Problem Solving - EASTER BREAK

As we drew in to the Easter Holidays, we were set the task of to keep line running and begin to look for the clothing and props that may be needed for our characters. However, we faced one massive factor that would effect the rest of our play and their blocking that was done during the first weeks of the play - Chris fell ill and that mean we had to perform without him due to his condition. So we had to figure out different ways we could interpret the Pillow man and still have the same effect on the audience as he was originally in the first show case of the performance. The effect he had was that he acted as an entity that watched over you with that creepy atmosphere but can never seem to be a threat - just someone you could talk to as he stood in one part of the room with limited movement. But because of the situation we were in, the group came together and discussed what other methods the entity could have been portrayed.

First of which was a mannequin that was going to represent the Pillow man. That mannequin was going to be either placed in one side of the room during each scene or would have been projected on the white screen. In order for the method to go ahead we had to ask the Fashion Department for a mannequin for us to dress up and create the Pillow man. We had been given actual pillows to build the figure and newspapers and masks to build the head. We had also been given a cape to cover the entire body which resulted in the image down below.

Various pictures were taken in the Media studio with the help of the Technical Theatre students with different use of coloured lighting where then the pictures were sent over to be tested on the projector. throughout this and the following methods, we had consulted the Director and pillow man (Chris) if he agreed with our methods and if they were suitable to fit with the atmosphere of the performance. The other part that could have been used in this method was to place the mannequin on one part of the stage in the scenes so that we could react to it, however this idea was put down as it felt like the effect of the performance was lost and we felt that the audience would not have taken it seriously as it did cover a sensitive topic.

Another method that was considered to be used was that Chris could actually come in if his condition did improve and he could still act the Pillow man alongside the voice overs that he had recorded prior. Other than this method we were thinking if another actor could just wear the costume and block the Pillow man for us reenacting the movement of him and thus providing someone we could react off to in the scene alongside Chris' voice overs. However this idea was put down as there was simply not enough time and we were still considering Chris to perform the Pillow man.

The method that was chosen to be used was the use of a voice over and the lights as during Technical rehearsal a series of lights created the hypnosis part of the Pillow man as the actor fell in to a neutral state and went to hang/kill themselves. This was chosen as it required less use of another actor in the blocking and allow the lights and voice to do the work. In addition, rather than acting off a figure of the Pillow man in the scene we would react to the voice of the Pillow man as if it was either a voice in our head or imagination. This also gave an allowance to the audience to interpret what that Pillow man could  be - a sign of comfort or the definition of death.