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.