William Jobling

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William Jobling

We have been exploring the true story of William Joblings tragic life.

He was a miner from Jarrow in Newcastle, who in 1832, whilst on a

miners strike, was falsely accused of the murder of a local magistrate

called Nicolas Fairles. The real murderer was Ralph Armstrong, one of

Joblings best friends and fellow miner.

The stimulus came from a plaque that accompanied a statue of William

Jobling in Jarrow. All improvisations came from that initial stimulus.

As the stimulus was about a time long ago, and of a topic I was

unfamiliar with, mining, I thought it would prove to be difficult.

This story provides lots of interesting and exciting stimulus for

drama through its various themes such as friendship, despair and

betrayal.

My group chose to follow the themes of comradeship, poverty, deceit,

despair and friendship.

These themes are especially evident in parts of the plot where the

following characters and relationships are presented:

Comradeship must have played a vital part in Joblings life when

everyone agreed to go on strike. People like Armstrong and Hepburn,

the leader of the strike, must have displayed comradeship to agree or

to devise such a venture. So we decided our first scene would be

around the fabricating of the strike.

Times must have been hard when the miners were on strike and no money

was coming in to the households. Jobling's and other miners' wives and

families must have suffered from poverty at these times. Our second

scene was to be an informative improvisation about these hardships.

To leave your best friend to blame for a murder you committed is

extremely deceiving. Deceit...

... middle of paper ...

... went to plan. Everyone was mature and played their part well. It

proved to them that making an effort does count.

My only disappointment was the lighting in the murder scene. I had

planned that every time Armstrong struck Fairles, there would be a

blackout then the lights would return. The synchronising of this was

bad and didn't give the effect we wanted.

If I have learnt anything from this piece, it would be that using your

rehearsal time wisely is essential in producing a high quality play

plus it doesn't take years off your life in worry. I would also make

it clear to other people in my group, that if they weren't prepared to

put in sufficient effort and compromise then they would have to find

another group as I didn't enjoy having to make all the decisions and

trying to motivate people who couldn't care less.

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