My ventures and how they apply to media.

My ventures and how they apply to media.

I have recently been in a production of 'where the mangrove grows' in the Latchmere theatre. I played the part of Shaun, a troubled young boys in care. He has a care worker, 'Mike' who has many issues of his own. Shaun has quite a difficult life in the care home and a turbulent relationship with his carer. He owns a book which he 'borrowed' from the library. It is all about African mangrove swamps. When Shaun looks out of the window of his bedroom, he believe he can see a mangrove, however Mike dashes this dream telling him it is an oak tree in a park. When their friendship reaches breaking point, 'Charles' appears. He is an African man who has come to take Shaun away from the clutches of this care home and back to Africa to meet his wife, 'Mrs Charles' and his many children. Whether this is Shaun's imagination or Charles is real, is down to the audience and how they react to the play. One day, Mike catches Shaun trying to climb out of his Attic room window to get down to see Charles.. He can also see that Shaun has broken his chair in making a paddle with which Charles and Shaun can travel into the mangroves. However Mike walks in before Shaun can escape and performs a devastating act of abuse on Shaun, this violation drives Shaun to commiting suicide. He hangs himself by the red tie given to him by Mike earlier in the play.

The play is very topical at the moment. It mirrors what is occuring in the media today, in specific, the Jimmy Saville case. The media are presenting him as a total villain who did this just because he could. However the play explores the inner workings of a 'paedophiles' mind, and particularly, what drives them to carry out these disgusting acts. There are many psychological issues with abusers which should be taken into account, it isn't the 1 dimestional casre that the media present it to be. The play didn't show Mike to be a victim, what he did was wrong, however we explored issues with family, home life, his love for the young boy (my character) and his want for Shauns attention. Shaun, of course, is the victim in this tale of woe, however Mike isn't the monster the media would portry him to be, he and Shaun shared many happy moments throughout the play, and it was only the very end when this is abuse occurred.