Yoga poses

Here is a pictuer showing some of the poses we did during our yoga sessions.

The Set: production and

More costumes...

Evies Dress

Here are the finished dresses i designed, drafted and created for both the actresses playing young Evie.

Paper Mind: Librarian

I have been meaning to type up my characterisation note for some time so here are the questions that i asked my character just to get a genneral feel of who she is:



Name: Paige Novell
Nick Name:  (I resent nick names, I don’t get why people have or are given nick names when they already have good names)  
Age: I prefer to say that I’m around 29 but I will live forever.
How does age affect your feelings about yourself: I don’t really mind my age, it means nothing to me as I will never age, but I do wonder what it will be like to live one of those human lives that I care for and read about on my bookshelves.
Closest relative: he is not technically my relative but he is my partner in “crime” Harrold as we work together constantly and he is always there for me when I discover that the book I’m reading does not have a happy ending.
How do they affect you: we speer each other on in our work and lives, we are on the same wave length and even finish each other’s sentences… it’s a bit of a secret but I think I’m in love with him, he is just so well read and wise. ( I admire him but I do like to put him in his place and boss him about a bit)
Education:  I went to a special librarian school and college to teach me everything I know today and how to handle the many different type of memories and stories we can come across, of course it doesn’t make it easy especially if you grow a connection with a specific story.
How did education effect or influence you: it has enabled me to be more understanding about the outside world.
Did you have an enjoyable childhood: yes, id says I did have a great childhood; I was always interested in learning and read a lot of books. I had a lot of friends who were all interested in the same things as me and that’s when I met Harrold.
Worst thing you have done: I accidently ripped a page in a first addition and incredibly rare Jane Austen book of Northanger Abbey. (I felt so guilty, it was in the main library where all the rare books are held away from human hands, set up to protect the literary word, but I forgot to handle the book with care and it slipped out of my hand as I took it from the shelf, I don’t think anyone knows yet, I put it back without telling anyone.
Best thing you have ever done: The best think I have ever done and my main achievement is the fact that I have single headedly organised my library universe into alphabetical order!
Travelled much: well it depends what you mean by travel… I time travel all the time because of my job, looking back at people’s lives and past events and that sometimes involves going to different country’s though I am yet to travel to a tropical location.
Relationship status: Single with the view of attaining someone.
How do you feel about it: well I’m excited to see if I can move on, I’m excited for the future but being single hasn’t been all bad, I have been able to become more independent and really find out who I am and what I won’t from life.
Where do you live: I live in the world of the library, a separate universe to that of earth, we care for the lives of humans but they don’t know we are there.
Best friend:  Evie, She doesn’t know me but I believe her to be my very best friend, I have read all the chapters in her life and have become close and attached to her in a caring way, in a way we have gone through a lot together.
Social Life: well if you call reading all the time then yes I am very social as I do call my books friends. If you are talking about physical contact with a living being then yes, I see Harrold frequently, I often attend my book discussion club meeting with friends a talking about the book we have just read, and this week is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. I do love meeting knew people especially if they have an interesting story to tell.
Work: As you may already know I work within a library, it’s a very specially library holding the memories and stories of all sorts of people on its shelf, it is our job to care for these stories, and help the characters out in ways they won’t necessarily notice.
Greatest responsibility: Caring for all the books and people those stories lie within my library and without being noticed.
Her Ambitions: my ambition, my aim, is to become the head librarian, overseeing everything that goes on and free to intervene whenever, of course I shall have the likes of Harrold to contend with but I can just put him in his place. Of course he does stand within my list of ambitions as I am to at least start a relationship with him but whether it will last- who knows.
Physicality and Vocals:
·         a grounded tone, but the occasional high pitch when I get excited
·         Physicality is straight, upright and proud
·         Physical impression- always opens to others, friendly impression
·         Hair-neat and away from hear face as it makes it easier to work with when looking at books
·         Energy level- can be varied she can be filled with reflection and be slow but can also be excited filled with anticipation and quick
·         State of health- very well, I take care of myself and am only ever sick once a year.
·         Sensuality and sexuality- Books can be sexy so why can’t I, during day to day work I don’t really make an effort but if there is a special occasion I will, and now that I work with Harold I have taken to wearing my hair down- I hope he notices.
·         Appearance- I take care of my appearance for work making sure I am smart and well presented. During my days off I still maintain a smart appearance but in a more casual manner.
Emotional Qualities:
·         Understanding, approaches everything intellectually but can sometimes mean that I can be a bit robotic at times.
·         I am independent and often prefer my own company so I can get on with my reading.  
·         I can be quite emotional and sensitive at times, particularly if I am reading a book with an unhappy ending or a tragic moment.
·         confidence- if it’s about books, the library or anything academic then 10 out of 10 but I must say anything else is about a 5/6
Likes and Dislikes:
·         My favourite food is poached salmon with new potatoes as it is clean and healthy, I allow myself some butter to melt over my potatoes when I feel I deserve it.
·         my favourite time of day is the morning when I wake up and go to work, it’s a new day and I can wait to get started and go to work.
·         My favourite season is spring, it symbolises new life and romance.
·         My favourite topic or genre is historic romance, I just love to delve into the past with a feel good book.
·         My least favourite topic is crime, why do we live in a world where people able and feel the need to commit crime and why do there have to be books about it, it makes me very upset.

Notes

Overall note: there was much more commitment and complicity with listening and responding which influences your character .

• playing the moment was much more evedent.
• go back over script adding in detail and looking back.
• good energy and for the first time there was real character and a sense of purpose.
• give moments of space during the begining to enforce the meaning and message of the piece to the audience.
• be proud of our job as a librarian
• keep the "oh" in the book scene.
• move the bookcase after young eveis re-exits to the tree scene.
• be more secure on "war" speech.

Questions to the Elderly

Although we have decided that the audience for "paper mind" is for the younger generation at secendary school age, we still are going to perform to an Elderly audience.

So when asking for feed back after the show we have organised some specific questions to ask them:

1. do you feel the we have accuratly represented them? if so How? if not how could we improve?
2. do you feel this is an important message to be shared? if so wahy? if not why?
3. what moment will you take away with you? why?
4. who would you like the show to be shown to? why?

Evaluation of Venue: Millais

Get in:

When we arrived at the venue we signed in at reception then meet with the teacher who had hired us for this performance she took us to the venue where we would be performing and set to work getting all of the equipment and items that where needed out of the van and moved to the hall in what I felt was a quick, orderly and professional manner, placing set to one side and technical equipment to the other. After everything was in place we set to work on our individual tasks, rigging our own light. I was in charge of a light which goes on one of the back truss, using the ladder to get it to where it should go. On reflection of my personal job I need to get used to it, I felt un-eased by having to rig a light at the top of the truss while climbing the ladder hoping not to drop the heavy light, now that I know I can do it in the time provided I am sure I will become more confident with it. I did make sure that it was attached correctly and that the cables were together and had slack when they were taped to the side of the truss. To make everything as efficient as possible we had labelled everything beforehand so I knew without hesitation what dimmer pack I had to connect to and that cable and extension cord was mine this resulted in a concise and efficient way of working where everyone was able to get on with their jobs without hesitation or confusion making it on the whole and easier and calmer environment then it would have been without the labels. During the get in we have to show our professionalism towards our client as it could result in us getting re-hired for more performances, in the get in a Millais it was noted that we were not as professional as we could have been with cases of swearing where people were not aware of the surroundings and that we were in a secondary school. There was also the disorganisation of the tools and where they were in the room, as a result we now have a rule that after you have used the tool it goes back in to a box in the middle of the room so everyone knows it will be there. We need to achieve the same quick and professional conduct as we did in the get out due to the fact that in many cases a venue will only give you a limited time to get everything up and running. Throught out the devising process we were still always thinking about the get in and out on some level, we kenow what transport we had available to use and knew that we couldn’t take the whole world with us so we understood what type of things we could take. This impacted on our piece as we knew we could only have limited set and props and as a result invented different ways to present different objects such as using the big book case as a door and the books as different objects during the family scene. The feedback we received specifically on the family book scene was one of amazement the student couldn’t believe that we were able to get the fact that we could show a baby and a growing family just by using books and that you don’t need to use realistic, this is an idea that they said they will take away from our project.

Not everything went to plan, a sudden realisation had circled around the group that we had forgotten to get out the lighting desk from the minivan, as a result we had to ask rose to go back for it. The group did not fall into disarray or panic due to that fact that we had sorted and alternative of using a desk provided by the venue, even though it would still not have been ideal we did have a viable fall back on giving the group that confidence of knowing that we are capable and able of overcoming such a problem should it happen again (providing we are in a venue where a spare desk is available). However we managed to retrieve it and set it up on time for Laura to focus the lights and to check that everything was working and since losing the desk has happened it is now engrained in everyone to check for it. After we had done our individual jobs we would have gone on to change into costume and put out the set however in this case we were not set to perform for an hour and a half so we carried on sorting out the wires, sticking them to the floor before going out in search of breakfast. After we returned we went straight into costume which I felt was very efficient and then proceeded to help with the placing of the set, props, lighting and tidying the area for the audience while setting out seats. During this section of the get in everyone still had set jobs to do for instance I was in charge of making sure everyone had the correct costume and that everyone was ready before the start of the show0 in order to perform this job efficiently I had labelled everyone costume beforehand and just handed it out to them taking not of those that had gone from the costume rail and those still needed to be put on. Due to the fact that again everyone was organised and absorbed in their own role they had to complete this section of the get in went smoothly, I did however take note that apparently there were some technical difficulties to do with the lighting which I hadn’t noticed until I was told after the show, showing me that the group are able to overcome and sort out any difficulties without having or causing a big deal- keeping calm under pressure and just getting on with your job in hand and once that is finished asking that stage manager or assistant stage manager what you can do to help. 

Performance:

Before the performance we not able to achieve a proper warm up so we only did a little vocal warm up of “my poor bird”. Ideally I would have preferred to do a full physical and vocal warm up beforehand but we ran out of time and the audience had been seated earlier than expected while we were still setting the last bits of set. Next time I shall be sure to do a warm up prior to turning up to the venue even if it is on my own as I feel that I need it in order to focus and prepare my mind on the task in hand, the group must set aside and period of time to achieve a warm up or an alternative would be to perform the vocal warm up on the bus journey their and a physical warm up wither when we get there or before we leave. We were lucky as we only had a small audience, if the audience had been bigger and the space vast then projection would have been a problem especially without the necessary warm up. As a whole I felt that our first performance went well, there were no major hic-ups and I believe the audience grasped what the message was that we were trying to portray. There are only a few things that I think we should go over and re-look at; the putting on of the masks despite Chloe having the mask on upside down which I don’t think the audience noticed, their physicality of the elderly was good but did laps in some parts, I just think practice and getting used to what you have to do will remedy that. I also felt that there was too long a pause after the table dance to when they woke up, it felt like the piece was finished at that point- this has been noted during the rehearsals and we just need to go over and make the waking up transition quicker, despite this all the other transitions into other scenes ran smoothly and even the audience commented on how well we had achieved it without using any black outs. As far as technical aspect where concerned everything started at the right point however some queues where missed, or there were technical issues when a song was still playing when it should either be a background whisper, no sound at all, or a transition into a different piece of music. Regardless of having one light that did not work I felt that everything was light in the right way and that overall the piece looked and worked well. It was clear by the end of the piece that we had made some kind of impact even before we asked them about it as many in the audience were crying or had come close to crying.   

  

Question and answer session:

I realised half way through the question and answer session that I should have pre-set a note pad and pen to write down comments and notes so that I could look back and work on any of the notes we were given, since I did not have and note pad or paper to hand I had to rely on my memory which is not always the best option. Luckily Laura did have a note pad and was writing everything down all of the comment. In future I am going to bring and place a note pad and pen in a reachable area so that I can get to it after the performance in order to take down the notes. We were mostly given good feedback about our piece and they loved how we had incorporated physical theatre amongst the scenes, however we did ask if anything was unclear and one student said that we may need to clarify the passing of time during the oak tree scene as she didn’t quite understand it until the end of the scene, she suggested using the lighting to show the passing of different days. Taking this under consideration however I believe we can use the older Evie to incorporate the passing of time in this scene by here reading from her diary and maybe mentioning different dates. During this session we realised that not only did we get our message out but we helped them to prepare for a gcse performance where they have to create a piece of documentary theatre which is similar to the style which our piece was in, so it ended up being a demonstration of what they will can achieve for their piece, indicating that our piece can be more than what we originally thought and that we can sell it as more if we apply for funding. The importance of knowing the schools exam criteria will help in this, so we are able to supply them with what they need and in turn create and promote more business for ourselves. 

The get out:

The get out was very much different to the get in, everything was down and organised into the middle of the room, I re-organised the costume rack and made sure all the costume were collected and hanging. During the whole get in get out process I realised that taking a clothes rail was not the most efficient way of transporting the costume so instead I shall go in search of a box to place them in for the future. I did not get to take down my light when I went over to do my next job as Dave had already done it for me. After everything was down and in the middle we took everything out of the venue to the van in order of lighting and heavy pieces first followed by the boxes of cables and props as well as costume. On the way out we had to change the organisation of everything in the van then we had done it before to make it more efficient and easy to find and take everything out. Because of this we found that we had performed this task much quicker than expected and so we were ready to leave the venue.  

Notes

Notes from Alex:

• make sure there is flour on the bookshelves to show dust...
• be more confident with character and physicality of the libraians
• Costumes for the piece must be correct
• make the reactions from the libraians bigger
• make static over the announcements quieter 
• make the lifts sharper
• remeber to take the jacket off durring hospital scene
• make suer the "7" candel on the cake is the right way up
• SHOES!!

Notes from Rose:

• Maintain the physicality of the libraians
• the dances look like show pieces (seperate to the play) they need to be more linked in to the piece
• listen and respond as your character
• last speech directed to old Evie

Notes from Jonathan:

• Highlight and slowly show the audience who the libraians are.
• speak dialoug out to audience
• remeber the books

Notes for 15/1/2015

Cast A

-look at script and note down when you will do the actions of passing books/props
-focus out towards the lights and behind them
-3D shading for tje masks
- add in 'so what dp tou see here? An old person' pause on here and then say let us begin as we take off the mask
-rember jackets!!
-when the books slam, hold and pause the moment.
-spacing was much better
-be part of the necklace scene more when i say the war speech, knowing the effect the war has on them
-

Costumes from outside

My light

Re-shaded masks

Abie's Notes

Cast B
-she believes in our show, just own it and have full confidence!
-elastic on the masks
-silence sign??
-follow through with your motifs lile trying to open the book, quality of book changes as you dont see it again
-dance exchage scenes need to be snappier
-libraians can polish and care for the books at times
-pre-recorded war anouncments/or look at the librarians do it/ or hold the radio/ frame them with the bookcase so its stylised.
-evies monologue librarians can find the odd loose page...
-mending books while thw hospital scene is going
-edit love letters
- young evie and alfie should have actions to do during the love letters
-lift in wat scene looked  good
-Projection!!! Make sure you are heard
-memories and books scene just needs some more pace
-verbal chit chat when old people leave aneversary
-on the librarians exit, look back and possibly leave with books

The finished masks

I have completed the mask, they were made from layerd cardboard with tissue paper over the top. This is then followed by layerd bit of pages adding to the theme of the library. After this to go over the details of the wrinkles and to defibe the 3D effect i added more tissue paper and after it had dried went over with a charcoal pencil adding a dammaged old feel as well as deffinition.

Things to do over the weekend

Here is a list of things i would like to complete this weekend for the show and also the course.

The show:
Costume
Script and line learning
Masks
Set and scenery
Character work

The course:
Roses physical theare essay
Paulas lo1 & lo2 and other write up works

The Set

Here are some pictuers if our set and also the lighting rig that we put up for our show.

The End is in Sight

Today in our rehearsal we have technically blocked the whole piece!!! Woo hooo

Rehearsal 06/01/2015

In the after college rehearsal today we decided that due to only having one half of the cast to go thought the librarians actions and lines from the first half for those that had not performed it to age uk. Karl and I went through and marked everything out with the help of the opposite cast, and then did a quick run through to get it up to speed to make sure we had remembered everything.

Also during the rehearsal we had a quick production meeting where we decided the plan of the this week and what we wanted to achieve which i have put in a separate post. We aim to rig out our lighting plan and try some small bits and pieces with that in our next rehearsal as well as what we have to cover in our next lessons ( particular scenes) such as utilising Rose's movement based lessons to device the book, memory, life event scene which involves passing of books between both the young and old couple but then starts to deteriorate as the young couple leave and the old remain, symbolising Evies loss of memory.

This scene see the role reversal of how Evie nursed Alfie from his injuries from the war to Alfie having to care for Evie as her mind deteriorates.

Adding to the Hospital scene

Today the libraians went off to see if we could add some more narrative to the story now that we no longer need any of the prisoner of war scene. Because of this we have to suggest in the speech that he was missing and what she started to do as a nusre to imply the passing of time. Here is the scen that we finished up with in the end:

Alfie had disapeared,
His letters stopped,
she assumed the worst...

(pause)
Evie decided to keep busy.
She enrolled to become a nurse at the Queen Victoria Hospital.
Not wanting to think about alfie of what had happend to him.
(Evies solo dance)
untill... a patient was admitted into her care,
Having been taken by the red cross during the battle of Dunkirk,
Suffering a broken tibia, sharapnel related injuries and a sever concusion.
(small pause)
Six months after seh thought he was dead, they were re-united.

First day back after Christmas

So its after christmas and now its time to get back down to work, we have an achivement that by tje end of this week we shall have a ruff skeleton of the second half of the piece and to get the other cast that didnt perform upto scratch.
Here is a pictuer of what we want to achive on wednesday and thursday of this week.

The voice

One of our modules is to study our voice, we had to make a collarge describing our voices, i find that my voice can be quite high and sometimes nassely, i need to work on my lower regiseter so that i can use the whole range of my voice when i need to.

Costume update

Here is one of the two blue dresses i shall make, there is still a few details to go and i need to make sure they fit the actresses that will be wearing them.

Masks

So i decided to play around and see if i could sort out some masks for the begining scene when we de-mask the elderly couple, i needed to make them blend in to the piece like the bookcases and so had the idea of decorating them with pages from a book, i am yet to dovthat but here is a pictuer of what i have done so far...

The 30 minute taster

Today we performed a taster of what is to come to the Age Uk centre. We Performed the beginning section to them and received great feed back, all encouraging the message we want to send out, "that the elderly community are here and should not be forgotten about, that their ordinary is extraordinary, their memories amazing"- especially through the period of history that they lived through.

The performance i felt went well but it did point out some things that we need to improve on, such as;
line security, projection of voice, to double check each venue size and space and to keep an eye on the detail to make sure nothing is lost.

After our performance we had to write a reflection from a series of questions, here is mine:

1.       What did you learn about yourself during the journey so far?
   So far I have learnt that in order to be a cohesive group you have to be able to communicate clearly, only nearer the end did this actually start to happen and I must say that I did find it to get ideas across to the group as a whole.  I have learned that I do work better within a smaller group than a bigger one which is great when just those who are playing the Librarians work together. However I must open up towards the group as a whole in order for there to be clarity and a cohesive story line. Also during this project I took it upon myself to produce some costumes for some of the characters in the show, I have learnt that I am able to produce a costume from scratch (creating the pattern) and fitting it to the actor taking into account the movement they do as they perform.
   
   
   2.       What have others helped you to know about yourself during the process?
   Others have helped me realise that I can write parts of the script. I had always thought that scripting wasn’t my strong suite but with the help of others towards the end of the process so far I was able to produce a scene for the librarian’s at the beginning.
   
   
   3.       What are you grateful for that happened in the process?
   I am grateful for the fact that the group has realised that in order to compile a comprehensive story line and to work effectively as a group we need to communicate as a whole entity not just go off in separate groups and decide things without consultation something which I believe we were all guilty of.
   
   
   4.       What challenges still remain for you?
   The challenges that still remain for me are the other librarian scenes and the rest of the detail we have to put in, going from being an antagonist in charge of time to a librarian of the library and losing the scenes we had already was frustrating and now we have to figure out how to replace them.
   
   
   5.       How did you feel before the performance and how did those feelings change throughout and after the performance?
   My feelings towards our production before the performance were that I felt we had a great storyline I was just concerned about how it would come across, whether it would be clear, suitable to those that attended age uk’s Christmas party (bearing in mind that they are not our target audience). As a Whole during the performance I felt it went well and that we dealt with the lack of space and vast carpeted floor in a good manner. However I do feel that in the future we will have to double check our venue and make sure that lines and dance routines that are needed are learnt. During the performance I suddenly started to feel really guilty due to the fact that a member of the audience had started to become distressed and cry, however it became apparent that our piece had reminded her of her memories of sending love letters to her husband during the war. It was at this point that I began to realise that our piece is not only there to show others what extraordinary lives these people have lived but it also serves as a reminder to induce those memories so that they are not forgotten.
   
   
   6.       What were you thinking about when the performance was over?
   I began to think about how we could make the other half of the show as detailed as the first and how we could go about doing it. Performing the first bit created an enthusiasm to finish the rest of it and to take it on tour.
   
   
   7.       What was it that surprised you during the performance process?
   I was surprised at just who professional our group was, getting set up quickly, getting ready to perform ( having to deal and make do with where we were placed changing entrances and exits to suit) and getting out quickly too. We had become the theatre company working together to get things done so that everyone was ready and prepared. This was surprising because it was so instinctive, only the other week we hadn’t been a cohesive group, now we had been stuck together going through every experience together and not alone.
   
   
   8.       How did this performance fit in with other kinds of performance you have been involved with in your life?
   Firstly we have incorporated some mask work into the piece at the very beginning to present how an elderly person is viewed by society. I first performed mask in my first year of Btec performing arts taking the physicality of a character and portraying them through exaggerated gestures and mime. Secondly the incorporation of the librarians and the fact that the act as narrators, breaking the fourth wall by interacting with the audience adds in a Brechtian element, having those figures as elemental forces giving the piece a similarity to the visit Christmas show during my second year in the Btec course (With the two pieces both having an exaggerated epic theatre element).  
   
   
   9.       How do you see the value of performance in your own life as a result of this experience?
   The experience of creating outreach drama for a specific demographic is something that I have become really interested in. the fact that theatre can help relay and emphasise a message to the community about a specific problem shows the power performance can have if used effectively as a device. Performance has been given a new value not only for entertainment but as a way of problem solving and communication.
   
   
   The Performance:
   
   
   10.   What did the group learn from the audience response about how well everything was working?
   We learnt that as a whole the begging was very well put together, quite a few people came up to us and told us not the change it. Some had been quite moved by what we had shown them taking into account that it had been their stories that had inspired it. On an improvement note we as a company will have to be a lot louder and increase our projection as many at the back of the room were unable to hear us. It was also suggested to us that we increase the happiness in our older couple as growing old is not all dull and solemn but instead add in some comedy moments surrounding growing older.
   
   
   11.   What element seemed most successful, why?
   In my opinion the most successful elements where the movement and dance pieces as we had a great reaction from the audience filled with oohhsss and ahhhhs as lifts where carried out.  I believe it was successful due to the fact that we were being daring, showing the audience something new and dynamic, re-introducing them to a form of entertainment that they may have been well accustomed to which has now lost its popularity.
   
   
   12.   What might we have done to enhance the other effects?
   I believe that confidence in your character is key and that now we have tested the water we can now concentrate on creating and producing the perfect and detailed characters for this piece, adding in voice and more physicality in order to be secure and prepared for the next time. Enhancing the characters will bring the piece closer as a whole and the audience will then be able to connect with them more.
   
   
   13.   When we revisit and extend this performance project, what might we wish to add or change?
   I would like to add in and figure out the rest of the librarian’s part as I have stated before because we now have a relatively new purpose in this production then as before when we were the antagonist. I would also like to play around with any comic moments with the elderly couple while Evie’s health is deteriorating it doesn’t always have to be depressing for instance in the start of dementia and elderly person may forget something of importance which then evolves into a comic situation.
   
   
   14.   How might the work have been affected by the presence of people who had not been part of the process?
   By showing a snippet of our piece to those that had not been part of the devising process allows us to have a new fresh set of eyes on to our piece to critique it and suggest new ways of presenting things, solving problems and being able to see if the story line is clear for the audience.  In terms of teachers joining the lessons after another lesson has just gone by it could become quite confusing, for example: if one teacher clarifies a scene and starts to help us direct it and is then taken over by another teacher who may not understand what went on during the previous lesson and also starts to re-direct the same thing it can get confusing for us as actors on which way we should performing it. Also, when we arrived at the venue it became clear that there had been a lack of clear communication as they stated we would meet them at the day centre and not at the chequer Mead theatre (which was where we performed it in the end). As a company we then realised that those that organised this viewing did not realise the type of space we needed and the fact that we had bought set items. We were then stationed in a corner of the room where half the audience where unable to see- being blocked by a Christmas tree. In the future I believe we will have to try our best to communicate our need clearly instead of the expectation that they would realise what a theatre performance would need.
   
   
   15.   How did the pre- performance stage of the performance go (get in)?
   As we arrived at the day centre where we had arrange the performance in east Grinstead there had been no sign of any living soul on the premises, it took a number of phone calls to get through to pam only to discover that they had planned to meet us in the theatre down the road. When we arrived we realised that no space had been put aside for our performance so we had to make do in the corner meaning that unfortunately many people were unable to see us. As far as the get-in was concerned I felt that everyone conducted it in a very professional manner getting the set in quickly and communicating with everyone about where to put everything with the support cast helping the main cast to get everything where they need it to be in order to start.  
   
   
   16.   What dramatic skills might we wish to work on when we start back in January?
   I would wish to work on the characterisation of our specific character when in our main role. Specifically for me I would like to do more work on voice as I tend to perform using my higher register and I would like my character to voice herself much lower. I also feel that physicality is a major point especially when distinguishing the older couple from the younger, I would also like to explore the physicality of the librarian’s and to see whether they are ethereal like creatures or more grounder as beings.
   
   
   17.   What gets lost and what is gained when we share our work with an outside audience?
   After performing it on Friday I believe that the group on the whole has gained the confidence and even more enthusiasm for this piece (I certainly have). We have gained the advice of those that watched and now understand how the audience might view the piece in the next performances to come.  For example we now know we have to make sure we know the size of the venue and where the audience will be sitting so we can provide them with the best view. In terms of what got lost during the sharing of our work I believe the lift during the love letters scene will have to be re-looked at and the dynamic of the two elderly people in order to incorporate and comic touch to them.
   
   
   The Group:
   
   
   18.   What were the strengths of the group that developed over time?
   As a group we were able to create and compile a lot of work really quickly which we could use within our piece or use as a starting point, what let us down initially was lack of communication as a whole group instead we mixed up into several groups producing work which hadn’t been communicated back as a whole. However during the run up to the performance our communication skills got a lot better and we developed into a team, working closely together to create a success.
   
   
   19.   What were the key moments when participants felt the group cohere, or when they felt more sense of truth and belonging within the group?
   When we were able to sit down together as a group to discuss our aims and views on the piece and that they were all similar to each other was when we felt the group cohere to a common goal, with the guidance and assistance of our tutors were began to communicate in a better way. For me personally I felt I belonged to group when we started to add detail into the librarian’s role and that I started to have a clear aim for what I was doing in the piece other than just feeling lost.
   
   
   20.   How did the space(s) we worked in, and the environment around us have an effect on our process?
   The spaces we were in at fist seemed great, we had our own space we were separate from the rest of the college and felt like we could get stuff done. However as time when on we grew accustomed to the rooms and each other, they soon began to grow smaller and as we are constantly in those rooms cabin fever set in, if you aren’t able to get out and move around you begin to get stuck and blocked from what your original goal is. In a positive view the spaces reflect what we will be eventually being performing in in terms of size, which has given us a great way to prepare for our tour. I am now realising that you have to take it upon yourself as an independent individual to know your limits and if you are finding the space to cramped and the environment to busy you should go outside and change your surroundings for a bit and re-fresh your mind.
   
   
   21.   What did we discover working in a collaborative dramatic group process that could be applied to our lives and the society we live in?
   Something I shall apply to my life from the devising process is the ability to listen and take everyone opinions and ideas into account, I will also take the knowledge of having the communicate within the group as a whole and in detail into every part of my work whether I’m working in a small group of big. In terms of society today I feel that everything has become one mass race towards a never ending finish, people rush and hurry, no longer taking the time to think and listen to our surroundings and community. I believe we have to revert back to a time where communication was more verbal then technological as I have found things often get lost in translation.
   
   
   22.   What do we understand about drama and dramatic process as a result of this experience? How has this changed from your initial understanding?
   From this experience I know that there are many varieties of drama and theatre work, and that outreach theatre is just one of the many avenues you can venture down. It has opened me up to the different things drama has to offer, the fact that it can be a pivotal part of the community and that performance has the power to convey any message.  I used to think that when acting you’d be showcasing the piece of theatre you were in, the play, playwright, even yourselves, but know my understanding is that drama has the ability to be so much bigger, to bring communities together and to be able to be used as a device where problems of difficulties can be solved.