27.2.2012
Dan the theatre technician came in to tell what the possibilities were within our multi-media performances. If we were to show our performance outside of the LPAC it would either Dan or another technician would have to come with us. Also there are two cameras available. The information we received was very insightful and with our production we will have to have a meeting with Dan to further our performance.
Our ideas started with the following three core ideas;
- Time
- Robbery
- Visibility
The people we were thinking of researching was Fork beard productions.
We took our idea and played around with it for 3 hours.
We thought of a film called Rat Race. We want to play around with time and different characters in a end of the world scenario. One character would control the other four, and test them to discovery the survival of the fittest. This would involve a stage with a controller who had live feed with actors carrying out various tasks in order to live. The reasoning behind this would be; to see how strong a characters personality could be, ideas surrounding the end of the world December 2012, the media and its disaster coverage.
We were thinking about Konstantin Stanislavski’s theory behind characterisation, “I am living. ‘ I am being’ is acting” (Benedetti, 1998) could this be controlled in the way another character can put the other in certain situations whenever they wanted. How would this effect the character of that person?
However as we started talking more we came up with an exciting idea of a psychological experiment with the audience to control our play. The situation would be set up like a game show good vs evil. The character would be an unemployed citizen who had been involved in the riots. However now trying his best to get a job, but failing. The audience then get to decide whether he should steal to eat or stay true and law abiding.
We will still use Stanislavski to develop our characters by using his six questions;
“Whence: where have I just come from?
Where: where am i?
What: what am I doing?
Why: why am I doing it?
When: when is this happening? What time of day, month, and year? In which period?
Whither: where am I going to now?” (Benedetti, 1998)
It will be interesting to find out how the audience will react. Whether they choose to do horrible things to our citizen who has maybe been bad once but now wants repentance or good things because they want to help him to improve.
Through the process I kept what I had written in my essay in the front of my mind. A quote from my essay from G. Giesekam’s book Staging the screen show the multi media form of theatre to be, “ Multiplicity of materials, views-points and styles is often also accompanied by a greater degree of simultaneity, more focus on visual imagery, and an increased self- reflexivity than is generally the case in theatre driven more by text, character or narrative.” The narrative is set up as a rebellion against current day news stories involving rebellion. This will hopefully make the audience want to vote to steal due to the visual imagery of the riots, in which people stole apparently due to lack of jobs amongst other reasons, within the country. We wanted our production to experiment with the idea of theatre in cyberspace. Our production showed how television and the theatre were now at a battle against turning into cyberspace attractions. Our first scene showed how the rich or non theatre loving people don’t care about it’s traditions and values. To them it could become a night club at any moment and make more money. The issue of money was to be a strong factor, with the banker handing out £100 notes. This was to show how the real live theatre was now something the rich donate to. The influence of Multi-media maybe be pushing it’s customers out of the theatre into their own homes, and now has to rely on benefactors due to the lack of audience, because of the simplicity of the internet and live screen at home.
The television show within the theatre was to show to maybe generate a sympathy for these secondary media outlets. The fact that the television show was being filmed in a theatre showed how they could be fighting against the power of cyberspace together. I do believe if we were to do it again we could use a smaller theatre. I believe our message of Multi-media sending live theatre to it’s grave shows through the setting of a theatre. If we were to feed it through a live fed, we would loose the point of the theatre trying to battle against the internet. The seedy little television program trying to hold on to it’s values.
Within the production I was the video editor and Trixie Fate a sell out presenter. I wanted my videos to have a underlying message of how society pushed the unemployed to riot. Within the introduction to Wheel of control, I wanted to create a message that made the audience subconsciously starts to feel victimised by society. The lyrics I chose were apt to the message I wanted to convey. The following are the lyrics I chose…
“We’ve had it with you politicians
you bloody rich kids never listen
There’s no such thing as broken Britain
we’re just bloody broke in Britain
What needs fixing is the system
not shop windows down in Brixton
Riots on the television
you can’t put us all in prison!
Oi! I said Oi!
What you looking at you little rich boy?
We’re poor round here, run home and lock your door!
Don’t come round here no more, you could get robbed for
real (yeah) because my manors ill
My manors ill
For real
Yeah you know my manors ill , my manors ill!”
video link to introduction video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGw1EfVRxiQ
These lyrics show that it’s not us that need changing it’s the system and society we live in. How can we be to blame for a society that doesn’t listen to all of it’s citizens. this would maybe give the audience a chance to think about how it would be OK to steal because Kelly has no other way.