Outcome 3 "he Always" - Realism

The task set in this outcome was to collaborate, create and perform a realistic play based on the primary stimulus, the poem �He Always.’ We also had a secondary stimulus of the photo �The Classroom’ in which a boy is depicted in a room where everything is brown but he is shown red. The subject matter was derived from this; the play is about a boy who doesn’t fit in with the society around him. The style given was �Selective Realism’, so the play had to be as real as we could possibly make it. We did this using the conventions of Realism such as: the fourth wall, a realistic set, a sequential plot, etc. The themes our group took from the stimuli were inability to fit in and conformity. We identified the need to establish this using expressive skills and dramatic elements.

The focus of our task was to learn about the Theatrical Conventions of Realism.

During the formation of the play, we completed a series of teacher lead workshops, which helped us pull some ideas from the stimulus. We would be given a certain part from the poem �He Always’ and asked to brainstorm a small scene from it. Brainstorming and improvisation went hand in hand and we often switched characters in our brainstormed scenes to see what a different person could bring to the same idea. For example, though the scene in Art class was taken from the stimulus, an idea that came forth during an improvised scene was that one of the kids would be asked to work with the boy and would refuse because they thought he was a �loser.’ This idea was contributed by either Mel or Jayson (probably collaborated through both.) We set out the basic structure of the play by brainstorming and wrote it on the whiteboard. Through improvisation Becky came up with a genius line for the end, where the little girl says “Did you find Ryan Yet?” This creates pathos and adds to the tension associated with the climax.

We decided on the characters by choosing which person we thought portrayed the perception of them best. Ashley was to play the boy (we named him “Ryan”), Renee was the mother, Becky was the little sister, Mel and Jayson switched roles for teachers and students and Will, Christine and I were all students. These characters were also a reflection of what was taken from the stimulus. The character of the mum for example, was developed to be a very stressed and busy mother. She needed to be like this, because in Ryan’s eyes “Nobody cared.” Renee developed on this by using her voice sternly and loudly, often engaging herself in other activities while talking like cooking. My role in the play was a student who was pretty much Ryan’s only friend. My super objective is to be a good student, but minor objectives would be to help the Ryan and she also wants to fit in. These objectives, however, are in conflict with each other because my character couldn’t fit in if she helped Ryan. This conflict is shown when Ryan and the bullies are fighting outside, my character doesn’t really know whether to step in and help. We decided we needed someone who could talk to Ryan and therefore get certain things across. For example, there is a point where I ask �Ryan’ what happened with the principle and we find out that his mum is coming to the school. My use of expressive skills mostly consisted of my voice and body. For example, I raised my voice when enforcing that I was NOT Ryan’s girlfriend. I crossed my arms and turned