Grace Lockyer

Callum’s performance as Basford I felt was really good because Basford is a character that is quite strong-minded. He knows what he wants and his views and opinions are always made very clear. He is strict with the pupils and always gets what he wants. In a scene with Basford and Nixon, they argue over under privileged children and how they seem to have been different opportunities. Basford, being the father of two children who go to the independent school St George’s becomes really defensive. Callum portrayed this by having a really strong posture; standing completely straight. His movements were quite harsh. They weren’t understanding movements which showed that he really believed in his opinions and was adamant he was right. For example, when he slammed his cane on the floor he showed that he was dominant. His voice was very loud and his diction was clear. All of these factors show Basford’s opinions and his position in the argument.

Lighting and Sound - Leah Quinn

 

In my class’ production of Teechers we used lighting and sound a lot throughout. We began the play with a voiceover from the head teacher of the school (the very flamboyant and eccentric Mrs Parry, played my me). This was very loud and obvious to the audience to set the tone of the play which is also very over the top and comedic. The voiceover welcomed the audience or ‘the pupils of the Year Eleven Leavers’ Assembly’ into the hall and was then quickly followed by ‘Common People’ by Pulp which put the play into context as it is about a lot of working class people who aren’t very well off or well behaved. The intentions of this were to show the audience that Whitehall (the school in which Teechers is set) is a very rough school with working class pupils who are quite badly behaved. Throughout the play we kept the audience in the light of the stage and set out the chairs in a round so that the audience was completely surrounding the stage. This is so the audience feel they were really part of the play and they too are vulnerable to attacks from the pupils of Whitehall just as much as the actors playing the pupils on stage. Later on, during the scene at the Christmas disco when Gail is trying to get the attention of Mr Nixon her new drama teacher who she has a crush on, lighting and sound were used to create a very slow, romantic atmosphere. We did this by playing ‘Lady In Red’ which is very slow and romantic as well as spinning the disco ball very slowly so lots of little lights reflected off the walls while the rest of the room was really dark. We did this to build the tension in the room and make the audience believe that Gail had romantic intentions, as in this scene she attempts to kiss Nixon. I believe lighting and sound was used effectively throughout the play in many different ways.

 

Grace Lockyer

Our class production was Teechers. This is about a comprehensive school with a lot of problems such as a lack of funding, undisciplined students and soft teachers. The play shows the journey of a new teacher, Nixon, who the pupils become very fond of, and how he ends up leaving to go to a better public school.

Our performance was done in a round instead of seating them all in rows along one wall. This made our performance a lot more personal and it was easier to communicate with the audience. We wanted the audience to feel involved in the play, not as if they were just onlookers. We tried to improve their feeling of involvement through the lighting. Our lighting was not very dark, as it typically would be, but quite bright. This meant that the actors could see the audience’s faces which meant we were able to look them in the eyes. As the audience felt they were involved, our actions got a better reaction. Also, there was a lot of direct address which if the audience were in darkness, would have been a lot harder to make genuine. We needed to be able to see our audience in order to interact and the brighter lighting enabled us to do that. At one point in the play, a massive boy is meant to come on stage and become a scary pupil. We wanted to create humour by using a contrast and we did this through the sound. We also wanted to create an atmosphere through lighting. We made a voice over of a really low voice making the audience believe a giant guy was going to come on, when instead a small boy came on. This created humour because the audience already had an image of what the boy would look like, so when Ryan came on, it was a complete contrast. When Ryan was talking about how he once locked a teacher in a store room cupboard, there was a spotlight on him which showed that everything was about him and it created tension.

The class play we chose to produce was Teechers. It’s about a comprehensive school with its fair share of problems. A number of undisciplined teenagers go to Whitehall high school. The production shows a new drama teacher arrival, till he leaves. The drama teacher, Mr. Nixon, becomes very close to three individuals at the school, Salty, Gail and Hobby.

A member of our class, Sophie, I thought performed her character brilliantly. She played a big student, with a careless attitude toward everything, tomboy personality and hungry for anything. This character was called Hobby. She was one of the three main characters in the play. This student was best friends with the complete opposite characterizations as her, called Gail. What Sophie did was very impressive to show how Hobby was. She always had a mars bar with her to show her hunger and need for food. When she sat down her legs were wide, like how a boy would sit, and she wore baggy trousers to represent this too, she did this to show what sort of girl she is, and also what sort of things she’s into, as ‘girly girls’ like to wear skirts and possibly tighter trousers. To show her embarrassment toward Gail, she kept rolling her eyes, this is because normally when someone is fed up or annoyed with another, they would roll their eyes, so she tried to portray this to the audience.

Lisbeth

Hannah Ashworth

          Discuss the intentions of your character. How were they shown?

The first scene I was in looked at Nixon the new drama teacher first lesson at whitewall. My intentions for Gail were to show that she did not like Drama but also that she did not like Nixon at first. I showed this by siting back in the chair looking really not interested what Nixon was saying and look like I was not paying attention. Also to show that she was also a flirty character when she was standing explain to Nixon what they had done with the previous drama teacher I kept on putting my hand on my hip to show this to the audience and make my character clear. And to show that she was a bit stupid I changed my voice to show this audience this. I acted this way to make my intentions clear to the audience at what sort of character and person Gail was. The second scene I was is was when Gail was telling Hobby that she was in love with the Drama teacher Mr Nixon and was going to try and snog him at Christmas dance. My intentions for the scene were to show the audience that Gail is infatuated by Nixon. I showed this to the audience by moving around a lot and smiling when I mentioned Nixon to Hobby  and getting all excited when I told Hobby that Gail was planning to try and snog mr Nixon at the school disco. I did this to show to the audience that Gail was completely in love with Nixion.

Callum Ravenscroft

Discuss the intentions of your character. How were they shown?

One of my scenes was when I played Mr. Basford (deputy head) and I was having an argument with Mr. Nixon (drama teacher) over the education system and how all schools should be fair. Mr. Nixon believes that everyone has the right to the same standard of education no matter what the family situation is or how much money is available. However Mr. Basford doesn’t care, as long as his kids have the best education possible. When I played Mr. Basford, I used a cane as a prop. I used this in a way that I walked on it and used it to show anger by pointing it at Mr. Nixon when we were arguing. This is because it shows his aggression towards Nixon and his lack of care that he is invading Nixon’s space and threatening him with a weapon.  I also tapped my hand with it impatiently before the argument got louder and more aggressive. This shows Mr. Basford doesn’t care what Mr. Nixon has to say and is just using his cane to show this to him because he doesn’t think Nixon is worth it until he says something that involves or angers him. Basford also paces around the room while he is explaining his actions to Nixon. He does this slowly and at his own pace to show his authority and power over Nixon. Basford slams a chair on the floor halfway through the argument. He shouts over it at the same time. He loudly shouts and slams the chair to show he is very passionate about the subject and cares an awful lot about the outcome of the argument. It also shows his anger at Nixon and that he wants to beat him because he disagrees with him.

 

 

 

Green- Why

Blue-How

Red-What

bug eyes

Discuss the intentions of my character, how were they shown?

My intentions for the character of which I played (Doug the caretaker) were for him to be a grumpy old git and for him to be like he has got the weight of the world on his shoulders. This being the play “teechers” would have linked in with the fact that Doug was always in a mood and being grumpy because of the kids at whitewall were miss behaving and being rude which rubbed off on Doug the caretaker. He comes onto the stage with an arched back and a screwed up face. Doug shows that he is always grumpy and a git by the tone of his voice and how he talks. He talks like he has just breathed in a load of smoke and like there is something on his chest. I achieved this by putting on that voice by moaning and changing my voice so that the audience would understand who I am and who I wanted to convey across. The reason that I made it so I had an arched back was because then the audience would know that I was old and that old men can usually be grumpy and that is what Doug is like so that is why I made him appear to be old so that it seemed to make sense. Doug didn’t have that much energy so when I was in the stage I tried to make it that I was quite slow and I did that because then it would seem real.