Chasing Pavements- 9th December

Today we worked on the scene where we first meet the gang. We wanted to make this as effective as possible so that the audience knew that the gang were serious so we decided to do it in a black out and create a sound scape with voices and the sound of beating and screams. We made the sounds of the beating by using a belt for a whip and chairs to sound like bars being hit. We also found the sound effect of the gun that goes of at the end to signify that the person being beat has been shot. However we are deciding to change it as the sound effect didn't sound right.

Chasing Pavements- start devising- 8th December

We started by Creating of our piece which is going to be a silhouette of the writer of the book (the puppeteer) is going to hang himself. we decided to do this to make the audience attention we drawn from the very beginning. We are doing this in a silhouette so the audience doesn't know who the person is until the very end of the performance. When we created the silhouette we realised that we need a bigger sheet. Which we are going to get and create a washing line with it so it can be moved into place whenever we need it. We also need a light that is stronger as it didn't create a solid outline through the sheet. After this we began to discuss each bit of the story line and what are going to be the different endings that the author changes them to. 

Chasing Pavements- developing ideas

Over the next couple of lessons we began to develop ideas. We started of by looking at the lyrics of the songs and annotating them to see if any strong ideas would develop. We noticed that in the song she talks about wanting something better and having enough of the pain so we thought we could use this theme in the piece to show how we link to the stimuli. We then moved on to looking at other Adele songs. We began by looking at set fire to the rain and developed the idea that someone is trying to get rid of the pain by setting fire to it but setting fire to the rain is impossible so this could never happen. This lead on to the ideas of the pain of abuse and not being able to escape also the idea of permanent injury and wanting to be better again. We then moved on to the song turning tables and looked at the line 'under your thumb I can' breath' this related to the idea we came up with before about being trapped by abuse and pain. We decided as a group we could develop this to become a main theme for our devised piece to draw the attention of the audience. We then came up with different scenarios that we could fit these different themes. One idea was that we could put it into a gang theme where someone in the gang wants something better from life rather then being in a gang. Another idea was Soldiers being stranded longing for there way home and stop the pain of never getting where they want to go. After we looked at all the ideas we had come up with and put them into a mind map and started to decide of which 2 we liked best. We picked out the solider idea and gang idea and developed each of them using themes that we had developed from looking at the different stimuli. Creating mind maps for each. Then we decided which on to go for which was the gang idea. We then created a brain storm of techniques which we could use and how we could use them in the piece to help develop our piece further.

Chasing pavements- My ideas

Outside of the lesson I decided to come up with some ideas myself I firstly did this by looking at lyrics. I looked at the line 'i waited as my heart dropped and back begins to tingle'. I related this to how if someone is in a accident and get injured and how they reference to there back tingling when they have broke it and how your heart drops when you imagine the fear of not being able to walk again and do everything you have wanted to in life. My second line I looked at was ' if I tell the world, it will never be enough'. From this I developed the idea that this person could be a dictator and they can tell the world everything and put on a brave face but what they are really going through isn't very nice and they are struggling. This shows how cruel life is even to the most powerful of people. I then moved on to one of the photos we viewed in the last lesson which was of the homeless person and there fighting for something they believe in but they never get it. My final idea was developed from the back story of song which was how Adele has an argument with her boyfriend in a club and then ran of and is about how she wasn't being chased or chasing anything so she was just Chasing pavements. From the idea of her running away from nothing I developed the idea that someone was being stalked and every time they look to see if someone is there but there is not.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/story-of-the-song-chasing-pavements-adele-2007-1607926.html

Adele Adkins had an argument with her boyfriend in a London club.

Punches were thrown, drink spilt, and the singer legged it down Oxford Street. "It was six in the morning," she said. "There was no one chasing me, I wasn't chasing anyone. I was just running away." The 20-year-old realised she was in hot pursuit of nothing. "I remember saying to myself, 'What you're chasing is you're chasing an empty pavement.'" Back home, she wrote the song.

chasing pavements- 1st December

In this lesson we began by being put into our devising groups which was Dan Mckay, Tom Falconar, Dan Smith, Kyle Starkey and Theo Benjamin. In this lesson we made a huge brain storm of all the different ideas that we could come up with and how we could work on them and if the can be expanded. We included the idea of chasing dreams, following a path to somewhere and one of the ideas that was favored was a gang in the 1930's where someone wanted to escape. We discussed all the ideas in detail and decided on what we could to to research in the next lesson to create more ideas.  We had problems while brain storming as we had to make sure the piece was mature and made sense to the audience as this was a key part of making the performance successful. while coming up with ideas we were also coming up with techniques we could use for example live music as we had a drummer in our group, dancing as we have dancers and I had the idea that we could include flickering images to create an effect all this things could help to enhance the performance and make it more interesting for the audience. When we were coming up with ideas we were also looking at picture of the internet when we searched in the words chasing pavements and found lots of long roads with nothing in:

We also found picture of homeless people all this helped to come up with more ideas.

our brain storm

Chasing Pavements- finding out the stimulus

27th November

At the beginning of the lesson today we began by watching the stimilus for our devised piece which was the song chasing pavements by Adele. At first it was very difficult to think of ideas at first as there was so much going on in the music video as  the lyrics of the song was very different to what was going on in the video. We then got split into 2 groups which we began to discuss ideas one person came up with a chasing pavements game show and have a comedy value where I had the idea that it could be about a person chasing a better life in the world or chasing a dream that they will never catch. We then picked one of the ideas and we choose the game show one. we then created a small devised piece on this idea to help us get used to developing ideas and seeing if they work or not. I find comedy quite hard so it was difficult to think on the ball about thinks I could say in some situations. over all this idea didn't work very well as it was very hard to develop and create the right atmosphere with enough techniques as possible.

Evaluation of performance

Overall I thought our performance very well as everyone recovered from any mistakes easily and we managed to have an attentive audience who were fully engaged through out.

Sound and lighting
I lighting went really well as it changed between each scene as it should of done and it suited the mood of the scene correctly. For example when Christopher was reading his letters the lighting was a lot darker so that people could shine there torches on him so it gave of the right effect. Even though our black out may have been been pitch black and unable to see through at all we managed to work well with the lighting makes sure we were in the correct space where the light had been placed. Our sound was also spot on as it was played at the right time and gave of the right effect. If the music hadn't played at the right time we may have had to improvise a lot as some of our movement bass routines relied on the music. However it didn't come to this helped with our performance a lot.

The audience
The audience we had come to watch were very engaged by the performance and saw the funny side to all the jokes which really boosts your confidence on stage. through out the performance they all had a look of interest on there faces and seemed drawn in by the story line and how it was presented to them by us. There was also comment from the audience after how they thought it was a really thought out piece in the time we put all the different pieces together.

Remembering lines and ques
I was very impressed with how much everyone remembered there lines and if there was a mistake it was good how well every one covered up for each other. This was clear from the performance as it run smoothly for the audience even though we know there was mistakes. Every one had a clear outline of what they had to say even if they didn't use the exact words which really helped when someone had a difficulty with there lines as we were able to pick up from what they said. Our ques for certain movements where mostly good apart from one part when everyone went into Swindon station rather then the round about so the people who knew what to do started to so the round about until the others noticed but it want noticeable to the audience as it just looked like normal Christopher mind all busy and confusing.

How to improve next time
If we did this again as I think we would start by polishing sooner and using props and costume for more runs. This is because the order of the play wasn't as smooth as it should have been and it could have run better as we forgot a small scene however it did still make sense. This is also because we only used the props once before the show and some people weren't to sure when to take certain props on and of and forgot to use some of them which made them pointless. I also think we should have made sure everyone had equal costumes when changing between characters because in the train station scene there was people with more costume on then other wearing the basics. I also think we could have added more movement and lifts to it if we had more time for example in the London train station scene as we had a bit of music that was longer then our movement.

Christopher talking about Siobhan

Siobhan is my teacher and she is 27 years old. I like Siobhan as she helps me at school and she thinks that i'm very clever which I am as I got an A* in my maths A level and i'm going to further maths next year too. Siobhan has helped me with lots of things, she has helped me with reading facial expressions and to understand metaphors. She also read my book and helped turn it into a play which is exciting as it was my book which I wrote all by myself. I wrote it will I was dong detection work. She liked my writing and thought my book was very good even though it is short. I also think about Siobhan a lot when I'm worried or confused or upset and it helps to calm me down. Siobhan is very carring, helpful and encouraging person. 

Act 1

Week Review- 17th-20th

This week we worked on running the whole show beginning to end with little mistakes. We did this without scripts which was fun as we were more open with what we would do. This week we also added in music into our piece for example when my character Siobhan becomes Christopher conscience there is a piece of music that goes over the top to signify i'm in his mind and to make more of an atmosphere for the audience. As a group we also worked out different titles we could give to the running order as there are no set scenes this helped us to know the order better and when we needed to speak or move.

This week I worked on my character by learning my lines and going through different scenes in my script and researching how they performed it on west end this helped me to add empathsis to certain bits and using different emotion which really developed my character and how she is as an overall person. 

This week I researched busy London stations this helped to  show the difference between my passerby and Siobhan. This helped me by being able to use different props and the different types of characters that you would fine in a train station e.g police, office worker and tourists so I have to decide which one I want to fit into or do i want to play a variety. I also thought of different ideas to add to different scenes by looking at the photos as they gave me inspiration. This will help to develop the play as it will be more interesting for the eye.

This week I think one of my strengths was knowing act 1 of my script however I need to work on act 2 as the performance is less then a week away. I also think one of my strengths in knowing the running order of the show and know what comes where which is important as we never leave the stage so we are unable to check whats next. One of my weaknesses is remembering my big chunks of narration as they are very long and i have to remember ever detail that they include.

I think that this week we can improve on how clean the performance looks as a whole and work on the transitions between the different scenes as we don't want it to look messy. I also think we need to work on the lighting, costumes and props as these will complete our characters and we need to get the feel for them before the actual performance.

Research of busy London station.

This picture of  a busy London station helps me with my characterisation in our busy London scene as it shows me the kind of things that I could do for example text, walk quickly, pushing a bike, looking at train times, pulling suit cases, using escalators and carrying bags. All these movements i could use to develop my character in the station or makes a more defined change in character between Siobhan and the person in the London station by having props for example a hand bag or ruck sake to show i'm someone else.

In this picture it shows ticket gates which are used in train stations and I think we should use these within our train scene as it would be able to show something different that's going on in the train station. We could do this by using physical theatre to make them with people passing through them. This will make the effect that we have escaped Christopher mind and entered the train station. 

In the station there are also lots of shops and fast food places so I could also be sitting down and eatting or buying something from the shop or even being a shop keeper my self adding all these different things creates the atmosphere for the scene.

London underground

This is our London underground scene which we have recognised as being Paddington station in London. I like how at the beginning of the music we are all very organised like Christopher mind. Before the music starts my character Siobhan is talking to Christopher through his conscience which is in his head so would be organised so there for it matches  the beginning of it being structured. It then becomes very busy and loud when there is a drop in the music this shows how overwhelming it would be for Christopher to cope with being in a situation like he is.

Week Review- 10th-13th

1) This week we worked on improving the opening scene and London station scene by adding a lot more movement and music as the looked very basic and didn't look very good. When we worked on the opening scene we started of by splitting into groups. In our group on each count of 8 we created a different shape which created the effect that Christopher is always thinking about maths. We then showed our ideas and joint them together. We started by adding in the first groups idea of having a movement sequence that included moving back and forth using different arm movement. In the second section we added marching moving in 2 groups which then came in and combined. We then finally added or group creating the different shapes including a circle, triangle and square. These still need to be sharpened. The next lesson we worked on the London Train station scene where we started the music and I begin marching. When I pass each person they stood up and joint in until we got into the centre and after each count of eight we get into different positions like we would do in a station for example I look at my watch, read a news paper and look for the train. Once we did this we then go into a busy train station with each of the different word being shouted out and we do lifts within and as they are taking place everyone else slows down.

2) This week we didn't do much on our own skills however at the beginning of the week we completed the task from last week by talking about the annotations that we made on our script to help us work on how we used or emotion during the scene which was help full and helped me to understand how Siobhan's thought work better.

3) This week I did some research on how an autistic child deals with death and this can be very difficult to cope with as it could cause them lots of stress because it is a change in the routine which can really effect and autistic child. This is why it's i'm important to set them up for death for example what Ed done to Christopher even though Judy didn't die. I believe that it was the best thing for Christopher to be told this about his mother as it would be easier to explain and prepare for death rather than someone leaving.

4) I liked how this week the show started to come to life as we added music to some of the scenes which made it more exciting to watch for the audience. One of my strengths this week has been my lines as I have so many to learn and I've tried my best to learn as many as possible. one of my Weaknesses us knowing my scene order which is hard as we aren't allowed of stage to check so we have to remember everything at every point.

5) I think the main thing we need to focus on know is knowing all our lines and the scene orders as this will really help to complete the piece and make it look really good. I also think we need to start adding in the lighting and props to make the piece come to life and our character to able to be recognised by what we are wearing.

research about autistic children dealing with death

http://www.autism.org.uk/bereavement

On this website it tells us how a child with autism deals with death and how they can be prepared and it helps me to understand how Ed told Christopher that his mother had a heart attack before telling her she was dead. This is because he was protecting him and to try and stop him from reacting and finding this upsetting. This makes me think that what Ed does for Christopher is very thoughtful as it would be harder to prepare for someone leaving. 

Week Review 3rd-7th November

1) This week we run the whole show and I managed to do most of act one without my script. Through out the runs we focused a lot on the physical theatre as there are many different scenes involving train stations and tubes and this can be very confusing for what we have to do in each station. For example when we are in London train station we are acting as if we are in a busy station and sowing down for each lift we perform. However in Swindon we are all move around and push off of each other and project each other while each of the voices and Christopher. We have to remember all this while remembering the order they go in. We also focused on our scripts as we worked on learning them and worked on making annotations. We did this by firstly making notes on everything we had to do we then picked a scene and wrote out the objective of the scene and then we wrote out the subtext for each line which helped to develop our character skills.

2) This week I developed my skill of characterisation as we worked on our characters walks. This was hard for me as we decided that my character would be sitting down a lot of the time. I made my my character Siobhan have a very good posture as she is a teacher and I also made her have a slight bounce in her step as she seems like a happy character even though she is dealing with Christopher who can be very difficult. I also had broad shoulder which showed I was easy to confide in.

3) This week I did research on what my character should look like and the relationship between Siobhan and Christopher. These are in my 2 earlier posts. When I researched what I think I should look like i decided that i should have a soft face and wear soft colours to make me more welcoming for example pastel colours. The second part of my research helped me to decide how I wanted Christopher to be when i'm talking to him as I felt he should always be doing something when i'm talking to him.

4) This week I think one of my strengths was learning my lines as i managed to learn all of the first act even though I need to learn the second. This was important that we learnt our lines as much as we could as it showed how the play was coming together as people didn't have scripts in there hands. One of our weaknesses this week was how smooth and focused we are with our physical theatre. This is important as if this isn't right it could course an accident or it may be messy and misunderstood by the audience which isn't what we want.

5) I think we could improve our performance by adding some music to some of the train scenes to make the effect that is busy and gives more of an atmosphere for the audience which will therefore make it more interesting. I also think I should try and have more emotion in my voice when narrating to make it more exciting to listen to and not monotone which could become boring.

The Relationship between Siobhan and Christopher

This video has really helped with developing my Character of Siobhan as it gave me a perspective of the character from a different point of view. This really helped as I now think I need to be more bold and have more expression when narrating. Watching this also showed me how the lady who plays Siobhan on west-end and I have the same opinion of her being his subconscious some of the time.

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' - the relationship between Christopher and Siobhan, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: From Page to Stage - BBC Two

What I want Siobhan to look like

 I like how soft they made the Siobhan on west end was as this made her Character more friendly and more approachable which is good as Siobhan is a teacher and for Christopher someone he confides in. I also like how she has here hair tied back so its out of her face because it is a more practical job. In my picture to the right I like how here face is soft and how she is wearing trousers instead of a skirt as I find this is more practical and more freely moveable. I also like how she has glasses as they make her more sophisticated and smart which as a teacher she has to be.

Week Review- 20th- 23rd

1) This week we worked on running the beginning of act one as far as we could without scripts as the performance is coming round fast and we have to know our lines so we have more freedom from not holding our scripts. This week we also worked on getting our physical theatre as sharp as possible as this stops any injuries during lift we do for example when we create the house we have to move quickly from our original positions. This needs to be smooth and safe as 2 people are being lifted at the same time. We worked on this by keep repeating the movement so we got used to moving between each of the different things we created for this scene. It starts with bins, then a van, then the house, after is the kitchen and utility room and living room in one. Then Christopher walks up some stairs which he is shot down from at the mention of murder mystery. This also needs to be smooth because if we don't catch him properly when he falls he could get injured. We the create the bed, then the dresser and finally the wardrobe. This is all happening while my character Siobhan is narrating Christopher looking for his book. This is a lot to remember and in the right order and if one person isn't it the right place then it could become messy and not look right.

  

2) I developed my skill this week by learning more into my character as we were running the play so I learnt more about my character and how they dealt with Christopher as I missed some information from the script when I first ever run it. I also worked how to distinguish between my main Character Siobhan to being a random person in the street. I did this by making my posture more slouched when I'm someone in the street but if i'm Siobhan I have better posture and a clearer voice. 

3) This week a researched about the Aspergers which is the autism Christopher has and found out what is actually is and how teachers deal with it ( this research is in my 2 earlier posts). This research I have done really helps my character when dealing with Christopher cause i'm his teacher. It has helped in developing my character cause I now know I need to slow down m speech when I talk to Christopher and talk clearly as it is very hard for him to take in what i'm saying at he can't read facial expressions or understand anything that is implied. However I don't treat him like he isn't smart as I now know that he has I sophisticated vocabulary and can be very smart in a certain subject. For example Christopher is very good at maths.

4) This week I think went really well with our run through as each of us made the effort to learn our lines as much as possible. This helped as it made it easier to run. However we need to work on our lifts during the train scene as some of them aren't at the right pass and some look like there going wrong as Carl hesitates when performing them and this could become dangerous also some people aren't in the right place at the right time. To engage the audience more we could also make sure our body language is bolder and we include more movement in a conversation as this could be boring to look at.

5) To improve more we need to make the transition between each scene clearer because at the moment there is no clear movement between the scenes as some people aren't to sure about the scene order. We could also work on the production by starting to add the lighting and props as this will start to make the production to come to life. For example the police having high visible jackets and a hat.

Aspergers Research- teaching a child with aspergers

How a teacher would deal with a child with ASD

People with ASD hate change and find it very difficult to cope with so they have to be prepared in advanced this could be anything from a time change to a complete change on what they have planned that’s day and this could affect them massively. Teachers have to be briefed by parents of the child to help to know what changes affect them most and how to prevent them or prepare for them as much as possible.

Communicating effectively

You need to be:

•   Be as clear in your communication as possible and say exactly what you mean. Anything that you may imply will probably not be understood.
•    Keep your language direct, avoiding the use of double meanings, sarcasm, teasing, complex open questions or subtle jokes, unless you are really sure the pupil understands.
•  Make sure that you have his attention before communicating.
•   Don’t gain full eye contact – this can be difficult for pupils with an ASD.
•  You will need to slow down your communication – allow several seconds for the pupil to process new information and to respond before you give more information, or repeat your request.
•     Check that they understands what they have to do in class or for homework. Processing verbal information tends to be harder for pupils with an ASD.
•    Be patient
• Ensure that there is a planned exit strategy available if a pupil has difficulty regulating his behaviour in class, for example, a quiet room he can go to when stress levels get too high, or a particular quiet area.
•   Avoid confronting an angry/upset pupil by arguing or raising your voice. Many people with an ASD are very sensitive to noise, some finding loud noise physically painful. A raised voice will not help them understand what is wanted. Use a calm, neutral tone of voice – do not shout, or expect him to be able to read facial expression and gesture. Instead try to divert and defuse the situation. 

Aspergers Research- What is Aspergers?

Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) considered to be on the “high functioning” end of the spectrum. People with Asperger have difficulties with social interactions and usually only have a limited range of interests and repetitive behaviour. Having Asperger’s can delay there development of motor skills and this can lead to clumsiness or no coordination. Compared to other forms of ASD, people with Asperger’s don’t have significant delays or language difficulties so even have an advanced vocabulary sometimes in a highly specialised skill. 

The following behaviors are often associated with Asperger syndrome:

• limited or inappropriate social interactions
• "robotic" or repetitive speech
• challenges with nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expression, etc.) coupled with average to above average verbal skills
• tendency to discuss self rather than others
• inability to understand social/emotional issues or nonliteral phrases
• lack of eye contact or reciprocal conversation
• obsession with specific, often unusual, topics
• one-sided conversations
• awkward movements and/or mannerisms

The Curious Incident- 14th October

In this lesson we worked on how Christopher's brain works as he has an autism. We started by walking out our way to school around the class and how long it would take trying to remember all the details possible. We then began discussing our routes and how we didn't notice little things apart from things that effect us personally. This is unlike Christopher as he would notice how many cars drive past and what colour they are. We then looked at metaphors and how it is hard for Christopher to understand metaphors. We did this by looking at a metaphor and explaining it like we would to Christopher which is very hard as he asks lots of questions and you have to say it in simple terms for him to understand. Our groups explanation is in the picture.

Week Review- 13th to 16th

1) This week we worked on the aspect of the production to do with the busy London street and we developed this part of the production using a sound scape and physical theatre we started by Kyle starting with a road work sound and then each off the group joined in with different sounds and phrases that relate to London. We had road works, cars, birds, shouting out and people shouting out as if there on a stall for example I was shouting ' does anyone want any souvenirs'. We then moved, weaving in and out of each other and bumping into Christopher while he reacts in the way Christopher would by barking and becoming very timid. We then all slowed down and watched as Dan is a London drug dealer and approaches Christopher. This create the effect that everyone in London is listening all the time. He then is pushed over and as he falls he is caught and pushed back and fourth will we returned to our seats. Working on this scene helped us to work on our voices and characterisation as we have to show the audience that we are not the same people that Christopher knows but just random people in the street. If I didn't do the right thing at the right time this could give off the wrong effect.

2) This week we worked on a monologue  which is in my blog named 'Siobhan's monologue on Ed'. This Monologue helped me to develop the character of Siobhan as it has helped me to realise that Ed must find it a lot harder then her as he has to deal with Christopher in a living situation and this must be difficult. It also helped to develop my emotion as it showed me that I'm not attached to Christopher as looking after him is my job but I do have a duty of care which I should show in my character.

3) This week we did activities that helped and to research and gain insight into Christopher's mind. We did this by walking through the steps of our way to school this we then discussed how we only notice the things that effect us directly where as Christopher will notice the amount of leave that are on the ground or how many care he sees and what colours. This shows how having aspergus opens your mind up to the world a lot more compared to someone who doesn't have the autism. This also helped Carl the person who plays Christopher as it helped him to see that he needs to open up his mind and understand the little things rather then the whole picture.

4) This week I think we worked really well as we managed to finish blocking the play and are no able to begin polishing it. I would say my strength this week was working on my character and how she becomes a passer by as I change my  body language and my voice to show I'm no longer Siobhan. I know need to work of how I develop my character Siobhan further as It will help me to play her better. One of my Weaknesses is engaging the audience by getting my tone of voice right when I'm narrating as this is through out and we need to keep the audience interested through out. 

5) To develop the play further I think that everyone needs to make all there shapes definite in physical theatre so each shape we make is obvious to the audience and so they understand what is going otherwise there is no point in doing it. I also think that Carl who plays Christopher should play Christopher with a big more inquisitive as he always wants to know everything. I think this will show his autism better as this is how someone with aspergus brain works. I also think that we should talk to the audience more like they are involved in the play for example in the London scene we talk to the them like they are on the street. I think this will keep them more intrigued into what is going on. 

The Curious Incident- 16th October

In the lesson today we started of by splitting into 2 groups where we worked on a change in scene between the tube and the London shop where Christopher buys his map. In our group we used sound scape and used different volumes so that you could hear conversations that are going on. We then joint our groups and added some physical theatre to the piece and what we created is in the viedo attached.I liked how we created the atmosphere of the busy street but I think we could have improved by becoming quieter when Christopher covers his ears. After we finished we started polishing part one and revising our scipts.

Siobhan's monologue about Ed

I feel sorry for the man. Mr Boone has it hard putting up like Christopher. I deal with Christopher every day but I could never do what he does. At the end of the day I get paid Ed doesn't. I could walk away at any time but he can't at Christopher is his son and he will stand by him even if he does do wrong. This is my job but this is his life he can't run away if his scared he's got to stick by Christopher after everything he has been through even though his mother may be back. I sometime struggle to answer some of the stuff Christopher says it must be heart breaking for Ed to deal with this. He may have it hard but he just doesn't know how to deal with Christopher as he lies to him. This may be the right thing in his situation as how do you explain something to a kid like Christopher. Parent like Ed have there children and unknown to them that they may have an autism. They have no warning to this. No training like me and no idea how to handle a child with such difficult problems. It's stressful business and you can see this through there family situation. I try to put myself in Ed's shoes all the time to see what he feels and if he does the right thing but I can't. Ed does the best he can even if it may cause a small lie now to be someone getting really hurt later.

The Curious Incident- 13th October

revolutionarts2016: Improvising off-script - Siobham & Christopher



Today in the lesson we began by creating a devised piece which involved our character and what we think there like off script. The video attached shows what we worked on. I didn't like the way I acted in this scene as I thought that i played my character a bit cold hearted  and think i should have been more sympathetic. After we did this we finished blocking the end part of part 2. finally we finished with doing a monologue on another character and I wrote about Ed from Siobhan's point of view.

The Curious Incident- 7th October

Today we began by looking through the mind maps that did last lesson on the characters of Siobhan, Mr Alexander, Christopher and Mr Shears. we discussed the different ideas that were wrote down and one for Christopher was being selfish but I didn't agree with this as I believe we are the selfish ones as we only think about something that effects us personally where as Christopher thinks about everything that happens around him. We then carried on with part 2 where we included lots of physical theatre which was in the train scenes and tube.

The Curious Incident- 6th October

 we began this lesson by starting to block parts 2. we did this as a group and each time we changed scene people would give input on how they thought the scene should be played. After this we got into groups of 4 and each group had a different character from the play and we began to write down our thoughts on the character. our group started with Siobhan and wrote how she is a very caring person and is a role model to Christopher. This character then moved onto the next group and we got Mr Shears and our group decided that Mr shears is very quite but stands up for himself when he believes he is right. we then got Christopher and this was the easiest character as there was a lot more to talk about as he is the main character. we discussed his likes and dislikes and how he is very intelligent when it comes to maths. we finally had the character of Mr Alexander and we spoke about him being a friendly old man who wants a friend and believe Christoper is his friend. I thought this exercise worked well we were able to learn more about the character and what others may have thought about this characters.

The Curious Incident- 2nd October

In todays lesson we began by watching the video of the play from the national theatre and was looking at the lifts and movements. After this we began to use some of these lifts which included the somersault in the air and Christopher diving into people arms. We then put all the different lifts we had done into a sequence which became one of train stations. In between the lifts we are using role play to create the train station and then when the lifts happen we slow down to make the lift stand out. This created the train station well as it showed how its busy and the lifts shows how Christopher mind would be all over the place. After this we finished of blocking act 1.

The Curious incident- 30th September

Today in our lesson we worked on act one and run through bits of act 1 and worked on the scene where Christopher is searching for his book all around the house and this is being narrated by my character Siobhan. we split into 2 groups and began working on it. in our group we used physical theatre to create the bins outside, sofa, bed, dresser, bathroom cupboard while Siobhan is sitting reading Christopher book. we then joint with the other group and combined our idea. we used there idea of making a stair case for Christopher to walk up and someone shooting him down them when a murder mystery is mention. i thought this was clever as it showed what may be going through Chrisopher's mind rather then just showing what he sees.

Siobhan's thoughts on Christopher

As I have a lot of responsibility over Christopher as i'm his teacher I have to handle Christopher in a certain way. I know a lot about Christopher as I spend a lot of time with him and had the pleasure of reading his book which is very exciting just like him. I think he is also very clever and deserves more credit for his writing as I believe it is very entertaining. He also has a lot of trust in me and listens to me so I try to encourage him to listen to his father about wellington the dog as all he wants to do is become a detective and this could be dangerous for him well-being. I however do worry about Christopher as his dad has a short temper with him and doesn't always tell him the truth which I don't think is right. Christopher needs to be told the truth otherwise it may affect him. He is very intelligent especially in maths and he managed to get his A* in his A level which made me such a proud teacher as it was the first A level taken at our school. I am also impressed by Christopher amazing memory as he manages to remember lots which is useful when if come to learning new things like facial expressions.

The Curious Incident- 29th september

Today in the lesson we began with some trust exercises to build up our confidence in each other. we began by walking round with a partner. one person having there eye closed and one holding there elbow and guiding them and then we let go and had to sense each other. we then began doing some lifts that we wanted to involve in our piece and we worked on these. we then continued with the script from where we left of and added more movement to the scenes. my target for next lesson is to try and involve more movement in what i do as my character.

The Curious Incident- 25th september

Today we began by running what we had so far and running to where we had previously got up to. We then began on our scenes again and all had to create Judy’s house in 2 groups. In our group we created the house with our bodies and as people moved into the house we moved forward to make the house bigger. We did this as we are using minimal set on stage. This created the effect of having different rooms on our stage without a lot of detail having to be shown. My target for next lesson is try to use more physical theatre in the peace to create different effects in the performance.

The Curious Incident- 23rd September

Today we began by adding more movement to a scene where we became a lot faster and more vigorous pushing of each other and projecting each other in opposite directions this showed how aggressive Christopher get when he is faced with someone touching him as he doesn't like it because of his aspergers syndrome. We then got into smaller group creating scene so we could share our idea we then performed them. I was in a group with Carl who plays Christopher and Tom who plays Ed. in our group we worked on the scene where Ed finds Christopher book. we created this by putting Christoper and my character Siobhan in the foreground talking while Ed was in the back ground. this created the feeling that a lot happens behind your back. My target for next lesson is to improve on the scene that we created to make it more interesting.

The Curious Incident- 22nd September

Today we began by creating sound scape which was each of us saying a mathematical equation mixed with movement where we walked around pushing off of each other without touch and covering away doing this 5 times each then cowering in a ball to create a scene which showed Christopher mind this is to go at the beginning of the play. I felt this went well as it showed Christopher trail of thought and what he's thinking about all the time. We then began to act out the script in anyway we wanted  which helped us with learning our characters and also added some mime while the narration took place. My target for next lesson is to distinguish between my character Siobhan’s narration and her direct speech so that I can change my tone of voice so it suits the context i'm in.