F(l)ight - (4) (Opening sequence // Groups)

Mine and Lewis' duet section: We added more to the end of our duet section. We added a few moments where we used the space (by stepping around each other) to create tension. To finish our duet, I offer to help him off of the floor but drop him back down and spit at him. We liked this idea of spitting as it is not very movement-orientated like the rest of the piece, so therefore stands out more. We have decided that we would like to add more to the beginning of our piece. Lewis came up with the idea of us sitting on a bench in the park (to show that these things can happen anywhere), but instead of using a literal bench, we could use other people in the class to form this bench. This idea was inspired by DV8's "Can We Talk About This?". We thought that this could represent other people not standing up to what they see and instead blending in to the scenery (in our piece, them being a bench symbolises those who do not stop what they see). At first, we thought our first section could be us two looking like an ordinary couple, with no issues, to make our piece more shocking. However, we decided that we shall create our beginning section in a way that makes it look like I am the victim in our section. This will shock the audience more when they realise that I am in fact the abuser. Our aim with this is to make the audience feel shocked and a bit guilty for assuming that the men are the guilty - we are breaking stereotypes. We have not created this beginning section yet, but shall do this next lesson.

Opening group section: We added a lot more to this section in this lesson, but we also slightly adapted what we already had. Instead of having James in the middle, we decided to put Rob in this place instead. This is because Rob is the only character in our individual groups that isn't directly abused, nor is he abusing anyone. Rob's character is a small child who watched his father abuse his mother daily. Therefore, we decided that he should be in the middle of the opening section to symbolise that he is literally in the middle of everything - he is being surrounded by all of this and cannot escape it. We then realised that we happen to have the three victims on one side of Rob and the three abusers on the other side of Rob - we decided to use this. After Rob is lifted, Ollie puts him down on the floor (as is putting him to bed - as Ollie is Rob's dad in their group piece). Ollie, Charlie and I are in a straight line on Rob's left, whilst Lewis, James and Rhiannon are on his right. Ollie, Charlie and I do three aggressive movements (as if about to hit him), but they are joined with a smooth transition. This is to show that the abusers are unpredictable. On each of our three movements, we have a lower level and our hands become closer together - we end on the floor on our knees with our hands together, as if we have been arrested. Contrastingly, Lewis, James and Rhiannon do three movements (beginning on the floor in the same position as the abusers finish in) to show them getting a higher status and escaping from their trapped lives - they are free.