~ Unit 12 Research and Planning ~
Final performance - Girls and Boys by Dennis Kelly
After choosing this play to perform as the final piece I had to start cutting it down. The play is 1 hour and 30 minutes in total, but I will only have 30 minutes of performance time. I started with reading the play all the way through a few times to really understand the play before I began the process of cutting it down. I needed to cut it down while keeping relevant plot points and well as making sure the progression of the story makes sense for the audience.
My first approach was to go through the play chronologically and cut out sentences or paragraphs where I think the character is rambling or saying something that is not relevant. Using this method I was able to successfully cut the first scene roughly in half. However, considering the time restraints I was struggling to decide whether to keep certain scenes at all. I also didn't want to spend time editing scenes I wouldn't use in the formal performance. Alternatively, I decided to pick out some essential scenes or moments and begin with editing those ones instead. I chose a scene and read through it, to remind myself of the events of this section. I then looked over it again, mainly scanning, and marking sections that I didn't think were necessary. I then read the scene out loud to myself with the cuts in mind to see if the scene would still flow and make sense. If it didn't, I would look at what sections needed changing and edit them accordingly. When I was happy with the scene I would time how long it would take me to read it. In order to accurately guess how long it would take me to perform each scene, I rehearsed them sat down but using the vocal skills I would for the performance. For example, trying to use pauses and emphasis. After timing each scene I had edited, I wrote these times down so I could have an idea of how long the show would be.
After successfully cutting the play down, I began to try and put it on its feet. I performed the first scene to my classmates and got feedback on it. They said that I used the pauses effectively, but could take a bit more time with them. I was also told to slow down the lines and show more of a contrast between the different characters. I was very still and was suggested that I should use the space more. I made a note of this and used it for the next rehearsal. In the next rehearsal, I thought more about movements and levels, and how I could use these to reflect the tone of the piece, while how to do this in a way that felt natural.
In the opening, where I am in a queue to board a flight, I had a spot to the side of the stage where I was in the queue. Then, when I was talking about something that was not relevant to being in an airport, I would move out of this spot to show the different trains of thought. In the second scene, where she mentions her fear of wasting her life on the sofa watching TV, I pull a chair from the side and sit back to show this laziness. Then I sit up, looking more animated when she talks about her hopes and dreams. On the line 'I'm sure you've all felt [love] at least once in your life. I mean I hope so', I jump out of my chair on 'I hope so' to show her passion. I also used the chair as a mark for where the husband would be when she tells him about the pregnancy. However, I realised that I did not want a chair in the middle of the stage for the rest of the piece, so I decided to also use it in the staging of the next scene, where my character is talking to her kids. They are discussing what game to play, so I move the chair to one side facing the slightly away from the stage as I explain to the children which game they'll play. This worked as it felt like a natural way to move the chair out of the way so there would not be any dead stage.
In the opening, where I am in a queue to board a flight, I had a spot to the side of the stage where I was in the queue. Then, when I was talking about something that was not relevant to being in an airport, I would move out of this spot to show the different trains of thought. In the second scene, where she mentions her fear of wasting her life on the sofa watching TV, I pull a chair from the side and sit back to show this laziness. Then I sit up, looking more animated when she talks about her hopes and dreams. On the line 'I'm sure you've all felt [love] at least once in your life. I mean I hope so', I jump out of my chair on 'I hope so' to show her passion. I also used the chair as a mark for where the husband would be when she tells him about the pregnancy. However, I realised that I did not want a chair in the middle of the stage for the rest of the piece, so I decided to also use it in the staging of the next scene, where my character is talking to her kids. They are discussing what game to play, so I move the chair to one side facing the slightly away from the stage as I explain to the children which game they'll play. This worked as it felt like a natural way to move the chair out of the way so there would not be any dead stage.
Research
For this piece, I have chosen certain areas to research in order to have a better understanding of the contexts of the play, as well as potential clues into the character or her situation. This research included family annihilation and male violence towards women. As well as the playwright and the play itself.
Dennis Kelley's 'Girls and Boys'
As part of my look into the play and its playwright, Dennis Kelley. I found this article on the play. According to the article, Kelly started to work on the play while queuing in a Naples airport, the same setting as the opening of the play. In this same article, Kelly talks about the unseen and unnamed husband in the play, stating 'he would probably think of himself as a pretty liberal man. Even a feminist. But when push comes to shove he isn't, he cannot have a woman being better than him. I wanted to make them sympathetic as a couple. I didn't want us to [blame] her. He was one of those men with a time bomb waiting to go off inside him.' I found looking at the kind of person her husband is, and how he thinks, could be useful in relation to my own characterisation.
I also managed to find this recording of a Q&A with Dennis Kelley following a performance of Girls and Boys. After being asked what inspired the play, he says that it was inspired by the phrase family annihilation, stating 'it's a terrible thing to say about a family - annihilate.' He goes on to say that he wanted to do a show about family, but also to write about how a relationship 'blossoms and dies'. He also talks about how it was important to him that a woman told this story because he argues that 'we are fascinated by the perpetrator ... we are all fascinated with how that guy did it.' Kelley continues to argue that 'we don't really hear much about the victim, so we hear the stuff that scares us ... but we don't hear what their lives were like.' However, he made it very clear that he introduced the character as a 'lively, vibrant sort of person' so that the audience wouldn't 'just think she's a victim'. He also discusses the importance of a woman's voice onstage by saying 'we're still not quite used to putting a woman's voice centre-stage.'
Family Annihilation
In the play, it references the consideration of four types of family annihilator 'the paranoid (where the perpetrator perceives a threat to the family), the disappointed (where he feels his family have let him down), the self-righteous (really just a kind of revenge on the mother), and the anomic (where he does it for economic reasons or other reasons linked to shattered self-worth).' This is corroborated by Dennis Kelley's own research, discussed in the aforementioned interview, when he spoke with a criminologist who had actually defined the four types of Annihilator (before which there were only two). This description of the types of annihilators and how they were found is broken down even further by this article from ScienceDaily and describes the criminologist and their study that Kelley references in his interview.
The play also references how common family annihilation is, saying 'there's more of it than you think. Much more.' This idea is supported by this article from the Independent which depicts two cases of family annihilation this year in Britain. The first event it mentions occurred on 19th March, in Finsbury Park, North London where two toddlers were brutally attacked. The article also mentions an unfortunate event in Stowmarket, Suffolk 'less than two weeks before the Finsbury Park incident'. This reflects Dennis Kelley's own claims of how 'It's very easy when something happens to think "that happens over there" ... but the people that this stuff happens to are not that much different from any of us.' This a very unfortunate but important and rather poignant message at the end of the play.
The play also references how common family annihilation is, saying 'there's more of it than you think. Much more.' This idea is supported by this article from the Independent which depicts two cases of family annihilation this year in Britain. The first event it mentions occurred on 19th March, in Finsbury Park, North London where two toddlers were brutally attacked. The article also mentions an unfortunate event in Stowmarket, Suffolk 'less than two weeks before the Finsbury Park incident'. This reflects Dennis Kelley's own claims of how 'It's very easy when something happens to think "that happens over there" ... but the people that this stuff happens to are not that much different from any of us.' This a very unfortunate but important and rather poignant message at the end of the play.
Male Violence (toward women)
When talking about family annihilation, most end up also speaking about male violence against women, as in the majority of cases the perpetrator is a male. In the aforementioned article from ScienceDaily, Professor Wilson states that at after looking at cases of family annihilation in Britain between 1980 and 2012, 'while 71 family annihilators were identified, 59 were male'. Which means that of all cases, 83% were committed by men.
Criminologist Adrian Raine, in this Q&A, states that he would expect 'to see good frontal lobe functioning that is needed for a carefully planned and regulated attack. But they would also show a reduction in the functioning and volume of the amygdala, which would predispose them to fearlessness and lack of conscience. As with the Unabomber, they may also have relatively low resting heart rates, a marker for violence and stimulation-seeking.' This means that there are scientific factors of the shape of the brain, lacking certain parts to explain their viewpoints, as well as the heart rate explaining their thrill-seeking nature.
According to the American Psychological Association's website, 'violence against women is a major cause of reduced quality of life, distress, injury and death for women and has serious secondary effects for families, communities, and the economy'. This clearly stresses the weight of the issue, and continues to put this into perspective by stating that 'more than one in five adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood; as many as one of every two women are affected by sexual harassment over the course of their working lives; and approximately one in eight women have experienced a sexual assault in their lifetimes.'
Criminologist Adrian Raine, in this Q&A, states that he would expect 'to see good frontal lobe functioning that is needed for a carefully planned and regulated attack. But they would also show a reduction in the functioning and volume of the amygdala, which would predispose them to fearlessness and lack of conscience. As with the Unabomber, they may also have relatively low resting heart rates, a marker for violence and stimulation-seeking.' This means that there are scientific factors of the shape of the brain, lacking certain parts to explain their viewpoints, as well as the heart rate explaining their thrill-seeking nature.
According to the American Psychological Association's website, 'violence against women is a major cause of reduced quality of life, distress, injury and death for women and has serious secondary effects for families, communities, and the economy'. This clearly stresses the weight of the issue, and continues to put this into perspective by stating that 'more than one in five adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood; as many as one of every two women are affected by sexual harassment over the course of their working lives; and approximately one in eight women have experienced a sexual assault in their lifetimes.'
Final Rehearsals
Back in class, I performed the full piece in front of the class for the first time, and I had to have a few line prompts. Especially in the later scenes, as I couldn't find the new thoughts. I was discussing my performance with the class, specifically the potential use of pre-recorded lines. The lines I was thinking of having pre-recorded were the husband's lines when she talks to him about getting a divorce, and later on, when she is is talking to the audience about family annihilation, and she remembers something he said to her during the discussion about the divorce. In the rehearsal, I had to say the lines myself. We discussed whether this works and decided that it was not very clear who was speaking and that it distracted from the more serious tone. We decided that having a pre-recording will make this clearer, and support the message more. It would also grab the audience's attention, and because it is different they will recognise it as an important point. We also debated whether having a different voice would distract, or confuse the audience. So I decided to record the lines with both my voice and another person's, so I could decide what would work better in the technical rehearsal.
In terms of blocking, when I move the chair in the scene where she plays games with her children, I decided to put the chair to one side, facing away from me but towards the audience. I chose to do this because I use the chair again as a mark for the husband a few times and wanted to show the change in how he felt towards her. Much later, where she is talking about how she used to wish she could turn back time to change the course of events, she says that she would 'be with him forever docile, or do whatever he wanted... or kill him. I could have killed him before he did it, you know I could've' before trailing off. For this, I went right up to the chair shifting on the spot in sync with the lines and thought process to show her desperation and erratic nature at the time. Before 'or kill him', I was moving fast and with sudden movements, but in the pause, I stopped for a second before looking straight at her husband sat on the chair and almost whispered the next few words. This was to show how far she was willing to go for her kids. As I said 'I could have killed him before I did it' I started to move toward the audience with newfound energy as if the idea was beginning to grow on her. But I did not look out to the audience until I said 'I could've...'. I did this because I wanted to use the trailing off as a way to represent how saying the words out loud made her realise how she must have sounded crazy to other people, in thinking she could turn back time, and in thinking of killing someone. Even someone as despicable as her husband. I was conscious, however, of the fact that in the last few pages of the script there are numerous pauses, and cases of her trailing off before starting a new train of thought. I was worried that the audience might think the show had ended before it actually did. So I decided that if I have the pauses be the right length, and as long as I hold the thought processing and character with maybe some movement then it should turn out okay.
In my time with the technical theatre students, I had the opportunity to set the sound and lighting I wanted for the show. As it is a big space in the theatre I was aware of the fact that it is just me onstage and decided to pull the curtains across the stage, splitting it in half front to back. This made the space a lot smaller and I felt more comfortable in filling it. After doing this, I set up the chair I use throughout the piece but had no other set or prop pieces because I thought that I would not want anything I did not need onstage because this piece is entirely about the story, the telling of it, and the raising of awareness of these events. I did not want too many unnecessary props distracting from or undermining this. Similarly, I did not want too many sound effects that would distract from the story. For the most part, there were pre-recorded lines as part of a conversation. After rehearsing with both, I felt that I preferred my own voice speaking the recorded lines as this felt less jarring or confusing to the audience. At first, the recordings were slightly off-putting as, even though I knew the lines, it felt strange to hear a voice when I was so used to being the only speaker from the beginning of the rehearsal process. However, after going through this section a few times, I got the hang of it and was able to easily interact with the non-present husband. For the final few lines where she talks about what kind of people her children might have been, I had soft, instrumental piano music to represent the sombre moment, while also trying to instil a sense of hope.
Before I had the time in the space to do the tech I had not thought about lighting for the piece that much. So for the opening few scenes, I just had a general wash across the stage. However, after I reveal that the children are dead, I had the lights change to go slightly bluer. In sections, I had the lighting become dimmer and colder (with the use of blue lights) to show the decline of how the story gets progressively worse and darker until she says how the kids were killed and what happened to their father afterwards (he commits suicide). Until eventually in the scene where she discussed in detail the demise of her family, the stage is partially lit with cold, blue light. She says 'then I never thought about [her ex-husband] again. Because why?' After this line, I had the lighting change to a gentle, wide spotlight in warm tones in order to show her trying to be optimistic about the future, and move on. At the end of the piece, she mentions her children and what kind of person they might have become. The final line 'Leanne would have been incredible', is bittersweet as in the stage directions it says she laughs as she says this, but is hard-hitting when we remember that it is a 'would have been'. For this, I tried a few different things. First, we tried fading out the lighting and sound together (I had instrumental music playing in the background as previously mentioned). We also tried having the music fade out and after a beat, there was a blackout. I found this choice to be more fitting as I had more time to clearly show her mixed emotions at this moment. I chuckled before saying the line, smiling as I did so picturing her daughter turning into a witty young woman. Before letting my face drop to show her realising that it could never happen.
I had a few days between my day with the technical theatre students and the day of my performances, so I did more full run-throughs in class and in the theatre with the full technical elements. These were useful and gave me more confidence in the piece before the day of my shows.
In terms of blocking, when I move the chair in the scene where she plays games with her children, I decided to put the chair to one side, facing away from me but towards the audience. I chose to do this because I use the chair again as a mark for the husband a few times and wanted to show the change in how he felt towards her. Much later, where she is talking about how she used to wish she could turn back time to change the course of events, she says that she would 'be with him forever docile, or do whatever he wanted... or kill him. I could have killed him before he did it, you know I could've' before trailing off. For this, I went right up to the chair shifting on the spot in sync with the lines and thought process to show her desperation and erratic nature at the time. Before 'or kill him', I was moving fast and with sudden movements, but in the pause, I stopped for a second before looking straight at her husband sat on the chair and almost whispered the next few words. This was to show how far she was willing to go for her kids. As I said 'I could have killed him before I did it' I started to move toward the audience with newfound energy as if the idea was beginning to grow on her. But I did not look out to the audience until I said 'I could've...'. I did this because I wanted to use the trailing off as a way to represent how saying the words out loud made her realise how she must have sounded crazy to other people, in thinking she could turn back time, and in thinking of killing someone. Even someone as despicable as her husband. I was conscious, however, of the fact that in the last few pages of the script there are numerous pauses, and cases of her trailing off before starting a new train of thought. I was worried that the audience might think the show had ended before it actually did. So I decided that if I have the pauses be the right length, and as long as I hold the thought processing and character with maybe some movement then it should turn out okay.
In my time with the technical theatre students, I had the opportunity to set the sound and lighting I wanted for the show. As it is a big space in the theatre I was aware of the fact that it is just me onstage and decided to pull the curtains across the stage, splitting it in half front to back. This made the space a lot smaller and I felt more comfortable in filling it. After doing this, I set up the chair I use throughout the piece but had no other set or prop pieces because I thought that I would not want anything I did not need onstage because this piece is entirely about the story, the telling of it, and the raising of awareness of these events. I did not want too many unnecessary props distracting from or undermining this. Similarly, I did not want too many sound effects that would distract from the story. For the most part, there were pre-recorded lines as part of a conversation. After rehearsing with both, I felt that I preferred my own voice speaking the recorded lines as this felt less jarring or confusing to the audience. At first, the recordings were slightly off-putting as, even though I knew the lines, it felt strange to hear a voice when I was so used to being the only speaker from the beginning of the rehearsal process. However, after going through this section a few times, I got the hang of it and was able to easily interact with the non-present husband. For the final few lines where she talks about what kind of people her children might have been, I had soft, instrumental piano music to represent the sombre moment, while also trying to instil a sense of hope.
Before I had the time in the space to do the tech I had not thought about lighting for the piece that much. So for the opening few scenes, I just had a general wash across the stage. However, after I reveal that the children are dead, I had the lights change to go slightly bluer. In sections, I had the lighting become dimmer and colder (with the use of blue lights) to show the decline of how the story gets progressively worse and darker until she says how the kids were killed and what happened to their father afterwards (he commits suicide). Until eventually in the scene where she discussed in detail the demise of her family, the stage is partially lit with cold, blue light. She says 'then I never thought about [her ex-husband] again. Because why?' After this line, I had the lighting change to a gentle, wide spotlight in warm tones in order to show her trying to be optimistic about the future, and move on. At the end of the piece, she mentions her children and what kind of person they might have become. The final line 'Leanne would have been incredible', is bittersweet as in the stage directions it says she laughs as she says this, but is hard-hitting when we remember that it is a 'would have been'. For this, I tried a few different things. First, we tried fading out the lighting and sound together (I had instrumental music playing in the background as previously mentioned). We also tried having the music fade out and after a beat, there was a blackout. I found this choice to be more fitting as I had more time to clearly show her mixed emotions at this moment. I chuckled before saying the line, smiling as I did so picturing her daughter turning into a witty young woman. Before letting my face drop to show her realising that it could never happen.
I had a few days between my day with the technical theatre students and the day of my performances, so I did more full run-throughs in class and in the theatre with the full technical elements. These were useful and gave me more confidence in the piece before the day of my shows.
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