Train Surfing Play

Freeze Frame

In the image below, my group acts out a play in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. It is a custom for gangs in Brazil to compete for respect by train surfing. A seasoned train surfer and a rookie climb aboard to surf a train until the next stop, however the rookie fails to jump off in time. He is seen by a group of policemen and soon another patrol on the other side of the train is on the scene. A policeman tries to climb onto the train to catch and arrest the offender but only causes the boy to panic and threaten to grab the power lines above, electrocuting him to death. The boy grabs the wire and plunges to the ground, dead. In the picture below, the boy (Omar) is being checked for signs of life by 3 policemen (Adil, Gabor, Ulan) while one (Alberto) calls an ambulance. The other train surfer (Moody) is arrested in the distance.

During our performance we used props such as a bench and acted as it if was a train, orange highlighter as a cigarette for one of the policemen and a phone for a policeman to call the ambulance. We thought of using a skipping rope to mimic the boy grabbing a power-line but someone would have to hold it up and that's a waste of actors. When the patrol noticed the train surfer, we assumed angry expressions and yelled loudly from all around the 'train' to create tension in the scene. This is the peak of tension in our scene where the boy is supposed to be arrested but is in fact killed, falls off a train and the policemen are in a rush to try and save his life. In this shot we are bent over the body of the boy, using body language to portray sadness with one of the policemen closing his eyes.

If we were to redo our performance, we would shout louder and wave at the train surfer frantically, thus using body language and enhancing the atmosphere of tension. We could also have 2 policemen bending over the body while one goes off to catch the other train surfer in the distance as people might not understand what is happening in the back of the shot. The policeman that is calling for an ambulance should either portray some signs of anxiety or sorrow to make his character more believable in this scene.