Rehearsal Process & Nature vs. Nurture

Rehearsal Process:

The rehearsal process was stretched over a couple weeks and comprised of creating, learning and finishing our group performance. We were presented with our topic of Nature or Nurture and how in many situations is it nature or nurture that causes them to happen. I decided to research into more Nature or Nurture events and decide for myself, which one they were impacted by.

Nature V Nurture:

Nature is the idea that who we are and how we act is from our inherited genes where as nurture refers to the environment around us educating us positively or negatively.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

This event is both shocking and horrific. On 12^th February 1993 two ten-year-old boys murdered James Bulger. At the time the blame was put on the boys as they were classed as monsters.  What they did was an unimaginable thing however I feel as they were so young their instinct came from nurture. Both of the boys were from terrible backgrounds and were heavily influenced by video games with mass violence. They were surrounded by broken homes with alcoholics as parents who to were going through grave troubles. From this I believe the reason for their actions came from how they were nurtured. The idea of children killing children is chilling and the boy’s young ages show how influences can impact real life decisions.

Murder of Lee Rigby

 

On 22 May 2013 Lee Rigby was murdered by two men Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. Lee Rigby was a British Soldier and was said to be murdered by the men in order to demonstrate the Muslims being murdered by British soldiers across seas. This case involved two people murdering another just as in the James Bulger case however they were fighting for a cause they strongly believed in and so I feel this is nature as although the men had difficult upbringings to want to do this in order to prove a point shows that they thought this was right which comes down to the brains structure rather than influence. What the men did was terrible but to see them stay on the street after the murder shows what they did they believed to be honestly correct.

From this we can gather to cases in history that both show examples of Nature and Nurture.

From researching these we gathered as a class and mapped out our performance. The piece begins with us as scientists murmuring gibberish that is cut of when a pair will repeat a line. Mine and my partners line is the following:

“Is poverty a function of inherited low intelligence?”

The purpose of this is to challenge the audience with questions in regards to nature vs nurture. The lines are said in an almost humours tone so that they stay with the audience sublimely throughout the performance as questions to ponder on.

The next part shows us crowding around a TV as Marvin Gaye lets get it on plays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKPoHgKcqag. We breathe heavy and build this up until we implode. The purpose of this is to show someone conceiving without actually showing it. We are de-personifying the act of reproduction and instead using breath to make innuendos. This is a great tool for keeping the show appropriate for children while still being literal to the older audience.

The next section of the performance follows the life of a child from the sperm meeting the egg, the baby being in the womb, the baby being born, exploring the new world you have been born into, splitting away from your mother and finally exploring new obstacles. I feel we have created this beautifully as it shows the perfect growth of a child. My favourite part so far is the use of sheets to create the feeling of a womb. I think this will be a fantastic immersive experience for the audience and also the use of light almost reflects the unborn child’s pureness onto them.

The next part explores existing events around the nature vs. nurture debate. A mix of audio files from the James Bulger murder, the Lee Rigby Murder and the 9/11 hijacked plane are played while we as a class in small groups recreate strong free frames showing one of these. As our stimulus we chose pictures of the wall. My group were exploring the murder of James Bulger. To go about this we created the stil image that the cctv caught while I am forceful to James. I am also violent to Robert showing that he was influence by Jon. I walk with my head up high and a straight posture showing I am unaware of the disruption I am causing while the child is helpless. This is a powerful image and one that is sensitive to a lot of people but hopefully are take on it will be hard hitting to effect peoples thoughts on nature vs nurture.

Our piece finishes with the cast repeating the lines said at the beginning however this time in a naturalistic tone and directing the questions at the audience. From saying it at the beginning the audience have been on a journey where different scenes have provoked though on nature vs nurture. From repeating the line they themselves can answer these questions and see weather it has impacted their opinions on the nature vs nurture debate.