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Drama Blog- Directing Seminar

May 3, 2013 by 15robidouxk

This week in drama class, we got to direct a short seminar on one of the scenes from Robert Yeo’s play Changi and perform it for the class. This helped me a lot for the exam because it aided me to explore the play’s themes and think about the characters and dramatic possibilities as well as experiment with techniques we learnt over the semester. I found this task challenging because I had never directed drama before alone and have never worked on something as the absolute leader, so it was a bit strange and fairly new to me. I decided to approach the directing task as a diplomatic director, to the best I could because I think it would allow me to express my vision for the piece, however also not restrict the actors too much and hinder their connection with the performance. However, in the end I think I probably reverted to being autocratic, as I felt I was talking a lot and stopping a lot during my seminar.

Here is my plan I wrote about the task.

Annotated script and notes (I directed the first portion of this page)

Stage map and the first part of my annotation

I chose to direct the 9th scene of Changi, during which Chye converses via telephone with the Minister of Home Affairs regarding Reg’s hunger strike and imprisonment conditions. I chose this scene because I believe although it is simple, the dialogue reveals so much about Chye as a character and the complex relationships he has in the piece. it also subtly and symbolically showcases through the scene Chye’s internal struggles and objectives, developing his character and relatability to the audience. This also related to the stimulus ‘Social Networking’ because the scene showcases the social networks present in the play. In the intro, you can hear about my interpretation of the play as well as a brief sypnosis, analysis and explanation. Then, you can view my directing seminar, working through the scene and exploring it.

VIDEO–coming soon?

I think my strengths here were analysing the piece and expressing its messages as well as providing background. However, next time I think I could have extended the workshopping itself (I had actually planned to include forum theatre and trying the scene as if the Minister was in the room as opposed to offstage), however I got nervous I would go over time, which didn’t end up happening… I also could have pushed the actors more and maybe been clearer with my vision to them so that their performance could be enhanced even more.

{I found it most difficult in this task to sit back and watch actors perform because I always felt like i wanted t engage myself in the drama..}

Next time I would like to try and be even more creative and inventive and try to bring unconventional and unrealistic elements to the stage, which would be quite challenging in a good way for this piece, as it is heavily politically rooted and reliant on the realistic and heavy nature of the plot. I also think i could have prepared myself a bit better, and sought help as I was a bit confused as to the requirements of the task…

Overall, this has helped me a lot because I got to observe others’ visions and get ideas for when we have to write as directors in the exam as well as consider my approaches and visions towards the piece so I can accurately write well about it in the exam. i also got to try working independently and exploring my own creative development, and teamwork which has helped me as a dramatist.

I was really interested in Walter’s interpretation because I thought it was very unique to play around with the status and explore the relationships of power and positions in the play. I think it really helped to develop the expression of the play’s themes, as Walter explains in the post-mortem session in the video below:

VIDEO– coming soon?

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Drama blog-Devising collages

April 25, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama Journal 10- Lesson of Monday April 22nd and Friday April 26th 2013

This week, in drama class, we began devising short 5 minute pieces based on the IGCSE 3 stimuli in groups of 6. We have t devise a segment for each of the following stimuli: The Shape of Things to Come, Social Networking and A Wonderful Surprise and then perform these one after another, with some sort of a transition between each, in order to form a dramatic collage. The pieces don’t have to be related stories/character-wise, however it would be good to have some element of any sort that connects the three pieces together so that the flow is not disrupted or so that it isn’t confusing for the audience.

On Monday, we separated into our groups and began discussing ideas for the pieces. We also stood up and physicalised our ideas, and experimented a bit as well. On Thursday, we continued rehearsing and developing our ideas until we were ready for the performance. Then, each group performed to the class. My group’s story for each of our stimuli were the following:

Shape of things to come: For this piece, we decided to explore how little insignificant things can completely alter the shape of the future and the amount of attention people award to certain things can completely change the circumstances. We also explored how small and easily missed shaped objects can in fact have larger impacts than objects that are more noticeable. Thus, in our piece we used a scrunched up piece of paper. In the beginning, there are a two characters that enter on stage and sit on the chairs. We set this piece at an airport, thus, we set up a row of chairs to use as a waiting room in a terminal. After the two characters have entered, we had a voice sound on the ‘inter-phone’ (offstage) of the airport asking a passenger to report to the gate, in order to establish the setting for the audience so they could focus on the action and characters. Next, the characters interact somewhat, however both still playing on their devices. Next, one of the characters leaves stage, leaving the other on his phone, playing loudly. Suddenly, the scrunched paper rolled in. Then, one by one we kept entering and exiting from the stage as different characters and interacted with the one sitting and playing on his phone. Some just looked at the paper strangely and walked off quickly, while others asked the boy if he had dropped something, or if it was his. Some got angry at the boy and accused him of littering and dirtying the airport, etc. We also had someone act as a security guard, trying to eliminate the threat of an unidentified object. Meanwhile, the boy kept playing on his phone with the music loudly and when he did interact with the others, it was a careless nod, head shake or shrug. After several people had made entrances and exits, all the character surrounded the paper and began talking at once, voicing their views about the paper. As the volume of this mounted, the tension of mystery for the audience was heightened (what would happen next? who is the boy? what is the mysterious paper? why are they all so affected by it?) and the tension of the task (hard to get the boy to react or hard to find out the identity of the paper) was also intensified. Furthermore, the focus was on the boy since everyone else was talking at once, and he remained silent, isolating him from the other characters. Once the mood had gotten very chaotic and the volume very loud, as well as the tension high, we all fell silent. Then, two of the characters picked up the paper and walked towards the audience. Finally, they asked “Is this yours?”, marking the moment. In our piece, we explored the insignificant object deeply, by having anonymous characters and undefined plot. This allowed the audience to keep guessing as well as create their own details about the piece. The lack of definite storyline in our piece also maintained the audience’s focus because it established great tension of mystery. Next, we used tension of relationships between the boy on the phone and the other characters. In our piece, we tried to use the space element by incorporating chairs in a neat row, with one person only sitting. The rest were standing at different heights and levels. Also, we used the element of place and chose our setting carefully. By choosing to set the action in an airport, we considered symbol of place. Airports are often associated with the future, where people start anew. Airports are also associated with unknown and adventure. A lot of people would also agree that airports are places where traffic is so routine that most go unnoticed and little things seem insignificant. the symbol of future and lack of identity relates to the anonymity of our characters as well as the stimuli behind our piece, helping it to come together as a coherent segment that was clear enough to the audience, yet still abstract in meaning and practice.

Social Networks: For this stimuli, we decided as a team to explore the social aspect of this phrase; the relationships that exist between people and the intricate webs of relationships it forms, as opposed to more stereotypical associations such as technology or the internet… With our piece, we wanted to explore how some people could know one person, however all have different views on that person, therefore making the sociogram complicated. We also explored how gossip affects social networks and how when gossiping, one might change their perspective on certain people, etc. For our scene, we decided to set it in an airplane, in order to have a connection to the first scene. We maintained the same stage set-up: a linear arrangement of seats facing the audience. At the start of the piece, we sounded an announcement like those on flights and translated this into French as well, to establish to the audience the setting. Then, passengers began to pile into the cabin and two flight attendants helped them to be seated. This calm beginning, very normal for a flight established tension of mystery because the audience was anxious to find out what would happen next, since it was unclear as well as the fact that the scene seemed uneventful and it did not appear to have a conflict yet… After the passengers were seated, the two flight attendants began to gossip, to stage right (one of the most powerful positions, where the audience would look first), however upstage (establishing a secretive atmosphere). They began to gossip about a certain person they knew. Meanwhile, in the cabin, the passengers were also gossiping and interacting as characters. Then, the flight attendants began to distribute the meals. As meal trays, we used paper cards and distributed them to each passenger, with a few problems along the way, such as passengers not knowing which meal to choose, passengers wanting two meals, etc., etc. This created tension of the task, because it was an ordeal to get all the passengers settled and satisfied in order for the women to return to their gossip. Once all the characters had the cards, they lifted them. On the cards, there were labels, reading ” Sally is a hussy”. This captioned what the flight attendants had been talking about earlier. Then, the passenger who had ordered two meals flipped his other ‘tray up, where several insults were written all over the card. This represented each of the characters’ views on this particular Sally and demonstrated how although they may not all be referring to the same Sally, a complicated web of social relationships exists. After this, all the characters slowly started reciting insults about Sally. Slowly this built up until all were doing so loudly and at the same time. This was similar to the strategy conscience alley, however there was no character present getting affected by the insults, creating more tension of mystery, as the audience was left to wonder about the supposed character Sally. We also used the elements of space at this moment because the flights attendants we standing behind the passengers, creating level. Throughout the piece, the element of place was also used because airplanes represent a means of transport, that people use to connect with other people, other societies, etc. and sometimes people are interrelated and connected on flights, relating it to social networks. After the conscience alley type part, the characters began to leave the stage, leaving the audience still tense from mystery and wondering who Sally was and what in fact had happened.

A Wonderful Surprise: The third piece was the hardest for my group to devise I believe, because we felt as though the stimuli was very hard to devise from and we found it difficult to come up with original ideas that related. Finally due to shortness of time, we decided to devise a very stereotypical storyline and interpret the stimuli in a very expected way, however, try to incorporate different elements and techniques as well as dramatic strategies to make it more interesting. We started off sitting on the chairs previously used in the other scenes. Then, one person stood up and began narrating the start of a story. When the paused shortly after starting, we all got up and formed into a freeze frame, using elements of space to use different levels and position to represent status, relationships and circumstances as well as to make it interesting visually for the audience. After holding the frame, we returned to our starting positions and someone else stepped forward to narrate. We repeated this a couple of times. This tapped into the technique of freeze frame as well as thought tracking, as the audience was exposed to characters’ inner thoughts and feelings towards the event. During our narration, we decided to remain very vague about the event in order to heighten tension of mystery and make the mood uncomfortable and very tense, increasing audience interest. After one of the narrations, we moved into positions and began actually playing out the described scene to the audience. What happened was the scene was set in math class, going normally, when a character walked in and disrupted the class. they were demanding to see Ellen and were very aggressive about achieving their goal. Suddenly, they took out a gun and demanded further to see Ellen. All the characters were terrified and frightened and reacted to the gun by ducking down. This gave the gunman upper status, as he was at a higher level than the other characters. ANyways, after that, Ellen stepped forward and began discussing with him. After a huge dramatic build up, where the boy outlined how he is feeling about their relationship, he pointed the gun at her and shot it. However, instead of a bullet that came out, it was a banner and on that banner was inscribed an invitation to the prom. After realising the surprise, all the classmates jumped up in celebration, as well as the teachers and the scene concluded in chaotic celebration. I thought our ending was terrible, uncoordinated and completely ruined the piece’s tension. I also think the audience lost interest completely after that because we were unfocussed in our characters and weren’t considering their reactions. This made it very unbelievable to the audience, who was probably annoyed at the disappointing denouement…

I thought my group’s strong points were: our use of various dramatic strategies explored in class as well as our character development. I thought it made our piece more interesting that we used techniques such as labelling, marking the moment, freeze frame, narration, conscience alley, etc. However, we could have improved our closing of the final scene as well as our focus during this because it seemed very unbelievable and we seemed to have just given up on our idea, when we felt the scene was going wrongly. In order to improve this, we would have to think of what kinds of strategies or techniques we could use in order to conclude the piece and how we could finish the scene with a proper denouement, that still left the audience absorbed in the story. Also with the third, i think we would have to try and find a way to connect it more to the other two pieces, as it seemed completely random and there was absolutely no connection (Maybe we could have set it somewhere related to travel? Or had a principal’s announcement sound at the start to establish setting?)

The other group’s strengths of their performance were: their use of elements of drama and implementation of dramatic techniques and strategies to enhance the piece. I also thought they worked very well as a team and it seemed as though they had good chemistry and group dynamics. The particular elements of tension, mood and human context were well explored well as well as movement and place and space. Specifically, I liked how the second group’s last piece interpreted a Wonderful Surprise in the opposite sense of the words, and left me feeling the tension of mystery because the whole time I wondered what the wonderful surprise was.. . I also thought in the third piece, the use of conscience voices behind each character was effective and interesting and helped to establish human context and tension of relationships.

Overall, this devising task was very useful to further explore the stimuli for the IGCSE and they will help us to write the final exam that is fast approaching. It was also a great exercise to experiment with dramatic strategies and techniques, to build creative drama, to work as a team and to devise in short amounts of time.

In order to improve next time, I think we should spend less time discussing and more time acting, practicing and tweaking, as we barely practised for our pieces, especially the third. This has continually been a challenge for us a a group, throughout the year, to spend a whole 80% practically experimenting and I think the reason we find it so challenging is that we are scared to run off with ideas and scared of failure. However, I believe failure is a part of the artistic process and it will help us learn more. Take the third piece as an example…

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Drama Journal- Social Networks and Directing

April 19, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama 10- Lessons of Monday April 15th, Thursday April 18th and Friday April 19th 2013

This week in drama class we explored the third and final IGCSE stimulus; social networks. We also touched on directing concepts and techniques, since we will soon be assessed on our direction of a short chosen extract from the play we are studying, Changi, by Robert Yeo.

On Monday, we started off with a warm-up game that our class had invented; The telephone box. (I talked about this in my previous post). This relates to social networking because phones are a way of connecting with different people and a public phone box can relate and bring several different and contrasting characters together. Also, a phone network is a very complicated web of interconnected people and contains many interesting relationships and connections that could be explored. I think our improvisations are really improved by playing this game and I hope we get to play it very often in the future. I believe this game helped us to improve because it has minimal rules. Thus, there is more freedom for us to experiment as actors and come up with creative scenarios and characters. I also think the telephone booth gives us a concrete setting and prop, which is useful when trying to come up with a story on the spot. The booth also offers a variety of different physical opportunities and interesting instances where frozen images could be used to represent human context. The booth also acts a a frame and can emphasise certain characters. Furthermore, I think we have more fun playing this game because we can experiment with the drama and get involve. Since we’re all enjoying it, we become more engaged, involved, participating and focussed. This results in better drama…

Next, we quietly worked on blogs and planning our directing task. During this time, I chose the scene I would direct, read over it several times and took notes and jotted down any ideas that came up in my head, while imagining the piece. I also constructed a draft staging map and began writing a beat map of the units of action in the scene.

On Thursday, we started off with the game of tangling. This is a common drama game, known by most people. It is when your ensemble comes together in a circle and links hands with people on the opposite side of the circle, creating a inter tangled and intertwined web-like formation. Then, you have to work as a team to try and manoeuvre the formation (without losing grips of the hands you are clasping) and come to a circle where the hands are not crossing through the middle. Our strategy when performing this as a class was to calm down and look at the hands first, to gauge what we could do. Next, one at a time we shared our ideas and directed each other of how to move. This activity really built a good ensemble dynamic in our group I think because it was very intimate and close activity that required a lot of teamwork, communication and collaboration. thus, thanks to the game I think we will work even better together in the future. The game was also a great physical warm up and the poses we found ourselves in at times were interesting and got me thinking about different tableaux and ways extreme physicality could be used in non-realistic pieces to demonstrate human context or establish tension or focus, etc. Even though we took a very long time to untangle ourselves, we worked very effectively and persevered to actually succeed, which is very rare in this exercise. We also repeated the game in 2 groups of 6, and were able to untangle ourselves much much faster than as a class. However, we still had to challenge our bodies and our brains as well as our collaborative spirit to complete the exercise successfully. The tangling game could be used in rehearsal or preparation for a piece because it allows an ensemble to come together and work as a team as well as warm up physically. Also, interconnecting of characters in a circle can form a complicated spider-like web, which can symbolically represent the complicated dynamic relationships and connections between the characters in a framework of drama. By playing this in character, actors can explore physically representing status, relationships and emotions as well as inter-character links, which can help to understand the drama more. It can also be used IN a piece, where this game could make up an abstract segment, representing the inter tangling of the characters or the increasing level of complicated ness of the plot. This in turn would create tension of mystery for the audience because they wouldn’t be entirely sure what was going on. I think this could work well in a piece where the plot is very isolated from the audience, or when the director does not want to reveal too much to the spectators right away because the intimacy of the activity can isolate and close off the actors to the audience, which makes it somewhat mysterious and inciting. I also think some of the poses achieved while playing this game could be used for physical theatre, non-realistic character mapping tableaux or frozen images in drama.

Second of all, we spread out in the room and had to think of a status update we could say that would express our current feelings. Next, we had to say that status update out loud and uptake a pose that we thought could physically represent our status. Following this, we had to keep repeating our line and really get a sense of its emotions and meaning. Then, we started walking around the room expressing the status update and pairing up with those whose updates were similar to ours. With the similar partners, we had to form a frozen tableau to represent our status update and think about how this relates to social networking. After forming our pose, we had to go around and repeat our status in turn one by one. In this exercise, we explored social networks because the subtle differences in the statuses and how they were expressed showcased how the characters were interrelated however different. Also, when the characters interacted it made the social network apparent and interesting for the viewers.

Next, we did a dramatic strategy called writing in role. We were each given a random status update from the internet and had to think about the meaning as well as what kind of person we think wrote it. Then, as that character, we had to write the next statuses that they might post. The statuses need not be related, but they had to reveal some information about the character and their motivations, etc. For example, my given status was “If your friend tells you ‘You’re the funniest friend i ever had!’, that’s just there way telling you your .” I thought this was very strange because it felt unfinished and I had to read it several times to absorb it. AFter thinking on it and reflecting on the character I had imagined briefly, I came up with the fact that they were lonely and feeling betrayed by their friends. I also felt as though the person was attention seeking as well as a bit pessimistic and cryptic. Thus, my next statuses were 1) just had a shower and read the paper [indicating they are alone, and trying to publicise their life. also reading a newspaper emphasises how they are searching for connections and relationships, which highlights loneliness and relates this to social networking stimulus as well.] 2) let down again… lol [this again shows loneliness and attention seeking traits as well as revealing a bit about the character's personal situation with friends or colleagues]. 3) When people drop things they shouldn’t b youre friend (this shows the character;s bad grammar again as well as how he is lonesome and sad. It also shows how he believes to have been let down- dropped by his close ones]. 5) Footprints in the sand… life sucks…. [this status shows yet again the character;s loneliness as he is implying he is alone on the beach. ALso, footprints relate to loss, memories, or things that are vaguely remaining. Also footprints can belong to anyone, relating it to the theme of social networking. Finally the life sucks shows the character's very pessimistic and cryptic traits.]

In the news, I came across an article that made me think of social networks and this theme. it also got me thinking about rleationships, human context, etc. and about dramatic possibilities with relationships between characters.In the article , it talked about historical figures being in the same city simultaneously without knowing it and how they might of crossed paths before meeting or hearing of one another. This reminded me of how the world is a large social network, with so many relationships intertwined, like a huge spider web of interactions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21859771

On Friday, we began class with a game of ‘WHat happens next”, since we would be touching on directing that day. One partner acted everything the other partner told them to do. Once they had completed their interpretation of the action, they asked ‘What happens next?’ and the director wold try to build on the story or narrative that had begun. This was a useful exercise because it challenged directors to rethink their vision if the actor didn’t interpret it the way they had expected. This forced them to redesign their ideas and improve them. Also, the actor’s personal interpretation brought flair to the acting and made it more believable, which is crucial in all dramatic pieces. I found it was harder to be the actor because I had to make my own interpretation of often vague statements and constantly had to try and come up with creative ways to convey this, to help the director develop the story and me as an actor to develop the character.

After this game, we talked about directing techniques and things to consider when directing drama, as demonstrated on the handout below:

Next, we paired up in threes and attempted to direct the murder scene from the famous play Woyczech. It was very interesting to watch everyone’s different interpretations of the piece;

Grace and Nora’s version (directed by Walter) was interesting because the characetrs actually sat down and stood up a few times and used movement and levels. I thought the group used good pace and expression in their delivery and made the character relationships believable.

I thought William and Ellen’s interpretation (directed by Martin) was very interesting because they used a lot of movement, space and levles. I also thought their positions were very closed off from each other, which showcased he tension in the character’s relationship. I also found it interesting how contrarily to the other groups, at the line where Maria asks Franz what he will do, Ellen got closer to William and delivered it in a more caring tone, making us believe for a split second there was love between them.

Mia and Lars’ interpreation was inetresting because it used a very slow pace, which heightened the tension and emphasised the dialogue, also highlighting the relationship between both characters. They also played mostly upstage right, which somewhat isolated the characters from the audience, which created a more intimate mood, which I think worked well in this scene.

I learnt a lot this week in drama class and hope to do so again next week , when we will continue working on our directing tasks and IGCSE stimuli.

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Drama Journal- IGCSE devising and experimentation

April 11, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama Journal- Lessons of Monday April 8th 2013 and Thursday April 11th 2013

This week in drama class we continued towards our preparation for the IGCSE examination and devised from one of the three stimuli provided to us in the exam’s pre-release material.

On Monday, we started with a few warm up games that helped with ensemble building. For example, first of all, we played a game where we had to keep passing a ball between the group and at all times it had to be in different players possession. Meanwhile, Mr. Meiklejohn would be circulating and trying to pinpoint where the ball was. If he managed to see the ball, we would all be eliminated. Our first strategy was quite a common one; to huddle up as a large unit, all facing outwards. Then, with our hands behind our backs in the middle, we would pass the ball around while moving throughout the room. The second strategy we tried was a bit different because this time we weren’t allowed to huddle as one group. So, we walked around the room passing the ball to each other while trying to distract Mr. Meiklejohn. This game made us tap into the element of focus, experimenting with ways in which we could detract attention from the ball and create false leads for the teacher. However, the second time we played the game we were quite unsuccessful and Mr. Meiklejohn repeatedly and easily found the location of the ball. This was in part due to the fact that we were very lethargic and moving very slowly as well as how we were working disjointedly and focussed on our own movements. We also had little strategy in place. Afterwards, I wondered if it would have worked if some members of the ensemble spontaneously began acting out a scene or dancing very expressively to attract Mr. Meiklejohn’s attention away, or if it would be way too obvious and he would concentrate on the silent ones? After this, we tried for a third attempt. This time, we hid the ball in William’s hood, which was technically cheating however we still acted as though someone had the ball. We tried to deflect the focus from William and apparently this was somewhat successful because Mr. Meiklejohn did not ever ask William for the ball… The next game we played was similarstrategy and concept-wise. It was Medusa. We were also successful in this game however it took us a very long time to get the ball back to the line, while Mr. Meiklejohn was acting as Medusa, who looked back and when he did you had to freeze or else go back to the line. the strategy I used so that Mr. Meiklejohn did not ask me if I had the ball was use one hadn only to hold it, while hiding the ball behind someone’s body. With my other hand I would act normally so that he wouldn’t guess i was holding something in my hidden hand.

After these games, we did a bit of devising from the stimulus ‘A WOnderful Surprise’. We had to pair up and use boxes to simulate the most possible number of different reactions one could have when receiving or opening the box- relating to the stimulus. I was with Nora and we tried to focus on the conveying of emotions and so we refrained from using dialogue. We experimented with different levels of dynamic reactions, positive, negative or neutral reactions as well as slow and quick reactions. After experimentation, we had to pick 3 of our best reactions and show them to the class. Nora and I’s best reaction i think was the one when we took it extremely slow and stared intensely at each other before i revealed the contents of the box. This created a tension of mystery for the audience as well as for the characters and tension of surprise at the reaction once it was opened. Furthermore, it created the tension of the task because it was difficult for the character to open the box out of fear what she would find. After this, we had to take our best reaction and turn it into a short scenario. It was interesting watching others’ performances as I got to see how they used the different forms of tension in different ways, by using focus, level, movement contrast, human context, etc. to intensify the tension associated with the revelation of ‘the box’.

Finally, we divided the class into two groups and began devising a short performance based on ‘A wonderful surprise’. We had to in the piece deal with a societal issue that was relevant today. My group decided to do ours about a man returning to his family from war, but soon realised that this issue was very disconnected to our personal circumstances therefore was very hard to devise around. So, we picked a topic more closely related to us; pregnancy, relationships and family dynamics.

On Thursday, we performed our short devised piece. In our piece, we were directed to use the strategy of ‘relationship mapping’. This is when the pivotal character in the piece places themselves onstage in a position. then, the other characters must enter in a frozen pose of their own, showing their relationship to the pivotal character as well as their status, position, role, etc. Here is the link to the video recording of our short piece:

[coming soon to a computer near you.....]

In our performance, we attempted to use tension and focus as well as human context very prominently in order to further make the performance more appealing to the audience. Also, we made the choice of completely closing the fourth wall and acknowledging in absolutely no way (not even with body language) the audience. This made the tension of the unknown more prominent for the audience, as they were intrigued as to who the characters were and what were their motivations, etc. We used focus especially well in one part of our piece-the climax. We built up several different heated conversations between the characters and were all talking at once- except Mia, which isolated her character further. This scattered the focus and created a chaotic and mysterious atmosphere as well as establishing tension of the task (Mia having a hard time saying what she had to say)and of the unknown (what would happen next? WHat would tilt this mood?) Finally, when the tension of the unknown was very strong, we concentrated the focus on Mia by having her yell out ‘I’m pregnant!” Then, the other characters stared at her for a long silent while, which established even more tension and an uncomfortable mood. After the pause, all the different characters showcased their different reactions. In particular, the Nana was confused and had not heard right, which added an element of humour to the piece. We tried to incorporate humour in other areas of our piece as well- through the Nana character as well as the children, who were played very melodramatically and stereotypically!

Before our performance, we also watched the other group’s. Here is the video:

I thought the others’ piece was successful in establishing a tense atmosphere because they varied the pace of their reactions, dialogue, level, volume, intonation, movement, etc. I also thought it was a very big surprise for the audience when they announced the whole point of the piece was an APril Fool’s joke. This was very simple, however that is why the audience was so unprepared for this tilt in the denouement. I also liked how at the beginning their pose was very dynamic and their character mapping showcased the relationships very clearly by considering level, proximity, posture, facial expression, etc.

Before working on and performing our devised pieces, we played a new improvisation game which we made up, using the telephone box manufactured fro Xanadu production this year. The game involves the audience coming up with a random (EXTREMELY out of the blue, strange, unusual) word, which must relate or somehow be used in the piece. Then, the first character enters the stage. At some point, Mr Meiklejohn will ring a bell and the phone in the box rings. Then, they pick up the phone and the improvisation takes off. More characters are introduced and the story develops. the phone may ring several more times, which serves the purpose of tilting the action and offering the opportunity for story development and introduction of new characters. Next time, we can improve our tilting as well as bringing the imrpov to a close. I think we aren’t used to concluding improvs because we usually don’t succeed in them, so we give up halfway. However, with the phone box I feel as though we have improved and that our stories are much more successful, thus we actually reach the time for a conclusion without breaking focus.

Next week, we will work on the third and final IGCSE stimuli: ‘social networking’, as well as on the directing task related to our chosen scenes in Changi, the play provided for us to study by Cambridge International Examinations.

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Drama Blog-Monologue Reflection Evaluation

March 23, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Here are the reflective questions about the monologue performance we did for the IGCSE examination:

1. How did I approach the performance? What process did I take?
The first step I took in my approach to the performance was to research various monologues. I read several pieces from different plays until I found one that I enjoyed and felt I could have some success in conveying. After the selection, I started reading through my play and understanding the context of my character and my monologue. Then, I annotated my script and mapped out the beats. Then, I learnt my monologue by heart and continued researching about my character. Finally, I performed the monologue for Mr. Meiklejohn and Neil who gave me feedback and helped me to workshop my performance. Then, I researched a slight bit more about my character and practiced once alone, before coming to perform my final piece. I approached my monologue in a Stanislavski inspired Realistic theatre approach and tried to become my character as best I could using various strategies from the dramatist in preparation for my performance.

2. What dramatic techniques/elements did we use how did we use them in our performance?
The major element I used in my performance was tension. Firstly, I used the tension of the task. It was a fun task for Mommy to convey her adventure buying a hat to Daddy in the piece, however the task was also difficult to achieve, as Daddy was not paying very much attention and thus it was hard for Mommy to obtain the attentiona nd reaction she was fishing for, thereby creating a tension of the task. Next, I used the tension of the unknown, because the audience was still unclear about the nature and symbolism of this seemingly useless monologue about buying a hat- very trivial content. Also, the character of Mommy was unknown to the audience because the monologue comes at the beginning of the play and serves to show the audience a fluctuation in Mommy’s characters as shown in her flighty emotional beats and transitions from one pace and tone to the next. The tension of relationships was also utilised quite strongly in the monologue because Mommy was getting worked up and reacting to Daddy, who was remaining uninterested and monotone. The monologue demonstrated and used the tension established between the two characters onstage and at the same time touched on tensions established with other characters within the framework of the drama- for instance the hat shopkeepers or the chairwoman of the woman’s club. I also used the element of human context and focus. The relationship demonstrated by Mommy’s anecdote and her reactions to Daddy emphasised the roles&relationships present in the piece. Also, the monologue revealed a lot to the audience about Mommy’s personality, helping to understand her role. In addition, focus was placed on Mommy since she was moving neurotically and really going out of her way to get her point across. This was further aided by the stage set up and placement as well as the introverted focus of Mommy’s gaze 9maintaining the fourth-wall, thus also maintaining the tension of the unknown and of relationships between the characters on stage). Furthermore, my fast and trivial delivery of the piece placed focus on the relationships present and the personality traits being showcased, as opposed to the narrative itself.

Some of the dramatic techniques I used in my process were Stanislavski’s 5 questions, the game ‘What if’ and sense memory. I used these techniques so that I could be aware of what my character was doing during the monologue as well as to practice getting a feeling for the character’s motivations. I used what if and five questions to help me understand my character and her reactions and used sense memory to try and get into character and play her accurately and believably, by drawing from my previous experiences.

Finally, I used repetition and attempted to use contrast in my performance. My monologue repeated itself in terms of the narrative and my tonal and pace was patterned and repetitive. this brought out certain traits of Mommy’s personality such as her compulsiveness and her need to be the centre of attention, as well as her assertion of status over Daddy and others. I tried to use contrasting paces, tones, pitch and volume in my monologue in order to convey different emotional beats and keep the piece interesting for the audience.

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses in my own performance?
I think the strengths in my performances were that I knew my lines quite well, so I was able to perform my piece with continuous flow. Also, I thought I used an effective stage set up, because it placed the chairs and table in an intimate setting- which was ideal since the scene takes place in the comfort of Mommy’s living room and is very centred around Mommy, so there are no furniture items anywhere else in the room to detract attention from her. Also, I placed Mommy at stage right centre, which was a strong position because that is an area of the stage where the audience’s eyes are drawn automatically first. Thus, I was able to establish focus on Mommy effectively and precisely. I also think I used a good range of tonal variation, which helped to portray the emotional beats in the monologue. However, I think my weak points were my pace firstly. Sometimes I felt I rushed the lines, even though the mood of the scene is very fast paced. Also, I rushed the pauses, which should have been longer and more drawn out, to contrast with the speed of the other lines in her anecdote and to demonstrate a wider range of character shifts and beats. Secondly, my weakness was accent. I sometimes found myself reverting to a British accent, because the expressions used and type of language in the sentences made me think of British english. However, the character is very American and thus should have had an American accent throughout the piece. ANother weakness was that I kept flapping my arms about and playing with my shirt. Although my character is quite neurotic, the playing around with my shirt was a nervous tick, that I was unconscious of throughout my performance. Next, my centre of focus was sometimes breached and my eyes would flutter, making the audience a bit confused at the location of Daddy in relation to me in the scene. Finally, I think I could have improved my use of the stage and maybe tried to incorporate different stage positions and posture into my monologue performance.

4. Was my performance successful? Why or why not?
I think my performance was somewhat successful because I was able to get across certain aspects of my character to the audience effectively through my monologue. For instance, I was able to express my character’s compulsive and controlling behaviour as well as her assertive personality. However, some parts of my monologue felt unnatural. Also, at some parts of the performance, for example , I ended up conveying my character differently than I portrayed her, and how I wanted the audience to perceive her. Furthermore, there are many parts of my monologue that could be improved.

5. What could I do to further improve my artistic process?
In order to improve my artistic process, I think I would need to further research my character and practice my monologue more, in order to understand my character more fully. Completing a more in-depth character biography than I made would be beneficial, as well as using some of Stanislavski’s techniques such as ‘Given the circumstances’ or ‘What if’. These techniques would allow me to realise my character’s reactions and prepare me to improvise naturally and fluidly in case I slipped a line, or forgot my monologue while performing. It would also help me feel more comfortable and immersed in my character to deliver a better performance. I would also like to improve on my reflective process and try to work harder and be more strict with myself when practicing or rehearsing my monologue alone, or when developing my performance, to really personalise my performance, instead of waiting and relying solely on others to evaluate me and offer suggestions for improvements and modifications. This would help me become a more independent, experienced as well as confident dramatist while also solidifying my directing skills and giving me a chance to apply all I learnt in class and performance throughout my artistic process. Finally, I would map out my blocking and beat map after performing my monologue a few times as opposed to before in order to allow my interpretation to come through, as I am in character and trying to feel what she is going through at each moment.

Please select your favourite monologue by another student in the class,
and discuss why you believe it is a successful performance – and answer the question below: I chose Bree’s monologue, which she extracted from the play by . I believe her monologue was a successful performance because it incited my interest and kept me attached to the video right up until the end. Also, I thought it was successful because the monologue was still just as powerful as if it was being performed live to me, even though it was recorded. I also really believed the character’s emotions and speech and empathised with them, even though I had no idea what they were talking about, or any other previous knowledge of the character and/or context of the monologue. I also feel since she was very sedentary, and did not do any nervous ticks of their own, I really felt the character was natural and not hard to believe. The motionlessness also made me focus on the importance of the words spoke, whihc I think was the effect she was trying to achieve. I also felt as though the delivery was not forced, but rather done as though they were really living the character.

What dramatic techniques/elements did they use to make the performance successful? A first element I thought they used very effectively was tension. In her monologue, Bree used various pauses and moments of motionless, which incited my interest and kept me guessing what was coming next. I thought the pauses were stretched out, which added to the tension of the unknown for the audience and leaving us wanting to find out more about the character. I also liked how her gaze was directed, and not fluctuating as it really strengthened the message of the piece and created a tension of relationships (created between the character onstage and the audience they are staring at strongly). Also, Bree successfully used the element of language and expressed the symbolic words strongly. Also, her use of pauses and variation in tone, speed, etc. emphasised certain lines and the language used in them. Finally, I think Bree used Stanislavski’s character development techniques to help her get in touch with her character in order to understand her motivations and emotions. I think she considered well the questions ‘where am I and who am I? What do I want? and what is my relationship to other characters?”.

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Monologue performance reflection-Workshopping with Nose2Nose

March 15, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Tuesday March 12th 2013

Today I workshopped and performed my solo repertoire piece (monologue) for the IGCSE examination practical component. I worked on it a lot outside of school, ranging from reading my play (The American Dream by Edward Albee) and researching and developing understanding of my character (Mommy). I also blocked out the monologue’s emotional beats and attempted to plan out a movement plan and stage set up for my performance. This was all very new to me, as I had only directed drama once before (in middle school) and have never performed a monologue in English nor in front of a camera. I worked a few hours on it with Mr. Meiklejohn and Neil from Nose2Nose on Tuesday at lunch and during my shooting, and their tips really helped me to improve my work and make my performance more believable and successful.

Some of the tips I was given included:

-BE confident on stage and do not let nervous ticks take over. Since monologues are performed alone, it is very obvious even when you are doing the littlest movements or habits by nature. You might not notice, but the audience sure does so it is important to let yourself become absorbed in your piece and still be aware of yourself. Every time you move, you must do so as the character and must have a solid reason for your movement. Another useful trick I learnt was- it sounds strange- but direct yourself. Watch yourself while you act and become aware of your every mannerism. Thus, you can stop yourself and resist temptation to re-become yourself or fall into nervous ticks and habits onstage. Also, since the emotions you give off are reflected back at you by the audience, it is important to be confident in yourself and show this to the audience, so that you can capture the attention and so that they reflect positive energy, as opposed to disinterest. This will make you feel even more confident as the pice progresses and you will entertain the audience much more.

-Breathe… I tend to get caught up in my anxiety and either breathe too slowly or too quickly and start rushing or over slowing down my delivery. Also, it becomes really hard to project and I start to panic, plummeting myself into further nervousness. Thus, it is important to breathe before your monologue and do a vocal warm up in order to be grounded in your character and project the lines loud enough for the audience to interpret them.

-Let the character control you. Not the corrections or remembering the lines. It is ok to fumble a few of the words as long as the story is maintained. Only move when your character is compelled to do so, and do it in the most characterised way possible. When I used this correction, I felt much more embedded in my character and it felt much more real and I think this came through in my performances.

-Vary pace, pitch, tone and pauses, according to the beats. This helps your monologue to become more interesting for the audience and so that your character’s emotional variations can really come through well. However, do not vary these components for the sake of variation. Do it as the character would. This will all make your performance better and easily interpretable for the audience.

-UNDERSTAND YOUR CHARACTER. Know every single thing about the person you are playing. To understand the character you re portraying and every single beat in your monologue, you must perform your background research and make sure you have read the entire play, and understood it. In this way, you can understand all the events that have affected the character, that might change the way they deliver certain lines as well as being able to pick up on the subtext in the play, which allows you to understand your character better. It is even really important to know the parts of your character which are not included in the play (whether you have to make it up or find it out from external sources). I learnt that character biographies are essential and all background research contributes to the believability of your performance and the amount of effort you put into your monologue is really reflected in the performance, especially given that you are doing it alone. This is what Stanislavsky was on about: you must at all times be able to answer the essential questions about your character with complete confidence in order to accurately become the role.

I felt that I drastically improved my monologue from when I practiced at home, until my final shooting. On the first shooting trial, i was super nervous from the camera and felt really awkward being alone with the teachers watching only me. This made me take my fast paced monologue too slowly and my movements very clumsy and not in my character’s persona. I also found myself focussing very much on things other than my character and her situation. On the second run, I still felt really nervous and not as much energy. I did improve according to the corrections given, however sometimes I think i was focussing too much on the corrections rather than my character itself, so my performance got a bit lost and not as believable as I lost grip of my character. On the third run, I was the most in character and managed to relax a bit more. It’s hard to explain but I also was able to think about the corrections more, while still trying to play my character and focus on her story. I also think I used the space better, in a way that encapsulated my character better. However, I do not believe it was perfect and could have improved it more. I really should work on my self confidence, eliminate my stage fright and start focussing more on my character. I also think i could have sometimes let myself feel the character more, and move as I felt, as opposed to just trying to do what Mr Meiklejohn or Neil suggested I do.

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Drama Journal- Nose to Nose Workshop 2013

March 14, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama 10- Lessons of Monday March 11th, Thursday March 14th and Friday March 15th 2013

This week in drama class, the improvisation group ‘Nose to Nose’ visited our school and conducted a series of performance workshops, leading to the performance on Friday afternoon. Nose to Nose is a group that has worked with our school repeatedly over the past years and who conduct drama workshops in schools around the world.

On Monday, we started off with warm-up exercises that put to test ensemble building. Firstly, we played a game where we stood in a circle and when Neil clapped, we had to change the arrangement of the circle as quickly as possible, not minding how messy the transition was. This exercise had a purpose of getting us spacially aware and warmed up in order to perform physically later in the lesson. Next, when Neil clapped, we all had to jumble in the circle in a huge mob and gather round tightly before returning to a perfect circle formation once more. During this exercise, we noticed that many times there were people left out and some were less involved in the mob/ and or excluded from it. Thus, to prevent this, Neil would shout out the name of someone on the outside and the mob then had to shift and make this person the centre of it. With this modification, I noticed we were much more aware of each other and it was much more physical, as the mob constantly changed place and everyone was pushing and shoving to include everyone. From these two placement exercises, I learnt that it’s really important to keep open body language and try not to block others, no matter how uncomfortable you are, in order to work together efficiently. After these two games, we stood in a circle formation once more. Then, a designated player was selected and had to walk across the circle to another person, making unwavering eye contact until they reached them. Then, this person would walk across the circle to someone else, continuing the cycle. After a few rounds, we added sounds and more expressive movements and guttural sounds. Next, we heightened the chaos by having two people start walking at the same time. We then started with more and more people, until we reached five. Thus, five people had to be rushing across the circle at once, towards five different people and all while maintaining extreme focus. I found this exercise really great as a physical warm up as well as an exercise to practice establishing focus quickly and effectively. Since focus is a primary element of drama, essential in any performance circumstance, this was really applicable to our practices. Furthermore, the exercise built our group cohesion, as we had to be aware of how many people were walking in the middle at the same time as who your gaze is connected with, etc. all while maintaining a high speed. thus, we started working together non-verbally, which is an essential communication skill on stage and in improvisation. After this, we played yet another warm-up type activity. In this one, we had to move around the room and ‘entertain’ Neil. We had to use the entire space, while still trying to entertain him and capture his attention. This was challenging because at some times you didn’t have his gaze, or it was blocked by another passing player, yet you still had to remain focussed on your task and entertainment goal. Furthermore, you had to remain aware of the others in the space and try to differentiate yourself from them. Then, Neil would clap and we would have to pair up with the person closest to us and cling to each other, so that there was no space between us. This was used to improve our ensemble coherence and to make us feel more comfortable with physicality that may feel awkward. This activity was good for establishing focus, reminding ourselves we are just acting and to become more comfortable and less nervous. The final activity we did before moving on was each person stood up one by one and stared at the audience for as long as they wanted- not acting- and then went back to their seats. This activity was useful because it is important to realise as an actor that you must face the audience and must get comfortable looking at them and meeting their gazes, so that your focus is not breached n performance. Also, this helps with self confidence, as in real life, people will always be looking at you. Moreover, this exercise was interesting because it allows you to see everyone’s different personalities and subtleties varying from one person’s way of looking to the next. I also found it very interesting when Neil went off on a slight tangent and told us a few stories about focus. These made me realise how the way you act on stage is very much reflected in your audience’s reactions, therefore it is very much important as an actor to be completely aware of what you are portraying and whether or not you are doing so effectively. After this series of warm-up games, each classmate delivered one line from their monologue, which we are tasked with to present and direct for our IGCSE practical examination. These short extracts were useful, as it allowed me to identify certain strategies that worked in captivating audiences, and strategies that were less effective. Watching others also made me reflect about my own acting on stage and how I might be portraying unwanted things, such as nervousness and stage fright by even slightest movements of toes. In a monologue, it is really important to get a grip on this and control every single movement and action, as though you are the character, and understand your motivations since you’re alone onstage and the whole audience can pick up on subtle clues of breaking out of character.

On Thursday, we continued working with monologues, since it was evident that we needed improvement on these before our examination performances. We started off by going up two by two and performing the first 20 seconds or so of our monologues, side by side. This was done so that we could see what kinds of techniques and strategies are effective in drawing in an audience, as that is crucial for a monologue, since the examiner needs to be captivated by the beginning if they will watch the whole thing and give good marks… I noticed that those who were really focused in their own monologue, in their character’s head, as opposed to trying to outact the other person or analyse whether the audience was observing them drew my attention more because I could believe their characters more. Those who were focused on outacting 9trying to use bigger, louder voices and gestures that didn’t necessarily belong with their character) and those whose focus was changing constantly or breaking, retracted my attention away. I also found that those who used variation in tone, pace and gestures in their monologues, with dramatic pauses and emotional beats as well were also more attractive. This helped me realise that sometimes it is better to get carried away by the character, rather than the audience or the setting. It is also very important to establish an air of confidence and not let on stage fright or nervousness come across, in order to portray believably the character. After everyone had gone up, we repeated the exercise. This time, Neil would stop us and direct us to repeat our extracts in different ways, styles, in different places, etc. all in order to experiment with what works and what doesn’t in drawing in an audience and playing a believable character. This was really helpful as in the future, I can use some effective things I saw my classmates use in their performances for later performances, in order to command audience focus more when I perform. This also helped me improve my own monologue and modify how I played my character. The one thing I didn’t like about these exercises was the way it made me feel as though it was a competition, like we were trying to outplay one another (unintentionally) or as though there was pressure to be better. Although this pushed us to try more, I also think it took away some of the ensemble building we did and made us even more nervous, insecure and unsure about our performances. However, overall, the exercise was very entertaining and educational and we learnt a lot.

At the end of class, it was great to see everyone improving and seeming more confident.

Overall, I learnt a lot from Nose2Nose again this year and feel that I have gained more understanding and experience as an actor, director and audience through the workshops. I hope to be able to apply some of the concepts and ideas I took from the workshop to my classwork in order to further improve.

On Friday, following our workshops throughout the week with the improvisation acting group ‘Nose2Nose’, we put on a performance for the Grade 8 students and a few other middle school classes. Beforehand, I was very nervous and did not really want to go out in front of all these people. Also, since I am very weak at improv and get really nervous performing alone, this performance was really really challenging for me, as it placed me way out of my comfort zone. Also, this performance was different for me, as it emphasised playing the audience, which is unusual for me as breaking the fourth wall causes me to feel quite vulnerable and less confident. As a goal at this performance, I wanted to develop more confidence and self-determination. I also wanted to improve my monologue delivery, despite having already finished with it beforehand.

At the beginning, my class opened the show by attempting to recreate the monologue openings we performed in class on Thursday. However, instead of going two by two, we all went up at once and tried to command the audience’s attention. After this, our mysterious monologue characters disappeared for the rest of the show…

Throughout the show, I got to watch various exercises performed by the other classes and age groups, some of which we had done last year with Nose2Nose. Also, two of my classmates got to perform their monologues for the audience. I really enjoyed this (just being an audience member) because it allowed me to learn, without the added pressure of knowing I had to get up next. I was also really surprised to find myself thinking sometimes as a director, reflecting on how I would portray the character, or chance things slightly. I was alos really impressed with how well my peers kept in their characters and in their focus- because I know I would not be able to do that in front of a large audience of people I recognise. My classmates who performed their monologues did so really confidently and it made me reflect on our class’s progress throughout the week and also made me think about the strengths and weaknesses in my own performance.

Throughout this week, not only did I gain a better understanding of my weaknesses and points to improve as an actress, I also gained more experience and self confidence in performing for others. Unexpectedly, I also found myself with even more improved ensemble spirit, as I felt really encouraged by my classmates performances and really wanted them to succeed as well.

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Drama Journal- Practice exam style questions #2

February 26, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama 10- Lesson of Thursday February 21st 2012

Today in drama class, we worked with some dramatic strategies and techniques relating to image theatre as well as Changi in order to refresh our memories about concepts and the elements of drama we learnt about last year. First of all, we discussed the main parts of the element Human Context. The crucial components of this element include roles, relationships, status, character (mannerisms and identity). The first activity we did was done in pairs. Two by two, one partner acted as the servant and the other as the master. After 60 seconds, we switched roles. This exercise was simply done to get us warmed up and thinking about status and relationships and how mannerisms of characters change according to their status. After this, we attempted to represent both visually and vocally a word that Mr. Meiklejohn prescribed us with; ‘servitude’.

10 Drama: Strategies from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

In our interpretation of the word, we tried to bring focus on the relationships between both characters and their respective statuses. In order to do so, we used levels (higher status character standing up tall and lower status character kneeling) and excluded dialogue from our short piece in order to really draw attention to the relationships and tension. We also tried to emphasize how the kneeling character was offering and willing to serve the master and was profusely bowing. This emphasized how the character was a servant to the other. Next, we visually and vocally interpreted another word; ‘masterhood’ and tried to form a different sequence that would show a distinct difference between masterhood and servitude. To do so, we had the master character standing up with a higher status than the other, who was a possession. We emphasized the fact that the master owned the other character by keeping the kneeling character silent and mostly immobile, except for when the master directed them to move (crumple). Meanwhile the master used exuberant stage presence (imposing posture and strong vocals) in order to bring the attention to them, since masterhood denotes extreme power for the master:

10 Drama: Strategies from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

Once again, we kept our sequence silent in order to focus the audience’s attention on our use of place, space and human context and to create a tension of the unknown.

The next activity we did was to create a longer scene incorporating a few dramatic strategies including ‘Marking the moment’, ‘Tapping in’ and ‘Parrot on the shoulder’. In our piece, my partner and I tried to experiment with status of characters and the relationships between them. In this particular piece, we had a prisoner being interrogated by a short-tempered police sergeant. The criminal by status normally has the least power, and we demonstrated that through the difference of levels. However, in this instance, the criminal was in control and had power, since he was keeping his calm while he managed to work up the police officer. Thus, the status was reversed and created an interesting tension for the audience. We chose to mark the moment with the word ‘scum’ as it highlighted both the character’s emotions about each other at that particular moment. It also broke away from the linear pattern of the piece, making it more interesting for the audience and bringing further focus onto the relationships and status difference present in the piece. At the tapping in parts, the characters revealed their inner thoughts, which helps situate the audience in a complicated scene and reveal the motivations of the characters. Furthermore, the ‘Parrot on the shoulder’ helps the audience understand the relationships between the characters and might reveal aspects of characters that they might not admit themselves or that other characters might not explicitly express.

10 Drama: Strategies from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

These strategies are very effective rehearsal techniques as it can allow you to gain understanding of your character as well as the ways your character reacts in certain situations. It also helps you discover the motivations of all the characters and their inner thoughts in order to accurately portray the beats and subtext of the scene. These strategies can also be used in performance, to break the linear pattern of pieces and change the focus for the audience. It can also bring out highlighted aspects of human relationships or other elements you are trying to portray strongly.

These activities related to the play Changi we are studying because in Changi, Fernandez is being subjected to oppression and abuse by the government, jail guards and even his own friend. After these activities, we went through a few aspects of Changi and discussed various techniques Yeo used in the play to make it more powerful and effective at conveying a message to the audience. Since the mock exam is Thursday, we were given a second set of questions to answer, this time about Yeo’s piece:

1. As a director, in scene 13 how would you stage the changes in emotional beat, dialogue
and interaction between the characters in order to engage the audience’s interest and create a particular
atmosphere? In your answer, make specific references to lines 841-909 particularly regarding roles and
relationships. From lines 868 to 880, the atmosphere is very light, as the characters (friends) are catching up and greeting each other after a long while without having gathered together. Thus, to portray this light and chatty mood, I would have the actors deliver the lines with higher pitches and skippy rhythm. I would also have the dialogue exchanges move at a considerate pace, in order to show the light mood. Also, at line 875, I would pay particular attention to the inter character relationships when directing the hugs and greetings between the friends. I would have Chye approach Sarah and stand with slightly better posture, demonstrating how he considers himself of a higher status, and Sarah is more humble due to her visiting status. Meanwhile, Hua and Fernandez’s embrace must be very awkward and stiff, almost not touching each other, to show the tension of love, regret and remorse between both characters. While the characters are talking, i would have Fernandez stand a bit in isolation to the rest of the characters, who i would place in a triangular formation. this would once again reinforce how Fernandez is slightly abandoned by his friends as well as the fact that he is somewhat of an outcast due to his political views. Furthermore, having the characters stand in a triangle further develops and emphasizes the 3vs1 notion present throughout the entire piece (for instance 3 prison interrogators vs. Reg in all the Changi questioning scenes, or 3 interviewers against Reg,in the confession scene etc.). This notion and visual shape sticks in the audience’s mind and makes them reflect on strength in numbers as well as Reg’s powerlessness up against the strongest shape that exists; the triangle. Continuing from line 881, there is a beat and a change in atmosphere of the scene. The characters are now politely consoling Fernandez for his loss and paying respects to his father. For this part, I would have the triangle formation approach Fernandez a bit, to show the momentary concern for him. I would also have Fernandez curl up to show his grief and how he has yet again been weakened. From line 880, I would have the dialogue move more slowly and the actors would deliver their lines less cheerfully while looking slightly down, in order to create a tense atmosphere and a heavy mood that would be carried to the audience.

2. As an actor, how would you portray the part of FERNANDEZ in lines 242-263 to bring out at least two
different aspects of his character? You would not only need to consider vocal expression and physicality,
but attitude and motivation. From lines 242 to 263, Fernandez delivers a speech to Hua, who is not present, expressing his emotions about her visit to him in jail. At the very start, Fernandez addresses her with the name “Darling Hua”, thus showing his affection for her. In order to portray this emotional aspect of Fernandez, I would deliver this line softly and calmly, with a fluid tone. I would also tilt my head to the side and look upwards to show love and to highlight how Fernandez idealizes Hua, as though she was a goddess. Up until line 245, Fernandez is outlining his feelings of pain and rejection, because Hua is pregnant. To show this to the audience, I would sit down or kneel, to adopt a low level, curl my body inwards and protect it with my arms. I would also utter these lines slowly with a soft voice, to demonstrate how Fernandez is feeling sad and hurt, as well as the aspect of the character that is vulnerable and sensitive. At line 248, I would chance my tone of voice, to keep the audience interested and to show a different aspect of Fernandez’s character. In this line, Fernandez’s main motivation is to convince himself that he is strong and will make the most of this unideal situation. So, to show this false sense of determination and self-confidence, I would speak these lines firmly and with a staccato rhythm, and with a steady tone. By line 251, Fernandez is yet again lost in his overpowering emotions for Hua. He is again placing ehr on a pedestal and making himself feel even worse for being rejected by her. Thus to show this aspect of Fernandez, I would speak the line “You’re someone whom I can touch, talk to, love, but cannot have”, with a varying pitch and volume range in order to show the amount Fernandez has been affected by his rejection. I would also use my arms and hands as if I was trying to find something to grasp and hold onto, showing how Fernandez is searching in vain for Hua’s affection. At the last part of the line, I would draw out all my breath and exhale largely, to reduce my body smaller and emphasize how deflated Fernandez feels. At the final line of the monologue, I would shift Fernandez’s focus back to reality. To do so, I would have him face the audience and utter the final line with conviction and harsh pronunciation. This would contrasts with the previous dream-like atmosphere and Fernandez’s deep emotional thoughts. The shift in tonal range, volume and steadiness of the delivery would also show Fernandez’s feelings towards Chye; full of resentment, anger and hate. To portray this physically, I would stiffen my body position and remain strongly immobile as I said the final line, looking directly at the audience in front with a very serious expression. Throughout the monologue, I would play around alot with pitch and intonation, to try and bring out the side of Fernandez that is very emotionally unpredictable. I would also use a lot of dreamy vocal expression and day dreaming physicality to showcase the aspect of Fernandez that is hopeful/overly wishful and lonely.

**These questions were answered within 35mins total.

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Drama Journal- Practice Exam-style questions

February 18, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama 10- Lesson of Monday February 11th 2012

This week in drama class we explored the stimulus phrases provided by the IGCSE to us. In preparation for the mock exams in two weeks time, we have been assigned a few practice questions in order to get a feel for what sort of things are expected on the real exam. In preparation for timed conditions, I answered these questions within the space of just over an hour, recognizing that in the real exam I will have MUCH less time for such volume of questions.

About your Devised Performance last week:

1.What approach did you take to the staging of your devised piece based on your chosen stimulus? Consider the elements of place and space.
When staging our devised piece based on the chosen stimulus of mental diseases (issue of conscience), we tried to keep the stage design minimal and simple, in order to project focus onto the characters. A wooden frame was placed upstage center and in front of that was a wooden bench, slightly to stage right. The bench was placed in that position because the audience’s gaze usually falls to the left first, since that is the direction of reading a book. Since the bench was used as the seat where the main character (the girl in the orange shirt) sat for the majority of the action, the bench’s placement further emphasized the pivotal role of that character and brought the audience’s focus to her. The set furniture was placed upstage, as opposed to downstage, as this created a feeling of detachment and isolation, by distancing the audience from the action. This emphasized the loneliness of the girl in the orange shirt and demonstrated how her mental state was detached from reality and isolated. The asymmetrical placement of the stage also symbolized the character’s unstable state of mind. Throughout the piece, we used different levels and positions to showcase the different characters and their roles. For instance, in the final scene, Pride is standing on the bench, elevated above the other characters, showcasing her higher status. Downstage center, the girl is in a frozen pose, like a ballerina, demonstrating a feeling of pride with her elevated chest and raised gaze. This further emphasizes Pride’s position of superiority at the particular moment. Meanwhile, Sloth and Glutney were seated and crouching a bit, respectively, showing how Sloth’s motivations for rest and Glutney’s impasse due to his hunger. By placing these characters at lower levels, it also shows how these emotions felt by the main character are less prominent and being repressed at the present moment. At the same time, wrath was standing very tense and recoiled, demonstrating how the character’s angry emotions are being bottled up and are barely being contained. Wrath’s position upstage also reflects how that emotion was a little less dominant at the particular moment. Finally, Lust is moving through the different stage areas and levels, demonstrating how this is the girl’s emotion that is the most variable and unpredictable, and thus also the most powerful and controlling of her actions.

2. Identify two important dramatic moments in your piece based on your chosen stimulus. What made them effective?
The first dramatic moment was during the first scene, when the girl in the orange shirt interrupts the other character’s external monologues to ask for the time. The moment was effective because the chaotic mood and tension created by all the characters, except the girl, speaking at the same time was suddenly broken by a stern question from the girl. The abrupt change from the chaotic mood to the tense and constricted one brought immediate and direct focus onto the central character and showed her brief momentary status of superiority. It also highlighted the girl’s difference, as she was the only character not thought-tracking and was the one to break the rhythm of the scene. All of these factpors emphasized the character’s isolation and loneliness. The second dramatic moment was when the deadly sin characters (dressed in black) collapsed to the ground after the sequence where they were circling the space and their movements accompanied by a collection of frenzied ticking noises. The moment was effective because the music built the tension gradually and when the music was rapid, the movements grew more frantic as well, creating even more tension. The abrupt end of the track and the collapse of the characters completely broke the tension and contrasted with the chaotic mood present earlier. Also, the contrast created between movement and stillness of the character’s emphasized the change in mood/dramatic moment.Lighting was also used to make the moment even more effective. As the track grew in chaos, the light got darker and red-tinted. Then, it suddenly switched back to regular white stage lighting, creating an immense contrast and a variant in the mood. This dramatic moment was symbolic, as it emphasized the character’s volatile state of being and showcased her tendency to switch emotions abruptly.

About ‘The Shape of Things to Come’:
3.Name and explain at least two dramatic strategies or rehearsal techniques used in creating your piece based on THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. How effective were they in conveying the message of the piece?
Firstly, we used the strategies from physical theatre to create our piece based on THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. We considered the visual representations of the phrase and considered images associated with the words. We thought particularly about the word shape. We brainstormed different shapes and picked one; octagon. As a group of three, we experimented physically with different positions and poses we could create that convey octagonal shapes. We also tried out a few frozen poses and images that we felt represented an octagon. In using physical theatre elements, it helped us convey the message of the piece to the audience by visually representing a crucial element of the theme: shape and the visual way things appear. Second of all, when creating our short devised piece, we used the strategy ‘Parent on the shoulder’, where different parts of a given character’s conscience incited the character to think about certain things or exposed their conflicting thoughts and feeling from behind the character, much like a parent on a teenager’s shoulder directing them how to behave. In our piece, the different parts of the character’s conscience were highlighting the character’s feelings of guilt and remorse, versus defense, pride and vindication that she was struggling with after cheating on her boyfriend. This helped convey the message of the piece, in that he various different emotions and the struggle to come to terms with these showed the variability of situations and highlighted how there are many different interpretations of a given event. This communicated to the audience that the future is uncertain and can be determined by a variety of factors such as emotions and circumstances and showed how the SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME is undefined and does not necessarily have a recognizable form.

4. Briefly summarise your ideas for a piece based on THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME and discuss how you would approach performing the piece for an audience – from ideas to stage.
Based on THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, I would like to communicate to the audience the different possibilities that lie in the future and the various interpretations of a single event. In order to communicate this effectively, I would use space differently in every scene and place the actors in formations that represented recognized geometrical shapes and forms. This would help me convey my ideas about the way events are shaped and structured in a certain manner, but this structure can vary depending on the circumstances. In creating the piece and developing the plot, I would use Stanislavski’s techniques of ‘Given the Circumstances’ and ‘What if…’ in order to experiment with different outcomes and to experiment with different ways of visually and physically representing different scenarios using visual poses/formations that are symbolic and effective. Furthermore, I would use some of Brecht’s ideas about physical theatre in order to encourage actors to convey their role very physically and express emotions and events through the shapes and positions of their bodies. In addition, actors could draw from Japanese drama style of Butoh to help them express such extreme physicality and create contrast between their positions from one scene to the next, in order to show the variability of THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. Lastly, I would stage the set in an Arena Stage manner, with an dodecahedral playing area and the audience seating surroundings all sides of the stage. This would emphasize visually for the audience geometrical shapes and provoke them to reflect on this. Since a dodecahedron has many sides and can be broken down in many ways into various smaller shapes, it emphasizes the variability of THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME once again. The audience also experiences many different perspectives of the action, from the various vantage points, emphasizing my ideas of how people interpret events differently and the future shape of events may be influenced by their perspectives.

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Drama Journal-performance Reflection

February 8, 2013 by 15robidouxk

Drama 10-lessons of Monday February , Thursday February and Friday February 2013

10 Devised – 2 Mins 2 from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

10 Devised – 2 Mins 1 from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

This week in drama class, we worked the whole time on our devised pieces , which we performed for an audience Friday evening.

I found this project quite fun at first and throughout the developmental stages because I learnt a lot about theatre forms/styles and techniques. I also learnt that drama doesn’t always have to be the same, and that it’s sometimes good to break the mold. I also enjoyed watching the other group perform, learning from them and comparing and contrasting our pieces and approaches to the project.

Approach: First of all, we selected a stimulus to devise from. The stimulus my group chose for our piece was an issue of conscience: mental diseases (schizophrenia was our starting point,lap though the piece is not necessarily about a schizophrenic). As our piece developed, we modified it and thus it eventually became about identity- the different parts that make up a personality and how we perceive ourselves (in regards) to these different parts. After choosing our stimulus, we followed the steps learnt over the course of the year to create a successful devised piece. We began brainstorming all possible story-lines/themes/ideas and characters that could be developed from the basis of our stimuli. After outlying an initial concept and narrative, we physicalized the piece. Over the course of the weeks we experimented with as many different forms/styles/techniques as well as games and rehearsal techniques in order to improve our piece. We also presented to the class a few times to obtain feedback both from our peers and from Mr. Meiklejohn. Throughout the development of our piece, we thought about scenes, transitions, use of space, lighting and sound effects.

Elements/Techniques: In this particular piece, we used several dramatic elements and also tried to incorporate as many different dramatic techniques learnt in class as possible. In our piece we used mostly only non-realism. We also incorporated the following forms and techniques: Butoh (entrances with the masks used Butoh-inspired physicality), masks, thought-tracking, expressive movement, freeze frame, captioning,music, conscience alley, unison, repetition and physical theatre.
First of all, the most prominent element of drama utilized was symbolism. We tried to make everything in our work symbolic and relevant to the theme because that way the whole piece melded together so much more as a whole. The bus symbolized the character’s escape from her disease/from the parts of herself she was ashamed with, and the non-passing of time showed how she never managed to overcome her illness. Each sub-conscience character represented one of the deadly sins; thus represented the parts of herself she was trying to expel/push away. Every time she came close to overcoming these, the sins ‘got aggravated’ and reacted by dragging her back into her delusional state. Thus, the cyclic pattern of our piece (repetition of the thought-tracking, time, captioning, etc.) represented her disease. Furthermore the characters were quite symbolic. The deadly sins represented human nature-parts of us that everyone has inside them. Meanwhile, my character represented physical humanity, the body. Me disappearing at the end was significant, as it represented the demise of a being, physically but showed that human nature prevailed and that can never be erased… Also, the music box with the ballerina in it represented the character’s hopes ad aspirations and longing for freedom. Each time she looked to art forms for liberation, the sins take it away from her, stripping her soul away.
Another prominent element used in our piece was Place and Space. We tried to make use of different levels, for instance at the parts where the sub-conscience characters encircled my character, or when we used the captioning techniques. Also, while waiting for the bus, we used different levels and a triangular set up, to appeal to the audience more. Furthermore, we utilized the space during the introduction, as we had the masked characters come out from all sides and corners of the auditorium- even from the audience. In the final scene when I was dancing, we tried to use the stage well by placing all characters in dynamic poses around the space, with different levels to make it more interesting for the audience. We also tried to create defined moments of closure and openness towards the audience to symbolize how the character is trapped. For example, at the section where the sins circled me and were insulting me (conscience alley), we were very closed off and secluded from the audience, showing how the sins have infiltrated and dominated the person’s mind. In contrast, when we believe for a moment the character will escape (when she sees the bus arriving), we spread out more, showing how she nearly overcomes her sub conscience.
The third most important element we used in our piece was focus. We tried to use a lot of contrast between loud, chaotic and forceful sounds and more quiet sounds. For example at the thought tracking parts, the characters were al speaking at once, creating a chaotic mood. Then, upon my “excuse me”, the focus was brought to me, along with the subsequent silence. Another example could be the “you don’t have a job sequence. As the tension mounted more and more, I broke the focus and redirected by breaking out with a casual comment on how I had lost my job. We also used contrast in the costumes to direct focus on the main character. I wore a bright orange shirt and ballet slippers, while the other characters wore masks at times, barefoot, and all black clothing.
Furthermore, we used the element of mood in our piece. To create a mysterious and creepy mood at the beginning, we used red/purple lighting and slow classical music from a music box. We also used the masks to help achieve the mysterious mood. Subsequently, we used unison and everyone talking at the same time in the piece to create an imposing, chaotic mood. Finally, I held my gazes fixed at the audience to create a strong and definite atmosphere as well. We also used the ticking noises, mounting in urgency, and red lighting to emphasize the chaos in the section where the sins were circling the space, affected by the sounds.

My performance: Personally, I think our devised piece was a great challenge for me to act in, because it incorporated so many different styles and forms that I am not used to using. In addition, I was very nervous and shy so I sometimes didn’t act full out like I might have done and my voice projection was not perfect. Also, it was very hard to be in character, as I often had to stay neutral or evoke VERY STRONG CLEAR emotions such as overwhelmment/lust/confusion and states of mind like pensiveness throughout the piece. I think if I had more time to familiarize myself with my character, I could have delivered a more accurate portrayal of her in the final performance. Also, if I had developed more mannerisms/ specific physicality and had reacted more powerfully to other characters, it would have improved my performance. Next time, in order for me to feel more comfortable performing, I should pick a character that I am more familiar with, or alternatively use some of say Stanislavski’s method acting rehearsal techniques (what if…, given circumstances, etc.) to get more absorbed into my character. That way, I would feel more like the character herself, instead of myself trying to recreate another person…

Success: I thought our piece was a success to some extent but also not so good in other areas. First of all, I thought our group made a really good effort to incorporate a variety of forms and techniques that we don’t conventionally use, in order to create a dynamic piece that was not at all reliant on heavy dialogue and realism. Our piece turned out to be in fact heavily symbolic and abstract and left a lot up to the audience for interpretation, an effect we had hoped to achieve. I also think we worked very well as a team, and worked off each other to generate new ideas, or fix areas that needed improvement. One challenge we faced however, was when we had an overload of ideas, sometimes it was hard to sort through them and narrow it down to the ones that would fit, and be dynamic. To further improve our piece, we could have used even further physicality and projected our characters more powerfully. Also, I think it would be interesting to use further rehearsal techniques next time. After having developed our piece, we could have played some games such as “What if…”, “Given the Circumstances”, “Storyboarding”, and “Thought-tracking” in order to gain better understandings of our characters and their mannerisms/personalities/behavioral patterns. I also think it would be beneficial to have shared with the class and Mr. Meiklejohn more frequently, in order to get a lot feedback and have time to make necessary improvements- not at the last minute (one day before the show) like we did in this instance.

Connections to other pieces/works: Our piece has elements in common with Brechtian theatre. Likewise to this theatre practitioner, we ‘distanced the drama’ from the audience by using pieces of music/sound effects to break up the scenes and used captions and direct interactions with the audience (some of the characters went and sat in the audience for example…) in order to extract the audience from the drama, reminding them that they are watching a piece. Also similar, our captions referred to the character in the third person, creating a disconnection. Like Brecht, we wanted our audience to look at the themes and issues presented in the piece critically and reflect deeply on them, instead of just simply watching the piece and not absorbing/questioning/reflecting on anything. Our piece also connected to Waiting for Godot, an absurdist drama about two characters waiting for someone (like me waiting for the bus…) and carrying on with trivial dialogue. Waiting for Godot also showcases the passing of time as slow and non-existant in the piece, showing how the characters are stuck in a cycle of repetition, much like the character represented in our piece. In the end, Godot never appears, like the bus never actually appears in our piece.

Comparatively, the other group’s storyline was more defined than ours and their piece relied more on dialogue than us. I thought that their use of space was very clever, as it kept the audience engaged and guessing how they used all the different areas of the stage at alternating time. I also liked how they used circles of attention; so a character could be trying to talk to another, however the other characters’ circle of attention did not extent to the one trying to reach them. this created the effect of a movie, or a ghost, where one character was witnessing the action, incapable of intervening. I found this fit really well with the group’s theme of depression and showed how the character was helpless in his life and was struggling to come to terms with the various events. Furthermore, I enjoyed how the piece’s opening was the same as the ending, as it brought the whole piece together. Also, it created a bit of a mystery; the audience was free to interpret whether the teenager had suicided, imagined something, or simply taken a sleeping pill and had a nightmare. It was unclear and that is what left the audience reflecting at the end. Another part of the piece I enjoyed was the strong acting of all the players and how their characters were portrayed consistently and powerfully, using specific mannerisms and voice. The element of human context and roles and relationships was emphasized in this piece, making it more personal for the audience and also more believable. Finally, I thought the group made a very effective use of music and sound effects, as this contributed to the piece’s conveying of the themes as well as the mood and tension. If I were to criticize one thing about the piece, is that it would be nice to see a bit more variety in the styles forms and techniques they used, as they used a bit (freeze-frame, conscience, etc.) but I would have liked to see it taken maybe one step further, incorporating at least one non-realistic scene or a substantially lengthed one that had no dialogue at all.

In conclusion, I think both groups performed well and we learnt a lot about creating drama and ways of devising effectively. I also realized just how much effort is needed to pull off a successful devised piece that is coherent, powerful and effective and once again that the ’20/80′ rule really is crucially important.

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