Tuesday 17th October 2023

CHARACTER PROFILES:

MRS J – Mrs J’s age is 79 and she suffers with Alzheimer’s. She doesn’t understand that the nurse is there to care for her and not her husband who passed away. She used to be a well established woman.

NURSE – The nurse is young and she is aged around 26/27 years old. She works as a visiting nurse and not a private nurse. Nurse lives on her own and away from her parents and is a domiciliary care nurse. She is experienced/established.

GAZ – Gaz is a racist, homeless person who suffers with frostbite from living on the streets. He was recently rehomed into council housing and is cared by the nurse. He is 50 years old.

TRINITY – Trinity is the daughter of the nurse’s last patient. He was taken to hospital for his last few hours in hospital. They have a heartfelt moment Trinity and the nurse.

Monday 16th October 2023

Nurse/ Care Work – what do we have?

So far we have stories from Caitlin’s mum and online care stories. We are looking at potential concepts of homeless person, disabled/dependant (need company) person, somebody with Alzheimer’s and possibly surgery recovery.

Character List:

Nurse, Trinity, Mrs J, Choral Nurses and Gaz.

Our Tableau Scenes (so far):

It will begin with ocean sounds which will be calm to resemble the calmness of the nurse before a busy day at work, it will Segway into the nurse getting ready for work which will be panic mode and rushing around. Afterwards we are introduced into the homeless character which is Gaz who we learn is racist and living in a council house, we also learn he suffers with frostbite on his foot so this is why the nurse cares for him. The next character we are introduced to is Mrs J who suffers with Alzheimer’s which is progressively getting worse and Mrs J believes the nurse is there to care for her husband not her. Mrs J bursts into outrage and so the nurse calls for her family to attend to her. The final patient for the nurse to see is a man who unfortunately was taken to hospital to pass away but the nurse was unaware so we see the nurse having a conversation with his daughter, Trinity, who has a heartfelt moment about her dad with nurse. As the nurse finishes, she receives a voicemail off her parents. Once the nurse finishes her day she tells the story of a starfish and how a young boy saved one from dying like she tries with her patients. and then she calls her parents back.

Alzheimer’s Research:

Alzheimer’s causes the brain to shrink and the brain cells eventually die and it is the most common cause of dementia. People who have Alzheimer’s decline in their memory, thinking, behaviour and social skills. Early signs someone can pick up with suffering with Alzheimer’s is forgetting recent events/conversations and it progresses to serious memory problems. They lose their ability to perform everyday tasks. There is no treatment to cause Alzheimer’s disease and it can cause a severe loss of brain function in advanced stages and that can cause dehydration, malnutrition or infection. Complications can cause death. People with Alzheimer’s can have issues with: memory, thinking and reasoning, making judgements & decisions, planning & performing familiar tasks, changes in personality & behaviour and preserved skills.

Reflection:

First week, we were writing down all the things we discussed in the world that we are aware of that makes us happy. We looked at what it would be like to walk a mile in someone’s shoes, empathy, their problems and random acts of kindness. We discussed shoes, empathy, people existing at opposites and still being people.

We looked at different things that would bring people together and looked at how these could be potential endings for us to which we created some concepts for, still being along the lines of non-judgement and random acts of kindness.

Looking into all of these different things, it started to become overwhelming by all the things we found to discuss, we looked at the different topics and stories we could look further into in the world. we then looked into how we could make it the center of our piece, the things that overwhelmed us the most, how the concerns of the world and business effect us everyday.

We looked at how some of the characters are people who require care, and connected how they might all be affected by a care worker. We researched and found how a care worker touches many lives a day and most of them different lives in humanity in just a few hours/day. We summarised a day in the life of being a care worker is the life of being human. We Thought about how a care worker touches lives and hundreds of different themes of humanity in a single day – a day in the life of a care worker is the summary of a life of being human

19th September 2023

Come up with a describing noun and occupation – e.g. vegan truckdriver.

Occupations – doctor, teacher, police officer, paramedic, chef, waitress, barmaid, taxi driver, bus driver, manager, supervisor, cashier.

Describing nouns – vegan, science, enormous, silly, fun, doglike.

Silly Cashier, Doglike Doctor, Vegan Chef.

Synopsis from me, Kelsey, Ryan and Will:

The silly cashier was getting infuriated with the broke business man who was holding up the queue. The customer behind him (who was the local ice cream man waiting to purchase his very own, much needed wafer cones) decided to pay for the business mans groceries.

Act of kindness/benevolence – meets/crosses path with – predicament.

“Before you judge someone, walk a few miles in their shoes” – what could this mean?

It could mean you don’t know their backstory so you need to learn about them before you judge them. It’s similar to ‘never judge a book by it’s cover.’ An example I would look at is people always judge homeless people. Before you judge them, get to know them first because you don’t know why they are in that position.

REVIEW FROM THE LESSON:

• Balancing the space
• Direction for pathways
• Follow the follower
• Points of contact on the floor
• Clown entrance
• Writing taks.

My own synopsis:

An elderly person was trying to cross the road but struggled a lot. They were on the way to a BBQ party when they bumped into a science teacher. The science teacher helped them to cross the road and took them to the BBQ. When they arrived, the BBQ was set on fire.

Carers do more than you realise.

Written by Shelly Freestone.

Myself and my work partner had been doing a normal Am double up round. This is the morning round that requires two carers to look after the clients. These tend to be people that require more care and equipment normally needs two carers to operate. The round consists mainly of getting people up or washing them on the bed depending on their needs and making breakfast.
The last call on that particular morning was an elderly gentleman that was now receiving end of life care. He was expected to live a couple of weeks. We were expecting to wash him and change his pyjamas, keep him comfortable. Family had been spending time with him around the clock and one daughter had spent the night before with him. We put our ppe on as usual. (Personal protective equipment consisting of apron and gloves). The daughter said dad was asleep. She said she had sat by his bed all night and had little sleep. She said his breathing had changed a little and he hadn’t had many sips of water.
My colleague went in first as daughter chatted. My colleague then called me in.
She told me she didn’t think he was breathing. He wasn’t. He was very cold and stiff. His colour had changed and it was clear he had died.
We rang through to our office. It is our first port of call. They hold more information on the client that they are able to pass on to the ambulance service. We were asked about attempting resuscitation but the gentleman had a DR in place. (Do not resuscitate) We could also clearly see it was far too late.
People think a carers job is just to help people with toileting and laugh about the little things we do that they couldn’t or wouldn’t do. We had to tell that mans daughter that we believed her father had died. We held her as she fell to the floor hysterical.
The ambulance service sent two ambulances they came racing to the house, blue lights flashing and paramedics running.
They discovered straight away nothing could be done. The second daughter arrived then. again hysterical. Even though he was end of life they hadn’t expected it yet. The paramedics told them their father had been dead for hours.
The daughter that sat with him that night had convinced herself she could still see his chest moving and hadn’t wanted to admit to herself he was gone.
Our manager arrived to be a support for us and to offer condolences. Our job is to then walk away while family are left to wait for funeral directors.
It was now lunchtime so time to move straight on to our lunch round. Should be providing lunches and assisting with toileting and medication but every day and every call you never really know what your walking in to.
Calls like this are shocking and upsetting but we stay strong for the people we support and the next person we go to see may only see us in a day so they need a happy, positive visit.

Harvard References

• BBC News. (2019). Knife crime: Fatal stabbings at highest level since records began in 1946. [Online]. BBC News. Last Updated: 7 February 2019. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47156957 [Accessed 9 October 2023].
• BBC Bitesize. (2015). Theatre in education (TiE) and physical theatre. [Online]. BBC Bitesize. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zj7yt39/revision/2 [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• DIEP TRAN. (18 April 2022). What Is Physical Theater?. [Online]. Backstage. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/physical-theater-guide-74965/#:~:text=Jacques%20Lecoq%2C% [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• Grahame Allen, Matthew Burton. (2023). Knife crime statistics. [Online]. UK Parliament. Last Updated: 11 January 2023. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/ [Accessed 09 October 2023].
• Justin Cash. (28 October 2023). Physical Theatre: 30 Fun Resources for the Classroom. [Online]. Theatre Links. Available at: https://theatrelinks.com/physical-theatre/#:~:text=Physical%20theatre%20covers%20a%20range,dell’arte [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• Justin Cash. (2023). Physical Theatre: 50 Critical Exercises for the Drama Classroom. [Online]. The Drama Teacher. Available at: https://thedramateacher.com/physical-theatre-exercises/ [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• KC WRIGHT. (18 April 2022). 11 Innovative Physical Theater Companies. [Online]. Backstage. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/innovative-physical-theater-companies-10279/ [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• Mayo Clinic. (2023). Alzheimer’s disease. [Online]. Mayo Clinic. Last Updated: 30 August 2023. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447#:~:te [Accessed 16 October 2023].
• Martin Bentsen. (2023). TYPES OF ACTING TECHNIQUES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 2023. [Online]. Martin Bentsen. Available at: https://www.cityheadshots.com/blog/types-of-acting#:~:text=%E2%80%8BThe%20five%20major%20types,and%2 [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• New International Performing Arts Institute. (2022). 5 physical theatre techniques that will improve your directing. [Online]. New International Performing Arts Institute. Available at: https://www.nipai.org/post/5-physical-theatre-techniques-that-will-improve-your-directing#:~:text=Pr [Accessed 08 November 2023].
• Sky News. (2023). The teenagers killed in London so far in 2023. [Online]. Sky News. Last Updated: 2 October 2023. Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/the-teenagers-killed-in-london-so-far-in-2023-12971476 [Accessed 9 October 2023].
• Strange Ago. (2017). 10 Weird Superstitions Involving Your Shoes. [Online]. Strange Ago. Last Updated: 19 June 2017. Available at: https://strangeago.com/2017/06/19/10-weird-superstitions-involving-shoes/ [Accessed 25 September 2023].
• Superstitions. (2009). Shoes. [Online]. Superstitions Online. Last Updated: 29 October 2009. Available at: https://superstitionsonline.com/shoes/ [Accessed 25 September 2023].
• The Ben Kinsella Trust. (2015). Knife Crime Statistics. [Online]. The Ben Kinsella Trust. Available at: https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/ [Accessed 09 October 2023].

Knife Crime in the UK.

Stabbings in the UK are at the highest it has ever been since 1946. In London alone this year, there has been 80 homicides which include 16 teenagers. 14 of those teenagers were stabbed and 2 were shot.

“282 murders involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2022. This is the highest total since 1946.” – https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

“99 young people aged under 25 were murdered with a knife or sharp object in the 12 months to March 2022. 13 were aged under 16.” – https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

“5% percent increase in knife crime in England and Wales in the 12 months from April 2022 to March 2023” – https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

“50,489 Police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the 12 months from April 2022 to March 2023” – https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

“75% increase in knife crime in England and Wales in 2022 compared to March 2013” – https://benkinsella.org.uk/knife-crime-statistics/

Research and Development (R&D)

The content:

Prompts – what makes us human podcasts and Ben Zephaniah. Stories – news/documents, other works/texts (including images, music and writing.)

The form:

Styles and influences. Modes – narrative structure. Technical – sound, LX, media.

Practices:

Methods/approaches to devising. Character/acting/performing. Purpose/aims – social/political.

Tuesday 03rd October – Performance 2

We talked about possible endings for our performance. We talked about what ideas warmed to us the most and what we could potentially do with them!

10 Words for movement:

1. Street
2. Alone
3. Group
4. Pressure
5. Fall
6. Seen
7. Promise
8. Late
9. Alone
10. Thank you

We talked about how we could involve someone else into the story and how we can show what their life is like. Using multiple ideas we thought we could include some of these within the story.