We discussed the ideas of Nature V Nurture. Are we a product of our environment? Yes or No? Justify your thoughts

I really do believe that we are a product of our family and our environment. We can’t be a product of anything else and I believe this because, personally; my parents have taught me right from wrong, which has lead the path for me to do certain things or not. Everything I do is based around the idea of morals. I think the schools that i have gone too, have also moulded me, and i think that the older you get, the more you have lived life and seen the world without your parents always telling you what to do. So my summary of this question is:

The older you get = The more responsibility you have to take on

Q- What is a back-story?

A back story is a bit of a characters life at home or with their family. Somewhere that you wouldn’t normally see; but now it shows you where they have come from.

back·sto·ry

  /ˈbækˌstɔri, ‐ˌstoʊri/ Show Spelled[bak-stawr-ee, ‐stohr-ee] Show IPA

noun, plural back·sto·ries.

1.

a narrative providing a history or background context, especially for a character or situation in a literary work, film, or dramatic series

Q- Why is it important for actors to understand their character’s backstory?

Because it gives them more of an insight into their lives, and it is easier to relate to the character, as you know more about him/her. It also makes it easier to act as you feel more in the shoes of that character the more you know.

Q -What did you create as a snapshot of your character’s world? Describe what you did and link your choices to the play.

My group did a scene at home, where Leah was being ignored by both of her parents, and they didn’t really care about her. She was then left by herself and she was trying to call all of her friends, but they were not listening to her and she was making things up to talk to them about. She talked and talked to not think about anything else, but when she was left alone with no one, you could tell how upset she was, as all the thoughts were running through her mind, and she couldn’t talk to distract herself.

Q - What did another group create? Was it effective, why?

I think that it was Ursula’s group who really stood out for me. They showed the reality of abuse within a family, and real life family problems, (e.g. Tyler being schizophrenic and self harming, the abuse of the wife etc) it then showed Tyler hanging out with two of his friends, until suddenly we realised they were the voices in his head. I thought that this was really clever, as we never realised, until the twist at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZNtticFI60


"I Need"

I need sunshine, I need angels, I need
Something good, yeah I need
Blue skies, I need them old times, I need
Something good, yeah something good
Something good, yeah something good
Oh oh oh oh

All these days seem so far away
And I went too far enough to wait
I've come
Way back then when I hadn't seen
Half them things I'd never thought I'd see
Become someone I'd never thought I'd be, oh

Cause there's something good,
Yeah, I need sunshine, I need angels, I need
Something good, yeah I need
Blue skies, I need them old times, I need
Something good, yeah something good
Something good, yeah something good
Oh oh oh oh

All these days seem to fade away as I lost faith in myself
Questioned everything I stood for
No no ain't more left to look for in life
I began to lose all, found it harder to cope
With everything around me
And them people that would doubt me
Oh I, I was in a place that I didn't wanna be
Seeing face after face I didn't wanna see, I I I
I didn't go out of my mind, only god knows
And all them girls that I used to see running 'round
Was like the rain that I used to see pouring down, ey ey ey
They did nothing for me

Cause I need sunshine, I need angels, I need
Something good, yeah I need
Blue skies, I need them old times, I need
Something good, yeah something good
Something good, yeah something good
Oh oh oh oh no no

I need sunshine, I need angels, I need
Something good, yeah I need
Blue skies, I need them old times, I need
Something good, something good
Something good, yeah
Oh oh oh oh no no

I need, I need, I need
I need, I need, I need

Q-Why did we create these?

We created these to help see our characters feelings, perceptions and piece together their physical appearance.

Q- Did you find out anything new about the character your group worked on?

We found out, that all the words we were using to explain her feeling, all related to insecurities and trying to talk to get her mind off of anything else that she was thinking about. (LEAH)

Lesson 2 - 15th November 2012

Today’s lesson focused on creating the history of a character and exploring what we know from the text.

Task 1:

Firstly in groups of 5 you created a 1 minute version of the play ‘DNA’

 

Answer these questions:

 

Q - Why did you do this?

I think that we did this to help ourselves summarise the play in a better understanding and understand our own characters more. It was really interesting to see everybody elses perception of the characters.

Q- How did it help you?

Like i previously said, i think that it gave us a better understanding of the play because we were thinking more deeply into it, because we had to role play it.

Q- What did you notice about all of the pieces that were created? Were their moments that were the same?

Yes, well obviously, working on the same script, we would all have many similarities in our pieces, but i think the most obvious in everybody’s was when Adam ‘dies’, the plan to cover up his death, and when he comes back to life.

We discussed the role of the postman - a character that is never seen and doesn’t speak.

 

Q- What is the importance of this character in the play?

He is the person in the play that makes the audience know that the characters feel no emotion. It helps them understand the lengths the characters would go too, to cover this up. And it also puts a picture in everybody’s head, through Dennis Kelly’s amazing description.

Lesson One

Today was our first lesson back from half term. When we first got in to class, we were told how to set up a blog (such as this one) and then we were told it had to be done for now, the night we were told! So here I am. We were introduced to a new play named DNA written by Dennis Kelly. We read through and changed characters every new scene or so often. It was really nice to hear everyone in the class speak and try reading out different characters; but not only reading them, acting them out through their voice too. We were stopped halfway through as we were visited by Paralympics, silver winning medallist Will Bayley, which was fun. After reading through the play I am very excited to start work, not only on the play itself but on seeing how different people match different characters. The play, I would describe as weird and wonderful. It’s a very confusing plot, reading it for the first time, but as it develops, it comes together more, which gives it a mystery I like. The play starts off with a question ‘dead?’ which intrigues us and leads us to want to know more. It then continues with Leah & Phil always having conversations where only Leah, a panicked, paranoid young girl is speaking. This play develops into a children’s murder game. Which they all need to find a way out of, before it’s too late, but, there’s a shocking twist at the end. The play is quite hidden to say the least. We never really get a clear indication of who the children are, or even if they are children, as we never get told their age. They don’t really have identities, but as I said, it draws me in, as there’s more mystery.

I also found some pictures; one of Dennis Kelly's DNA cast & one more simple picture to indicate the play.