blogs – Breaking Stories Theatre Company

Time To Say Goodbye To The Bogus Woman

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 Charlie Jane Doherty

Before I signed up as Head Technician, I did not realise how much tech (lighting, sound and projection) was going to be required in this performance. With the help from Kate and Jess and the support from the other girls, I feel that I have managed to stay in control of it all.

This process has been a learning curve for me. I have realised that I physically cannot do it all and that asking for help from members of the team is not a weakness, in fact it is a powerful mechanism when working as a ensemble. As Head Technician I have tried my best to keep organised. For example, before the tech day I made sure that all the cues were written down on separate documents as I knew that I could not plot the lighting, sound and projections all by myself as that would be a waste of time so I needed Kate’s assistance. Before we started the tech, I met up with Kate to go through the documents as I wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing when it came to plotting the sound and projections as I did not want her to feel incompetent.

Unfortunately, due to some changes with the technical requirements and confusion with the props, the dress run did not go as well as we hoped. During this, Jess was calling the show as well as operating the sound and projection cues as well. She was doing really well until scene nine came and a piece of music started to play instead of a voiceover; this threw her a bit but she managed to keep it together. In order to keep the dress run going while Jess and Martin had to resolve the technical mishap,Jess had asked me to carry on with operating the lights. When Jess resumed her role of calling the lighting cues to me, I reassured her that she was doing a good job as she sounded flustered and upset with herself.

To prepare myself and Jess for the show after the dress run, we went through all the technical cues. This was to make sure that we both had the same ones written down. Before the show I was nervous as anything but gradually throughout the performance my anxiety decreased. I think it was the excitement of all our our hard work coming together that made my nerves disappear. I am very proud of this company and I have enjoyed every moment working with these women even during the stressful times.

Life As An Immigrant

May 24, 2014June 2, 2014 Francesca Maria Izzo

Immigrant: ‘A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country’ (Oxford University Press, 2014).

The news constantly reports of ‘illegal immigrants’ who attempt to enter the UK in order to seek a better life. However, they hardly inform the public of the reasons why they are desperately trying to escape from their country, and instead report the cost and problems it creates for the UK. This then influences the view of the public who reads and listens to these specific articles who are against immigrants. Therefore, the immigrant’s stories are not told and as a result, it creates a bias and unfair view. In a recent article by the BBC, ‘Dover-bound migrants filmed sitting on lorry axles’ (BBC, 2014), it explains how immigrants are risking their lives in order to enter the UK. Is anyone questioning why they are going to these extreme measures? As they are poor and desperate to escape, they cannot afford to get the legal documentation to enter the country legally or afford flights to enter safely. As a result, some use fake passports or enter the UK through dangerous circumstances, for example, risking their lives on make shift boats and vehicles entering the country.

The Telegraph last year reported how many illegal immigrants were entering the UK and the cost for public service, such as the NHS, ‘the total cost to the public purse could be up to £3.7 billion a year, based on previous estimates which said there were as many as 860,000 illegal immigrants in the country’ (Barrett, 2013). Instead of helping the immigrants, the government came up with a campaign to prevent illegal immigrants coming into this country:

illegal immigrant photo — Rick Findler (2013) The government’s controversial “Go Home” advertising vans targeted illegal immigrants earlier this year

It is headlines and campaigns such as these, which put immigrants in a negative light. As the article doesn’t explain why immigrants are escaping from their own countries, it causes the public to receive a one sided view without hearing the other side to the story. These articles therefore influence social media. For example, on Facebook, there are numerous pages who name themselves ‘Britain First’ and ‘We Love Great Britain’ and share photos and opinions on their views on immigration such as:

i am british and proud fb group — We Love Great Britain (2011)

However, these views are not always necessarily correct.Groups such as ‘Another Angry Voice’ inform the public of the truth behind the headlines.

britain first — Another Angry Voice (2014)

Therefore our aim for the performance, is to inform the public of the other voices and views which are are not directed through newspapers and news articles which are bias and only portray negative stories. Instead we tackle the controversial theme of immigration through an immigrants story and point of view, to make the audience aware of the truth.

Work Cited

Another Angry Voice (2014) Britain First Are Lying To You. [facebook] 20 May. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Another-Angry-Voice/185180654855189?fref=photo [Accessed 23 May 2014].

Barret, D. (2013) Illegal immigrants cost taxpayer more than £4,000 a head each year. [online] The Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10417222/Illegal-immigrants-cost-taxpayer-more-than-4000-a-head-each-year.html [Accessed 24 May 2014].

BBC (2014) Dover-bound migrants filmed sitting on lorry axles. [online] London: BBC. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26682326 [Accessed 23 May 2014).

Findler, R. (2013),The government’s controversial “Go Home” advertising vans targeted illegal immigrants earlier this year [online]. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10417222/Illegal-immigrants-cost-taxpayer-more-than-4000-a-head-each-year.html [Accessed 24 May 2014].

Oxford University Press (2o14) Definition of Immigrant in English. [online] Available from:http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/immigrant?q=immigrant [Accessed 24 May 2014].

We Love Great Britain (2011) Share If You Want To End Mass Immigration. [facebook] 11 May. Available from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=290840437745541&set=a.233796026783316.1073741828.228961897266729&type=1&theater [Accessed 24 May 2014].

Is The Woman Really ‘Bogus’?

May 22, 2014June 2, 2014 Francesca Maria Izzo

‘Bogus: Not genuine or true (used in a disapproving manner when deception has been attempted)’ (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Throughout the play, the Young Woman’s story is doubted and she is branded a liar by the English authorities. The interrogator in particular doesn’t believe her story when she is being asked questions about her family and the events which happened in her own country, ‘I would suggest you are lying […] I would suggest your whole story, the killing of your family the rape is nothing but a pack of well- schemed lies’ (Adshead, 2001, 84).

The reason for this doubt and disbelief is because the authorities have heard similar stories numerous times before from other immigrants, ‘you see sadly we’ve seen and heard it all over the years in these proceedings’ (Adshead, 2001, 87). Unfortunately, because of this, the Young Woman ends up being deported back to the country she came from and killed, presumably by the same ‘soldiers’ who killed her family.

However, the woman descriptively informs the audience of the events which unfolded in front of her, making them aware of the truth and demonstrating that she isn’t lying. Through playing this character, it has made me realise the struggle immigrants and refugees go through in order to try and seek a better life. Not only have immigrants had to endure a painful and disturbing way of life in their country, but they then have to relive it every time they are interrogated and questioned by authorities. I hope the performance opens the audience’s eyes in the same way and changes their perspectives on immigrants.

To help me successfully convey the story of the Young Woman and understand the character in more depth, I needed to create a history for her. Therefore I created a character profile: Character Profile Young Woman

As well as this, I went through the script and looked at the relationship between the Young Woman and the other characters to determine how to speak and react to the individual characters. This helped me identify who was helping and caring for her and who wasn’t. For example, Clarissa Merchant only provides somewhere for the Young Woman to stay to make herself look good.

Looking into the development of characterisation, I decided to choose two of Stanislavski’s techniques: Acting Style

Once I established the character’s objectives and acting style, I watched The Immigrant (James Gray, 2013). Set in the 1920’s, Ewa and her sister sail to New York from Poland in search of a new life and the American dream. Unfortunately their plan doesn’t work and after officials discover her sister has lung disease they are separated. Ewa then seeks refuge in Bruno who lets her stay at his house where he makes her a dancer and prostitute to help her earn money to send to her sister for medical care. The film demonstrates the struggle and extreme lengths immigrants go to in order to survive and accomplish a better life.

Watching The Immigrant enabled me to study how Ewa acted in certain situations. Playing the Young Woman in our performance means thinking about how the woman represents herself and how she reacts to certain people. Ewa immediately distrusts and dislikes Bruno and hates him and herself for going into prostitution. I think this is how the Young Woman would feel in The Bogus Woman (Adshead, 2001) as it has become a last resort for her in order to earn money. She would feel ashamed as she has come from a respectable job and family, to living in squalor and selling her body. The Young Woman quickly learns that most of the people she meets are out to help themselves rather than her, for example Clarissa Merchant, who only helps the young woman and other people in her situation to make herself look good.

This week I have tried to incorporate the character’s objectives and mannerism into the rehearsals. The rehearsals mainly consisted of running lines and going through scenes slowly step by step. As a performer, repeatedly acting the same scene helps me to learn my lines and the order of the play. We also ran cue to cues to help us learn our exits and entrances. As the play is made up of a lot of scene changes, one of the main challenges I’m currently facing, as a performer is the ability to remember which scene is next. Therefore, we are going to use this cue-to-cue exercise as a warm up at the start of every rehearsal.

Work Cited

Adshead, K. (2001) The Bogus Woman. London: Oberon Books Ltd.

Oxford University Press (2o14) Definition of Bogus in English. [online] Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bogus [Accessed 22 May 2014].

139 Cues Later and Our Stage is Almost Set For Monday

May 22, 2014June 2, 2014 Charlie Jane Doherty

Yesterday was the tech day; this is where we finally saw all the company’s hard work coming together at last. As Head Technician this was a stressful part of the process for me but it was a pleasure too.

The day begun by setting up the stage, the first thing to come down was the Cyc; this has to be moved a bar forward to create the silhouette/shadow effect for the doctor scene. It is important that there is room for Fran and Kate as they have to perform behind it. It has to be clear at all times throughout the performance as the actors use it as a pathway to get to the other side of the stage.

(Scimeca, 2014)

To make the day seem less stressful for myself, my technical assistant: Kate and our stage manager: Jess. Before the tech I had gone through the entire script and typed up all the lighting, sound and projection cues so it was easier for all of us to follow and plot the technical aspects that was required within our performance.

As I am operating the lighting for our final performance, I decided to plot the lights with Will (one of the LPAC Technicians). Before we went up to the tech box, myself and Jess helped Will focus some of the lights; this was so that the company but mainly the actors could get a feel for where their light was and how it would appear on stage. While we were rigging and focusing the lighting, Kate with the help from Martin another LPAC Technician was transferring all the sounds and all the projections to QLAB. However this did not go as well as we had planned; it turned out that the projections were not compatible with the software due to it being a different system (pc to mac) therefore Martin had to convert the files in order for them to work on QLAB.

During the plotting of the lights, if I was unsure or needed a second opinion on the appearance, the colour or intensity, I would ask the rest of the girls for their opinions. Generally I would show them what I had plotted and then I would listen to their viewpoints, alter the lighting to what they had said and then show them the alternative option. As a company we would vote for what we thought was the best design; usually everyone was in agreement.

(Scimeca, 2014)

After all the lighting was plotted and programmed in the system I asked Will to go through all the cue numbers with me so I could type them up during the rehearsal after this so I could pass them on to Jess in order for the book ready to call the show.

During our rehearsal, our producer Beth introduced me to Excel with her assistance we managed to type up all 100 lighting cues, and in my own time I did the same with all the sound and projection cues. This was mainly for myself and Jess to mark up the cues in our scripts ready for the performance on Monday.

Scimeca, D. (2014) University of Lincoln:Lincoln.

Recording The Voiceovers

May 20, 2014June 2, 2014 Charlie Jane Doherty

As a company one of the dilemmas we faced was the concern of performing certain scenes in the play. We did not want our audience to get bored with the Young Woman as her character is vital to the narrative. We also feared that these scenes may be too offensive for our audience members who are not used to watching a performance as hard hitting as this one. To rectify this complication, we came to the decision of recording these scenes as voiceovers.

We thought the words to these scenes were enough for the audience to handle, this way they could listen to these scenes and conjure up images themselves using their imaginations.

It was my job to sort out the voiceovers; with the help from a media friend I booked out a radio studio, devised a plan of what scenes I needed to record and then recorded all the ones that the company had decided to make into an audio track for the performance. Unfortunately, during the editing process I discovered that the audio sounded muffled in places and had a slight echo in the background. The reason behind this was the fact that the radio studio was rather large and I foolishly did not use the sound proof screens to avoid the sound going into the dead space.

The next time in the radio studio (16^th May) I made sure that myself and Kate blocked as much dead space out as possible by barricading the actors with the sound proof screens; this seemed to stop the echo and the muffled sound during the playback of the audio.