Today I had my tech session, in which I sorted out the final set and technical requirements for my show.

In the staging area, there is:

• A wooden chair, which I sit on as I open and close the show, as well as demonstrating the car journey.
• A coffee table which is used to hold some smaller props and further demonstrate a homely environment.
• A plank of wood which is used to symbolise the bridge in the story.
• A bucket which will have a small amount of water that I can flick at the audience when falling into the swamp.
• A snorkelling mask which I put on whilst swimming in the swamp to aid the storytelling.

The audience will be restricted to five viewers (plus two examiners) to help create an enclosed atmosphere. They will sit on either a sofa or one of two tub chairs, all of which are red (matching my own living room at home) and will be covered by throws that I have collected from home. By doing so, I hope to authentically recreate my living room at home, adding to the intimacy of the piece.

There are four key lighting states throughout the show which will change to suit the locations and assist with the storytelling. At the beginning, the only light will be on the audience and once they have settled, the neutral light will fade in on the ‘staging area’. The lighting on the audience will fade out. The natural light changes to a warmer orange hue after I have introduced the piece and have moved into the story (as a representative of the sun). Upon entering the forest whilst in the car, a dark green hue will fade in to suggest the car has been ‘enveloped’ by the trees. Afterwards, the lighting with switch back to the orange hue and will remain until I fall into the swamp. During this section, the sound of Cicadas will play in the background (subtlety so that I can speak over it) to imply the outdoors. This sound will fade out when I begin to cross over the bridge. Upon falling in the swamp, the light will snap to a mix of light green and dark orange (to make the transition between falling in more obvious as well as creating a murky brown colour). During Robert Frost’s poem, the lighting will remain as the warm orange hue. Once I have sat down after the poem, the lighting will reset to the opening ‘neutral’ state to show that I am back in the living room. The show ends as I put down the photo album, and the light on me fades, leaving the audience in light.

Now all that remains is to continue to rehearse the piece and make sure that every transition is clear.

After my mucking about session today, a few key changes/decisions have been made to my performance so that it is better suited to the space and my intentions with the piece.

The first, and most notable change, is that I have decided to remove projections from the piece for several reasons. For one, I felt that the pictures I had would not help convey the story or add any depth to my description of the locations. Secondly, I felt it would look odd to have a huge screen being projected on when I was trying to create an enclosed living room atmosphere (I did think about using a television instead of a projector, but as stated above, I did not feel it would necessarily add anything to my story). Finally, as my piece is so heavily centred around the storytelling and the breadth of the text, I wanted the audience to be more focused on what I was saying – whereas a projector may have acted as a distraction. I want the audience to vividly imagine the places that I am describing rather than simply showing them, so that they become a more active participant in the show.

Instead of having the audience look at pictures on the projector, I will be looking through a photo album at the start of show. Early on, I may show this to the audience but it is primarily to assist with the description of my dad’s bookcase. I felt this suited my piece better and helped to create a home-like atmosphere. Furthermore, by looking through the photo albums, it helps to frame my piece as it is the photo albums which stir my memories.

I decided to remove the coffee table and biscuits from the piece as I felt that it would create a divide between the audience and me. My primary goal with the piece is to have an intimate relationship with the audience as I am telling the story, and for them to be able to imagine themselves in the scenarios I am describing. As such, I felt the coffee table would create a barrier between the audience and myself – removing the connection that I intended to have with the audience.

I have settled on having a max audience of five with one sofa and two matching chairs. These will be facing diagonally towards one of the studio walls, creating the effect of an enclosed space whilst allowing room for a ‘staging area‘ and an array of lighting. I have considered adding a lamp in the staging area to add natural light to the scene, though I am yet to find one.

I have also added a few small props to the piece in hope of creating light-hearted moments for the audience. As I say about leaning out of the car window and having the window blow through my hair, I am going to pull out a small portable fan to create the effect of wind. Moreover, as a child I used to have a small battery fan that I would bring on holiday thereby creating a subtle link to my memories of Menorca in general. Additionally, when I fall into the swamp I am going to wear a snorkelling mask and mime swimming about to accentuate how long I felt I was in the water. Again, this is reminiscent of my holidays in Menorca, adding another layer of depth to the exploration of my memories.

Currently these are all the changes I have made to the piece, as I continue to rehearse I may make additional changes and will update my blog accordingly.

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Giggs, J. (2015) Menorcan Sea. Unpublished Photograph.

As I have made many changes to my script, I have decided to also look at the set and how the audience will engage in the piece. As I am only focusing on the first story I have removed all audience participation, however I want them to remain an active part of the story, therefore my piece will still incorporate interactive elements.

The first notable change is that, instead of sitting in chairs that are placed to look like a car, I will have the audience sit in a recreation of my living room– using throws, a tray and a coffee table from home. I will also provide the audience with biscuits (particularly ones that I favoured when I was a child). By doing so, I hope to add an intimacy to my piece by inviting the audience into my home. I am keeping the projections to create the effect of a home theatre. By doing so, the audience become involved in my memories as soon as they sit down. This also allows me to have more room as a ‘stage’.

The show will start with the audience entering my house as I am looking through a photo album– another item from my house. At the end of the piece, I am going to close the photo album, symbolic of the memory coming to an end.

When I fall into the swamp, I am going to have bucket filled with water that I can place my hands in, so that I can flick water at the audience. As such, the audience are not simply passive listeners in this moment. Throughout the walking section of the story I am going to have the sound effect of cicada’s playing (similar to the video below), further involving the audience into my memory. The staging area is also going to feature a plank and a chair which will be used by me to symbolise the bridge and car, respectively.

Throughout the piece, many of the sound effects will be made using my own voice to further demonstrate how these are my own memories- it is how I remember it sounds. I also intend to use various lighting states to reflect the mood or atmosphere during the memory, for example, upon entering the forest in the car, the lights will slowly fade to a dark green. By doing so, I hope to add another layer of interactivity for the audience. This will also help make the transition between the car and the walk more obvious and interesting.

The structure of the show is therefore as follows:

• I start sat in my living rooming looking at a photo album as the audience come in.
• I stand up and talk to the audience about my dad and my holidays in Menorca to contextualise the piece.
• I sit down on a nearby seat in the ‘staging area’ to aid in conveying the story.
• I begin telling the story of when I was 6, based in the car.
• I get out of the car and pick up some ‘plant props’ and begin to scratch them near to the audience, making the noise that happened using my voice. Lights transition from warm light to dark green.
• I mime crossing the thin bridge.
• As I fall in, I use the bucket to flick water at the audience and begin miming swmming around in the swamp.
• I resume the story and conclude with Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken.
• I close the photo album.

Currently these are all the changes that I have made but I will continue to update the blog as additionally changes are made.

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Jojikiba (2011) Cicada sound effect (2) . Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQUmRCGNuc [accessed 23 April 2017].