Our task for this acting style was to perform a scene from Mid-Summers Nights Dream, the scene we were given didn't have enough characters for everyone to be in it so three of the group members decided to step back and take a role on the production side of the scene, I was one of these three people, I was assistant director and lighting designer, me and the director worked together discussing how we wanted people to play their roles to make the main character Bottom to stand out, everyone cooperated with me and the director apart from one person who near enough refused the direction he was given and decided he would play the character his own way as he didn't like the way he was told to play it, I feel this made mine and the directors job pointless and we might has well not of been there if people just decide not to take direction.
Overall I think my group worked well together apart from the one person, I enjoyed the scene from Mid-Summers Nights Dream as I am familiar with this play and I enjoyed it when I was in it. I normally don't like Shakespeare but I was quite lucky we got given this play and I was also able to take a different role in creating a performance, I enjoyed working with other people and giving them direction and allowing myself to be quite creative and modern with a Shakespeare piece.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Shakespeare
The Elizabethan and Jacobean period
In 1576 James Burbage, father of actor, Richard Burbage, purchased a lease and permission to build The Theatre in London. The Lord Chamberlains men, a theatre company led by Richard. Performed Shakespeare plays and were the company in residence from 1594 to 1596.
Writers began by presenting their ideas for a plot. The actors and managers then decided whether they liked it or not and offer a down payment for it's completion.
Writers created their characters with certain actors in mind. Each player or actor received their own role. A long sheet of parchment with lines written on. This meant that they would not see who else was going to be on stage until they actually rehearsed the scene.
Rehearsals were used to sort out the details not specified in the script. Entrances costumes and songs were all filled in by the actors
1593 London theatres had to close due to outbreak of bubonic plague.
1596-1597 the city of London authorities banned public performances of plays within the city limits
1597. Dispute over the lease of the theatre. The Puritan owner. Giles Allen. Disapproved of the theatre and the acting troupe. Burbage opened negotiations to renew lease of the theatre
Shakespeare's company of actors moved to the Curtain Theatre after failed negotiations to re new lease for the theatre.
1598. Timber from The Theatre taken to use for the building of a new venue. Called the Globe Theatre
1599. The globe theatre is opened on bankside. Southwark. London.
1603. Bubonic plague re-emerged and killed over 33000 people.
1608 the theatre closed.
1613 June 29. Fire at the globe theatre during a performance of Henry VIII.
1614. Globe theatre is rebuilt on it's original foundations. This time the roof of the globe is tiled. Not thatched.
Two years before Shakespeare's death.
Not all theatres were outside. Until 1609 the indoor theatres were used by boy companies. These grew out of choir schools that performed privately. They usually played just once a week rather than almost every day. As the adult companies. The audience was thought to be more educated and richer than an outdoor one. Indoor plays had more music more sparkly pros sucks as pearls and more speeches than action. Indoor theatres grew into existing theatres. They were open to a public and charged an entry fee. First permanent indoor theatre St. Paul's opened in 1575 which held 500 people and was lit by candles but also tickets were more expensive.
Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. King James took throne. Jacobean era ran until 1625.
Jacobean theatre was dark and disturbing. Grotesquely violent and often shockingly obscene. Sexuality was very prevalent in Jacobean performances. Along with a heightened sense of violence and general immoralities. As the economy declined. So did the delicacy of the theatre performances moved from outdoor to indoor because of the changeable weather.
Jacobean drama.
Revenge plays
Obscene and violent
Tragicomedies were more grotesque with dark humour and very sexual in nature.
1642. The English civil war role out between the parliamentarians puritans and the royalists. Parliaments suppress plays that didn't for their religion. And the globe was pulled down. Houses were built in place
1648 the puritans orders all playhouses to be pulled down. All actors were arrested and anyone caught attending was fiend. It took 12 years before theatres re opened
1649. The civil war finally leads to the terrible execution of King Charles 1 by parliament
1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes lord protector of England
Theatre stops it will take 7 years before the restoration begins.
In 1576 James Burbage, father of actor, Richard Burbage, purchased a lease and permission to build The Theatre in London. The Lord Chamberlains men, a theatre company led by Richard. Performed Shakespeare plays and were the company in residence from 1594 to 1596.
Writers began by presenting their ideas for a plot. The actors and managers then decided whether they liked it or not and offer a down payment for it's completion.
Writers created their characters with certain actors in mind. Each player or actor received their own role. A long sheet of parchment with lines written on. This meant that they would not see who else was going to be on stage until they actually rehearsed the scene.
Rehearsals were used to sort out the details not specified in the script. Entrances costumes and songs were all filled in by the actors
1593 London theatres had to close due to outbreak of bubonic plague.
1596-1597 the city of London authorities banned public performances of plays within the city limits
1597. Dispute over the lease of the theatre. The Puritan owner. Giles Allen. Disapproved of the theatre and the acting troupe. Burbage opened negotiations to renew lease of the theatre
Shakespeare's company of actors moved to the Curtain Theatre after failed negotiations to re new lease for the theatre.
1598. Timber from The Theatre taken to use for the building of a new venue. Called the Globe Theatre
1599. The globe theatre is opened on bankside. Southwark. London.
1603. Bubonic plague re-emerged and killed over 33000 people.
1608 the theatre closed.
1613 June 29. Fire at the globe theatre during a performance of Henry VIII.
1614. Globe theatre is rebuilt on it's original foundations. This time the roof of the globe is tiled. Not thatched.
Two years before Shakespeare's death.
Not all theatres were outside. Until 1609 the indoor theatres were used by boy companies. These grew out of choir schools that performed privately. They usually played just once a week rather than almost every day. As the adult companies. The audience was thought to be more educated and richer than an outdoor one. Indoor plays had more music more sparkly pros sucks as pearls and more speeches than action. Indoor theatres grew into existing theatres. They were open to a public and charged an entry fee. First permanent indoor theatre St. Paul's opened in 1575 which held 500 people and was lit by candles but also tickets were more expensive.
Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. King James took throne. Jacobean era ran until 1625.
Jacobean theatre was dark and disturbing. Grotesquely violent and often shockingly obscene. Sexuality was very prevalent in Jacobean performances. Along with a heightened sense of violence and general immoralities. As the economy declined. So did the delicacy of the theatre performances moved from outdoor to indoor because of the changeable weather.
Jacobean drama.
Revenge plays
Obscene and violent
Tragicomedies were more grotesque with dark humour and very sexual in nature.
1642. The English civil war role out between the parliamentarians puritans and the royalists. Parliaments suppress plays that didn't for their religion. And the globe was pulled down. Houses were built in place
1648 the puritans orders all playhouses to be pulled down. All actors were arrested and anyone caught attending was fiend. It took 12 years before theatres re opened
1649. The civil war finally leads to the terrible execution of King Charles 1 by parliament
1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes lord protector of England
Theatre stops it will take 7 years before the restoration begins.
Vaudeville Evaluation
Vaudeville Evaluation
After taking notes about the history of Vaudeville we were split into groups and given scripts that are Vaudeville style, my script involved a Posh Gentleman, an old Scottish man and a young Scottish Woman, the script wasn't funny in my opinion quite boring, it was probably only funny as my group tried to make it as funny as possible but it could have just been a normal script from any play and had nothing to do with Vaudeville. Other peoples scripts were also not funny in the slightest really, it was all the people trying to make the material they were given interesting.
I found Vaudeville to be boring and not entertaining, I found the scripted piece we received to be mildly funny but only one or two funny jokes but other then that it was rather boring. I didn't find the clip we were shown to be funny either, it was dated and boring and only one or two things in it that entertained me, overall I find vaudeville to be difficult as it seems go be entertainment orientated but I don't find it entertaining at all its also hard work to perform the pieces.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville 1881-1920
Before vaudeville
Before the American civil war theatre in America was dominated by burlesque and acts that featured many risqué things. Theatre was not only a place to be entertained it was a place for men to have a drink. Mainly aimed at an all male audience after the civil war
Before vaudeville
Before the American civil war theatre in America was dominated by burlesque and acts that featured many risqué things. Theatre was not only a place to be entertained it was a place for men to have a drink. Mainly aimed at an all male audience after the civil war
In 1881 a man named Tony Pastor decided that theatre shouldn't be just for men and that these shows featuring a wide variety of different performances in one evening and missing a completely separate audience so he conducted an experiment and put on a cabaret and called it a vaudeville which featured a performance of Shakespeare, acrobatics, singing, dancing and comedy all in the same evening. However he removed all the risque and inappropriate content and aimed not just at the rich but the middle class too. He also banned drinking in the theatre
What did he find out?
He found out that they could make a huge amount of money if they kept putting on performances like this and as years went on in more and more amusements became available to choose from. A handful of circuses regularly toured the country, dime museums appealed to the curious, amusement parks, river boats, and town halls often featured cleaner presentations of variety entertainment while saloons musical halls and burlesque houses catered to those with a taste of risqué
He found out that they could make a huge amount of money if they kept putting on performances like this and as years went on in more and more amusements became available to choose from. A handful of circuses regularly toured the country, dime museums appealed to the curious, amusement parks, river boats, and town halls often featured cleaner presentations of variety entertainment while saloons musical halls and burlesque houses catered to those with a taste of risqué
What was the purpose
The purpose is to not get chocked up or emotionally attached with the performance but it is simply to be entertained over 1880 to the early 1920's they realised the easiest way to this was to make people laugh. Which is why an increasing number of vaudevilles featured comedy sketches. Which were extremely slap stick.
The purpose is to not get chocked up or emotionally attached with the performance but it is simply to be entertained over 1880 to the early 1920's they realised the easiest way to this was to make people laugh. Which is why an increasing number of vaudevilles featured comedy sketches. Which were extremely slap stick.
The demise of vaudeville
As the years went on vaudeville became more and more popular appealing to many different audiences and featured for the first time Irish performers or black performers
However technology also became vaudevilles competition as silent movies had started to come at the cinema and the cinema was a much cheaper option for the public as the theatre isn't the cheapest place for entertainment
So consequently vaudevilles in theatre became less common as they could not support themselves as much as they once could.
As the years went on vaudeville became more and more popular appealing to many different audiences and featured for the first time Irish performers or black performers
However technology also became vaudevilles competition as silent movies had started to come at the cinema and the cinema was a much cheaper option for the public as the theatre isn't the cheapest place for entertainment
So consequently vaudevilles in theatre became less common as they could not support themselves as much as they once could.
So what now?
As we have progressed vaudeville has been reborn into shows like Britain's got talent and the royal variety show
However we also have kept the comedy sketches that were brought to life by vaudeville. Like Morecambe and wise, Laurel and Hardy
This is called the new vaudeville
39 steps is a spoof of vaudeville performances
As we have progressed vaudeville has been reborn into shows like Britain's got talent and the royal variety show
However we also have kept the comedy sketches that were brought to life by vaudeville. Like Morecambe and wise, Laurel and Hardy
This is called the new vaudeville
39 steps is a spoof of vaudeville performances
What makes it new vaudeville
Over the top physicality
Comedy sketch type of performance
No character relationship with the audience
Often recognising your audience or acknowledging they're there
Voices are useful
Over the top physicality
Comedy sketch type of performance
No character relationship with the audience
Often recognising your audience or acknowledging they're there
Voices are useful
Monday, 9 March 2015
Physical Theatre
Over the past few days we have been working on a physical theatre piece, our piece was based around religion and how they are formed but also how they are changed and destroyed by society that don't agree or accept them, this can also represent a lot of other things not just religion. We decided to go for a more movement based piece. We started by showing how the religion is formed, then how society begins to break it down. During the middle of our piece we had something slightly more abstract in the fact that it showed someone pulling themselves up but that resulted in someone else getting pushed down.
Overall I think this unit has been interesting and fun but at the same time I do not feel we learnt a lot about physical theatre, we learnt about the history and what it actually is but we never focused on any physical theatre practitioner and what their techniques were, we never worked shopped any techniques we were just told to create a physical theatre piece which I don't feel is right as physical theatre is an umbrella term for something more specific. If I was to redo this style I would like more time to learn about other physical theatre aspects.
Overall I think this unit has been interesting and fun but at the same time I do not feel we learnt a lot about physical theatre, we learnt about the history and what it actually is but we never focused on any physical theatre practitioner and what their techniques were, we never worked shopped any techniques we were just told to create a physical theatre piece which I don't feel is right as physical theatre is an umbrella term for something more specific. If I was to redo this style I would like more time to learn about other physical theatre aspects.
Physical Theatre
Physical theatre is theatre that puts emphasis on movement rather than dialogue. In other words, anything that puts the human body at the centre of the storytelling, therefore, it is often very abstract and unique in style, using movement in a stylised and representational way.
DV8
DV8 are a famous drama company that specialise in physical theatre. They use Physical Theatre as a full art form and focus on looking at the dramatic potential that can be unlocked from movement. They describe their work as combining the crossroads, where dance and drama meet. They use Physical Theatre to explore complex aspects of human life, issues and relationships.In their production of "Can we Talk About This?" the performers used Physical Theatre to express extremely complicated and delicate social and political issues surrounding Islam.
Frantic Assembly
Another company that combine dialogue with movement is Frantic Assembly, they worked with the National Theatre for the production of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. The companies production of "Lovesong" demonstrates a different way of performing Physical Theatre. They use more dialogue, but most of the impact comes from movement, to show relationships and changes over a couple of years.
Stylised Movement: Normally, in Shakespearian plays, actions are described. For example, the battle scene before the beginning of Macbeth was described, however in his production of Macbeth, Kenneth Branagh was hailed for the physicality of the piece. Movement can make a play much more exciting.
Physical Theatre can also be used in the way of the director. Steven Berkoff used it in "The Trial" to provide scene, whether it is furniture for a room or a busy street, he always used people, allowing for great impact. The stage for his production was a cast, simple frames and a rope, in order to allow the actors to create the staging and show off their versatility and talents.
Combining Art Forms: Physical Theatre has a focus on movement, but at the same time can be separate from the spoken word, or combined with it. It can be devised or contain elements of improvisation beyond the script. These elements may include music, dance or media.
Commedia: Commedia dell'arte is recognised as the starting point for Physical Theatre. It began in Italy in the 16th century and was a popular form of street theatre in which actors carried out improvised scenes with stock characters. The main focus on this type of theatre was that the actors wore masks, so facial expressions couldn't be seen, so emotions must have been obvious through their body language.
Techniques
-Proximity
-Gesture
-Harshness and Tenderness
-Stance
-Mask work
-Contact Improvisation
-Mime
-Status
-Dance work
-Not moving
-Movement
-Motif
DV8
DV8 are a famous drama company that specialise in physical theatre. They use Physical Theatre as a full art form and focus on looking at the dramatic potential that can be unlocked from movement. They describe their work as combining the crossroads, where dance and drama meet. They use Physical Theatre to explore complex aspects of human life, issues and relationships.In their production of "Can we Talk About This?" the performers used Physical Theatre to express extremely complicated and delicate social and political issues surrounding Islam.
Frantic Assembly
Another company that combine dialogue with movement is Frantic Assembly, they worked with the National Theatre for the production of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. The companies production of "Lovesong" demonstrates a different way of performing Physical Theatre. They use more dialogue, but most of the impact comes from movement, to show relationships and changes over a couple of years.
Stylised Movement: Normally, in Shakespearian plays, actions are described. For example, the battle scene before the beginning of Macbeth was described, however in his production of Macbeth, Kenneth Branagh was hailed for the physicality of the piece. Movement can make a play much more exciting.
Physical Theatre can also be used in the way of the director. Steven Berkoff used it in "The Trial" to provide scene, whether it is furniture for a room or a busy street, he always used people, allowing for great impact. The stage for his production was a cast, simple frames and a rope, in order to allow the actors to create the staging and show off their versatility and talents.
Combining Art Forms: Physical Theatre has a focus on movement, but at the same time can be separate from the spoken word, or combined with it. It can be devised or contain elements of improvisation beyond the script. These elements may include music, dance or media.
Commedia: Commedia dell'arte is recognised as the starting point for Physical Theatre. It began in Italy in the 16th century and was a popular form of street theatre in which actors carried out improvised scenes with stock characters. The main focus on this type of theatre was that the actors wore masks, so facial expressions couldn't be seen, so emotions must have been obvious through their body language.
Contact Improvisation: Was developed from improvisation and is usually performed by two people. When there is contact between the two people, there is a response, for example if someone was to go up and push another actor the actor would respond in one of three ways. Absorb the impulse, to resist or to respond with the motion.
Techniques
-Proximity
-Gesture
-Harshness and Tenderness
-Stance
-Mask work
-Contact Improvisation
-Mime
-Status
-Dance work
-Not moving
-Movement
-Motif
Monday, 2 March 2015
Brecht Evaluation
Last Monday we were introduced to Brecht, we were given a script and had to perform the scene today, overall my impression of Brecht isn't good, I don't like many of his techniques, but I would use some of them, for example I would use song and dance, Multi-rolling, narration and breaking the fourth wall, I think these are all good techniques to use and can also look very clever. The main thing I don't like about Brecht is the fact he doesn't want his audience to have an emotional connection with his characters, I completely disagree with this because I think if someone is emotionally connected to a character its because they can relate to them and this makes a performance almost a bit more personal.
The script we got given was very dull and didn't really make any sense which was quite frustrating having to try and figure out what is going on when we were trying to perform it, a lot of the lines didn't really make sense either, but I think it wasn't originally written in English so it could just be the translation that is incorrect.
Overall I actually really hated Brecht, I would not like to do anything Brecht in the future as I found this to be dull and uninteresting and also I don't agree with his techniques so I didn't enjoy it at all.
The script we got given was very dull and didn't really make any sense which was quite frustrating having to try and figure out what is going on when we were trying to perform it, a lot of the lines didn't really make sense either, but I think it wasn't originally written in English so it could just be the translation that is incorrect.
Overall I actually really hated Brecht, I would not like to do anything Brecht in the future as I found this to be dull and uninteresting and also I don't agree with his techniques so I didn't enjoy it at all.
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