Flowers for AlgernonHamizah Sukiman8 - as always, stunning reflection demonstrating your expanding knowledge of Drama terminology and the value of process. Cant wait for the devised work thats coming up!Introduction to Flowers for AlgernonWe were introduced to Flowers for Algernon as a play, and we were given time to read through it to understand the general overview of the play. From the play, we are able to identify certain character traits of the characters straight away, like Charlies eagerness to learn and Miss Kinnians care; however other traits begin to unfold as the story progresses, like the conflict between Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss regarding the experimental research, as well as Charlies own character development and changes throughout the playSunday, 08/03Summary of Flowers for AlgernonFrom reading the play, I interpreted the plays plot as:

Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded man, is chosen by a team of scientists to undergo an experimental surgery designed to boost his intelligence. Miss Kinnian, Charlies teacher at the College Center for Retarded Adults, has recommended Charlie for the experiment because of his exceptional eagerness to learn. The directors of the experiment, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, ask Charlie to keep a journal. The play progresses in Charlies tapes of journal entries.

Scene 38 & Scene 39Due to outside school activities, I was gone during this week of drama. However, Al Hanoof had informed me that we were assigned Scene 38 and 39 and we were to perform these scenes in a few weeks. As a group, Al Hanoof, Barakah and I immediately started to annotate the scripts, as this was the easiest way to understand my character (Charlie), others and scenes

Sunday, 15/03Scene 38 - annotated

Sunday, 22/03Scene 39 - annotated

Practicing our scenesWe spent todays class practicing our scenes and memorizing the final parts left to our lines and running the scenes over and over again; fixing things as we go along. So far we are working on emotion and voice projection, and we are giving constructive criticism to one another regarding it.

Tuesday, 24/03Practicing our scenes - Scene 39Link to video: http://youtu.be/5y10zjF7s9EIt was inspiring to see your process in action and the utilisation of technology to help you.Practicing our scenesFrom todays lesson, Ive made a list of things I plan to work on before this play is presented, shown in the following:

Continuing ideas for the performanceIdeas to be discussed & considered next classStunning planningCostuming and PropsCharlies costuming:A dress shirt - tucked in for scene 38 and not tucked in for scene 39Suit pants that do not match the color scheme + blazerBrown ankle bootsTie - mismatched to show deterioration of Charlies intelligence

Props (Charlies audio recording):Pre-record on phone for the majority of the monologueExcept for the last line in scene 38 and the last part of scene 39 - these are performed liveJustification for choicesCostuming:In terms of costuming, we had to keep in mind of the fast transition between the scenes. We decided that at this point of the play, Charlie is in a state of confusion as he feels himself declining, but has no control over it. Therefore the choice of dressing Charlie up formally but mismatched leads to a symbol of intelligence but said intelligence is not controlled intelligence all at the same time. The tie is key to fulfilling this symbol. The boots represent Charlies simple farmboy life he had before he was clouded with this experiment and pride from it, symbolized by his previous life (i.e - his boots) are worn on his feet; meaning they are beneath him but they are still part of him, clinging onto him, but as soon as he removes it, a necessary part of him is missing. His farmboy life is closely associated with his innocence and kindness, thus if removed, a necessary part of him is gone.Your costuming was spot-on and the reason why is that youve thought about it in such detail.Justification for choicesCostuming:The shirt and pants were formal and gave fairly straightforward symbols; as it represents his current life, one filled with research and trying to find solutions, etc. which is usually represented by suits and shirts to display social status in the real world. His shirt was tucked in only half the time, to symbolize that his intelligence is only half (if not less) controlled; meaning the intelligence is there but not necessarily put to full, or good, use. The hanging coat was more of a prop rather, but it still symbolized the normal intelligent life held by people of the world, as a coat/blazer is such a social norm (norm - meaning everyone owns it, thus held by people of the world) but this norm is only held by Chalie briefly but he later lets go (in scene 38), which shows that he was briefly normal (in earlier scenes) but this was let go once he began losing all the effects of the experimentJustification for choicesProps:In terms of props, Ive decided that the best way to make this different and have connection between the props and the live performance is to mix it up. Thus, Ive decided to use both pre-recorded materials for majority of the recording, but still mouth it along to show as if Im live recording. The last line of scene 38 acted as a transition line between the two scenes and the final part of my monologue was live to give the audience the feel of a theatrical performance and keep them engaged instead of just making them listen. At the end of scene 39, it was live as I believed that my swaying and breaking down on the floor during performance would be more believable if I had words to say alongside it as well; and it indirectly gives the aftereffect for the audience if Charlies depressing words were said in person and given enough emotion that, at times, recordings and technology cannot give.I loved the transitions between your recording and spoken parts.Further annotations of script

Further annotations of script

Day of Performance

On Tuesday, April 7th, our drama class were to perform in front of an audience (the Music Instrumental 10 class) and this is the class first performance for an outside audience.

As our scenes were 38 & 39, we were the last group to perform. We used this time to prepare our outfits (I was wearing a shirt with blue pants and a green tie - to indicate that I have intelligence but theyre deteriorating) and Al Hanoof and Barakah wore their respective costumes.Costume preparing before the performanceTuesday, 07/04Full video of performance - Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6aj94LXyDA&feature=youtu.beDay of PerformanceWe practiced both the scenes twice before performing it. The performance went on much better than I thought it would, as I was convinced that I would forget a line of mine. Thankfully, keeping the scene up to its actual pace helped me memorized my lines better, even the longer monologue ones at the end of each scene.

Admittedly, we did not practice as much with the performance space for the ending of scene 39 (Charlies deterioration monologue) and I did improvise majority of the space use; as we had practiced in a very different setting. However, as Charlies character was slowly losing himself in the scene, it was easier to improvise and come up with something on the spot; as the character himself now had limited movements.I wish I had set that up better for you guys! Sorry...Reflection of PerformanceIndividual:Personally, I believed that my performance went incredibly successful in all aspects, as with enough practice that we were given throughout the weeks, I have captured Charlie as a character and I am able to portray him as I understand him. Charlie is not quite a character that I usually play, given that my comfort zones are usually high status/loud characters. This unit has helped me to expand a little out of my own comfort zone in terms of performance as well, as I am usually not a monologue person either. However, with enough practice with my group as well as feedback from them has helped me a lot in terms of improving my performance as a whole.

I also believe that our previous unit as well as the Nose2Nose workshop has helped me greatly in the last part of scene 39. As mentioned, the space of that scene was improvised (for the majority) and the previous unit we had in Drama had made that so much easier than it wouldve been before. This play has sharpened many of my left skills as well as help me develop new ones; such as changing emotions within seconds for scene transitions. This performance, to me, was a success.I know you are going to enjoy IB Theatre Arts so much when you are making these kinds of connections.Reflection of PerformanceAs a group:As a group, our scenes were a success mainly due to the transitions we had as well as the expression of emotions that each character held. Dr. Nemurs care was expressed through Hanoofs use of body language and the attempt to console Charlie through stroking his arm, and so on. Miss Kinnians worry over Charlie was expressed in voice, as Barakah did a great job in terms of controlling her voice, especially with Charlies tantrum of frustration drowns everything.

This group, throughout the unit, has been a very successful one. We helped each other improve in several aspects and we tried our best to make the scenes suit every single one of us in terms of skill and comfort zone. The unit has shown me that Al Hanoof, Barakah and I work best when two are performing and one is directing, as that method happened to be one we used most throughout this play and it worked well, as seen in the performance day itself.Self AssessmentParticipation:In terms of class participation, I believe that Ive done well in this project as I have in any other; in terms of contributing to the class as well as the group regarding the play. I mainly contributed through providing and altering ideas we have for the play, given the high collaboration between the three of us. I did believe that I contributed most to things that involved the play directly, such as annotations of scripts and character relationship. I do attempt to help with directing and scene setting, but for the majority, I alter Al Hanoofs ideas slightly, as she is more passionate and skilled at directing/stage setting.Attitude:Throughout this whole unit, Ive kept a very positive learning attitude as I was well aware that this kind of theatre performance is not exactly my fort. My group has made it very easy to keep the positive spirit going throughout the unit as we worked outside of class time to further improve each other rather than just ourselves, which indirectly improves us all simultaneously. We viewed working together on this rather emotion-filled piece of script as a chance and challenge to better ourselves and create a stronger foundation for when we are writing our own theatrical piece (in the next unit)Self AssessmentCitizenship:As this is a group project, citizenship was clearly displayed when we were working together as a group. We worked together to better ourselves; but I personally worked with my group members to better the details in the play. As we all knew the importance of time and its constraints in this unit, we all tried to make most of the time we had in developing a general idea of what we were working on, whether it be a scene transition or mood. However, I would contact them outside of schooling times (usually via Whatsapp on our Drama group chat that we created) and ask as well as update them on minor changes in detailing that I mightve done on the general picture that was decided on earlier. Contribution to the group best displays citizenship in the unit, and I believed I have shown great contribution to my group members in trying to perfect the performance as much as we can, alongside them.Organization:In the four, I believe I have succeeded most in terms of organization in this unit. The most obvious example would be the process journal. Almost weekly (or anytime a major change has been added), this journal is updated to keep us all on track with what we are doing, especially Tuesday lessons for when we come back on the following Sunday, to make sure we dont forget. Annotations were made before we were given practice time, to maximize the productivity of each of our practice sessions. My organization not only helped myself in terms of getting into character in the morning, but it has also helped us as a group to successfully identify weaknesses from last lesson and work to perfect them in the next.How is it that one so young can be so wise?!