In this lesson we read a story about a man called Gregor who woke up one day and he had turned into a beetle. We had to recreate the everyday morning routine of Gregor and his parents and sister, and then the routine and how it is disturbed when Gregor stays in bed.
Abi, Taran and myself worked in a group together, we created a small peice wherein it starts with the two parents and Gregor's sister eating breakfast, the sister eats breakfast while the father reads the paper and the mother cooks, everything runs smoothly, then when gregor is missing, things start to fall apart, the mother goes to take the fathers paper from him as per usual but he has put it down whilst looking for Gregor, so she has nothing to take, the sister has no tea because no one has poured it for her, she then looks for Gregor also, as she does so, the father leans back on his chair to further search for his son, and falls from it, disturbing the mother and making her drop her food that she is cooking, the sister, unable to find Gregor sits back down to eat breakfast, to tired to notice anything is amiss.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
23/11/10
We studied Artaud in this lesson. Artaud was part of the avant-garde movement. He was reacting against the impressionist painters and naturalism in the theatre. He joined the surrealist movement then publicly distanced himself from them. Despite this, there are signs of influences of surrealism in the theatre of cruelty.
Artaud was a drug addict, he was addicted to Opium, which in those days was a trend. At the age of 40 was declared insane and spent 9 years in a mental institution.
He believed theatre could be used as a means of spiritual an psychological healing. He believed, like Aristotle, in the cathartic value of the theatre. Like Freud, he believed that humans hide within themselves secret, dangerous thoughts, feelings.
Total Theatre.
Like Meyerhold Artaud sought a theatre that utilised all of the elements of the theatre available: acting, stage, lighting, sound and props. He focused on the visual, rather than dialog. He sought to emotionally affect his audience. He had the audience in the centre and the performance going on around them. Movement/Gesture Three types of movement: Naturalistic, Expressionistic, and Ritualistic.
Believed in mixing realistic action with expressive movements that depict the internal world. Used symbolic, exaggerated and distorted gestures gesture in order to communicate psychologically with the audience rather than through words. He liked his human characters to turn into animals, puppets or mechanical beings. We did a breath exercise, wherein we got into three groups and ha to create the breathing sounds of three emotions: fear, anger and happiness. We then watched an Artaud clip of a woman performing.
Artaud was a drug addict, he was addicted to Opium, which in those days was a trend. At the age of 40 was declared insane and spent 9 years in a mental institution.
He believed theatre could be used as a means of spiritual an psychological healing. He believed, like Aristotle, in the cathartic value of the theatre. Like Freud, he believed that humans hide within themselves secret, dangerous thoughts, feelings.
Total Theatre.
Like Meyerhold Artaud sought a theatre that utilised all of the elements of the theatre available: acting, stage, lighting, sound and props. He focused on the visual, rather than dialog. He sought to emotionally affect his audience. He had the audience in the centre and the performance going on around them. Movement/Gesture Three types of movement: Naturalistic, Expressionistic, and Ritualistic.
Believed in mixing realistic action with expressive movements that depict the internal world. Used symbolic, exaggerated and distorted gestures gesture in order to communicate psychologically with the audience rather than through words. He liked his human characters to turn into animals, puppets or mechanical beings. We did a breath exercise, wherein we got into three groups and ha to create the breathing sounds of three emotions: fear, anger and happiness. We then watched an Artaud clip of a woman performing.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
16/11/10
Period 3
We read a play about a town who believed there was a goverment official coming to town, and when a poor traveller came to town, everybody assumed he was the official and began giving him bribes to sort something out for them in town (one of them paid him to get them a farm). The traveller took the bribes and did nothing, until he became bored of the bribes and left town with lots of money and the mayors daughter.
It was only when they recieved another letter, informing them the official was on his way, that they realised the mistake they had made.
Our task in this lesson was to create a 'bribe machine' which is a performance about how all the townspeople bribed him to do things for them, and how he eventually became bored of the bribes and left. We created a short performance all linking in to one another, for example, my character, paid the traveller money, because he wanted to start up a brothel, and the traveller offered to do so, another person came to him, requesting a job, and was then sent to the aforementioned brothel, another man was lonely, and also then sent to the brothel, a police officer then caught wind of there being some sort of trouble around that area and asked the 'offical' to sort it out, there was then a man requesting that a body was disposed of, suggesting the 'trouble' was sorted via murder. This carried on, with the owner requesting more workers, the workers requesting better pay, the clients requesting new workers, and the policeman becoming more concerned about that area, followed by more people being killed off. This continued until the traveller became bored of the stress and left, meaning the whole system fell apart.
The traveller sat in the center, with us scattered around in various poses, we froze whilst other people spoke, and when it was our turn to talk, used an exaggurated movement to get to the traveller.
We showed this to the group and were given the feedback that we used all the right techinques to create a bribe machine working and then falling apart, we may have needed to work on vocal projection and pace though, as we were a little slow.
We read a play about a town who believed there was a goverment official coming to town, and when a poor traveller came to town, everybody assumed he was the official and began giving him bribes to sort something out for them in town (one of them paid him to get them a farm). The traveller took the bribes and did nothing, until he became bored of the bribes and left town with lots of money and the mayors daughter.
It was only when they recieved another letter, informing them the official was on his way, that they realised the mistake they had made.
Our task in this lesson was to create a 'bribe machine' which is a performance about how all the townspeople bribed him to do things for them, and how he eventually became bored of the bribes and left. We created a short performance all linking in to one another, for example, my character, paid the traveller money, because he wanted to start up a brothel, and the traveller offered to do so, another person came to him, requesting a job, and was then sent to the aforementioned brothel, another man was lonely, and also then sent to the brothel, a police officer then caught wind of there being some sort of trouble around that area and asked the 'offical' to sort it out, there was then a man requesting that a body was disposed of, suggesting the 'trouble' was sorted via murder. This carried on, with the owner requesting more workers, the workers requesting better pay, the clients requesting new workers, and the policeman becoming more concerned about that area, followed by more people being killed off. This continued until the traveller became bored of the stress and left, meaning the whole system fell apart.
The traveller sat in the center, with us scattered around in various poses, we froze whilst other people spoke, and when it was our turn to talk, used an exaggurated movement to get to the traveller.
We showed this to the group and were given the feedback that we used all the right techinques to create a bribe machine working and then falling apart, we may have needed to work on vocal projection and pace though, as we were a little slow.
16/11/10
In this lesson we read a handout about Meyerhold, and the story of the two wives who had a wager that either one of their husbands was more foolish than the other.
We did some warm up excersies including the closed eyes clapping exercise, which is used to help focus your attention, by closing your eyes, everyone stands in a circle and waited for Andy to clap, we then all clap when he does, and stops when he does, by listening carefully to the sound of who is clapping and who is not, concetration and focus in strengthened, which is important in physical theatre.
We also learned the starting and stopping movement, we learnt the 'I' (Preperation) 'Ras' (Movement) and 'Dva' (Stopping) technique. This is used a lot in Meyerholds theatre as it makes sure each individual movement is noticed and well presented. By using 'I' (preperation) the person prepares themselves for the 'Ras' which is the movement. For example, in that lesson, we were told to all walk around the room, and when we were told 'I' we had to prepare to change direction, so this would mean, turning around on the spot, without actually moving towards that direction, when we were told 'Ras' we would then move that way, and when told 'Dva' we would stop. Doing this in physical theatre can help to show the individual movements, it is also useful when exaggurating movement as well, for example, if i wanted to do an exaggurated movement that involved pointing at someone accusingly, i would first prepare myself to do so, i would then, after a pause, move into that action, but the pause allows us to clearly show how exaggurated the movement is (I could point in an over the top way, by raising my arm much higher than needed on the way into the pointing action.)
We watched a video that lesson, which showed us a short performance called 'The Slap' it is a move that consists of many steps, and it is an exaguratted way of showing somebody being slapped, which makes it comical in how over the top it is.
It starts with two people meeting, they both mirror each other at this point, they shake hands, followed by some jumping movements and one person then breaks away from the mirroring and prepares to slap a person, bringing their hand to the other persons face, before then bringing their hand up, causing the other person to flinch, they then slap the person, however, they don't actually physically slap them, just appear to, the other person then claps their hands together, and holds their head in their hands, as if slapped, all in an over the top manner. In performances like these, there will always be an active and a reactive person, someone who seems to hold the power (Person slapping the other) and someone who is over powered (Person being slapped) this can always change throughout performance though, but there must always be someone reacting.
I found some photos on the internet, that demonstrate some of 'The Slap'
We then performed to the group and finished the lesson.
12/11/10
In this lesson we were performing our peices, we had time beforehand to work on them and in our group, James, myself, Autumn and Taz decided to give the peice a more definitive ending, we decided that each character would speak one line only, right at the end. For this we decided that after James at thrown Autumn and I off, we would get up and say something.
It was decided that Taran, as the postman, would find James' behaviour rude, as he had slammed the door in his face, and he would say before leaving "How rude."
Autumn was the next to speak, she stands up, cleans her self down and directly to James says "You're such an idiot." But he however does not hear because he is behind a door.
I am the next to talk and I get up and knock on the door, i then have a silent arguement with him, to which he turns his back on me, rolling his eyes, displaying yet more conceit and egotism towards other characters, I then tap him on the shoulder, and as he turns round, swipe him across the face with my nails, before then saying "Now you're ugly too." and then walking away.
James is the only character who does not say anything at the end, this was not for any particular reason, we just felt that there was nothing his character needed to say by the end of the performance.
We also had to choose music to put in the background, and after a few different trials of songs, we settled on Tina Turner - Simply The Best, because the song is talking about how someone is better than other people, which is how James' character behaves, we felt it suited the performance, as it wasnt a particularly upbeat, nor sad performance, it was somewhere in between, and so the song seemed to fit into how we wanted it to feel, from James' point of view.
We performed it to the class and we were told the following feedback:
-Good facial expressions
-Good body language
-Good story telling
-Good mirroring
-The music was played too loudly, so it became difficult to hear our last lines, defeating the prominance of them being there.
It was decided that Taran, as the postman, would find James' behaviour rude, as he had slammed the door in his face, and he would say before leaving "How rude."
Autumn was the next to speak, she stands up, cleans her self down and directly to James says "You're such an idiot." But he however does not hear because he is behind a door.
I am the next to talk and I get up and knock on the door, i then have a silent arguement with him, to which he turns his back on me, rolling his eyes, displaying yet more conceit and egotism towards other characters, I then tap him on the shoulder, and as he turns round, swipe him across the face with my nails, before then saying "Now you're ugly too." and then walking away.
James is the only character who does not say anything at the end, this was not for any particular reason, we just felt that there was nothing his character needed to say by the end of the performance.
We also had to choose music to put in the background, and after a few different trials of songs, we settled on Tina Turner - Simply The Best, because the song is talking about how someone is better than other people, which is how James' character behaves, we felt it suited the performance, as it wasnt a particularly upbeat, nor sad performance, it was somewhere in between, and so the song seemed to fit into how we wanted it to feel, from James' point of view.
We performed it to the class and we were told the following feedback:
-Good facial expressions
-Good body language
-Good story telling
-Good mirroring
-The music was played too loudly, so it became difficult to hear our last lines, defeating the prominance of them being there.
9/11/10
9/11/10 Period 1 + 3
Today we worked in our groups developing our mime peices for this lesson, we added an extra bit to the performance, whereafter the scene where James is trying on his coats, and we are acting as his reflections, and Taz as the shop keeper, we added a scene where Autumn and I are playing cards together, we play and James comes home in his new coat, which he then places on the coatrack that Taran is currently acting as, he then drops the coat to the floor and becomes a postman. As he does this, we invite James to play cards with us, he acts disgusted and rejects us, this again shows his egotism and conciet we then continue to play until he brushes the cards on the floor away with his hands, we then sit, midly irritated, as Taran mimes the carrying of a heavy package to the door, he then knocks on the door and we all rush to get to it, but before we can get up properly, James stops us from getting up, and answers the door himself. He then picks up the heavy package with one hand, making Taz appear weak. James then places the package where we were playing cards, he cuts open the box and we all peer inside, looking amazed and dazelled at its contents. Seeing that Autumn and I are interested in what is inside the box, James grabs its contents and holds them so that we cannot have any, demonstrating his selfishness and conciet. After a pause, we then grab his hands and swing him back and forth in a comidic fashion, before Autumn tries to pry James' hands free using her foot, and i jump on his back. In a mass frenzy, James throws me from his back and stands up, sending both myself and Autumn flying backwards, he then runs off to another room, where it becomes clear that the package contained makeup, as he begins to apply it, once again, showing his vanity.
Today we worked in our groups developing our mime peices for this lesson, we added an extra bit to the performance, whereafter the scene where James is trying on his coats, and we are acting as his reflections, and Taz as the shop keeper, we added a scene where Autumn and I are playing cards together, we play and James comes home in his new coat, which he then places on the coatrack that Taran is currently acting as, he then drops the coat to the floor and becomes a postman. As he does this, we invite James to play cards with us, he acts disgusted and rejects us, this again shows his egotism and conciet we then continue to play until he brushes the cards on the floor away with his hands, we then sit, midly irritated, as Taran mimes the carrying of a heavy package to the door, he then knocks on the door and we all rush to get to it, but before we can get up properly, James stops us from getting up, and answers the door himself. He then picks up the heavy package with one hand, making Taz appear weak. James then places the package where we were playing cards, he cuts open the box and we all peer inside, looking amazed and dazelled at its contents. Seeing that Autumn and I are interested in what is inside the box, James grabs its contents and holds them so that we cannot have any, demonstrating his selfishness and conciet. After a pause, we then grab his hands and swing him back and forth in a comidic fashion, before Autumn tries to pry James' hands free using her foot, and i jump on his back. In a mass frenzy, James throws me from his back and stands up, sending both myself and Autumn flying backwards, he then runs off to another room, where it becomes clear that the package contained makeup, as he begins to apply it, once again, showing his vanity.
29/10/10
29/10/10.
Period 3
In this lesson we worked on our performances, with the stimuli of a mirror.
Autumn joined our group and we added her into the performance, we chose to do a mime performance. So far, we have a small mime wherein, to begin with, James, Autumn and I are standing, facing the audience, miming our morning routine, sorting our hair out, and our clothes, making ourselves look presentable. We then all simultainiously admire ourselves and go into the next formation, Autumn and I become shop windows and James checks out his reflection as he walks by, symbolizing vainity, a point we thought of when we thought of mirrors we then do what he does, acting as the mirrors. He then enters the shop, and tries on coats, Autumn and I act as mirrors, mimicking what he does but we dictate to him the coat he should buy, acting almost like paranoia, in that his reflections are telling him he doesn't look good, which is his worst nightmare and Taran acts as the posh shop keeper, fetching and placing coats to and fro and being overall pushed around by James.
26/10/10
26/10/10
Period 1 + 3
In these lessons we worked on our performances together, our first scene consisted of James, Taran and I standing facing the audience as if we were facing a mirror, admiring ourself, to show vanity. Taran and i then became shop windows, and as James walked by, we came to life, mimcking him, acting as reflections, he stopped to admire himself, once again showing vanity, and then walked into the shop to buy a coat, Taran and myself became doors, and once the doors were closed, i became a mirror and Taran became the shop keeper. James then tries on three coats before deciding the last one is his favourite, he treats Taran poorly, laughing at his posh manor and rudely demanding he fetch coats for him, this shows egotism.
Period 1 + 3
In these lessons we worked on our performances together, our first scene consisted of James, Taran and I standing facing the audience as if we were facing a mirror, admiring ourself, to show vanity. Taran and i then became shop windows, and as James walked by, we came to life, mimcking him, acting as reflections, he stopped to admire himself, once again showing vanity, and then walked into the shop to buy a coat, Taran and myself became doors, and once the doors were closed, i became a mirror and Taran became the shop keeper. James then tries on three coats before deciding the last one is his favourite, he treats Taran poorly, laughing at his posh manor and rudely demanding he fetch coats for him, this shows egotism.
15/10/10
Period 3. Andy's Lesson
In this lesson we discussed devising a performance using either Mime, Butoh or Mutuality.
The stimulus has to be a mirror.
Mime - Assessment criteria
- Facial expressions
- Physical over exaggeration
- Clarity of movement
- Clear character
- Effective visualisation
- Breaking up movements
- Indicate:
- Personality
- Weather
- Relationships
- Character
- Surroundings
- What you are doing
- Subtext
- Staying in character
Butoh - Assessment criteria
- Stay in role
- Clear movement vocabulary
- Be in the moment
- Originality
- Improvisation
- Show emotions through body and face
- Think out side the box
- Non representative movements / abstract
- Detailed movements
- Differences between tension and Relaxation
Mutuality - Assessment criteria
- Contact improv
- Mime improv
- Complementing movements
- Good repore - Interact with partner (Improv)
- Movement Flows - naturalistic
- Fluid transitions
- Add detail to movements (Not complicated)
- Presence of research
- Pre Rehearsed movement vocab
We then discussed things that were associated with Mirrors and made this list.
- "Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of the all?"
- Fairytales, Snow white
- Shows the inside of yourself, the person who you are compared to the image you put on.
- Reflections
- Eating disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson
- Paparazzi
- Depression
- Twins
We would then get into groups and put together a performance involving mirrors, in either Mime, Butoh or Mutuality.
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