Devised Script
On Monday and Tuesdays lesson's we did creative writing for the first fifteen minutes that was meant to help us clear our head. We was told to write whatever came into our head and if for what reason we ended up stuck we would write I am writing, over and over again to help us get back into the rhythm. Personally I loved free writing we did mainly because I love to write, I always tend to have random short story ideas running around in my head so the free writing felt like a breeze. The first writing I did was about a boy who had been visiting his sick mum in hospital.
From the character we've created we were then told to write up what characteristics they have and in what way it relates to us. Personally when I write I instantly feel like I'm connected to the character, I feel as if we are close. I decided on giving my character quite a tragic childhood that ties into the type of person he is today. My characters name is Lance and one of his characteristics that he is the comic relief, meaning that he uses humour as a coping mechation which has gotten him to loose a lot of friends due to the fact he never wants to talk about what's bothering him or how he is feeling, his friends stared pulling away and before to realise that they in-fact Lance knew ever one of their deepest secrets but they didn't know his, so they left. Next lesson Shenagh asked us to write a memory from which our character has.
From the character we've created we were then told to write up what characteristics they have and in what way it relates to us. Personally when I write I instantly feel like I'm connected to the character, I feel as if we are close. I decided on giving my character quite a tragic childhood that ties into the type of person he is today. My characters name is Lance and one of his characteristics that he is the comic relief, meaning that he uses humour as a coping mechation which has gotten him to loose a lot of friends due to the fact he never wants to talk about what's bothering him or how he is feeling, his friends stared pulling away and before to realise that they in-fact Lance knew ever one of their deepest secrets but they didn't know his, so they left. Next lesson Shenagh asked us to write a memory from which our character has.
I had a few ides that had come to mind but ended up choosing the day of his mothers funeral.
Later on we were told to write a list of things that make us angry and then rate them on a scale from one to ten, ten being something that bugs us and one being something that makes us want to scream with frustration.
Still staying on the ten things that make us angry we then thought about what ten things would make our character angry. We wrote about it and shared our thoughts with the class which then later lead on to us making a short list of questions that we were told to answer as if it was the character talking instead of us.
This exercise was helpful to us as we got to learn more about our characters even though I based my character certain parts of my character from me.
Shenagh then asked us to write a monologue from the perspective of a character and about a thought that they have. Here is mine:
' I was tried, mentally and physically. I was stick of waking up every day to hear mother stumbling into the next room because she was drunk off her ass, I was sick of hearing father scream at her and smash things out of anger. Mother had been an acholic ever since you was taken from us and Father on the other hand, well he’s been in and out of jail a few times to due to his anger issues. But of course you wouldn’t hear about that because when your rich and privileged you can cover just about anything up. Anyways Mother and Father ignored my existence until one night on my seventh birthday Mother came storming into my room. She was hysterical shouting at me and throwing things. By the time Father came into the room she was huddled up in the corner muttering the same words over and over again, ‘It’s your fault, It’s your fault he’s gone.’
Father just stood there and I looked at him and I saw something inside him click. Nothing could of prepared me for what he was about to do next. He had grabbed me by the hair and punched me, over and over again, muttering the same thing that Mother said. By the time I was eleven I had a new bruise everyday but of course Father had forced Mother to teach me how to cover it up. I had lost all my friends brother, I was completely and utterly alone. My only comfort was the anger that was enraging inside of me like fire mixing with gasoline. I had a plan that by the time I was nineteen I would move out and apply to a university and get a part time job, all I had to do was endure the suffering for another three more years and then I’ll be free. So on the night of my nineteenth birthday I packed my bags and was ready to walk out the house.
This was my chance to finally be free but the minute my hand touched the door something inside me.. snapped. Remember that fire I was talking about, well I felt it boil my blood, every inch of my body had been lit up. I wanted to get back at them for all this pain and suffering they had caused me. I wanted them to hurt like I hurt. I had learnt a few tricks from my medical books you see and I was more than eager to try it. So that’s exactly what I did. I walked back up the stairs into Fathers room who was asleep. I opened his mouth and took out the serum injecting it under his tongue. He woke up in a shook of course and tried to lunge at me, he failed and dropped to the floor. I remember looking at him and seeing his eyes beg for mercy. I looked at him and kept thinking ‘this is your fault’ as every memory off his fist implanting with my face spun around my head. I grabbed my bags and walked out the house finally feeling safe and free.
Mother was drunk again and passed out of the floor with blood surrounding her head so I didn’t bother with her. Potassium is a beautiful thing brother. You see the body naturally produces potassium so it won’t be weird for it to be there, By the time they get around to doing a report the skin would of atrophied and retraced enough that it would seal the injection sight. So you see brother unless they are specifically looking for an injection under the tongue or a potassium overdose It would look like dear old Father just had a heart attack.
Oh would you look at the time, I must be going my flight leaves soon. I love you brother rest well, oh and don’t worry I asked one of the maids to keep your grave clean. I’ll be back to visit soon I promise. '
As you can I decided to write about a girls who mother and father turned against her after the death of her brother, abusing her mentally and psychically, building up anger inside her off her until on day she kills her father executing her revenge.
During Rob lesson's he gave us a small section of dialogue that we had to read out as well as add more to it. We were put into pairs and decided on who was going to be character A or character B. Once we figured out who is who we would read the dialogue we was given and then discuss and come up situations that fits the dialogue. We are usually given around ten to fifteen minutes and when we come back into class we would take turns presenting. I personally love doing these types of exercises because me and the person who I was paired with would always find a way to turn it into something funny.
Another activity we did in Rob's class was saying a random line, we would then pick a number from one to ten and with the line we got we'd improvise with our partner for a minute.
When writing my script I was unsure of what I wanted it to be about. I started playing around with the idea of four siblings who's parents just died and that their funeral the siblings find out their parents death wasn't an accident. I wrote a few pages to this but however I ended up deleting the whole thing and wrote about a group of mum's instead.
My play is based on the idea of a group of high class mums who like to drink wine and gossip with each other all day, hence why I called my play the fine wines. Writing the play was in fact a lot harder then I thought it would be. You have to look at setting, stage direction, lighting as well as sound. And if you want your character to say their line in a certain way you need to include that in your script. To help us with write our script Shengah suggested we take a look on the website : Script Library - Writersroom (bbc.co.uk) I found it useful as this was my first time ever writing a script and therefore was confused on what exactly I needed to put.
While writing our scripts we were told to think about an inciting incident that kicks off the story as well as what obstacles our characters would face, not forgetting to write about some sort of rise in conflict that creates drama between the characters.
My play is set in Miami Florida in a large luxurious living room, where the mum's would be sitting down laughing and drinking some wine. There is Janet who is the leader of the group, Hillary her best friend, Sandra her close friend and Grace who is their newest addition to the group. They all grew up rich and was pushed into a certain lifestyle meaning they went to private school and was brought up quite comfortable all apart from grace who grew up new york and went to a public school. Grace recently moved to Miami after splitting with her husband where on her son's first day she bumps into Janet who invites her round to her house for a drink.
My play is about a group of high class mums who only care about spending money, drinking and their kids. Janet and Hillary have been best friends since birth and when they were teenagers they meet a girl called Sandra who was adopted by a rich couple in their neighbourhood. Sandra quickly fell into Janet and Hillary click but always felt a bit left out. Years later they all have their own kids and husbands and live in even larger houses then they did when they were kids. They meet Grace and welcome her into their little group. The mum's then find out that Janet's husband is still sleeping around and got another women pregnant when he promised her that he would stop. Hillary drops the fact that she knows a 'guy' who can take care of him. Janet tells Hillary to call him. A week later Janet and the others end up going to where her husband is and end up confronting him causing a scene. Janet tells him not to come back and tells him that shes filling for a divorce.
Janet then tells Hillary to call the guy and tell him not to kill him. The mums then decided to go to the club and get wasted and by the end of the night they end up blacking out in the hotel room. The next day police are knocking at their door to arrest Janet and Hillary for the murder of Janet's husband. Janet and Hillary are confused as well as Grace and Sandra who are shouting at the police telling them that they didn't do anything. It's then up to Grace and Sandra to find out how Janet's husband died and clear their friends name. In the end it's revealed that Janet's husband had a argument with Nova ( the women who he was having an affair with) that resulted in Elijah ( Janet's husband) packing his bags and telling Nova that he's leaving her and doesn't want to take care of the baby and instead wants to fight for his marriage.
In anger Nova ends up smashing a vase on the back of his head and pushing him making him lose his grip on the hotel balcony ending with him falling to his death. Nova stunned, then plans to take his money and take everything that Janet has and make it hers, she frames Janet for her husband's death as well as Hillary.
Here are the first couple of pages from my script.
Scene One
[ Spotlight on Janet ]
Janet : Hill did you see what Tiffany was wearing at yesterday’s meeting.
[ Spotlight on Hillary ]
Hillary : Ugh I know she looked like 2015 Trisha Paytas.
Janet : Any year of Trisha is mess.
Hillary : You got that right.
Hillary : What’s the girl name again.
Janet : Which one.
Hillary : The one who we are waiting for.
Janet : Oh your talking about Grace.
Janet : She’s a lovely little thing she is seems a bit lonely, like Sandra over there.
[ Spotlight on Sandra]
[ Sandra looks up at Janet and Hillary who are both staring at her ]
Sandra : ( Confused ) Huh?
[ Janet and Hillary both roll their eyes and Sandra starts reading again as the side-lights turn on ]
Janet : Any hoo Grace should be here any minute.
Hillary : How old did you say she is?
Janet : 27 I believe.
Hillary : ( Dramatic gasp ) You don’t mean [ While Hillary is talking she places her hand on her heart and leans forward a little towards Janet. ]
Janet : Yep you guessed it girl.
Hillary : You mean she was a teen mom
[ Sandra places her book on her lap. ]
Sandra : We shouldn’t judge her for being a teen mum.
[ Janet and Hillary slowly turn her heads and glare at Sandra who now looks nervous. ]
Janet : ( Frustrated ) Shut up Sandra
Sandra : [ looks down at the floor ] ( Mutters ) Sorry.
[ They look away from Sandra. ]
Hillary : And besides No one’s judging her it’s just different to us, you know growing up and getting married and then having kids.
Janet : Precisely.
Janet : My mother would be turning in her grave if she ever meet Grace, her being a teen mum is enough for her to hate her.
Hillary : May Jessica rest in peace.
Janet : Right old bitch she was.
Hillary : I know I just trying to be nice may she burn in hell.
[ Sound, doorbell rings. ]
[ They all look over to door and Sandra stands up to open it. ]
[ Grace walks in with a nervous look and follows Sandra who walks to the couch. ]
Grace : Um Hello.
Janet : Grace darling.
[ Janet stands up and hug grace then motions her to take a seat in-between Sandra and Hillary. ]
Grace : Thank you for inviting me Janet.
Janet : Don’t mention it dear.
Janet : This is Hillary and that’s Sandra.
[ Grace shakes Hillary’s hand then Sandra’s. ]
Janet : Sandra pour our guest a drink.
[ Sandra nods and walks off stage to get a glass then walks back onstage and opens the wine bottle poring grace a glass. Grace smiles at her as Sandra hands her the glass. ]
Hillary : So Grace where did you move from.
Grace : New York.
Sandra : I’ve always wanted to visit new York.
Grace : We can plan a trip together and I’ll show you where the best spots are.
Sandra : ( Shocked ) Really?
Sandra : I’d like that.
[ Janet and Hillary take a sip of their drinks then Hillary clears her throat and Sandra and Grace turn to look at her. ]
Janet : If you don’t mind me asking why did you leave.
Grace : Oh um I recently split with my boyfriend.
Grace : That’s when I decided it was best for me and Ant to leave.
Hillary : ( Grabs Grace’s hand ) I’m so sorry love.
The link to the rest of my script is here : The Fine Wines (College) (AutoRecovered).odt
Janet will be played by Keana, Grace by Kaya, Hillary by me and Sandra by Isobel. A conflict in my script that sparks up drama is the end of scene one when Hillary tells the others that Janet's husband got another girl pregnant, this creates conflict between Janet and her husband which we see later on during scene two.
At first when my the people who I casted for my script read it out loud it felt right, as if the people I casted where perfect for the roles. They picked up on how they were supposed to say their lines and showed it well. Although when I went home I made some changes to my script and added a few other stuff I am extremely happy with the outcome.
For my background I found quite a few pictures that I loved but narrowed it down to these two:
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