Images of Hell

For the last few weeks, as well as learning lines, devising scenes and working with Hannah and George on the piece as a whole I have been working on the multimedia aspect of our performance; the images of hell which appear between most of the scenes. One of the key themes explored in the play is the nature of humanity and these images will be key in illustrating this so that the audience do not leave thinking that the piece is only about 7/7. Therefore, we have chosen to use images of man-made hell on earth from the 20th and 21st century such as World War I, World War II, the Rwanda Genocide, Chechen War, images of Zimbabwe, Vietnam and so on.

However, I am finding this aspect of my work very difficult. I am quite an empathetic person and already relatively cynical about human nature for a person of my age. However, this element of the project is becoming increasingly difficult due to the images we are putting in front of the audience. We do not want to be shocking, but provocative with these images. I am getting upset by some of the images and footage I am finding and unsure whether this feeling means those items should be used or left. It is quite a predicament. Another theme explored in the play, and its reason for being called Pornography is the way we can objectify people. Are we objectifying the people in the images we present and passing this onto our audience? Is that the point? At the moment I know that these images will provoke something in the audience, and that is very much needed. I just don't know if a video of an Afghan man being beaten up is a step in the 'right' direction or a step to far. Example video to be uploaded soon.

A rather more pensive and saddened Ellie.
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