Drama Journal 2020

Collaborative Performance and updates (29th January – 19th March 2020)

(Originally there was a page here that described the process of creating this performance. Upon review however, it appears the the page is missing. Ah well, here we go again.)

This performance required us to work together on all aspects of a performance as well as performing it together. Unfortunately groups could only have a maximum of six members so Audrea had to perform by herself. After much debate about what the performance would be, we all thought of one word each and put them into a pile (For example the words ‘kidnap’ and ‘dream’ were entered). We also had trouble writing the script because of the increased workload as well as confusion seeing as many group members such as Sokula and Lynn had never written a script before.

As for the plans:

Words: Dream, Kidnap, Alone, Light

Plot

• A couple gets separated after falling asleep
• One of them attempts to figure out where the other is, eventually goes into dreams
• The other tries to escape the dream
• One wakes up, and the other one doesn’t wake up

Characters

• Husband – Lynn
• Wife – Sokula
• The sandman – Thomas
• Bad People (x3) (Nightmares) – Micah, Tanveer, Sean

Scenes

• Scene 1
• Bar scene (Tanveer)
• Scene 2
• Husband meets detective (Micah)
• Scene 3
• Abusive Dad (Lynn)
• Scene 4
• Homeless person (Sokula)
• Scene 5
• Drill sergeant (Sean)
• Scene 6
• Sandman/ Doctor reveal (Thomas)

Setting

• Modern clothing
• Night

Elements

Costume

Husband- White shirt, and black pants, the white and black symbolises the discrimination of the times, while also contrasting each other. This means that the constant state of contrasting mirrors what may and may not be true for the husband. White also relates to the wife’s clothing, and the theme of marriage which the husband wants.

Wife- White, because it symbolises purity, and idealism. Because she is the ideal girl that husband wishes he could marry. Also symbolises wedding color, which relates to who he wants to marry.

Sandman- Mask, possibly a commedia dell’arte mask? To relate to the theme of everything is not as it seems. Also wears a lab coat when the doctor goes with the theme of white and purity. 

Nightmare 1- Hillbilly clothing

Nightmare 2- Singlet, black trousers, bare feet. 

Nightmare 3- Drill sergeant clothing

Lighting

Set design

Props

Makeup

Husband- Looks pale/messy/psych patient; there is something going on with the man . looks deranged .

Wife- Clean cut and husband wants less or no makeup . No make up needed .

Wife’s father (Nightmare 1) – Abusive and alcoholic, therefore has messy hair, and tired looking and eyebags . Pale looking . 

Sandman-  

Homeless Man (Nightmare 2) – Very Rugged Looking , looks dirty almost . 

Drill Sergeant –  combat makeup (Two camo lines across his face)  . can look as messy / dirty as the homeless but not as much . 

Sounds

Ideas

• Wife goes through nightmares first and then the husband follows
• Advisor gets seeked out by husband
• Bad people can be the main character’s worst fears 
• Foreshadowing from initial nightmares.

• Sandman could be ultimate nightmare
• Nightmares could be people they meet at the bar
• Sandman could be bartender
• Things they do at bar indicate what nightmare they are
• Relevant social themes as nightmares 
• Husband is blind with love, powering through nightmares. Wife is terrified and haunted by the nightmares.
• First nightmare is abusive dad of wife, tells husband that he will never be good enough for her (Conquest)
• Second nightmare is a homeless hungry man, who sits in a corner. Is economic discrimination
• Third nightmare is a drill sergeant/businessman with lots of power, could show husband/wife getting shot etc.
• Sandman is saying stuff that a psychiatrist would say. While he kills wife. End with a scream from the husband. death
• The last scene is the husband is a psych ward, while the sandman is his doctor. 
• Sandman can be the orchestrator, everything was a dream the whole time.
• The nightmares are metaphors for the four horsemen. 
• Spirituality is very prevalent in today’s society, which brecht was very much about, making the audience think about what they’re watching.
• Our message is that no matter how much faith you have in something, destiny always determines your fate. 
• Three nightmares are connected as they are parts of wifes memories, when in reality they are the husbands reality.  
• The doctor represents Jesus

QUESTIONS:

• How do the ideas translate to realistic nightmares
• How do we portray the nightmares in a realistic way for the performance?
• How does the initial conversation about nightmares begin?
• What’s the sandman’s motivation?
• How long would the time period be between wife going missing and husband finding detective?
• Are all nightmares political issues?
• Why is it a biblical allusion?
• How are sandman and doctor connected?
• How are we linking this to the theatre practitioner we’ve chosen? 
• If we aren’t going to method act, how are we going to explain our practitioner?
• Is Boal better than Stanislavsky for this idea? Yes.

After collaborating with the team for weeks on this and preparing my lines, it came as a disappointment that we would have to delay our performance until school gets back because I thought that I was ready for my performance. On the other hand, this may have come as a blessing in disguise because I also felt as if there were areas that we could have prepared much better such as our lighting and sound schemes. Hopefully when we get back to this in future we return with the same tempo!