15. Monologue Assessment

 15. Monologue Assessment

1. Give a synopsis of the play... What is the play? Who is the playwright and when was it written?

The play in which my monologue is taken is taken from is called "Antigone". The character in which I play is called "Creon". Antigone is written by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987). Jean Anouilh started writing plays at age 12. Jean Anouilh was born in Bordeaux, his father was a tailor and his mother a violinist. Jean Anouilh died at the age of 77. Antigone was premiered in Paris in 1944. That is 69 years ago (2013). Antigone is a tragedy; a "tragedy" is "  A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavourable circumstances." This definition is taken from "The Free Dictionary". Antigone is part of trilogy.

The play is set in ancient Greek times. Antigone is a tale love, death and passion. Antigone is the name of a girl who has the heart of man. In the time time when the play was set females where seen less than men; but we all women where seen as inferior to men but we all  know that is not true. The play is based around death, the death of 2 brothers Polynices and Eteocles. The brothers fight is over the throne. In every fight there is a victor; even though in this fight both opponents are dead, the victor is Eteocles. Eteocles is the winner because he gained a proper burial. A proper burial is very important. People at the time believed in three states in the afterlife:

1. Heaven

2. Hell

3. Purgatory

Purgatory is the state between heaven and hell. In purgatory your soul is not at rest. Polynices is in this state because he he did not gain a proper burial.This is because Creon has destined that no one in the kingdom should bury him or surely they will face death. All that Antigone has is her brothers and sisters since her parents are dead, so she decides to be defiant and bury her brother. King Creon is Antigone's uncle. Creon being a man of his word has to act on his word or the people of the kingdom will lose all respect him. Creon sentences Antigone to death but not by his hands. Antigone's prison will be a cave. To make it look like Creon did not kill Antigone he placed food and drink in the cave. This is because the god,s would be angered if he did kill someone.

Creon loves Antigone very much and it pains him that she disobeyed the law but he rejoices on what a stronger mind she has. In this play there is a lot of insect. Haemon, Creon's son is in love with Antigone. He pleads with his father let Antigone free. Creon agrees but is too late, Antigone has hung herself; she rather die by her own hands than at the hands of someone else. This is too much for Haemon and he pulls out his sword and hangs himself.

Creon was warned that his actions will have great consequences. Creon has now learnt his lessons.   

2. What do you know about your character?

- Insight into their childhood (Happy? Sad? WHY)

- How they feel about the characters around them.

- How do other characters view them?

- What do they want to achieve in life?

- What is their dream?

The character that I played was King Creon. He is the father of Haemon, uncle o Antigone, Ismene Polynices and Eteocles, the brother of Oedipus, the son of Jocaster. Creon wants everyone one to be happy. He believes what he says is the truth and he must have the last word. He is scared that he will get things wrong but he does not want to show others around him his human emotions but they tend to have abrupt outbursts. 

He is aware of everything that is, has and will happen in his family. He knows he is one of them and he cares for them deeply. Creon values power more than he values love and the ones around him.

This is shown when he sentences Antigone to go and stay in the cave forever, even though it scares, upsets him and frightens him that he has to do this, but he still does he does not want to loses the respect of the people.

 Creon’s childhood was dysfunctional to say the least, but you should not feel sorry for him as it made him the person he is today.

Here is a poem I wrote about the Afghan girl, I feel it in captures Creon

Her eyes are iconic, they show so many stories; stories which are not supposed to be hers.

They are mystic yet show refrain. She has a story to tell one which some try to hide. She radiates confidence but is so reluctant.

Pain, sorrow, heartbreak but theres still hope. In her eyes I see fear, loneliness. She has seen things done things, that she have never been aware of. Well in the perfect world; but what is perfect.

She's in a great deal of pain but she's silent. Silence is not the best policy. Sleepless nights. What is on her mind? Thats for her to know and no-one to find out!

The type of pain she's in, is the worst. Watching things crumble, fade disappear right in front of your eyes and not being able to do anything about it....

She has cried till she can't cry any more. Her eyes don't even go red any more. The Afghan girl screams and shouts and lets it all out. Everyone sees her yet they do noting. Attempting to doing something but still nothing. You see the truth is the worst poison and thats what she's full of. TRUTH.

It's a scary world, especially when you're on your own. She's not, thats the problem!

There's help out there. No-one seems to understand that .

She's been picked up and put straight down. She's old before her time and her face is about to catch up.

Muted emotion. Thats how they like it. All glitz and glamour, fake but its seems to hurt now.

She wants to be real. Be noticed.

The tears in her give her eyes a glaze of longing lust. A fire which cannot be put out; no matter how hard they try.

Daddy's little girl. Her mind is on a different level. She's always been a rebel; but is she now a rebel of a lost cause. The opinions of the world do not matter, they only leave  a superficial wound.

We all have piece of her in us. The fight we will always have, The dream we think of every time we close our eyes. That determination. That beauty; but is hidden scared to show just a glimpse.

No pain no gain, that’s all she breaths. This is our Afghan girl. This is my Afghan girl.

This is the Afghan girl...

Creon wants to be known throughout the land to every man every woman. He wants his power to be on show to be admired by all. He will take down anyone that is in his way no matter the cause.

3. What directorial decisions have you made about your monologue?

- Voice

- Movement and Staging

- Characterisations

I found it difficult learning my lines so I asked my drama teacher of different ways of how I can learn my lines. Ms Jackson, my drama teacher discussed with ways like writing my lines out on sticky notes and sticking them around my house, contently  reading them, recording myself repeating  the lines, and simply just writing them out agin and again. The way I chose to learn my lines was by recoding me saying them and repeating them a lot and also writing them out. What came to me as I was doing this was that he was on an emotional journey. At the start he started very confident and powerful a true king, all eyes on him he in control. The audience is hooked they feed on every word. He can say and do what every he likes and no one can do anything about it. “ Tis the stiffest iron baked in the fire that’s oftenest seen snapped and shivered” He likes to play about with his words it shows he is educated and is thinking on a different level from everyone else, unique.

As I said before he is on an emotional journey. All that glitters is not gold. It hits him that this is he niece the one who he loves and he’s going to have to kill her it is very hard to get to grips with. This is why he repeats certain words such as “I am no man, she is the man” by reaping the words it sinks in. This just makes him angry, very angry he feels and thinks he is being mocked by her; it’s a plan everyone is in on. No one is one his side.

In the last part of the monologue he is trying to pick himself up. “And summon her, and summon her and summon her” repeating this phrase is his way of collecting his thoughts. He finnaly just brakes down holding in all your emotions are not a good thing. When he stared to let them out he couldn’t stop himself and he finally erupted like a volcano, you never know when they will stop.

There were 3 actors including myself which played King Creon, we all had different monologues and different perceptions of Creon. Junior played Creon as a rapper, words just flooded out of his mouth like a river. Then there was Brandon who played Creon like an army commander very dismissive, powerful and scary.

The way that I perceived Creon was as bipolar, schizophrenic with just a hint of nuttiness.

The definition of schizophrenia is “a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.”  This is shown throughout in many ways. At times it seems like Creon is talking to himself but is just that he has reverted to his own world a place where he feels safe. No can hurt him or mock him, he is loved.

Bipolar disorder “(of psychiatric illness) characterized by both manic and depressive episodes, or manic ones only.”  I play Creon as frantic, I use the pitch, tone, pace  and volume. To increase and decease how frantic he is I played around with pace and tone. When I increased the paced it made Creon seem more nervous, he wants it to end, soon.

By nutty I mean crazy! At times I would smile straight after I had finished shouting to make the audiences feel unease, they do not know what will happen. I found that enjoyable because   you could see the shock in everyone of their faces.

As for spatial proximity I have to maintain a very power status through. I try to limit my moving because Creon is a king. All eyes should always be on him. He only comes down to others levels to give them a confidence boost but he is always in charge, like it or lump it. Spatial proximity is “The state, quality, sense, or fact of being near or next; closeness” I imagined that Creon is talking to council that is why at the end I focus on certain points in the room because that is where I imagined they would be.

I wanted my hand movement to be limited only to emphasis key important words. This is the same for my stance I wanted it to be fixed to show Creons power.

To improved I think I should practise more on when I use loud volumes. It should only be used for key points which are what give it its shocking effect. Over use of it makes it to lose its impact on the audience and myself. When it is not the right time to shout I found myself forgetting my next line. This is why it should be saved and only used with purpose.   

 As I played Creon I grew found of him, he has this innocent side but he feels he has to put on a show for all to see.

To whom it may not concern

You egomaniacal,
egocentric,
egotistic,
one track minded person.

Don’t get me wrong, being one track minded is not a bad thing.
But there are so many different other tracks.
you pretend we do not see them
but they are still there.

No matter how hard you try and pretend it’s not there
it remains there;
staring at you.

Why do you pretend that you’re blind
but yet you have 20/20 vision?

You say and think, “if I don’t see it, it’s not happening”
but the world does not simply stop just for you.

So many things are happening around us
child abuse,
domestic abuse,
gun and knife crime,
kidnap,
rioting,
stereotyping,
drinking and
drug abuse.

Whilst it happens to others you do nothing;
but just pray it doesn’t happen to you,
but if it does just pray and hope that someone has
the kindness in their heart to help you.
Do onto others what you want onto your self

Me, myself and I, is all you seem to care about

Now you can go act like you never read this, never heard this like you always do.

But remember another persons coffin is just a piece of wood to you until it’s your turn…………

I wrote this to try and depict how Greg  Nolan felt when he was not getting any help

Unit 7 Scripted Performance Evaluation

Unit 7 Scripted Performance Evaluation 
This evaluation is about the play titled: Missing Dan Nolan.
My main character is Greg Nolan which is who I will be writing about most of the time. 

The Performance

1. Briefly outline the story of your play (Introduction)

This play  is based on a true life event.It is about a who went missing at the age of 14. He's name is Daniel Nolan but his nick name is Dan. This year 2013 he would be 26 years old. He went missing in 2002 after whilst he was on fishing trip with his 3 friends Joe,Thom and George.Till this day he still has not been found.21 months after Dan went missing human remains a foot to be specific was found;this foot has positively  identified as Daniel Nolan's  This is still an open case. The foot came of naturally which suggest Dan is dead but where is the rest of him.Many people believe Dan went missing but that's not the only possibility not all.The river where Daniel went missing on fishing trip with his friends was searched everyday on both tides for 3 months. 2 large sonar units army where placed on the river, army sonar units and found nothing.Nothing for Dan to have fallen in that unfortunate night.How could he have dodged every boat,every mooring line to get into the main channel to get out out of the mouth of the river.Not being caught on anything would be virtually impossible.This is the sad unfortunate true life story of a fathers anguish, a mothers pain, a sisters loneliness and the loss of innocence of 3 boys. 

2. Describe how you used physical and vocal expression both in character and as the ensemble.

Physical expression
As a character my physical expression had to be strong which was shown by shoulders held up, a strong stance to be a father character.This is because my character was seen as the head of the family who everyone relies on;but on the other hand I also had to show agony,pain,torment,torture and misery because he has just lost his son. On top of all his anguish he still has to compassionate to others. This is why at time my character Greg Nolan at times will just put his head into his hands or have no or little eye contact so others will not see his pain. My character had to be supportive.

Vocal expression
I had to use a clear bold tone because I was in a position of authority been a father.At time the sad side of my character would come out but this was only at intimate moments when he is with his wife. This is because he feels they are going through this together so he feels he can trust her.  At times my character would be care free all must like a child this is because he is in the comfort of his own blood family.

3. Describe how you used the following skills to show your character; Use and control of vocal projections, speech, tone, pace, costume handling of props.

Use and control of vocal projections, speech, tone, pace
With in the first few lines of my character Greg Nolan I had already used Use and control of vocal projections, speech, tone, pace. I used vocal projections at the start because my character was talking to and trying to convince the audience that there was no way that his beloved son could have just fallen into the river.This play consist of actors being characters and narrator at times this switch could be within 2 lines such as my character speaking to his wife or son then coming immediately out of role to talk to the audience then going back to have a conversation with his wife.


Costume handling of props
I did not just have one character, Greg Nolan. I had a total of 5 characters

• Greg Nolan - Father to Daniel Nolan
• A School student- who walks the hall ways
• A member of the bu-gal party- who is drunk and has a conversation with Dan Nolan 
• Part of the shady people-who asked Dan for the time at the bus stop
• Part of the search party-Who helps to put up posters and hand out flyers and help search for Dan

Each person has a different dress sense and style so in turn each character would have a different dress sense and style.

• Greg Nolan- is a father who holds a job which is why he wears a suit and tie
• The school student- wears a white shirt because this is his uniform
• The member of the bu-gal party- wears a jacket/hoodie  because it is cold out side, being the begging of January and  he has a bottle of alcohol because he is still drink while he is drunk
• The shady person- wore  a gloves and a coat because it is cold and wears a scarf to cover his face so he can not be identified.
• The member of the search party- has a missing person flyer with Daniel Nolan on it to help find him. He also wears a shirt because he is doing this in his free time and is probably just coming back from work. He wears a scarf because he is going out in winter 

4. What did you want to communicate to the audience?

The message which I wanted to communicate to the audience was that you should always stick together because you do not know what what can happen to you. Another message which I tried to convey is that people are going to experiment but its safer to do it with friends.  

5. What did you want the audience to leave thinking about? How did you do this?

I wanted the audience to leave thinking about are things always like they seem,we should not always accept what we are told just because it easier we should go out and find the truth.

6. Overall did you perform a role using physical and vocal expressing, staying in role with commitment? Justify your comments.

I think I did because acting is not all about glitz and glamour its hart felt it brings out raw emotions it allows you to become, embrace and embodies someone else.Acting is about reacting.
I put in a lot of effort into my roles. It was the first time i had ever had to learn and use a script  it me see what worked best for me and what I can do to improve. I think all my hard work showed off in the performance because i felt proud of my self and the work i had put in.

Rehearsals

1. Describe in detail how you achieved the following: meeting the brief rehearsing effectively, working relationships with other actors, providing the audience with a theatrical experience.


meeting the brief rehearsing effectively

The brief which we were giving was "You are a local Theatre Company who has been commissioned to perform a scripted play to the public. The success of a play hinges on whether all performers are working towards the same goal. You need to ensure that rehearsals are attend and managed well and that the performance runs smoothly. You must also be aware of what you want the audience to gain out of the performance."
The word effectively means "Producing a strong impression or response; striking" (sourced from "The free Free Dictionary"  I think the brief was meet effectively because we were doing what we love so we gave it all we had to try and d our best.

working relationships with other actors
The main actor I worked along side was Amanda Annang who plays the wife of my main character Pauline Nolan. I have worked with Amanda in previous performances so i felt glad and comfortable working with her again. I also worked along side Charline Appiah who I have worked with before and is a close friend of mine and I am overwhelmed to to have her as a friend she played my daughter Clair Nolan. I was also working along side Junior Avelino who play my son Daniel Nolan. As a group we played a family and I feel we became one. I Worked with other actors as well but these are ones i work closest to in rehearsals because we were all in the same scenes. 

providing the audience with a theatrical experience
We are a theater company with a paying audience so what ever we did we had to bear in mind people had paid to come and watch us.So we gave it all we had. The Oxford Dictionaries definition of "Theater" is  "a play or other activity or presentation considered in terms of its dramatic quality" . My definition of experience is "an event which has an impact on an impact on a person". If you put these two definitions together my definition of a "Theatrical experience" is "A play,activity or other presentation of high quality which has an impact on a audience and the actors in the play".From this definition I think we provided the audience with a theatrical experience.

2. Discuss and evaluate the following: How did you communicate the themes within the play and the roles that you played?

How did you communicate the themes within the play
The themes within the play were:

1. Things are always what they seem
2. Things are always what they seem
3. You stick together when you go out
4. You are going to experiment but do it safely

They where communicated by:

1. Things are always what they seem- This was communicated in the first few scenes when Greg and Pauline were addressing the audience and telling how there was no way that there beloved son could have just fallen into the river. 
2. Things are always what they seem- this was also communicated in the first few scenes but Greg and Pauline felt all the clairvoyants and other professions where trying to convince them to believe that they should just accept that Dan feel into the river and is now just out at see.
3. You stick together when you go out- one of the factors in Daniel Nolan's disappearance was that he was left by himself after he and his friends have been drinking maybe if they had stuck together Daniel Nolan would be here today 
4. You are going to experiment but do it safely- Pauline and Greg set up a charity,In the last scene we discussed that it is okay to experiment with things and it is likely to happen but it is better to do it as a group.  

the roles that you played

Greg Nolan - Father to Daniel Nolan.He is in his 40's and has just lost his son but does not know what actually happened to him but he tries to stay strong

A School student- who walks the hall ways.This person is between the ages of 11-16 and is a school student who most probably sees Dan daily.

A member of the bu-gal party- who is drunk and has a conversation with Dan Nolan 

Part of the shady people-who asked Dan for the time at the bus stop and walks away when he finds out no bus is coming

Part of the search party-Who helps to put up posters and hand out flyers and help search for Dan this person is of working age and is helping out in his spear time 

3. What were the strengths and weaknesses of your performance? Of the group’s?

I  think my strengths where that I was able to become come the character by this i mean I was able to react to what others where doing even tho i was not the center of attention at the time.

I think a weaknesses that I had as an individual and as a group was that we took to long to learn our lines.One the other hand we now know what suits us best in terms of how to learn our lines.

A strength we had as ensemble we all embodied our characters and we helped and supported each other. The One the reasons our Performance was a success was is because we had Great and special director Ms Jackson, who helped us and put in time.

Evaluation of GCA Drama Festival Performance - Historical Event

12. Evaluation of GCA Drama Festival Performance - Historical Event

Evaluate YOUR GROUPS assessment performance discussing…

- Did your group communicate an educational and unbiased message?
I think my group did communicate an educational message that cuts are deeper than  they seem because, because of what happened to in the case of Victoria Climbe murder there have now been changes all across the bored in education, safety of children,policing , social services and protection against vulnerable people.

my understanding of being biased is to be one sided
the dictionary.com says unbiased is "not biased or prejudiced; fair; impartial."

You could say that we did convey a biased message because we we're all of around the same age of Victoria when see died and her are murder was local.
 At the same time you could we conveyed a unbiased message because we where not aware of the case because we where still very young when it happened and we did not make up what happened to her.

- Was your performance pitched for a target audience (i.e. teenagers? etc.)
I do not think we had a pacific target audience because the purpose of our play was more to inform people about a historical event.For this reason we had to make the performance understand able for all

- Did you use drama techniques such as; narration, freeze frames, interaction with the audience, split scenes?
I think we used quite a few drama techniques such as
split screens - in the airport scene where Victoria was being picked up
narration-in the funeral scene
sound scape- the first scene
thought tracking- when the social worker voiced his thought
emotive dance- turning of the backs

- What were your personal strengths and weaknesses in your performance?
I think a personal strength for me was being able to take a directorial role and get everyone in my group involved and interested in what was happening as well as keeping them informed 

i think a weakness me personally was being able to take on the the character in the way in which they move. I feel for the character to have been more believable.

- Describe what changes you made to the material to help develop and strengthen your performance?

A change to material which I made was to make the judge say a pro-log explaining in some detail about what happened in the case of Victoria Climbe; I also made Amanda & me who played Carl Manning & Marie Therese Kouao speak about how the life of Victoria Climbe has made reforms in certain sectors

- Discuss how you feel the audience responded to the performance?
I think the audience was affected by the performance,It made them think about what they could of done if they were aware of what was happening and it also made them reflect on if it is happening  in society today.In some scenes some audience members where crying  because they felt the pain and emotion which we as an group tried to convey.

- As an ensemble, what were the strengths of the performance and what were the weaknesses?

Making it seem realistic whilst having a creative flare was at the heart of the performance. Drama is another medium of expression for me and others. Victoria Climbé is a real person, whom suffered a tragic event. It has effected so many people and measures have even been put into place so this never happens to any child agin. It's truly remarkable all the change which has been caused by this historical event but it's a shame that a young girl had to die for this change to occur.

I felt it was really important that no matter what creative style we took on that the message of what actually happened was kept and passed on to the audience. This is where the scence which I call "turning of backs" came into hand. In this scence we see the key workers that all could have helped to prevent the death of Victoria turn their backs on her as she came running for help. I feel this is one of the strengths of the ensembles performance. It portrayed what actually happened in a dramatically poetic way. I even had members of the audience come up to me and say that they cried at this scence.

I feel one of the weakness of which the ensemble had was scence changes. There was a lot of events going on this performance which caused for many scence changes. I feel that we took to long to change scence which could have caused audiences members to tune out. In our next preformance we should practise scence changes to perfect this. 

Taking on any character fictional or non-fictional is quite a difficult task to uptake, but never the less I fell this was one of the strengths of the ensemble. Each member took on their character with great ease, this is probably because of the independent research they did into the version of events.

Evaluate the REHEARSAL PROCESS and YOUR OWN CONTRIBUTION…

- Was everyone in the group contributing and reliable in rehearsals?

In the group I was in we wanted everyone to contribute. At the start we brainstormed ideas which we had and knowledge that we had about the case of Victoria Climbe. We gave everyone the opportunity to contribute when we have having group discussions. Some ideas which came up were:

·         Her age

·         Her background i.e. (where she came from, who she live, why she was in the UK etc.)

·         What kind of measures were put in  to place because of Victoria Climbe

·         Why she was being abused

·         Who was in contact with her while the abuse was going on

In rehearsals we tried to do as much work as possible, some people were not able to attend every rehearsal but they still contributed. In rehearsal is where we polished the scenes such as staging and the movement and behavior  In rehearsals the people that where there where reliable because we showed the other actors who were not there what we have done and if we had made and changes to benefit the performance .The rehearsals were productive. Some of the actors in the group where shyer than others but we as group tried to help and boost their confidence.

- What did you contribute to the performance?

One of the parts of the performance which I contributed to and directed was the open scene. I used the djembe drums to set the atmosphere. It was a gradual slow pace, to set a scary place.

In the performance I played more of a director role. Me and another member of the group sat down outside rehearsal times and wrote an outline of what was going to happen in each scene. This outline was the base of our performance because we as a group knew where to go to what would happen next and if we forgot anything we could just check

I was the one who picked the songs for the emotive movement scene and funeral.

 I also did research into the case of Victoria Climbe. To find out about her background and what had happened in the past

- Describe your character and what decisions you made about your character?

This is the character profile of Carl Manning the boyfriend of Marie Therese Kouao, whom where both responsible for the murder of Victoria Climbie who was in their care.

The name of my Character is Carl Manning
Carl Manning is 28
Manning's occupation is a Bus driver
Mr.Manning fits into this play because he is one one of the main abusers of Victoria Climbie
Manning is currently serving a life sentence
I would describe Carl Manning as a "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" character because Jekyll and Hyde had split personalty,this could be said for Mr.Manning because in front of professionals like social workers he could be seen as the most caring person but behind closed doors he's a monster.
Manning is still quite a young man in his late 20's.He would probably think he is better/has power over people so he should walk whit his head up but not so up he is seen to be wealthy or royalty
I want the audience to know that Carl Manning was one of the main the cause of the death of Victoria

My character is quite aggressive,which i had to convey to audience.I also had to act as if I was on a pedal-stool ; this mean better than anyone one else and to be in my presence was an honor   

- How did you organise music, lighting, props and costume?

We only used music to create an atmosphere such and the start we used  djembe drums to set a mysterious atmosphere, with the booming beat the audience could gain an understanding of how Victoria Climbe felt coming to a new place and being abused.When the drum got faster it was try to create a feeling of running.

In the emotive dance piece we used Jessie J-who you are because the song seemed to describe what was going on through the performance

we also used read all about it part 3 by Emile Sande I used this because funerals are supposed to be sad scenes but also a place for reflection

if we had used too much music it would have diluted the message

for props we used fake flours chairs and wooden blocks. During  rehearsals we found out that if we use too many blocks it made scene changes longer which could be distracting;from this we decided to use fewer blocks and more chairs which made it more easier to remove and made it possible for the audience  to see more

For costume we black and character specific clothing such as:

• The judge wore formal black suit
• Marie Therese Kouao wore African clothes
• the social worker wore formal clothes 

we tried to wear black to keep it natural

For lighting we used a spot light for when characters where doing monologues so all the concentration was on them;also they where center stage
  

- Did your group all work as a team? If not why not?
As a group we tried are best to get all the work that needed to be done,but so actors withdrawn  themselves from the group sometimes they where just fed up of things that where happening around them that had nothing to do with the rehearsals;but when this happened as a group we would take a brake from rehearsals and discuss what is happening. within a few minutes we would be back to rehearsals

- What obstacles and problems did you face? How did you overcome these?
An obstacle which we faced was that we keep on repeating what had been done already,by this I mean when we got a scene right we would stay on it and keep on repeating it.I am not saying that this is a bad thing but at the same time we had other scenes to be working on. We overcame this by recognizing we had more to work on,his happened when everyone seeing what we had left to do which also made the actors work faster.


 - How might you prevent the same problems in the future from happening in the other units and for other group tasks?
I think next time to over come this problem we will make a time schedule so we know how long we have left doing the scene we are.I think this would benefit the group a lot so we can add more or take some out.

Character Profile:Carl Manning

Character Profile:Carl Manning

This is the character profile of Carl Manning the boyfriend of Marie Therese Kouao, whom where both responsible for the murder of Victoria Climbie who was in their care.

The name of my Character is Carl Manning

Carl Manning is 28

Manning's occupation is a Bus driver 

Mr.Manning fits into this play because he is one of the main abusers of Victoria Climbie

Manning is currently serving a life sentence

I would describe Carl Manning as a "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" character because Jekyll and Hyde had split personality ,this could be said for Mr.Manning because in front of professionals like social workers he could be seen as the most caring person but behind closed doors he's a monster.

Manning is still quite a young man in his late 20's.He would probably think he is better/has power over people so he should walk whit his head up but not so up he is seen to be wealthy or royalty

I want the audience to know that Carl Manning was one of the main the cause of the death of Victoria Climbie but other people could have stop it as well

Moral: DO NOT BE A BYSTANDER  

  

Victoria Climbie: Chain of neglect

Victoria Climbie: Chain of neglect

Victoria had 128 injuries

By Sue Littlemore BBC education and family correspondent

Victoria Climbie was born in November 1991 in the Ivory Coast.She died in February 2000 in London aged eight. To escape the poverty of Africa , her parents entrusted her to her great aunt who brought her to Europe.Victoria was tortured to death by that great-aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and the woman's boyfriend Carl Manning.But Victoria need not have died.

Victoria came from the Ivory Coast

Police, doctors, social workers all had contact with her while she was being abused.Victoria's parents attended almost every day of the public inquiry into why the child protection system failed so miserably.At times the details of Victoria's 128 injuries were too much for her mother Berthe to bear.The inquiry was chaired by the former chief inspector of social services, Lord Laming. The interrogation of witnesses by barrister, Neil Garnham exposed a picture of incompetence and error at every level.Medical failuresTwo senior doctors failed Victoria.When consultant paediatrician, Dr Mary Schwartz, saw Victoria at the Central Middlesex Hospital, she decided her cuts were due to the skin disease scabies.Victoria was sent home to her abusers. Dr Schwartz told the inquiry she assumed social services would investigate further.

I feel devastated and saddened that we failed to protect her Dr Mary Schwartz

She said: "I feel devastated and saddened that we failed to protect her and I was not more pro-active in doing things."Two weeks later Victoria was back in hospital - this time the North Middlesex.Consultant Dr Mary Rossiter felt Victoria was being abused but she confused colleagues by writing "able to discharge" on her notes.Victoria was again sent home to her abusers. Dr Rossiter told the inquiry: "I have thought about Victoria on a daily basis... and I feel very distressed that I did not keep up to my own standards."Cardigan squadMetropolitan police officers also failed Victoria. Child protection work in the police has had low status. Teams have been nicknamed "the cardigan squad" or "the baby sitters".The inquiry heard how PC Karen Jones failed to inspect Victoria's home for fear of catching scabies off the furniture.

Victoria's mother Berthe found some evidence difficult to bear

She said: "It might not be logical but I did not know anything about scabies."Lisa Arthurworrey was Victoria's social worker and one of a number from Haringey Council blamed for failing her.Ms Arthurworrey feels she has been made a scapegoat.At the inquiry she painted a picture of child protection in Haringey as chaotic, with workers in conflict. She attacked several colleagues and described supervisions with her boss, Carole Baptiste.She said: "Ms Baptiste used most of the time to talk about her experiences as a black woman and her relationship with God."ResponsibilityCarole Baptiste became the first person ever to be prosecuted and fined for failing to give evidence to a public inquiry.When she did eventually cooperate, she criticised her junior, Ms Arthurworrey , but also admitted she had not read Victoria's file properly.Ms Baptiste asked Victoria's parents to forgive her.

Carl Manning: Jailed for life

Gurbux Singh was the chief executive of Haringey council for 11 years.The former chairman of the commission for racial equality was in charge while his social workers failed to rescue Victoria.He told the inquiry he did not feel personally responsible for Victoria's death. He said he had thought long and hard but he was "not actually sure what else we could have done."The people who did try to save Victoria were not professionals.ReformEsther Ackha is a distant relative of Victoria's great aunt , Marie Therese.Esther told the inquiry she made two anonymous calls to Brent council reporting fears for Victoria's safety.Nothing effective was done.Priscilla Cameron was Victoria's childminder. It was Priscilla and her daughter, Avril , who had Victoria admitted to the Central Middlesex Hospital - only to get her wounds diagnosed as scabies.The chairman of the inquiry, Lord Laming , delivered his report to ministers three weeks ago.He has promised to make recommendations to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.The hope is there will be effective reform.The risk is without real change his words become a well-meaning cliche.

victoria climbie

scene 1:Victoria's monologue, emotive theater,physical theater,sound movement ,flash back

this scene will start with the court scene of Victoria's anti and anti's uncle.

scene 2:In this scene we see Victoria's parents saying goodbye to her as she enters the plane in the background the song beneath your beautiful by Labrinth should be playing to set the scene  

scene 3: anti and boyfriend are traveling to the airport to go and collect Victoria

boyfriend stays in the car.Anti is told that Victoria was a good child but was picky

scene 4:waking up of Victoria , boyfriend will not let Victoria have breakfast because they are late for church anti tries to persuade him but she is unsuccessful 

scene 5: Walk into church LATE everyone is looking at them, boyfriend is embarrassed.

pastor says anyone who sleeps in church is a which. Victoria is caught sleeping ( exoticism)

scene 6:social worker come and check on Victoria's welfare, Victoria lies( interactive monologue from Victoria anti and uncle, they abuse her as soon as social worker leaves. Victoria goes to her room (who you are by Jessie J is playing) movement to the song everyone is part of this.Victoria is eventually killed  

scene 7: flash forward to court where they are found guilty

scene 8: funeral parents are there (Alica keys brand new me is playing)

BLACK OUT SONG STILL PLAYING 5 SECONDS

WHOLE TEAM STEPS FORWARD AND SAYS A FEW LINES ABOUT 

-VICTORIA HAD 128

-VICTORIA WOULD 22 YEARS THIS YEAR

-VICTORIA WAS ONLY 8 WHEN SHE DIED 

-Police, doctors, social workers all had contact with her while she was being abused

-VICTORIA'S PARENTS ATTENDED EVERY DAY OF THE TRIAL

-

-IF YOU SEE SOMEONE IN TROUBLE OR BEING ABUSED SPEAK OUT

_DONT SUFFER IN SILENCE (EVERYONE SAYS THIS THEN DROPS)

IM GOING DOWN IS PLAYING BLACK OUT AND A SCREAM FROM ALL THE CAST
THEN http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=xH_lX2pKVeQ AND EVERY WALKS OFF WHILE LIGHTS ARE FLICKERING