Evaluation

Playing Ralph 
I wanted to play the part of Ralph as i knew it was a big step up from Hanschen in the last show that we did, i felt that i was up to the challenge and would be able to take on the role effectively, that's why i decided to audition for this part. I was happy when i found out i had received the part but found it a little hard to play, i was not able to look online for inspiration as when i looked there seemed to be no other performances on the internet. When i played Hanschen however i was able to look on YouTube at Broadway and West end performances to get an idea as to how the part was previously played.
Scene Analyses
Ski Slopes- This was the opening scene for Ten tiny fingers and involved only me and Eva. In this scene Lucinda found out that Ralph cheated on her with a young Japanese women whilst away on holiday. Of course Lucinda is very angry with Ralph but he cannot understand this and feels he really has done nothing wrong. I found this scene difficult to begin with and seemed to have a problem remembering the order of the lines. I found it difficult to act whilst trying to carry the props as they were awkward and heavy, there was not many places to lean them without it looking strange. I felt that in the end this scene went well overall, however next time id probably slow my lines down even further and put more effort into a costume, as i was wearing suit trousers on a ski slope. I left it to the last minute to find my costume and unfortunately i could not find half of what i needed in time, during the rehearsal i had no skiing equipment and had to quickly go and pick some up before the show began.
Buying a baby-This was the second scene that Ralph was in, the other people in this scene were Eva and Carl, i found this scene enjoyable as it was not too difficult to play, also for some reason with this scene i seemed to be able to remember my lines easier than during any other scene. Because at a lot of  times Ralph was not speaking in this scene i had to think about my facial expressions at all time, not just my speaking. I found the hug with Eva awkward, every angle we tried looked too forceful or fake. However after trial and error we found a way of making it look quite good. This hug was important as it showed the relationship between these two characters.
The church- This was the scene where the baby is inserted into Lucinda. This scene was very heavy and without the comedy coming through it would be a very boring and difficult scene to watch for the audience. When we first began to rehearse i personally felt that everyone, including myself was not able to show this humor and the scene was very boring and slow. The judge needed to display more campness and everyone needed to react just a little bit more. During this scene there is a lot of sitting and standing around whilst only Millie spoke. This standing around made it difficult not to break character as when your doing nothing its hard not to just relax. In the end i felt that this scene went a lot better that in rehearsals, After being prompted by miss Will was able to bring the judge's camp personality out a lot better, this made the scene look and flow better. There is not too much i would do differently if i was to re-look at this scene due to the fact that my character didn't actually say or do much.
Visiting Lucinda in Hospital- This is the scene that Ralph has found out that his baby is carrying a defect and goes to confront Lucinda about it in hospital. I found that this scene was not difficult as it was not too long. However during rehearsals i left it so late to learn my lines i spent all my time learning the first half of the script and so come this scene i literally had the day before the performance to learn my lines. This was difficult and i don't plan on doing it again. This scene had one particular line which i could not get right, i kept getting the order of this single line wrong, and then due to panic i would go blank and forget the rest of the lines for the scene. Because Ralph had a lot of anger in this scene i had to show this by moving about in the hospital and throwing my weight around, not paying attention to the fact that Lucinda was pregnant. All in all i felt that this scene went well.
Visiting Pete- This is the scene where Ralph goes to visit Pete in the section 5 area to discuss purchasing his baby. I found that in this scene i had to think of certain physical things to do that showed the audience that Ralph did not want to be in a section 5 area. For example, i would wipe my hands on a clothe after touching things in Pete's house. I would also use my foot to go through his things, showing i have little respect for his things. Me and Jake kept skipping a  big chunk of the dialogue in this scene. I think that during the actual performances we skipped this same chunk all three nights by accident, and so if i was to re-look at this scene again that would be something i would look at. Despite this i feel that this scene did not go too bad, the acting was off in places.
Golf Course- This scene i found the most difficult out of all of them, not because of the actual acting, its the fact that in  one scene i had to quickly change out of a suit and into a polo t shirt and golfing costume, not only was this difficult but i barely knew the lines, i was more following the story and fitting the lines around that. At one point during this scene, Lewis forgot his queue line and we were left with an elongated pause, due to this i quickly had to think of a line to say that would fit without making it obvious to the audience. Despite my cast mates admitting to me that they barely knew this scene well i felt that it on the whole did not go bad.
Final Hospital Scene- This is the final scene, there is not too much going on in this scene, although a lot of people are in this scene. This scene is broken into two half's, before baby Peter is presented and after. Before hand its just me and Dot and Lucinda, my first line is 'your holding my wife's hand' however on the third night when i walked onto the stage, Lucinda and Dot were not holding hands and so i had to adapt what i say in order to stop it from looking weird and incorrect. There is also a black out halfway through this scene and after the blackout is where i come back into the scene with baby peter, i was not entirely sure as to when this blackout ended and so i was relying on Jake to bring me back into the scene at the correct time.
What Id do to improve next time
If we was to re look at a similar production i would make sure that i put more effort into my costume, as when playing golf in the scene and on the mountain i still had suit trousers on and this did not look very well on stage.I also would learn my lines a lot earlier on to give me time to perfect them and make sure i had them well learnt, this would make it easier for me on stage and i would be able to put more effort into my acting as i would not be worrying or thinking about lines.

Nazism in world war 2

Brief Explanation of Nazism.

 










The Nazi Party was a political group that ruled Germany between 1933 and 1945. “Nazi” is a short form of the official name. In English the official name is the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Under Hitler's leadership, the Nazis started world war 2. They also carried out the Holocaust—the murder of about 6 million Jewish people. Nazi Germany was a 'totalitarian' state, meaning that the Nazi government recognized no ends to their authority, would restrict public and private life whenever possible, and would create personality cults whenever possible through propaganda and completely biased media. Nazi Germany was made up of a lot of young German men who felt angry and had been brainwashed into believing that Jews were the cause of Germany problems and struggles.

This is the symbol of the Nazi party, at the bottom of the eagle there is the swastika symbol. The Swastika is an ancient solar symbol that has been used by many cultures going back at least 3000 years. It has been found used by the Celts in northern Europe and by the Greeks as early has 1000 BCE. In India the symbol has been used since Vedic times. It is most commonly seen as an ancient Aryan symbol. Nazi Germany did not invent the symbol, but only borrowed it in order to show the "Aryan" roots of their new German state.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. It ended in 1945 when Allied powers defeated the Nazis. At the beginning the Jews were given a new set of rules, for example they were not allowed to marry German citizens and were forced to live in ghetto's where they would slowly wait for there turn to be taken to an concentration camp where they would be exterminated. In the larger ghetto's up to 1,000 Jews a day would be taken by train to a concentration camp. Jews would be forced to wear a yellow star in order to identify themselves, making it easier for the German soldiers to recognize them. 1 million people were killed during the Holocaust (1.1 million children). 6 million of those victims were Jewish. Other groups targeted by the Nazis were Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, disabled people, and Gypsies. After World war 2 ended it was said that two thirds of the Jewish population had been executed by Nazi's. The main concentration camp in Nazi Germany was Auschwitz which at some points was exterminating up to 6,000 Jewish people a day.

Jewish Men in the Auschwitz waiting to be executed.

How Nazism and the Holocaust relates to 'Ten tiny fingers, Nine tiny toes'
Just like in the holocaust where the Jews were forced to live in poor conditions, the same can be seen in ten tiny fingers with the section fives. We know that in ten tiny fingers, class 5's are not allowed to breed at all, this means that eventually class 5's will die out all together as they will not be reproducing. Although in the holocaust they were physically killed rather than left to die out this is still similar in the way of, in the long run they shall die out due to not being considered worthy of living by those in power.

Writing in Role ( Piece 2)

Well this is just brilliant isn't it, i knew i should have waited for a boy, why did i let Lucinda rush me into choosing a girl, what about when i die and i need the business to keep moving forward, how could i pass it down to a girl, they don't have what it takes to run a business and what about when she marry? what about the straws then, there will no longer be a darling in control. A defect ay, well i certainly did not pay for this, i shall be straight round to Allan's office tomorrow and shall be making an official complaint. I want a full refund, in fact i want more than a refund. I was compensation, at least 25% off a replacement baby should do nicely. A boy, ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes. I shall have to keep this quiet to my friends, what would they think of me if they found out my baby was deformed. What if they think it was me? what if they think my thin sperm was to blame. Oh no this cant happen, i must get round to the hospital right away and have the little cow rid of.

Writing in role ( PIECE 1)

Whilst i was at home today, Lucinda was busy pressing my suit for a very important meeting with a big time client tomorrow, I received a letter for the government, informing me of a new class system they said was to soon be introduced. It did not explain how it works much or even how many classes there were, all it told me was me and Lucinda were in class 3. I'm not an genius or anything but i am guessing class 3 is the top class, hence why i am there, it must be class 3 at the top and 1 and the bottom. It has to be, acceding order for acceding people. I personally think its a brilliant idea, keep those that aren't worthy of speaking too away from me. Hope it does not effect the business though, now we are mixing with the 1's i hope this means i can still do business with them however, some of my best customers are at the bottom of society. A man of note like myself must be relocated to the countryside or something, scenic country views every morning, the site of baby lams everyday, i wouldn't be surprised if we are issued a VIP golf course. Those poor people in the lower classes must all be moving into the city, where its noisy and congested. Oh this is perfect, hopefully Lucinda can move with me,  with me being the main income an all, if she cant it would be very unfortunate but sacrifices would have to be made.  Who thought id make it this far today, top class citizen, CEO of a top manufacturing company, thank god my straw split all those years ago and i noticed the falling standard of drinking utensils.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering or genetic modification is the modification of living organisms, such as plants and animals. Its done through changing there genome using biotechnology.
Genetic Engineering was founded in the 1800's where the first bacteria was modified. Genetic Engineering however has been around for a lot longer, we are able to genetically engineer crops without specialist equipment but simply through selection. For example crops were made smaller, making it easier for them to withstand wind. In 1973 however it was found that actual cells could be manipulated in organisms to physically change and select there characteristics. This was first found through bacteria. A year later in 1974 lad mice were genetically modified. Since then genetically modified food has been around us nearly everyday. In 2003 the first genetically modified pet was available to buy, the glofish.

technically scientists could genetically modify a fetus, and manually choose characteristics, for example we could choose what sex our babies were, or choose there eye colors. However this is not allowed due to ethnically reasons. When ten tiny fingers was wrote however Sue Townsend believed that in the future this would change and people would be able to choose the sex of there baby freely. This is why in scene 3, Ralph and Lucinda are able to physically select there baby from Alan.

Ralph Darling Character Profile

 
 Name: Ralph Darling
Age: 35
Place of birth : Brighton
Date of birth: 6th August 1978.
Parents name: Peter Darling and Katie Darling.
Siblings: Ralph Darling is the only child in his family.

Ralph darling is the only child of peter darling and Katie darling, at a young age he joined the army, where he served for many years and managed to work his way up the ranks. His dad peter died when Ralph was 22 and left Ralph a small amount of money. Ralph took this money and invested it into drinking straws. After earning a small fortune from this he was able to leave the army, to keep his weapon skills fresh he regular visited the indoor shooting range, where on a December he met his wife Lucinda.

Date of Engagement : 3rd July 1989
Date of Marriage : 5th September 1991

After marrying his wife Lucinda, they have tried for a child ever since, however due to problems Ralph is unable to have children and so they have been forced to adopt a child rather than conceive for themselves.

Apartheid

A history of Apartheid 
Apartheid was started in south Africa in  1948, after the English and dutch began to settle in the country during the seventeenth century. Apartheid laws began to take other every aspect of life, for example there were jobs for 'whites only' and marriage between a black person and a white person was prohibited. In the 1950's the population was separated into three groups a) whites ( British) b) black (African) c) Colored ( mixed decent). A persons group was then decided by a certain set of traits they may have, these traits are such things as appearance, social acceptance  and descent.  For example someone was not 'obviously white' if they had parents that were black or colored.  White people were given larger proportions of lands despite the numbers being a lot lower than blacks, as you can see from the table below.



Apartheid did not have an end date but rather most of it's segregation legislation was dismantled between 1990 and 1992. The first fully democratic election was held in 1994; however Apartheid was already no longer practiced at that time.

How Apartheid is similar to ten tiny fingers.
Just like with Apartheid in ten tiny fingers there was segregation between people, however instead of being based on skin color  and ethnicity it was based entirely of a persons social status and wealth. Just like within Apartheid it was also unfair for those at the bottom, the living conditions were bad, for example in Apartheid blacks had 1 doctor to 44,000 people. Like Apartheid the income for people at the bottom was poor, in fact  in ten tiny fingers, those in class 5 had no income as they were unable to work at all. When a person had been categorized there was no way for him to change this in apartheid as it was based on appearance, this is similar to those in class 5, as they were unable to work, therefore being stuck there forever.
 

Laws

1). Those within class 5 are not allowed to adopt, foster or have children of there own. If they are caught having children they are likely to be arrested and have the baby removed and disposed of. This is so the class 5's eventually die out completely.

2).  Those within class 5 are not allowed to work and receive money from the government every 3 months rather than the usual every month. This is so they have poor living, with barely any food of health. Doing this means they will not live long and will speed the process of the class 5's becoming extinct.

3). Those who are in class 4 have to be in full time employment and earning a minimum of 8,000 a year, if they are not in work or are made redundant they have 2 weeks to find more work or them and there family shall be moved down to a class 5 and give all there money as compensation for there move.

4). Only people above class 3 can drive a vehicle of any sort except a golf caddy of course. If someone above class 3 wishes to drive a car they must apply to take lessons. If a class 3 wishes to drive a car he will have to pay a considerable amount more money than someone within class 2 and 1. This is in place to try and keep the lower class people all within one place.

5). People in class 4 are not allowed to have relationships with others from different classes, same with class 5. Those who are class 3 and above however will be allowed to have a relationship with anyone from any class, if they have the income to support a person may move up classes through marriage.

6). People that are in class 3 and below are restricted to having one child, of course except class 5 who are not allowed any. Class 1 and 2 do not have any limits and may have as many children as they like. This is because the larger the upper class families the larger the population of upper class people, they will eventually overtake the lower class.

7).Those within class 3 and lower and permitted to a house inspection at any time of day and night, if the house inspection officer finds anything wrong with the house they shall be instantly fined and lowered in class. a class 2 citizen shall be given 24 hours prior warning as to a house inspection, this gives them time to clean up ready, if however something is found wrong within a class 2 they are given a written warning. In class 1 there is no house inspection and its entirely up to the home owner as to how its kept.

8). Those lower than class 3 cannot vote in general elections, they have no say in the running of the country and if they are caught trying to vote they would of have broke two rules, entering the city without a pass and voting, for this they would receive there class lowered or maybe even prison.

9). Those lower than class 2 are not allowed on holiday anywhere outside of the country, there is no time limit on how long they are allowed on holiday either. However those within class 3 are only allowed to holiday to the cairngorms and area allowed to be away from there homes from a maximum of 2 weeks, this must also be agreed 4 weeks before they leave. Those in class 4 are allowed away for a week whilst those in class 5 are not allowed on holiday at all.

10). Those who are not in class 1 are not allowed to just approach a class 1 in the street and talk to them, if they approach them without consent it will be taken as a threat and body guards will call the police and have whoever approached the class 1 taken away. For doing this you would receive a fine and have to write a written apology.

Ralphs Costume

Ralph Darling

When the play starts Ralph and Lucinda are in the Caringorms on a ski-ing trip, because of this rather than Ralph's usuall outfit Ralph can be seen wearing a ski-ing outfit. His outfit I believe would be rather accentric with a bright jacket and trousers, and ski-ing goggles to complete.  I believe his outfit would look similar to the one below.

As you can see from this picture, there is the type of jacket that i believe Ralph would be wearing. I also think that he would have the hat and the goggles, my reason for believeing this is that  it would show to the audience what is going on, on stage, it would also draw instant attention towards Ralph and create humour.




Throughout the rest of the play when Ralph Darling is at home, due to his buisness nature i believe that he would wear a suit at all times, his suit would be black and his hair would be backwards but slightly to the left. His suit would always be neat and his shoes perfectly shined, he would maintain this image as he believes he is above people.

This is similar to the suit that i believe Ralph would be wearing in the play, his shirt would be crisp white, and his tie would also be neat and black. Because Ralph lifts his suit would look tight on his shoulder region.

This is how i believe Ralph's hair would be in the show, although its pushed back it would still be abit scruffy. Reason for believeing this is the pushed back shows how he's neat but the scruffyness to show how he's still only a class 3 and that people are above him.

When Ralph is not indoors within the play, like when he visists the class 5 area to speak with Pete, I believe this is the sort of jacket he would wear, it would be thick and long. It would be brown to go with her black suit.

Class Area

Class 5

I believe this image represents what class 5 would look like, although I believe that there will probably be fewer trees.

The reason I believe this photo resembles class 5 is the fact the building looks of a low status, cramming many flats intone building, the tower block looks cold and grotty.

However we can still see the countryside to the side of the building.

Class 4

This is what I believe class 4 properties to look like. Alike class 5 they are also flats, but these one’s are more spacious and there are 3 flats rather than a large group.  This house looks more warm and welcoming. It looks as if this is in a nicer area surrounded by more people.

We can see that each flat even has its own complimentary balcony.

As a class 4 you will still have access to local towns and even golf courses, that’s why I believe this block of flats would be more central than in class 5

Class 3

 I believe class 3 to be your average house, some bigger than others depending on the persons actual occupation. Someone as successful as ralph would like in a slightly bigger than average house.

I think that houses in class 3 would be detached but still close together, allowing people to have their space, but still there are a lot of similar houses in the surrounding area.

Class 3 houses would be in central locations, allowing it easy to make use of facilities and the

town. A class 3 house would also have more personal luxuries such as a drive and garage.

Class 2 

This would be a class 2 house the house itself set back, with gates to mark privacy. There are a lot of windows for the occupants to look out of and let light in, making this house well lit and warm. The marble outside the front door looks almost like a roman house, showing wealth and power.

The area the house is in would be rural but in a prime area, this would make it convenient yet spacious and quiet.

Ralph Darling Backstory

Ralph-Robert-Darling was born on June 18^th at 3:00am on a Sunday. He is the only child of Cara Darling and Francisco Darling. He was born tall and heavy, weighting in at 10labs 9 ounces.  When in his youth he was brought up as a class 4, his parent both worked hard .Cara Darling was a midwife at the Buxton maternity unit, and Francisco Darling was a Soldier in the army and so was away from home a lot of the time. When younger Ralph attended Buxton primary school, he found this difficult and was tormented by the other students as he was class 4 and many kids were class 3. He would have to stay late after school with teachers until his mum finished work, because of this his relationship with his parents was not very strong, he often felt alone. He was a quiet kid whilst in juniors with not many friends, he had one friend named ‘Jon’, the pair where often known for being mischievous and causing problems within the class. After Ralph finished Infants the family were demoted from class 4 down into class 5 due to Francisco Darling being killed in the war, this meant that Ralph’s mum could not keep the house tidy and run on her own. Due to being moved into a class 5 section, Ralph was no longer allowed to attend Buxton school, and Jon’s parents also requested that Ralph was kept away from there class 3 son.  Ralph would spend most of his time outside in the countryside, this was government land and so he would have to be careful not to be caught whilst doing this.  Ralphs mother attempted to get Ralph home schooled and therefore had to give up her job in order to do this. Because of this there was no income for Ralph or his mum. When Ralph turned 14 he was caught on the golf course without having a pass, due to this he was given a criminal record for entering a class 4 area without permission. At 16 Ralph felt he was at a loose end and so he decided it was belt to follow in the footsteps of his farther and join the army. When he joined he found it difficult as he was not a social person, he often kept himself to himself and other soldiers found him difficult to get along with. He completed training and was first deployed to the war aged 19. When at war he found the common problem that people had to stop fighting in order to take water out of there backpacks to keep hydrated. He tried to tackle this problem himself by creating a pipe that would venture from his backpack up to his mouth, allowing him to drink without having to stop at all.  His fellow soldier buddies saw what Ralph had done and asked him if he could do the same for them. Ralph had a business head and decided that he would do so at a small fee. He made a lot of money and respect within the army for his drinking straw system. After serving 10 years within the army, the minimum that can be served for a class 5 citizen he left to pursue a career in his drinking straw system. Ralph went back to class 5 living and had to beg his army general to let him take a copy of his drinking straw system to show people. When he arrived at home he realised he wasn’t allowed into the city where the investment companies would be. Ralph was walking in the class 5 sections with his drinking system one day when a judge was coming through to inspect the class 5 lands to see if it was suitable as a sewage waste site. She was amazed in what Ralph had built and asked to purchase it for her self. Ralph instead asked her if she would like to invest in his product and he could make her more, she agreed and funded Ralph the means to his business.  After a few years of selling his single product from his class 5 regions he was began to build up a name for himself and money in his pocket. For this he was awarded class 4 status rather than 5. Cara Darling moved with him and he gave his mum her own bedroom providing that she kept look after the house. It was in class 4 that he met Lucinda whilst out in the town; she also was a class 4 woman. Ralph said he remembers saying ‘I saw her, I wanted her, and I got her’. He later took his business further, and instead of just selling one type of drinking straw he specialised in all types, from children’s birthdays to hen nights and parties.  He was even given a slot of TV under the slogan ‘Suck up darlings’.  In 2001 he married his wife Lucinda and bought his first car, a Range Rover, with heated seats and leather interior. His business was progressing and he was awarded class 3 statuses. His mum however had to remain in class 4. His wife was allowed to live with him in class 3.