Diploma in Perfor

Performing &
Production Arts
Unit 8 Project Proposal

Candidate Daisy Caldwell

Name
Candidate 371397
Number
Pathway Performing and Production Arts Level 3

Project Title Final Major Project – The Sad Club

Section 1: Review
As I began this course, I hoped to gain some experience in the theatre industry and have an insight into
what it may be like to work professionally on a production both on and off stage. I came on to the course
with the excitement to work industry professionals and to create and maintain friendships with people
who share my passion for performing and creating. I hoped to acquire and develop skills that will allow
me to gain an edge in the theatre industry. I’ve found all of this and even more.

Over the past year on this course, I have found that, as a person, I have changed and grown as a
person in ways I did not expect. My confidence as both a performer and a creator. I always found that
my strengths seemed to lack in ability to share and develop my ideas for fear that people will shut it
down and that people with stronger voices than me may feel as though they can control me due to my
natural quieter and more reserved nature. Throughout my experience creating with the other people
learning with me I have found that although these people exist, it is important that I stand my ground in
order to make myself heard and more often than not it pays off and I get to watch my own idea come to
life with development from other theatre makers. It’s important to embrace working as an ensemble and
collaborating is key to creating a piece that everyone loves and is proud of.

My confidence in performance has grown over the year also but I believe I still have a way to go with it. I
have developed skills in parts of the industry that I hadn’t even considered before. With more
experience in devising as a group during the SCRATCH project, I have discovered a hidden passion for
the creation of a piece of theatre as well as performing in it. Secondly, during the design project I found
that I also enjoy the development of lighting, sound and particularly costume design and realized how
rewarding the process of bringing a project to life visually can be.

Section 2: Project Concept

Our final major project of 2024 is “The Sad Club” written in 2019 by playwright Luke Barnes with music
written and composed by Adam Pleath. The play explores multiple themes of experiences of growing up
as a teenager primarily focusing, as the name suggests, the sadness and adversities that come with
growing up. The moral of the play is to portray the message that no one is alone in how they feel,
humans are brought together by their emotions, and we bond over hardship. “The Sad Club” falls into
the genre of a piece of gig theatre, which is defined to involve diegetic music in the play. The
incorporation of music in a piece such as this, I believe, adds another level of expression and sense of
abstract in the play. Through music we are able to explore as an ensemble, further emphasizing the
sense of community that is explored in the play.

Particularly with this project I am intrigued and excited to explore the effect of music in a piece of drama
and with this, the creative freedom that the play allows for. The vagueness of the script means we are
able to create a truly unique piece without straying too far from the original script. Furthermore, I have
found that the characters are truly up for interpretation in gender and play styles. The less monologue-
heavy scenes are completely free to be made truly unique to each production and I am excited to watch
my director’s vision come to life with this.

I hope to research the context in which the play was written as I feel that this will help me to get a
general idea of the themes around which these characters were written. I also believe it is helpful to
research the impact of mental illness in young people and teenagers so that we can better identify and
empathize with the characters, giving us a higher chance of doing them justice as we portray them.
This, I believe, is of the utmost importance when taking part in a project that touches on such sensitive
subjects. Doing individual research will allow us to cover more ground within the research and as an
ensemble we will be able to each have a voice in the rehearsal room meaning that we’re able to bounce
of each other and create a collaborative and supportive working environment.

Section 3: Evaluation
As this is a rather fast-paced project I think it is most important that I make sure to document and record
every part of the progress and development of the project. I can do this by creating a weekly journal and
taking notes throughout rehearsal sessions. Furthermore, making sure that I also record anything that I
will need to remember for the coming weeks. This is also a useful skill that I will be able to apply to
future projects. Secondly, I think it will be very rewarding to document any personal progress I feel I
make over the course of the project. Whether this be in my confidence or my creative processes.

As well as these weekly journals I will also be completing weekly video logs to outline the challenges
and successes of each week of the rehearsal process. These I feel will be quite challenging as I have
never done something like it before and I worry that I will find it difficult to articulate myself productively
in front of a camera. Completing these logs will serve not only as a document of the project’s progress
but also build my confidence with speaking on camera. This will in turn be beneficial when building my
confidence to express my thoughts and feelings to my peers and director during the rehearsal process
in a more clear, concise and confident way meaning we can create an environment for the ensemble
that is both supportive and affective.

Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)

Merge (2022). An ageless folktale about dealing with adversity. [online] Turning Managers
into Leaders. Available at: https://www.turningmanagersintoleaders.com/an-ageless-folktale-
about-dealing-with-adversity/.
‌
MSU Extension. (2017). Helping youth make meaning from adversity. [online] Available at:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/helping_youth_make_meaning_from_adversity#:~:text=The
%20Adverse%20Childhood%20Experiences%20Study.
Webster, E.M. (2022). The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Health and
Development in Young Children. Global Pediatric Health, [online] 9(9).
doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794x221078708.

Raising Children Network (2018). Resilience in teenagers: How to Build It. [online] Raising
Children Network. Available at: https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/development/social-
emotional-development/resilience-in-teens.

Oxford Clay Handmade Ceramics - Eco-conscious pottery. (n.d.). The Symbol of a Dragonfly.
[online] Available at: https://www.oxfordclay.co.uk/blog-1/dragonflies-and-symbolism.
‌
Baker, C., Uberoi, E. and Cracknell, R. (2020). General Election 2019: full results and analysis.
House of Commons Library. [online] Available at:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8749/ .

Lindsay, J.M. (2019). Ten Most Significant World Events in 2019. [online] Council on Foreign
Relations. Available at: https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-most-significant-world-events-2019.
‌the Guardian. (2019). Young people have led the climate strikes. Now we need adults to join
us too | Greta Thunberg and 46 youth activists. [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/23/greta-thunberg-young-people-
climate-strikes-20-september.

‌ vocado Social. (2019). Updated: The Latest UK Social Media Statistics for 2019. [online]
A
Available at: https://www.avocadosocial.com/updated-the-latest-uk-social-media-statistics-for-
2019/#:~:text=There%20are%203.499%20billion%20active.

Business of Apps. (2019). TikTok Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023). [online] Available at:
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/#:~:text=It%20was%20downloaded
%20693%20million.

hellomedia. (n.d.). Social Media Statistics 2019. [online] Available at:

https://www.hellomedia.team/blogs/blog/social-media-statistics-infographic#:~:text=And
%20when%20it%20comes%20to.

Taher, A. (n.d.). Instagram: Key Global Statistics 2019. [online] blog.digimind.com. Available
at: https://blog.digimind.com/en/trends/instagram-key-global-figures-2019#:~:text=Users%2C
%20Time%20Spent%2C%20and%20Age%20Statistics&text=In%202019%2C%20the
%20platform%20announced.

BrainyQuote. (n.d.). Emily Atack Quotes. [online] Available at:

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/emily_atack_999785?src=t_social_media .
Howarth, J. (2023). Alarming Average Screen Time Statistics (2023). [online] Exploding
Topics. Available at: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/screen-time-stats.
‌
GOV.UK. (n.d.). The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on crime demand and charge volumes in
England and Wales. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-
impact-of-covid-19-lockdowns-on-crime-demand-and-charge-volumes/the-impact-of-covid-19-
lockdowns-on-crime-demand-and-charge-volumes-in-england-and-
wales#:~:text=23%2F03%2F2020.
‌
Spiteri, G., Fielding, J., Diercke, M., Campese, C., Enouf, V., Gaymard, A., Bella, A.,
Sognamiglio, P., Sierra Moros, M.J., Riutort, A.N., Demina, Y.V., Mahieu, R., Broas, M.,
Bengnér, M., Buda, S., Schilling, J., Filleul, L., Lepoutre, A., Saura, C. and Mailles, A. (2020).
First Cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24
January to 21 February 2020. Eurosurveillance, 25(9). doi:https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-
7917.ES.2020.25.9.2000178.
‌
Why NASA’s First All-Women Spacewalk Made History. (2019). The New York Times. [online]
18 Oct. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/science/all-female-spacewalk-
nasa.html.

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 Tuesday – The first week of our FMP Plenty of water

19/02/2024 project commenced with the introduction A folder for my script
of our director, Krista. We were primarily Moveable clothing
focused on getting to know the play and Think about any characters I may be
we started by doing a group readthrough interested in
of the script and experimenting with Look over required theory work
characters that we were interested in.
Krista also described to us the process
of the project to try and prepare us for
the weeks to come.

Wednesday – Today we met Linzy, our

movement director and choreographer.
We discussed with her how we might
want to incorporate movement and
dance into the piece.
2 Tuesday – We began with some devising My script
26/02/2024 exercises to generate some world Water
building for the play. We wanted to Notebook and pen
explore a world beyond the written Begin research on adversity and
scenes to gain a deeper understanding resilience for my presentation
of the characters, their relationships and
their motives. We also were introduced
to our music director, Alex, who gave us
an insight to the music in the play and
we learned a 4-part harmony for the
opening song.

Wednesday – In our movement session

we generated some images and
transitions with the theme of family
relationships. It was fun to be allowed to
be playful and experimental in the early
stages of development and generate
some ideas for the movement within the
scenes.
3 04/03/2024 Tuesday – We started our day by My script
splitting into groups to analyse some Water
different scenes in the play in order to Notebook and pen
gain a deeper understanding of the My presentation
scenes. This I believe helped us to see
the scenes from a more directorial
perspective and generated some ideas
for staging and portrayal.

Wednesday – In our movement session

we experimented with lifts and
transformation of weight, primarily to be
used in the opening swimming scene.

Thursday – I gave my presentation on

examples of young people facing
adversity and resilience and watched
some of my group also give theirs, taking
notes on their research so that I can
apply it to my own rehearsal process

4 Tuesday – We began by working on My script

11/03/2024 some scenes individually and performing Water
them back to our group. This allowed Notebook and pen
Krista to have an idea of who would suit
each role and have an insight into
different interpretations of the
characters. We also continued the
process of learning harmonies for the
songs.

Wednesday – In our movement session,

we looked specifically at the competition
swimming scene. We explored the
creation of movement inspired by the
motion of swimming. We researched
performances of synchronised
swimming and in small groups created
 some motifs with movements we took
from the swimming. We then watched
these back and explored some of the
movements further.
5 Tuesday – Today the majority of the My script
18/03/2024 class split into 2 groups and looked Water
further in depth into Sarah’s scene. They Notebook and pen
wanted to explore different staging
possibilities for the scene. I however
read the Best Friends scene with Jess.

Wednesday – In movement we were once

again experimenting with transference of
weight. We worked in pairs to move
across the space, transferring weight
between the pair and create some
interesting shapes.
6 Tuesday – We received the cast list from My script
25/03/2024 Krista, our director, and began to play Water
with the staging of Michael’s scene. Notebook and pen
Combining both Linzy and Krista’s
visions for the scene. We also explored
possible staging for the ‘You/Younger
You” scene.

Wednesday – We explored possible

movement for Cassie’s scene. In two
groups we created choreography
inspired by Britney Spears iconic music
videos. Both pieces utilised elements of
comedy and made for two very
interesting visuals for the scene which
will be very exciting to expand upon.
7 Monday – This was the first day of our
15/04/2024 intensive rehearsal period. We began by
looking in depth at the open number and
following scene. By starting at the very
beginning of the play it meant that we
were able to dive directly into the world
of the play and start building movement
to set the style of movement to be
mirrored in the rest of the play. We were
specifically experimenting with starting
with some actors pre-set on stage. We
also began the blocking for Michael’s
(newly called Emma) scene and played
with ideas of utilising an ensemble to
enhance storytelling.

Tuesday – During the first half of the day

we spent time on Emma’s scene again
and developed it further. We also
perfected the blocking for the opening
song and introduced the band, this was
the first time it felt like the show was
really coming together and felt real.
Additionally, we began working on that
party scene during Stacey’s monologue
 and experimented with the use of set and
ensemble to reflect the images created
by the dialogue. I had my costume fitting
and we found ways to incorporate
costume into the personality of my
character. After the fitting, Jess and I had
a one-to-one session with Krista to begin
the blocking of our scene

Wednesday – We had a design

presentation by the set and costume
designers and were shown a model box
of the set. They also discussed with us
how lighting and sound will be
incorporated, giving us an idea of the
general feeling of the show. This helped
to give us an idea of how the show might
look. After this we did some more work
with Alex alongside the band. This
allowed us to make changes to the music
so that the processes can run a lot
smoother.

Thursday – We showed Linzy our idea for

the opening song and she made any
necessary tweaks to improve it. This is
turn made the blocking feel more
polished and complete. We also began
staging Sarah’s scene and creating the
transition from the scene before.

Friday – today we took part in a stagger

run of the whole show. This was the first
time we were able to see the play in its
full form. Although it certainly wasn’t
perfect, we were provided with an idea as
to how the show would be paced and
how all the staging would flow together.
After this Krista gave us some notes on
the stagger run and we decided what to
work on next in order to improve it for
the next full run.
8 Monday – we worked with Linzy creating
22/04/2024 movement for the song “I’m Great
Honest”. We made a lot of progress on
this and managed to create something
fun, energetic and interesting.
Additionally, we worked further on
Emma’s scene and made the image of
the party look sharper and a clearer
visual for the audience.

Tuesday – We continued to develop

movement for the song “I’m Great
Honest” and played around with
exaggerated movements for the song.
We also did some more singing work
with Alex to make sure we were
 confident with the ending song and any
lyric changes we had previously made.

Wednesday - We spent almost the whole

day planning transitions between
scenes. We also implemented some
elements of costume, and I could really
see the play coming together as a whole.

Thursday – After some more transition

work, we completed our first recorded
run through. This was quite intimidating
as we had not properly run through the
show before. However, it proved useful
to be able to point out areas of difficulty
or things that didn’t work. It also gave us
an insight into what it might be like to
perform the show to an audience.

Friday – after identifying that transitions

were a particular issue during the first
run through, we spent the morning
making sure we were clear on where all
props needed to be and when so that we
would experience minimal confusion.
Then we completed our second run
which went a lot more quickly and
smoothly and as a cast we felt more
confident. In the afternoon, we were
given notes on the run through and went
slowly through each scene to clarify
what everyone needed to do and when.
9 Monday – this was the beginning of our
29/04/2024 final week of rehearsals, so we began
working hard to perfect all the moments
that needed it before moving into the
performance space. The ending song
was restaged by Linzy, and we decided
to recreate moments from the previous
scenes as a compilation. This took a
while as we had to work out the timings
of movements with the music and lyrics,
but this was vital as we wanted to create
an ending which represented the journey
of the play.

Tuesday – We worked with Alex though

any singing moments that needed work.
For example, the final song and the
harmonies during the swimming race,
which took some problem solving from
us. We also blocked the bows for the
show.

Wednesday – This was our tech day, one

of the most important days. This is also
the first time we were working through
each scene in costume and in the actual
performance space, we quickly ran into
issues regarding spacing and volume
which had to be resolved during the tech
run. We were able to overcome these
issues by rearranging spacing in certain
moments and increasing the volume of
our speech and singing.

Thursday – Today we completed our first

dress run with an audience of our peers.
This was a stressful and nerve-wracking
performance, but it was rewarding to
have genuine audience responses. We
could see which jokes landed well and
identify any moment that weren’t working
so that they can be tweaked for the
second dress run the next day.

Friday – today was the day of our first

performance and final dress run. We
began rehearsal early in the morning to
work on any notes from the run the day
before. In this dress run we perfected
any issues we had regarding props in the
other dress run, we took great care to
ensure that everything was in its correct
place before the second dress run
began. We then got Krista’s final notes
and made sure to practice them before
the first performance. The first show
went well, we were efficient and
overcame any issues during the show
quickly without hindering the quality of
the performance. The show was received
well by the audience, and we were all
happy with how the performance went.

Saturday – The final day of The Sad Club.

We started in the afternoon and
perfected the final transitions and
anything that needed work from the day
before. For example, in Cassie’s scene
there were jams trying to get the set
pieces on and off, so we made changes
to the sides people exited from to resolve
this. The final performance went better
than ever before, everyone was bursting
with energy, we had worked hard to
make this final performance count.