JJ's DNA Q&A

Firstly in groups of 5 you created a 1 minute version of the play ‘DNA’Answer these questions:

Q1 - Why did you do this?
I believe that we done this in order to gather a better understanding of the whole play, and gather the key information of the play, and perhaps find out a little bit about the characters that we could may have a chance of playing 


Q2- How did it help you?
It gave me a thorough understanding of the characters and the play 

Q3- What did you notice about all of the pieces that were created? Were their moments that were the same?
I noticed that many moments between the groups were all quite similar, they all had roughly the same point, we all had an idea of what we thought were to be the key points in the play. We discussed the role of the postman - a character that is never seen and doesn't speak.

Q4- What is the importance of this character in the play? 
He was very important because the children blamed a fictional character for Adam's death, they made up someone that they believed to be fake, nothing but someone they created, an imaginary character.  Also it is quite interesting how they make someone who doesn't have a speaking role, or is never scene such an important part of the play.    You created 4 huge ROLE-ON-THE-WALLS for the characters: Phil, Leah, Brian and Adam. Answer these questions:


Q5- Why did we create these?
We done this to get a better understanding of the certain characters that we were working on.  In my group  we were looking at the character Phil on the posters we wrote what we think people thought of him, saw him as and what he showed on the outside and felt on the inside.  Our group filled the whole sheet in words that we thought suited Phil.  We had words like leader, lonely, heartless, fast, the man with the plan ect.

Q6- Did you find out anything new about the character your group worked on?
We found out a lot of things about Phil although they may not have all be completely true, they were more about what we believed to be Phil's emotions.  


Find a piece of music on youtube that you think sums up your character. Put this on your blog. 

I thought that this is a good song for Phil because he is all relaxed and doesn't talk in the beginning of the play although nearer the end he starts talking and getting into the action and coming up with plans.

You created a scene to show the back story of the character you worked on.

Answer these questions:

Q7- What is a back story?

A back story is a character’s history, it’s the life of the character that before the start of the story.

Q8- Why is it important for actors to understand their character’s back story?

So that when the actors are playing as the character they have an understanding of how the character actually feels inside, and why they're character is the way they are, therefore giving the actor a sort of head-start, if you will, when acting and makes the character seem more realistic. 

Q9 -What did you create as a snapshot of your character’s world? Describe what you did and link you choices to the play.

In our's we done a snapshot of Phil's life, we showed what we believed his life is like at home, due to the way he acts outside.  We showed his whole family running around him, whilst he sat in the center of everything.  Everyone ignored him, and acted as if he didn't exist, the only time he was acknowledged was when he was being shouted or moaned at.  When Phil is sitting down his family tell him to move, and when he gets up to walk off he falls over because someone tied his shoe laces, as a joke, everyone can see his upset but just carry on with what they're doing.  I think this could link to the reason why he is so quiet and eats a lot.  Perhaps he eats a lot because he has a problem, he eats to try and forget about his life, because that's what most people do during depression they eat, also the way he ignores people could be a sort of way to take his anger from his family out on Leah, the way he was ignored, perhaps he believes loved ones or ones who love him should also be ignored.

Q10- What did another group create? Was it effective, why?

 I liked Romy's group who done Leah's back story, I thought it was quite clever how they showed that she was even ignored at home that could be the reason why she feels so strongly about being ignored and threatens to kill herself when she is.  That could be the reason why she talks so much, in hope that she might be heard, and is often cut off during sentences, so that could be the reason why she hardly ever finishes a sentence in fear that she will be unsuccessful in completing it.  The part that I found effective was the fact that unlike most groups they actually included the other characters in the play as well

We discussed the ideas of Nature V Nurture. Are we a product of our environment? Yes or No? Justify your thoughts.

I believe that we are mainly a product of our environment, whether it be inside or outside of home.  I believe that children are much more influenced inside of home at a younger age, for example the way they talk, the things they do, the things they say, children often imitate their parents.  Although as children get older and get more freedom they are more influenced  by the environment outside of home, like they start using slang, and the way they talk and the new activities they try out with their friends.  However, the way we act isn't always due to our environment it could also just be the case that they have mental health issues from birth, which is not the parents fault, they could have the nicest parents but still have issues.  But generally we are a product of our environment, so if I had to say either yes or no I would say yes, we are a product of our environment. 

JJ Steadford