True Lies and Journal Writing

Aim of task: In this task, we had our very first experience with acting. We started doing our job as actors and "distorters." In this lesson we also learned the concept of a theatre journal.

Description of task: First, our teacher told us two stories. He also told us that one of them was a lie but the other one was true. We had to guess which story was a lie and which story was true.

First, he told us a story about his driving lessons. He told us that while he was taking his driving license exam, somebody came and broke the window of the car. Even though both him and the examiner where shocked by the situation, the examiner asked him whether he would like to continue the test or to stop and fail it. Steve decided to continue but he could not concentrate on the driving and did not pass the test.

Then, he told us a story about his teenage years. He said he was in a period of his life where he really liked heavy metal music and started mentioning a lot of bands our class could identify with. Then, he told us that at that age he wanted to paint his room black but he stole the paint from the place he worked in to do so. He used a lot of detail and expressions when telling the story. He also told us that his mother got really mad when she saw what he had done.

After the two stories were told, we raised hands to vote for which of the stories we thought was true. I voted for the first one and got it right. In the second part of the activity, we divided ourselves into pairs. My pair was Jose this time. We had to do the same thing Steve had done. We told two stories to our partner, one true and one false.

Both of the stories I told him took place in my previous school. First, I told him that we once had a female teacher who came as a substitute of a previous teacher who left in the middle of the school term, and that nobody liked her. I told him that in one of her classes, she was very angry at something that was her error, and many of us where frustrated because of that. I told him that my best friend and I walked out of the classroom while everyone else followed us and we went to the principal's office and told him why we were not comfortable with the teacher; and did not want her any more. The teacher got fired a few weeks later. The second story I told him was about an inappropriate picture of one of students being passed around cell phones on school. I told him that the principal checked everybody's phones and that everyone who had the picture on their phones got a one day suspension. Jose thought the second story was the true story, which was actually the false one. I might be good at lying after all!

Then, Jose told me his two stories. The first story was about a bird whom he had burried and found out in front of his house a day later. This had happened one year ago. The second story was a story where he was with a group of friends and they all accidentally went into the girls' bathroom. I realised the first story was the true one because it is very unlikely that a group of people wouldn't have noticed the women sign at the entrance of the bathroom.

After both of us told our stories and guessed which the correct answer might have been, our teacher, Steve, introduced us into what would be this journal. We learned that, in order to learn the theatre material better, we would be keeping a journal where we would write four things about each lesson: the aim of the task, the description of the task, a reflection and a conclusion. We also learned that this journal would not be a diary, that in this journal we had to keep our feelings and perceptions of the lessons; and that is how this blog started!

Reflection: It was interesting to see how Steve wanted to make the second story seem to be real. He used a lot of detail and expressions to make the story more intense for us. However, many of us noticed it! It was a lot of fun to guess.

I tried to use similar tones and settings when telling both of the stories so Jose wouldn't be able to tell which one was true and which one was false by something specific. I tried to make it as natural as possible: I think that is one of the things that an actor tries to achieve on stage.

I'm also looking forward towards writing this journal throughout the year. It will be nice to see my improvement in theatre, and the changing of my ideas and feelings. It will also be nice to see the improvement on my English writing as the year progresses.

Conclusion: Actors make lies seem true. That will be our job, and that is what we were introduced to in this lesson. I now have some experience in making lies seem real, something I will be doing continuously as an actor.