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

Day 1 in St Christophers

Today was the first day we visited the hospice. At first i was nervous as i didn't know quite what to expect and how i was going to feel talking to people who are facing death head on.

When i first walked into the building i noticed that it was calm and quite peaceful. Walking through the cafeteria you could hear small talk and cups clinking. We sat down outside by the pond and i felt at ease. I then had the feeling that my experience would be less intense as i thought.

The first person i spoke to was Daffnie, she struggled with speech which initially was a challenge but the more we spoke the more she and i became comfortable with each other and  able to understand what we were saying. I felt able to ask her to repeat certain things as I'm sure she understood people may not be able to understand her. I'm glad i had this experience on my first day with the patients as i feel more confident to talk to others who may also face difficulties talking.

Here I have written up some key things i learnt from our conversation.

• She was born in Jamaica and came over to england when she was younger.
• She had her nine children with late husband, all born in the UK. Six boys and three girls, all of whom live in the UK now however first daughter is a teacher and lives in Jamaica.
• She loved cooking. Especially rice and peas, chicken and curry. She said how she doesn't approve of the food in the hospice and would cook her own if she could.
• She worked as maternity nurse for around 20 years and loved her job. S
• She would get pregnant have her baby and leave a four month gap before going back to work again with most of her children.
• She visits St. Christopher's around twice a week and lives at home with carers the rest of the time. 
• Her children still come to vista her and support her now.

Something that really stood out for me from today was a statement Daffnie said. She said "what can you do, you live life and then you die" i found this quite hard to respond to as i didn't want to ignore the comment but also didn't want to say anything that may offend her. So i just responded the way i felt was right and said "well you have had 9 children and they will continue on growing and having children that in its self is amazing." It just made me think about life and how we are all eventually going to die. It also made me think about what the patients in the hospice think about heaven or an afterlife, do they believe there is something else after death.

St Christopher's Hospice Research

St Christopher’s Hospice was founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967. It is widely known as the first modern hospice. It provides palliative care of the highest quality to over 2,500 dying individuals each year at the hospice in Sydenham. And in people’s own homes across south east London.


Dame Cicely‘s vision and work transformed the care of the dying and the practice of medicine. The ongoing impact of St Christopher’s clinical innovations and extensive programmes of education and research improve care for dying people nationally and internationally and influence standards of healthcare throughout the world.

• The Anniversary Centre offers a ‘social hub’ for patients and families, and includes a café with internet access and a programme of social events which is also open to the general public
• Extensive planned day care and a range of supportive care services, including creative and complementary therapies and delivered in a variety of settings
• Inpatient and home care multi-professional teams that include social workers, chaplain and spiritual care lead, welfare advisors, psychiatrists, physiotherapists,occupational therapist, complementary and creative therapists, bereavement service volunteers and others

Presentations - Deafintaly Theatre

Exercises

In todays lesson the company got to know each other better as we know its important to feel comftable and able to work within a company. We did serval exercise in cladding the name game, ball game, human knot and colombian hypnosis. I'm going to explain two of the games we played and how i think it benefited me and the group.

The human knot
We began by standing in a circle facing in wards, we observed who was standing to our right and to our left and then crossed our hands over and held the hands of the people next to us. We then had to turn ourselves around so that the whole circle were no longer crossing over but just linked by hands. At first i thought this would be an easy exercise because it seemed fairly straight forward however, it wasn't. Parts of the circle were getting twisted which lead us to have to work to gather to untangle each other wether that be through stepping over each others arms, or moving so that others could have the freedom to move.

I learnt from this exercise i learnt that when communicating together as a group we must all listen to each other but also step back when you think others have the best solution to the problem. This would be helpful during the process of this project as there may be times were we create pieces in small groups and you have a mixture of ideas or have to work together as an ensemble knowing timings and queues etc.

Colombian Hypnosis
In this exercise we paired up with someone from a different strand that we might not know as well, held our hand in front of theres and lead them. Following your partners palm was difficult at times because you had to be aware of the others in the room whilst remaining focused on that one focal point. It was interesting how you had to communicate with your partner non verbally, you find yourself just connecting with that other persons energy and noticing there movements. As a whole i think the group started becoming closer and trusting each other more at this point. I certainly felt more relaxed with my partner after as we had just shared an experience together. Exercises like this are key to developing the companies sense of togetherness and trust.