Criterion D – Reflecting

 

Australia Under Fire is a play written by Ilo McDonald and Nik Krastev. It is a play about how human impact affects the fires in Sydney, Australia. We described the issue and the causes of it. There are elements of tragedy and determination involved in the artwork. In this essay we will visit the SOI (Artists draw attention to issues of human impact on the environment (locally or globally), view how learning was transferred into this artwork, and we will view a critique of the play.

 

       My play draws attention to the problems caused by humans on the environment. This happens in many different forms, such as air pollution, water pollution, and sea levels rising. The artwork presented by Nik and I is a play focused on the way that humans make the world dryer. Our target area where this was a real problem is Australia, in the province of New South Wales. The activities which result in ecosystems getting dryer are clearing forests, promoting grazing, dispersing plants, altering ignition patterns and actively suppressing fires. In the play, Mr. Kelvin Jones (Nik) has recently lost his son and has a wife in the hospital as a result of the raging wildfires in Sydney. He draws attention to this issue by going to see the Environmental Minister Mr. Waldorf (Ilo), describing the issue, and gives reasons why this issue happened in the first place. He mentions that humans play a large part in increasing the risk of wildfires as the climate, as a result, gets drier. He then presents an argument in the way that he would like to provoke Mr. Waldorf to help the issue in any way he can. In the end, they both become climate change activists. Artists have a responsibility to speak out about the impact humans have on the environment to the extent that they can manipulate or provoke the audience into seeing the effects first-hand. The artists know that they have an audience that wants to see what the artists do. This means they can incorporate elements in their artwork that show the audience this issue and the negative effects.

 

 

I have transferred my learning into my play in the way that we have focused a lot in the past about flash drama. In past units we learned the processes and techniques used in flash drama. Since we made a flash drama play there was a lot of consideration of the specific characteristics. Another way I incorporated my learning from task 1 into the play is that when I critiqued the two plays, I learned a lot about what makes a flash drama performance appealing. They only use one location and time, otherwise it becomes too much for the allotted time. These plays also often have a singular issue. This permits them to focus on that issue in depth during the play. There were only 2 characters in my performance, and both had a significant role. The protagonist changed drastically by quitting his job in my performance. He did this to make a difference, and it was crucial to the storyline. There was an absence of subplot because the time limit only permitted us to focus on the main issue which were the wildfires. There was also minimal scenery and props. In our play we used a desk, a phone, a computer, and some clothes suited to the characters.

 

The plot of the play Australia Under Fire is about an Environmental Minister who is persuaded to quit his job and become a climate activist by a man who has lost everything to one of the many wildfires/bushfires in Australia. In the beginning of the performance, Kelvin walks into the office determined for answers and help. He was distraught following the death of his son and the injuries of his wife due to a recent wildfire that reached his home. He cannot fathom losing his son, and now possibly his wife, to something that humans caused due to their own selfish and negligent behavior.  How can he turn a blind eye to the irreversible damage humans caused when it has left him without being able to protect the one thing he loved more than life; his son.  Now, it feels too real that the mother of his child will fall victim to the same self-serving beast.  He has to make someone understand the impact of this tragedy on human life.  He is stressed and is desperate to seek justice and has decided that the Environmental Minister will be able to help him with his issue. He wants the Environmental Minister to do something to prevent future wildfires by putting policy into place.  This seems like the only way to make this issue easier for Kelvin to deal with the pain.  When Kelvin barges into the Environmental Minister’s office he is met with a very defensive man full of obstinance. How dare Kelvin think that he can meet with a government official. Mr. Waldorf is very reluctant to listen to yet one more person complaining about wildfires, because he knows his hands are tied, but as the conversation continues he begins to realize that Kelvin is not just another person but in fact he is one man who has lost his entire reason for living. If it can get any worse the very man standing in front of him is about to lose his wife as well.  This is the turning point when Mr. Waldorf becomes overwhelmed with sympathy for Kelvin as he begins to outwardly grieve his own wife who he also lost to a wildfire.  He realises that the Environmental Minister does not have the power to make a significant change sitting behind his desk, and Kelvin convinces him that more change can come from someone who is willing to put his life on the line fighting for what they believe in, a climate activist.  When Mr. Waldorf understands that a powerful and passionate group can have more effect than one man behind a desk he decides to join forces with Kelvin. The main purpose of this play is to focus on the problem of the dryness and fires due to the human impact on the environment of Australia. The issue it is dealing with is the fires in Australia. The intended audience is the drama class and the pupils in it. The skills used in the play were emotions, storyline, reasoning, and making realistic points related to the SOI. These skills were used to come together and make a play that will succeed. The purpose of this play was achieved quite well. This was because the characters were played to the extent that the plot described the issue and the specific solution for this issue. The emotion was represented very well and when the Environmental Minister broke down crying it was very heartfelt and moving to the audience. Also, the points Kelvin was making about the fire and how it destroyed his life is relatable for some people in Australia who were also negatively affected by this disaster. This play was aimed to be descriptive and moving. It achieved this goal because it felt like a play which made people think about the message. There are a few strengths in my play that are very important. It was very directly representative of the SOI. We also offered a solution to the presented issue in the way that both characters became climate change activists because they had an issue/motive in common. Another strength is that our characters both had experiences with the fires so they could relate to each other. They wanted to help because of what the fires took from them, leaving their lives in chaos. A point to improve is making our emotions believable. Maybe we could have put more emphasis on the fact that he actually had no power as the Environmental Minister and the real power lies in the hands of the Prime Minister who acts on pressure from the public. Also, it was a bit anticlimactic the way he just called and quit his job, we could have built in more suspense by having him doing something more subtle like taking off his name tag from his desk. Sometimes the less obvious the actions in the play are, the bigger the impact is of the certain action. An example of this being hard to believe is when the Environmental Minister breaks down crying. It just doesn’t seem believable. Another point to improve is our planning for the play. It took us a very long time to plan for the play and get started, resulting in less time to rehearse the play.

 

To conclude, our play was quite successful. It showed the statement of inquiry blatantly. It also visited a problem caused by human activity. Our play intended to educate the audience about this issue and showed what some people are doing as a result of climate change and how to act positively upon it. The performance is starring two men who have been severely affected by wildfires in Australia, which is a real-life issue. They try to do the best they can to make a positive impact on the environment.

 

Australia Under Fire is a play written by Ilo McDonald and Nik Krastev. It is a play about how human impact affects the fires in Sydney, Australia. We described the issue and the causes of it. There are elements of tragedy and determination involved in the artwork. In this essay we will visit the SOI (Artists draw attention to issues of human impact on the environment (locally or globally)), view how learning was transferred into this artwork, and we will view a critique of the play.

 

       My play draws attention to the problems caused by humans on the environment. This happens in many different forms, such as air pollution, water pollution, and sea levels rising. The artwork presented by Nik and I is a play focused on the way that humans make the world dryer. Our target area where this was a real problem is Australia, in the province of New South Wales. The activities which result in ecosystems getting dryer are clearing forests, promoting grazing, dispersing plants, altering ignition patterns and actively suppressing fires. In the play, Mr. Kelvin Jones (Nik) has recently lost his son and has a wife in the hospital as a result of the raging wildfires in Sydney. He draws attention to this issue by going to see the Environmental Minister Mr. Waldorf (Ilo), describing the issue, and gives reasons why this issue happened in the first place. He mentions that humans play a large part in increasing the risk of wildfires as the climate, as a result, gets drier. He then presents an argument in the way that he would like to provoke Mr. Waldorf to help the issue in any way he can. In the end, they both become climate change activists. Artists have a responsibility to speak out about the impact humans have on the environment to the extent that they can manipulate or provoke the audience into seeing the effects first-hand. The artists know that they have an audience that wants to see what the artists do. This means they can incorporate elements in their artwork that show the audience this issue and the negative effects.

 

 

I have transferred my learning into my play in the way that we have focused a lot in the past about flash drama. In past units we learned the processes and techniques used in flash drama. Since we made a flash drama play there was a lot of consideration of the specific characteristics. Another way I incorporated my learning from task 1 into the play is that when I critiqued the two plays, I learned a lot about what makes a flash drama performance appealing. They only use one location and time, otherwise it becomes too much for the allotted time. These plays also often have a singular issue. This permits them to focus on that issue in depth during the play. There were only 2 characters in my performance, and both had a significant role. The protagonist changed drastically by quitting his job in my performance. He did this to make a difference, and it was crucial to the storyline. There was an absence of subplot because the time limit only permitted us to focus on the main issue which were the wildfires. There was also minimal scenery and props. In our play we used a desk, a phone, a computer, and some clothes suited to the characters.

 

The plot of the play Australia Under Fire is about an Environmental Minister who is persuaded to quit his job and become a climate activist by a man who has lost everything to one of the many wildfires/bushfires in Australia. The main purpose of this play is to focus on the problem of the dryness and fires due to the human impact on the environment of Australia. The issue it is dealing with is the fires in Australia. The intended audience is the drama class and the pupils in it. The skills used in the play were emotions, storyline, reasoning, and making realistic points related to the SOI. These skills were used to come together and make a play that will succeed. The purpose of this play was achieved quite well. This was because the characters were played to the extent that the plot described the issue and the specific solution for this issue. The emotion was represented very well and when the Environmental Minister broke down crying it was very heartfelt and moving to the audience. Also, the points Kelvin was making about the fire and how it destroyed his life is relatable for some people in Australia who were also negatively affected by this disaster. This play was aimed to be descriptive and moving. It achieved this goal because it felt like a play which made people think about the message. There are a few strengths in my play that are very important. It was very directly representative of the SOI. We also offered a solution to the presented issue. Another strength is that our characters both had experiences with the fires so they could relate to each other. They wanted to help because of what the fires took from them. A point to improve is making our emotions believable. An example of this is when the Environmental Minister breaks down crying. It just doesn’t seem believable. Another point to improve is our planning for the play. It took us a very long time to plan for the play and get started.

 

To conclude, our play was quite successful. It showed the statement of inquiry blatantly. It also visited a problem caused by human activity. Our play intended to educate the audience about this issue and showed what some people are doing as a result of climate change.

Artistic intention task 2

 

The play is called “Lit Matches”. It is set in New South Wales, Australia. It is starring Kelvin Jones, a man who has lost his house and child to a fire. His wife is in the hospital from the fire. The other main character is Mr. Waldorf. He is the chief environmental minister for the province of New South Wales. He also lost his wife to a fire, but Kelvin doesn’t know that. He likes his job and really likes to follow protocol. Kelvin barges into Mr. Waldorf’s office to demand help and answers for his concerns. Mr. Waldorf does not know how to deal with this issue at the moment because it is so sudden and unexpected. He wants to help but he doesn’t know how so he tries to make Kelvin leave until Kelvin sets Mr. Waldorf off about his own dead wife. The show is a tragedy and means to bring awareness about the issue to the audience.

 

The purpose of the play is to show the audience a tragedy about the effect humans have on the environment. It shows the problem of fires in Australia due to dryness and the climate getting warmer, making the environment much more flammable. The purpose of the artwork is going to be a representation of real-life issues in a play format. It shows how these real problems can affect people and should be solved. It shows how tragic and how deeply affected people can be from humanity’s impact. It intends to be a representation of what may have been going on in Australia while the wildfires were happening. This issue caused many homes to be destroyed, lots of wildlife and people to die, and cost people a lot of money. This event mainly happened in the Australian province of New South Wales, home to the large city of Sydney. The whole sky had turned red and uncontrollable fires were raging in the countryside. The Australian government had struggled to handle this problem. The way it relates to the play is that it depicts some devastation and loss due to the issue. Kelvin loses his home and child, and now his wife is in the hospital. We hope to achieve a certain extent of realization and sympathy from the audience. We want to show the extent of this situation. The ways that our play responds to the statement of inquiry is that we focus the whole play on the fires, which are linked to the human’s impact on the environment.

 

Skills from flash drama that are present in the play include the use of minimal props, one singular location for the set, and the ability to create a play in a short span of time. The use of minimal props is evident in my play, because it is not necessary to use many items to show what is happening. The props I intend to use in the play is my laptop, a mug, a desk, and chairs. These props are relevant to the play, but the play is mostly represented by the characters, the message, and the actions of the characters. These props make the scene more believable in the way that they help the setting look more like a real life situation, overall making it easier for the audience to understand the relationship between the play and the situation it is related to. This play uses the technique where it is in a single setting throughout the duration of the play. It is set in an office, where Mr. Waldorf is working, and has chairs for visitors and a desk for his own workspace. This is because the play is about Kelvin getting deeply saddened about his life after the horrendous incident which took his loved ones from him. Therefore, he stays in the office arguing and trying to get a solution from the environmental minister. He wants to protect other people so they do not have to go through the trauma he went through. The best place to make this seem realistic is the office. This play is going to roughly 5-7 minutes long. This will make the message more meaningful in the way that the purpose of the play is portrayed during the whole time, so it is the main point of focus for the audience. The way the office will be used to represent the serious message is that it will show that real change can happen if you talk to the right people, and that problems can be solved with perseverance. A technique commonly incorporated in these one-act plays is the focus of one concept. This means that there is normally one idea that the play focuses on. This permits the actors to represent this issue very well and in-depth. In this case we focus on Kelvin’s problem and the solution(s).

 

This artwork connects to the statement of inquiry “Artists draw attention to issues of human impact on the environment (locally or globally)” in the way that it focuses on a play based around the concept of humans’ impact on the environment. This is because the concept of the wildfires in Australia is heavily related to the fact that humans have been taking the earth for granted for many years. The humans keep emitting carbon emissions and let the earth get hotter, causing already-warm places like Australia get extremely hot and dry. When a place is dry, all it takes is one cigarette thrown in the wrong place to get a fire going. If not taken care of straight away, then these fires grow rapidly and begin destroying land and homes. This is a local scale, but issues caused by humans happen globally in many different ways, shapes, and forms. An example is floods, due to the water level rising. Artists have a responsibility to raise awareness about these issues to the extent that it is a way to continue doing what they do while benefitting society. These plays about the environment are not much different than the plays artists generally write. With these plays they mean well and try to help by creating outrage and persuading people to do something about the issues.

 

To conclude, our play visits the concepts of tragedy and aims to raise awareness for the effects that careless humans have on a global scale. This play is about Kelvin, the man suffering tragedy attempting to receive a response from Mr. Waldorf. He demands to be compensated for his losses. Mr. Waldorf has also suffered trauma from the same issue but does not want Kelvin to know that. This is a one-act play and is related to the SOI by being a detailed representation of a specific contemporary issue.

Ilo McDonald

Mr. Champion

Drama

January 10th

Art Speaks Out: E-Portfolio

Flash drama

The Climate Change Theatre Action was founded in 2015 by Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Roberta Levitow, and Caridad Svich. They are based in every inhabited continent with representative playwrights. They have commissioned 50 5-minute plays related to the topic of climate change and climate justice. Their aim is to influence change and spread awareness about the importance and effects of climate change. They want people to be motivated by their plays to try and make a difference in the world. They wish to achieve this by writing plays to perform visually the negative effects of climate change and why we should try and stop it. These plays are available for audiences around the world to perform. The more people who use these plays, means that the message is being spread on a larger scale. This is a global movement, that the organisation intended for everyone to be a part of this movement all around the world.

Processes of flash drama include a script meant to be acted out between 10 seconds to 10 minutes in length. This type of theatre has many different forms. Generally, each of these forms includes many common elements such as limited characters, location, and technical design. This form of play is commonly used by schools and/or community groups. The set is almost always minimal or non-existent due to the fact that the play is so short that location would be too complicated. The concepts introduced by this genre are conflict, growth, development and humor. The technique of a flash drama is a short script acted out quickly by multiple actors with very limited props. These kinds of plays are used to show a quick story. Another technique is to make the play work in a set location, and to explain what you want in the short time of the story while making sure it is still interesting with enough detail.

The first play I will critique is called ‘Appealing’ by Paula Cizmar. The purpose of this play is for two reporters/photographers who are supposed to be taking appealing pictures for the media but in reality, attention should be on the devastation and ruined pictures, instead of the falsely beautiful ones. They argue about what they should show the public.

The playwright dramatizes the issue of fake news in climate change. This play shows that most companies try and make it seem like the whole world is just sunshine and rainbows when it is really not. It is destructed and disgusting all because of humans polluting. The different elements used are speech, persuasion and conflict. To evaluate these skills, I will start by saying that this play is very well structured and seems as if it would be quite moving. The playwright was able to achieve the goal of the play quite well as the words and arguments were very smartly crafted and told a good point. What worked in this play was that Lin and Ash both had different roles that in the end worked well together and came up with a compromise to their points of view. An example of this is that while people kept walking by throwing trash on the ground, the girl studying got more and more bothered by this, and it led to her trying to help her friend by telling people off and making them pick up their trash.

To summarize, this play was quite interesting and really made me think about the effects of climate change. This

‘Lin and Ash’, by Elspeth Tilley, e.tilley@massey.ac.nz “Sometimes my students tell me climate change seems too big, too global, too monolithic to do anything about. I wanted ‘Lin and Ash’ to give them a place to start, grounded in ideas of the power of allyship – or what something akin to allyship might mean in the climate action context.” This author is from Queensland, where she graduated with multiple degrees in literature and drama. She was interested in contributing to the CCTA because of her constant involvement of solving problems. Problems she has been interested in before are racism, sexism, and climate change.

The second play I will critique is called Lin and Ash. The point of this play is about two college students, one of which is trying to do her homework as the other one shows up in trash and tries to influence other into doing the same thing to reduce. Eventually the one doing homework gets too irritated by passers-by that she joins her friend in the trash challenge.

The playwright dramatizes the issue by making one of the characters very eco conscious. She is wearing all of her waste for the month. This results in her smelling pretty bad. She continues to wear her trash throughout the lay. The way this issue is dramatized is that it involves her friend and people passing by who litter as the girl doing the challenge comes up and gets angry at them. A specific example of dispute is when Lin first shows up while Ash is doing her homework. Ash notices what Lin is doing and gets confused and slightly annoyed. The different elements involved are conflict, reaction, and confidence. Skills involved include emotion, arguments and confusion. These skills are well used because they are represented pretty well by the actors. The techniques used are dispute and representation of an issue. These techniques are necessary to the play in the way that they really complete the whole play. The aesthetics of the play were quite nice, as it wasn’t a scattered play, and it was easy to focus on what was happening. The creator was able to achieve the purpose of the play by using all the necessary steps. The actors, if their job is done right can really show how important it is to use less garbage.

To conclude, this play was very interesting and really got me thinking about climate change. I would recommend this play. The idea of the trash challenge and influencing others or becoming outraged is a very smart way to draw attention to the issue.

The way theatre can draw such attention to climate change through acting is quite intriguing. The short and small-scale techniques used in this form of theatre makes it easy to perform but nonetheless effective to spread the message and overall help the world out in solving the issue of climate change.

Citations

Abdulrazzak, Hassan. “Laila Pines for the Wolf.”  Hassan Abdulrazzak, abdulrazzak.weebly.com/laila-pines-for-the-wolf.html#.

“Google Images.” Google Images, Google, images.google.com/.

Massey University. “Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley – Associate Professor in English (Expressive Arts) – Massey University.” Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley – Associate Professor in English (Expressive Arts) – Massey University, http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/expertise/profile.cfm?stref=815830.

The Climate Change Theatre Action was founded in 2015 by Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Roberta Levitow, and Caridad Svich. They are based in every inhabited continent with representative playwrights. They have commissioned 50 5-minute plays related to the topic of climate change and climate justice. Their aim is to influence change and spread awareness about the importance and effects of climate change. They want people to be motivated by their plays to try and make a difference in the world. They wish to achieve this by writing plays to perform visually the negative effects of climate change and why we should try and stop it.

Processes of flash drama include a script meant to be acted out between 10 seconds to 10 minutes in length. This type of theatre has many different forms. Generally each of these forms includes many common elements such as limited characters, location, and technical design. This form of play is commonly used by schools and/or community groups. The set is almost always minimal or non-existent due to the fact that the play is so short that location would be too complicated. The concepts introduced by this genre are conflict, growth, development and humor. The technique of a flash drama is a short script acted out quickly by multiple actors with very limited props. These kinds of plays are used to show a quick story.

The first play I will critique is called Appealing by Paula Cizmar. The purpose of this play is for two reporters/photographers who are supposed to be taking appealing pictures for the media but in reality, attention should be on the devastation and ruined pictures, instead of the falsely beautiful ones. They argue about what they should show the public.

 The playwright dramatizes the issue of fake news in climate change. This play shows that most companies try and make it seem like the whole world is just sunshine and rainbows when it is really not. It is destructed and disgusting all because of humans polluting. The different elements used are speech, persuasion and conflict. To evaluate these skills I will start by saying that this play is very well structured and seems as if it would be quite moving. The playwright was able to achieve the goal of the play quite well as the words and arguments were very smartly crafted and told a good point.

To summarize, this play was quite interesting and really made me think about the effects of climate change.

By Elspeth Tilley, e.tilley@massey.ac.nz Sometimes my students tell me climate change seems too big, too global, too monolithic to do anything about. I wanted ‘Lin and Ash’ to give them a place to start, grounded in ideas of the power of allyship – or what something akin to allyship might mean in the climate action context. I also think what Rob Greenfield did was pretty cool, so I’m hoping to get a whole bunch of us wearing our trash (or going zero waste so that we don’t have to wear our trash!) during (and beyond) CCTA 2019. I’m working with a zero waste events advisor to develop a protocol for our own CCTA production, too, so if anyone wants a copy, just email me.

The second play I will critique is called Lin and Ash. The point of this play is about two college students, one of which is trying to do her homework as the other one shows up in trash and tries to influence other into doing the same thing to reduce. Eventually the one doing homework gets too irritated by passers-by that she joins her friend in the trash challenge.

The playwright dramatizes the issue by making one of the characters very eco conscious. She is wearing all of her waste for the month. This results in her smelling pretty bad. She continues to wear her trash throughout the lay. The way this issue is dramatized is that it involves her friend and people passing by who litter as the girl doing the challenge comes up and gets angry at them. The different elements involved are conflict, reaction, and confidence. Skills involved include emotion, arguments and confusion. These skills are well used because they are represented pretty well by the actors. The techniques used are dispute and representation of an issue. These techniques are necessary to the play in the way that they really complete the whole play. The creator was able to achieve the purpose of the play by using all the necessary steps. The actors, if their job is done right can really show how important it is to use less garbage.

To conclude, this play was very interesting and really got me thinking about climate change. I would recommend this play.

2. Water Mime from India
   The video below claims to be the best mime ever – it’s not! But judging by the number of views and the comments, mime is clearly a highly popular medium for exploring
   environmental issues in India. This mime is about water wastage leading to water shortage.

This appeals to me in the way that it has included the problem I want to address of water pollution. This is also appealing because I really want to help solve one of these issues.

I want to create a solution to the problem of ocean pollution. I can dramatise this issue by doing a play which clearly represents this issue’s negative effects. In this play I can also include possible solutions. We can recite some facts and personal stories. This play can be influential in the way that it will motivate change in the audience. It will be visually showing some of the effects of this problem.

Ilo McDonald

Drama

MYP 5c

Introduction

My groups’ play is dealing with the issue of climate change. It is mainly directed at the millennial generation and expressing our thoughts on what they have or haven’t done to fight this problem. The message is to show the negative effects that climate change has all over the world. It has several different negative effects and each country has to deal with this. Climate change gets worse and worse every day, and this will eventually lead up to a mass extinction if humans don’t do something soon. The content is us, Gen Z, telling stories and information to prove that this problem should not be ignored.

Body

            In our play we will use various processes and techniques of agitprop. These include minimal use of props, mass recitation, episodic aspects, simplification of issues and much focus on the message. We will use very minimal props; this means that we are only using a water bottle to help visualize the water levels rising, and other than that there are no exterior props used. We include mass recitation in our play meaning we will have moments during the play where we chant together and make the same gestures as each other. There are multiple instances where we use mass recitation during the play. We are going to include episodic aspects in the way that the play is not a narrative play but people explaining their perspectives and inconveniences caused by the main issue; climate change. Everyone has a personal story that will move the audience in its own way. The play will include the simplification of problems because their will not be an in-depth research reported by the actors. The play simplifies the complex issue of climate change by showing various ways why it is “bad”. It mainly focuses on explaining/complaining to the millennial generation about climate change. The message of the play will be to influence change, spread awareness and spark something in the audience.

            This play explores the Statement of Inquiry, “Art is not just entertainment – it can be used to manipulate an audience and so provoke change in individuals and societies.” in the way that this play is not for entertainment purposes. It is to provoke the audience into being agitated about this issue in hopes that the audience can use this to bring a positive impact to society. This play will manipulate and influence the audience by showing many ways that climate change is a serious problem with horrible effects and will continue to get worse if humanity doesn’t try harder to stop it or at least slow it down. We would like to provoke change in our audience by upsetting them with our facts and/or opinions. Actions they can take after seeing this play include spreading awareness, creating their own solutions or helping others who are trying different things to stop climate change.

Conclusion

            In summary, this play hopes to influence the audience and provoke them. The reason behind this is to show how the negative effects of climate change may lead to the death of the planet. With the play we hope to achieve an outrage within the audience so that they try and help the world against this issue in their own way. We also want to include various agitprop elements in this play.

Dear Marcus,

As I informed you last letter, I would be going to a Shakespeare play called Romeo and Juliet. Well, I have just seen this wonderful play and would love to tell you about my experience at the Globe Theatre. To start off, the architecture was just beautiful. The building was built in a circle shape, with roofs over the outside walls, and the middle was open to the sky. There were three rows of seats on the walls. These were called the lower gallery, the middle gallery, and the upper gallery. The stage was positioned protruding out from the entrance of the theatre into the middle. There were many people standing up alongside me in the yard (right in front of the stage). The theatre was 9 meters high. The stage was 1.5 meters high. Two posts held up a cover for the actors and their expensive costumes from the weather. Thank god it wasn’t raining, because there was no cover over my head! There were seats on the stage balcony itself, and they were considered the best seats because you could hear all the actors loud and clear. Here was where the very rich, nobility, and the upper class watched the play from. Additional balconies on the left and right of the lord’s room were called the gentlemen’s room, and these accommodated rich patrons of the theatre. The stage was about 13 meters across and 8 meters long. There were two trapdoors on the stage, one on the floor of the stage and one on the stage balcony. The upper one was used to represent heaven and the lower one to represent hell. In the heavens, a selection of ropes and rigging would allow for special effects such as flying or dramatic entrances. Special effects used included the use of cannons, trapdoors wires, ropes, harnesses, fireworks, flowers and petals, music, live animals, bones, intestines and blood of dead animals. The costumes used in the globe theatre are used to represent the ‘status’ of whoever the actor is playing. Back then, the clothes you wore generally determined your class. Although sometimes the costumes could be reused, they were very expensive to make more of. The theatre spent about 300 pounds a year on costumes, that’s crazy! They really try hard to make their performances the best they could. For women they used wigs, but the style and colour of the hair would show status as well as their clothes. An observation I made is that all the actors were men. Even the women!? The men playing the women cannot have their voice broken or they sound too much like a man. I just remembered! Something quite funny happened! It was quite hilarious when Juliet’s voice broke! Everyone went silent and he ran off the stage red as a tomato from the embarrassment. They had to get a new actor for her! The play was very dramatic, like most of the other plays I’ve heard of. While lower class characters which was very ordinary, Upper class characters would speak stylised, rhythmic speech patterns. The play was represented in a very style-reliant way. Since most other people cannot read and write, I noticed that a flag was raised since the afternoon and stayed raised until the show was completely finished. Pretty genius! The general audience (commoners) at the Globe Theatre were called groundlings. This was because after paying the fee of one penny they would be able to stand in the pit in front of the stage. I thought there may be a chance to even see the queen there! I was wrong. It turns out she only watches plays in private playhouses and doesn’t attend amphitheatres. The nobles would pay 5 pence to sit in the highly desired lords’ room. The gentry would sit in the galleries on cushions. The richest nobles could even sit on a chair beside the stage itself. Thomas Platter, 1599 “There are separate galleries and there one stands more comfortably and moreover can sit, but one pays more for it. Thus anyone who remains on the level standing pays only one English penny: but if he wants to sit, he is let in at a farther door, and there he gives another penny. If he desires to sit on a cushion in the most comfortable place of all, where he not only sees everything well, but can also be seen then he gives yet another English penny at another door. And in the pauses of the comedy food and drink are carried round amongst the people and one can thus refresh himself at his own cost” Well Marcus, that’s about all for my experience. I hope I’ve persuaded you to perhaps come with me next time?

Sincerely, Borris

Bibliography:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Globe-Theatre#ref248150

http://www.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-special-effects.htm

https://teach.shakespearesglobe.com/fact-sheet-costumes-and-cosmetics

https://prezi.com/d50u2v4zpqik/elizabethan-acting-style/

http://www.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-flags.htm

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-theatre-audiences.htm

http://www.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-audience.htm

The animal I chose to compare my character to is a lion.

5 physical characteristics include:

Having a strong body.

His skin is a sandy brown colour.

Scary/menacing.

Tempered.

Powerful.