Powered by our collective imagination
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to defer the external performance of your “Oh What a Lovely War!” piece until Tuesday 19th of June (a one week deferral).
You will now be timetabled in lessons as normal tomorrow.
Our apologies for the lateness of this notice.
The intention of the performance is to convey how people can be easily swayed by money and risk the lives of many in the process. It is also to show the subject of war profiteering as the general ends up earning 10 million pounds whilst my brother in the piece ends up being shot in the process. It is also to show how people benefit from war and lose from war.
2. Planning
We have planned by talking amongst each other and doing different parts of our performance to see how they work and if they should be kept or not in the final piece. We will have a dress and technical performance to make sure that we are ready for the examination on Tuesday morning. I have also done research into propaganda and war profiteering to enhance my knowledge on these two aspects so that when it comes to the performance it can be better because I have more knowledge on the subject of propaganda and profiting from war.
As a group, we also added numerous choices to improve the performance. One decision was to have a soliloquy with the general (Daniel) where he contemplates if money is really worth risking the lives of men even for a high amount of £10 Million pounds, this allows the audience to get into the general’s mindset at this point and shows that Daniel might not be as bad of a person as people might think at first. Another addition was the informal conversation where my and Dillon both talked to each other. as we are brothers the conversation is quite personal and allows the audience to get to like the character before his inevitable demise later on in the piece, it allows the audience to become invested in the piece because it allows the audience to see how the brother relationship works in the piece. A few lighting and sounds decisions were also made in the process like having a complete black out during the death scene of Dillon and then going into red to symbolise blood and death. the use of darkness is to stop the audience from seeing Dillon die and losing their investment in the performance as a live death on stage is rarely ever well done and most likely would distract the audience to see if the body is really dead in my opinion, the use of the red light is to symbolise blood and therefore death as Dillon is slowly dying while I’m trying to do CPR.We also changed the part of the performance where I finish by grabbing a gun and shooting, to a scene where I see the general and businessman exchanging money and the lights turn off. This is to create a stronger image and allow the audience to decide what happens, in the end, themselves. One last thing that we have added quite late in the process is a money note with blood on it to conveyor that money has killed a man and blood is on Daniel’s hand for allowing Dillon to die. This was added to give the final part of our message of corruption to show that the money is basically the stimulus of so many deaths, not just in our scene, but in our performance as well.
3.How relevant areas of study have been applied
In the planning part of the assessment, we looked at many different styles of acting that we could use like slow motion and the use of only dialogue to convey a message. During the ending, we decided to have very little dialogue as the audience already know what is going on due to the earlier conversation with the millionaire and general, So no dialogue is necessary at that point. We also used the important rehearsal technique of improvisation to improve certain scenes of the performance like the conversation between me and Dillon so there is more investment in the characters so that there is more felt for the characters when Dillon dies. One way we achieved this was by starting off with a topic like how we got into the war and seeing how it went on in the conversation as time goes on. We then formed a conversation by doing the same with different ideas like personal memories and our brotherly relationship.
(Conversation between me and Dillon in the dress rehearsal)
4. Individual contribution to the chosen brief
For the performance, I did a lot of preparation in my research of propaganda and profiteering at war so my performance had more background to it and I could improve the way that I would act in a war-like environment. I also contributed by adding the idea of the ending of me pulling out a gun and the lights fading out and the only thing you hear is a gunshot, in the end, to get the audience to wonder who in the end was shot, whether it was my character or the millionaire or even the general. I also contributed a lot of the context to the piece like the profiting off war and the death of a brother type figure to create anger for my character to end up killing someone but it’s left to the audience to decide who dies. This part of the performance was later scrapped and changed with me entering the office of the general just as he is getting the money from the businessman. we believe as a group that this is a much stronger image and allows the audience to interpret what happens next by asking a question like What happens to my character? or does the general get fired in the end for his selfish and greedy towards the soldiers by putting their lives at risk and does the businessman get arrested for bribing a general to put his troops at the risk of death.
5. Reflection and evaluation.
The intention of the performance as stated above was to show how people can be easily swayed by money and risk the lives of many in the process. I strongly believe we conveyed the message by having the conversation between the general and businessman to show how the businessman can easily sway the general with money. The general also having a monologue also allows the audience to see the general’s mindset and show how money is heavily affecting his decision and personality to the extent where he is open to killing men for the sake of money. For the actual performance, I would like to improve the way I react to characters dialogue so I can show the audience how people would respond to a character who accepts bribes to put their troops at risk of death and therefore add to the overall intention for the audience to watch and consider.
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Script and Lighting Queues (Acts as a stimulus as improvisation may occur at some point where we have changed dialogue)
Lights go up (Start off the show)
Lethaniel waiting outside I show him papers and go in to see the general.
Harry: ah you are the general of this base I presume.
Daniel: yes how may I help you?
Harry: I represent a company that has certain… interests which we believe can benefit us both.
Daniel: OK cut the shit what’s a guy in a suit doing in a desert, who are you? And what do you want?
Harry: well as you know the war is going well and that is not uh good for business shall we say.
Daniel: get to the point.
Harry: very well I know your men are holding a weapons cache 2 miles north of here and the militia want what is in there, in fact, they would pay a pretty penny for that cache.
Brings out money.
Harry: 5 million to be precise.
Daniel: you are asking me to sacrifice the lives of my men on a bribe I should have you arrested they have families I ca-.
Harry: so do you a wife and two kids if not mistaken.
Daniel: are you threatening my family.
Clenches fist
Harry: no simply saying that hundreds of thousands of people die every day a few more is not going to make any difference except to you and your family who will be rich and looked after with this money.
Daniel: I.. I can’t I’ve known these men for two years no…not for five million anyway.
Harry: I see what your hinting at here very well 10 million do we have an understanding now?
Daniel: yes what is it exactly you want me to do?
Harry: the enemy will attack the cache at 6pm you should leave only two or three soldiers to guard it otherwise it will be suspicious. I shall pay you in full once the task is completed.
Daniel: OK then I will do it.
Harry: good to hear.
Exit Harry.
Daniel Waits and Lethaniel and Dillon enter and salute.
Daniel: Good to see you men we have information that suggests that the enemy has retreated and so I shall only post you two at the target tonight it will leave you two time to… catch up on home (pause)
Daniel looks at the floor. (Shows guilt that he is putting is men in danger of death for money)
Daniel: Is that clear men.
Lethaniel and Dillon: Yes sir.
Both have confused faces and look at each other. ( Confused due to a change in alert levels for attack)
Daniel exits.
Lethaniel and Dillon sit down and play cards. (The cards represent the idea of gambling and the chance aspect that comes with gambling that can also translate into the chances of still being alive the next day in war. Dillon while extremely lucky at cards is not lucky when it comes to surviving another day of war. We as a group did this to make the audience realise that while some people benefit others lose out like the general earning himself 10 million pounds whilst Dillon dies and his brother has to live with the loss of a family member)
Dillon: I can’t wait to get back home and taste mom’s spaghetti again what about you little bro.
Lethaniel: I just want to lie in a comfortable bed again, let’s see what you got then
Shows hand
Dillon smiles
Dillon: straight flush.
Slams cards on the table and takes some coins of the table. Lethaniel sighs
Lethaniel: ah crap you always win your cheating somehow you always do.
Dillon: Nah man I’ve always been lucky and you have always been a sore loser.
Rustling (Symbolises men possibly hiding in a bush which arouses suspicion)
Lethaniel: Hear that.
Dillon: Yeah I’ll check it out.
Lights go out (The use of the light going out is to symbolise bad things coming to the characters and to hide the death from the audience)
*gunshot with flash
Lethaniel runs and starts CPR on Dillon.
Red lights come on. (Red light represents blood and death which has just come to Dillon)
Lethaniel: shit, shit, shit don’t die, don’t die
Lights go out (Symbolises something bad is just about to happen like my character finding out the general’s plan)
*gunshot with flash
Lethaniel: oh no gotta let the general know
Runs off Dillon lies in the corner for rest of play.
Harry and Daniel talking in room Harry pours drinks and they hit glasses.
Harry: I have intelligence to suggest that the task is completed well done General it’s been a pleasure doing business.
Brings out money.
Harry: And as promised ten million in cheque well-earned sir.
Daniel: it’s been a pleasure for me too.
Shakes hand and hands money when Lethaniel walks in.
Lethaniel: sir I have important news the post was attacked and…
Daniel: umm uh what h-happened soldier.
Lethaniel: who is this… why
Walks around the front of them and pulls out a gun – Taken out due to walking in being a better ending to arouse suspicion of what is gonna happen next.
Lights go out (End of Performance)
Costume:
As a group, we went for a realistic style of costuming as we felt as a group that because the message of corruption and the idea of war profiteering being such a real problem that we felt that the performance would be much stronger and give the message more meaning behind it
(Businessman proposition scene in the dress rehersal)
(Businessman – Harry: Left – Suit and tie to fit his businessman charater. General – Daniel: Right – Suit to show his high up athority in the army)
(Conversation between me and Dillon in the dress rehearsal)
(Soilder/Guard) – Me: Left – Black cothing to show conformity of war and a loss of individuality and unity of soliders being in the same possition, also used due to lack of avalibilty of camoflauge from me, Solider/Gaurd – Dillon: Right – Camoflauge clothing to represent the normal clothes that soilders would wear in war.
Script with developements
Script with Lighting queues
Lights go up (Start off the show)
Lethaniel waiting outside I show him papers and go in to see the general.
Harry: ah you are the general of this base I presume.
Daniel: yes how may I help you?
Harry: I represent a company that has certain… interests which we believe can benefit us both.
Daniel: OK cut the shit what’s a guy in a suit doing in a desert, who are you? And what do you want?
Harry: well as you know the war is going well and that is not uh good for business shall we say.
Daniel: get to the point.
Harry: very well I know your men are holding a weapons cache 2 miles north of here and the militia want what is in there, in fact, they would pay a pretty penny for that cache.
Brings out money.
Harry: 5 million to be precise.
Daniel: you are asking me to sacrifice the lives of my men on a bribe I should have you arrested they have families I ca-.
Harry: so do you a wife and two kids if not mistaken.
Daniel: are you threatening my family.
Clenches fist
Harry: no simply saying that hundreds of thousands of people die every day a few more is not going to make any difference except to you and your family who will be rich and looked after with this money.
Daniel: I.. I can’t I’ve known these men for two years no…not for five million anyway.
Harry: I see what your hinting at here very well 10 million do we have an understanding now?
Daniel: yes what is it exactly you want me to do?
Harry: the enemy will attack the cache at 6pm you should leave only two or three soldiers to guard it otherwise it will be suspicious. I shall pay you in full once the task is completed.
Daniel: OK then I will do it.
Harry: good to hear.
Exit Harry.
Lights goes red and Daniel gives a soliloquy
Daniel goes towards his chair
Lights go back up
Daniel: Come in soldiers.
Daniel Waits and Lethaniel and Dillon enter and salute.
Daniel: Good to see you men we have information that suggests that the enemy has retreated and so I shall only post you two at the target tonight it will leave you two time to… catch up on home (pause)
Daniel looks at the floor. (Shows guilt that he is putting is men in danger of death for money)
Daniel: Is that clear men.
Lethaniel and Dillon: Yes sir.
Both have confused faces and look at each other. ( Confused due to a change in alert levels for attack)
Daniel exits.
Lights go out for me and Dillon to set up – Once done Lights go up
Lethaniel and Dillon sit down and play cards. (The cards represent the idea of gambling and the chance aspect that comes with gambling that can also translate into the chances of still being alive the next day in war. Dillon while extremely lucky at cards is not lucky when it comes to surviving another day of war. We as a group did this to make the audience realise that while some people benefit others lose out like the general earning himself 10 million pounds whilst Dillon dies and his brother has to live with the loss of a family member)
Dillon: I can’t wait to get back home and taste mom’s spaghetti again what about you little bro.
Lethaniel: I just want to lie in a comfortable bed again, let’s see what you got then
Shows hand
Dillon smiles
Dillon: straight flush.
Slams cards on the table and takes some coins of the table. Lethaniel sighs
Lethaniel: ah crap you always win your cheating somehow you always do.
Dillon: Nah man I’ve always been lucky and you have always been a sore loser.
Rustling Sound (Symbolises men possibly hiding in a bush which arouses suspicion)
Lethaniel: Hear that.
Dillon: Yeah I’ll check it out.
Lethaniel: I’ll wait here
Lights fade out (The use of the light going out is to symbolise bad things coming to the characters and to hide the death from the audience)
*gunshot with flash (White light)Lethaniel runs and starts CPR on Dillon.
Red lights come on. (Red light represents blood and death which has just come to Dillon)
Lethaniel: shit, shit, shit don’t die, don’t die
white light focuses on front of the stage with red light still present.
Harry and Daniel talking in room Harry pours drinks and they hit glasses.
Harry: I have intelligence to suggest that the task is completed well done general it’s been a pleasure doing business.
Brings out money.
Harry: And as promised ten million in cheque well-earned sir.
Daniel: it’s been a pleasure for me too.
Shakes hand and hands money when Lethaniel walks in.
Lethaniel: General!!!! General…..
Lights go out (End of Performance)
For the performance I did a lot of preparation in my research of propaganda and profiteering at war so my performance had more background to it and I could improve the way that I would act in a war like environment. I also contributed the ending of myself pulling out a gun and the lights fading out and the only thing you hear is a gunshot in the end to get the audience to wonder who in the end was shot, whether it was my character or the millionaire or even the general. I also contributed a lot of the context to the piece like the profiting of war and the death of a brother type figure to create anger for my character to end up killing someone but it’s left to the audience to decide who dies.
We have planned by talking amongst each other and doing different parts of our performance to see how they work and if they should be kept or not in the final piece. We will have a dress and technical performance to make sure that we are ready for the examination on Tuesday morning. I have also done research into propaganda and war profiteering to enhance my knowledge on these two aspects for the performance so that my performance can be better because I have more knowledge on the subject of propaganda and profiting from war.
As a group, we continued to develop a performance by adding and getting rid of certain ideas that we initially had. One aspect of the performance we are getting rid of is the funeral scene at the end where we thought that the use of the dead body would be too distracting to an everyday audience as it would draw attention straight towards the dead body for movements and see if he is actually playing dead without any downfalls. Also, we have changed the death scene slightly by adding lighting and sound to the performance. Now the scene will run with a card game between Dillon and me for 10 seconds, then a loud rustling sound will be heard and I will investigate the sound, suddenly a gunshot will go off and Dillon will be surrounded in darkness. I will start to attempt to do CPR on Dillon, I will freeze and another gunshot will go off which gets me to run to the general and the play goes on from normal until the new addition of the ending sequence where I pull out a gun and darkness overflows the audience and a gunshot is heard. End of scene. Due to circumstance Dillon’s character has now changed to mine and vice versa.
Group: Lethaniel, Daniel, Harry and Dillon
Type of Work: Devised Piece
First Stages: In our group we decided on an initial performance plot line which basically entails a millionaire (Harry) coming to an army base and offering the general of the army (Daniel) money to bribe him to lose the battle. The General thinks about whether or not he should accept the bribe, but ultimately accepts because of his love of money. Two soldiers (Lethaniel & Dillon) who happen to be brothers are briefed on the mission and end up fighting in the battle. Lethaniel due to the general accepting the bribe, dies in battle. Dillon goes back to camp to tell the general what has happened and he over hears their conversation about their deal. Dillon storms in and demands an explanation (He is furious at this point).
We then cut to the funeral of the solider who died and there is a conflict of anger as the business man is at the funeral…
Pictures of first stage:
(Me on the floor dead, with Dillon above me)
(Money exchanging hands between Harry and Daniel)
This is to show the message of the intention of how people can be easily swayed by money and risk the lives of many in the process by showing the money exchanging hands between the businessman and general to symbolise the bribe taking control of the general’s morals.
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.
Media Outlook
Reality
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During the years 1914 – 1918, the first world war took place. Above are the realities of war compared to how the media viewed them and pictured a completely different vision of war entirely to get men to sign up and fight for their country.
Over the 4 years, it believed that over 17 million solders died and 20 million where wounded as a whole over the 4 years span of the first world war.
It is unknown just how many signed up of due to the propaganda shown to them by the Government and Media at the time.
War Profiteering: One who makes excessive profits on goods in short supply from war. (Profits from war)
Many companies who sold guns would have profited heavily from the war due to the need for weapons, these companies where profiting from war and this idea translates to our performance with the general making money from the millionaire who wants the army to lose the battle
Satire: The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
The chapter starts with Joe continuing back to camp. he realises that Simon’s footprints are in the snow and all he has to do is follow them to get back to Simon and Richard. As time goes on the journey back to camp becomes more and more dangerous with an increase in Joe’s pain, exhaustion and his lack of food. Soon night falls and a storm comes ahead, covering the footprints of Simon. All seems lost but Joe hears the voices in his head urging him to carry on. He finds a place to dig a snow hole and goes to sleep. The chapter finishes off going back to the perspective of Simon waking up after his first night back at camp, he realises from here on out he will be haunted for cutting the rope on Joe and presumably killing him.
The chapter starts off with Joe in the crevasse after Simon cut the rope. He is trapped but is still trying to carry on with his broken leg. when all hope is lost he stumbles in view of an opening in the crevasse and pushes forward to get to the exit. Despite a few problems along the way like trying to get to the exit with only one working leg, he finally emerges from the crevasse and back onto the mountain.
He is happy to see the surrounding mountains one more time but realises that he still has far distance to travel back to Richard and Simon. A voice urging him to carry on comes to his mind and he continues swiftly back to camp.
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