The play 100 will be an optional text for Pearson's GCSE Drama Component 3 written exam from 2020. First performed at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it won a Fringe First Award, it subsequently went on an extensive international tour.
The plot
The narrative is simple: four characters find themselves trapped in limbo, awaiting their final acceptance by death. In order to pass through to eternity they must complete a task set by a mysterious character called the Guide (who can be compared with the mythological character Charon the ferryman, who took the newly dead on their journey to the underworld). The characters must choose one memory to live and relive throughout all eternity; all other memories will then be erased. They have one hour to make the choice.
Some have compared the plot to the film Afterlife by Hirokasu Koreeda. The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez inspired some of the memories, and the writer's use of magical realism was also influential to the devising company; both would be useful sources to be explored by students or teachers.
Scenes
The play does not have defined acts or scenes, instead the action moves between the place where all the characters try to make their memory choice in ‘the void’ and moments of memory or flashback from each of the characters’ lives. This has implications for both the acting and the design responses which students will need to be prepared for. For example, characters will act differently as themselves in the ‘void’ compared to their chosen ‘memories/flashback’ sequences; furthermore, characters multirole in the ‘memories/flashbacks’. Design can further enhance or clarify the different ‘void/memory’ states for the audience.
Design
The Imaginary Body, the original company behind 100, wanted to create a ‘magical experience’ for the audience using minimal set/props. The result was a production that was very physical. The only props were bamboo sticks, and the performers were costumed in the characters’ underwear, suggesting an unexpected exit from Earth and the living. Students can use this production, or others, to inspire the creation of their design concept; they can also go with their own imagination. However, for sub-question (c) they must be able to justify their choices, and minimalism as a concept (while faithful to the original intentions of the writers) could leave students with little to write about. As the play is set in a nonspecific time or place, students could choose to adapt the setting and time period, perhaps making the memories more specific and relevant to today, and again this would be justified in the exam responses.
In the absence of set or props, lighting cues and states (outlined in the stage directions) play a key role in indicating scene changes, for example symbolising a camera flash signifying that a memory has met the Guide's requirements. There are a number of other lighting opportunities within the play text and these could utilise colour and specific lighting effects or lamps. Sound effects are also referenced throughout and part of a student's concept development could consider whether these should be created live or using recorded sound; the implications of these decisions upon atmosphere and/or imagined locations would be referred to in the exam responses.
Questions on design will be specific to the chosen extract, and students pick from a choice of three to explain how they would use one of the design elements to enhance the production of the chosen extract for the audience. However, in responding to this, students will need to refer to the design concept as a whole and therefore they will need to have a fully developed concept (NB. they cannot take any notes on this into the exam).
Links
YouTube has videos of performances of the play. There are also a wealth of pictures from the original production:
www.theimaginarybody.co.uk/hundred.html and indeed from AsOne Theatre's 2013 production www.as-onetheatre.co.uk/past-productions
There are a number of short reviews available for the original tour: https://tinyurl.com/DT100rev1 and https://tinyurl.com/DT100rev2
Further exploration of the text can be done through Pearson guides, and as the text has also appeared on WJEC; an education pack is available: https://tinyurl.com/DT100WJECpack