Research

Evan Placey:

Evan is a graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama, McGill University, and the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme and Invitation Group. Evan is a Creative Writing Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Southampton, and also teaches playwriting for various theatres and also in prisons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01cjv8s

This video is an interview with Evan on BBC Breakfast back in 2013 where he talks about Girls Like That.

Girl's Like That:
'Girl's Like That' is a play written by Evan Placey about a girl whose naked photo is sent around a school; it's about how the girls react to the image. The play explores many issues (listed at the bottom of this page). As a class we asked questions about the play and some of the characters to find out more.

Here is a list of facts that we know about the play.

Film:

Rebekah suggested we watched a film called 'Cyberbully' to help us find out how cyber bullying can effect people. It was about a girl, Taylor, who was being bullied on a website and then she tried to take her own life. This film allowed us to access the emotions we may not have gotten had we not seen it. It showed us how Scarlett may be affected and how she would be feeling, as its rather hard to find this out because she doesn't have many lines until the end.

Dance Research:
To help bring out our inner sassy dancers, Hannah Marns discovered a French choreographer on Youtube who creates amazing dances (sometimes in heels). I have taken inspiration from him, and on Saturday the 31st of May, Hannah and I are going to participate in one of his London workshops, as he is here for the Britain's Got Talent final.

Amanda Todd:

Amanda Todd was 15 years old when she took her own life. In 'Girls Like That' one of the characters refers to a girl who made a video with 'cards and stuff' before she killed herself, and I believe that the play is referring to the video below. Amanda was bullied for showing herself to a man online, he then blackmailed her which resulted in her suicide. 

There is a moment in the video (which I have screen capped below) that shows Amanda holding a card that says "A guy then yelled just punch her already", and in the play one of my lines is:

Louise: And a guy yells

Me: Hit the slut already!

While watching this video it made me realise how the character of Scarlett might have been feeling when my character says that line. 

The video below shows an interview with Todd's friends, although it made me think of the time in the play where all the girls take to facebook to write tributes or when they are being interview for the TV, and I wondered if Amanda Todd was actually friends with these people or if she actually even knew them, as in her video she states that she didn't have any friends. 

This research into Amanda Todd's suicide has helped me gain some background information on the play.

Women:

The play also focuses on how the role of women has changed throughout the years. One of the closing lines of my character from the 1920's is "I wish I'd stayed home like a girl should". This shows that in the early 1900's women were not meant to be out, especially not at scandalous pool parties. Amber's 1940's air pilot character has an interesting line too; "Sometimes you have to sit back and say 'alright, you've got the willy, you know best'". This shows that although her character was doing a mans job she still didn't have the same rights as a man who was meant to be doing the same job as her. The 1960's character that Jess plays has to choose whether she is going to have an abortion. If her character had been pregnant before 1967 then she wouldn't have been allowed to have an abortion (or at least it wouldn't have been legal). This shows that the role of women has changed and that they were allowed to make their own choices. Hannah's 1980's character has a job in a high powered company, and in the future, as it is revealed in Scarlett's monologue at the end of the play, she becomes one of 5 FTSE 100 chief executives. Women's roles have changed throughout the years and this is reflected in the play. It is also empowering to women.

Themes of the Play:

Bullying

Friendship

Friendship vs the reality of friendship

Girls are bitchy

The reaction of the girls/boys

Social networking

The media

Body image

Growing up

The role of women since the 1920's