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Looking back on our group's progress, we definitely worked as Karen Christopher described as the 'Goat Island' approach.

There were many times that we went away individually to come up with movement ideas and we came back together and picked movements from each of us to create a scene.

I have always liked to work with blueprints like Christopher says, because then I know the outcome of each project however, working with my group allowed me to face new challenges and it allowed me to be more creative using the 'Goat Island' approach, for example; when I have taken part in a production including dance or physical theatre, the piece has already been made and I learn the choreography therefore, it was a creative challenge for me to create movement ideas myself.

For future projects I will definitely be using Christopher's theory as there were so many creative ideas made which I can use in the future. It was also interesting for me to hear and see other people's ideas.

Looking back at our production, we can slightly relate to Allen's work by involving the audience. We walked up to the audience and handed out notes, hoping to encourage change and togetherness.

In Allen's WTW project, she's involving members of the public to make them think of how they can create change by using their water differently. The members of the public saw Allen walk with the large pipe and they could see others getting involved by writing down their promises. By having someone come up to you to encourage you to make change and by seeing other people get involved can really empower people to be involved in the movement which hopefully, we did with our production, by demonstrating what change we could do by working together and handing out the notes to include the audience in our movement.

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Week Six:

We finished the ending to our piece. It went really well. There's a slight pause in our audio therefore, last minute we thought we could give the audience notes to involve them and encourage them to come together to create change.

We practiced in the performance room, it was extremely warm in there however, it was beneficial to use the space, to figure out the staging and the transitions between thw plays.

For costume, we all decided to wear black and to have the blue ribbon in our hair to resemble connection and community.

The performance went really well, we were slightly too fast however, we took our time handing the notes out which got us back on track.

They key moments from this week to do with ecology are relationships and connections to the audience and the space we used for rehearsals.

We decided we would use blue pieces of paper to hand out to the audience with a message saying, 'You are not alone' on one side and, 'Nid ydych, chi ar eich ben eu hun' on the other. This can be really effective to an audience by including them in our story and encouraging them to come together as a community to create change. This made me feel empowered to create more change and hopefully, it will do the same to others.

The space we used this week was the performance room. It's quite tight behind the wings and it was extremely warm which made me feel quite claustrophobic. It made me feel quite sick and overwhelmed however, I tried to stay focused as I knew we were only performing short plays therefore, I knew I wouldn't be in there for long.

When I think ecologically, I have to think about the performer, as it is so important for them to feel comfortable on and off stage. Small things such as, the heating being on, no lights behind the wings and the wings being a small area could have a really bad effect on the performers physically and mentally, for example, because I was feeling claustrophobic it then made me feel overwhelmed and sick which could have possibly affected me and the performance.

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Week Five:

This week we really focused on our physical theatre piece. We worked in the dance studio which was really refreshing as it is a big room, which allowed us to put all of our movement ideas together. We all thought of our own movements to a count of eight and came back together to see what movements worked.

We showed Sian the piece we created and her feedback was that it was too much like a dance rather than physical theatre, which I definitely agree with. In my opinion, a dance shows an emotion through movements however, physical theatre shows a story through the emotions in our bodies, which allows the audience to feel the journey with us. Sian told us to think of a message and story we wish to tell through our bodies.

We decided to start over however, keeping all of our movements in mind in case they become useful for the future. We had a group discussion and decided our story that we will show through physical theatre will be about community and how we can work together as a team to create change.

We've come up with the majority of our piece except for the ending when we'll all come together. We are all going to think of an ending and put our ideas together for our next meeting.

The key moment I'm looking at to do with ecology from this week is connections and relationships between the group.

Grace wasn't in for one day this week, Olivia and I tried to show our piece to the class and tutors, it was really difficult as the three of us are connected throughout the piece with a ribbon therefore, we couldn't get our message across to the audience with a member missing. This could cause the audience to feel confused as we were incapable to perform using the ribbon how we had rehearsed.

All three of us are holding the ribbon at one time to show the audience the relationship between us and how if we work together as a community we can create change for the future.

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Week Four:

At the beginning of this week, we had a group discussion on whether we should perform the play in Welsh or not. We have decided we will. Olivia doesn't feel comfortable with the amount of lines River has to say in Welsh therefore, we have made the decision to swap roles. Grace is still Wind, I am now River and Olivia is now Old River.

I then translated the whole script from English to Welsh. This was a nice challenge for me as I haven't written in Welsh since I left school in 2017. I got the work done quite quickly as I was in a quiet booth in the library, which I found really relaxing and easy to work in. Once I had finished translating, I sent it to Bronwen to make sure it has been translated correctly before recording. Whilst I was translating, Grace and Olivia came up with possible movements we could use in the performance.

We re-recorded our lines in Welsh. This was a big challenge for me as l've never been the best at reading however, we got through the work quickly. It was harder recording this week as we've spent a lot of time in the small recording booth, we need to start moving in a larger room.

We do have a small amount of movement we could use in our piece however, we didn't feel confident to present it to the class. Sian and Matthew's feedback was that they wanted to see something physical which is understandable as it is week four and we have only shown recordings so far.

The key focuses from this week to do with ecology are the Welsh language and the space we used to work in.

I translated the whole script from English to Welsh, which was a nice challenge to do. I translated the script to how I would naturally speak in Welsh therefore, it would be said naturally for me and it would be more believable for the audience.

For me, the meaning of “speaking naturally" is how people would speak day to day, words which are in people's everyday vocabulary.

I find a play or a show far more engaging if spoken naturally rather than work by people such as, Shakespeare. There are many words used in Shakespeare's work which I've never heard of or used therefore, if a play is spoken naturally in today's language, it's easier to understand and I can understand the story which is being told.

Here is an example of a piece of script which I translated to be naturally spoken to me:

English: As I would ride my bike to go to work, I would see the trees moving in a strange manner.

Welsh translation: Fel y byddwn i’n reidio fy meic i fynd i’r gwaith, byddwn yn gweld y coed yn symud mewn modd rhyfedd.

Welsh translation, for how I would speak naturally: Wrth i fi redio fy meic i fynd i waith, byddwn gweld y coed symud mewn ffordd od.

By using my everyday vocabulary to translate the script, it really helped me to believe in the story my character is trying to tell. I don't think I have every used the phrase 'strange manner' or 'modd rhyfedd’, I would naturally say, 'in a strange/odd way' which is why I translated the script to, 'mewn ffordd od’.

The space I used whilst translating the script was a booth in the library. It was lovely and made me feel really relaxed. There were no people around and it was so quiet therefore, it allowed me to have my full attention to translating the script and I managed to finish it fairly quickly. Working in a quiet environment allows me to focus and I felt very motivated to get the work done.

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Week Three:

This week, we took Sian and Matthew's feedback on board and we decided to change characters to include the Welsh language. Olivia is still River, Grace is now Wind and l am now Old River.

I translated Old River's paragraph into Welsh and I sent it to Bronwen Rickard who I do ‘Eich Gyrfa Gymraeg’ with, to ensure the translation is correct.

We went back to the recording booth to re-record Grace as Wind and myself as Old River in Welsh. Grace then edited the new recordings with the sound effects.

We presented our new audio, which has improved as we could no longer hear scripts moving and background noise.

Sian and Matthew's feedback for this week was to either have the whole script in Welsh or in English as it didn't make sense for only Old River to be speaking Welsh. Which definitely makes sense as River and Old River are the same person.

My focus point ecologically for this week is, how the space we're in can have an impact on how the audio is perceived.

In the small recording booth, we listened to our audio and it sounded very clear and all of our voices were at the same level however, last week in the large and echoing theatre, we could easily hear our mistakes and where there's room for improvement.

Small details such as, different levels of voice and background noise can easily distract the audience from what is being said in the piece and they could feel less engaged. I personally found it very distracting, hearing pages of the script moving or hearing people sniffing, it made me lose interest in the story and that could easily happen to others too.

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Week Two:

This week we recorded our script in the recording booth. Grace is Old River, Olivia is River and I'm Wind.

Grace then edited the audio takes together and added sound effects such as, birds singing and cafe background noise.

We presented our audio recording to the class in the theatre. After listening to the audio recording through the speakers in the theatre, it was easy to hear where needed improvement. It was clear to hear our scripts moving in the background, Grace and Olivia's voices were much louder that mine which was not noticeable when listening to it in the recording booth or on the laptop.

Our feedback from Sian and Matthew was to add the Welsh language into our play, as both Olivia and I are fluent. I have always felt guilty for speaking Welsh around those who can't, as don't want to come across as rude however, Sian and Matthew reassured me that it was perfectly okay to do so. as it’s my first language.

The two key moments I'm focusing on from this week to do with ecology are, the space we used to work in and the use of the Welsh language.

The room we used this week was the audio recording booth. This room is extremely small and very warm. It was quite hard to focus when being in this room for long periods of time therefore, it was important for me to take small breaks outside of the room to refresh myself.

By using the Welsh language, it shows that there are multiple ways we can communicate and say things. For example. if I were to use a translation website to translate a sentence from English to Welsh, there would not be an exact translation due to the order the words are structured in the languages.

By using the Welsh language, it allows the audience to think about how the language attects them and how they feel without knowing what is being said. Listening to another language without understanding the words can make people feel all different kinds of emotions, without focusing on the meaning for example, I don't speak French however, whenever I hear someone else speaking it, it can make me feel relaxed and happy even though I have no idea what is being said.

By our play including the Welsh language, it can make Welsh speakers feel involved in the story and it can also encourage non-Welsh speakers to learn the language. However, due to our piece being physical theatre, hopefully everyone in the audience will understand our message in their own individual ways, as physical theatre doesn't have one exact meaning, it allows the audience to make their own decisions on what the story is about.

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Week One:

This week, we put ourselves into groups. I am in a group with Olivia and Grace. We had a look through some short plays that we could perform. We liked 'You Are Not Alone' by Nicole Pschetz and 'This Play is Written in Mushroom' by Haeweon Yi.

After reading through the two plays, we decided we will be performing 'You Are Not Alone'.

We read through the play quite a few times, switching characters therefore, we would understand the true meaning and message that thee play is trying to show the audience. It was also beneficial for us to be switching characters as it allowed us to see each character's perspective in the story.

We discussed the possibility of recording our lines to perform a physical theatre piece however, we need to make sure the recording booths are available for the days we need.

We set ourselves tasks for our next meeting such as: Grace to look into props, Olivia to look into costume ideas and I will look into set design and lighting ideas.

The key moment I'm looking at to do with ecology from this week is the space we used to work in.

I found it quite difficult and challenging to focus on work this week due to being in a busy and crowded room. There were many different conversations taking place at the same time and there was music playing loudly, which I found distracting. It was then difficult for me to engage in the group's conversations, which could have had an effect on the level of work I produced.

Thinking ecologically allows me to take into consideration how different work spaces can have an effect on me and what can offer in the work process.

For the future, I’d like to be in a quieter room, with fewer people, to be able to have my full attention on the work and it will also help me feel much calmer and relaxed working in a group.

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For me personally, ecology means thinking about the following:

• Spaced used to work in. How different environments can have an effect on me and the quality of work I can do.

• Conversations, language and communication.

• Relationships between people and objects.

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The practitioner I have looked into is Jess Allen and her project l've focused on is the

'Water Treatment Walks'.

Jess Allen is a walking artist and an aerial dancer. Allen is trained in contemporary dance and has an MA in dance making and performance.

"She is currently completing a second PhD in rural walking as an eco-activist arts practice, with a President's Doctoral Scholarship from the University of Manchester."

"Typically, I use long-distance walking art to create unexpected meetings, performing one-to-one interventions for unlikely audiences in unusual locations." - Allen. J.

https://alinadayswalk.org.uk

Water Treatment Walks:

Jess Allen's Water Treatment Walks is Allen's journey to make people think about their water usage and how they can change it. Allen's walk was in a public location and involved everyone who crossed her path. By seeing Allen carry the 2-meter pipe and the people making promises really makes us think of our actions and words. Allen met many people on her journey who made promises and it shows that a message or an action from one person can carry on and spread to others to create change.

Between the 9th and 13th of May 2016, Jess Allen walked from Dŵr Cymru Water Treatment Work to the Cvfoeth Naturio| Cymru visitor centre. She carried a 2-meter long water pipe which people she passed would write a promise of how they could treat water differently .

https://watertreatmentwalksdotorsdotuk.wordpress.com

The theorist I have looked into is Karen Christopher and her Goat Island approach.

Christopher is a performance maker, performer and a teacher.

"Karen's focus is on artistic negotiation in the devising process and finding non-traditional structures for working and composing live performance works."

"Traditional theatre usually follows an economically oriented model. It begins a project with a blueprint of the final version and measures success as a tuttilling that plan exactly. An economic system works to fulfil an initial strategy that forecast a desired outcome. Conversely, Goat Island's approach might be seen a more ecologically oriented, in that we are out to discover something we can't imagine at the point from which we start".