HL version 1

1. Lucy Pratt 12u 15/01/18
Drama HL- Outline your initial response to the key extract and practitioner and track how it
developed throughout the devising process.
Evaluate the creative choices you made and whether or not they were successful in
performance.
My initial response tothe stimuluswastolistoutthe themesandworkedfromthose asittook me
sometime tounderstandthe extractanditssource- ‘TwelfthNights’.Once Ihada better
understandingitwas mucheasiertolistthe themes,asa groupwe came up with:deception,love,
status,trickeryandmanipulation.We decided,initiallydecidedtofocusonthe themeslove and
statusas we all agreedtheywere verystrongthemeswithinthe extract.Ourinitialideawastoset
our piece ina hospital withthe statusbeingconveyedthroughdoctors,nursesandpatience, andthe
love thoughthe storyline.Thisconceptwas verystrongas we have not beentoldwhichpractitioner
we needtouse as an influence asourconceptcouldbe comedic(usingBrechtianinfluence) orit
couldbe serious,emotionalandnaturalistic(usingStanislavskian influence).However,duringthe
nextlessonwe realizedthatourideaslednowhere andsowe changedouridea.
Duringour discussion,Craigcame upwiththe ideaof communicatingthe theme of love through
family.Thisledtothe basesof our plotand our firststructural ideas.Icame upwiththe ideaof
makingthe start of the final scene the openingtoourpiece.Thiswassuccessful asitcommunicates
to the audience thateverythinginthe piece isleadinguptoan intense momentandwill keepthe
audience thinkingandanticipatingthe endresult.Thiswasalsobeneficialasitisa prominent
technique usedbyBrecht(whowasone of two practitionerswe received).Ourothermain decisions,
was thatwe decidedtoperformthe piece inthrustasit linkstothe extract(Shakespeare’splays
were performedinthrust) andgivesus aspace to workinfor Brechtiantechniques.The themes of
love andmanipulationfromthatextractalsoledusto the ideaof Catfishingandhardhittingstories
and relatable messages. We came upwiththe namesforour characters,withsome beingreferences
to the stimulus.Forexample,the name Verityisreference toViolainthe extractdue tothe first
letterbeingv.Ourideaneedingtwoboyfriendsmeant thatCraigneededtomulti role whichlinks
back to Brechtianinfluences.
One of the sceneswe createdwasa scene basedoninternetdating(Tinder). We thoughtabout
havingverity (the characterwhogetscatfished- Abby) andherfriendtalking onthe phone inasplit
scene to creatively givethe tindersequence contextforthe audience.We hadthe remainingactors
walkingintothe centre of the stage and posingasthoughtheywere a physical profile picture.Then
the character Veritywouldreadtheirprofile outloudandswipe leftforall of themapart formthe
lastone (Jordan) our catfishcharacter.Whenshe swipesleftthe charactersonstage will exit inthat
direction.We wentwithstereotypical charactersasit wouldaddhumourand will make the catfish
standout as beinga 'normal'guy witha 'normal' profile. Thiswassuccessful aslateronwe decided
to have the actors beingthe profilesspeakingthe bioof theirownprofile andwithVerityreading
out the profile of Jordan(whoshe thengoesonto talkto).Thiswhole conceptwassuccessful aswe
were usingthe whole stage space insteadof juststage rightandleft,andalso the humourkeepsthe
audience engaged.
The followinglessonwe realisedthatwe knew the startand endof our conceptbut had noideason
howto connectthem.Thisis whenwe decidedtofindsomethingtoworkoff of.Mollyhadfounda
true story that wasa perfectbasisforour piece.Thiswill benefitourperformance asitwill more
impactful forthe audience asthe ideathatit isbasedon a true storyimmediatelymakesitmore
powerful andemotional forthe audience.

2. Lucy Pratt 12u 15/01/18
Drama HL- Outline your initial response to the key extract and practitioner and track how it
developed throughout the devising process.
Evaluate the creative choices you made and whether or not they were successful in
performance.
For the deathscene towardsthe endof ourpiece,we decidedtospeakstage directionswhich
successfullyincreasedthe tense effectof the stylistic/franticassemblymovements. We alsodecided
to use thoughttrackingfrom Veritytoshow herfeelingsandsothat she can narrate herowndeath
whichwill impact the audience astheywill seethe actionandhearthe character herself speaking-
creatively addslayersthatincrease the emotional andtense atmosphere.
We continuedtoaddaspectsof Brechtiantechniquesintoourscenesforexample, we hada
discussion aboutwaystomake our piece more meaningful andeducational.We decidedtogohome
and researchthe evolutionof phones/social mediasothatwe couldadd factual momentswithin
our piece (maybe betweenscenes).Allowsustobreakout of character on stage to speakthe fact
before continuingwiththe nextscene.Thiswouldbe successful asitallowsthere tobe an effective
transitionbetweenscenesandthe BrechtiantechniqueletsusbreakfromourStanislavskian
characters intoothercharacters showing thatwe know we are it a play.
However,inthe school scene we haddevisedpreviouslywasunsuccessful because,asAbbycalledit,
it wastediousaswe were all movinginrandomdirections,torandomchairswhichtooktime.This
made the scene slowandit didn’tflowaswell aswe wanteditto. So we gave eachof our teachersa
stereotypical traitandlivenedupthe studentsmakingsure we were reacting tothe teacher.This
humourhelpedthe piece asitgave our piece abetterbalance betweenthe Stanislavskianserious
characters andoverall message andthe more Brechtiancomedicmoments.Thishumourrelatesour
piece backto the stimulusas12th nightsisalsohumorous.