Idea Development and forming a group. (15th September 2015)

After explaining my idea to one of my friends (Kane) we decided to form a group and go ahead with 'The Pusher' idea. We asked my friend Devon and Sarah who are both hard workers and have a similar interest in political and theatre for change. I talked them through my idea's and said I would have a meeting with Tracy to see if our idea was a. en pointe and b. feesable to do in the theatre space we have available to us! As people from the fringe may possibly be sitting in to watch out performances we want to make sure the piece is fresh, modern, funny but overall informative. It is a big job to take on doing a piece on political and social issues as you have a massive responsibility to the people to correctly provide information; you are also limited in the sway of opinion you have.

I arranged a meeting with Tracy and we had a really good discussion on, as a group, where we want the piece to go and what we want out of it. She said that, effectively, we had two separate idea's which was 'The Pusher' and a creative adaptation of 'Birdbox' so it was important that we chose one and completely focussed on it. I understood where she was coming from as we were focussing quite heavily on the idea of having people in a house going out with blindfolds on (derived from 'birdboxes') but that the basis of this was coming from 'The Pusher' in Manchester? No, even in an exaggeration of reality it wouldn't really fit! 

Form wise, we had a really nice discussion on how the piece could be presented. At first I was against doing a Brecht piece as it is something I have studied quite heavily. However, after a lot of thought it is actually an extremely clever art form that could be used cleverly to present all the information and facts in a comedic way. As a group we decided early on that we wanted it to be light and comic, with dark and serious moments; it means that the message to the audience has much more impact.  

I began to envisage in my head some really great funny characters ranging from the police to the old woman down the street discussing the incident! Another suggestion that came forward from a friend was people 'disappearing' or sinking in the chair during the performance piece to illustrate the idea of people slipping away into the canal.

Having a great interest in space in performance it also gives us a great opportunity to have fun exploring different ways in which we can turn the stage into different places. The great thing about the imagination is that you can be, one moment stood next to a canal and next minute in dora's house down the street! 

I'm now really excited for the piece and can't wait for our first meeting! This piece can really develop and get people to think about, not only how people react and deal with situations like this but also how idiotic the rumours can get!

We have arranged to go to the speed dating meeting to pick up another male member for the piece and then will go from there to write the proposal.

I have also started reading 'Improv' and 'Space in Performance' to further my knowledge of theatre and work on some new skills!

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.
• Malerman, J. 2014. BirdBox. London: HarperVoyager.
• McAuley, G. 1999. Space in performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• 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].