I have been thinking about the development of my previous idea.

I want to mimic my evening routine before bed when I was younger. I was thinking of possibly having my dad voice, pre-recorded, asking me if I have completed my before bed tasks.  For example;

– Have you brushed your teeth?

– Have you had a shower?

-Have you brushed your hair?

Then I will ask my dad if he could check under my bed and in my cupboard for monsters.

After this I’m thinking that I change into the fairy costume.

I will start by opening a story book and telling a story – whether it be personal or one that I will find – about divorce. Then start looking in the boxes and picking out items and telling personal stories about what the objects mean to me. In the final box will be an item that is more positive and end the piece on a positive revalation.

I have been thinking abit more about my idea.

My dad always used to say to me “When bad things happen, you just have to move on”

To MOVE ON, I think of moving, I think of when I moved from my childhood home at 12 years old. Seeing all the boxes everywhere, having to pack up my bedroom, packing up all my clothes, pictures, books, teddies, my whole life. Therefore, boxes, that is what it came down to. Using boxes to create the stories in my performance, not just stories though, every element of the stories.

When you move house, you dont just put everything mixed in a box, for example, you wouldn’t put your bathroom mat in with a couple of books, a saucepan and your underwear. You separate, have boxes for bathroom, same for kitchen and bedroom and then you label on the front what is in them.

This is exactly what I will do. Think about the different catergories and elements that made up the time of my parents divorce and fill the boxes with items that relate to the overall idea.

I want the structure of my piece to be quite scattered, to follow but not, to be fine on the hearing but interestingly bizarre visually.

I will have the boxes spread around the space meaning that for me to have the story follow in good time I will have to travel – not just walk, depends on the story being told – to each box quickly.

Going back to the above quote from my dad, BAD THINGS – during the time of the divorce and as previously spoken about in my other posts – an element of hurt and wounded. Therefore I will still have bandages laying around the space between the boxes and I will be rapping them around my body throughout the duration of my piece.

Still yet to think up the ending for the piece…that will just have to be a surprise for now.

Anna Deavere Smith said in an interview: ‘Listen to people and listen to stories…Tell a story that has multiple points of view…The old idea of the single author is flawed because ultimately it takes multiple people to tell the story of a community.’

The definition of a community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. My piece is story about me and my community. My community being my family.

Not directly though.

Smith also said in the same interview: ‘Acting is the ability to believe that you are someone else.’ I don’t want my piece to be a sob story about my life and the hard things me and my family have been through, it will be my life but through a different character eyes.

I will listen to my family and listen to their stories and then tell my story, that has mulitple points of view, through someone else.

Anna Deavere Smith interview – http://bigthink.com/videos/how-do-you-get-into-character

A theme…a feeling…

How do I want my audience to feel when they walk into my performance? Comfortable, happy, excited (about the bean bags), childlike (fighting for the bean bags).

How do I want them to feel during the piece? Understanding (of the character), relatable (to the story), emotional (happy, angry, sad), sympathy but also pride (of the character).

How do I want them to feel when they leave? However they want, it all depends on how they recieve the story.

This is my idea for my set.

I have the idea to re-create my childhood bedroom. With my piece being about a bedtime story, I feel that with remembering what mysurroundings were back then, I might find it easier to use emotion memory.

In terms of placement in the space, my bedroom would be set up at one end of the space and the audience being placed at the opposite end.

Set: As you can see above there will be a bed in the middle with two night lights or lamps either side, I’d like a small chair in the space also to allow for movement positions during the piece. There will also be a rug (though thats not a deal breaker if I cant) with bandages lay around the space. I will also have three small boxes in one area of the space and one large box in another area. These will be explained nearer the time – dont want to ruin the surpirse! I want the audience to feel comfortable but also feel the inncoence of being a child again so my idea is to have bean bags, teddies, story books and cushions and other things to portray that child like element, with bandages lay around the audience area and night lights or lamps around the edge of the audience. I also plan to have bed sheets, attached together, around the back of the bedroom behind the bed with a projection of tinkerbell on it, I had a giant tinkerbell drawn on the wall behind my bed.

Lighting: My idea is that I dont want to use any of the rigged lights, just fairy lights, lamps and night lights around the space as mentioned. I want to keep it very simple and I want the audience to really feel as if they are walking into a childs bedtime and their bedtime story is about to be told.

Sound: I plan to have only instrumental music – maybe sound effects, they may come with development – my reason being is that my piece is heavily worded (as its a story) so I dont think it would work with lyrical music.

This is the main idea for the aethestics of my piece, I’m prepared for it to change slightly but no major changes will occur now.