Diploma in Performing &

Production Arts
Unit 8 Project Proposal

Candidate
Name Florence Caidan
Candidate Number 371335
Pathway Performing and Production Arts
Level 3: Acting

Project Title Final Major Project - The Sad Club

Section 1: Review
Initially, I joined this course as something different to do that wasn't completely
theory based. I felt that formal 'sit-down' education would never work for me
because I hadn't felt happy in school being taught in the way that secondary
schools teach, so I wanted to try something different and see if that would work
better for me. I had always loved acting and singing, so I thought I might as well try
an acting course, and I loved the idea of being in Bath, as it's such a charismatic
and interesting city to study in. Over the time I've been on this course my
confidence has increased phenomenally to a level I never thought it possible to be.
I have made some really amazing friends, and created really strong bonds with
people I never thought that I speak to, and even people I don't talk to that often, I
still get on with very well, which really has helped me to grow tons not only as a
performer but as a person as well. As well as helping me to go as a performer, I
have also discovered new areas of the industry that I may like to go into such as
costume design and directing. During our vision unit I really found a passion for
costume design as this was my role in our presenting group and I found it really
fun to come up with costume ideas and justify them during our presentation. Our
scratch unit was accompanied by directing classes which I also found really fun
because I love the creative freedom that it gives and the ability to make decisions
about scenes is really freeing as an actor, because it allows me to see things from
the director's perspective. I came onto this course feeling more like a singer who
acts for fun, rather than an actor. I've always found my strength to be in singing
rather than acting, and have generally believed that my acting is only good or
acceptable when accompanied by singing, which is what has given me such a
strong passion for musical theatre in particular. However since joining this course I
have gained a lot more confidence in my ability as an actor which puts me in a
much stronger position for thinking about possibly going into the industry in the
future, or going to drama school. I've never been particularly interested in pursuing
higher education simply because I'm not very good at doing works that's not
practical and all that's aspects which is why I've always thought that going straight
into the industry of be the best thing for me if I were to pursue acting as a career. I
definitely think I still have some things to work on, such as getting distracted in
class; because of the strong friendships that I've made I spend a lot of time talking
to my friends, sometimes when I should be doing more productive things so I really
need to work on not getting so distracted. However all in all I have had a very
successful first few months on this course and I'm very excited to start intensive
rehearsals.

Section 2: Project Concept

Our final major project this year is the Luke Barnes play, the Sad Club. This is a
piece of gig theatre about struggling teens who are having difficulties with their
mental health and general well-being in both different periods and walks of life.
The teenagers in the show are worried about the future their social lives and how
they are perceived by others. It is comprised of a number of monologues and
duologues as well as different songs sung by the company. Furthermore, we will
be accompanied by our own on-stage band comprised of different members of the
ensemble, which is something I haven't done before and is a very exciting
opportunity. We are exploring a lot of different ideas in the creation of this show
one of these that I'm really excited about is the incorporation of Fosse style
dancing, based on the movie Sweet Charity, as I personally am a massive fan of
Fosse style dancing, I think it really speaks to a certain sensibility. Although there
is a deep meaning behind the show and the message of it to show itself is very
important, we are going to keep the comedic elements of the script and try to
enhance them to make it the more enjoyable performance, which weighs less
heavily on the minds of the audience and the performers.
Section 3: Evaluation
For this project and I'm going to take steps to evaluate my work throughout the
process.I'm going to make sure that I take notes throughout the week after
sessions are complete which will be helpful when it comes to recording my video
diaries each week . These diaries will be an effective way to record my changing
thoughts and feelings on the project, as well as being useful to answer questions
that are set for us. I'm also going to record any feedback given to me by the
practitioners, as it will be useful when reviewing my performance. I'm also going to
work on being less distracted by my peers in the rehearsal space comma, as this
is something I have struggled with in past units. I understand this can be
frustrating for practitioner as they have to wait for us to finish before they can carry
on which takes up on useful time that we could be using productively. To minimize
this I'm going to work on staying as focused as I can at all times and attempting
not to be distracted by my friends.
Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)

BBC News (2019) 'Theresa May resigns over Brexit: What happened?,' BBC News, 24

May. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48379730.
Lindsay, J.M. (2019) 'Ten most significant world events in 2019,' Council on Foreign

Relations, 23 December. https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-most-significant-world-events-

2019.

CDC Museum COVID-19 timeline (2023).

https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html.

Taylor, M., Pidd, H. and Murray, J. (2021) 'Hundreds of thousands of students join global

climate strikes,' The Guardian, 25 August.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/29/hundreds-of-thousands-of-

students-join-global-climate-strikes.

Project Action Plan and Timetable

Week Date Week Activity / What you Resources / What

Beginning are intending to do - you will need to do it
including - including access to
independent study workshops
1 19th February Tuesday- on Tuesday A script, a folder, and
we started with a a notebook and pen.
warm up as an
ensemble, and then
played a few games
which helps us to get
to know our director.
Then our director
Krista handed out our
scripts and we went
round the circle
reading parts of the
script to get to know
the plot of the play.
She explained the
overall feel of the
show and what she
 wants to achieve
through it. I think that
this play is very
appropriate for our
group as we will be
playing characters like
us, teenagers who are
going through
struggles that we may
have gone through
ourselves. I hope that I
will get at least a
chance to audition for
the character of
Stacey as I think that
she is a good
character to play and
a little outside of my
normal type cast.

Wednesday- today we
had our first
movement session
with our movement
director Lindsay. After
we warmed up we
were given simple
steps to follow in
counts of eight. We
then change the
dynamic of these
steps to show how
easy it is to create
movement from
anything period after
this we paired up and
directed each other's
flow up. I think this
was a very useful
movement session
and his given me a lot
to think about.

Independent-a I have
completed my first
weekly diary and have
read through the script
highlighting characters
that I may like to play.
2 26th February Tuesday- again, we Script, water, pencil
began speak with
another warm-up and
a few more games to
improve our focus and
unify our group. Then
Krista assigned us all
different scenes to
start looking at who
might be a good fit to
play which character
as there are no formal
auditions. Crystal
wants us to explore
multiple characters
which will help to deep
nor understanding of
the play. I've
personally enjoyed
seeing everybody's
interpretations of the
scenes I myself played
Best Friend one in the
scene things I'm
looking forward to.
After this we met our
vocal director Alex
period. We did quite a
few vocal warm-ups
before Alex introduced
us to the soundtrack of
the play. Having read
the lyrics on paper I
was skeptical as to
how good the songs
could be however they
support my
expectations as the
music really comes to.
Alex split us into four
groups Sopranos, of
which I am apart come
on, alto one's, Alto
twos, and tenors. This
was so we could learn
four-way harmony for
the first song in the
show. This was
difficult as we had not
previously heard the
songs, however after a
while it sounded very
good.

Wednesday - after a
warm up we looked at
individual travelling
sequences. This
involved infrarised
movement traveling
across the floor in
small groups. Shortly
after this we got into
other groups and
created five still
images that represent
everyday life period
we then added
transitions to these
and line them up back
to back to the Lindsay
 period she then asked
us to experiment with
speech to see if this
was something we can
incorporate.

3 4th March Tuesday- This week Script, water, pencil

again warmed up with
some stretching and
games to prepare us
for the session. Krista
then splitter into four
groups to look at four
different scenes in
detail. My group got
given the Australia
scene to look at we
looked at the text and
thought about the
imagery connected to
it and what it can
noted, this helps us to
connect with the
scene. We also looked
at possible costume
design comma for
instance a traditional
cangle hat as the
scene is set in
Australia. After this we
thought about the
relationship between
the characters and the
scene and decided
that they were
childhood friends.
After lunch we had our
session with Alex and
finished learning the
songs that we had
started the previous
week. After this we
learned the harmonies
for the swimming song
which I enjoyed very
much.

Thursday - today half

of my class presented
our presentations. I
found this very difficult
personally as I am not
good at public
speaking under
pressure, and
therefore did not enjoy
this at all. However
there was a lot of good
 and interesting
research contributed
so overall the session
was useful.

Independent- are
movement session
was cancelled this
week. I took this time
to listen to the
recordings of the
harmonys in order to
learn them better.
11th March Tuesday- this week Script, water, pencil
we again started with
a brief warm-up before
being given scenes
from Krista what she'd
like us to read. I asked
to be given Stacey
scene as she's a
character I'd really like
to play. Personally I
think that I did quite a
good job of that scene
and received some
really positive
feedback. With our
musical director in the
afternoon, we learned
a new song, which I
enjoyed very much
and we managed to
learn it very quickly
and it sounded really
good.

Wednesday- today we
started with our usual
warm up, and then did
a frantic assembly in
exercise which was
designed to increase
our core strength. I
found this really
difficult because of my
shoulders, however I
tried my best because
I know how important
these exercises are to
engage our core and
arms as we will be
doing a lot of lifts. At
the end of the session
we went into groups
where we had to carry
someone across the
room in different ways,
I found this very fun,
especially being lifted.
 Independent- this
week I've been looking
a lot of songs, now
that we have
recordings of the
tracks, and attempting
to learn them ahead of
time.
18th March Tuesday- I missed the Script , water,
first hour and a half of pencilnep r ,
our session today
comma, however I've
been told that they
were split into two
groups two divide
movement for Sarah
scene. I saw the
second scene when I
came in, and I
particularly enjoyed
how they had isolated
Stacy in some parts of
Sarah's monologue to
show her jealousy.
After this, Krista asked
us to pick out specific
scene from the play
that we had a clear
image of in our mind
and describe or draw
this. I decided to draw
Dee's living room from
the relationship scene,
as I saw this very
clearly . With our
musical director we
recapped all of our
songs that we learn so
far, as well as learning
the beginning of this is
what it feels like. After
our session we were
given the cast list, and
I found out I will be
playing Stacy.

Wednesday - in our
movement session
today we had a more
energetic warm-up to
improve our stamina,
we did this as an
ensemble. After this
we got into smaller
groups and made five
different still images of
vents that may take
place at a party.
Additionally we looked
 into Michael scene
and half of the
ensemble the set with
some members of the
ensemble being desks
or tables and chairs,
and others sitting on
their backs. We
created a series of
movements to perform
in the scene which I
thought was very
effective.

Friday- this week we

also had an additional
singing session
worked on our
harmonies, and
refined the songs
we've already done.

Independent- I'm not

going to start focusing
on my lines, as this
will be helpful in
intensives.
Tuesday- today we Script
25th March started with warm up Notebook
Folder
and played some
games. Krista then
decided that she had
a different
interpretation to
Lindsay on what
Michael scene should
look like, and split us
into two groups to
create alternate
interpretations of the
scene. We then
perform these and
film them for future
reference . After lunch
we started with our
usual warm-up with
Alex, before recapping
the songs we had
already learned, Prior
to the Easter break.

Wednesday- today we
were supposed to be
working with Krista
and Lindsay, however
Lindsay was unable to
attend the session, so
instead Christa splitis
in half and we devised
that own
interpretation of
Britney Spears music
video to hit me baby
one more time. This
was incorporated into
Cassie's scene, and we
then choreographed
canteen scene with
some movement.
Lastly Christa wanted
to see how we could
transition between
the dance and the
canteen setting so we
showed her some
material our groups
had devised.

Independent- as it is
now the Easter break
I'm going to really
focus on finishing
Theory work and
trying to learn my
lines, as well as
learning the songs we
still have left to learn.