Imaginary Friends: A Child's Coping Mechanism in Divorce

Development of the plot:

When finalising what our play would be about, we focused on the reasons why Kaylie had her imaginary friends. Our research showed that children invented imaginary friends when experiencing traumatising events in their life and divorce is common in today's society and can negatively affect children at an early age. Divorce can be confusing and a lonely time for young children which is why Kaylie made these friends. The imaginary friends are supposed to be a replacement for Kaylie’s parents; two people in her life who are there to support her and be with her all the time. Therefore, we had two imaginary friends rather than one.

Choral speech:

Choral speech is a key part of our devised piece. We use it to tell the audience

In the choral scenes, we use our voice to convey emotions. For example, when the line “Be Normal!” is repeated the volume increases each time we say it. The line refers to how Kaylie’s mother wants her to ‘be normal’ and the volume increases to show the audience how fed up she’s getting and how desperate she is for Kaylie to get over this fantasy she is living in. Another example is when the line “It swallows you up” is said by Kaylie. She whispers this line to show the audience that she is scared by the emptiness she feels and she feels as though she can’t talk about these feelings to anyone but her imaginary friends. It also changes the pace of the scene and shows a contrast between Kaylie’s mother’s feelings which are loudly vocalised to Kaylie on a daily basis compared to Kaylie’s feelings which are kept secretive and

A doll and a makeup pallet. The doll is given to her by her father which she gladly accepts. This represents to the audience how she’s childlike and how she’s stuck in a childhood fantasy. The makeup pallet, given to her by her mother which she accepts without enthusiasm or interest, represents to the audience how her mother is desperate for her to grow up.

Music:

When piecing our initial idea together we came across a piece of music called “To Build A Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra. The title of this music caught our eye as it represented what we wanted to have our piece about. We used this music as a stimulus. It starts off slow and peaceful which represents the relationship between Kaylie and her imaginary friends at the beginning of their friendship. As the music progresses, it becomes more intense which shows the rocky path it takes as the play continues. It also became the name for our piece.