anecdote

Oh my god, guess what happened the other day?

do you remember my cousin sandra, yh her from roundshaw sandra, she couldn't afford to pay the rent for a house. So obviously those people came to take some of her stuff ugh what are they called again they always visit my house.....oh yh bailiffs and sandra was like nah i ain't having it so she took all her expensive things like the TV and Playstation and hid it in the car, so the people couldn't take anything Sandra is now a criminal. 

Theatre Workshop Lesson -27/11/17

list of 10 things that might happen in a story about a housing crisis:

• Family gets kicked out of house
• kid grows up in a bad environment 
• has a single parent 
• the landlord wants their house back
• family get kicked out for being dirty and unhygienic
• the family cant afford a house anymore

• robs a corner store 
• arrested 
• interrogated by the police 
• tell story about how the daughter was dealing drugs
• he talks about the food bank, the daughter has had a bad run in with dealers and gets a bruise social services thinks its the dad so takes the daughter away
• gets denied for benefits because of a bad past 
• hes homeless now and alone talking with another homeless person 
• evicted from house
• talk with the police 
• not enough money daughter says she'll solve it 

Write 3 things a right wing person might say at a party about the housing crisis 

1. honestly it's up to people to earn enough to live where they want ts all fair
2. f you're to lazy to get a proper education you deserve what you get
3. my hard earned money is going towards taxes to pay for irresponsible single mothers, unemployed bums and future criminals

Write 3 things a left wing person might say at a party about the housing crisis:

1. we should all be payed equally per hour rather then per job
2. if all the empty houses where filled we would of no homeless people 
3. Everyone deserves the right to basic living quarters 

Housing Benefits presentation

1. News Reports
1. EVERYONE
2. Theresa May Speech
1. GEMMA
1. Theresa May speech and the information you have gathered
3. Benefits Office
1. KEIYEN
1. Housing Officer (KEIYEN) showcasing the benefits information.
2. Denying Homeless Woman’s (DILARA) request for benefits.
4. Landlord account
1. LUKE D.
5. History of housing: HOUSING Officer
1. LAURENCE
6. Land Banking

BUSINESSMAN: What’s land banking you ask? Well. Land banks are quasi-governmental entities created by counties or municipalities to effectively manage and repurpose an inventory of underused, abandoned, or foreclosed property. I can see I’m confusing you, apologies. Look at it this way, land banking is comparable to stockbroking. As a stockbroker, you buy stocks when they’re cheap, and sell them when they’re of a higher value to make a profit. Now it’s the same premise with land banking, except replace the stocks with property. It’s a big game. I mean, there were 1,652 vacant properties in Kensington and Chelsea in August of 2017 alone. Now most of these vacant homes are owned by businessmen, oligarchs, and “foreign royalty”, and there is about 200,000 empty homes in London, all just being used as stocks, as saving accounts with amazing interest and returns. Margaret Thatcher’s policy of selling of council houses, seemed to be encouraging people to view there properties not as homes to snuggle up in and have a nice family, but as an investment, a pension, a means by which to purchase another. The houses you see on the street, many aren’t homes anymore, just piles of money building up.

Brect's Theory Of Theatre

Brect's Theory Of Theatre 

Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the audience to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead cause the audience to self-reflect and have a critical view of the action on the stage, Brecht called the act of distancing the audience from emotional involvement the verfremdungseffekt

When naturalistic theatre was at its height and mirrored exactly what was happening in society, he decided to use it as a force for change. He wanted to make his audience think and famously said that theatre audiences at that time “hang up their brains with their hats in the cloakroom”.

In naturalistic theatre the audience care about the lives of the characters onstage. They forget the problems they are facing in their own lives and escape into the lives of others. When an audience cries for a character or feels emotion through the events happening to them it’s called catharsis, Brecht was against this type of theatre. 


 He believed that while the audience believed in the action onstage and became emotionally involved they lost the ability to think and to judge the performance and issues raised. He wanted his audiences to remain objective and distant from emotional involvement so that they could make considered and rational judgement about any social comment or issues in his work. 


Epic theatre (Brechtian theatre) breaks the fourth wall, the imaginary wall between the actors and audience which keeps them as observers. They are active members of the theatrical experience as they are kept thinking throughout, not switching off.




His Theory:

• Brecht loathed the theatre of realism
• he liked the realistic theatre a realistic performance pacified its audience
• Brecht’s plays were didactic and aimed to teach or instruct their audience
• Brecht used the term ‘Lehrstück’, meaning ‘learning-play’
• social activist theatre wanting the spectators to make change in their own world outside the theatre walls
• in 1926 Brecht embraced Marxism and his theatre techniques after this point served his Marxist beliefs
• Brecht’s umbrella title for a range of non-realistic techniques is ‘verfremdungseffekt’
• misleadingly translated over the decades as ‘distancing effect’
• recent and more accepted translation is ‘to make the familiar, strange’ 
• ‘epic’ borrowed from the great poems of literature (The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Mahabharata, Ramayana)
• Brecht was influenced by (German) expressionism and had an interest in the cabaret scene in Berlin

All about Brecht

Brecht

Bertolt Brecht's original name is Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht he was born February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Germany and died August 14, 1956 in East Berlin, he was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director, his mother was a potistant and father a roman catholic brought up with religious views he died of a heart attack.
Until 1924 Brecht lived in Bavaria, where he was born, studied medicine (1917–21), and served in an army hospital in 1918. first play was Baar about excessive sexual pleasures. 
living in Munich during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes with theatre plays, whose themes were often influenced by his political thoughts. He was the main user of the genre named epic theatre. 

 During the World War II and the Nazi era he lived in exile, first in Scandinavia and then in the United States. Returning to East Berlin after the war, he then created the theatre company Berliner Ensemble with his wife, and actress Helene Weigel.

From his late twenties Brecht remained a lifelong committed Marxist (economic and social system based upon the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels) who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his "epic theatre", synthesized and extended the experiments of Erwin Piscator and Vsevolod Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a place for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism.

Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead cause the audience to self-reflect and have a critical view of the action on the stage. 

When naturalistic theatre was at its height and mirrored exactly what was happening in society, he decided to use it as a force for change. He wanted to make his audience think and famously said that theatre audiences at that time “hang up their brains with their hats in the cloakroom”.

In naturalistic theatre the audience care about the lives of the characters onstage. They forget the problems they are facing in their own lives and escape into the lives of others. When an audience cries for a character or feels emotion through the events happening to them it’s called catharsis, Brecht was against this type of theatre. 


 He believed that while the audience believed in the action onstage and became emotionally involved they lost the ability to think and to judge. He wanted his audiences to remain objective and distant from emotional involvement so that they could make considered and rational judgements about any social comment or issues in his work. 

left=right wing spectrum -20/11/17

left wing=right wing 
left wing believe in looking for the future =, believe in equality and taxes should be distributed between services NHS and helping women have equal rights, believe in the green party and helping the environment. examples labour and green party

right wing believes in tradition, conservatives believes that if you earn more you should be able to go to better school that are rich don't believe that the green party is important

"our newspapers biased"
England are facing housing issues because of immigrants however prices for houses have doubled within the last 30 years because England need 250,000 homes despite immigrants because Britain's are having more children however only 75000 people can afford houses.

Right wing believe that the immigrants are to blame for the housing crisis, as they come over take our houses and benefits.

Left wing believe that housing crisis is happening because thousands of money are being put into other services however they are avoiding this crisis, they believe that everyone should have a home including immigrants.

universal credit helps people who are homeless and building new homes however multi-million pounds has been cut so less money is being used to help build houses.

Daily male is mainly right wing and conservatives, the guardian is left wing many labor voters and people who believe in equality.

What you'll need to claim housing benefits:

What you'll need to claim housing benefits:

You’ll need to provide some information and evidence to support your claim for Housing Benefit.

You’ll get Housing Benefit faster if you have this available when you make your claim.

You’ll need to know:

how much rent you pay
whether anything else is included in the rent, such as water, gas or electricity charges
if you pay any service charges, including building maintenance or insurance
your landlord or agent’s details

You’ll need to provide original documents, not copies. The supporting evidence you’ll need includes:

your most recent payslips (5 if paid weekly, or 2 if paid monthly)
bank or building society statements for the last 2 full months
proof of other income or investments, including shares, ISAs or Premium Bonds
proof of income for any non-dependants living with you, such as adult relatives or friends

If you rent from a private landlord
You’ll also need to provide one of the following:

a tenancy agreement or rent book
a letter from your landlord confirming your tenancy - this is usually supplied at the start of your tenancy
proof of rent paid, such as a rent book, rent receipts or a bank statement

You may get Housing Benefit if:

you pay rent
you’re on a low income or claiming benefits
your savings are below a certain level - usually £16,000

For 13 weeks after your claim you’ll be paid at the assessment rate. This is:

Up to £57.90 a week aged under 25
Up to £73.10 a week aged 25 or over

After your assessment, if you’re entitled to ESA, you’ll be placed in one of two groups.

The support group, or
The work-related activity group
You will get:

Up to £109.30 a week if you’re in the support group
Up to £73.10 a week basic allowance (£114.85 if you’re in a couple) if you’re in the work-related activity group

Disability premiums

If you’re in the support group and on income-related ESA, you’ll get £15.75 a week for the enhanced disability premium

Depending on how severely, your condition affects you, you might also get £61.85 a week for the severe disability premium.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is paid if you find it difficult to carry out daily tasks or get about.

It is not means tested you could get it regardless of how much income or savings you have.

To qualify for it you must:

Be aged between 16 and 64
Have had these difficulties for three months and expect them to last for at least another nine months (unless you are terminally ill)
PIP is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for adults.

You could get between £21.80 and £139.75 a week, depending on how severely your condition affects you.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/e

political protest evaluation

Political Protest Evaluation: 

As a group we decided that we wanted to focus on consent and all the things surrounding it, however because there are many factors that go into to the topic of consent and we wouldn't be able to incorporate everything we decided to target and protest to get a clearer definition of consent from the government. If we have a clearer definition within the law, then as a whole, society will have a clearer understanding of what is considered sexual harassment and rape. We all felt very passionate about this topic as we believe that so many people were not educated in what consent is meaning that it was happening more often. If there was a clearer definition of consent there would be less causes of sexual harassment as more people would be aware of what they are doing. One thing i realized when researching is that everyone has different views and definitions of the term consent and how far it goes. For example, some people believe that if you're married you don't need to get your partners consent.

We felt like it would be more effective if we had a series of movements to repeat in the 45 minutes  rather then a scene that way if a audience member just came in the middle of our performance they will understand whats going on. This is effective and we chose to do this because we know that the audience members cant stay for to long so we wanted our protest to be clear and easy to understand. Another way we got our point across to the audience is using propaganda posters to express our protest and the change we want to make in society.




Our performance itself was quite symbolic so to people who briefly walked past the performance, the message might have not been immediately clear, however for those who had the time to stay and read our posters and listen to the outbursts made by the 'sexual abusers' it was much easier to understand and was quite shocking therefore alerting the audience some of the outburst lines were "did you see what she was wearing she was basically asking for it" another line was "he was sexually aroused of course he wanted it"

We thought that the location used by us was a very successful place to perform because there was a steady flow of audiences coming and leaving. We believed that the costumes we used really benefited out performance and helped bring our point across, because the people doing the abusing were wearing ordinary mundane clothes which demonstrates that an abuser could be anyone male or female. Also the victims were wearing white to symbolise that their innocence and purity is being tainted by the trauma this tragic situation causes. The trauma and the marks left on a person was represented by the red paint. This was a successful feature in our protest because the bright red on the white attracted audience members to come and see what was going on.

Overall i do believe our protest was successful because we did hear audience members talking and it did raise questions with them about what consent actually is, also a lot of them felt very uncomfortable watching our protest which is a good thing because it allows them to realise that what we are doing is wrong but of course no one does anything about it.

If we were going to do the protest again there are a few things we would change one of the things we could add is audience interaction so the audience are more involved in our performance, while also taking away more information about our topic. Another improvement would be to make our signs/posters bigger that way the audience members don't have to travel behind us to read the information we provided. furthermore adding more of a variety of movements instead of the same thing this will had complexity to the performance and make it more interesting for the audience, while also showing that consent is not just about consent for sexual acts, you shouldn't be forced to do anything whether that's sex or being forced to hug.

13/11/17 Theatre Workshop lesson

Brechtian stage 

narration: used to remind the audience that they are watching a play. sometimes the narrator will tell the audience what will happen in the next scene and it makes the audience  less emotionally attached to the play so they focus on the story and ideas in the scene.

coming out of role: another way of stopping the audience from being emotionally involved, a
character talking about themselves in the third person this counts as breaking character, speaking to the audience directly, being in the scene then stepping out of it.
using notes or signs, video, projection etc can be facts he loved contradiction if what your acting is different to the signs and facts put up. playing with levels of reality actors trying to break the 4th way.
"Theatre should not be a mirror to life it should be a hammer forged to shape it"
He didn't believe in the suggested background of the character they change with peoples circumstances

he didn't want to compete with cinema, he believed that we should be able to shape life into the way we want it.
Brecht's plays can including:
split roles
multi-gender roles: taking a bigger leap of imagination
anything that makes the audience notice that the actors changed helps to emotionally detach them
minimal props, set and costume

Brecht did believe in having realistic and truthful props should look authentic, the costume should look like the real thing so if you're wearing a jacket that's meant to be soldiers, it should be muddy and feel like the real thing.
The more theatrical the better

An key thing in Brecht's stage is lighting so the lights would be left on or bright lights as it illuminated the facts/truths, the  lighting is either the same throughout or its bright white lighting.

Political Protest

Consent 

What is Consent? 

In short, consent is saying yes, and neither people can give consent if they are under the influence of alcohol. Consent must be understandable to everyone involved. 

Whats the definition of sexual assult?

Sexual assault is a sexual act in which a person is coerced or physically forced to engage against their will. It is also defined as non-consensual sexual touching of a person. Sexual assault is a form of sexual violence which includes rape, groping, child sexual abuse or the torture of the person in a sexual manner.

Here are some other terms you might hear used in relation to rape, and what they mean:

• Date rape-This isn’t a specific offence but you might hear the term used to describe rape when the survivor and perpetrator are known to each other, for example if they’re friends or are dating.The person raped may be drugged and unable to give consent It doesn’t matter if you knew the person who raped you — sex without consent is rape.

• Marital rape- Consent can never be assumed, even in a marriage. Being married does not give your partner any right to force you into having sex or to have sex with you without your consent. If this happens, it is still rape and your partner can be prosecuted.

• Statutory rape-‘Statutory rape’ is the term that’s sometimes used to describe the rape of children under the age of consent.In the UK, a child under the age of 13 cannot legally consent to any sexual activity. The age of legal consent in the UK is 16.

The sexual Offences Act 2003

Sexual Offences Act 2003

The Act sets out the offences requiring the prosecution to prove absence of consent at sections 1-4. They are:

• rape;
• assault by penetration;
• sexual assault; and
• causing a person to engage in sexual activity.

In relation to these offences a person (A) is guilty of an offence if she/he:

• acts intentionally,
• (B) does not consent to the act, and
• (A) does not reasonably believe that (B) consents.

In relation to many other offences there is no requirement to prove an absence of consent. Only the act itself and the age of the victim or other criteria need to be proved. They include:

• rape of a child under 13
• assault by penetration of a child under 13
• sexual assault of a child under 13 and
• inciting or causing a person to engage in sexual activity with a child under 13
• child sexual offences involving children under 16
• children under 18 having sexual relations with persons in a position of trust
• children under 18 involved with family members over 18
• persons with a mental disorder impeding choice
• persons with a mental disorder who are induced threatened or deceived
• persons with a mental disorder who have sexual relations with care workers

The Harvey Weinstein case -The Telegraph

Hollywood accused of hypocrisy over Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations

Hollywood has been accused of hypocrisy as allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, the volcanic-tempered movie mogul, were met with a "deafening silence" from A-list stars.

Two days after the New York Times reported that Weinstein had reached at least eight legal settlements with women dating back decades, only a smattering of entertainment industry figures stepped up to condemn a man who has long held the power to make or break careers.

Lisa Bloom, a feminist lawyer who had been criticised for her decision to advise Weinstein, announced on Saturday that she was resigning.

But Rose McGowan, who reportedly settled a harassment case against Weinstein in 1997, said she had been expecting fellow actresses to speak out publicly.

"Ladies of Hollywood, where are you?" she wrote on Twitter. "Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening." McGowan, 44, best known for her role in the TV series Charmed, accused the industry, including agents, directors, producers, studio heads, and the actor's union of a "30-year cover up" which seemingly continued.

By Saturday night those yet to comment publicly on the scandal included a host of actresses who have starred in Weinstein movies.

They included Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for the Weinstein-produced Shakespeare in Love.

According to the New York Times Weinstein targeted young actresses and his own staff, appearing naked in front of them, and asking them to massage him or watch him shower.

Weinstein has admitted to having caused "a lot of pain" and apologised. He asked for a "second chance," saying he is undergoing therapy.

SOURCE:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/07/hollywood-accused-hypocrisy-harvey-weinstein-sexual-harrassment/

political research newspaper article

Kevin Spacey assaulted 18-year-old man last year, claims alleged victim's mother

Actor Kevin Spacey has been accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man last year, by the alleged victim’s mother.

Former television anchor Heather Unruh alleged at a press conference in Boston that Mr Spacey had purchased her teenaged son “drink after drink” and then grabbed the young man’s genitals. “To Kevin Spacey, I want to say this: Shame on you for what you did to my son”, Ms Unruh said, according to the Associated Press, adding that “Nothing could have prepared my son for how that sexual assault would make him feel as a man”. Ms Unruh said her son had filed a police report, spurring an investigation. A spokesman for the Nantucket, Massachusetts police department said he could not confirm or deny whether that was the case, noting that state law makes reports of sexual assault confidential. The Independent was unable to reach a spokesman for Mr Spacey, whose former public relations representative recently severed ties. Last week, a representative said the actor - an Academy Award winner and star of the Netflix show House of Cards - was “taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment” and that “no other information will be available at this time”. Multiple men have accused Mr Spacey of sexual harassment or assault. Actor Anthony Rapp, the first to come forward, claimed that Mr Spacey had made unwanted advances on him when Mr Rapp was 14. Mr Spacey responded that he did not remember the incident but owed Mr Rapp “the sincerest apology”.

SOURCE:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/kevin-spacey-sexual-assauly-allegations-claim-heather-unruh-mother-a8044966.html