Unit 9 - Our Day Out

Unit 9

What is a Radio Play

A radio play is dramitised performance on acoustic that can not be visualised. This means excluding stage directions and facial expressions, the play relies on your voice change of vocal range. Music is also used to enhance the atmosphere for the radio, and can be played with sound effects enlightening the listener’s experience with the story and actor’s.

The radio play “I am Kanye West” sees a man named Toby who is from Newport believing he is Kanye West. The audio drama uses D.J remixes of songs and dialogue throughout the track. In the beginning of the play we hear a woman giving birth to a boy which the listener assumes it’s the Kanye West. Next we see Toby with the psychiatrist and he is shocked to know why he’s there. To the listener this would be amusing to hear he believes he lives the life of Kanye. The psychiatrist asks him some personal questions and he answers them as if he was the person. There are many sound effects that enhance the room in the audio: the office - where we can hear typing and the elevator which is being fixed. What I liked about the editing is they use the elevator noises to bleep out the swear words Toby would say.

Next they also do transitions with audio clips of dialogue in a high pitch tone or an instrumental to cut to the next scene. The life lessons this audio drama teaches you is about accepting your identity and also letting things/people go. I really liked how comedic the beginning when the doctor wasn’t accepting that Toby isn’t Kanye West to him letting his mother go. What I really liked about this scene was that Dr.Newman knew that Toby was hallucinating and pretended to be the mother to help him have reconciliation by telling him to “push me away". 
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0009kyq

Plot

The playwright for “Our Day Out” is named Willy Russell. This play takes place in the 1970’s and is about a school trip to Conwy Castle in North Wales. The students on the trip are a mixture of teens from 12 - 15 of Mrs.Kay’s Progress class and a select few of Mr.Briggs' class. The older kids are Reilly, Digga, Linda and Karen. The coach takes a few stops along the way first to the shop where the children are taking sweets. Next they stop at the zoo where the children are spread out looking at different animals, and Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Kay are drinking in the cafe. After the visit to the zoo, the zoo keeper yells at the teachers for not keeping a good eye on them, because half the kids stole most of the animals. He immediately stops the coach before they leave and makes them return the animals. The driver of the coach takes them to their original destination to Conwy Castle where each group of kids explore unsupervised. Later they head to the beach, and we see one of the students, Reily, making fun of a young teacher named Colin saying he can get with Susan, another young teacher. Unfortunately his teasing comes back to bite him in the back when Susan teases Reily with the words “I’m here big boy” making him uncomfortable. Susan shows him that he’s all talk and to stay in his league. Soon after one of the students Carol goes missing, and all the teachers spread out searching for her leaving Susan to look after the others. Mr. Briggs finds Carol on top of a cliff. She doesn’t want to leave, because she is depressed to go back to her home where she has an uneasy lifestyle and threatens to jump if Mr.Briggs gets closer to her. Carol wants to stay in Conwy where it’s nice and peaceful. Mr. Briggs promises to change his ways and be less serious if she gets down from the cliff. They both return side by side and with Mrs.Kay changing expressions from worried to relieved decides to end the trip. The kids are upset and unhappy (just like Carol was before she vanished) wishing they had more time. Unlike Mr.Briggs, he decides for all of them to go to the fair which makes the kids very pleased. In the final scene in the play Reilly is with Linda and Digga is with Karen. Mrs.Kay comments on how easy-going Mr.Briggs was with the kids and with evidence to prove it. He asks Mrs.Kay to give him the roll of film so he can develop it in a lab and slowly waits for her, Colin and Susan to leave as he destroys the undeveloped film never to be seen by anyone again.        

Themes

• Lack of Education
• High unemployment
• Drug use
• Poverty
• Humour
• Hierarchy between the teachers

The theme of this play is about lack of education as it tells us about the hard life that the kids have. The progress class is implied to be a separate class that is miles behind normal classes, because it is mixed between ages 12 - 15 as seen in the play. Within the Progress class, kids have trouble reading and writing, and it’s only when you achieve these targets you can ascend to regular classes and learn the subjects being taught. Unfortunately, these kids are seen in society as rejects, and not given the opportunity as normal kids are in society today, as a result affecting what they will become in the future. Moreover, casted out, never given the time to shine or role models to acknowledge them. As this takes place in the 1970s, the government places these kids in state schools and not caring what grades they will get. In addition, leading them to work in factories.The lack of education affecting young children like Liverpool in inner cities disrupts them ever having a suitable education.

Many children get exposed to addictive substances such as drugs. Andrews is a character who is addicted to smoking and is seen asking the older kids for a cigarette. As an audience we would know that one of his parents or both smoke cigarettes, and they don’t care that it is affecting their child. As an audience we are shocked to find a student could be addicted to smoking so much and is confronted by Mr.Briggs that lectures him on why smoking is bad for you. Although These scenes are played comedically to downplay the sensitivity of the topic, Russell also portrays a scenario of how drugs can impact a child at a young age.

 

When Carol is on the cliff and decides that she doesn’t want to leave home she thinks about having a peaceful life in Conwy makes the viewer feel bad that she doesn’t want to return to her old lifestyle where she is socially deprived and doesn’t have everyday appliances that a stable home has.This is seen in stage directions of the script where her school uniform is addressed as her “street outfit” and “Sunday best” meaning her family can’t afford to buy her proper clothes. This is establishing that her planning on living here was a cry for attention as this is telling the audience that she doesn’t receive any at home, because they are busy working and providing for the family. This can also be perceived as trying to start fresh with a welcome environment compared to her neighbourhood. The conversation would’ve played more smoother if Mrs.Kay was the one that found her, and it wouldn’t lead Carol to threaten to jump. Willy Russell purposely had the character of Briggs tend to Carol so that he could have a change of heart, learn to smile and have fun in the end.

Character

My character is Mr. Briggs and he is a strict teacher that accompanies Mrs.Kay, Colin and Susan for the trip. He believes the trip is a waste and it wouldn’t do the students any good. On the other hand, he didn’t go because the other teachers wanted him to, the real reason is the headmaster instructed that they need an assertive member of staff to keep a close eye out. Mr. Briggs is a traditional teacher who wouldn’t be carefree with the students, unlike Mars Kay. He has a short temper and believes his trust and respect should be earned. This puts him at a disadvantage, because he doesn’t want let loose showing his emotions. Furthermore, this would lead to him stressed out by the kids and not learning to take it easy. A drastic change goes to Mr.Briggs when he decides to take them to the fairground. This is all thanks to the conversation he has with Carol on the cliff which sparks a sign of character development for him. After the trip when everyone is parting ways its soon revealed that he goes back to his old ways when he destroys the piece of film that is evident of him being happy. 

Within the play there seems to be a hierarchy between the teachers, because Mr. Briggs appears he is above Mrs.Kay when he questions her way of teaching. Mrs Kay is laid back with the kids. As a result, they both always argue over their points and beliefs to handle the kids. Mrs Kay in the play is much older than Briggs, in her forties, but still takes it easy on them. Personally, I believe that Mrs. Kay has already been in the same shoes as Briggs and noticed that shouting at the kids won’t do them any justice so she decides to take a different approach. This is the reason why she acts so calmly.

Costume

• Grey blazer
• Grey/Navy Blue waistcoat
• Grey Trousers
• Pointed Black shoes
• White Shirt
• Blue Plaid Tie

The costume I would've had for Mr. Briggs would be old-fashioned. I see him wear a plain grey blazer and a waistcoat that matches his gloomy personality. I believe this look would suit his character better as he portrays a responsible role model to the kids. Moreover, wearing basic colours as his work clothes indicates his role for him to not stand out. Throughout the play it is shown that he would rarely volunteer for school activities or get involved with the other kids in the progress class, so it comes as a surprise when he joins the trip. As a result this contrasts his behaviour towards the teachers not respecting their values. On stage I would use this outfit as a way to not draw attention to myself, therefore this will give the impression to the audience that he just wants the day to be over and done with. 

Evaluation/Rehearsal

We have been assigned to read a play of “Our Day Out” by Willy Russel. My first initial thought about the play was that of a group of kids going on a school trip, but there was a bigger picture to it as these were unfortunate kids that didn’t have a better education. I was pleased to get Mr.Briggs, because I loved his character development throughout the play. The pandemic allowed us to work from home instead of in a close space towards each other, and we had to take some alternatives to bring the play to justice - by turning it into a Radio Play. During Lockdown we performed the play on a video conference on the app Zoom It was very hard performing the play, because there would be a lag sometimes in our meetings, and sometimes people didn’t know they’re cues which bugged me, because I knew when I came on. We changed the dialogue to fit our accents better so we wouldn’t speak in a Liverpool accent to London (Home).

 A few words we decided to change was:

Conwy - Hasting

Wales - Sussex

Birkenhead - Hackney  

We cut out some scenes in the play as we knew we couldn’t cover all of them and edited the ending scene to make it more shorter.

Normally I would perform next to a white wall, on the other hand the day we decided to record I had to go to my Auntie’s memorial service, who I was close to. In the beginning of the conference I should’ve informed my tutors prior, but thinking that the conference would end sooner was my mistake. As this would be the first time someone close to me passed away I thought I could multitask. Luckily the memorial service didn’t start and I managed to be there on time. It was also the reason for me wearing black. In the video meeting I was outside, trying not to pay attention to the background noise listening and saying all my lines articulately with a lot of energy and enthusiasm I had. Overall I thought the video call went excellent given the location and timing I placed myself in. What I will do next time is try to advise them beforehand on how long I would be able to do the conference. Maybe all the scenes I was in could've been done earlier ? 

The message the play conveys is to appreciate what you have, because others would be happy to experience all these materialistic items people take for granted. For example clothing, food, video games, roof over your head, packed lunch, Bag to place all your books in etc.

What you have learnt in terms of acting skills this year and how they have helped during this process. Maybe you have brought these to this project?

From the beginning of this year my acting has improved by allowing me to be more confident around others, and by participating in more activities that will help me with nerves when performing in front of an audience. For example “hot seating”, “This is not a spoon” and improv games to help with imagination. During the year I felt more able to give off ideas to people and contribute more in lessons. I have made a large group of friends since the start of the year and we always help each other out when we’re stuck on something we don’t know or to encourage one another before a performance. I used subtext for my final performance as my character comes off as sarcastic towards Mrs.Kay and thought it would be an exception to use it. Subtext is a very important skill and has helped me throughout the year. Tongue Twisters  has also helped me improve my articulation, and I now find it much easier to say longer sentences without mumbling. As well as breathing techniques which has helped me also to speak louder to a wider audience.