First Practical Discussion (12th October)

In preparation for today's meeting I actually went away and watched the very well known film 'Hook'. Although designed for children, it is very dark and explores the more negative and unspoken aspects of childhood; which is something we wanted to brush over in our piece. Although, yes, childhood is beautiful, it is also the manifestation of all the issues and more negative behavioural patterns that we carry around with us as adults. I love the way 'Hook' does this and its particularly shown through the song "When your alone", the underlying hope and strength behind this song is absolutely beautiful and one that resonates within a lot of adults. This type of emotion is definitely something I would want our group to convey throughout the piece. I also read more from the book 'The Body Speaks' and found out some really good exercises that I will be using in up and coming weeks including one where you move on the ground like a starfish to connect with your inner core.

Unfortunately, at current, Sarah is ill in hospital but we have decided to carry on regardless and keep the rehearsal process going as normal! We met up in the white room in Adelphi; it is a good bright practice space that carries noise and acoustics well. In the meeting we decided to explore the characters further and start coming up with some form of blocking ideas. One of our hindrance's during this rehearsal was that we didn't really have a solid dramatic intention we were all working towards; we couldn't quite get our finger on it. Here are some idea's we came up with! 

As you can see we are hitting at a point, but not 100% sure quite what it is yet! After this, we started to have a play around with some of the scenes. For example, on one of the scenes, exploring sexuality, we came up with the idea that it could be the moment that the girl is really looking at the other girls body (innocently). With The Sprout and the bean playing in the background by Joanna Newsom we had a play around with my character sat innocently drawing a canvas (the image a reflection of her own situation) whilst Sarah's character slowly walks towards her. After a suitable pause, sarah would sit opposite me, kneel down, and slowly start touching my face - in a fascination way - exploring the curve of my nose, little dimples and chicken pox scars I have. All very gentle and soft. We tried this piece to Hook - I Remember, underneath the touching movements, but it didn't quite fit although but still gave a good platform for exploration. 

Another scene we had a play around with is the scene to the song by Lana Del Rey, Put Me in a Movie. With an imagined shadow screen we made awkward but what should be sexual movements to the piece; keeping the innocence. It made us all feel physically sick but would hopefully have a very dramatic effect with an audience. 

We had an overall discussion of idea's for the other two characters, but it was more based upon collecting moments that could happen! We have all decided to go away and read more on physical theatre, devising and work on our characters for the meeting with Niki. 

Bibliography 

• Glendinning, A. 2015. Serial Killer dubbed 'The Pusher' is killing city's gay men by pushing them into canal's, says author. The Mirror [online]. Available from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/serial-killer-dubbed-the-pusher-6318233 [Accessed August 28, 2015].
• Hesketh, S. and Pye, D. 2015. EXCLUSIVE: 'Find out who killed our sons!' New canal death sparks fears The Pusher's back. Daily Star [online]. Available from: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/424390/Manchester-canal-Pusher-killer-students-deaths-tragic-parents-find-murderer [Accessed August 16, 2015]. 
• Johnstone, K. 1979. 'Impro' Improvisation and Theatre. Great Britain: Methuen Drama.
• McAuley, G. 1999. Space in performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Malerman, J. 2014. BirdBox. London: HarperVoyager.
• Marshall, L. 2002. The body speaks. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• No Author, 2015. 'The Pusher' 60 bodies dragged from Manchester Canal, Serial Killer Rumoured. RT Question More [online]. Available from: https://www.rt.com/uk/222655-serial-killer-manchester-canals/ [Accessed August 15, 2015].
• Rodgers, T. 2015. The Pusher: Channel 4 documentary to investigate Manchester canal 'Serial Killer' claim. Salford News [online]. Available from: http://salfordonline.com/6621-the-pusher-channel-4-documentary-to-investigate-manchester-canal-serial-killer-claim.html [Accessed August 24, 2015].
• Wheatstone, R. 2015. 'The Pusher' professor stands by canal serial killer claims and says bereaved families share his fears. Manchester Evening News [online]. Available from: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-pusher-professor-stands-canal-8450695 [Accessed August 15, 2015].