Pre Christmas Meeting with Richard

I decided to book a meeting with Richard before Christmas so that I could see if my idea's were appropriate to explore within the Practice Research Project. This ensures I am on top of my work and it gives me plenty of time to start formulating idea's, looking into research and structuring a question. It was quite a brief meeting, but it did open my eyes to how complex the PRP process is and that you need such an innate understanding of any topic to be able to begin thinking of a question; let alone exploring it. 

My supervisor, Richard, and I had a long discussion on different aspects of the condition and why I would want to explore it. It appeared that he himself did not believe - and actually said 'that can't be right' - to the treatment I have received as an adult with the condition. He also asked what positive things were going on and what people were doing to the support the condition so that the view point is always neutral. I feel this is where practitioners like Bertolt Brecht are very clever. His pieces always have a message that proactively involves political or social change but presents information as 'fact' rather than it being a 'personal issue'. As I was just skimming through idea's, I had not realized the ethical implications of picking such a political and controversial topic. 

Richard suggested that he didn't understand why I would want to do a piece focusing on ME/CFS and that it might be better for me to focus on 'disability' or 'invisible illness' instead. It is possibly just due to the fact that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the illness and, if I am honest, as I have the condition I feel safe in exploring it, that I wanted to do a piece solely exploring ME/CFS.I realize now that it is important to take a plunge and do topics that do scare you a little bit, what is theatre without it really! As I have an interest in creating a theatre piece, and looking into how theatre can be used as a tool for change, I feel a piece exploring invisible illness as a whole will be the best way to move forward. 

Throughout the meeting, I was aware I was being pressed to do a dissertation. This is due to a lot of people wanting to do PRP, as this module is weighted as 3 modules put together, I feel it is really important I play to my strengths which is unfortunately not my written work. Although the quality of my writing is style is quite strong, my cognitive problems mean I find it very difficult to be specific and pin point certain words; I can find it hard to get on paper what I want to say. Exploring things practically and then formulating it into a reflective and research paper is much more my cup of tea and where my strength's lie. 

After the meeting I did feel slightly overwhelmed but it has put me in a good a stead for the amount of meticulous research and care that this project is going to need and take. As Richard is putting pressure on the PRP's, I have decided to arrange a meeting with my tutor to go over my proposal so that I have the best chance's of ensuring that I definitely get to move forward with my idea practically. It also means I am discussing my idea's in a slightly more relaxed environment. I am excited for the project but also absolutely terrified;  this is good as it means I can transfer this energy into motivation. To move forward I really need to start delving into some more academic texts and looking at the project from a more educational manner. 




Bibliography 

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