A2 SUPPORTING NOTES: SECTION ONE

We have chosen to devise in the style of Creative Adaptation because we wanted to work towards theatre which attempts to encapsulate and evoke an emotive response from an audience, through the dramatisation of a novel. I have personally seen many plays in this style and enjoyed them all thoroughly, including, Woman in Black, War Horse and Frankenstein; with actually reading two of these three books Frankenstein and War Horse, I was extremely interested by the theatrical interpretation of the story. The directors had pulled unusual elements from the books and stretched them in order to get across a point in a theatrical way. E.g. to get across the monster of Frankensteins longing for a female; we are drawn into his dream like state in which we witness a hypnotic dance between him and a female monster. This dance stretches on for a while but because of this, we end up fully appreciating the theatrical means by which the director conveyed the story. We were heavily inspired by the production of WarHorse adapted into an exhilarating and extremely moving play by Nick Stafford from Michael Morpurgos highly acclaimed childrens novel. War was the main theme explored, however it was ingeniously touched upon from the point of view of the First World War Cavalry horses. To convey the Horses and get across the story, the actors used life sized puppets for the animals as well as making complete use of the Olivier Theatre and of its seemingly endless resources. Such as the revolve, the cyclorama, smoke machines, intense and dull lighting and shade, the stage drum etc. We were also inspired by the production of Frankenstein adapted by Nick Dear, from the gothic novel written by Mary Shelley. This play focused heavily on themes of the morality of being able to play God. It was a visceral exciting and stunning show and similarly to War Horse, had us feeling powerful emotions and showed the theatrical possibilities of creating great theatre by adapting a novel. We have Chosen to make a creative adaptation out of Michael Mopurgos Private Peaceful because we were all moved and engaged by the story of the two brothers. One of which who shows all the signs of being one of the bravest men alive is ironically killed by the firing squad for his cowardice. Death at the end of the novel, has a powerful and emotional effect on a reader, this is what we are trying to achieve with our play; this emotional effect is due too the powerful bond that the two brothers share. Throughout the entire novel, they are always together, confide in each other, look to each other for confidence, but the special bond which the audience relates too suddenly get ripped apart by the firing squad. After reading the novel, we could all envisage it using a range of original and inventive drama techniques with plenty of potential for multi-role, physical theatre, soundscapes and improvisation. The first section of the book built up this tension and perfectly set us up for the slow decline of quality in life that the boys face. Early in the play their father dies, they

then live in poverty; their mother is forced to work for the evil landlord The Colonel. The play shows us that this is their real life they have to face, when they then go off to war, it gets even worse as they meet Sergeant Hanley who makes their live hell; all of this devastation allows the death of Charlie to create a much bigger impact, as the two had managed to cope with all of the difficulties by sticking together, but the death completely breaks the bond and leaves Tommo to face the harsh ties of life on his own. The novel shows how War destroys lives; we were able to relate to this as War is still a very current theme today with the conflicts present with Afghanistan and Libya. This book gives us a slight insight into how devastating the effects of war could be to our lives should these conflicts escalate.

After studying the style of Creative Adaptation further, we found that the key features were: Narration- to convey a large amount of information quickly Multi-Role-many characters played by a small number of characters Soundscapes-to create a sense of setting and atmosphere Abstract scenes-to convey the inner thoughts or mood of characters Physical Theatre-to convey action/setting and give a sense of period Music and Sound effects-to create atmosphere and mood Characterisation of protagonists Visual elements-(props/costumes) to convey period/setting
or place

Bibliography

Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo War Horse - Michael Morpurgo Truce - Jim Murphy Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee Dear Olly - Michael Morpurgo War: Stories of Conflict - Michael Morpurgo Woman in Black - Susan Hill 39 Steps John Buchan Nation Terry Pratchett Frankenstein Mary Shelley

Webliography

www.youube.com www.wikipedia.com www.thenationaltheatre.org.uk www.nationaltheatrescotland.com