In Drama for Unit 1, We
supposed to look deep into the sights of Rio De Janeiro in many different types
of aspects including the segregation of the rich and poor, train surfers, all
the crime in brazil, about the kids/individuals choices that affect the society.During
this unit we developed some very important skills includng marking the moment,
hot seating, freeze framing, slow motion and cross cutting. For my groups final
performance we developed a story about bus 174, a real life story that happened
in rio de janeirio. So in this final play I had to work with a group of 5
includng me. The group consisted of Laith, Shawn, Tommy, Federico and me.
Some background information
on our play:
On June 12,
2000, Nascimento boarded a bus (174) . He wanted to rob the
passengers on the bus. Shortly after Nascimento revealed what he was going to
do , a passenger screamed to a police vehicle outside the bus, prompting the
police to intercept the bus. Nascimento took the passengers of the bus hostage.
Just as he got of the bus the police shot him from point blank range but it
missed him and it hit the hostage as this happened Nascimento in the shock
pulled the trigger by mistake killing the hostage(the teacher).
In this play our
roles were as follows:
Federico as
Nascimento
Sai as bus
driver
Laith as police
officer
Shawn as the
first victim(the one who is threatened)
Tommy as the
second victim(who dies)
In this
performance my role was was being the bus driver. It was my job to drive the
bus around the area everything was happening and also I had to call the police
in between our play to inform the police to come and get the shooter from the
bus. I staged my character on the bus from the start of the play this
where Federico come on to the bus to create a scene, I had to call out bus
stations to give a cue to Federico on when to get on to the the bus and when to
start thought tracking.I had to create my own sound effects as we could not
find another way to make sounds of opening doors. I had to raise my voice in
the starting as in a bus u need to be loud so that u can be heard by the people
in the back.After nascimento got onto the bus I had to show a little bit
irritation because he throws the money down.then after a while I had to scream
out “BUS STOP 256” This announcement put our play into a freeze frame, this
started the thought tracking where the passengers on the bus start to talk
about what is going on their minds. Right after the freeze frame was over a
small incident(Nascimento shows his gun) the passenger in the back shouts to stop
the bus but that’s when Federico points the gun at the people in the bus and
screaming not to stop the bus. I had to act all scared as the act was going on
the back of me, then I had to call the police where I was being all scared
where the shooter might see me this was when I had to show all my skills on how
I can be silent and careful without being seen by the shooter. I had to then
jump out of the bus just after stopping the bus as the police had to come into
the the bus and that my character did not want to die in the bus. That was all
my part for the play.
In our groups performance
to create tension we had to start the play out with a freeze frame of the bus
and the play going on in the background.the group had to show all their skills
to make a good presentation as we had to set up the props are selves which was
not easy as the props were not there most of the time as other groups used it
for their plays.
One very successful scene
in our play where nascimento had to get all physical against everyone on the
bus has he had to take contro at that moment.What he did was that he took his
gun and pinted it at everyone on the bus as that was the only option he had.
This situation he usd different types of tones and the passengeras all
frightened were screaming and doing things unexpected. This was a very
effective scene as we used a drama technique by using our voices at different
tones and volumes to project emotions and ideas.
Overall, I believe my group
did very well in our final performance, and I generally enjoyed this unit of
work very much. I am pleased with my mark, and to improve next time, I would
give myself more lines and possibly more actions in the performance.
