We did an in character improvisation again this week, as an exercise we walked around in character and interacting with other characters that may or may not actually converse within the play. I found this useful as it helped me look into my character and see how she'd talk to other characters and how she'd react to some of the things said. 

• I've learnt that Roza is quite confident and friendly, although she'll stand by her opinions and is not afraid of sharing her own views. 

• Through talking to the social worker, i discovered that Roza obviously can't stand her and doesn't agree with her views as they are generally against the refugee's. She doesn't really focus on the words that the social worker is trying to say, just that the fact that the social worker is against them and their welfare in the UK. 

• Through talking to Hassan, I've discovered that Roza think's he's a complete joke with a huge ego. However she does appreciate the attention as it's a contrast to the little amount she used to get back in Iraq. 

• Through talking to the young woman, i've discovered that Roza is quite sympathetic towards her considering that she had to witness a stabbing as well as already being a ten mum. I also discovered that Roza is quite observant and it interests her how different their lifestyles although their ages are extremely similar.  

This activity helped a lot with my character’s characterisation, it help me explore other aspects that aren’t actually in the play.

 

Although Elle's character, the screaming woman, is a minor character - she really makes it her own, puts her own spin on it and creates this whole, much bigger, and much more captivating character. It's interesting how she's done it, and kudos to her for holding up with the screaming, i wouldn't have been able to do it.

Today we did an in character counsellor meeting, everyone in our characters. I found this really useful and really interesting to see how everyone portrays their character and how they'd actually be in that situation. I got to explore Roza's character deeper and more intensely - i also got to see how Imogen, whom i'm sharing the part with, played Roza. 
Roza's account of the meeting; 

The meeting  frustrated me as people die everyday, it's something that's inevitable, it's something we can't prevent. Yeah, Kojo stabbed someone and that wasn't good but Kojo shouldn't be blamed, something set him off - it's obvious, he's not like that normally, even i can see that. Though I'm sympathetic to those who witnessed it unwillingly, they didn't ask for that, they didn't ask to witness something so horrifying and now they have to live with it. Coming from Iraq to here, it was meant to change things, it was meant to leave horrors behind...but I guess everywhere you go there's always going to be some pain and I guess that's what happened to Kojo. No matter how strong you put on a mask and how much you try and stamp out the bad memories, something will always be there, something will always tip you over the edge and you'll snap. That's obviously what happened to Kojo, but no one knows what was going through Kojo's mind, not even Ara, no one except Kojo. Now we've just got to carry on, push past this incident and make it through like I have done with everything else in my life. Yeah, Kojo was a friend, but I'm never going to see him again, we need to move on, for Kojo.

My character is Roza

1. What does my character say about themselves? 
2. What does my character say about other people? 
3. What do other people say about my character? 

I used the lines from the only scene that i'm in. 

• "She's from Iraq too..." - Hassan, Scene 10, page 27 

Hassan talks about how both him and Roza are from Iraq, this gives us and idea about her back story.

• "I'd rather fuck a fish, Hassan [eyeing Kojo] He's cute" - Scene 10, page 27 

Here Roza talks about Hassan, Kojo and herself.

• "He doesn't talk much. Hey" - Scene 10, page 27

Roza notes Kojo's lack of attempt at communication, she's observant. 

• "It all sounds Dutch to me" - Scene 10, page 29 

Roza explores the language barrier that's put up at the hostel, however unsuccessfully understanding any of it. 

• "Cute, very cute" - Scene 10, page 30 

Talking about Kojo. 

• "Roza stop bothering him" - Ara, Scene 10, page 30

Ara's obviously already protective of Kojo and worried that Roza may be slightly overwhelming him with trying to help him learn the language. 

Punctuation Dancing.

We did an exercise called punctuation dancing, which every time a piece of punctuation is used, you had to do a different move. Such as a jump for a full stop or an arm swing for a comma. The piece of text I used and danced out the punctuation was;

"No. She want's her money. The money my mother borrowed to get us over here. [To the audience] My mother died on the lorry we were in on the way over here" 

This is one of Cheung's lines, from this i saw that he uses many full stops to get his point across of the sentence. This could be due to the lack of communication in hostel and that they generally cant understand each other easily, that he has to be quite blunt and straight forward. This also may display that he's quite reserved with his feelings, he doesn't like going into detail and he's very reserved. This helps us as a group look deeper into his character and understand how to play him effectively.