Evaluation

Overall i believe the show was successful. We managed to pull all of our ideas together and create a piece of work that was able to connect with the patients and able to communicate our experience of the project. The most successful part for me was the tap dance sequence, this is because i think the text combined with the dance gave this moment a rhythm and a beat that made the text come alive. Having a combination of text inspired by the places visited by the patients then also communicated through movement allowed the audience to be taken to those places and feel the fast paced sounds of traveling like trains of walking, busses and people. I also think this was the most successful moment because we created it through improvisation and playing as we originally were going to have the poem separate to the movement, i personally believe that the best work is created through feeling something in the moment or 'creating without thinking' and this is what we did. We didn't think too deeply into the creation of this moment we just played around and let it happen and i believe thats why it really worked.

One thing i believe could have been improved was the way in which we used the patients stories. For example in some cases we would take people's stories and creatively use it like my scripted scene was using Daphne's stories as inspiration, writing a scene which i imagined may look similar to Daphne's household. I didn't put Daphne in as a character nor her actual children she had described instead i created something new, a new world that the audience could invest into. I feel like throughout the piece we switched from creatively using the information to simply reading back the information and i didn't like how the piece (for me) didn't flow. Another example of this is the cat scene, part of that moment was creative and the other part not, as creating the cat through pup petering i believe was creative however the text which was being said during that was something along the lines of 'Dawn loved cats' which is just simply saying we all already knew about Dawn instead they could have created a scene with three cats talking about there owner or got the cat to speak a poem or sing a song etc just something more creative then simply saying what she said herself. 

Another success was the song at the end, i was amazing to see how just spending those days with them had brought something beautiful into there lives and equally had changed our hearts. I was overwhelmed with emotion and proud to think we shared a moment with them which they will remember until they pass. The project has defiantly changed my perception on terminal illness, i know understand more about the process of being terminally il, how that effects the family and the person and also how important it is to fund places like St.Chrisopher's. 

Video Entry

Why I value this project

I greatly value this project as I enjoy creating work that is less selfish. What I mean by this is that often when creating theatre we make work for the sterotypsial audience or work that pleases us whereas this work is based on creating for others that are less likely to have to opportunity to see live theatre. 

I feel like this project has challenged me both creativity and emotionally and I liked being challenged. I also value the patients time and enjoy conversing with them, just being able to discss and share stories has been really interesting. It takes you out of your world and it brings you into there's. Before this project i defiantly under estimated the power of conversation and just being present with someone in the space. I didn't realise how great it could be for people and us just to sit down and chat, relate and share.

Something I value

One thing I really value in my life is my Mum. I have so much respect for her as single parent mother bringing up me and my sister with no finical or physical supper from my father. She has been through so much and yet is the most loving, kind women I know. She has taught me to forgive and to go for my dreams. She has always accepted me for who I am and nurtured my creativity. I value her presence and everything she has given me. 

Devising

In todays lesson we got into small groups and starting working on individual pieces. One group where creating a tap dance another some family moments/still images and more. I was in a group with Tia and Felix were we worked on my wheres my shirt scene. We started off by reading the scene together and having a discussion about what would work and how we could transition between moments. I also gave my ideas about combining a bed moment, a kitchen moment and then the shirt moment. We were in agreeance  that using all three of my ideas would be good. We then got the work on its feet, making still images etc. We used materials we had in the room such as a sleeping bag, at first we were going to do the bed scene on the floor with children waking up and standing but then i thought something more interesting would be to place a bed sheet facing up towards the audience makes a better dynamic and more comical. It created a challenge for us because we had to place the sheet correctly so it didn't look sloppy and looked realistic.


Working with others really helped develop the scene as Felix and Tia brought there own ideas in. It was great to see the piece begin to shape together. We also watched back everyones work which gave me a good insight into what the piece may begin to look like. It was nice to see everyones skills being used from dance to writing to theatre. 

Where's my shirt scene

So i made a video talking about some of my ideas for my scene that i want to write. I find talking on video helpful as i can explain things straight from my head and it feels more like a discussion. It also allows me to reflect more on my work and gives me ideas as i speak. 

Below I've added some pictures of my sketches and mind maps for ideas. I enjoy drawing and writing on paper, it helps me get all my ideas out and then i can pick and choose visually.

I have thought about combining all of these sketches into one scene. So having a waking up moment where the family are in the bed which then transitions into a kitchen scene and then the shirt scene. 










Throughout each moment you could have someone looking for the shirt and then the outcome or the climax is finding the shirt at last.

I also had another idea of creating a hospital scene where women are giving birth, this could be a funny sketch where the doctors are getting things wrong or rushing around whilst the women are shouting at there partners. This also links to Joan's story as she said she said her proudest moment was giving birth to her six children. 

Joan