Blackout -- Research
The Context & Research
Playwright Davey Anderson wrote the play 'BLACKOUT' about the true story of a young boy from Glasgow who was convicted of an attempted murder. The boy's name was Peter and he was only fifteen at the time according to the conversations Anderson did with him *(1) Taken from excerpts of interviews between Davey Anderson and "James", 'BLACKOUT' details the anguish, grief, loss, fear, and uncertainty that attributes to James' journey to attempt murder.
The play is written as a monologue, and presented as a story being told through time from James' perspective.
Understanding the Character & His Changes
At first introduction to James, it is noted that he was confused, angry and detached as he displayed this during his first time speaking in the play:
"Oh my God!
Imagine you wake up and you're in a jail cell.
You go up to the door
You bang your fists
Screaming
Shouting
What am I doing in here?"
According to Harry Mills Ph.D (2005) *(2) when an individual strikes out physically and/or yells out they are going through the motions of anger.
James' journey was intricate and difficult to understand as there were many conflicting factors James had strong love for his Grandfather but little care for others, he was socially aloof yet he wanted to be seen as cool and fit in with the others.
He was a product of a grim environment which included physical and verbal abuse from many, he also had a skewed view of outsiders. Due to these conflicts it is necessary to research what James' motivation was that lead to his crime.
James had a deep love for his Grandfather, as he looked at him as a father figure, a result of his fractured relationship with his biological dad. According to Sarkadi et al *(3) having a father figure in life is pivotal as they reduce behavior problems in boys, and of course James' father wasn't active enough in his life causing the boy to look elsewhere. It is clear now that James had low self confidence growing up that was due to being exposed to abuse in the home, Stanley N. (2011) *(4) details that when one is faced with an abusive home environment, they become withdrawn and lack empathy also feeling high levels of fear and anxiety, this was displayed when James withdrew from social interactions and then became distant, eventually delving into drug use and drinking to put up a 'protective barrier' of sorts.
A particular researcher from the Channel 5 Documentary * (5) of 'When Kids Kill' identified a link between children that watch violent movies or play games depicting violence, they are influenced to enact what they have seen. This plays a part in James' life as he begins watching various movies i.e Romper Stomper, American History X of which both follow the story of Neo-Nazi's. James follows this idea through by putting up swastikas in his room, doing the Nazi salute as well as going on to say he has to "protect his white blood".
James had been severely bullied, chased by a group of bullies with cleavers and machetes, building up his resentment for outsiders, Dr Soman suggests that when an individual is bullied resentment is a consistent byproduct, this is further employed when James releases this build up on a group of bullies provoking them to attack him to which they're skeptical saying to him "You need to get your head sorted oot mate, you're not right" James picks up a chair and throws it at them to then get beaten but begin to "love the pain".
What were the motivations, the messages & what helped you?
The message and form that the play was written was interesting, presenting the play to be a monologue of how and what happened to this troubled child who we slowly begin to sympathize with was such a big jump from the norm like having set actors play set characters to the one James being represented by all. The message conveyed highlights many different themes linking to the character's history i.e loss, anger and regret again this is important because enables us as actors to understand the motivation of what led to his demise. Understanding how these all effected him gave me a clearer view of what he felt and I was able to step into his shoes in order to bring about a better performance, I based this on my research into multiple aspects of behavioral issues and mental understanding and previous details mentioned as well as being empathetic towards James seeing the world as he sees it and viewing it from my perspective.
The environment was also a big factor as it was forever changing but yet still simple enough that nothing was complicated or didn't make sense, it would eventually lead back to the prison in which James was held telling the audience of his story. A message of regret and how doing the wrong thing would affect you in the long run whether it be emotionally or mentally. In order to better grasp this I watched a few plays and based some of my ideas to help structure our own rendition. For example after taking in a play based on race issues I noted how there was a use of a split screen displaying the opposite sides of the races, I utilized this in section six where James was sitting in his room watching horror movies and another James was in the hospital with his Granddad reading on books about killers showing both points in time where we was beginning to change as he now enjoyed the latter.
As a whole I wanted to show the audience the impact of repetitive consumption of violent imagery simultaneously.
Working as part of an ensemble was incredible, the influx of ideas and what we could do to present such themes to the audience were immense. Our communication was effective as we tried each idea at a time and as a group decided what was best, never really having a 'leader' just bouncing off of each other and seeing what or where needs improvement. The dynamics of the group were quite important especially regarding a piece such as this as there are many important things needed to bring everything together, what I mean by that is allowing the group to mesh, get along with each other, work within a calm creative environment. I contributed to the planning via drawing up a spider diagram on our most powerful ideas and what should be done, helping my group's ideas mix together fluently, when it comes to the organisation and development aspect of the ensemble I was attentive and worked hand in hand with my group, giving out multiple ideas for example in section eighteen where James says "You step outside and take a deep breath" I opted that the actors take a big breath and smile at the audience giving a small sense of hope and happiness. Even sharing our creations and molding them to how they would fit the piece that we were to do. Another idea that I suggested was to have me change places with Pele as a significance show that James' personality changed, in this time he had been subjected to being bullied and beaten.
---
Bibliography
---
Comments
Post a Comment