Response Cw

Disappeared Workshop Coursework As I started the workshop, although I felt nervous, I was quite excited at the prospect of completing another part of my GCSE and I had the experience of the previous workshop to know how things went. I had enjoyed the pre-workshops too, where I learnt about the disappearances of Terry Waite, Murat Kurnez and the variation of why people would disappear; and how even sitting in silence to represent imprisonment can be good-quality drama. This helped me feel more confident about using a variety of drama techniques to represent the theme of disappearing. We began by the entire group walking around the space in neutral and then stopping one at a time until everyone was stationary. This helped to develop a sense of awareness between each individual and build up familiarity of each other to everyone. Then we chose a partner and acted as though one had vanished but wasn’t aware of it. I was with Sian, who played the person who had disappeared. Through facial expressions and tone of voice, such as shouting and pleading; and I showed that I was confused and scared that she had simply gone by looking around me, walking around the room and calling her name uncertainly. I lowered my level to represent my status was decreasing due to the fact that I was unaware of what had happened and my mounting fear. I also ensured I didn’t have any eye contact with her so that we didn’t have any connection anymore. This acted as a good introduction to the day because it enabled everyone to act the fool in front of everyone: those that were the disappeared had to act very frustrated and frantic by screaming at their partners and waving their hands around in a hysterical manner. We then created still images in rapidly constructed groups: In a group of 4 we formed an image of ‘Taken’. Dayle was the captor, pulling one of Max’s arms while Tasha and I desperately pulled his other arm. Then the still image of ‘capital punishment’ in groups of 3- I acted as the executioner and gestured tying Michael’s hands behind his back while Sian was the executioner. Sian and I held eye contact so it was clear we were on the same level. After that we portrayed ‘eclipse’ through a still image group of 6 by standing in a line, with only Dayle visible at the front, so the rest of us had been eclipsed. Afterwards, Hannah, Ian, Louise and I had to compose a short piece involving regular people disappearing in different ways. We began by spacing out in 4 separate corners and then walked around in character, then Louise disappeared; then Ian, but showed fear by facial expression and attempting to run, then myself who vanished after knocking into Hannah, creating a bit of character interaction, and finally Hannah was grabbed by Ian, changing the dynamics from subtle to quick: my character was relatively laid back and unfazed by the disappearances, which I showed by a slow, calm walking style and posture. We were told about a husband who had left his ‘comfortable’ life with his impassionate wife after claiming to gone to the shops and had returned on the doorstep 26 years later. We had to recreate the reunion. I was with Ian and we decided to keep the piece totally silent for added impact and tension. We faced each other and marked the moment we first see each other again by freezing. We both held eye contact and as he tried to approach, I hit him, breaking the tension with a sudden movement. To contrast in levels, I sank to the floor and cried, emphasizing that I was on a lower level emotionally- in a state of shock and despair, while he stayed higher because he was more aware of the situation. Hour two was predominantly based on 1987 Kings Cross fire where 27 were killed, but one was left unidentified for 16 years. We were in different pairs and had to do Direct Address- I acted as a distraught relative, calling Lauren to see if the unidentified body was my brother. I kept an emotive voice and cried, in stark contrast to Lauren’s which remained monotonous and unconcerned. This was to show that for me, this was a huge thing which could change a

lot in my life, whereas for Lauren, it was an everyday occurrence as part of her job. In a group of 6, we had to create a moving soundscape with reasons as to why someone disappeared, summing up the desperation those left behind feel. We all stood in a line, in neutral, and walked into position in canon, saying our line in different tones of voice. We wanted the layers of sound to build up into a crescendo and end on just one statement“they just disappeared”. When we were in position, we were all on different layers, in various positions- a mosaic of different emotions. The unidentified body was then revealed to us as Alexander Williamson Fallon, a man who had left his family before the blaze. We constructed 3 still images featuring the key moments that led to his departure. Myself, Tasha and Charlotte were portraying bailiffs taking away Josh’s chairs, while he watched in horror; I though Charlotte in particular showed good focus and she had good characterisation. For a different transition, the three of us, in canon, turned and slammed the chairs down into a row. Josh broke the slow dynamic by running at us, but was pushed down to the ground to show his decline in respect and authority. The three of us sat on the chairs in unison and changed to be Josh’s concerned family, while behind us, he had taken to begging. For the third hour, we were all to work towards a whole group movement piece to Ian Brown’s song ‘F.E.A.R’. We were in pairs and had to come up with reasons as to why a young person might depart. The first idea was parental conflict, so Lauren and I formed 4 still images of conflict with parents throughout a child’s life: when a child is small and having a tantrum, when the child doesn’t want to do something, despite her parent’s wishes, a teen arguing with her mum and when they both reach a stage of resentment. The final one (showing resentment) was my favourite, because to show we both felt the same, we mirrored each other’s body language and facial expressions. Then we all came together and performed as a whole group, which was really successful, if a little chaotic. The dynamic shift from the parents who walked into the centre in canon to the children who ran in afterwards formed a strong start, then we switched and I became the child who was using Lauren as an adventurous obstacle and found everything exciting and intriguing, I incorporated facial expressions and manipulated Lauren in various ways to exaggerate my interest and animation. Then the movement changed and I was repressing everything Lauren attempted, such as extending her arms and legs. This was to show that someone might disappear for freedom, perhaps from an abusive figure; we also showed this by one of the pair chasing after the other and catching them. The final part of the piece was Lauren pushing me down to illustrate peer pressure. I tried resisting at first, but she pushed harder and I eventually fell by myself to represent that most people cave in to peer pressure and it isn’t something taken lightly. The music that accompanied us was fitting and added to the dramatic effect of the performance. After that, we were asked to group into 3s and construct still images in quick succession to explore various situations of disappearance: Runaways (missing people), Throwaways (rejected missing people), Pushaways (people forced to go missing), Fallaways (people who have lost contact) and Takeaways’ (people forced out of contact). I was with Lauren and Liam, who first of all posed as a happy family; while I hid my face and sat at their feet to symbolise I wasn’t part of the ‘happy family’ and wanted to runaway. For the second image, Liam and I turned away from Lauren and held out our arms to block any attempts she made to join us; after that I was pushed to the floor and hidden from view by the others, then we all stood at separate parts of a triangle, showing we drifted apart and didn’t really know each other anymore. Lastly, we all stood in a spiral, me as the lowest, Liam the highest and we all faced out as though we couldn’t see each other, even though we were all linked. We joined up with another 3 and selected two of the previous scenarios to produce a cross-cutting

scene between those left behind and those that had gone missing. We chose to portray three children that had found each other while gone in one part and their families at a counsellor on the other. As children, we considered spacing and sat separate from each other to show they had different personal demons, but kept eye contact because they had an understanding of each other. Meanwhile, the parents were on chairs, using props and on a higher level than their offspring, and gestured boldly representing they were hiding something and overcompensating for that. As each child told their story, their parent interrupted and told their version, which contradicted the truth. For our fourth hour, we were in groups of four and had to use choral speaking to bring a piece of information about the disappearances in South America. In our group, we began by quietly whispering the opening statement “we are the voices of the disappeared...” and increased in volume while echoing one another in canon along the circle we formed, with our backs to the audience to symbolise we were there, but not facially visible. For a statement mentioning flying, the two boys lifted Cerise into the air; then we all stood into a ‘worm’ and spoke in unison quietly and became layered while in canon we placed our hands over the person in front of us’ eyesand sank to the floor. In the same group, we then formed an abstract movement piece based on a poem called “Mothers of the disappeared” and incorporated chairs. Again, I came up with the majority of the ideas, and we decided on beginning with Liam and I slamming chairs on the floor and as we did so, the others would disappear offstage to represent a ‘blink and you’ll miss them’ effect. As the second line was “all they have is all they dream”, Josh lay on the chairs while Cerise and Tasha stood by his head and stroked his face. Then Liam and I mirrored each other and cradled our chairs and the others came, snatched them and threw them away from us. As result of this, me and Liam sank to the floor and hid our faces, but made the sounds of somebody crying. Just before lunch, the groups were disbanded and we formed new groups. I particularly liked this group which consisted of me, Sian, Ian, Tasha, Lewis and Hanna. We were given random props to focus on the final piece of the day, which was focused on the subject of torture in a prison. We experimented using the chairs as weapons of capture, grabbing myself, Tasha and Lewis, and then us dropping to the floor and being covered by the blue cloth we were given. Underneath, we whispered a soundscape, using emotions like ‘fear’, ‘anger’ and ‘uncertainty’ while above us, they used a ribbon to tie us together, representing that we (the captives) were united by the same feelings and emotions. Each individual member of the group relished in the ideas put forward and we all hoped that these were the people we would be working with after lunch. The subsequent two hours were focused on the construction and performance of each group’s final pieces. The group I was with ended up being myself, Sian, Hanna, Cerise, Lizzie and Lewis. Using some of the work we had been doing undertaking in the preworkshop lessons; we opened the piece by everybody individually acting as a detainee that had been incarcerated; completely silent and facing in different directions showing we were each to their own thoughts and alone in our confined cells. We decided to stage the audience in the ‘round’ so that nobody had their backs to the audience specifically in one area, unless it was intentional. Everyone apart from me was sitting in some various positions, while I was pacing, to break the monotony. As I eventually sat down, we each began to tap the floor, just like Terry Waite described doing when imprisoned. My facial expression showed I was bemused by the tapping, as though I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, which I can imagine those that communicated with Terry Waite would have initially done.

Then Hanna and I crept to a table, which had been staged in the centre of the room with Lewis sitting on top, and began tapping, mimicking a heartbeat. We started slow and relaxed, but as Sian, Cerise and Lizzie came and muttered something about Prison life that disturbed Lewis, we hit with increasing speed and volume. This soundscape became progressively more intense until we finally made final beat and we planned a blackout; however we couldn’t include lighting, so we all just looked down at the floor. After that, in canon, Lewis, Hanna and I stood and mimed everyday life; at that moment the other three captured us with the chairs and dragged us back. We used ‘action and reaction’- Lewis was hit to the floor, so Hanna and fell to the floor. We selected the red ribbon, the colour being more symbolic than the other primary colours, and used it to be draped over our lifeless bodies. Hanna slowly stood up and made a bid for freedom, but was caught by Lizzie and thrown back to the floor; me and Cerise then repeated the notion, showing that people won’t be imprisoned without a fight and that the captures most likely face the same struggle with everyone they take. Our ankles were tied up with ribbon and we contrasted each person’s reaction: I jerked; Hanna screamed which also incorporated a change of dynamics and provoked an audience reaction. We all then stood in a circle looking out at the audience, as Lewis took us one-by-one to sit on the outer rim of the table using a variety of mimes and gestures representing why someone would disappear: Sian’s throat was slit, Hanna and I made an attempt to run away when he clicked his fingers, Lizzie was dragged and Cerise was pushed. We all sat on the edge of our seats for 10 seconds, then I suddenly ran to the front, panicstricken and crying while Lewis calmly ambled up to stand next to me. Using the task we did in hour 2 as our stimulus, we used direct-address to showcase a phone call from a terrified mother whose child had disappeared while Lewis was the unconcerned policeman. Our body language, facial expressions and tone of voice were dramatically opposite for maximum impact; meanwhile, behind us the rest of our group were performing a repeat of what we did beforehand; Cerise and Lizzie were preventing the other two from attempting to escape, illustrating what happens to both sides of the disappearance: the mother with no idea of what had happened and the child in the hands of their captors. As Lewis informed me that there was nothing left to do, I broke the piece and ran through the others to sit on the table and cry. As I did so, the others, in their own pathways, formed a soundscape using selected phrases form the choral speaking piece “We are the voices of the disappeared...” they all used separate tones of voice, some whispering, others shouting, etc. We initially planned my idea of there suddenly being a blackout and when the lights return the others had ‘disappeared’ form the stage and I was left alone to represent all those left behind by various disappearances, however we couldn’t use a blackout, so they exited while still uttering their lines. At the end of the workshop I was happy with what was accomplished and felt that the day overall had been a success.