So far in preparation for the Drama performance, we have done a variety of Improvisation activities. One, in particular, was where we sat on a box and made a script on the basis of the profiting off war and the death of innocent people, this was with very little to no acting so that the emphasis was on the speech rather than the gestures and motions that the actor makes. this was based on a picture of the profits of deadly weapons given to hostile countries and contribute to war. In the task, I played a person who suggested making stronger weapons which intern can create more money whereas Harry who was in my group was completely against making money off war, showing the contrast between two people when it comes to profiting off the mass death of people in war.
Another task we did was creating a still image of a person drowning and somebody watching and doing nothing to help, This symbolised the notion of nobody helping each other in any way and the notion of every man for himself at war. The government bringing these men into war for their inevitable death.
Lastly, we did an improvisation of soldiers going through a forest and one person (Darnell) tripping up and falling down with no help afterwards from either of his allies. again “Everyman for himself” and the silent witness of somebody dying right in front of you. This performance was silent which created emphasis on the actions rather than the words, in contrast to the script work, where it is the complete opposite.
A suggested idea for my devised piece is to have an entire performance based on the idea of propaganda and the profiting side of war. One element could be having a speak creating a speech on why war is a great thing, whilst either having a performance behind completely contradicting the person’s speech. For Instance, the person could say “Everybody is well-respected and treating equally in war” and then have inequalities shown in the background like a woman being turned down from signing up to fight for their country, or a Sargent beating up one of his solider’s in private.
React!