My name is Elena Yianni and I am studying for a degree in Applied Theatre at Royal 探花直播 Conservatoire. At the end of our first year, in collaboration with the rest of my year group, I was involved in devising a piece of original theatre which we staged to an audience in the Lab space at the Conservatoire.
An applied theatre performance differs from other theatrical productions as it requires those involved to have an interactive approach during the production process, and to thoroughly research into the topic chosen to explore. For our final project at the end of first year our brief was to devise and perform an original piece of theatre, the piece we created was called 鈥楲ifting the Lid鈥�.
We began the development process in January, when we visited and interviewed the elderly residents at Middleton Road Sheltered Housing in Kings Heath on a number of occasions. This was a valuable opportunity and we were all moved with their stories of 探花直播 in the 1950s. These visits to Middleton Road were followed by many discussions in which we immersed ourselves in 1950s 探花直播, and thoroughly researched the period of time; discovering issues of racism, sexism, high-society standards, post-war tension and the impact of the Windrush scandal. During the early production stages, there were plenty of opportunities to share research and hold discussions and improvisation. We eventually narrowed down to the specific scenario we wished to explore; then came many rehearsals.
One of the highlights of the process was when we had the privilege of working with professional Lindy Hop dancers, who taught us some basic steps and turns that were popular with people during the 50s. As a group we also learned the hymn 鈥榃ashed in the Blood鈥� which we performed a cappella during one of the scenes in the play.
The story behind 鈥楲ifting the Lid鈥� was about a woman called Peggy in her eighties who has just moved in with her daughter and granddaughter. Due to old age, she is very forgetful, yet when she stumbles upon an old box of items, all her memories come flooding back. As the audience are sent back to the 1950s, Peggy watches in the modern day, reminiscing聽about her teenage years with tears, laughter and surprise. Peggy鈥檚 story seems fairly commonplace at first; she falls in love with an irresistible young handsome gentleman - however, Peggy is white, and the audience learns the man she鈥檚 dating is black. In those days it was seen as shameful by Peggy鈥檚 community to 鈥榗ourt a black man鈥�. Peggy decides the best thing to do is end the romance, only to find out she鈥檚 pregnant.
Forced by her parents and society, Peggy has no choice but to give up her baby. Her journey was rocky, she was lied to and mistreated, and ultimately left with a broken heart that could never heal. The play tells Peggy鈥檚 story, touching on the events that contribute to such tragic repercussions on the rest of her life. At the end of the play, it all becomes too much for Peggy and she鈥檚 seen panicking and dropping the box of memories. When her granddaughter walks in, in an attempt to help she begins to pick up all the stuff that fell out of the box, she says 鈥淲ho鈥檚 this Nan, and what are all these letters?鈥�.
This was a production performed in traverse that touched upon situations from many people鈥檚 lives in the 1950鈥檚. We heard stories from real people where their unconditional love for someone was unacceptable to the rest of society, and ultimately they were forced apart and lives were ruined. In the case of our story, Peggy was forced to give away her miracle, their baby, and expected to suffer the consequences. From the process of developing this piece I learnt so much. In the words of someone who watched the play, 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to think of the elderly, as we seem to forget they had lives鈥�. In other words, sometimes the elderly community are overlooked, but I think it鈥檚 time we really sat down and listened to their stories as they have so much to say:
"Listen to your elders鈥� advice, not because they are always right, but because they have more experience of being wrong."
