SPA- 1984 -4

Today, we were given our cast list! It is as follows:
Rob - Winston
Rhiannon (yo girl) - Julia
Oliver K- O'Brein
Katya - Host, Martin, Thought Criminal
Oliver M - Child, Goldstein, Woman's voice
James - Parsons, Father
Hope - Mrs Parsons, Waitress
Charlie - Charrington, Speakwrite
Lewis - Syme, Man
Lorna - Voice, Mother, Woman

After being told that I am to be playing Julia, I decided to do some research into her so that I have a better understanding of how she should be played;

Julia is Winston Smith's love-interest and his ally in the struggle against Big Brother. She represents the elements of humanity that Winston does not: pure sexuality, cunning, and survival. While Winston simply manages to survive, Julia is a true survivalist, using any means necessary to conduct her self-centered rebellion. Her demeanor is that of a zealous Party follower, but just under that surface is an individual with unchecked human desires and a willful spirit, which ultimately results in her capture.

Julia is an outwardly sexual being and sleeps with Party members regularly - at least before she meets Winston. She does not do this to destroy the Party but to quench her own desires. Whereas Winston's  rebellion is as much for future generations as it is for himself; her rebellion is purely incidental to her own desires.Julia is far more intuitive and realistic than Winston. She understands the Party better than he does and is more cunning in the ways that she defies Party doctrine.

Julia uses sex to attack the Party, but it is far less effective a weapon than love. When Julia and Winston fall in love, they commit the ultimate offense against the Party. Note that the couple are caught at their happiest moment, the moment where they let down their guard and felt like an ordinary couple. Both had been watched for years and could have been captured at any time. But not until their love was strong did the Party intervene. Separating the couple diminishes their effectiveness: As individuals they do not understand the party wholly, nor are they capable of resistance.

Superficially, Julia seems like an uncomplicated character. She functions as a sounding board for Winston, but she is far more complicated than that. Winston has real antipathy toward women resulting from the Party's indoctrination and from its stringent sexual codes. Julia does not follow these strict sexual codes and, in fact, breaks them at every opportunity. She shows Winston, who once imagined raping and killing her, that the Party cannot get to the most intimate places in a human being's mind; she is his proof that the feelings that he has been having are valid. Julia gives Winston hope, and it is the continuation of this hope that gets them both destroyed.
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Julia is Winston Smith’s Juliet. Is the name a coincidence? Probably not. A duplicitous and whimsical creature, her sexual allure inspires Winston to start the rebellious writings (because he fantasizes about her). She then acts as Winston’s ally in active rebellion, although her idea of revolt is more in-your-arms than up-in-arms. Julia is a dark-haired, twenty-six-year-old employed as a machine operator in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Looking like a zealous Party member, she wears an (ironic) Anti-Sex sash around her waist, and always participates passionately during the Two Minutes Hate. Julia’s other side is much more interesting. She is a woman with raging hormones and a cunning spirit. A highly sexual being, she sleeps with Party members regularly to satisfy her own desires. She busies herself with community service and other orthodox activities so that she can escape the Party’s thought crime radar.

Sites used for research;
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/n/1984/character-analysis/julia

http://www.shmoop.com/1984/julia.html

https://writingasiplease.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/characters-of-1984-julia/

SPA- 1984 -15

Today's lesson proved to be fairly tedious at first. We decided to run through our prologue to refresh our memories which is a good thing really as it was evident that people had forgotten what we had created for it. We found that we were having issues with the timing of one part where 1- we stretch our arms out in a strained style, grab our arm with our other arms and then slowly pull it back in and 2- we in rigged movements (6 beats/stops up and 6 beats/stops down) raise our arms in cannon and then back down also in cannon. The reason why we spent so long recapping these movements is because we weren't playing the music so couldn't sync our timing to the beat of the music. When we finally played the music, the timing of our movements fit perfectly and it all ran smoothly. We then moved on to create a character profile and to write in role;

Writing in Role: In response to Winston saying 'It's not enough.' on page 49.

'It's not enough.' Enough? What's enough? For something to be enough then surely there's a standard, a level or something that must be met, right? Being with someone who you thought wanted to oppose such things, someone to talk to and someone to listen to, someone to make you feel better physically and mentally, someone to simply spend your time with and be honest and true with, isn't enough Winston, please give me the pleasure of telling me what more you need for things to be ENOUGH for you. I'm sorry. I know it's not, I know its not enough to be truthful to yourself only when hiding from everyone and everything else, to have pure moments that are truly already corrupt because you know it will be discovered and crushed. I know it's not enough, but it's all we've got and its all we can have.

Character Profile 

     Physical- 26 years old, dark haired, slim

Psychological/Mentally-

-Has a good understanding of herself, is aware of her flaws (always self-seeking, self-centered- not selfish ) but chooses to ignore them.

-Independent.

-Has no shame in her body and using it to benefit herself, sees her body as her body and her soul as herself.

- Has submissive tendencies but tries not to let them show, as it would make her appear weak.

-Finds human nature and male nature particularly confusing yet interesting. 

-Has strong and genuine feelings towards others, especially Winston but knows that they can become dangerous if expressed (thought crime).

-Is a fan of sarcasm, irony and mordancy

-Is in touch with her sexuality and womanhood.

SPA- 1984 -3

In todays lesson we broke off into groups of two and then all read and staged from half way down page 43 till page 45 in which Winston and Julia are having a casual conversation about various goods such as real coffee and chocolate (that all have rations and are usually of poor quality) that Julia has gathered from her links with members of the party. Yet more importantly in this extract that we ran through we discover what Winston's biggest fear is, Rats. It is interesting Winston's biggest fear is revealed to us as this is what would be in room 101 if Winston to were to ever end up there. I worked with Oliver K to work through this extract and after reading through it we agreed that it were to be played naturalistically but couldn't derive much else from what we had been given as this is the first time we got a chance to learn about these characters. After reading through the stage directions we decided that Winston although older than Julia is definitely the one who has more input throughout their relationship, due to her having to look after him and reassure him. Oliver played Winston to be not necessarily scared but more paranoid and on edge whist I played Julia to be loving and concerning but at the same time, in a world of her own. As me and Oliver were the last to perform out of the class, we got to listen to the others pairs feedback which prevailed to be to play the characters more mature as they are supposed to be in their thirties, however me and Oliver decided to play them as we had rehearsed to as we felt that from the information we had, we played them to fit that as accurately as possible.




We then broke off into groups of two or three again to work on different passages from the play. I worked with Katya on the prologue that comes from the 'Voice'. As we were working on the opening to 1984, which is already known to be a conglomerate play we wanted to have a homogeneous feel to it, as the opening for such a captivating play should be just that from start to finish. We started with our backs to the audience and both said the opening line: 'In that moment, it became real' and then spun to have intense derisive eye contact with the audience whilst saying a line or two each but both saying certain words, we decided to emphasize the following: death, watched, particular individual, all the time, faltered, pin down, no difference, the Thought Police, he had committed,  Thoughtcrime, concealed, get you, wiped out, denied, forgotten, unpersoned, future, unborn, doublethink. We decided to put intensity on to these words as although we don't know how the play ends we feel that all of the above will be significant and add to the feel of the play. We also looked at each other when saying these words, in a cunning / knowing way to allow the audience to know that although we are telling a story, (due to it being based on individual perception) they cannot be prepared for what they are to witness.

SPA- 1984 -1

Today, we discovered that we are going to now be working on 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' a novel by George Orwell. We are going to be working on the play adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan. The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the super state Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the government's invented language, Newspeak) under the control of a privileged elite of the Inner Party, that persecutes individualism and independent thinking which is called "thought crime." The tyranny is epitomised by Big Brother, the Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality but who may not even exist. The Party "seeks power entirely for its own sake. It is not interested in the good of others; it is interested solely in power." Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party, who works for the Ministry of Truth, which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to rewrite past newspaper articles, so that the historical record always supports the party line. The instructions that the workers receive specify the corrections as fixing misquotations and never as what they really are: forgeries and falsifications. A large part of the ministry also actively destroys all documents that have been edited and do not contain the revisions; in this way, no proof exists that the government is lying. Smith is a diligent and skilful worker but secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother. Orwell based the character of the heroine of the novel, Julia.




Main character descriptions;


Winston Smith - A minor member of the ruling Party in near-future London, Winston Smith is a thin, frail, contemplative, intellectual, and fatalistic thirty-nine-year-old. Winston hates the totalitarian control and enforced repression that are characteristic of his government. He harbours revolutionary dreams.             

                
Julia - Winston’s lover, a beautiful dark-haired girl working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Julia enjoys sex, and claims to have had affairs with many Party members. Julia is pragmatic and optimistic. Her rebellion against the Party is small and personal, for her own enjoyment, in contrast to Winston’s ideological motivation.                

                
O’Brien - A mysterious, powerful, and sophisticated member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is also a member of the Brotherhood, the legendary group of anti-Party rebels.                

                
Mr. Charrington - An old man who runs a second-hand store in the prole district. Kindly and encouraging, Mr. Charrington seems to share Winston’s interest in the past. He also seems to support Winston’s rebellion against the Party and his relationship with Julia, since he rents Winston a room without a telescreen in which to carry out his affair. But Mr. Charrington is not as he seems. He is a member of the Thought Police.

                
Syme - An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Syme specializes in language. As the novel opens, he is working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston believes Syme is too intelligent to stay in the Party’s favour.

                
Parsons - A fat, obnoxious, and dull Party member who lives near Winston and works at the Ministry of Truth. He has a dull wife and a group of suspicious, ill-mannered children who are members of the Junior Spies.   

                
Emmanuel Goldstein - Another figure who exerts an influence on the novel without ever appearing in it. According to the Party, Goldstein is the legendary leader of the Brotherhood. He seems to have been a Party leader who fell out of favour with the regime. In any case, the Party describes him as the most dangerous and treacherous man in Oceania.

Big Brother -  Though he never appears in the novel, and though he may not actually exist, Big Brother, the perceived ruler of Oceania, is an extremely important figure. Everywhere Winston looks he sees posters of Big Brother’s face bearing the message “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” Big Brother’s image is stamped on coins and broadcast on the unavoidable telescreens; it haunts Winston’s life and fills him with hatred and fascination.
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Within this first lesson we broke off into two groups (I worked with Katya, Oliver M, Rob and James) to create a prologue for our performance. We discussed and agreed that our aim for this prologue was to show the abduction of individuality and distinctiveness of the people. We started our piece with us walking in, in formation to then stop and move in unison with our movements becoming more precise and exact as we go on to show how we are progressing to have less control of ourselves and are cloning into the same comrades, like big brother wants. We focused on getting the timing of our movements very precise due to the perfection that is expected of people within this universe, whilst still having very jagged and rigged  robotic movements. We were a little rushed towards the end of devising this, but alas we showed the other group and then they did for us too we had very different movements but both had the underlying theme of peoples identities being reaped by Big Brother. As we want our opening to be compelling, we have decided that we are going to combine the two prologues together as if combined, dynamics from the two would suit.

DPA- Dr. Faustus -3&4

Within todays lesson we began physically working on the Seven Deadly Sins section from the play. Within the original script each sin would be presented by a different actor and would therefor naturally have a unique approach behind the physicality of each of these sins. As we do not have enough actors to show each sin we have decided to work as a group to present them, by working as a group we are enabled to have more variation in what we are able to do due to the pure strength in numbers. For inspiration, we decided to look into some different physical theatre companies to see if there were any movements that we could adapt to fit into any of the seven sins.
Within the video that is linked below I found many different movements that I think have the potential to work in our piece if we were to adapt them to better show whatever sin we are showing, for example if we were to be showing lust, we would just slow the movements and make sure that there is always a focus on touch or at least skin.

The first part of this where they were laying and moving there arms in unison, created an enticing feel in which the audience can quickly be emerged.

DPA- Dr. Faustus -1&2

Today we were told what we are to be working on for our next unit, Dr. Faustus! When I discovered that this is what we are to be working on I was over the moon as it is one of my favourite plays due to the many various different endings and different approaches you can take towards it, whilst still always telling the ever so intriguing story. We are to be using Cristin McAuleys and Kyle Andersons adaptation of Christopher Marlowes Faustus. I decided to do some research into the play, as although I am already pretty familiar with it due to seeing different performances of it, its still important to refresh the memory and provide information for those who know less;

(Within our actual lesson, we were cast by our teacher and then we read through the script so that we could start to become more familiar with our characters and the text of the play.)



Faustus - Oliver  Kelly
Mephistopheles - Rhiannon David
Murdock - James Borg-Clancy
Cornelius - Rob Andrew
Valdes - Lewis Fisher
Evil Angel - Charlie Sanderson
Good Angel - Lorna Clark
Scholar - Charlie Sanderson
Lucifer - Lewis Fisher

Summary of the play;
Doctor Faustus, a talented but embittered German scholar, rails against the limits of human knowledge. He has learned everything he can learn, or so he thinks, from the conventional academic disciplines. All of these things have left him unsatisfied, so now he turns to magic. A Good Angle and an Evil Angel arrive, representing Faustus' choice between Christian conscience and the path to damnation. The former advises him to leave off this pursuit of magic, and the latter tempts him. From two fellow scholars, Valdes and Cornelius, Faustus learns the fundamentals of the black arts. He thrills at the power he will have, and the great feats he'll perform. He summons the devil Mephistopheles. They flesh out the terms of their agreement, with Mephistopheles working on behalf of Lucifer. Faustus will sell his soul, in exchange for twenty-four years of power and to have Mephistopheles by his side as his servant. But as he begins to revel in his new powers, the world around him starts to collapse and the clock inexorably counts down to the final moment of reckoning.



Character Synopsis';    

Doctor John Faustus A learned scholar in Germany during the fifteenth century who becomes dissatisfied with the limitations of knowledge and pledges his soul to Lucifer in exchange for unlimited power.

Valdes and Cornelius Two German scholars who are versed in the practice of magic and who teach Faustus about the art of conjuring.

Lucifer King of the underworld and a fallen angel who had rebelled against God and thereafter tries desperately to win souls away from the Lord.

Mephistopheles A prince of the underworld who appears to Faustus and becomes his servant for twenty-four years.

Good Angel and Evil Angel Two figures who appear to Faustus and attempt to influence him.

Seven Deadly Sins, Alexander, Helen of Troy, and Alexander's Paramour Spirits or apparitions which appear during the course of the play.

Chorus A device used to comment upon the action of the play or to provide exposition.
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Within our second lesson of working on Dr. Faustus we decided that we want to try and in-cooperate physical theatre into our piece as much as possible. We feel that physical theatre would be the best form of performance to use as the use of movement and physicality of the body has a predominant part in the narrative of our piece. I believe that the main focus of Dr. Faustus is based around the capabilities of us human beings and more importantly if we realise and then fulfil whatever each individual persons purpose is. Lucifer and all of the other fallen angels spend their time waiting for people who are blinded enough by their desires to essentially give their lives to the dark side. Our free-will (which is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action, and use our judgement of what is right and wrong when making these decisions) is seen through religious texts and in Faustus to be Gods gift to us. Every movement we make, every word we speak and everything we do, we have decided to do, regardless if these things come naturally to us (such as walking, chewing or laughing) are all choices that (though are automatic) we essentially still have control over, so as we've decided to incorporate physical theatre into our piece I think that our movement should be focused around control as the story of Dr. Faustus is essentially a struggle for power.


We decided that the best place to start working on physically would be the seven deadly sins. The sins are Pride - Which is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity. Envy - Which is the desire for others traits, status, abilities or situations. Gluttony - Which is an inordinate desire to consume more than which one requires. Lust - Which is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body. Anger - Is  manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury, it is also known as wrath. Greed - Is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm or spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness. Sloth - the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

The first sin that we managed to finish devising was Sloth. For Sloth we start in a heaped pile of bodies in the middle of the treverse. Those on the floor then inhale and exhale slowly and loudly and lines from the sin are divided between those involved and spoke in a slow, slurred, sleepy way along with movements of the same sort to personify this sin. Each person lazily brings themselves to the front of the pile when saying their line. The collection of bodies along with explanation of sloth is always nonchalantly rolling, rolling into the next sin which is Gluttony.
For Gluttony we decided to use self-evident movements as that is what would best explain this sin. I walk through the treverse with the others stumbling over each other in an animalistic way to reach me as I hold down a bucket of food for them. They all take as much as they can and then dart to different areas in the treverse, positioned so that they can guard their food, whilst annihilating it as quickly as they can. Each person comes to the centre when they have their line and then returns to Vulcher their food until we stroll into the next sin, Pride.
For Pride we have decided to style it to that of a catwalk, as this is the best modern familiar representation of this sin that we could think of. We start this with us all going to one end of the treverse and posing in a way that would suggest that one loves oneself. So Lorna stood in a way that pushed her assets out, she then continued to pout and wink down the treverse as if she were looking in a mirror, whilst the boys stood flexing their muscles, winking at members of the audience and pointing as if they're 'them boys'. They then proceed to walk down the treverse to a heavy beat, that of a catwalk and strike poses when at the end of the treverse.
I feel that this was a good start to our physical lessons as we actually achieved our tasks and now have a positive and productive mind-set for the following lessons so hopefully will be as productive as we were today.

SPA- 1984 -2

Within this lesson after highlighting all lines and stage directions, we read through the Script, which proved to be interesting as we noticed that we will have to figure out a way to establish when the play is alternating between realities. We also became aware of the fact that we all need to work on our diction and articulation. The next thing we did was fill in a auditory sheet to assess these things in order to track them and see if we can develop/ improve them. We spent the lesson analysing and recording our:


Breath Control- I feel that I have fairly good control over my breath, I can speak for a fairly long time with varied volume whilst still maintaining steady breathing, I rarely run short/out of breathe so don't feel that Breath Control is something that I really need to work on.






Projection-I feel that my projection is good the majority of the time, however when I speak quietly my projection becomes slightly less clear, which I intend to work on.






Diction/Articulation-I have no issue with speaking properly and pronouncing words as they should be however unless I am in a situation in which it is necessary I often cut corners within my speech and unfortunately it could be said that my  'Medway' accent can come through which I will work on purely through practice of speaking properly.






Effective use of pace and pauses- I feel that I have a fairly steady use of pace but say I were to be talking about something enthusiastically, so something I feel passionately about, or something that has frustrated me, my pace can speed up too much which I need to work on. However I believe that I use pauses effectively and know when it is appropriate to use them.


Quality of tone- (no bosting, however) I have been complemented on my tone a few times before and I think that this is because I adapt my tone to the person I'm talking to or the situation I am in.

SPA- Chasing Pavements -11

Today, our lesson quickly spiralled into a mess, before we had even started devising our first scene.
We had some good ideas for our opening scene, I suggested that we should set our scene on the evening before the murder, having the audience walk into the hall, and into their seats whilst Jon (who will be played by Oliver) and Robert (who will be played by James) are sat facing the back of the stage, perhaps watching a scene from 'Child's Play 3' as it is thought that this film influenced and inspired some of the horrid things that they done to them, such as putting paint into James' eyes. Cel then suggested that we could show an advertisement for bricks, to which I agreed would be an interesting idea as its significance would become so much more later on in our performance, she agreed with me that we may as well show the adverts for batteries and paint, as all are relevant and would have the same significance. James thought that this idea wouldn't work too well as he felt it gave away what our piece was about, which we do not want to do, we would rather make it less obvious and let the audience realize the links between different things themselves, until they eventually know we're performing work in relation to the James Bulger case. I won't go into details, but things got quite heated within my group and resolving James's, Oliver's and Cel's argument took up the majority of the lesson. By the end of the lesson, things had settled and we have agreed that we will start with my idea and Oliver found {FIND SONG NAME-INSERT SONG} to play quietly as him and James plan there day of bunking of school for the coming day. I also suggested earlier on in the lesson, (as it is a medium of Cels and James's ideas) that we could just have a can of blue paint, some batteries and some bricks perhaps up centre stage, as it is not as obvious but the symbolism is still there, however, due to even more 'disagreements' we are not going to use this idea nor are we going to use the idea of the advertisements at this point in our piece, however I think that both of these things would work at different points of our performance so will keep them in mind for if we run short on ideas at another point of our devising process.  

SPA- Chasing Pavements -10

In today lesson, we were missing Cel so decided not to devise anything without her, as she didn't appreciate us doing so. My group, my teacher and I ended up spending a large amount of the lesson talking about the research we have all found and the case in general. It is a heartbreaking, disgusting case and we all hate the fact that it happened, but it does bring about many interesting questions that are impossible to know the true answer to. A couple of the thoughts that none of us could agree on are;

'Is the up-bringing of Thompson and Venables the reason why they done it' - Although Venebles did have a hard upbringing, and Thompson was missing many components of a healthy upbringing, many people have traumatic, heartbreaking upbringings and would never think of doing something half as evil as this, or though their upbringings weren't as they should be, it still provides no reason for them to have done what they did.

'Is any of this Denises fault' - James and Oliver argued that you should never leave your child unattended which is true, and she shouldn't have done so but he was still a couple of feet away from her, she wasn't looking away for a long amount of time, I truly feel that there simply cannot be anybody to blame for this horrible crime, than those who committed it. Everybody is capable of violence, everybody is capable of evil things and many people have factors that could make them more likely to do so, but those boys had evil in the hearts, they had set out to kill that day (there original plan was to push someone into ongoing traffic) and nothing should protect them from the blame that is rightfully theirs. 

Next lesson, we are going to devise our opening scene for our piece. 

SPA- Chasing Pavements -9

In today's lesson, we decided what our piece is going to be about.. for good. We have decided that we are going to base our work around the Jamie Bulger murder case. To build up the basis for when we start devising our piece, we decided what characters we are going to have in our piece, we all decided that we could have things that represent / symbolize Jamie, but none of us would ever present our selves to be him, as it is disrespectful and unnecessary, the same goes for his death. The characters that we are going to include so far are John Venables (played as a child and as a adult), Robert Thompson (played as a child and as a adult), Denise Bulger (now Denise Fergus) and the police officer that interview the two killers. We spent the rest of this lesson doing research into this horrific story;

On Friday 12th of February 1993, James Patrick Bulger (who was only two years old) was abducted from the New Strand Shopping Centre, by John Venables and Robert Thompson (both were 10 years old).  Thompson and Venables then led James away from his mother who was in a butchers shop that James had been stood outside of.  to The boys took Bulger on a meandering 2.5-mile walk across Liverpool to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal where he was dropped on his head and suffered injuries to his face. They left James, perhaps to go and look for another victim, as there original plan was to abduct someone and push them into ongoing traffic. James followed the boys, walking with them, whilst they were seen by 38 people. Eventually the boys arrived in the village of Walton, and with Walton Lane police station across the road facing them, they hesitated and led Bulger up a steep bank to a railway line near the disused Walton & Anfield railway station, where they began torturing him. At the trial it was established that at this location, one of the boys threw blue Humbrol modelling paint, which they had shoplifted earlier, into Bulger's left eye. They kicked and stomped on him, and threw bricks and stones at him. Batteries were placed in Bulger's mouth. Police believed some batteries may have been inserted into his anus. The bottom half of him was found naked, which revealed that his foreskin forcefully pulled back. Finally, a 22-pound iron bar, was dropped on him.  Dr. Alan Williams, the case's pathologist, stated that Bulger suffered so many injuries - 42 in total - that none could be isolated as the fatal blow.Before they left him, the boys laid Bulger across the railway tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, in the hope that a train would hit him and make his death appear to be an accident. After Bulger's killers left the scene, his body was cut in half by a train. Bulger's severed body was discovered two days later, on 14 February, by four young boys who were playing around the tracks. A forensic pathologist testified that he had died before he was struck by the train.

Webpages I have read and videos that I have watched to gain more extensive knowledge;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2934207/Drunk-killer-James-Bulger-blamed-toddler-s-MOTHER-left-own.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upiTb6ZfJa0

http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/james-bulger/timeline

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4790605/20-years-after-James-Bulger-ex-cop-describes-catching-Thompson-and-Venables.html

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/nov/01/bulger.familyandrelationships

SPA- Chasing Pavements -8

Today's events were good in the sense that everybody has now recognized that comedy, this time, is not working for us (but we still tried it out, which is part of the devising process:)) but bad in the sense that we have now gone back to square one and need a new approach. We went back to our original planning sheet, everybody was coming up with many different ideas, but we were making no progress as everybody was too focused on their own ideas, rather than discussing through and figuring out happy mediums between different topics and stories. Our teacher could see that we were struggling with making ends meet, and got us each to pick one idea/theme/technique we want to be about. My original idea was to work on something that has more relation to our stimulus (Adele's 'Chasing Pavements') such as the view on life from a homeless person (as when sat on the pavement everyday most will have 100's / 1000's walk past, ignoring them and carrying on with their conversations, but through this homeless people get to hear / see glimpses into so many different peoples lives and stories. But, as each other person in my group wanted to base our piece around mental illnesses, I changed my idea to fit in with what everybody wanted to do, I agreed that we could base our piece around mental illness/s but think that we shouldn't show the mental illness through the perspective of the person that has one, as it is impossible to give an accurate representation of an illness if we haven't experienced them ourselves, we can only work off of what people who have these illnesses are portrayed to be like, which is often inaccurate and stereotypical. By the end of the lesson, we were calmer with the fact that we have started again, and in our next lesson, we will decide for good what our work is going to be about and start devising our piece.