauma but also wants to stay a child by choice, she has been acting like one for so long it is what comes naturally to her.

She always carries her teddy bear around, which is naturally blood red and wearing a night dress similar to hers to add to her creepiness. This is the teddy she was playing with on the night she killed her parents. Being childlike she is very simple and only wants to play a game, which ties in with the underlying theme throughout the piece, are the doctors real or not?

Site Specific

Today we started discussing our previous idea of the mental institute. We thought of a way to develop a story line, as this was the problem we had initially with the idea, and came up with having a psychiatrist shown around the place by a doctor and nurse who are not actual professionals.

We printed out two of the pictures we had and started devising in two groups. We based our scene on the introduction of my character who is a 20 year old girl that is stuck at the age of six because something traumatic happened to her at that age. In our picture there was a gate so we decided to have Carl, who is playing a schizophrenic, shut the gate while the audience is inside. We tried to create a creepy and slightly jumpy piece but also working on the characters of the mental patients.

The other group created a scene all about a patient who thought he was the second coming of christ which worked very well as their picture was of an area which looked much like a church. There are other patients present praying, and Tom (Jesus) is performing a ceremony and proceeds to get very angry when he is interrupted.

To develop the piece further we were trying to think of what kind of treatments they may have had, like the electric chair. We thought this would make quite a good scene and would work with Kyle's character who is silent, as it is a form of therapy to try and reforge connections in the b rain, which could trigger speech in his case.

Site Specific

Today we went on a tour of Fort Amherst, it has given us a lot of inspiration and finally helped us to start imagining our actual performance. The tunnels create a quite creepy atmosphere, they are quite narrow at points and also steep which I think will be interesting to perform in, but there is a good variety of locations within the tunnels which will inspire us for different scenes within out piece.

Some of the tunnels become quite small so we will have to think carefully about our audience and if they will be able to fit and also be able to see what we are actually doing in the space. It is also quite a complicated network of tunnels so we will have to plan carefully where we are walking with the map we have gotten, and then rehearse lots on the day.

We found out that there are 5 other forts like this in medway, one of which was used as a mental asylum after the war which has re-sparked my favorite idea which was about mental patients. I think it would very well, the mental patients have all been drawn there by something and are all living within the fort, isolated from the rest of the population.

Here are some pictures that we took while on our tour of the fort. I think it is a great performance space as it is completely different to a stage or traditional place of performance and will be very interesting to perform in, as well as giving us lots of inspiration from the set up and shape of the actual place.

Site Specific

Today we carried on trying to come up with a story line fore our piece. We were still struggling so we split into groups and each came up with some different ideas as to what we could include. We discussed the cause of the power struggle; was it war, political or some thing else but decided the story may help us. We thought maybe the Fort could act as an evacuation point for people trying to leave the country, but only certain people are allowed on this evacuation programme.

Our group decided that we would create a movement/dance piece that was centred around an imaginary child. Then each of us would adopt a role in the child's life that were useful jobs to represent that we would all be allowed on the evacuation programme, so we had the mother, a midwife, a teacher and a doctor. I think this could be very effective and be a nice addition to the piece to add some different techniques and show off what we are good at, instead of it being completely dialogue based.

Everyone's ideas seem to be quite similar but we are getting somewhere which I think is a step in the right direction. The most important thing now is that we go and see the Fort so we can really understand the location and start devising solely based on our surroundings.

Site Specific

Today we tried to sort out our final idea, initially splitting into three groups to use the ideas from the previous brainstorm that we had selected as being our favorites and trying to work them into one story. Two people from each group moved to other groups so that our ideas were shared between all of us and they could develop as it went along.

When we came back together we had all come up with a similar idea of a futuristic setting with no power, based at Fort Amherst. So now we had our final idea we decided to start trying to come up with some kind of story so that we knew what kind of direction to start devising. My only worry with this idea that it will very easily turn into a cliché actin piece, much like films such as Maze Runner and Divergent, also like our previous devised piece which really didn't work. I'm also not sure how much we can actually develop this idea, in this lesson we have struggled to come up with any good ideas of a story line which I don't think will necessarily work because what else can we do but search for a power source. I am hoping in the next couple of lessons everyone will be more positive and we will be able to adapt the idea into something that we can fully develop and turn into an effective final piece that we all enjoy.

Site Specific

Today we decided that we would put all of the ideas we had had down on paper and narrow down our choices to try and come to a decision on  what kind of thing we actually wanted to devise, so we could get started on our final piece.

Again we split into groups and came up with one more, more elaborate idea to add to previous ones. My group came up with a sort of murder mystery evening where our audience is invited to a presentation evening at Fort Amherst and then everything starts to go wrong so they are not expecting it. I think this would work well as they would not know if it was real or not and it is something completely different from anything we have done before. All of the ideas are on this brainstorm.

When we came back together as a class we pitched all of our new ideas and wrote them on this paper, along with all of the previous ones we had come up with while doing our snippets of devising. We discussed which ideas we liked and what we didn't, also talking about which ideas we could link together so we used more of our ideas and had more of a complete base. Our idea was disliked by some people as they didn't want to play themselves, and they thought that it might be too shocking and scary for the audience if they actually thought it was real, although this was the point of our idea and I think it would be quite apparent that it was a performance once things went really wrong. 

There are quite a few strong minded people in our group so it can be difficult for us to talk about each others ideas without people getting very defensive over their own, and some people are being very closed about wanting a certain idea. I think after we go and visit Fort Amherst we will be able to make a more informed decision and hopefully get some inspiration for our piece which we can all come to an agreement on. 

Site Specific

Fort Amherst - research

I got this information from the official Fort Amherst website - http://www.fortamherst.com

• In 1667 the Dutch raided the River Medway and attacked Chatham’s Royal Dockyard, which triggered the idea for some sort of defense system.
• In 1708 plans were beginning to be drawn up to construct a fortification to protect the Royal Dockyard from a land based attack.  
• In 1714 land was bought for the construction of the fortifications but work did not start until 1755.
• Part of the site chosen included a chalk pit with a number of caves.  These caves were extended between 1776 and 1805 to provide an underground labyrinth of tunnels, protected underground gun positions and protection in the event of a siege. 
•  In 1820 the defences were declared obsolete due to better artillery equipment with a greater firing range. 
• The whole of the fortifications were used as a training ground during the Victorian period and the practice sieges were so popular that thousands of people came to Chatham to watch them. 
• During WWII the tunnels were utilised by the Anti-Invasion Planning Unit and Civil Defence, who used a section as their headquarters.  This is where Civil Defence was co-ordinated for the North Kent area in the event of bombing as well as support and assistance to the general public after such an incident.  A section of the tunnels has been reconstructed into the Civil Defence HQ as it was in 1939.
• In the late 1970’s a group of enthusiasts were given permission by the Ministry of Defence to start tidying up the site, with the intention of restoring Fort Amherst. 
• Fort Amherst has been described Britain’s largest Napoleonic fortress.

Another fort in medway, Fort Clarence, was even used as a lunatic asylum for a period of time once it had served its purpose as a fort which I think makes our mental patients idea relevant and believable. 

Site Specific

This week we have been working on lots of different ideas to try and make more options. We split into groups and devised short pieces and ideas from pictures we were given. This is the photo my group was given, it is at Fort Amherst.

My group decided to create a small piece focusing on the hole in the wall. One of the ideas we came up with was based on ghosts, so we used that as a basis for our idea. It evolved into a group of people going on a tour then the guide being called away from something, subsequently the group spot a small child sitting alone by the hole. After speaking to the child voices start coming from somewhere, these call the child back into the hole, disappearing and leaving the tourists confused. When the guide returns he says there is no such child and the hole does not go anywhere, suggesting that it is a ghost child. I like the idea of a ghost piece as it fits really well with the location but I feel it may become cheesy as it is quite cliché and the fort is already known for ghost tours and such.

The next group was given this picture of another outside section of Fort Amherst.

This group went for a futuristic piece where we were all being trained to be soldiers. This piece was good as it was clearly relevant to our location, also the interaction with the audience worked well. They had us all line up with actors in our lines so that we were involved in the action when anything happened to the placed actors, making it feel quite realistic at points. Although I like the concept of engulfing the audience in the performance I don't think we could come up with a whole piece just with this idea as it is quite a specific setting. 

The next groups picture was this metal bridge, again located in the outside of Fort Amherst. 

Again this group went down the distopian/ futuristic path. They created a piece where there was no energy left and people were searching for a new source which they had been given clues about. I like this idea but I do not see how we can relate it to Fort Amherst, also I'm not sure it is suitable for a devised piece and may not be effective as it is quite like one of our previous devised pieces which didn't work out how we wanted and would have been much better as a film or such. 

We have made a good start to gathering ideas and I thin combining aspects from different pieces we create may be the best way to create something as everyone will then have an input and we will have a lot of ideas to devises from, hopefully creating a well rounded performance. 

Site Specific

Today we voted on what location we would like to perform in out of the four we had narrowed it down to; Fort Amherst, Chatham Dockyard, Upnor Castle and Upchurch Orchard. Most of us voted for Fort Amherst so this was our final decision for our location. After deciding this we once again split into groups and created a piece based on a picture, now all from Fort Amherst.

This was the first we had seen of the outside of the Fort. We were in the same groups as before so we decided to try and develop another scene that could go toward the mental idea. We had one doctor and then the rest of us adopted different mental illnesses that we had thought of, trying to come up with lots of variety so it would be interesting. We started by having the doctor bringing the group into the mental patients area and introducing them, then we have some small interaction between the patients and then they play a game in a circle, including the audience within the circle. This was supposed to be their outside/ free time, hence why they played a game, and were all together at this point. I do like this idea but we are finding it hard to come up with dialogue for the scenes so it may be too difficult to create a whole piece around.

Site Specific

This lesson we chose an idea from our brainstorm in groups and created a small piece to explore the idea. My group decided to create an interactive kind of performance following the mental patient idea. We chose to do have all of the patients sitting on chairs dotted around the room and then have a doctor bring the audience in, explaining to them that the patients were temporarily immobilised so that they would not move. It was interactive as the audience were spread in between all of the patients who weren't supposed to move but do, surprising the audience. Dan found a song called 'Seven Devils' which was creepy and really fitted the piece so we added some movement on our chairs that was simple but looked effective. Basically our idea is to involve the audience as much in our performance and enclose them in the mental place, this should create a great atmosphere especially in a location like Fort Amherst.

When we showed this to the other group they said it was really effective and although simple did well to create an atmosphere, even though we were just in a darkened classroom, so I think it will work very well in the Fort Amherst location. After performing we thought of having the current doctor sit down and one of the other patients take over the role and the control of the audience, so they will not know if it was a real doctor or not. We thought if we repeat this role switch after each scene we will create confusing and intrigue as to who the real doctor is, or if there is in fact one at all, which adds to the insanity.

Site Specific - Mental disorders

• Abulia: A pathological inability to make decisions or take action.
• Acute Stress Disorder: Also known as Acute stress Reaction and sometimes called Shock, this is a psychological condition caused by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying or traumatic event, such as a severe automobile accident, violent crime, or death. It should not be confused with the unrelated circulatory condition of shock, or the concept of shock value. Acute stress reaction may develop into ptsd if untreated.
• Antisocial personality disorder: Antisocial personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. Antisocial personality disorder is sometimes referred to as psychopathy or sociopathy. However, these three are not the same, psychopathy and sociopathy are generally considered subsets of ASPD. Some researchers believe that ASPD are psychopathy are separate conditions altogether.
• Catatonic schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of the process of thinking and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction. The onset of symptoms typically occurs in young adulthood, with a global lifetime prevalence of around 1.5%. Diagnosis is based on the patient’s self-reported experiences and observed behavior.
• Dissociative identity disorder (DID): previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a mental disorder on the dissociative spectrum characterized by the appearance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that alternately show in a person's behavior, accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness. 
• Delusional parasitosis: also known as delusional infestation or Ekbom's syndrome, is a delusional disorder in which individuals incorrectly believe they are infested with parasites, insects, or bugs, whereas in reality no such infestation is present. Individuals with delusional parasitosis usually report tactile hallucinations known as formication, a sensation resembling insects crawling on or under the skin.
• Misophonia: literally "hatred of sound", is a putative disorder of uncertain classification in which negative emotions, thoughts, and physical reactions are triggered by specific sounds. It is also called "soft sound sensitivity syndrome," "select sound sensitivity syndrome", "decreased sound tolerance", and "sound-rage". Misophonia is not recognized as a disorder by standard diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 or the ICD-10, and there is no evidence-based research on its prevalence or treatment.
• Tardive dyskinesia: is a difficult-to-treat and often incurable form of dyskinesia, a disorder resulting in involuntary, repetitive body movements. In this form of dyskinesia, the involuntary movements are tardive, meaning they have a slow or belated onset. This neurological disorder, by definition, most frequently occurs as the result of long-term (usually at least 3 months duration) or high-dose use of antipsychotic drugs, or in children and infants as a side effect from usage of drugs for gastrointestinal disorders.

Site specific

This week we started our next unit, site specific, by thinking of different ideas for where we could perform. We tried to come up with as many possibilities for performance spaces as possible, we were limited to places that the cast and an audience could get to so near Medway.

Talking as a group we choose 4 more specific ideas to start narrowing down our choice. After discussing what we wanted from a location we decided that Fort Amherst would be a good place to base a performance around. It is in Chatham so would be convenient for everyone to get to, also they're are lots of places within the fort that we can perform. The tunnels especially I think are great as there are lots of different rooms to use within the tunnel system. As we are a big group it is going to be tricky to create a piece that uses us all, so we decided using promenade would help as we can split the scenes in different place into smaller groups, including everyone. We need to visit the space before we decide on anything to make sure we can fit into the tunnels and fit an audience in. Another idea that some of us liked was the night club Tap'n'Tin, which has numerous rooms and could be dark, also fitting what we talked about wanting for our piece. We would be able to do a promenade in there although there are stairs which may be difficult to get up and down, also it could be expensive to hire for an evening because it is a night club. 

As two groups we started thinking of ideas as to what we could do in one of the chosen locations. We chose to brainstorm for Fort Amherst as this was what our group felt most inspired by. Our idea is to have Fort Amherst as some kind of safe haven to people with mental health issues. They are drawn to the fort to keep them safe and with people the same as them. I think a good way to introduce the piece would be a using a pre-recorded video, this is also a way that we can include Theo in our performance as he wont be here. I think this idea is good but we need to keep developing our different ideas so that we have a good range of choice, to keep our creativity. 

Punk Rock - Subtext

In the lessons this week we spent time looking at the subtext of the scenes we are in. We did this by playing a kind of game where whenever you want to express what your character is thinking you clap, this means that the scene stops so that the person can speak out. We ran the play from the beginning and did the first couple of scenes using this technique which turned out to be very useful. It gave us an opportunity to explore our own character and understand the other characters more in depth, making our performance better and the relationships between us more realistic.

Punk Rock - writing in role

Cissy -

I'm not sure how much longer I can do this. Bennett was absolutely disgusting today. He spat at Tristan today, I still can't believe it. I mean I know he's horrible most of the time but spitting, that's a new low even for him. Tristan and Bennett haven't really ever gotten along, I guess that because of them both being gay, the only difference is that Tristan admits it. I really don't mind covering up for Bennett, honestly its the least I can do considering how much he helps me. If I didn't have him I don't know how I'd face all of my parents dinner parties and gatherings, he's always such a gentleman and my parents love him so I never have to do any of the talking anymore, which is great as it saves me from a whole load of embarrassment. He's so different away from school I just wish they could see him when he's not putting on a front of a mean horrible boy.

Punk Rock - Lily

Cissy and Lily become friends as they are the only two girls in the group. Lily seems to like her and likes talking to her about personal girly things that she can't talk to Nicholas about. 

Punk Rock - Nicholas

Cissy and Nicholas are friends, they don't really interact with each other and stay quite neutral. Nicholas doesn't particularly want to get closer to Cissy because of Bennet and how he may react, becoming closer with her may attract more attention from Bennet. 

Punk Rock - Chadwick

Cissy and Chadwick have a good relationship, considering Bennet is so horrible to Chadwick. Chadwick has a soft spot for Cissy and would really like her if only she wasn't with Bennet, he feels sorry for her and doesn't argue back with Bennet so that it doesn't get any worse. 

Punk Rock - Cissy from Tristan's point of view

Cissy and I used to be really close, we've known each other for years, but since she's been with Bennet I'm finding it really hard to be friends with her. It's not really her fault, I know how controlling and spiteful he can be but she doesn't even try to stop him. At the very least you'd think she would ask if I was okay but no because then Bennet would be in a mood and his feelings are more important than mine obviously. I don't even know why she's still with Bennet. He's clearly gay, I should know, and I think she knows too. I think most people suspect it to be honest, not that he'd be able to tell his parents. His dad wouldn't allow it so I guess Cissy is doing a good thing by putting up with him, so in a way I feel sorry for her, although that doesn't excuse her disregard for her friends whenever Bennet starts off on one of his rampages. I feel like I can't not be friends with her, I mean it's been so long I feel it would be stupid to give up on her now when she probably needs me most. The amount of pressure her parents put on her is ridiculous, I do feel for her in that respect, if she fails I actually don't know what she's going to do but obviously I can't tell her that, so I guess I'll just carry on being her friend and putting up with Bennets crap for her sake.

Punk Rock - Bennet

Bennet doesn't like Cissy as a girlfriend, he is only using her to cover up his homosexuality and keep his popularity within the school. She is also a cover up for his parents so they do not suspect him as they would not accept it and he would possibly not get the money he will inherit. 

Punk Rock - William

William and Cissy get on in general, until the end of the play. They have a couple of conversations where they both show an interest in each others lives. He does not agree with her relationship with Bennet and doesn't like how she defends him, ultimately this is why he kills her. 

Punk Rock - Cissy

For the past two weeks we have been working on our characters relationships and how they feel about each other as this will have a big impact on how we act the play. We have gone through each character and in detail discussed how they feel about everyone, using different colours to depict different people.

Cissy spends her life worrying about what other people think about her. She is very superficial and likes to try and please as many people as she can, but still lets Bennett control her. 

Bennett

Cissy knows that he is gay but doesn't care because of the social status he brings her, and she feels a need to help protect him and stick up for him as she does care for him just not in a loving way. She sees a stable future with him, maybe not a happy one but one that her parents would be proud of and she knows that she would be well looked after in his rich family. I think she is scared to loose him because of what her friends would say and especially if they admitted to his homosexuality, she would be completely humiliated so tries very hard to back him up and stay on his good side. 

Nicholas

Cissy likes Nicholas, he is a nice boy and easy to get on with. Nicholas has known Bennett for years so does not dislike Cissy for being with him but is still wary to get close to her so does not interact much with her. Cissy sees Nicholas as a quite manly boy so tries to tease Bennett by flirting with him, but of course it doesn't work with Bennett. 

Tristan

Cissy likes Tristan and has been friends with him for years, they get on well because he is very feminine so they conversations about girly things. They are not as close as they used to be because of her relationship with Bennett but Tristan tries not to blame Cissy, he knows it is just a cover for Bennett's sexuality and is one of the people that hint to it. 

William

Cissy feels sorry for William, he is a bit of a loner because of his odd nature so she tries to include him by making conversation with him. I think she is very shocked at the end of the play when he pulls out the gun and is in disbelief that he would do anything so drastic, until he kills Bennett and then she breaks down completely and almost gives up so does not try to stop him killing her. 

Lily

Although Cissy is wary of Lily at first they become friends because they are the only two girls in the group, so have lots in common and lots to talk about. Initially I think she feels slightly threatened by Lily's sudden popularity and so befriends her to make sure she doesn't loose her friends to her, but then genuinely grows to like her. 

Chadwick

In an ideal world if status and money didn't matter \Cissy would probably have Chadwick as her boyfriend. She secretly quite likes him but joins in with Bennett's taunting to try and hide this from the rest of the group. We see some of her true feelings come out when she kisses Chadwick. It i a very odd thing for Bennett to ask and although she is a tad scared of \\Bennett I do not think that is her only reason for kissing him, deep down she quite wanted to and maybe Bennett knows this, or just wants to create more tension as usual. 

Punk Rock - Set design

After rehearsing for a lesson in our actual performance space we started planning what set we would need and how we could use the stage effectively. After discussing how we would create our library we decided to use the floor space as our main performance area and the stage with the curtains closed as an extra level of space. This creates two different entrances and exits which is helpful as it creates options for different people to go different ways. It also makes it more interesting as there is more space to use and makes it look more like a library. We had already decided on having at least two tables with chairs round for people to sit at on the floor and maybe a table on the stage for people to use. To create the library feel we want a bookcase to go on the floor resting against the stage to make it look less like a stage and give us some books to use making it obvious where we are supposed to be.

Dan has drawn out a floor plan of what we plan to have...




Not included in this picture is the grand piano that is already in the hall. We are going to keep this to add more scenery to our library, it also creates a grand feel to our library making it seem a bit more like a private school.

We are going to have the audience sat on the floor in front of us so they are on the same level as us for most of the performance, like they are also in the library. The main part of the play set on the stage will be the last scene when William is talking to the specialist, he will be up on the stage at a table by himself to emphasize his isolation and make it clear to the audience that he is no longer in the school library.

Punk Rock

In todays lesson we started from the start of the play again and worked through changing small bits. We carried on to staging the next scenes as we went along, seeing what came naturally as it is a naturalistic piece so I think trying things out is a good way to do it instead of over staging it and making it look forced. We then reached 'the wasp scene' (scene four), where Tristan spots a wasp and everyone becomes very loud and a bit manic as people argue over what to do with it. To try and create more of a comedic feel to this scene we stopped and staged it, as the lines have to be delivered at a fast pace to make it funny. Adding in lots of over the top movement, for example Tristan screaming and falling off his chair at the start, I think we have created an entertaining scene and I will be interested to get feedback from the other group about this scene.

Punk Rock

We read through the script a couple of times as it is very conversational, also we have had to cut out some of it as it is too inappropriate so we have sorted any problems with cuts. Moving on to setting the first scene we decided that we would have two tables set on our main performance area with lots of chairs round so we can move around, and this way it will look natural and like a realistic library. In the first scene we are introduced to each of the characters, in stages, so it was very important to create the right impression of them when they entered. For Lily and William we needed to create the impression that William is being annoying and overly interested in Lily, the new girl. So we had Freya minding her own business and Tom pestering her from across the table. This sets up the foundation for there relationship, it is clear from the first encounter that William is much more interested in her than she is in him, which we see more later on in the play. Next Cissy and Bennett enter together, Bennett is showing off as usual talking about how he impressed people on the bus. AS soon as Lily is introduced to them she takes the opportunity to move away from William, again showing her wariness of William at the beginning of the play.

As a start I think we are doing well with this play and everyone is enjoying it. As a group I think we work very well together and all have good ideas to put in, which all get listened to. We can work together to improve a scene, taking everyone's ideas on board which is sometimes helpful as you get to hear opinions from people that are watching the scene from a different perspective as not everyone is in every scene.

Punk rock - character profile

Cissy Franklin

17 years old

Girlfriend of Bennet

Comes from a very rich and upper class family

Cissy has an overwhelming need to be good at everything, especially school. There is a massive pressure on her from her parents to do well and be successful and I think having a boyfriend like Bennet is part of the package. To Cissy's parents Bennet seems like a nice boy, from a wealthy family, who is likely to do well in life and be a suitable suiter for her, but in real life he is a spiteful and mean person. Bennet makes fun of other people's misfortunes and insecurities to draw away from his own secrets. He is secretly gay and is with Cissy to try and cover this up, which Cissy knows. Throughout the play there are many references to Bennet being gay, "......I think there relationship is more of a mutual agreement to keep them both popular and everyone else happy, even though they haven't spoken about it outright they both know that they need each other. 

There is a lot of pressure on Cissy to do well as I mentioned before, she needs good grades to get into a good uni as she can not rely on her parents just paying her way. This is shown when she talks about how she's never going to leave Stockport and she is basically going to fail in everything, as if her life depends solely on her getting A's. Her parents expect a hell of a lot from her, nothing but A's, and would be thoroughly disappointed in her if she faultered, hence why she is so upset when she gets a B in English. She is genuinely scared of her parents as she doesn't know how far they will go if she ever messes up because she hasn't previously, so she is even more scared to do anything but the best. 

Cissy has to be part of the 'popular group' and wants to be top girl in the school. When she first meets Lily she is slightly wary of her because she is a threat to her popularity and even on the first day seems to be liked by all of her friends. She decides that the best way to protect herself is by becoming good friends with her and so let's her join her girl group of Tristan and her. Cissy values Tristan's friendship more than she lets on, really she would like to defend her when it comes to Bennet but she knows it will be worse for her if she goes against Bennet so she just keeps quiet and tries to play it off as a joke. 

Punk rock - research

For Punk Rock we wanted to find a private sixth form for us to base it on. So that we have a good idea of the kind of place we would be in and the atmosphere that would surround us we have researched different school in which it could possibly be based. The school I have found is Bedales. 

  

Bedales School, Church Road, Steep, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 2DG
Age Range: Boys & Girls aged 13 – 18
Fees Per Year: £24,315 – £30,930
Website: bedales.org.uk

Bedales School is a private independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 13 – 18. Founded in 1893, it is located in a 120 acre estate in the small East Hampshire village of Steep, about 1.5 miles north of Petersfield. The school teaches around 500 pupils and the site is also home to the Dunhurst School (8 – 13 year olds) and Dunannie School (3 – 8 year olds). Some famous alumni include actors Daniel Day Lewis and Minnie Driver, singer Lily Allen and TV property expert Kirstie Allsopp

The boarding accommodation consists of 3 boarding houses, one for boys, one for girls and one mixed gender house for the sixth formers. Boarders benefit from a 24 hour medical centre, which includes qualified nurses and lots of house staff to ensure the smooth running of the accommodation. There is also a catering staff who provide a high quality diet with a varied menu. As over 50% of pupils board, there is a strong sense of community within the boarding flats and there a a plethora of after-school and weekend activities to keep the boarders occupied. New boarders are also assigned a ‘dorm boss’, an older pupil who provides pastoral support to assist the settling in process.

Bedales School is blessed with exceptional facilities including a modern indoor swimming pool, floodlit astroturf, sports hall, multi-gym, two gymnasiums, hard netball/tennis courts and 17 acres of playing fields. The campus contains two Grade I listed buildings in the form of Lupton Hall, constructed in 1911 and the impressive Memorial Library which contains a vast range of archives. Also on campus is a comprehensive arts centre which includes the 340-seat Oliver Theatre, 400-seat Quad concert hall, an art gallery and a drama studio. All are used regularly and usually contain some sort of performance, production or exhibition.

As you can see this private school in Hampshire is very grand and much as I imagine the school from Punk Rock to be like. Most of the play is set in the library of the school, the library at Bedales is much what I would imagine the library to be like. It is amazingly structured with beams and a high ceiling, filled with lots of books and desks and chairs. I think the school very much suits the play and now I have an idea of what it would look like I can create the set in my head and base my character around the place. 

Punk Rock

We  have started working on the next unit which is contemporary theatre. For this we have chosen to do the play Punk Rock, I am playing the character Cissy Franklin. Cissy is a 17 year old with a boyfriend named Bennett, they all attend a private sixth form. She is the popular girl who gets all A's and seems to have a perfect life but it is more complicated than that. For one her relationship with Bennett feels forced as he is not a very nice person, so I will look to see why this is when we look more into the play.

In the first lesson we had a read through of the script to get a feel for the play. I think it is a good play to do as we can relate to the characters as they are at a similar age and stage of their education as us although they are at a posh school. We have been told to go away and find a school to base our play in and so we can get a feel for the setting.