Caged Bird - RISK

The Caged Bird

Week 2 HND PA.

RISK PROJECT

After a weekend of reflection on our project I was very eager to get our piece set on a good foundation. By the latter part of our last devising session we seemed to have strayed off into the wilderness in different directions, and lost each other, focus, and the message we originally set out to portray. So we started the session off with the question...'What is our collective group message?' A simply answer from each group member was all that we needed to get us all moving together again in the same direction. Defining what our message about Risk was going to be was the best place to start from.

Why a Bird Cage? (LO Unit 29-2.1)
As a group we were really drawn to the idea of a Bird being trapped in a Birdcage. But Why? It was a great visual metaphor for us to portray in our piece, which we were encouraged to use. But why was this such a compelling image for us on the subject of risk? This was a decision we had to justify in order to clarify.

As a group we briefly shared what the Birdcage represented to us in regards to the subject of risk. This produced 2 challenging but compelling questions.

1. What does the Cage represent?
2. What does the Bird represent?

Cage Fear
Fear is often what cages a person from doing something outside the box, or in this case the cage. The Cage represents all fears and doubts that trap us, and hinder our potential to spread our wings and fly.

The Bird is us. We have the ability to fly but because we are trapped in the cage we are unable to do so.

So the solution is quite simple: Get the Bird out of the Cage. How? That's the Risk!

The Message of our piece.
In order for a person to further their potential in life they will have to take a RISK to escape from the fears that trap them.

We explored the idea of risk taking further by answering 2 important questions.

Why would someone take a Risk?                                  The Hope of Gain

Why wouldn't someone take a Risk?                              The Fear of Failure.

             FAILURE ------------------------CHOICE-----------------------------GAIN

An example scenario, and images to go with it.

UNSUCCESSFUL------------------Do I pursue an acting career? ------------------SUCCESSFUL
(Waiting tables)                                                                                                        (On the Red Carpet)


These rival images are to be the decided factor whether or not an individual chooses to or not to take a Risk.
Are they compelled to take a Risk in hope of one day standing on the red carpet, or do they decide against it for fear that they will spend a life time waiting tables? That is what we dubbed 'The Moment of Risk'.

20 Questions.
Going back to the beginning and answering some vital questions about the purpose of our performance, and the message of our piece gave us clarity so we could continue devising How we would communicate our message.


The next stage: Big Bird, and Doubts and Fears