Fake Beef

As the final performance for the community project due nearer the teachers believed it would be a valuable resource if we were to have a lesson on stage combat, therefore to increase the realism of our pieces. A renowned combat artist named Dan came to teach us the basics of stage combat. He begun the lesson with basic warm ups to freshen and energise our lazy morning minds and bodies. At a appropriate pace we gradually learnt very useful combat techniques; such as using weaponry, which could be used in our performance and even in our zombie videos and trailer. Primary morals and safety regulations that I learn't during the lesson was the importance of distance between you and your partner. Moreover trusting your partner was a crucial element of heightening the realism of one's piece. Finally, when we were trusted to use the weapons we were taught to position the stick at a horizontal angle from our bodies and to ensure that we had a tight, firm grip on the stick before we proceeded. 

As the lesson drew to a close we were taught a quick fight sequence which we would have to perform in front of the class with a partner; mine being Darius. The scene would start with a punch, then a stage strangle, then using a clever technique to replicate pulling someones hair then finally a fake knock out blow. 

Unarmed stage combat moves

- Hair pull
- Parrot punch
- Slap
- Hook
- Two handed strangle
- Duck

Armed stage combat moves

- Baseball

- Sgt Major

- Knuckles jab

The Zombie and Hero exercise

This exercise put together all the work we had learnt during the stage combat session. We were sectioned into two  groups consisting of one group as zombies and a hero whilst the other group were instructed to play the role of marshall's and guide the audience to a safe and secure area thus to enjoy the thrill of watching a zombie get knocked out.

OFFICIAL TRAILER: BRIT of the Dead

The Witty opening of the Brit school

Mark Featherstone-Witty wanted to create first free performing arts school. During period of Conservative and Thatcher rule this dream appeared faded as Thatcher made it clear that she didn't want to fund for unemployed actors, therefore the idea was put to rest. Nevertheless, Featherstone was still determined for his plan to be achieved and therefore got connected with George Martin, Richard Branson and the BPI; umbrella company that own the music industry. Featherstone was told that he had to raise £10 million at the Knebworth concert to fund for the building and opening of the school. People such as Eric Clapton performed at the concert. Featherstone wanted the school to be opened in a deprived area thus to ensure that students of all social backgrounds would feel comfortable joining the school. The school opened in 1991; a year later than scheduled. The first students had to wear yellow building hats around the school. The Brit school introduced the first 5 term plan and also created an anti-uniform reputation.

Paulo Friere: The man about education

Paulo Freire was born in 1921 in Recife, Brazil. In 1947 he began work with adult illiterates in North-East Brazil and eventually as time passed created a method of work with which the word conscientization has been associated. Friere believed that if people missed out on education they had a decreased chance of being socially mobile. He wanted to create a system of learning in which he believed everyone should be educated equally. Until 1964 he was the Professor of History and Philosophy of Education in the University of Recife. In the 1960s he was involved with a popular education movement to deal with massive illiteracy problems that lingered within Brazil. From 1962 there were widespread experiments in which his method was put to practice, therefore, as a result, the  education movement was extended under the patronage of the federal government. In 1963-4, Friere's method appeared to be a massive success, as there were courses set up for people in all Brazilian states and a plan was drawn up for the establishment of 2000 cultural circles to reach 2,000,000 illiterates.

Nevertheless, Freire was imprisoned following the 1964 coup d’etat for what the new regime considered to be subversive and left-wing elements in his teaching. He next appeared in exile in Chile where his method was used. During the 1970's he advocated his belief on education reform and initiated popular education activities with a range of international groups. Paulo Freire was able to return to Brazil by 1979. Freire was not reluctant in continuing his work which had been the cause of his exile. He joined the Workers’ Party in Sao Paulo and headed up its adult literacy project for six years. When the party took control of Sao Paulo municipality following elections in 1988, Paulo Freire was appointed as Sao Paulo’s Secretary of Education.

Freire died in 1997.

"I'm very sad that I have lost my father. Now all I have is brothers and sisters".

Augusto Boal on the roll

Augusto Boal was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1931. Orignally, Boal was  trained in chemical engineering and attended Columbia University in the late 1940′s and early 1950′s in which he graduated with a PHD. Nevertheless, his interests in life shifted towards his childhood obsession with the theatrical world and therefore just after he finished his degree at Columbia University he was asked to return to Brazil to work with the Arena Theatre in São Paulo. His remarkable work at the Arena Theatre led Boal to experiment with new forms of theatre; especially in a political sense. As a result, these fresh theatrical techniques would flourish and have a massively successful impact on the world of theatre.

During the 1960's Boal and his theatrical movement was labelled as a form cultural activism which the Brazilian military coups; who based themselves on imperialism, saw as a huge threat to their influence. Consequently, In 1971 Boal was kidnapped off the street, arrested, tortured, and eventually exiled to Argentina, where he stayed for 5 years. In response to his mistreatment and the political and social state of Brazil, Boal published Theatre of the oppressed in 1973 which is based on Boal's method of 'spect actors- in which the spectator replaces actor to determine the solution to a given problem presented by the actor, which can also be a real problem someone in the community is facing'. Boal over the next few decades became an icon of the theatrical world and took his work to places like Paris. He became such as figurehead in Brazil that between 1992-96 he was elected as the Vereador (City councilor) in Rio.

On May 2, 2009 at the age of 78, Augusto Boal died in Rio de Janeiro of a respiratory failure after a long fight against leukemia.