Unit 1 DRAM1 - Live Theatre Production Seen and Prescribed Play
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AQA A* Drama Essay Live theatre review
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Unit 1 DRAM1 - Live Theatre Production Seen and Prescribed Play
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AQA
Briefly explain the ways in which two or more performers used their performance skills to create convincing romantic or family relationships on stage at particular moments.
Analyse and evaluate the contribution of your chosen performers to the total dramatic effectiveness of the production’ [...
Unit 1 DRAM1 - Live Theatre Production Seen and Prescribed Play
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Live theatre review essay – Miah Hawkins
‘Briefly explain the ways in which two or more performers used their performance skills to
create convincing romantic or family relationships on stage at particular moments.
Analyse and evaluate the contribution of your chosen performers to the total dramatic
effectiveness of the production’ [25 marks]
I watched beautiful thing, which is a live recorded performance, filmed at the Arts theatre,
London in 2015 for digital theatre streaming platform. Beautiful thing is a romantic, comedy
production where two teen boys, Jamie and ste are neighbours in London council estate
flats. Both boys have very different lives but slowly become more comfortable and end up
falling in love. This production was directed by Nicolai foster and written by Jonathan
Harvey. Two performers who used their performance skills effectively to create convincing
romantic relationship were Jake Davies and Danny Hatchard. Their contribution to the
overall effectiveness of the production showed me that through times of weakness you can
gain confidence in each other which can become a strength. it also left me feeling inspired
by how both characters dealt with the situations.
Jake Davies played the character Jamie who is a fifth teen year old troubled teen who must
go through a lot within his life. Jamie has no father figure in his home but lives with his mum
who only cares about becoming a publican. Jamie’s journey in the play begins with him
being extremely reserved but gains confidence throughout as he stands up against his mum
and goes forward with his love interest. Danny hatched played the character of ste who
Jamie’s sixteen-year-old neighbour who is his love interest. His personality is very mature as
unlike Jamie he has had to grow up without a parent figure in his house. Ste is a massive
lover of sport and is always outdoors away from the house. Ste lives in a toxic household
with his father and brother both of which are addicted to drink and bullying him at every
opportunity. Stes journey begins with him being extremely shy and reserved but becomes
more open the closer he gets with Jamie and is welcomed into his home. Ste continually
tries to be there for Jamie even when he is going through issues at home. Jamie’s and stes
romantic relationship develop throughout the play as they become more comfortable and
open.
The first key moment of the play when Jake Davies and Danny hatched uses their
performance skills to show a romantic relationship between the characters Jamie and ste is
when ste first sleeps over at Jamie’s. Ste is welcomed in Jamie’s home by Sandra after he
was fighting with his dad and brother. This scene is in Jamie’s bedroom where you see both
actors sat upright on the bed centre stage. In this moment Jamie and ste share their first
interaction as Jamie is allowing ste to show his vulnerability through his injuries given to him
by his household. At the beginning of the scene, we see Danny Hatched walk in from stage
left and sit down next to Jake Davies as he offers him a pillow and some drink. The first line
of dialogue comes from Sandra shouting form off stage “Jamie do you want to watch the
sound of music’’. Jamie’s then shares a few sarcastic and jokey lines of dialogue with his
mum when ste continues to say, “I wish I had a mum”. This point in the play we see both
actors physical and vocal skills change as their topic of conversation is a lot more serious. As
hatchard delivers this line his eye contact is towards the audience but away from the
, character Jamie showing he may be uncomfortable to show real emotion Infront of him.
While he is doing this his face is relaxed as his mouth Is closed portraying how upset and
jealous, he may be of Jamie’s bond with his mum. Jamie’s then replies with “what happened
ste” at this point Jake Davies eye contact is directly at ste which portrays he is trying to
connect and try and understand why he is hurting. His voice is also much quitter and has a
softer tone than usual to try and bring some reassurance and show kindness toward Ste. Ste
then continues to explain what happened to his hum but before he does this there is a
moment of silence and a pause in the dialogue. This has an extreme impact on the audience
as it shows that ste is truly hurt by this situation which some audience members may be
able to relate to. By Danny Hatchard deciding to use his physical and vocal skills in this way
it not only connects the audience with the character ste but to the whole play. They are also
going to feel emotions like sympathy for this characters. As Ste is explaining the story about
his mum his eye contact continues to stay away from Jamie, but his voice has become a lot
stronger and clear which allows the audience to understand his emotion of angry towards
the situation. While he is doing this Danny Hanchard’s body languages also changes as his
shoulders are hunched over and his head is now facing the floor as he fiddles with the lid of
the bottle cap, this supports the fact that he is nervous and doesn’t know what to do when
he talks about serious situations with Jamie. His gestures are also very small but noticeable
to the audience but on the other hand Davies moments are still. This establishes that Jamie
is listening to what ste has to say. Davies’s choice in movement here could also be very
comforting to ste as at home it seems as if he doesn’t have someone to listen or comfort
him. Jamie’s then begins to ask ste very small but engaging questions like “so why?” and
while he does this Davies decides to have his facial expressions looking very concerned and
confused and deep down, he can’t relate to ste as much as he thought he could, we can tell
this due to his eyebrows being flexed and his eyes extremely focused. He was also facing
towards ste as he is surprised and shocked that he is opening up to him on this deep level,
so he wants to show compassion. Both actors don’t use the space much in this moment
which impacts the audience as it allows them to focus and not get distracted by what the
important conversation the boys are having. This also allows them to understand the
relationship between them both at this moment in time. once ste has then explained his
story during a pause in dialogue Davies uses his gestures very wisely in order for emotions
to be shows, for example he slowly puts his hand closer to ste showing he is going to be soft
with him but there is also a slight hesitation and as he does this demonstrates he could not
know what to do or say In order to help stes emotions right now especially as his character
cant relate. Finally, ste says “they don’t even ask where I have been” and during this line of
dialogue his movement changes as he turns towards Jamie’s which emphasises that he is
not only grateful for his responses and for listening, but he is trying to connect with him
more. Overall, in this first part of this scene we really see their relationship develop as the
conversation is deeper, both actors are also using their skills to show a change in trust
between the characters. The audience also understand stes characters a lot more through
his emotions and reactions to certain things.
The next moments we see are in the middle of this scene where the dialogise begins with
Jamie saying, “can I see?” meaning he is asking ste to see his bruises of abuse form his dad.
We can see by ste reaction through body language that he is nervous about what Jamie
might think, this is because he is very reserved and as he agrees to show him he gets up off
the bed and begins to life up his shirt to show him. As he is doing this movement Sandra
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