Briefly explain the ways in which two or more performers used their performance skills to create tension on stage at particular moments.
Analyse and evaluate the contribution of your chosen performers to the total dramatic effectiveness of the production’ [25 marks]
‘Briefly explain the ways in which two or more performers used their performance skills to
create tension 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. It is set on a council estate in Thamesmead south London. 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 Hatched. 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. Tension between
Jamie and Ste 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 create tension 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 the tension is very clear to the
audience in this moment as we see the awkwardness between the two characters firstly
shown by their body language is tight and stiff and less relaxed. This emphasises they might
not be comfortable around one another, and the nerves are coming through. This is also
, shown through Hatchards frantic eye movement making it clear that he is trying to avoid
any pressure and tension in the moment, this also impacts the audience as it portrayed that
he may feel unbearable to show real emotion Infront of him as their conversation turns
more serious. However, the awkwardness relaxed for Ste for a moment during Jamie’s
dialogue with his mum and we see this form his facial expressions. For example, his face
goes from being tense to being more relaxed as he listens to the laughter chatter between
Jamie and his mum. His mouth Is closed portraying jealously of their loving bond. The
tension then builds again as Jamie’s then replies with “what happened ste” at this point
Davies eye contact is directly at ste while he is trying to understand why he is hurting and
his voice is also much quitter and has a softer tone than usual to try and bring some
reassurance and show kindness toward Ste. However, ste response to this is to shut off as it
is adding extra pressure to the situation. Before Ste eventually begins to open up to Jamie
about what happened to him mum there is a moment where both boys movements are still
and there is a silent pause in dialogue. This has an extreme impact on the audience as they
can see how the tension and awkwardness is at highest point through this scene as speaking
about problems to hard to do in itself. 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 also
shows how the tension intensifies some people’s relationships. During this section as states
before tension its at its highest ste resembles this through his constant consistency in eye
contact not being towards Jamie but his voice has become a lot stronger and clear which
allows the audience to understand his emotion of angry towards the situation. As ste is
doing this Jamie acts upon it by using his body languages 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. But is also allows the awkwardness between the two characters to
decrease as Jamie is letting ste know that this is a safe space for him to show emotion. His
gestures are also very small but noticeable to the audience but on the other hand Davies
moments are still. Jamie’s then begins to ask ste very small but engaging questions like “so
why?” which cause the dramatic tension to rise slightly as its the first line of dialogue Jamie
has said since ste has opened up. For the audience this response may be unexpected, but it
reflects maybe Jamie doesn’t know what to do in this situation as he cant relate to him as
much as he hoped he could. While he does this Davies decides to have his facial expressions
looking very concerned and confused and deep down, showing his concern, we can tell this
due to his eyebrows being flexed and his eyes extremely focused. The tension at this point
in the moment is very low and possibly there isn’t any as both boys have become more
comfortable and secure with each other. Both actors don’t use the space much in this
moment which contrast the many scenes we have seen at the beginning of this production
where everything and everyone is busy. This makes the tension stand out more to the
audience which makes this moment extremely significant Once ste has then explained his
story during a pause in dialogue Davies uses his gestures very wisely in order to keep the
awkwardness down but 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 can’t 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
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