Shout - Connections assessment

   "Shout" by Alexis Zegerman - National Theatre Connections Script 

 Lots of interesting design choices where chosen to make our version of Shout stand out, mostly the set design, costumes and props. The biggest design choice was the set, where we made it look 2D. We painted the set white and added black outlines to the set pieces which were made up of chairs, tables and benches, even some of the props were painted in this way. This created the right vibe for the show, almost a metaphor about the world in the play.  It was saying the world is black and white with not much room for acceptance of each other and our differences. The costumes differed a lot to show whose character was who; for the cool/athletic kids they all wore rugby shirts and the mean girls wore bright pink and jewellery to show their vanity. The teacher wore smart clothes and lanyards (except the crazy therapist) and the freaks and geeks wore bright, weird clothes. Dana wore black clothes to single her out and show her depressed mindset, while her on-stage friend Viv, wore a save the planet top as they are very conscious about the planet in the show. Everyone else in the background wore muted clothes to show the mundane forward-thinking world around these people. For me, my costume change half-way through, along with a lot of other people, to show the change in mindset at the end of the play. I change from a muted brown top to a brighter pinkish top later on in the show.

In this photo you can see the set design along with the costume design. You can see the big clash against the world and the people in it.  

Mine and Keiran's characters are called Darwin and Billy, we had the challenge of building the world around us as we are a part of the ensemble. Our backstory is that we are the hustlers of the school, both of us come from wealthy families who want to make it their own way in life.  We have fun hustling and we enjoy the power, not to mention the bucketloads of money we are making by ripping off people over MAOAMs. We are the guys who can get you things, a useful duo who sells to everyone, not cool as such but everyone knows us and needs us. Either you like us or you hate us - we don't care because we have you all in the palm of our hands. We are the 1% in the school, the behind-the-scenes elites who control and manipulate. So, to show this Darwin and Billy have put together a business power point.

We have built the world around us, even though we are never mentioned in the play as we are part of the ensemble.  We created interesting dynamics to made up characters that would just seem flat if they didn't have this extra bit of depth. We started out on our character development journey by giving our characters names. We assumed me and Keiran would be friends as we were playing the "students" of the play. So we decided on the name Billy and Darwin (I speak more on why I got my name in my production diaries, 29th Jan, 1st Feb). We wanted mine and Keiran's character to relate to one another so we thought we could come from the same background. 

We could both come from wealthy backgrounds but want to fit in more than ever as people just take advantage of us. We scrapped this idea as we didn't know how to show this in the play, so then we thought why not take advantage of our background, and become the hustlers of the school. We don't need the money we just like the power! 

The National Theatre

The National Theatre is regarded as one of the most prestigious establishments for theatre. It is known over the globe for its outstanding performances such as War Horse, Les Miserables and Hamlet. They have a multitude of creative arts departments to breed careers. The National Theatre company officially launched in 1963 then in 1976 it had a dedicated building. The National Theatre has a fascinating history that reflects the evolving social and political landscape of Britain.

My Evaluation

On this journey I set out to do my best to build the world around me with what little I had been given. I gave myself the task to fully develop my own character which was quite an interesting challenge. I believe I created a fully fleshed-out character of my own which contributed to the world around me, with interesting dynamics. I reflected my character well in the final show using these dynamics. It added to the final show, together myself and the ensemble created a fully fleshed-out world. I used the space well with my part by bringing a big onstage presence, both myself and Keiran worked as an onstage duo as friends in the play which was shown well. I listed and responded well to feedback and others during the show, especially responding well to others and reacting quickly on stage fully in character. My costume was carefully picked to suit the ensemble and appropriately changed mid-way through to suit the change of tone. Myself and Keiran took many creative decisions regarding our story and dynamics with other characters throughout the play. We took to disliking other characters with a backstory to it which created authenticity and a big environment in the scenes. I can acknowledge how myself and Kerian differed from the crowd, by taking an interesting approach to our characters and managed to make an interesting world around us. I reckon my areas for improvement include more focus backstage and adapting better to different spaces such as the wing space at college. Although I did well with using the space I do feel I could have done more to show off my character with my movement and maybe just improve my characterisation in general. I believe for next time I could delve even deeper into character development, why not push myself even further? The evaluation for our work on Shout even recognised mine and Keiran's characters and praised the development we brought to them.