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This researched allowed me to have an understanding of Chelsea and Bradley Manning, before we started rehearsals I did't know a single thing about the Manning case but this researched allowed me to understand it all. I feel like this was effective as I could really get an understanding of my character so it was easy to make up some lines as most of the time I was automatically writing.

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The style of our piece was expressive, this was due to the fact that the topic we were trying to express was very touching. I feel like it was also dramatic as some scenes had a hint of drama and emotion which caused the audience to feel for the characters. This was effective as it allowed the audience to engage and feel attached to a certain character.

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Our target audience was a wide range of ages mainly focussing on young adults, we did this so it was educational for them. At this current time the topic gender is a big discussion, teens and young adults are all questioning wether there are 36 genders, if it's a mental health problem or if it's a real thing. We stuck with our initial idea to educate as we thought the story of Chelsea Manning would help our target audience to understand this current topic. The target audience would learn that gender is a real thing and how it effects people, I think that the court scene is the most effective scene to portray this. We show Bradley wanting to be Chelsea and he explains how unhappy he is and how he will never be himself. To me this was effective as the audience started to have a feeling for the character which made them have a better understanding of gender.

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How do you think that you could apply the skills you've learned during this process to your ongoing theatre practise?

During this process I have learnt many different skills and techniques. This is very helpful as I can apply them to other projects and theatre. For example, I have learnt different ways to tell a story and what is effective for the story you want to tell. I have also tried a new type of theatre called verbatim, I have already used this type of theatre within another performance as it is an easy and effective way to express someones opinion. I learnt a story telling technique called 'The Mountain'. The mountain structure is a way of mapping the tension and drama in a story. It’s different because it doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending. The first part of the story is given to setting the scene, and is followed by just a series of small challenges and rising action before a climactic conclusion. This is good for showing how you overcame a series of challenges, slowly building tension and delivering a satisfying conclusion, this is a good technique as it fitted very well with the Manning story. I am using this 'Mountain' technique in my script writing as it allows the story to go up and down like a mountain, which can be effective as it makes the story more interesting.

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What improvements would you make? How?

If I could go back and improve anything I would of changed the mirror scene. To me the mirror scene could have been more interesting and could of had more movement. The moves Chloe and I did were good... but wan't interesting and we mainly just did the same thing over and over again and it was a bit repetitive.

We could have also spiced up our performance as it was too naturalistic. Despite the fact that the naturalism worked it  was very dull and boring. Compared to the Mental Health our performance was slow and dragging so if I could go back I would probably improve the pace and add more movement into certain scenes. For example, when Alex and the others did their monologues they just sat in a chair, got up and left once they had finished. Louise had a bit of movement but I just had a feeling that the audience were bored.

I also feel that we should of focused more on the fact that Bradley was left all alone with this depicting image in his mind of becoming Chelsea. We could of shown isolation, anger, sadness and abuse. We showed a bit of emotion for when Bradley is being mocked during the physical theatre scene but not nearly enough. For this I feel that we could have used various styles. For example, for isolation we could of used theatre of cruelty, this can show the breakdown and sadness of the character. For anger and abuse we could of used in yer face theatre. However, the idea of Arto also sprung to mind as a counter way of expressing anger.

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What were the greatest challenges?

Starting the project was very difficult as we didn't have many ideas. For many weeks we had nothing and we would spend our time researching. Another challenge was trying not to upset anyone seeing that gender as a whole can be a touchy subject so we did't want to make it offensive. Many people in our group were ill and only 4 rehearsals was everyone in so getting things done and blocked was very difficult. Another challenge would be everyone needs to learn their lines and the script, many times even if we had been through it people forgot which scene goes where and what to say, this caused a lot of distress and having to repeat scenes until we got it right.

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What were the strongest aspects of the performance?

I feel that the interviews were a very strong and effective part of our performance, it was like the glue that stuck it all together. The physical theatre scene was a very strong addition to the performance as it shows Bradley being dragged down to the point where he is silenced and what he believes in he can't. To me that was a very good scene and it showed that whatever you believe in don't let others bring you down.

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What storytelling techniques did you use?

We had a narrator style type of performance. Ben and Rachel sat at the back and read out multiple pieces of facts and statistics of the Manning case (Like a narrator). We used this to connect scenes together and inform the audience of her current situation, this was effective as it added a hint of  reality to the performance, it was a reminder that her story is still going on. During my thought track I used direct address and spoke directly to the audience which is effective as they feel more involved.

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What was the audience response to the performance?

Throughout our performance the audience was silent, although in the court scene during my thought track with Chloe we expressed how unhappy Bradley is and that made the feel pity for him. After the show I asked a few audience members of what they thought, many of them thought that it was very powerful and inspirational to anyone who is thinking about becoming the opposite sex, others felt enlightened since we taught them a current big issue that is going on today.

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How did the performance cater to the target audience?

We aimed our performance to 16+. We did this because our topic gender is a mature concept to wrap your head around so we needed a mature audience. We mainly wanted to educate the audience especially with differnt views and opinions about gender. We wanted to send a message to the audience to show them the story of Manning and the injustice that gender is a real thing and can effect people. We wanted to show that there isn't just male and female, people judge other people just because of thier gender. So to show a powerful story of someone stuggling should make the audience feel towards the matter.

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How did you feel that the performance went?

I think that the performance went very well, in my opinion it was the best that we performed it. During the last mirror scene when Chloe and I entered we were out of sync which was really upsetting as we had spent alot of time rehersing the proccess. Everyone knew thier lines and performed suprbly. During the scene in which Chloe and I though track I put more emotion and movement into the scene because the scene is very still and there is very little movement. I tried to talk more to the audience instead of Chloe making sure my voice wasn't drowned out. In conclusion I was very happy with the final performance despite a few hiccups, all transitions were smooth and there was a good rhythm all round.

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How did you prepare material for the performance?

In order to prepare for the performance I had to research gender as a whole, I started by researching all 72 genders and to see what defies them. Kelly then suggested researching Chelsea Manning, we were all moved from her story and all decided to dig deeper into it. I researched her background and her past to try and get a better understanding of not only the case but his life and to see why he wanted to become a woman. This really helped me understand Manning and her situation. This is the reason that helped me come up with the idea of the mirror scene. We couldn't decide weather we wanted it to be natrualistic or abstract but due to the fact that we wanted to tell her story we decided to go with natrualistic. In order to portray her story I researched her case into the depth where we could make a court scene similar to the one she had.

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Today we went through all our transitions until they were perfect. We also then went through all the lighting with the technicians, once we finished we performed our show.

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Today we performed everything we had done except from the physical theatre scene to the other group. This was effective as we got their input and feedback. Someone gave a really positive and good idea that Ben and Rachel should be upstage with files acting as if they are going through the Chelsea Manning case. This is effective as it shows the entire story, we also then had the idea to have the input of President Obama's last act on freeing Manning on May 17th.

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We needed to block the physical theatre scene but at first it was difficult to do as there were a lack of people. Our initial idea was for me to be pushed on from the top of the auditorium and for people to start talking within the audience. We scrapped this idea because it was too confusing on how to get people to their positions. We decided to change our idea to a more diverse and complex scene. Whereas before people played a wall, it was slow and boring. So instead I was pushed on and sat down on a chair, at this point off stage we had everyone mock me by saying 'Chelsea' and 'Bradley' with various tones of voice and phrases. We then had the idea that one by one people come on and mock me until I break down and scream. At this point we were stuck as to what to do, so we thought that we could form a circle and I had the idea that maybe everyone would intertwine for a cool effect and goes off stage. Due to the complex idea we had to scrap it, so instead we came up with the idea that when I scream they all surround my body until Chloe comes over and pushes them away. This is effective as it shows that Bradley is being pushed down by society but the Chelsea inside of him is freeing him.

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People weren't in so instead of rehearsing we all learnt our lines and helped one another learn them.

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Most people were in today so we all performed to each other our monologues and lines. This was helpful as we gave each other advice and feedback which was effective because we all gave different ways to interpret the character and gave positive input.

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Today we had to get our scripts done, so we all went to the library to write up everything we had done so far. Not everyone was in so unfortunately we had to finish it at home and send all our individual pieces together to make the script.

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Today we ran through certain scenes that need blocking. Such as, the mirror scene with Chloe and I. This was difficult at first as we needed to copy the exact movements of each other so instead of improving we choreographed some movements. Once we had choreographed some movements we got along much easier and we blocked the scene. We also changed the way that the guards bring me off stage so it's more dramatic, this is effective as it allows the audience to feel emotion for my character but also engages them so they want to know more. We also devised a new scene. We had the idea that we should do another mirror scene to show the transformation of bradley into Chelsea, we showed this by performing the first scene but then Chloe and I would switch places. This was effective as it was simple but yet creative to show the audience the transformation.

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We ran through all our current scenes and tried to make it flow. In order to do this we tried out various transitions to see how smooth it would all fit together. I also helped Alex learn his monologue- I made sure he got all the um's and ah's. I also went through line for line with him just to make sure he got it all correct.

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Today we devised the court scene, we focused more on how we can make it the most effective to the audience, we tried various layouts with trial and error we came to the conclusion of putting a few of us within the audience for the jury. This is effective as it allows the audience to feel more involved within our piece. After that we then attempted the scene in which I am thrown and stuck into solitary confinement. We wanted this scene to be physical so we had the idea to throw me onto the stage with everyone acting as a wall slowly closing on me. We didn't really block this scene so it needs to be worked on. When I got home I wrote up a thought track- during this I had the idea to make me (The physical) thought track with Chloe (Consistence) this is a bit confusing but if used correctly should be effective. We decided to show how the characters in this scene feels by using thought tracking- this was effective as it gives the audience an insight into the case.

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Today we went to the library and researched some consent form templates, we did so we could have an understanding of how to make and lay out our consent form that we would distribute out to the people we would interview. We also figures out the main structure of our piece, we decided to put a monologue after each scene, this was effective as it allowed contrast and it mixed things up within the performance.

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Today I came up with the idea that I (Bradley Manning) is in prison, I look into a mirror and I see Chloe (Chelsea Manning), the person who I want to be. Once he looks at her for a moment two guards come on and take him away, I like to think that the guards are society dragging Bradley away from his dreams. I thought this was to be a very effective scene as it shows how upset Bradley is and that he wants to be a woman.

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Our group so far hasn't really had any ideas to what we will do for a scene, we have tried to devise a couple of pieces but so far all ideas have been scrapped. Such as, a scene in which Chloe writes a letter to President Obama, we decided to scrap it as it to was too long and boring.

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We went to the library and found an interview with Chelsea Manning for maybe fitting it into a monologue. Some people haven't been in so blocking scenes is difficult, so going to the library and doing some extra research is more beneficial and we can come up with some more ideas.