My Ideas For 'Spine' Performance

A lot of the work we will make for spine will be devised by us, the students and therefore I have started to come up with some ideas that could be intertwined within our show.

The Book Thief
One of my favourite books and films is 'The Book Thief.' When the topic of libraries, education and books was presented to me, my attention turned to how I could involve such a poignant, touching story into our performance. It was then suggested that Nazi book burning would also be incorporated into the piece and I knew it was a story that had the potential to heighten the piece and add a story that could express the complete themes and message to the audience. I believe that the old lady in 'Spine' could be Liesel Meminger as an older woman and her hoard of books are a collection from when she saved books from Hitler's book burnings. I would present this in flashback form of a scene in which Liesel discovers the social and political value of books. I think this would be a good scene to include because it gives the story more depth and gives the audience a perspective through the eyes of a girl who defied one of the most dangerous dictators to save her beloved books.

Inkheart
'Inkheart' is another of my favourite books, a story that quite literally, brought the books to life. In our piece, immersing the audience in the books, both by being in the library and centring all our extracts around books, would be enhanced by bringing the stories to life, as they do in 'Inkheart.' One of the small details included in 'Inkheart' was the writing on all of the characters faces, stating their story; their face were the pages of the book and they were tattooed with these words. If we all chose our favourite book and then wrote a extract on our body, I believe it would be both visually pleasing and thought provoking. I think its effect would be representing to the audience that the books we read are part of us and become the very skin we wear. In the end, we are all just the pages of a book.

Malala Mirror
Malala Yousafzai has been campaigning for girls education despite the threat she has faced first hand from the Taliban for doing so. To depict the difference in the view on female education on two sides of the world, I had the idea of creating a mirror, created by two girls standing back to back, standing in front of their parents, one being told the school work she is doing is impressive and that they are extremely proud of her achievements, but the other girl being told she is bringing shame on the family and that girls don't need an education as it is not important within their role in society. Then I would have a comparison in the two girls reactions- the first girl saying she hates school and wants to leave as soon as possible and the second begging her parents to stay in education. Showing this contrast shows how much we take for granted our free access to education and how desirable to is to those who aren't lucky enough to live in a society in which female education is tolerated.