Further Development and Refinement, Political Protests #5

The next time we met we looked at how we were going to make the piece more physically interesting and dynamic.We started by agreeing that we had to devise a more abstract and artistic way of going into the restraint, this would make it more effective visually and therefore have more of an impact. The devising of this short sequence came out of simple trial and error. We would play around with various movements until we found one that worked. We ended up with a short sequence where the patients would place a hand on the doctors shoulders as the end of grandmothers footsteps, the doctors then proceed to grab that hand and pull it forward, whilst moving their other arm around the patients back so they can turn round and both the doctor and patient lean back before going straight down into a restraint. It was fluid and fast, allowing it to have the maximum impact as it happens very quickly out of nowhere. After that came the problem of how the patients were coming to move when playing grandmothers footsteps, as at that moment we were just walking forward. We moved through several ideas, looking at choreographing a piece of physical theatre that all three of us would use to move or having a body part that we led with. These ideas were good but it still wasn't quite at the place to needed to be. Until Roseby came up with the idea that we incorporate the audience into the game, ie we ask them to play grandmothers footsteps. This was a brilliant idea as it meant the restraining would be even more effective as it would happen in the midst of all these people who think were just playing a simple game. We also agreed that to outline the themes and ideas of the protest we would write 'patient' on our faces, the ones who were the patients, and then 'The Mental Health System' on the back of the doctors coats the doctors are going to be wearing. 'The mental health system' was chosen specifically so it was clear that it could be any mental health hospitals, not just the nhs in this country, it is a flaw within all practices.  

To make it more hard hitting we agreed the patients would saying things like 'Stop', 'No' and 'I cant breathe'. These phrases were good as they didn't hint towards them having any kind of fit, thus rising to the stereotype of people being 'mad' in these hospitals. After they yelled 'I cant let go of you until you calm down' we knew there had to be some outlining or facts about what it was about. We discussed a few possibilities and came up with the phrase 'FACE DOWN RESTRAINT IS A DANGEROUS PRACTICE' said by the patients after they have sat up and turned to face the doctors, with the reply of 'YOU WERE BEING A THREAT' or 'ITS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD' leading them to get up and return to the start line.