Diploma in Perfor

Performing &
Production Arts
Unit 8 Project Proposal

Candidate Riannon Passey-brown

Name
Candidate 371348
Number
Pathway Bath theatre academy performing arts level 3 – acting

Project Title Final major project – the sad club

Section 1: Review
Now I’ve almost completed my first year at BTA I can see an improvement in myself as a performer,
writer and a creative compared to when I first started. When I first started, I was very shy and scared to
put my opinion out there just in case I got judged. However, I leaned quickly that the people on this
course are some of the most supportive people I’ve ever met, and we are all here for the same purpose.
Getting the courage to say my opinion took a lot of time and I’ve only just got comfortable doing so but
now I can easily give ideas and say my opinion in lesson confidently. Practically, With the feedback and
help from the many practitioners I have worked it’s over this course, I have gained lots of important skills
and knowledge I can use in the future. For example, I have learned how to be professional in a working
environment, learned have to work with others respectfully and also most importantly learned how to
work with myself and the workload. On the theory side I have been given helpful and constant feedback
from my tutors enabling me to improve throughout the year. So far, I personally think some of my best
work is shown in the scratch and FMP unit. This course has really shown me that i want to pursue a
career in acting, mainly theatre as i love to entertain and perform for an audience with live emotions. I
feel that this makes the audience more involved with a character as they are in the same room as them
and it's a more immersive experience.

Section 2: Project Concept

The concept of the sad club is that all teenagers are collectively “sad” from one extreme to another and
are all unaware they are put in the same club. The aim of the sad club is to show all teenagers that its
ok to be upset sometimes and that you shouldn’t push people away if they are trying to comfort you.
Loads of research and ideas have been put into this FMP to make sure it has loads if different elements
like comedy, informative, irony and seriousness. One of the ideas, suggested by our director Krista
Matthew’s, is that we have some of the cast dancing in slow motion while a serious monologue is going
on. This way the focus won't be taken away from the monologue but there will be a hint of comedy.
Ensuring the FMP is at its best ability I will try and use the studios and resources available to me
whether that’s in or college or at home. This makes sure the show is ants its fullest potential and ready
to be put on stage. I will make full use of the tutorial and peer feedback by getting my friends opinions
regularly and then looking back over my work and making improvements.

Section 3: Evaluation
As I’m completing my FMP work, I will look back at feedback and earlier FMP assignments I have
submitted. I will use the assignments and feedback to improve my work and look for similar areas where
I have done so well in my previous assignments. This will help me ensure my FMP work is at its best.
There are many ways I could record my decision making and here are some examples. When making
decisions I could use a notepad and write down what I have chosen therefore I won't have the pressure
of retaking it in my memory. Another convenient option is using voices memos on my phone. This is a
more casual approach, and I can easily speak into my phone and listen back later. For me I feel like this
will be the easier option as it's just like having a conversation and less formal. If there are any changes
to my ideas, I can document this by recording any changes on my phone if these changes are practical.
However, if these changes are not practical based, I can mention them in my theory work or create a
weekly log explaining any changes that happen each week. I have chosen these methods because I
believe that they will benefit me most and help me achieve the best grade I can get. Furthermore, I also
think working with other peers will help me positively as it will give me more teamwork skills and if I ever
need help with theory work, I can ask for their help. To make sure my own progress isn’t affected I can
let them know which advice isn’t helpful, ensuring my work is always at its best.

Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)

Matera, A. (2019) 9 fashion trends I’ll be wearing all 2019, Teen Vogue. Available at:
https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/popular-fashion-trends-2019 (Accessed: 31 March
2024).

Sengupta, S. (2019) Protesting climate change, young people take to streets in a global strike, The New
York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/climate/global-climate-
strike.html (Accessed: 31 March 2024).

Walfisz, J. (2023) Culture re-view: When Greta Thunberg led the biggest climate protest, euronews.
Available at: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/09/20/culture-re-view-when-greta-
thunberg-led-the-biggest-climate-protest-in-history#:~:text=20%20September
%202019%3A%20A%2016,greater%20action%20against%20climate%20change
(Accessed: 31 March 2024).

James, L., Middleton, J. and Dalton, J. (2023) Boris Johnson’s biggest scandals: A Timeline, The
Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-
controversies-timeline-why-resign-b2260174.html# (Accessed: 31 March 2024).

Climate strike: Thousands protest across UK (2019) BBC News. Available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49767327 (Accessed: 31 March 2024).

Collinson, A. (2020) Covid: Lockdown had ‘major impact’ on mental health, BBC News. Available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54616688 (Accessed: 01 April 2024).

Covid-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide (2022)
World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-
19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide
(Accessed: 01 April 2024).

Australia fires: Life during and after the worst bushfires in history (2020) BBC Newsround. Available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/52410744 (Accessed: 01 April 2024).

Divorce & Separation: Mental Health: Parent Guide (no date) YoungMinds. Available at:
 https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/divorce/ (Accessed: 16
May 2024).

Citation generator (no date) Cite This For Me, a Chegg service. Available at:
https://www.citethisforme.com/harvard/source-type (Accessed: 16 May 2024).

Project Action Plan and Timetable

Week Date Week Activity / What you are intending to do - Resources / What you will need to do it -
Beginning including independent study including access to workshops

1 20th Tuesday – on Tuesday we got our My script

February scripts for the sad club and as a A folder for my script
group read through all the scenes Use my phone to film anything
and songs. We quickly realized the useful we did in the lesson
scenes were so similar yet different Notes
and were excited to see what they
would look like in practice. Once we
had done this we got put into
partners and did different scenes
from the play. Krista (our director)
gave us loads of freedom to make the
scenes our own and figure out what
we wanted them to look like.

Wednesday – on Wednesday we met

Linzy na nakorn, our movement
director for the show. We started of
by doing some grounding and mind
focusing exercises to get our brains
into the right mind frame as she
wanted to try adding lifts in the play
later on in rehearsals. This also
taught us how to be professional and
leave any other issues outside of the
room. We then learned how to travel
from one side of the room to another
leading with different body parts.
This was useful because when it was
done properly, it looks cool, and we
might use this in the play.
 Independent – before next week I
would like to read the script in my
own time because I didn't get a full
understanding when the whole group
was reading it. This would be really
beneficial as i would as I can get a
full understanding of the script and
be prepared for next week's lesson. I
would also need to get a folder for
my script to keep myself organized.
2 27th Tuesday – in this session with Krista Shared google drive
February we started off with some more team Voice memos
building exercises to get us in the Recorded material we made
right mind frame. She then selected a
few scenes and gave us the
opportunity to decide which one we
wanted to do. For me I chose the
Cassie scene, and I was with Mia, lily
and Emily. Instead of just reading the
script we used our knowledge of
what was going on in that scene and
devised our own scene. My group
brainstormed loads of ideas and
settled on the typical mean girl's
characters with some freeze frames.
After our lunch break, we met Alex
(our musical director of the show).
We started off by doing loads of
vocal exercises to get our throats
warm and ready to start learning the
first song. I was skeptical of the song
because on the recording it sounded
childish, and the lyrics weren't great,
but when we sang it as an ensemble,
it sounded good, as there was a four-
part harmony. I also felt like we all
picked it up quite quickly and got
through most of the song which is
good.

Wednesday – on Wednesday we met

Linzy na nakorn, our movement
director for the show. We started of
by doing some grounding and mind
focusing exercises to get our brains
into the right mind frame as she
wanted to try adding lifts in the play
later on in rehearsals. This also
taught us how to be professional and
leave any other issues outside of the
room. We then learned how to travel
from one side of the room to another
 leading with different body parts.
This was useful because when it was
done properly, it looks cool, and we
might use this in the play.

Independent – to be prepared for

next week I need to remember my
harmonies and the movement I did
with Linzy.
3 5th of Tuesday – we spent our session with Voice memos
march Krista in the dance studio and she
gave us scenes to analyze. I was in a
group with mai, Zehra and Alicia and
we got given scene 1 with Craig and
David. This gave us an opportunity to
think creatively and use creative
materials when designing that scene.
For my group we all agreed that
Craig was going to dress like a bit of
a melt and look a bit like a wet lettuce
when stood next to David. David is a
bit full of himself as he has never
experienced losing a competition and
he gets all the praise. However, Craig
experiences losing all the time so I
think he would be more humble. With
Alex we learned the rest of the first
song i think it came naturally to the
whole cast as it was very similar to
the previous verses, so we already
had a rough idea of what we had to
do.

Wednesday – unfortunately Linzy

was ill, so our lesson was cancelled.

Independent – what I need to do is to

listen back to my voice notes and
make sure I have my harmonies
secure as its very hard to find my
starting note and i usually end up
singing the wrong harmony.
4 12th of Tuesday – on Tuesday Krista Phone
march focused on ensemble work and voice memos
learning to trust each other for most Script notes
of the session. One of the exercises
she did was that we all had to walk
around the space but without
communicating in any way someone
had to fall backwards, and we had to
catch the person. It was a bit like an
unplanned trust fall. This was very
useful as we were more alert and
aware of our surroundings. Because
ww did that exercise we now know
that we can trust each other so when
we do some complicated
choreography, we won't be hesitant.
Later in that session, Krista assigned
us roles to read and share back to
the group. We only had 10 mins to
prepare and figure out how we
wanted to portray the role. It was
very interesting to see everyone
perform as some people read for the
same character. For example,
Miranda and mai both read for Chloe,
and I think they both did a really
good job. It was fascinating to see
how they made different choices
when performing. Miranda played
Chloe as a bit more emotional and
sensitive whereas mai played Chloe
as numbed and tired. With our
session with Alex, we moved onto
the next song in the play which is
called “things i do when I'm upset”
The progression we made when
learning this song was really good
and when it started to come together
it sounded really good. Personally, i
really liked the start of the song as it
has an echo effect, and it sounds
really good

Wednesday – this session is one of

my favorite sessions so far as we got
to be lifted in the air. As well as it
being fun we learned how to lift
someone properly and safely. for
example, instead of grabbing the
persons arm you would just simply
flatten your hand out and place it
underneath the persons' arm. This
creates a “ledge” so if someone falls
then they will be less likely to injure
themselves. I luckily got to be lifted
in the air and it felt so cool I felt like I
was flying. Hopefully I will get to be
lifted in the air in the show.

Independent – this is probably going

to repeat for a few weeks, but I just
need to keep listening back to my
 harmonies otherwise I will get them
right and as long as I practice, I will
get them eventually. I also need to
watch back the video of me being
lifted to make I don't forget what
ledges I use. I also need to go over
my script and re-read my notes that i
have been given
5 19th of Tuesday – in our session with Krista Shared google drive
march we explored what Sarah scene Videos on my phone
looked like as the cast list came out
in the evening. We got split into half
and Mia rad for Sarah in one group
and Georgia read for Sarah in
another group. I was in Georgia's
group. For this Georgia read Sarahs
monologue and the rest of us
devised what the other characters
would do. For example, CeCe was
Stacey, Rosie was Stacey's friend
and lily, Sam and myself were the
football boys that Sarah had a crush
on. I thought it would be really funny
for me, lily and Sam to portray the
football boys as we aren't very
masculine and pretending to be
masculine gave a comedy element. I
think that our devising was very
successful because when we shared
it back to the rest of the group, they
really seemed to enjoy it and we got
a lot of laughs. I found our session
with Alex quite challenging as i was
ill and had something wrong with my
throat. That meant finding my
harmony became very difficult and i
couldn't really sing. Although i
recorded the rest of my group
singing the harmony so i can easily
look back and rehearse in my own
time.

Wednesday – we had a great session

with Linzy this week. Because we
were cast, it meant we could start
putting stuff into practice and set
some ideas. In this session we
focused on Micheal's scene. Linzy
had the idea of i being in a classroom
as that's what Micheal talks about.
We achieved this by half of the group
made a desk by being on all 4s and
 the others half were the students in
the classroom. For this scene my
partner is Zerah, and she was the
desk, and I was the student. For this I
had to sit on Zehra's back. In this
scene, I have quit a big responsibility
as I must lead the rest of the cast
when doing the movements. I'm
excited to be given this responsibility
and it will make me work harder as I
don't want to be the one that messes
everyone up. We also explored what
the party would look like as all the
characters end up at the same party.
For this we got into groups of 4 and
created 6 still images of what an
average teenage party would look
like. We still have figured out how we
want to transition into each of them
yet but I'm sure Linzy will think of
something great.

Independent – for my independent

work I need to remember the scene i
did with Georgia as Krista really liked
it had there's many elements she
might put into the play when it comes
round to intensives. I also need to
remember what I all the movements
that I'm leading for Micheal's scene
as it's a big responsibility and when
we get to show Krista i want it to look
the best and hopefully, she will keep
them in.
6 26th of Tuesday – in our session with Krista, Shared google drive
march she wanted us to an interpretation of Script
what we think Micheal's scene would Notes
look like although we already created
stuff with Linzy. In Micheals
monologue he talks about loads of
different settings at once. So, in my
group we started off with walking
into the exam hall and collecting
GCSE results as Micheals is of that
age. We then got into a line and
subtly did movements that showed
us we were nervous just before
opening our results. When Micheal
said a specific line, we had to then
open the results and have a certain
facial expression and hold that for a
beat. After this we changed formation
so that there were two cars with
Micheals being in the back seat and
his parents being in the front. I
thought this was a cool and
satisfying transition as it was smooth
and creative. Plus, it also looked
cool. Once this car scene was over,
we swerved to the right and
transitioned into what it would be like
at a teenage party. This included
pretending to down alcohol and
doing many odd dances. We also
included many other elements like
freeze frames. I feel my group nailed
Krista's vision quite well as the focus
still wanted to be on Micheal but also
have some minimal background
movement as well. In Alex’s session
we ran through all the songs we had
learned over the past 5 weeks which
had been almost all of them in the
script apart from 3. I thought this was
very successful as we remembered
all our harmony and it came to us
really quick

Wednesday – unfortunately Linzy

wasn't in for our session but luckily
Krista was. In this session we looked
at Cassie's scene and i really liked
this as it was a break from doing
Micheal's scene. Krista had this idea
that she wanted to include Britany
spears music video hit me baby one
more time into this scene. I feel like
this fits really well with Cassie as in
the video they are in a school hallway
dancing and Cassie references
Britany in her monologue. Krista
wanted this to be before Cassie
started speaking, almost as if this
was her entrance with her new
popular friends. Behind this serious
scene I feel like it would add a hint of
comedy and maintain the audience's
attention. I feel like Krista could be
worried that the audience would stop
concentrating so by adding that
comedy factor it will hopefully keep
them interested. In my group Zehra
took the directing path and helped
create something for us to show
 back. She did a great job, and we
used just dance to help inspire us
with dance moves.

Independent - over the easter

holidays I need to make sure I keep
on top of my work and hand it in on
time so I'm ready to go into
intensives. I also need to make sure
I'm off book and know everything I'm
doing at the exact times. I also need
to look over my notes and just have
general self-care, including having a
good sleeping pattern and eating
properly.
15 of April Summary of the week Script
Monday – we worked on the opening Pen
for most of the session and then Notebook
moved on to flow scene. To finish the
session of we rewrote some of the
song lyrics.
Tuesday – today we had tutor with
deb as a group to check in and see
how we found the first day of
intensives. We then worked on Mia’s
scene. Once this was done, we
started to work on Georgia scene.
This took a bit longer as we hit a
point here, we ran out of ideas, but
we figured something out in the end,
and it looked really good.
Wednesday – today we had our
design presentation and met our
costume designer. In this
presentation we got to see a model
box of the set we are going to have.
After this Alex came in and we set
some of the songs and also cut the
ones we didn’t like. While this was
happening costume fitting were
going on at the same time.
Thursday – today me and am had our
rehearsal with Krista and livi and we
worked on our scene. After this me
and am had our costume fitting and
got to see our costumes for the fist
time. We got given options on what
to wear and got to pick what one we
liked the most. After lunch we had
our movement rehearsal with
Lyndsey. We showed her the
opening. We had really positive
 feedback and only tweaked a few
things.
Friday- today we did our staggered
run through. Krista said she was
really impressed with how it was
looking. After lunch we had another
movement rehearsal. In this session
we created some freeze frames for
Georgia’s scene.

Independent – I need to write down

all my cues in my script so I don’t
forget them for next week.
Monday Summary of the week Script
22nd Monday – today was the start if the Google drive
second week of intensives. We set
some movement for 1 of the songs
this was abstract and comedic. We
also spent a bit of time working on
Georgia’s scene, changing the book
sequence and making our party
freeze frames sharper.
Tuesday – today we worked on
movement for the swimming scene.
We also made the transition slicker
and reduced the show by 15 mins. In
the afternoon we worked on the
harmonies with Alex. I also had a
session with Krista to work on me
and aj scene.
Wednesday – today was pretty much
the same except some people had
extra costume bits to try on.
Thursday – today we had our first
filmed run. After lunch we received
positive and critical feedback from
Krista. After this we worked on the
other Half of the transitions. After
this my sister came into college as
she is in the show.
Friday – today we did another run
that wasn’t filmed. Before this Krista
got us to do some cardio. We got
given more feedback after the run.
After lunch we tidied up some of the
songs and scenes.

Independent – I need to get enough

sleep for tech week so I’m ready and
energized. I also need to look at all
my material and cues, so I know what
I’m doing.
Monday Summary of the week Bed
29th Monday – today we tweaked some iPad/computer
bits. We also changed the opening
with lyndzy.
Tuesday – we got our party props
from Angelica and tried those on. We
then ran the end number with
everything including the party props.
We sorted out bows.
Wednesday – this was our tech day.
It was a very start stop day which
took ages and dragged on.
Thursday – this was our first dress
run and the other cast watched. They
really liked it and gave positive
feedback
Friday – we had another dress run
before the show and in this dress run
they took pictures. After the show the
other cast waited in the roper room
and clapped for us when we finished
the show.
Saturday – this was our last show.
Before the show we had notes.

Independent – now the show is over I

can take a couple days to rest and do
all my theory work