Citizenship
Citizenship is about growing up, with a boy, Tom finding out what his sexuality is. He had a dream about kissing someone but he didn't know if they were a boy or girl. He feels too scared to confess who he is and if he will be accepted or not. He feels more worried about people accepting him because he hangs around with boys who are homophobic and are teasing each other about why they are gay. This makes it difficult for Tom to think who he is.
The play was written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Anna Mackmin. It was developed and premiered in the National Theatre in 2005.
Themes:
"Citizenship doesn’t afford its audience any easy answers about a conclusion to Tom’s journey; instead, it encourages deep, internal reflection which stays with its audience long after leaving the theatre. A witty, thoughtful and true-to-life piece which grapples with topical subject matter, Citizenship is a must-see for anyone seeking to gain a greater insight into bisexuality and the modern teenage condition."
Props:
Set:
On Thursday 5th December, we were able to watch 3 short performances from the first year of level 3 drama. This was a fun experience for me to watch, to know what type of performances I might do next year on the level 3 drama course.
Citizenship is about growing up, with a boy, Tom finding out what his sexuality is. He had a dream about kissing someone but he didn't know if they were a boy or girl. He feels too scared to confess who he is and if he will be accepted or not. He feels more worried about people accepting him because he hangs around with boys who are homophobic and are teasing each other about why they are gay. This makes it difficult for Tom to think who he is.
The play was written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Anna Mackmin. It was developed and premiered in the National Theatre in 2005.
- Comedy
- Growing up
- Making decisions
- Mental health
- Identity
- Homophobia
- Sexuality
Citizenship Review
Ami Griffiths is impressed by how the actors skilfully conveyed their characters.
"I was entranced by how effortlessly Waddon inhabits the persona of the ambivalent, endlessly anxious Tom. He and Wayze have a natural rapport on stage, contributing to a natural and candidly open portrayal of Tom’s struggles. His nail-biting, hand-wringing nervous tic contributes to the anguished view of naïve adolescence that is so central to Ravenhill’s drama.""Citizenship doesn’t afford its audience any easy answers about a conclusion to Tom’s journey; instead, it encourages deep, internal reflection which stays with its audience long after leaving the theatre. A witty, thoughtful and true-to-life piece which grapples with topical subject matter, Citizenship is a must-see for anyone seeking to gain a greater insight into bisexuality and the modern teenage condition."
So having this character would get me out of my comfort zone of only allowing to play certain characters. We then got into our pairs or groups with the people we were going to do a scene with. Kenroy and Louis were playing Tom and they had to be with 2 or 3 girls who would be playing Amy. For this to work we were going to perform “citizenship” more than once but with different actors playing the characters. We then went over the scene we were in with our partner or group. I was with Aso who played Tom. Henok was with us so he could help us go over the script.
We went through our scenes, broke down the script to show when the emotions change.
For my scene it changes from:
For my scene it changes from:
- Tom feeling confused about his sexuality.
- Knowing if he kissed a man or women in his dream.
- Excepting yourself for who you are.
Rob then showed us what an objective was and what we had to work on in the lesson.
We did a hot seat exercise with Mark who would be in his character when we asked him questions. His character was deClerk (a school teacher).
We then got back into our groups or pairs for our scenes and performed 2 minutes of it. Rob then wanted us to write down if the hot seating was helpful and why. He also gave advice and compliments for each person in each scene. This is what I wrote for the hot seat and what advice Rob gave me for my scene:
This was helpful because the advice will help me to make my character more interesting.
On Tuesday 3rd December we got into our groups for "Citizenship". We discussed the scene with Ashleigh who is playing the role of the tarot reader's daughter, we went over her lines. We rehearsed the scene, Ashleigh is partnered with Henok and I am partnered with Aso. We performed our scene to the rest of the class. I have to work on learning my lines out of class so I can show how over the top my character is.
Tech work unit 7
We went back into our groups for "Citizenship", we talked about what props, costumes, set we need for our scenes. This is what we decided:
 |
| Tarot cards |
Props:
- Tarot cards
- Lace table cloth
Set:
- Table
- Rings
- Scarf
- Necklace
On Thursday 5th December, we were able to watch 3 short performances from the first year of level 3 drama. This was a fun experience for me to watch, to know what type of performances I might do next year on the level 3 drama course.
We watched a Christmas Performance by the 1st and 2nd year Musical Theatre students with 1st year Dance students. It was great to see their show. They put a lot of energy in their show which made the audience react with cheers, clapping and laughter.
My favourite performances were “Cinder” and “We Wish You a Hip-Hoppy Christmas!”.
“Cinder” the actors were over the top with their performance which made me laugh but the fairy godmother who was played by a male student was the funniest. He wore glittery high heels and enjoyed hearing the reactions from the audience.
The reason why I enjoyed “We Wish You a Hip - Hoppy Christmas” was because one of the dancers did back flips and dance moves which made the audience cheer.
This was the list of performances we watched:
