Actors, Directors, Scripts and Styles

To start joining all the concepts that we have studied about theatre so far, we will start performing extracts from different plays. After reading through the three extracts as a class and commenting them, we made different groups in class to perform them. Oda, Felix, Shari and I decided to do the extract from "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" by Bertolt Brecht. Shari took the role of Grusha, Felix took the role of the singer and I took the role of Simon. Oda would be directing us.

The first task for us to do a good job performing is to analyze the extract clearly. We did the activities on the worksheet as a group:

a) Briefly summarise the plot/storyline of the scene in a few sentences in your journals or in the space below:

• Simon and Grusha, Simon's fiancé, meet each other after a long period of time. Simon is a member of the army.

b) Identify and write in your journals or on the lines below, the main meaning or message of the scene (sometimes called the super objective - more on this when we study Stanislavski). Basically, what is the point or purpose of the scene?

• The purpose of the scene is to show the deception that Simon has after seeing the possibility that Grusha has forgot about him. I think this scene is used in the play to present a problem: somebody of power and high status has just been dishonoured. This might be the whole problem in the play so I think this is generally what the purpose of this scene is.
  

c) Identify broadly, and record in your journal or on the lines below, the kind of theatre that you think your scene is closest to (e.g. Comedy, tragedy, realistic etc.)?

• I would say our scene is closest to a realistic one. The scene can also seem like a tragedy but the reason I think it is closer to a realistic scene is that the events here are not overly exaggerated. The language they use is not very dramatic, it is a realistic conversation.

d) Outline your action plan to help you prepare and realise (perform= the extract. Consider the following possibilities to include in your action plan, some of which you MUST show evidence of in your journal....

• Simon is a paymaster, a highly respected person. He shows a lot of status at the start of the extract, since he has just returned from war. However, when Grusha talks to him his status lowers a lot because he feels like she lied to him.
• To show his high status at the start, I am going to use some of the techniques we learned at the workshop: standing straight, eye contact, relaxed position with almost no movement. However, when his state drops, I should look away, start walking around and speak not as eloquently as before.
  
• To memorise my lines, I recorded myself and played the file once and once again while doing other activities. Later, when grabbing the script and reading through the lines it was a lot easier to remember which line came after which one.
• To dress as a soldier, I am going to wear black pants and an army shirt. This might not be the costume that was used in the setting of the play but the general image of the character will be conveyed.
  

Theatre Ritual

Aim of Task:

To bring us close together as a class and as a theatre group. To learn how to better express our feelings in front of other people. To know each other better and feel more comfortable when working as a group.

Description of Task:

This ritual, Steve said, is made every year for the theatre class. He called it a "Theatre COP day." And indeed, it was not a usual lesson of theatre.

We stayed out of the classroom while he prepared everything for the ritual. After a little while, he started calling each of his students, one by one, calling us "disciples." I think he used this word to describe us to express the devotion and dedication we must have towards Theatre. One by one, each one of us came into the classroom. The room was dark, and we seated in a circle, with a candle in front of each one of us.

After we were all seated, Steve introduced us to the ritual. The first thing we would do was to express our feelings of hate towards different things in the school. I think he wanted us to express hate first because it is a more intense feeling than happiness and helps us open as a group. People said a lot of things about their experience here at LPC. They said how they missed their friends and family back home. Other said that they hated something in their relationship with family, and many other things. I felt identified with some of the things that the other ones said because I also hated the same thing as them. This made me feel closer and more comfortable with the group.
After saying all the things we hated, we then started saying the things we loved. I think Steve chose to do this after because then it will leave us with a positive mindset. We started saying the things we liked. Many of us said that we loved our families and friends. It was interesting that some people said the hated something in their families and friends but at the same time, then, they said they actually loved a quality in them. It makes me think that whenever there is a strong relationship with a person you get to identify better the attributes you hate and the attributes you like about that particular person. I said I loved life, and I liked that many people repeated the phrase "I love life" after I had said it. It was something really good to hear that other people felt the same way about life in general. Expressing what we hate and loved helped us identify with each other and know ourselves better. It also helped us to reflect and share our experience in LPC.

After this, Steve asked us to stand up and grab a partner. He told us to hug him, with a warm feeling. I felt cared for when I did this. Then he asked us to go around and keep hugging people. It surely made me feel really close to the group, it was a gratifying experience to receive hugs from my classmates.

When the hugging finished, we paired up with somebody randomly. Steve told us to express our feelings about this school towards our partner but without saying anything. We could just do body gestures. I felt grateful, yet, confused so what I did was to kneel down with a frustrated face. My partner tried to follow the feelings I was showing. She also sit on the floor and started to look at me. I felt comprehended. Then she also did a gesture to show how she felt about the school so far and I tried to follow her by trying to complement her moves.

After all, we ended the ritual. Steve told us to not behave differently in other classes just because we have had the ritual already. However, I did feel different in other classes.

Reflection:

This day was really good and totally enjoyable for us, as students. After that class, that day, something felt cold about the other classes. This was because I felt so comfortable, confident and warm in the Theatre class that other classes seemed very sour. I am definitely very glad we had something like this, and I hope our next generations will continue with the ritual.

Conclusion:

LPC can be a stressful experience. For must of us, it is a completely new way of life, with completely new people; a completely new environment. This helped us reflect on what we had done so far. An excellent activity for bonding.

Assembly Hall Ignauration Performance

Aim of Task:

Participate in the inauguration presentation of the Assembly Hall and build scenarios entirely with our bodies.

Description of Task:

Steve told us we would be able to participate in the inauguration presentation of the assembly hall this Friday. He told us we were going to make different scenarios of the tourist places of Hong Kong, entirely with our bodies. We decided to present four images of Hong Kong's touristic places:

• The Skyline
• The Big Buddha
  
• Horse racing
• Market
• Li Po Chun's Assembly Hall

We started building the Skyline scenario. We needed several tall buildings, some middle sized buildings and some other should be squared. We decided that the best way of making a tall building would be to sit one person in the shoulders of another one. I participated making one of the tallest buildings, with Amanda on my shoulders but I had to kneel down. We stood with our faces serious, because we were buildings. Buildings are inanimate, so we had to show a very serious facial expression. I asked Steve what did he think about everyone closing his eyes but he told me that it might make the whole image seem dull. In the end, we all made a nicely arranged image to present. Steve also thought it would be good to have a blackout and each of the buildings could have a flash light to make the night lights show.

To make the Big Buddha, several students made the shape of the steps that you can see in the entrance of the attraction. Daniel, Felix, Vincent and I were responsible for holding Adam in the back who was going to be the Big Buddha. This was all a team work, each one of us had to do his part well so the image would seem completely still to the spectator.

For the market and LPC Assembly hall we used an extremely effective and quick method of building scenes. We all sat in a group, and one by one each one of us stood up and started doing an expression in the scene. My classmates came up with different, creative things for the market. Some of them where sellers, others were buyers, some others were just contemplating the environment. While we all stood still, Steve told us that he would go around and tap our shoulders, and we would have to say what our character was thinking or doing at that exact moment. I was just showing amazement, I thought it would make the whole scene brighter and more cheerful if I stood in the back with a very big smile and my arms open. That would convey a feeling of welcoming, happiness, satisfaction that would make the whole image more pleasant. In the end, Steve arranged us in a way were everyone made up a balanced image.

For the LPC assembly hall we did the same thing, each one of the students stood up and made up a part of the scene. I wanted to represent the teaching aspect of the assembly hall. However, I noticed that just making my hand look like it was holding a stick was not enough. Therefore, I told Oda that we could contribute better to the scene if we both represented a dancing couple. The assembly hall is used for dancing lessons like Latin American dance, so this would be an excellent thing to include among everything.

Finally, for the horse raising, I was the horse, with Undine on my back. I had to carry weight in my back in two of the scenes, in the end! We, the horses, tried to make a horse-like facial expression by putting our lips in a "kissnig" shape to emulate the snout of the horse. We had to go really slow, and the audience would be cheering us on the sides.

After rehearsing it several times in the week and doing a dress rehearsal twice, the final presentation went excellent. I was glad to receive good comments from other LPC students and teachers.

Reflection:

It was truly enjoyable to work with this group, a group of creative students that are willing to cooperate for the best outcome. I think creating images with your body is something that requires a lot of teamwork. The fact that we are a unified group helped us work better.

Conclusion:

A good teamwork and cooperative thinking always leads to a good outcome. I was glad that in the end we could all, as a group, come up with a nice presentation for the inauguration. I really appreciated having the opportunity to participate in the event, since I realise it is very important in the history of Li Po Chun.

Stage Space and the dramaturg

Aim of Task:

To make use of the staging knowledge we discussed in the last class and to practice the concept of proxemics in a brief scene.

Description of Task:

In groups of two, we prepared a short scene which had to include the following lines:

Actor A: It's you.
Actor B: Yes.
Actor A: What is that?
Actor B: Can't you guess?
Actor A: It can't be...!?
Actor B: Yes, it is!

At first, Daniel and I thought about doing a scene about drug trafficking. We started brainstorming about how we could put this lines into an interaction between two drug dealers but we could not come up with a scene that actually made sense.

Then, we thought that this could be a scene between a father and his son. It would be scene where the father gave his son the keys of a car. At first, the son would show body language to imply that he was mad at his dad, but then, after the father gave him the keys of the car, he would hug him as a sign of gratitude. We discussed whether both the father and son should be seated next to each other in chairs or if one of them should stand up. We agreed that the father should imply some kind of dominance, power, superiority towards the son so he would be standing up.

To show that the son was a teenager, he would be talking very excitedly in his phone; and to show that he was mad at his father, we decided that he would change his facial expression from very happy and talking on the phone to looking at his dad with an angry face. The father would always be happy, though, because he was the one giving the gift.

We performed the whole scene in front of the class. We chose a thrust stage because it allowed all the audience to view the scene clearly.

Reflection:

When seeing the other performances, I realised that really, in theatre, the actual lines that the actors say are a tremendously small part of the play. The meaning of these lines can drastically change depending on the proxemics, expressions and dynamics between the actors.

Conclusion:

Proxemics in a play communicate a great meaning of the story when the actors are on stage. It is important to pay attention to them when rehearsing. On stage, the words you say do not matter, it is the way you say them that matters.

Staging

Aim of Task:
Let the whole class know about the different types of staging:

• Open end/end on, and the Proscenium Arch.
• Theatre in the round (also called arena)
• Thrust
• Traverse
• Arena/amphitheatre

Description of Task:
Steve told us to divide in different groups according to the topic we had researched. I had already researched Traverse. Then, each of the four of us had a number from one to four. In the end, we had four groups with one member of each different type of staging.

Reflection:
I found out that:

• Open end stage is the most common type of stage, with the audience in front of the actors.
• Theatre in the round/arena is the type of stage where the audience is in the four sides of the stage.
• The thrust stage was created to solve the problem of the arena lacking a backstage facility. It is very similar to the arena, but the audience is situated in only three sides of the stage, leaving one side for the stage.
• Amphitheatre is the type of staging that was used in Greece for gladiators, where the audience seats in some kind of stairs around the stage.
  

Conclusion:

Different kinds of staging can achieve different feelings of interaction to the audience. It is useful to know the characteristics of each arrangement to be able to choose the right one in a performance.

Notes on Traverse Staging

Above, we can see a typical traverse stage which consists of the audience on both sides and the stage with the performers in the middle. This allows the audience to experience a sense of intimacy with the performers. It is excellent for confrontations since the audience is able to have a more realistic experience.

However, this type of staging can represent a lot of problems when it comes to lightning and voice projection. It is hard to set the stage evenly so that both sides of the audience can see the scene clearly.

This kind of traverse stage, or more popularly "catwalk," is often used in fashion shows nowadays.

Workshop

Aim of Task:

To learn more about the interactions that take place on a theatrical performance. To start doing activities that will help us build the characteristics of an actor.

Description of Task:

A professional director, came to the assembly hall of our school to do different activities, mostly focusing on the concept of status in a theatrical performance. Status is like the value a person holds in a group of people. This is often used in theatre because, according to the directors description, what really makes a good play is what happens between the two persons interacting on stage. Not what one person does by himself but the interaction that happens between two actors.

First, he asked all of us to group in one place and start walking around. We had to make and maintain eye contact with the other persons, as long as we could. We kept walking between each other, making eye contact for around 5 minutes. After that, he asked us to keep walking but instead of maintaining eye contact, he told us to break it as soon as we got it. We did this for around 5 minutes. He then asked us what we though about the exercise, which one of the two felt more comfortable. I was surprised to see that almost half of the group felt the first one comfortable and the rest felt the other one more comfortable. I thought the first one was definitely more comfortable and that everybody else thought the same but that was not the case. He also let us give comments about the exercises: Some people said that the first one felt more of like the countryside while the other one felt like a city.

After our comments, he asked us to do another exercise. First, we had to walk around but, whenever we made eye contact, we had to make the person feel as accepted as possible. I did that by slightly nodding and using a smile every time I had eye contact with somebody. After 5 minutes of doing this, he asked us to change the exercise and instead of maintaining eye contact and making them feel accepted, we had to break eye contact and make them feel as rejected as possible. I tried to achieve this by frowning my eyebrows when breaking eye contact.

After this activity, the whole group was divided by two. I was in the first group. He asked us to walk around and show the highest status possible. We all started walking around. Many people started pushing each other out of their way. To show a high status, I just started walking straight and looking right in front of me, without turning my head. At some point, I thought stopping would show a higher status. So I did, for about 5 seconds, but then started walking again. It was interesting how Tomi showed high status by laying on the wall. After about 5 minutes the director asked the second group to do the same thing. This group, however, had different ways of showing status. One person took the podium and laid on it. It was such a great example of high status because there was only one podium in the whole room, and she had it. After this, the director asked the second group to show the lowest status possible. Many of the started acting "like drug addicts." I thought Liat did a great job showing low status by hiding backstage though.

The next thing the director asked us to do was to pair with somebody else and practice four kinds of communicating status in a conversation:

1. Both people raise their status in the conversation.
2. One person raises his status while lowering the other person's status.
3. One person lowers his status while raising the other person's status.
4. Both people lower their status in the conversation.

The director told us that the fourth one was the most difficult to use in a conversation and keep it going. Indeed, it was. My partner was Daniel. We did the first activity very well. The other three were more difficult though because we actually had to make the other person's status lower, which was something we were not used to and it did not "feel right."

After we were done with the conversations, we did another exercise with our pairs. Daniel was partner A and I was partner B. All the A's had to walk while the B's followed them around the room. After a while of observing their style of walking, we started to imitate them. Then, the director asked A's to sit and let B's continue walking. Then, he asked us to exaggerate the the special characteristics we noticed in our partner's way of walking. It was a lot of fun to imitate Daniel, to be honest! We learned, however, that by imitating the way of walking of other people we can easily grab their personality and character. This is what is trying to be achieved in a play were a single actor plays multiple characters. It was useful to know that when we started the next exercise, which was about us interpreting three different people. Everyone practice their scenes on their own and after that, the director asked for a volunteer to go on stage. Vincent went up and told us a story about a normal day with his room mates. It was hilarious, he did very funny facial expressions and grabbed very specific characteristics from his room mates when he was imitating them. I think the story lacked some climax though, but generally it was a very good way of acting of his. After that, we discussed the exercise and had a last Questions and Answers part where we asked some in-depth theatre questions to the director. Some of my classmates asked him about going into theatre, which was interesting to know.

Reflection:

I found the concept of status amazingly interesting and useful. What I liked the most about it is that I could totally relate that to my every day social interactions. I just thought it was something that we handle in our day to day life but do not consciously think about it. I felt like the group was closer to each other after we ended the exercise. We had met a part of the other persons' personalities that we didn't know and we also met a part of ourselves that might not have noticed. Doing all this exercises helped me understand better how theatrical performances work, and also understand that our daily social interactions can be theatrical as well. We can use the theatre concepts in many aspect of our lives. I am happy to know that this course will be helpful for my personality and will hopefully let me improve, as a person.

Conclusion:

The workshop was definitely entertaining for the whole class, both first years and second years. I thought the director was a very good leader. All the class was very interested in what he said and paid attention to the instructions. I think this has a lot to do with the way he was saying things. He was not monotone at all and made jokes occasionally, which helped us keep the mood the whole workshop. I will remember this concepts when starting to do performances. I also find this will be useful for my debate Quan Cai. Showing a high status when presenting arguments will make them more convincing in front of the audience. I think this can also apply to presentations in general. I hope I can learn more of all these small theatrical techniques that help me in life.

Notes: The Origins of Theatre

• Dance, Storytelling, Mimesis, Ritual and Games are probably the things that lead to Theatre.

Dance:

• Dance and movement where used as celebration and entertainment between a tribe and community. Dancing would be a way of expressing feelings and uniting a community.
• Dances where often synchronized.
• Dance and theatre are the same thing in many cultures.

Storytelling:

• Storytelling is a tradition, passing stories down by the word of mouth.
• Storytelling has basic components like intrudction, middle end, mood, setting, charactersi; all of these fit very well in theatre.
• The storyteller is an entretainer, teacher, leader, healer, historian. It is seen as somebody who brings news.
• Storyteller's in Africa have an specific position when performing and an specific custom.

Ritual;

• Ritual needs to be performed, just like theatre. They are performed in special places, like theatre.
  
• Rituals are used to keep order in communities.
• Rituals, just as Theatre, have an interest of real change.

Games

• They are seen as a form of entertainment with theatre.

Theatre starter becoming less religious. Commedia del Arte was the first one to make profit with theatre and was not religious.