Drama Play! Urgent Help Needed?

Question

Okay so.....We have a really important drama assesment coming up and we only have four weeks left to make a 20 min performance..it may seem easy but we only get one hour a week....its about a girl who is being bused and our stimulas material is http://youtube.com/watch?v=I-JW4M3uPeo&feature=user <<<<<<<<<<< the poem in that link we have all the characters (Mother Father Misty Conciller Teahcer Priest Social Worker And Auntie) so far all we have is all the characters apart from misty talking to the audiance asif they were misty telling them to tell us whats going on (by the way the father is abuising her) and the fact she dies at the end...but other than that we have no idea...please help its urgent!

Answer 1

What a sad thing to do a play about.  Your poetry needs work so it flows better.  Your play must show how everyone in the play has failed the 3 year old girl.  Everyone, and I include the Social worker, who is trying to help using human intervention, would be involved in part of the murder.  Be it from ignorance, not wanting to become involved, because of their moral values, failure of a system, no God in their life and being controled by Satan.  Make the play about those failures and I think you will get your point accross.  I think 20 minutes will be a challenge.  Good luck

Answer 2

Is it not true that the impetus of a play comes from the interaction of the characters? Your visualisation seems totally undramatic and more akin to choral poetry.

Think of a logical chain of communication: teacher to Social Worker to parent. Teacher is unsure of how to proceed but sure that Misty is telling the truth; Social Worker is full of &quot;regulations&quot; and knows all the procedures but has a case-load the size of a haystack; Parent is in state of denial and refuses to acknowledge even visual evidence of abuse ( this will have to be the mother with divided loyalties and resentment at what she regards as intrusion); Counsellor brought in by Social Worker, tries to talk to parents together;

Father rages against what he regards as slanderous intrusion; Teacher meets Auntie who goes to Priest.

   Priest talks to parents who give him assurances that Misty is lying for attention. Priest talks it over with Teacher, warns her of the situation that has been created and comes out on the side of the parents. Auntie calls and finds Misty dead.

   I know that I may have twisted the poem. I did not read it to the end as I found it harrowing.

  You have to work out your linking mechanisms. How you are going to take the flow of dialogue and action from one scene to the next. Do you have a lighting plot because cross-fades are very good for this sort of presentation?

  You are then to work out the dynamic of each piece. Some pieces will go with a great pace and the tension will be almost unbearable. Some pieces, particularly those with the Priest will be slower in tempo and almost reflective.

   The pieces will show just as much, perhaps even more about the characters than about the predicament of Misty. So you need to think about filters for some scenes to suggest mood and even about faint music to enhance your presentation. You could, if you were really adventurous, have a piece that was Misty, one little piece of music that represented her. I can think of J.M.Barrie&#039;s &quot;Marie Rose&quot; where a few chords represented the girl who disappeared into the northern sea and then returned years later, the same age.

    These few ideas, I hope that you find useful. Remember that what will carry you through will be your concentration and enthusiasm. Every one of you will have to believe in your character, no matter how badly they turn out under public scrutiny.

  Enjoy it.