Response to East End Tales

East End Tales is a collection of 10 stories, the play presents different events and how people deal with them. Often, someone is telling the story of another person and adding their own opinion. For example, in tale 5, the story is about a women who is being domestically abused, however it is told by her neighbour. By having the neighbour narrate the events, it allows the audience to see what happens whilst seeing how outsiders deal with it and also how they feel themselves about how the situation is handled. The tales cover many topics such as drugs, abuse and racism, which infers that it is part of everyday life in the Eat End. But in tales 1, 2 and 3, it allows the audience to realise people aren't that different, as the characters described are ones most people would come across. I think the plays are very unique and cleverly written, because they are so honest and because they are written as if someone is actually speaking. Each tale is quite different as it takes on a new subject and perspective, but they all have a similar rhythm which brings them together.

I liked the first tale as i thought it was really clever to create a person out of a place. I think it's an imaginative way of describing the East End because it tells you the kind of people that come from that area and you can refer the characteristic of the person to the characteristics of the place.

i had no knowledge of the Eat End prior to Thursday's lesson. I didn't know of any places in that area, I only knew about Eastenders which I was sure wasn't a good representation of the place. I now know the are is very mix cultured and there is a sense of community. Like may places, there are pubs and corner shops and it;s not particularly dangerous as you would often see children from local schools playing on the road.

My group and I did Tale 8. It started with Sarah as Michelle on one side of the room, and Daniella as John on the other side. I was in the middle as the narrator. Because the scene could only be two minutes long we had to cut out bits from the tale. I read the first paragraph introducing the characters and then John and Michelle came to life. Michelle lit a cigarette and John was writing notes. I then became the person who stole Michelle's bag, I skipped to that section of the play and read through whilst weaving around the room as if I were running with her bag. When it came to the line, "but guess where he's going. Yeah. Towards John", I then bumped into John as he snatched the bag back. Michelle then grabbed it from John and says, " I didn't need you fuckin 'elp. Now fuck off Policeman Plod".