Script Writing: National Theatre, Session 1 : Story

05/12/14

Script Writing introduction

Political and social message - any social situation is all equally political

3 political issues that affect me:

• Education system : having to pay for Higher Education and the amount it costs especially if you are from a low income family and cannot afford it
• Credit crunch: Affected my family with a lack of money coming through the door
• Public Transport: The amount of money it costs to travel by train and bus when it then costs a lot of money to buy a card that gives you a discount in the first place 

Where do you see or read information about what is going on in the current climate?

• The news on TV
• Newspaper headlines and articles
• BBC news online 
• Radio
• Facebook - people sharing headlines and articles publicly

3 social issues I have directly come in contact with:

• I knew someone was a teen mum - abuse she got as she was branded names and had a bad name for herself to start with. 
• I have known of people getting into a bad drug habit and have seen their downward spiral
• Knowledge of STI's from people telling me their problems and it being a common topic in health for young people.

Who would you say has the most power?

• Government
• Public
• Queen
• Rich Bankers

We then looked at a given character of a police woman interrogating a criminal and had to then write a monologue/speech and propose how the rest of the scene and play could carry on as a way of getting inspiration for out scripts and how they can develop when we start writing.

Policewoman:
So, I know full well about your whereabouts on the night of the 21st October 2014 and know from an outside source that your evidence you gave is in fact untrue. Your friend Gavin, we have been informed that he was there too and that he was in fact the leader of this event and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We see your record is clean prior to this - smashing up a car is a criminal offence. If you can tell us the true manor and full details of Gavin's whereabouts currently, and recall the exact events that happened that I can make a deal. I can make a deal that you will come out with only a caution so that this event will not appear on a criminal record. So what do you say? You will be given only a caution if you tell me about your friend Gavin, or if you refuse, well you'll be straight to court and you will not be able to wangle your way out of this one and you will go straight down. So what will it be?

Response: Take me to court, I'm not saying anything. At least I will have a life when I come out instead if being known as a grass. There is notning more that I have to say...

If I was to have this scene in a full scale I would like a spot light on a desk centre stage with 2 chairs one side with officers and the other side with the offender and a recorder in the middle of the table. I would also like to have a greyish wash of light. 

My proposal of where this scene could go onto afterwards: end the interview and then have the criminal in an overnight cell and do a monologue. 

I would then have a court scene and then have a monologue for some of the people involved in the court case of their opinions of what is going on in the case. My proposal for a small scale performance would be in a studio theatre. 

Script Writing 4/12/14

Script Writing 04/12/14

Notes from discussion about the unit

New views is about young voices writing for 16-18 year olds

Ideas which could make a good story for a play would be about a person close to your heart, a journey about them through the play to give a more authentic feel. This way your writing will have something particular to you.

Should be a half an hour play

The plat needs to go on a journey and the main character needs to grow and learn throughout the play. Visually you need to think and image your scenes to be able to create it.

Look for oppositions in a character - so what a character wants, what they need and what is stoppping them to build a story.

We were given different pictures of faces and then had to make up a story and background to the face of the person on the pictures. Here are my character profiles for 2 pictures:

Image 1:

Gender: Male
Age: 56
Ethnicity: White
Name: Ralph
Where do they get money from?: Earns it from his job as a lawyer
Accommodation: House
Lack in life: A Personality
Need: Sleep
Secret: Is married to 2 women because he has 2 identities
Problem: Infertile
Memory: His brother was killed at war
Something they believe in: He believes men overpower women
Wish for: Love
Where are they in the picture?: Shocked looking at the woman he left

Image 2:

Gender: Female
Age: 45
Ethnicity: White
Name: Delilah
Where do they get money from?: Working in a post office
Accommodation: Small Annex
Lack in life: Food
Need: Money
Secret: The father of her children didn't die he left her
Problem: Depressed
Memory: Being happy with her husband, she wishes the husband will come back
Wish: Happiness
Where are they in the picture: Sitting on a stoop of a front door



The idea of this process was to be able to build a character profile quickly by imaginative decisions in the moment and by some simple questions of traits to come up with a character has been built with a small background story which can then build.