Questions Arising From The Site: (Shanay Neusum-James)

We have decided to use our site because its nature suggests at a particular theme that we are trying to explore and portray which is the theme of class. Our site is the smoking area and the slope next to it. The slope shows a difference in levels which can be used to show the different levels in class. At the different heights of the slopes we aim to place characters. At the top of the slope, the characters will be of a higher class, well-spoken and not very pleasant; in order to play on the stereotype of upper class people being snobbish and cold. The lower down the slope the lower the class of the character. The characters down the bottom of the slope will be kind, honest and hard-working people.

The text that the site suggests isn’t so much written text but brings to mind the Greek Gods and Goddesses of Olympus and the Underworld. This idea was formed when we realised we wanted to create a metaphorical twist on the idea of showing a tour of a town in which there is a difference in class of people.           

 We instead wanted to have the Mayor who is touring the ton as a character similar to that of Hades the ruler of the Underworld in which the poorer class people live because the only way that they could afford a house was to sell their soul to the devil. This makes a comment on how hard it is for people in the lower class to own or buy properties at the moment. The characters that we have come up with all have names that once belonged to Goddess’ and Demi-gods with characteristics that complement the stereotypes/personality of the character. For example, the character Aeirgia was the personification of laziness. Most people have the view that the lower class are lazy and that’s why they are poor. The audience will be treated as potential buyers of properties.

The site is a slope so it offers a way of the audience to make their way through the site and down the slope via a trolley or pram because it shows the type of things that you would see in a town or city which is where our site specific performance is set.

The site allows the spectator to wind down the twisting slope. They will be able to stand at the top of the slope, walk down it and stand at the bottom of the slope. They can also stand by the smoking area in which there will also be a chance to spectate the piece.

The action will take a place in all areas on the site: the top of the slope, along the slope, the bottom of the slope and the smoking area.

The tidiness of the top of the slope has been used as the higher class area because higher class areas are thought to be clean. In addition, the fact that the slope is highest at the top due to the taller height of the wall at this point in the site, this part was chosen to be the higher class area. The large amount of litter at the top of the slope has been used as the lower class area because lower class areas are thought to be heavily littered and dirty. Also, the fact that the slope is lowest at the bottom due to the smaller height of the wall at this point in the site, this part was chosen to be the lower class area. The lower section of the slope is also meant to be the lower class area because it is closest to the smoking area which has a lot of cigarette butts and a smoky smell that is strongest in this area. This works in our favour because it increases the feeling for the audience that they are walking into a lower class area. There is also a tall white post at the top of the high class area that is going to be used as a billboard in which we will place ‘FOR SALE’ signs. In the higher class area (the top of the slope) there is a green area (a section where there is a lot of plants).There is no such area in the lower class area, in fact there is a section of mud instead. This works to show the contrast between the class

The lower class area is dimly lit due to it being further down than the top of the slope giving it a more negative and/or an uncomfortable feeling. This is the opposite with the higher class area which is taller and so the daylight reaches this spot very well. This works in our favour because it gives the higher class area a brighter and happier feel signifying the positive energy and happiness a person would feel in Olympus.

All in all, we think that our performance reveals to the audience the common stereotypes that come with different social classes. For example, people living in higher class areas have perfect lifestyles and that people from lower class areas are low-life’s and are lazy. We think that, the audience will hopefully see that it is unfair and unjust to label people with these stereotypes. The piece also makes a comment on how hard lower class people have to work in order to get what they want. In this case they have to sell their souls. Although this is only a metaphor and an exaggeration it’s still very true that the lower class often don’t deserve to be treated as though they don’t try hard enough.

We have often had to try to overcome the difficulties of our site such as the busyness of the site when we were trying to rehearse. Often, we would need to use the space in order to rehearse however because there were people using the ramp it made it difficult to rehearse with them there. This meant that we would politely have to ask them to leave so that we could use the space. Another difficulty we had to overcome was that when we would want to rehearse after school because our site is so dimly lit, we found it difficult to see each other meaning we had to change our rehearsal times to before and during school times where there was more daylight. Because we were also rehearsing outside in the middle of winter, it was very cold and so rehearsing outside meant that we had to overcome the cold by going inside and rehearsing in a dram room instead or waiting to rehearse when it is slightly warmer. We also had to overcome rain in this way, by not rehearsing when it is raining or rehearsing inside instead.

The audience sees what they will see because they should be immersed in the conversation between the characters because they are able to stand right next to them so they should be able to see the action unfolding beside them. They will be able to go right up to the characters and touch props. They

One characters physical action’s during the piece emulates certain behaviours at this site. This character will be played by Izzy who will be pretending to smoke and she will be standing in or at least very close to the smoking area meaning she is emulating behaviours commonly seen at this site. Also the characters and actors will be walking up and down the slope which is an activity commonly done on the slope too.

The action of the piece is informed by the architectural particulars and special possibilities of the site because the characters ‘living’ at the higher area of the town (slope) act as if they are better and more higher up than the people in the lower class by treating them poorly and speaking down to them.

The site allows us to demonstrate class metaphorically and physically, explore social status and involve humour and shock factor to engage the audience through our metaphorical themes that have been inspired by the architectural qualities of the site.

The performance allows changing points of attention because of interaction between characters and the mayor-type character touring the properties inside the ‘town’ we had created in our site. It also allows for multiple focuses because characters further down the slope will be doing things such as carrying out tasks and interacting with each other whilst characters at the top of the slope will be talking to the audience. The performance allows for a close proximity between performers and audience members in order to fully immerse them in our piece. Often the characters will be offering the audience props and talking directly to the audience and so will need to be in close proximity to the audience in order to do so.