7.10.2014

Now that we have our groups, our sites and most of our research on apples done, we were really in need of getting on the devising, especially discussing our starting points. This was really the first time we got into our space, an abandoned classroom and ex-canteen. This dusty large room might at first look seem like an easy space, no challenging levels or interesting structures, but my group saw it as an opportunity to create something new using the audience as our set. I talked about this idea before, where the audience could stand around the room, so that we performers could create our movements in between the audience, We discussed this today and lead to the inclusion, that if we decide to do this in the end, the audience should have marked places, otherwise planning the piece will be impossible. I still think using the large space to our advantage by having the audience act as our 'forest', or at least have them somehow interact with our piece, will give us the best result.

We also continued to further discuss our theme and what we wanted our piece to be about. It was good for us to finally get to explore our site, since it gave us a lot of ideas how to develop our initial idea based on our stimulus. Our base came from apple being a symbol of giving and friendship. We didn't want to leave there tho, so we started to play with giving and receiving and ended up with receiving help. But what if you do not get any help? Or rather, won't be able to or cannot ask for help? We thought these were very inspiring questions to start on, and when we got into our space Chloe and Jenny noticed that the room used to be a classroom. There was whiteboards and other supplies that directed us to that thought. Bullying came in mind, since it is still something that a lot of students, including me, experience during their school years. It is often not noticed, since children and teens often tend to deal with these things alone, are too afraid to tell anyone or simply don't know how to approach adults about their issues. From this we also lead into depression to be a plausible theme for our piece, since bullying often leads to it and searching for help when you are tired and lost in this emotionless void, is usually not the first priority. This could easily be connected to the 'forest audience', since being sick with depression can feel like you are lost, with no light to guide you.
   Since we want our piece to be movement based, we decided not to really have traditional dialogue or scenes, but rather incorporate a monologue or a poem into our movement piece to build the story. With it we can also create rhythm to the piece, without using too much music, even tho we did think a gentle and simple melody on the background could work. So, right now our main priority is to find a piece that fits in with our site and themes within this week, so that we can properly start devising as soon as possible. We should also start looking at movements that connect to our theme to create a base for our movement piece and make it easier for us to then include the poem/monologue into it.