Wednesday, 12 November 2014

The East Side

A taste of the East End:

I love the text layout (how the writing is set out in a lyrical style), overall I think it's great that there are no set characters as it means that the director and actors can be truly creative and use as many actors as desired. The piece could use one actor or a hundred which I think makes the play quite unique, versatile and free flowing.

The play is about individual’s stories in the East End, stories that would otherwise go untold. These include themes such as, domestic violence, drudgery, petty crime, murder and everyday life. 


Here are some notes on each individual tale:

The Prologue - Strange and immediate. The play starts straight away and wham bang the audience should be engaged and know straight away that the play is no ordinary play.



Tale 1:
Is one of my least favourite tales however is a good example of the language and age of the character being portrayed. I think that the voice of the character's age ranges between 15-21 years old, I got the impression of a young and bubbly female because the character describes the East End as a man that is sexy, mixed raced with stubble etc. Sticking to the stereo typical/norm relationship status of most females, the character would be attracted to the opposite sex and since the character is talking about a male, you can only assume that the character is a female (well that's what I have imagined her to be anyway however because of the fluidity of the script and the freedom given to the actor, it could be either sex). Along with the added vocabulary that a young child or adult would most likely use.



Tale 2:
I absolutely love tale two, it is brilliant and is also one of my favourite tales. The text alone can create a strong image of a female version of The East End, whilst I read through the script I could image stage directions, voices to use, special awareness etc. I think that's what made me love the tale so much, because I was able to create the image of a genuine girl that would be a representation of The East End and how I would then portray that story to an audience. With added characters and a mixture of mime and speech, I think the scene could really be explored in further detail and with a unique twist.

Woman during the day

What she has to become in order to get attention from her boyfriend


Tale 3:
Rhymes a lot and refers to a big and built man as a lost little boy which I personally find really powerful. This scene is not one I particularly like however I will give it credit for being cleverly worded and meaningful. If I were to create a performance with tale 3 then I would make the piece very ensemble, not all of it but a good deal of it. I also think that whilst one person is reading the words it would be nice if everyone else mimed the scene i.e the pub fight and only joined in for certain words and then to just have little boy Jack left on stage to let the powerful message sink in for the audience.


Tale 4:
I think this was quite a cute scene that showed the closeness and unity of the community as well as the shaking and harsh reality of East End life. The tale highlighted the kindness of a very young sweet man that helps an old lady cross the road however also picked up on the reality of the lack of care or concern of this poor old lady’s safety whilst crossing the road. It also gave me the impression of The east End being quite a busy place with cars and not many pensioners (which also gave me the idea that it may not be the quiet and peaceful place that old people choose to retire at usually, suggesting that The East End could be quite a busy and noisy place full of excitement.


Tale 5:
My favourite tale was the story about the lady being abused and the neighbours hearing the bangs and smashes through the wall, evidently a week later the woman is found dead along with her twin infants. I feel as if the tale could hold an abstract twist when performed, hopefully capturing the essence of the East End and its hidden stories.
The scene is probably one of the longest scenes in the play; it highlights a bit of the attitude of some people in the east End. For example when the script talks about bangs coming from their next door neighbours apartment (they live in a flat, or that is what I imagined it to be anyway), pretty much at the beginning of the play it stated that the character(s) didn't think too much of it...that it was 'just a domestic' and it also became a habit for the TV to be turned up to drown out the screams. That kind of came as a shock to me but also made me a bit more aware of the normality of abuse in the East End, or at least in this area. And of course there would be people that would help, call the police, try and actually make a difference, but for many its just the same old story, they just get forgotten or ignored.





A true story about a four year old that starved to death in his crib and was left there for just under two years:
When we read the script, I was immediately reminded of this story and the terrible abuse that people of all ages have faced, are facing and will face.


If you or anyone that you know is being affected by abuse then you should contact someone. If you don't know what abuse is then click the link below and learn more about what it is and whether you are experiencing it.

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/domestic-violence-and-abuse.htm

Here is also a video of a lady that was a victim of domestic abuse, she took a picture of herself everyday. On the last photo of  herself taken, she holds a piece of paper that reads “Help me, I don’t know if I’ll make it ’till tomorrow.”. 
Now I don't know whether this woman still is alive or whether she has ever been abused since the video was posted, or even if she posted it but I do know that this is a very disturbing and powerful message that I wish wasn't reality. The matter of the fact is that she looks happy in the first few pictures but as the video goes on, her face looses its glow, her smile disappears and bruises appear on her skin, before long she starts looking less like a happy human and more like a lifeless corpse. You can watch the video by clicking on the link below:

Tale 6: 
The story of a man and woman at a pub told through the eyes of a 15 yr old boy in my opinion (I make this presumption because the text says he is drinking orange juice and in a pub you would expect a East End lad to be drinking an alcoholic drink such as beer). The scene talks about a man and woman meeting at a bar with a bit of a rocky start but once the characters look at each other...like really look, they realize that they both share something, the pain of loosing someone close. For the man it's his mother, and the woman looks like his Mother which stops him from hitting her at one point. And the woman has lost her daughter, she was luckier than him though because her daughter simply moved to collage in America whereas his Mother actually died but they both possess the same pain. Anyway so eventually they both sit together, having a pint of beer and sharing their pain which gives them both comforts.
This story shows the Eat Ends community at its finest, it is where ends meet, everyone is at the pub for the same reason, they have all had a shit day at work or they have had a pretty shitty life. With this understanding of life and level of experience everyone can relax and rely on each other to a certain degree. It is this kind of warm hearted closeness that most people would call 'The Real East End', or 'What The Eat End is all about'.
I think this scene in particular can create a really intimate relationship between both themselves and the audience if performed correctly, for example it’s not so much words as actions and just genuine generosity that creates the intimacy and trust that is required.


Tale 7:
 An insight of the typical stereo type corner shop, owned by an Asian family. I don’t particularly like this scene but it does show some importance in the play. It contains racism which conveys awareness but then also shows how the victim stands up for himself with the help of his family, creating a scene of ‘domestic bliss’. For me the scene shows unity as a family and gives off a positive message of ‘sticking together’ even though it uses a negative stimulus to help convey the message. The scene should not simply be a boy standing at a till serving customers but something more, maybe using line drama at one point but I feel like it should be explored using multiply techniques rather than just one.


Tale 8:
 At first I didn’t like this tale but after further analysis I have become quite fond of this scene. I love how cleverly the scene has been written, it is interesting and creative. For example Michelle is described as ‘Queen of the Concrete Jungle’ and a bag being snatched from a robber is described as ‘An apple being plucked from a tree’, this shows a more imaginative view on the text which uses metaphors and similes to its best advantage. The scene would be great if it used a various amount of sounds to form a soundscape (e.g rain, jungle noises, bangs, ghostly whistles etc.) ensemble pieces of this play could mainly consist of the soundscape, Michelle’s scream and everyone could become animals when they talk about her being queen of the concrete jungle.

Epilogue:
I love that the play starts and ends with a taxi driver. In fact in a strange way I image all of the tales in the play, to either happen whilst this taxi driver is on his shift, or that each of the characters have been in this taxi and their story then later unfolds. I know that that is a strange way to think of it and would be extremely hard to show in a performance but it is how I imagine the play in my head, a series of unfortunate events that no one really notices or cares about, but how somehow all manage to be connected in one strange way or another.



My favourite tale had to be tale 5 because it was one that I feel strongly about and although I have never experienced abuse or known anyone that has been abused/murdered, I did feel like I could connect with both the text and the character. Having a connection tends to also helps me build a connection with the audience so I think it is an important skill to develop. I think the fact that I also have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject from news etc. makes it more able to understand. I n fact where I live there is a lady up my road that we sometimes hear screaming and my family constantly have to call the police, the thing is that no one else where I live tend to call the police because they seem to live in fear of this lady which sounds crazy to me but I suppose like in the play ‘it is none of their business’.

 At the start of the session we were asked about what we thought of the East End.
I knew absolutely nothing apart from the fact that it was most likely where Eastenders is set. Luckily for the class Jake and Mateo were up for talking to us and discussing the East End and what it is all about since they live in that area. From them we got a better understand of the fact that the East End isn’t as loud and crazy as many presume or learn from Eastenders, it’s actually quiet most of the time. And sure you get your fair share of creeps and excitement but not everyone speaks like a chav and is 21, pregnant with five babies, all of which have different dads. We learnt that the stereo typical Eastenders tended to be a made up version of the real Eastenders.  The East End is actually a tight community that has lads that love to watch football in the pub and girls that don’t necessarily have a face full of make up, 2p hoop earrings on and a boyfriend that is a part time drug dealer.
Thanks to Jake and Mateo, I now know that people in the East End are pretty similar to everyone else, they just have a bit of an accent and are known for having a bad reputation for no reason.







We were also asked to explore one of the tales in groups but got so wrapped up in the text that we didn’t actually have time to get onto this task.
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