Lesson video

Hello, welcome and thank you for joining me.

My name is Mrs. Butterworth, and I will be guiding you through your learning.

Now, in this lesson, we will be watching act one scenes four to eight of "Small Island." So you do need to make sure you have access to the national theater recording of this production.

In the first part of the lesson, we'll be watching clips of Rufus Norris talk about these scenes.

So it's really great to be able to hear from the director himself.

So I'm gonna stop talking and let's get on with the lesson.

In this lesson, you will use Rufus Norris's comments to explore how contrast, character, and staging choices create meaning.

But before we delve into the lesson, let's look at those all important key words.

They are juxtaposition, flawed, deft, iconic, and explicitly.

Now, juxtaposition means to put two very different things side by side to highlight contrast or create meaning.

So look out for that as we go through the lesson today.

Flawed is to have weaknesses or faults like making mistakes or bad choices.

So we could describe some of the characters in "Small Island" as being flawed.

Deft is to show skill or being clever and quick in the way something is done.

Iconic, it means very famous and easily recognized.

So representing something important or special.

So you may hear Rufus Norris talk about the iconic image of the Windrush ship.

And then explicitly means to be clearly and directly stated.

So something that's clearly and directly stated with no confusion or doubt.

Now, you may see these words pop up throughout the slides, but also as you watch the videos, you may hear them there as well.

So keep an ear out for those key words.

Now, the outline of our lesson looks like this.

We're going to begin by exploring act one scenes four to eight with Rufus Norris.

So we're going to hear him speak, and then we're going to move on to watch those scenes of the production.

So let's begin.

So in this video you will watch the director, Rufus Norris, introduce act one scenes four to eight.

When you have finished watching this, you will answer the following question: what important changes start to happen in scenes four to eight, and how do they affect the characters? Now, you will be given time to answer this question after watching the video, but it's worth just having it in the back of your mind as you listen to Rufus Norris talk.

So make sure you've got everything you need to do this.

So you might want to grab a pen or a laptop to make some notes as you watch, or just simply listen.

Listening is the most important thing here.

So I'm going to hope that we are all ready to start this video, and I'm going to press play now.

<v ->So the rest of the first half, scenes four to eight,</v> are when the story really starts to elide, that these characters start meeting each other.

Now, the only link that we've had so far it is between Gilbert and Arthur, and then Queenie and then with Michael.

But Gilbert hasn't met Hortense yet.

Hortense hasn't met Queenie, and we haven't really seen how these things are gonna start coming together.

So scene four, and again, we've got one of these transitions.

Out of scene three, we're told that the war is over.

As that cinema screen is going back, the war has ended.

There's a beautiful juxtaposition which happens in great storytelling of Gilbert's deep grief about the death of Arthur and the celebration of the end of World War II.

So the whole world is celebrating while this man is in total despair, because the person that he had grown very fond of had died partly as a result of him not being able to resist the temptation to get into a fight.

But out of that grief, he goes into the celebration at the end of act two, at the end of the war, and he's taken back to Jamaica, which is of course where he meets Hortense.

Then we are flip flopping.

We're going from Hortense and Gilbert meeting.

We go back to Queenie trying to find out what's happened to Bernard.

I think that's right.

And then we're going to the moment where Gilbert and Hortense are.

The beginning of them being brought together.

Gilbert is going to go with Hortense's friend Celia.

That's the plan.

We sort of know it isn't gonna happen.

Gilbert's never gonna get the money, and Celia can't leave for the reason that Hortense says, and this throws a light on people whose dreams are just dreams. But because Hortense's dream is stronger than that, and she reacts very badly to being ridiculed by Celia, she kicks out, which is a flaw in her personality.

Andrea Levy is not afraid of painting people in a complex way, but it breaks the idea of this fantasy and consequently ends up presenting the opportunity for the much less optimistic, but more pragmatic movement forward to what they want.

So we've gone, we're in Jamaica, we go back to London, we're in Jamaica again for this scene, and then we go back to London again for Michael returning and us hearing about his story about what happened to him during the war, and of course the moment where he discovers that Queenie has kept his wallet to look at the photo of him and they start their very brief but passionate love affair.

And then we're back in Jamaica again and we're heading towards the end now where Hortense, the opposite of a passionate love affair is a very pragmatic relationship.

I will give you the money to go and I will marry you as long as you call for me afterwards.

And Gilbert, he has no cards to play.

What's he gonna do? And he takes the very difficult decision to go for it.

Both of them are looking at the life that they want and sacrificing the idea of love to do that.

And then we're into Windrush at the end.

So it's really where we've set up the three stories since four to eight, where these all start wrapping around each other and leading us towards the end of act one with the knowledge that act two is gonna bring all these three stories together in a different and more complete way.

Again, big change is how do you do that without loads of stuff? The scene where Queenie goes to the war office to find out what's happened to Bernard is a chair and a lamp.

That's all it is.

And a bit of a lighting effect.

The use of shadows in the scene and the bench in the scene between Celia and Gilbert and Hortense is very compact.

People being our principal scenery there.

So one thing to look at is the deft way that we can tell that story with the minimum amount of stuff and just seeing how Andrea Levy and Helen are successfully wrapping the story around and round itself to project us forward.

<v ->Okay, so now we have watched that video,</v> we can now move on to the question.

What important changes start to happen in scenes four to eight? So think back to what you have just listened to and what Rufus Norris says and how do they affect the characters.

So you will need to pause the video to give yourself time to answer that question.

Off you go.

Great.

Okay, so now we have completed that question, let's do some feedback.

So let's see how Alex answered.

So Alex has identified this that the character's stories start to connect in these scenes.

So Gilbert meets Hortense and Queenie begins a relationship with Michael.

Gilbert is grieving Arthur's death while everyone else is celebrating the end of the war, which makes his sadness stand out.

So we've got that juxtaposition there of the celebration and Arthur's death.

So that key word there, juxtaposition.

We see that Hortense and Gilberts have different dreams, but both want a better future.

Their relationship is more about being practical than romantic.

The staging is simple but powerful, and the scenes move quickly between places and stories.

So that's a really detailed answer there from Alex, but I'm sure you also came up with your own ideas.

So what I would like you to do now is I would like you to discuss, can you add anything to Alex's answer? So pause the video to give yourself time to do that.

Off you go.

Okay, so I need you now to give me an answer to this question.

So what does Rufus Norris say is a beautiful juxtaposition in these scenes? So the question is, what does Rufus Norris say is a beautiful juxtaposition in these scenes? Remember we've got that keyword juxtaposition there, which is all about that contrast, those two contrasting ideas or things side by side.

So that might help you.

So I'd like you to come up with your answer.

Is it A, B, C, or D? And you'll need to pause the video to give yourself time to do this.

Off you go.

Okay, so what does Rufus Norris say is a beautiful juxtaposition in these scenes? Well done to everyone that said C, Gilbert's grief alongside the end of war celebrations.

And I think that juxtaposition really emphasizes those two emotions there, the real extreme of the celebrations, but also that real sadness and that grief over Arthur's death.

And another question for you.

What does Norris say, so what does Rufus Norris say about the way scenes are staged? So you need to pick A, B, C, D.

Pause the video to come up with your answer now.

Okay, so what does Norris say about the way scenes are staged? Is it A, B, C, or D? Well, the answer is in fact D.

He says that the staging is simple with people as the main focus.

And as you watch the production, look out for this, look at that staging, and look how the characters are really the main focus of these scenes.

So in this next video, we are going to watch Rufus Norris talk about staging the end of act one, and then you're going to answer the following question: what reasons does Rufus Norris give for changing the end of act one? You will be given time to answer that question, so make sure you are listening carefully to what Rufus Norris has to say as we watch this video.

Okay, so are we ready to go? Fantastic.

I'm going to press play now.

<v ->The great thing about working on a play, or an adaptation,</v> or a musical and having the writer in the room, in this case Helen Edmundson being the voice of Andrea Levy, is that you have a chance to try things out, and if they don't work, you can try it a different way, or even if they do work, you can try it a different way because you know that that way works.

Let's try this, no, we'll go back to that way.

In the end, you want to be in an environment where the best idea wins.

Doesn't have to be my idea as the director, it's gotta be related to the writer's idea because they are the creative source, but lots of things can be tried.

And if you've got an environment where people feel supported, usually the best idea will win out.

The end of act one is different in the production than it was in the play.

And we tried both, of course we did.

The reason that we ended with Hortense saying goodbye to Gilbert as he boarded the Windrush was several fold.

There were several reasons for it.

One is we're in a theater, and if you can fill the stage with an image of the Windrush, which is a totally iconic image, and it's absolutely massive, that is a great way to end up an act.

It's a great way to go blackout.

Okay, so you are finishing with a big number.

It's also finishing with promise.

We're going forward.

I talked about the character's agency.

There's a lot of hope.

These three characters are all hopeful and we're ending at one of the greatest moments of hope, Hortense says, "Send for me, send for me." Everything she's been trying to do since the beginning of the play or certainly until she's had her heart broken, but she wants a better life for herself from the moment that she's left by her mother.

And the same is true in different ways of the other characters.

Gilbert, he says, "I don't wanna be one of these small change guys, coins dangling in your pockets, talking about what I did or didn't do." And he's going to go and make a life for himself.

Another reason is that the end of the act, one of the challenges with a big, big book like "Small Island," is that there are many, many scenes.

And actually, the end of act one has several different endings to it.

You could end it at certain points, and we just found that it had one too many.

So to leave it hanging in the air rather than telling audience that Queenie was pregnant felt more successful.

Another one of course is that audiences are smart, and I would guarantee that most of the audience had a pretty good idea of what had happened between Queenie and Michael.

And I'm not sure that many of them were surprised to see her at the beginning of act two with quite a late pregnancy.

And sometimes it's great to celebrate your audience's intelligence and not tell them explicitly what's going on.

You don't want your audience to be ahead of you, but you also don't want to leave them behind.

So that's an interesting storytelling balance, and in practice we found that that was the best way to make it work.

Of course, Helen was completely involved in the decision, and if Andrea had been there, I'm sure she would've gone along with it too.

<v ->Okay, now we have watched the video,</v> we can think about the following question: so what reasons does Rufus Norris give for changing the end of act one? So you know what to do now, you'll need to pause the video to give yourself time to answer that question.

So pause the video now.

Okay, great.

So we have our Oak pupils here.

So we have Lucas, Sofia, and Jun, and let's see how they answered.

So why does Norris say he changed act one? So "Norris says they changed the end so it finishes with a strong image.

The Windrush ship fills the whole stage and is iconic, so it's a powerful way to end the act." And it's interesting here, isn't it, to hear Rufus Norris speak that even though the play has been written, those changes can still happen in the production process.

And one of those is that we end with the image of the Windrush ship.

Sofia said that "All three characters feel like things are finally moving forward.

So Hortense says, "Send for me," which shows her dream is starting to come true." And "Norris says that audiences are clever.

Instead of showing Queenie is pregnant, they left it out so it feels more subtle and gives the audience space to think." Okay? So if Rufus Norris is like we didn't need to show it explicitly, it can just be implied.

And he's talking about creating a much more powerful ending for the end of the act.

So I'm gonna stop talking now and hand it over to you.

Thinking about your own answers and what you gained from that video, can you add anything to these answers? Please pause the video to give yourself time to discuss that question.

Off you go.

Okay, thank you so much for your contribution so far.

I now have a statement and you need to decide whether it is true or false.

Rufus Norris chose to end act one with Queenie revealing her pregnancy to make sure the audience understood what was happening.

Is the answer true or false? Come up with your answer now please.

And a very well done to everyone that said false, but we do need to explain why that statement is false.

So do pause the video to give yourself time to come up with your answer now.

Okay, so here is my answer.

Hopefully you have something similar.

So he chose not to reveal it, trusting the audience to pick up on it without being told explicitly.

Norris said the iconic image of the Windrush was much more powerful.

So again, we're thinking about that idea of how act one was changed from the original script to make it even more powerful.

Okay, so for task A, you are going to imagine you are Rufus Norris.

And what I would like you to do is I would like you to write a short note for the theater program that explains the choices made in act one.

So you may wish to include why scenes four to eight are structured to move quickly, the use of simple and compacted staging, why the act ends with the Windrush moment, and other decisions about the ending and why they make sense.

So really this is an opportunity for you to summarize those choices that Rufus Norris talks about in that video.

So you are writing it down as a short note for the theater program that explains those choices.

Okay? So gather what you need to complete this task.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

And we will feedback in a moment, but for now you are gonna need to pause the video to complete that task.

Pause the video now.

Okay, great.

Lots of great responses there, but let's just focus on Izzy's response now.

And this is a really great opportunity for you to reflect on your own answer.

So this is what Izzy has put, "In directing act one of "Small Island," we aim to create a beautiful juxtaposition," I loved how she's used some quotations there, "by quickly moving between storylines and places, showing lives connecting amid grief and celebration.

Using very simple staging, just a chair and a lamp, we let the characters become the main scenery, focusing the audience on their emotions.

Ending with the Windrush moment fills the stage with a totally iconic image of hope and promise.

We left some things unsaid.

." Oh, I love how Izzy finished that there.

So what I would like you to do is I would like you to decide how you would finish that final sentence, okay? So we left some things unsaid, so have a little think: how might Izzy complete her final sentence? Pause the video to discuss your ideas.

Off you go.

We are now at the second part of our lesson, which is all about act watching act one scenes four to eight.

So you will now watch act one scenes four to eight.

So you will need to make sure you have access to the national theater's filming of the production.

And act one scene four begins with the chorus singing and act one ends in a blackout.

It's the end of the act, it needs to be really final.

But as you watch these scenes, I want you to really think about the specific things that Rufus Norris asks you to look out for.

So the first is the juxtaposition between Gilbert's despair and the end of the war.

So really think about how that juxtaposition emphasizes those heightened emotions, the simple staging, how the scenes move quickly between stories and places, and the impact of that final iconic image of Windrush.

Okay, so in a moment you will need to pause the video and go to your recording of the play.

Okay, so make sure you are ready to do that and when you are, pause the video and get watching.

Okay, great.

So we have reached the end of act one in the production and it really is a powerful ending, isn't it, to an act.

You just kinda wanna get into the next act and find out what's going to happen.

So let's just answer this question.

So which answer best explains why act one ends with the Windrush image? Okay? So which answer best explains why act one ends with the Windrush image? A, B, C, or D? Pause the video to come up with your answer now.

Okay, so hopefully a lot of you or all of you would be great have picked B: to create a powerful, iconic image full of hope and promise for the future.

So hopefully you really saw that as you watched the production, that powerful image and Hortense, saying, "Wait for me," which I think is just such a powerful way to end that first act.

Okay, so task B: Jacob and Aisha made these statements about act one.

So let's read these statements together.

So Jacob says, "The act ends with hope, but I also felt worried because I know from history that things might get harder for the characters." Great.

Aisha says, "Watching Hortense, I began to understand her flaws and why her actions sometimes seemed harsh or difficult to accept.

And what I would like you to do with those statements is I would like you to discuss please to what extent do agree and why with those statements.

You may even wish to refer to Rufus Norris's comments in your discussion.

So think back to that video we watched at the start of the lesson.

If you're working alone, you may wish to jot down some ideas, but you will all need to pause a video to give yourself time to complete that task.

So pause the video now.

Fantastic.

That's really great.

It's so great to hear your opinions and your responses in response to the production.

It's really lovely to hear.

So let's see how Laura answered.

So Laura says that "I agree," this is to do with the ending.

"I agree because the ending shows the Windrush ship leaving, which is a powerful symbol of new opportunities and hope, as Norris said it's a totally iconic image full of promise.

But knowing the historical struggles faced by Windrush passengers, racism, discrimination, and hardship makes me feel worried about what lies ahead for the characters." So Laura, there really agreeing with that initial statement about it's difficult to feel totally hopeful because we kind of know where this is going to go.

So just pause the video to discuss that question at the bottom.

Is there anything you could add to develop Laura's response? So pause the video now.

Okay, so let's see how Lucas responded to Aisha's statement about Hortense.

So he said, "I agree because as Norris explains, Hortense is a complex character who has to be pragmatic to survive.

Her spitfire nature and harshness reflect her strong desire for a better life and the disappointment she feels when faced with obstacles.

This helps me see her flaws not as simply mean, but as part of her struggle to protect herself and fight for her dreams." So a lovely thoughtful, detailed response there from Lucas.

And I now want you to think about your own answers and discuss, is there anything you could add to develop Lucas's response? Pause the video to give yourself time to complete them.

Pause the video now.

And that is the end of the lesson.

And I hope you enjoyed finishing act one and that very dramatic ending as we go into act two.

It really is a fantastic production.

So let's just remind ourselves of some of the things we have looked at today.

We know that Norris explains that the second half of act one is where the characters start to entwine.

Norris highlights the theatrical transition from Arthur's death to war's end and this juxtaposition.

Norris suggests that Hortense is a flawed and complex character.

Norris emphasizes the effect of use of staging in moving deftly between the different settings and situations.

And finally, Rufus Norris ends act one with that iconic Windrush image to create a powerful symbol of hope and new beginnings.

Again, another well done, and I really look forward to doing this all again soon.

So I will see you then.