HOW CAN PERFORMING ARTS IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH?

I always look forward to going to my drama lessons because its a place where I felt I could be myself completely. People that have gone through something or those with a mental illness "DRAMA THERAPY" saves their lives it was also sometimes the only thing they could leave their house for.
People with health problems would go to drama therapy - they improvise scenes that explore topics such as self harm and suicide inspired by members real life experiences.
It also puts on performances for audiences - including staff at the trust and university students studying psychology and drama therapy to raise awareness of mental health problems and how they can effect people.

The arts can keep people well, aid recovery from illness, help people live longer, have better lives and save money in health and social care services.
The group educators people on living with mental health issues. It puts on performances and then holds a workshops to discuss what the audience what the audience has just seen.
Healthcare students find this particularly helpful as they can ask candid and picking questions that they might be afraid to in a clinical.

I came out of secondary quite depressed because I had a bad past. When I did my first performance L2 Performing Arts with my class - we take a bow and the audience are there clapping, I stand there thinking "Wow I've made an impression, I did it!".
Every performance is an achievement, the key themes the groups in drama therapy explores are rejection, loss, abandonment and grief - which are at odds with going up on the stage.
They add that the performances to highlight the needs for healthcare professionals to see people above and beyond a diagnosis = "If it enables them to see more than just a mental health diagnosis then we've won the day".

The arts valuable role in mental health is being recognised.
It can help boost confidence and make us feel more engaged and resilient. Besides those benefits, art engagement also alleviates anxiety, depression and stress.
The arts seem to have an important role to play in this - through offering help, promoting well - being and creating a space for social connection.
Getting included with the arts can have a powerful and lasting effect on health, it can help to protect against a range of mental health conditions, help manage mental ill health and support recovery.

There are many ways to engage in the arts and improve your mental health:

- Performing arts and health programmes led by actors, actresses, artists and musicians can deliver health benefits through particularly art programmes and art engagement in everyday life.

- When we talk about the arts we include usual and performing arts, such as a traditional craft, sculpture, digital art, text, dance, film, literature, music, singing, gardening and the culinary arts.

"Arts and creativity are an important part of the programmes we run at Mental Health Foundation, art can be a different and fun way to express and talk about emotion" Jolie Goodman Programmes Manager for Empowerment and later life.

Engaging in the arts seems to be growing in popularity as a way to improve your well being participating in the arts can enable people to deal with a wide range of mental health conditions and psychological distress.
The best part is that it helps people to improve that mental health through creativity.

UNIT 11

PERSONAL STATEMENT (UCAS)
No one knows this but growing up id always talk to my self in the mirror, I still do, looking at my reflection, using body language and saying random things. This made me feel really good and confident the more I did it.
I stopped talking to myself in the mirror when I started secondary school. Until i started getting bullied about the way I look when I come into school, girls just didn't like me or want me to be their friend. Even my group of friends back then would bully me, they would make me clean up after them make me feel small and just treat me so little because I was week and they liked it. I cried every day until one day I looked at the mirror and smiled and said to myself "Everything is going to be OK, your are going to go through a lot of rough times but you are going to overcome it because your strong" so I started talking to myself to the mirror again until I started imagining what life would of been like if i started standing up for myself even when I knew it would never happen so I started acting like I was standing up to myself to those who treat me bad. It felt good looking in the mirror and acting like someone your not, acting like other people, I started getting comfortable in my own skin when I was acting in the mirror. I was comfortable with what life has thrown at me and was prepared for what life has planned for me. Every time I act in front of the mirror I finish off  by saying "I like what I see in the mirror?"
I know secondary you will have a lot of drama - every time I push things aside to concentrate on what I want to build for my future like being an actor people bring me back down that's why it was hard for me to even pick drama as my GCSE because I was very uncomfortable with those around me because I know they will bring me down again so I made a promise to myself to do drama in college some where I know I will have a fresh start. I know secondary school you will go through rough times like me who cant stand up for them self but it made me confident at the end of my secondary school years enough to stand u for myself now gain respect but I will always have the week in my and I have accepted that.

When I was little Id use Drama everywhere I go like when Im walking down the street Id pretend I'm walking in slow motion and the wind is blowing and my hair is flowing and I have video cameras around me filming me. I still do this now. I sometimes look about at my life and see it like it was a movie.
My whole life when Id watch movies and there was a character I really like Id pretend I'm the actor playing the role and I would actually play the role myself in front of the mirror.

Growing up watching movies with my dad Iv'e always imagine playing my favourite character in that movie - always, I still do now. I do the same with music videos, characters in a book and dancers and son on lots to do with the world of performing arts that i see on TV.

I've always known that I'm an actor that's why I picked to do this course. Its really that simple but here are somethings that I love about it.
Every role, every story, every performance is different and connecting with other people in your group and the audience.
Eye contact, listening empathy and patience are the many things that make a good actor and a good person I believe in that 100%. With every new role I had the last 2 years on the course.

There's a lot of laughter which I love, I'm a very happy person, I love seeing people laugh and smile and those who don't laugh and smile I give them a reason to for example "laughing and smiling brightens your day". 

I love working as a team. I believe that everyone has a creative mind that they can each share with the team, I love listening to peoples ideas. I feel like when people share there ideas it will build something great all in one. When everyone is working together the group are all fully present and focused and working together moment by moment to tell the same story, its satisfying.
I love the swiftness, the adrenaline rush, we all talk about getting nervous and that happens ones in a while.
Before every audition and performance I have such positive bonds and relationships with the rash of energy that I crave a lot. When I don't act for long stretches, I get restless and anxious and have to find some way to put myself under pressure to get that energy out.

I have many hobbies, I love playing Tennis, tennis happens to be my favourite sport.
I love Art - I love drawing I've also been drawing my whole life.
I love doing Hair I do my siblings hair all the time for school and special occasions and when they want to go out somewhere, people also pay be to do their hair.
I love Cooking, I cook and bake a lot at home.
Photography is also one of my hobbies because I love taking pictures of the beautiful world we live and and I also like to take pictures of myself for social media like Instagram.
Reading book use to be my hobbies, I use to love reading books - I feel reading books is still my hobbies because every time I see a book the smell - that fresh smell make my journey through reading the book give me a good vibe. I will be going back to reading book real soon. I have been using this app called episode. The app is a storytelling network and platform that features interactive stories. I love using this app the stories is there are absolutely amazing its as if your watching a movie when your reading the stories, people around the world create stories and upload it on episode. It amazes me how creative people can be.

 UNIT 7 - "FUTURES"

This unit is linked to unit 5 and 6 and enables you to reflect, analyse and report on your current and future progression.It will encourage you to take stock of your skills and abilities and make realistic choices when its looking at work for unit 6' collaboration performance project.

I picked the monologue "The Bachelor Party (Paddy Chayepsky). This monologue is about a Bookkeeper Charlie Samson who is attending night school to become an accountant when he finds out his wife, Helen is pregnant. The news upset Charlie because he believes a baby will prevent him from continuing his studies. His reservations came out during a wild and work friend, Arnold. When single man Eddie Steers the group to parties and strip clubs, Charlie becomes tempted to stray from his wife.

Just by reading what this publish play is about - the story is what attracted me into wanting to do the monologue, there is a lot of Drama, there is marriage and pregnancy - One doesn't want to have the child - worried because hes got a good job - his studies are going well, he loves his studies. There is a lot going on by just reading what this play is about.

ANALYSE PROGRESS AND PERFORMANCE
Since starting this course from finishing level 2 performing arts, I have witnessed great progress. I had a lot going on at the start of the course but I overcame it and never gave up. I did feel vulnerable at the start because I wasn't expecting to have a rough time outside of my course which effected me because I didn't want to start off that way especially because its a fresh new level for me after I did great in level 2 performing arts and got a MERIT!. 
I've made mistakes in the beginning where id forget my lines and so on but I've learnt from it and since then id put aside everything that will distract me from performing and become the confident actor that I was in level 2. I've taken a lot of things from level 2 to guide me through this course a long with the new lessons and skills I've gained in this course.

This year there was a lot of Team Work involved this year because our class is so big so which is different to me because my class last year was really small. Building something as a group benefits us individually, you gain the skill to be able to help others and yourself, giving ideas of your own to help your group and gives others the confidence to do the same- this gains a very creative performance and most importantly to get the story across to the audience. This skill also help us to be able to help other people in the future with those we don't know when we are in a different environment.

I have many plans for my future.I definitely want to go to Drama School because It offers an intensive three-year course that prepares students physically, vocally and mentally. Drama offers a focused and practical approach of training - so ill be attending Brits School.
I love to be in front of a camera so YouTube is also another thing ill be doing, share my life with my subscribers and when i gain a lot of subscribers I would like to work with children, visit children in different schools and help them build a good school play. 
When I find myself an agent then ill start my acting career depending on where my life takes me, I believe if you chase your dream, you will gain it and succeed no matter where your life takes you

24th June the day everyone performs there monologue. I was pretty nervous, i always get nervous before performing I guess its normal the character I was trying to play was just a girl talking to her friend but is also in her own world when shes talking about the man she loves, but in my head I was thinking about the lines line by line which made me realise that I should've went through my lines over and over again so it doesn't seem like I am ticking off lines in my head because that's what was making me nervous when I was performing my monologue but I got through it.

When everyone had there turn to perform their monologue we had a little break and then we had to sit in a circle - Rob then gave us our feedback...

My feedback was to:
- Be less robotic
- Go over the lines more
- Play around with the speech
- Add different emotional levels
- Drive it more in terms of voice

I will for sure take these feedback and carry it with me in the future when I go off to second years, I feel like this is my chance to now use everything iv'e learnt and use it to guide me into the actor I am meant to be. 

PROPOSAL

Learner Name: ROSELY LITITIYO-LITOYI
UAL Reg ID
Centre Name & Number = Westminister Kingway College 11072

Project Proposal Title = Performance/Direction

Tutor: Rob Alexander & Shenagh Cameron
Signature
Date

CONSONANTS
I didn't know what to expect when I started level 3 performing arts as did level 2 last year. It was a real challenge for me because that was my first time doing drama, I feel like I have came a long way as I learned and gained so much from that experience for e.g knowledge, skills and understanding. I used my knowledge from level 2 to help me overcome this year and ofcourse I learnt a lot alone the way. Im confidet ive gaind skills ths year like vocal sounds where I train my voice as it must be abke to communicate a range of emotion, Im still working on it, so every word in my voice can be heard
with enough strengths to fill the whole room.
Rob taught consonents, I also remember him teaching this last year when i was study level 2, consonants represents sounds Z, B, T, G and H are all consonants, corresponding letters A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y and not consonants.
Pacing, dictated by the dramas, action adventurous move faster then suspense.
Energy throughout, I was taught a lot about energy, and I was also taught about creating my movement through the line the thread of a character. I use a level of comfort and energy to make a character my own.
I made a lot of progress and achieved a lot by doing these skills I was taught.
What Ive learnt about all 7 units is that the language is very different, it makes you sound different and changes your body language a long with it when you rehearse. 

PROJECT CONCEPT
The aim of this project is to put together a performance for an outside audience. As well as a performing role, we consider opportunities to work in a supportive, technical, administrational etc. Developing roles in rehearsals, taking full resposibilty for our lines.
Building our roles in a supportive and collaborative manner, using skills and imagination that weve gained to use in our interpretation. Carrying our research on "Love and Information" the background and the world of the play, its context, themes and finding out how ths helps with developing my roles.
In rehearsals we should reflect on our developments and how this assisters on my learning.
Types of resources in performing arts that helps me present in my project is the body.
Other key opponents are time, space and the relationship between performer and audience.
Gives opportunity to engage the mind, the body and emotions into collaborative expression of all that it means to be human - Caryl Churchill would use that and she found that out through studying and her plays, exploring and presenting great themes and ideas.
Method acting helped me because with the amount of training that I had from Level 2 performing arts to now, I was able to adapt the lifestyle - traits or habits are a reflection of the character I was trying to portray by immersing myself into my characters mindset has enabled me to understand their motives and actions and gain a better understanding of how they feel.

EVALUTATION 

As a L3 student and Actor I've don't a lot of reflecting and evaluating with my work, outlining the success and areas that may need developing and feedback from rehearsals - thinking about my journing from L2 erforming Arts to now that I am in L3 Performing Arts, I've learnt so much from then, its turned me into the actor I am today and I know that their is still more for me to learn and gain. understanding your characters makes helps you bring it to life in your own way - making it into your own, this is the main area I developed since L2. Practise problem solving develops my skill in reasoning and understanding. When being asked to continually develop my skills, when practice I learn the skills and techniques I never give up. 

I feel like this journey helped me express my own personality with characters that I play a role in. It's like discovering the characters I play through my own experience, I'm being able to express emotion, What's exciting about coming into practical is playing roles you never thought you could play. I'm looking forward for second year L3 I'm excited for what awaiting for me.

INFORMATION ABOUT CARYL CHURCHILL

Caryl Churchill was born on the 3rd September 1938 in London.
She Is a British playwright known for dramatizing the abuses of power, for her use of non-naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes. She is the daughter of Jan Brown, a fashion model and Robert Churchill, political cartoonist. In 1961 she married David Harter. They have three sons and live in Hackney East London After World War 11, her family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Churchill was ten year old. In Montreal, she attended Trafalgar Schools for girls.

She returned to England to attend university, and in 1960 she graduated from Lady Margaret Hall, a women's college at Oxford University with a degree in English Literature. She also began her writing career there. Her four earliest plays, Downstairs (produced 1958), You've No Need To Be Frightened, Having A Wonderful Time (1960) and Easy Death (produced 1962) were performed at oxford by student theatre ensembles. 

Love and Information was first performed was first performed at The Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Sloane Square, London on Thursday 6th September 2012. 

Cast
 Nikki Amuka-Bird Linda Bassett Scarlett Brookes Amanda Drew Susan Engel Laura Elphinstone John Heffernan Joshua James Paul Jesson Billy Matthews Justin Salinger Amit Shah Rhashan Stone Nell Williams Josh Williams Sarah Woodward
 
Director   
 James Macdonald Set Designer   Miriam Buether Costume Designer  Laura Hopkins Lighting Designer  Peter Mumford Sound Designer   Christopher Shutt Casting Director   Amy Ball Assistant Director  Caitlin MacLeod Production Manager  Paul Handley Stage Manager   Laura Draper Deputy Stage Manager  Fran O’Donnell Asst Stage Manager  George Cook Stage Mgmnt Work Placement Maia Alvarez Stratford Costume Supervisor  Jackie Orton Musical Director   Simon Deacon Choreographer   Stuart Hopps Dialect Coach   Majella Hurley Set Built by   Miraculous Engineering Ltd Scenic Painter   Kerry Jarrett 

CARYL CHURCHILL'S PLAYS AND AWARDS
Plays (most recent work listed first) 2012: 
Love and Information; Ding Dong the Wicked 2009: Seven Jewish Children 2008:  Bliss/Olivier Choinire, translator 2007:  Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?  2005:  A Dream Play, new version of August Stringberg's play 2002:  A Number 2000:  Far Away 1997:  This Is A Chair 1997:  Hotel 1997:  Blue Heart 1994:  The Skriker 1994:  Thyestes, translator 1991:  Lives of the Great Poisoners 1990:  Mad Forest: a Play from Romania 1989:  Ice Cream 1987:  Serious Money 1986:  A Mouthful of Birds, with David Lan 1984:  Softcops 1983:  Fen 1982:  Top Girls 1980:  Three More Sleepless Nights 1979:  Cloud Nine 1978:  Vinegar Tom 1977:  Traps 1976:  Light Shining in Buckinghamshire 1975:  Objections to Sex and Violence 1973:  Owners
 

Awards 2001:  Obie Sustained Achievement Award 1988:  

Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play, Serious Money 1987:  Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Serious Money 1987:  Obie Award for Best New Play, Serious Money 1987:  Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year, Serious Money 1984:  Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Fen 1983:  Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Top Girls, runner-up 1982:  Obie Award for Playwriting, Top Girls 1981:  Obie Award for Playwriting, Cloud Nine 1961:  Richard Hillary Memorial Prize 1958:  Sunday Times/National Union of Students Drama Festival Award, Downstairs

 
Her early works developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques of Epic Theatre to explore issues of gender and sexuality.
From A Mouthful of Birds (1986) onwards, she began to experiment with forms of Dance-Theatre, incorporating techniques developed from performance tradition initiated by Antonin Artaud with his 'Theatre of Cruelty'. This move away from a clear Fable Dramaturgy towards increasingly fragmented and Surrealistic narratives characteristics her work as postmodernist.
It was while raising a family in the 1960's and 70's that Churchill began write short radio dramas for BBC radio. These included the Ants (1962), Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (1971) and Schreger's Nervous illness (1972). She also wrote television plays for the BBC including The After Dinner Joke (1978) and Crimes (1982). These, as well as some of her radio plays, have been adapted for the stage.

HOW DO HER PLAYS EXPERIMENT WITH THEATRICAL CONVENTION 
Caryl had made every theatre trip on adventure into the unknown with relentless urge to experiment the hasn't abated over almost 40 plays. Caryl has an active political conscience on succeeding generations and is a relentless experimenter with form.

That last quality is, for me, the key to an extraordinary career that has yielded close to 40 days and made Churchill an iconic figurehead. At Oxford she focused exclusively on short plays for radio. She had her first stage play. Owners, put at the Royal Court Theatre in 1972 at a time where there were scarcely any role - models for women dramatists.

Caryl Churchill is a materialist playwright. In her work she begins with the material conditions which testify to the power relations within society at a given time in history.
She builds her plays, which range widely across such subjects as the witch-hunts of the seventeenth century in Vinegar Tom (1972), the sex lives of contemporary Londoners in cloud Nine (1979). Caryl Churchill combine theatricals inventiveness with social critique in her plays. Churchill consistently relates to political ideas in theatrical terms.

Churchill examines political structures through a conscious evaluation of traditional theatre structure. In particular, Churchill finds epic theatres politics invaluable to her socialist feminists dramaturgy. Detailed analysis of the two works enables us to determine the extent to which Churchill applies epic techniques to a politics that incorporates various orientation and class.

Churchill explores to artificially of power structures, especially in patriarchal society, more over by using devices, Churchill connects the way in which an actor represents his or her role in her role in the audience to the way in which and individual represents a self society.
Churchill makes a link "Playing a role" in theatre and playing "role" in society.
Churchill continues and extends her interests, including issues patriarchy, social structure and economic changes.

Churchill builds up theatrical techniques from both Brechtian epic theatre and personal areas of theatre, reshapes traditional devices and melds than into an original style.
Churchill uses Brechtian historization to analyse the relationship between women at different social positions through history.

Churchill examines the different class consciousness and conflicts that characterize women in different moments of capitalism. By examining these two works, this study explores the independence of the theatrical and political in Churchills new grammar of discussing, viewing and writing plays.

It is this writers assertion that the use of structure is another technique that can be affectively employed to positively engage theatre audiences with work that responds to global events, making redundant any likelihood of simply telling an audience what they already know.

Structure, the internal framework of the play is a powerful way in which playwright can articulate and symbolise that relationship with an response to global events. Allowing the structure of work, the size and shape and length of scenes for example, to have a symbolic representation can moon the structure itself acts as a metaphor silent yet effecting narrative, beyond the ordinary manner of conveying themes and meaning through words, dialogue characters.

Structure can be used to influence and impact upon an audience in an almost sublimely manner. The modernists notion that the structure of an artistic work is intrinsically link with its ability to engage with the world is of particular relevance to this idea.

Structure is important because it allows the playwright to either impose order onto a seemingly chaotic world, or indeed impose chaos onto an ordered world.
Plot structure is a way a dramatist forms reality into a play. Structure is necessary because it creates a logical sequence from chaos, it turns the random action of life into the structured action of a play.

Themes, Churchills dramaturgy is above all the staging of desire - that's the theme and Desire.

Unit 8 - Collaborative Performance project

This unit represents the culmination of your tear 1 work on the course. you should ne looking now to build on your previous terms work and direct yourselves to working in a disciplined and focused manner, as we put together a performance for an outside audience. As well as a performing role, you may also wish to consider opportunities to work in a supportive, technical, administrational role.

My class will be working on an identified play "Love and Information" by Caryll Churchill, and with identified roles our group agreed on, we will develop our role in our rehearsals

We will be taking full responsibility for learning of lines and any "blocking" that is required - just like Macbeth with learning lines and blocking. We will be using skill and imagination in our interpretation as always.

Our class was given a script "Love and Information" and put into groups of 14 and 15 and in those groups we had to pick what story's/ monologue we wanted to do. The story's that I'm in are "Affair", "Mother", "Gods Voice", "Wedding Video", and "Virtual".

In our drama lessons everyone split into there groups of 14 (group 1) and 15 (group 2) and started rehearsing our pieces and getting to know how to bring our personality into our roles to bring our toles to life. In some of our lessons we shared our pieces with the class - we also had to improvise our scene before the actual scene for example what happened before the scene a month ago, an hour ago or a day ago even a year ago and perform it to the class and get feedback if they understand it or not and explain why.

I perform "Affair" with my partner Teigan. In this piece Teigan's boyfriend cheated on her and I'm telling her the news - I decided to play the role as a evil friend someone who enjoys seeing others hurt, so when I'm telling Teigan the news my goal is to see her upset and son on but until she tells me that she already knew that her boyfriend is cheating on her, I'm not very happy about it but I play if off so she doesn't notice my disappointment.
So when we performed to the class they understood our roles, where we are and our relationship.(Teigan plays a role of a very nice friend to me, very sweet) Then we performed the back story to our scene - the idea we had was Teigan is engaged (This is a year ago) she tells me the news and I am speechless and upset about it because she's happy and I'm jealous about it. So I tell her that my other friend also got engaged and that no ones engagement can top that. Everyone in my class understood the back story.

I rehearse "Mother" with Diamond, this scene is where I tell Diamond that our mother is not her mother - her mother is her nan, that I am her mother. Diamond plays aa role of a stubborn teenager. It was a secret we didn't share with Diamond but I really wanted to tell her, so I told her when our mother went out and we were alone so I found that as a chance for me to tell her. I rehearsed "Gods Voice" with Elena, in this scene I play her mother, I visit Elena at the at the mental hospital, I question her actions for she has done bad things - broke the law and she blames God for it. She plays the role of a sociopath.

I rehearse "Virtual" with both Teigan and Elena, I'm in love with a robot - a virtual and Teigan and Elena play my best friends and they try to convince me I'm crazy. In this scene everyone just talks over each other to get their point across, as for me I play the lazy role where I am not bothered or in the mood for there lecture.

We rehearsed many times in the short amount of time we got left which was ok we didn't complain, we worked as a team and in our little groups and gave ideas and made it work. We had help from our class mates and teachers. We developed more as we got along when it comes to the setting to help the scene and what our characters are. Performed and rehearsed and got got feedback and took it to mind so we can do better as we keep rehearsing.

VIRTUALMOTHER

VIRTUAL

GODS VOICE                                     

Discreetly I feel the play went very well as from my research I was able to play my character mentally and physically in different personality's where I'm irritated, nervous and concerned and disappointed as I was able to connect with my lines. As a group the play was a success as we listened to each other - the communication was really good, no issues occurred as everyone was very understanding and put forward everyone's ideas into the play making the play very special, funny and absorbing.

As a class we understood our role or roles in planning and producing a performance to an audience.

I say our performance was went great even though some students caused some confusion and their was also a lot of pauses too and the energy was a little flat. Those were the things that needs developing. I got feedback that I was told that I am not being loud enough so it took it in mind but I got through it which is good. Shegnah gave us feedback about how the show went so we don't make the same mistake when we perform the second time. Everyone including was a little disappointed with themselves but we didn't let want to let ourselves down again that we will do great when we perform the second time in the evening.

When we performed again in the evening everyone did great, it was better then the one we did this morning, I think this time its because everyone was having way better fun with their characters this time and took the feedback Shenagh gave us also because we had friends and family watching us, I definitely enjoyed myself that time because I was happy I had family their to watch me.