ISTA TaPS

During this weekend, we had ISTA workshops. The International School Theatre Workshop (ISTA) is a network of schools that are involved in Theatre. Li Po Chun proudly hosted this year's Theatre Arts programme symposium (TaPS). All the participants were divided into different assembles, and each ensemble had a leader who was leading workshops the whole weekend. My ensemble was about 10 people from different International schools in Asia and our leader was Jo Riley.

Complicité

She started warming up with games that would let us know a little bit more about ourselves. She asked us to do a circle and introduce ourselves with our names. Then, she asked us to all put our hands in the top of our head. Then, she went to somebody in the circle pointed at them and told them "you." Then, that person had to put his hand down, walk to another person and tell them you in the same manner. This other person had to go to another person, who had not already been chosen by somebody else, and told them "you." That way, a whole circle would complete by pointing at each person. It was quite an interesting exercise. Then, she modified it a bit and instead of saying "you" we had to say the name of a city. Most people said the name of cities they liked, the cities they came from.

Jo Riley talked to us a lot about Complicité. Complicité is the feeling a group has of working together and achieving something as a group, completely improvised, but at the same time in a very coordinated way that the audience cannot notice that the scene is being improvised. Complicité is a french word, and is also a cognate for the spanish word "complicidad." To demonstrate and exercise what complicité is, she asked us to make a straight line, all facing the same side. She told us to raise our right hand, all at the same time, but without talking to each other. It was very difficult, we had to use our peripheral vision as much as we could to look to the people in our sides and be aware of when they were raising their hands so we could all raise them at the same time. She also asked us to take a step forward at the same time. We also tried to achieve that by using our peripheral vision and trying to look at each other but it was extremely difficult. I think it was too much to ask when we were just introduced to the concept and we knew our ensemble by one day only. After those exercises, we kept on working on Complicité. We were divided in two groups. She asked each group separately to make a certain letter, a Z for example. We had to make a Z, but we couldn't talk to each other and we all had to participate in making the figure. It was complicated, because many people would try to take the lead and it was hard to figure out the "best" design when we could not communicate with each other using words. We had to feel our environment and go with the crowd, that is a characteristic of Complicité.

"... a rehearsal room where THERE IS SUCH A SENSE OF INFINITE POSSIBILITY."
"The complicité rehearsal is utterly collaborative, shaped by the energies of the individuals present and from this delicate balance of hearts + minds springs the work, unique, beautiful, precious."

IB learner characteristics

Jo Riley asked us to examine the IB learner profile characteristics and asked us to write one of those characteristics that we already are and one that we would like to acquire. A characteristic of the IB learner profile I already am is risk taker. One of the reasons I came all the way to Hong Kong is that I wanted to try something new, regardless of the risks. I am the kind of person who likes to risk stuff to gain experience and that is something that has helped my in my development as a person. A characteristic I should acquire from the IB learner profile, though, is balanced. To some point "balanced" is subjective but I think I am not well balanced enough. I feel like I could do other things like sports which would make me a more balanced student. There is still many areas where I can improve as a student.

The Iceberg

We drew an iceberg on our journals. She told us to draw a very big iceberg, with only a small tip above the water. She told us to write what people saw in us as the first impression in the tip of the iceberg. I wrote things like tall, brown and loud! Then, she asked us to write the essence of who we are in the bottom of the iceberg.

She told us to pick one of the things we wrote in the bottom of the iceberg and write it with our hands in the middle of the air. She told us that if we wanted, we could move around and make all kind of movements to draw the word in the air. She told us to feel the movement, to have our body feel the way we moved and get used to it. She wanted to make the word a body expression. Then, she told us to close our eyes and keep doing the same gestures, so this word would be something we "feel in our bodies." Then, she played some music and she asked us to do the respective gestures in the rhythm of the music. We did it all at the same time. Some students closed their eyes while other students opened them so we could observe the gestures from others.

The Grid

Jo showed us a 3x3 grid, with numbers on each unit, like the one below:



The interesting thing about this grid is that the sum of rows, either vertical, horizontal or inclined, is 15. This shows a balanced square and, according to Jo, 15 is a special number in Chinese culture. The previous exercise that we did writing words in the air had to do with us expressing our bodies. She wanted us to use this concept of a well balanced grid and our body movements in one exercise. She told us to imagine the grid as something in our lives: friends, family, school... something of relevance. Different areas in the grid would represent something different for each one of us. She wanted us to show who we occupied the space in the grid by showing emotions with our bodies. She drew a grid on the floor. After everybody practised how he or she was going to express the meaning of his/her grid, we all performed inside the grid in front of the class. This exercise was mostly made to exercise our creativity and ability to use body language to express meaning. This is indeed what we were doing in the exercise.

Laban 8 efforts

After watching the play, Desh, we analysed how the actor occupied his space and used his body to make different movements and convey meaning. Laban 8 efforts are:

• Float
• Thrust
• Glide
• Slash
• Dab
• Wring
• Flick
• Press

We noticed that in the desh play, the dancer used a lot of wringing, slashing and pressing to occupy the space around him. He used a lot of slashing to show movement, determination. He used pressing as a form of expressing his body. All of these Laban 8 efforts could be seen to some extent in the play. Some of them were more notorious though. This is something that you can apply when showing action when performing on stage.

Victorian Melodrama

We had a "Master Class" which was not led by Jo Riley but by Mike, with my same ensemble group. He taught us about Victorian Melodrama: the theatre about exaggerated expressions. The world melodrama comes from:

• melo: music
• drama: acting

Victorian melodrama is a very defined drama. The audience knows what to expect for certain actions. For example, to show bravery, an specific defined set of body language expressions should be used. In Victorian melodrama, the audience knows the exact body movement to expect for many actions: the audience expects the exact same way of dying for everybody, for example. We can say that Victorian melodrama is about giving the audience what they expect.

We exercised what we learned about Victorian Melodrama with some scripts that Mike gave us. In this scripts, you had to show specific, determined body language expressions to show determined emotions. For example, to show bravery, one has to put his chest up and look to the front. There is a set of specific body expressions that the audience will expect from the author so one must them very well to do a good performance.

Kowzan's sign system

• Spoken text:

1. Words
2. Tone

• Expression of the Body

1. Facial Expression
2. Gesture
3. Movement

• Actor's External Appereance

1. Make up/Mask
2. Hair
3. Costume
   

• Appearance of the Stage

1. Props
2. Set design
3. Lightning

• Sound

1. Music
2. Sound effects

Relating to Kowzan's sign system, Jo divided us in groups. She told us that we had to come up titled "The returning soldier." We had no more information. Our group started brainstorming about which kind of scene could we arrange and we agreed that we would do a scene were a son leaves his family to go to war. This son has a smaller brother and his two parents. However, this son would be returning wounded, without one of his legs, a situation that would be difficult to understand for the little child.

We started rehearsing it, and as we rehearsed it more and more, Jo asked us to add this to it that incorporated Kowzan's sign language. For example, she told us to have a brief time in the scene were one of the characters would be thinking. We added this on the thoughts of the child and the thoughts of the son. The would be thinking about the uncertainty of the soldier's future: going to war might represent a very large risk. Then she told us to add more things like music into the scene. We added the song "friday" in order to add some comedy to the performance. We would sign this song when the little child was asking when was his brother going to come.

All of this add-ons to the play added an attractive part to the play. It helped maintain the person's attention. They served as attention getters for the audience. All this add-ons made the play more interesting and joyful to watch. They also conveyed meaning but I think the primary reason to include them was to re-gain the attention of every person who is watching the play.

Improv activities in pairs

Aim of Task:

To enhance our improvisation skills by doing different activities, in partners, where each one of the members in the pair should play a game that implies being creative about the other partner's actions.

Description of Task:

We did three tasks:

• In the first one, we had to make pairs. My pair was Vincent. Partner A would start a conversation with a word starting in "a." For example: A beautiful day it is today, isn't it? Partner B would continue the conversation starting with a word that starts with the letter "b." For Example: Beautiful indeed, it is! Then, partner A would have to continue the conversation with a word starting in C. And that is how the conversation would continue going on, with each letter of the alphabet following. For non-native English speakers, the task became rather difficult since we would have a limited vocabulary. However, it also forced us to create simpler conversations.
  
• The second activity was in pairs too. My partner was Daniel. Partner A would start telling a story in first person, but would stop in the middle of the sentence so that partner B could fill in with a word he would choose. For example, partner A would start saying "Today I went to the....." and partner B would have to complete with "store!". Partner A would then continue the story, and stop in the middle of the next sentence for Partner B to complete it. That it is how partner A would then end up telling a story with partner B filling in the blanks. It was a pair contribution.
• The third activity, in pairs as well, was not about verbal but physical improvisation. My partner was Martin. In this activity, partner A would start miming a pose. Partner B would then come and complete the scene doing some other pose. Since it required less use of the English language, it was easier for us, non-native English speakers. We started doing different expressions, emotions. Martin would complement my miming with his poses. In the end, we made up different scenes that conveyed improvised messages.
  

Reflection:

It was interesting to see that in all exercises, although both of us were working in the improvisation, somebody eventually took the lead. For example, in the first exercise, somebody would make his sentences according to one topic, and the other person would just make his sentences on the same topic. In the second exercise, there was obviously somebody taking the lead. It was essential to the dynamics of the exercise, that somebody took the lead and the other person just followed the same topic. On the third exercise, the leading was less evident. However, one person would start the image and another person would have to continue building up on the image. There was a type of leading on the three of the exercises.

Conclusion:

Even when improvising, somebody has to be leading for the improvisation to make sense. There has to be somebody whom other people have to follow so the improvisation works. During a performance, it is difficult to tell who is the leader. The ensemble has to be very well synchronised to know what is going to happen. This is one of the things where trust and good teamwork is important in the ensemble.

Commedia dell' Arte

• When translated, it approximates to "Comedy of the Artists."

How did it develop?

• In the marketplace, people had to compete to attract customers, so they started using verbal comicality music, etc.
• Carnival were celebrations to bring a community together and release social tensions. With disguises and masks, people escape from their identity in performances.
• The classics also had a great influence too, since there was an interest in greek literature at the time.

It's roots are in improvisation and spontaneity. It is popular theatre, which can be enjoyed by the masses.

Improvised theatre does not have prepared action. Commedia dell'Arte can be seen a balance between spontaneity, inspiration and technique.

Comedia dell' Arte is not realistic theatre because:

• It is in open air.
• Characters often exaggerate when they had masks on. It was like an excuse for their actions.

Stage:

• Thrust stage, with curtains/paintings in the back of the stage and a wooden platform.

Workshop with Adrian Jackson

Aim of Task: To learn about Adrian Jackson and the Theatre of the Oppressed. Have a workshop with the "Theatre God."

Description of Task: First Adrian Jackson came in and told us a little bit about who he is, the company he works for and his experience in Theatre and theatre of the a oppressed. He was the translator of plenty of Augusto Boal's books; Augusto Boal is the creator of theatre of the oppressed. The first thing that he asked us to do in our workshop was to stretch. Stretching is important for warming up before any kind of theatrical exercise.

The whole workshop was related to theatre of the oppressed. First, we did an exercise in partners. We started with both of our hands facing each other. One person would start moving his hands and the other person had to follow. That way, both persons would be moving their parts of the body like if it was a mirror. My partner was Prodhi. She first started leading and I had to follow her movements. When Adrian clapped, we had to change the lead to the other partner. When Adrian clapped, I started taking the lead and Prodhi had to mirror the movements I did. When I was leading, I tried to come up with funny movements, I tried to make her mirror my hands on the floor and then stretch them up to the top. When Prodhi was leading, it was interesting to just keep mirroring her hands, but as it lasted more, I started to feel it was more and more boring. When I was leading though, I felt the responsibility to make the exercise as interesting and fun as possible for her. I can see how this is related to theatre of the oppressed. When I was following Prodhi, I felt oppressed. She was leading me, and I had to regardless of everything. And as time passed, I felt oppression was not comfortable. I can imagine that is similar to how oppressed minorities feel. Finally, Adrian asked us to continue with the exercise, but he told us to not have a leader this time. Both of us had to mirror ourselves without anybody of us explicitly leading. It was interesting to see that even though there was not a clear leader, we could indeed mirror each other without any problems. However, I did notice that for brief periods of time somebody took the lead and then the other person would take the lead afterwards. It was very interesting because I can relate this to how positions of power work: In a group where nobody has an explicit position of power, somebody can take a little bit of leadership, then somebody else would have some leadership and so on.

The next exercise Adrian Jackson introduced us to had to do with improvisation. He called two people to make a scene in front of everybody but he very quickly told them to freeze. Then he asked the rest of the class to brainstorm about what the scene was, what they two were doing. We gave opinions on their body language, their expression, the position they held in respect to each other... After that, he asked one of the two people in front to seat down, and he asked a member of the class to go and complete the scene, with the other person that was frozen in front, in a different manner. Somebody went to the front, then, Adrian asked us to brainstorm about the scene again. After various opinions, he asked one person who was in front and asked somebody else in the audience to complete the scene. This way, an exercise about creativity and improvisation was created. Some very funny and creative scenes came out. I noticed that the person who last went into the frozen image would normally have the most predominant expression, the expression that would be essential to the meaning of the image. Still, it always depends on the perspective of the person who was watching it though.

Reflection: I enjoyed so much knowing about theatre of the oppressed because I found there were connections with oppressed groups in Guatemala. Theatre, in general, is a subject that has a lot of relationship with theory of knowledge. This workshop helped me understand a little bit more of what is oppression: It is the feeling of being led and not being able to get out of that leadership at all. Oppression is like the first exercise we did in the workshop: somebody else decides where you are going and you cannot change it. Oppression is also like the second exercise in some way: somebody else decides what the meaning of your actions are; and you are still and cannot change it.

Conclusion: Theatre can be used in a wide range of topics and environments. Theatre is about provoking thoughts in the audience, and these thoughts can end up being very TOK-like. The way theatre is able to provoke thoughts in other people makes it a great tool to influence others and to solve problems as it is being done with Theatre of the oppressed. I think this is an example of the true "power" of Theatre; it is an example of how much Theatre can do.

Theatre Mural

Aim of Task:

To recall and express all what we have learned about theatre so far, in a group, with colours and drawings that help us express ourselves better.

Description of Task:

Steve wrote on the board four different words with circles around them: Theatre, Ensemble, Myself and Links. With "theatre" we had to associate things that we had learned of the course in general; with "ensemble" things about the us, everybody in theatre class; with "myself" what this course taught us about ourselves and with "links" how we could relate theatre concepts to other aspects of our lives and other IB subjects. Steve, then handed us a bunch of blue, green, black and orange markers. Everyone started writing in different places of the board. Others started drawing. Many people completed phrases that other persons wrote or drew more details on other people's drawings. Near "myself" I wrote, "Knowing more about people." What I meant with this phrase is that theatre had taught me to understand other people better. The way we have explored emotions in class helped me comprehend other people's feelings better when I am talking to them about personal stuff. Near "links" I wrote "imitating." Imitating is not only useful in theatre but in on stage performances in general: for example, when preparing a group dance everybody imitates the same style of dance. Many of the lessons we have had asked us to imitate another person, like the workshop we did. I think imitating is much more difficult than it actually sounds. Finally, I drew a picture of our beloved teacher, Steve, on the left side of the board.

Reflection:

Seeing all this words, ideas and drawings made me think all the things that Theatre has already taught me. It is amazing how much it has taught me to know about myself. I had no experience in theatre before, and this is the first time I take a theatre lesson, and I am happy to have had the opportunity to, finally. It is good to have a group of people whom you share a similar class and enjoy with. It is nice to go and seat in the canteen with theatre students. I find that we chose this subject because perhaps we have similar similar interests. I also realize that we have come up with a way of expressing ourselves as a group. It was nice to see how somebody could start a sentence and somebody would continue it and they would make a complete idea altogether. I really like the theatre ensemble.

Conclusion:

Now that I have had two months of this theatre course, I am really looking forward to the rest of the course. I am looking forward to the concepts we are going to learn next and the experiences and plays we are going to build with all the class as a team. I see my second year theatre students are quite close, and I am happy to see that because I know we will be as close as them at some point in the course. hip hip, theatre!

Actors, Directors, Scripts and Styles Performance

Aim of Task:

To perform the extract of the plays we had been rehearsing to perform during class.

Description of Task:

There were three different extracts that the whole class performed: "Whose Life is it Anyway?", "Ubu Roi" and "The Caucasian Chalk Circle." Felix, Shari and I performed this last one with Oda as a director. Since there was more than one group performing the same extract, this let us see the differences in the director's points of view. For example, the first to extracts that we saw where of "Whose life is it anyway?" There is a point in the play where patient starts talking to the doctor in a way as if the patient was looking down to the doctor. One of the directors decided to illustrate this even further by actually making the doctor sit down and let the ill patient stand up and talk to the doctor standing up, pointing at him with the finger and shouting. Another interpretation that I really liked was the other group of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. They made it in a very creative way: the female character was a male and the male character was a female. Since some of the lines in the play where puns that not everybody might have understood, they also used a power point which emphasised the important meaning in each line.

While performing, I forgot some of the lines at first. However, Oda as a director helped me reminding them. We performed the whole play as we had prepared afterwards. I felt a lot less confident when performing in front of all the class though: it is part of an actor to be able to stand in a group of people and act just as well as if there was nobody there. This is something I need to improve as a theatre student.

Reflection:

We could have performed better as a group. However, we learned from our errors, and we learned a lot more from the process of performing the play. The same play could seem very different with different directors. The director's point of view is even more important than the lines written on the play. I need to be more secure about my performance on stage. To improve it, I will rehearse more on my own but I also think this will improve as I do more performances in front of bigger audiences.

Conclusion:

Performing even a small extract of a play can take a lot of preparing for it to be the best it can. It is a great amount of teamwork, everyone has to make their best to contribute. A good team creates a good product, a good play. A cast is a team with the director as leader. Even though the director is the leader, the cast is just as responsible as the director of bringing a good product to the audience.

IP play: The biggest paradox

On monday, we went to watch the performance of Andrés Chamorro' play for his IP: The biggest paradox. The whole play was different from what I have seen. It was about somebody who wanted to be famous, but did not have any talents. Therefore, he kidnaps a writer, an actor, a dancer and a musician. He ties them to the basement of his house, and there he treats them as actors in a play where he is the director. In the end, it is a play within a play. This way, the director can actually talk to the audience as if they were part of the play: this brings the audience to a new level of the experience since they can feel as if they were performing too.

The play started with four of the actors standing in a line, with black boxes on their heads. This black boxes had papers with messages attached to them. A "ding" sound was play every few seconds, and some of the actors would flip the paper in their boxes. In the end, a very interesting effect was achieved where words changed asynchronously delivering a message to the audience. I think this effect helps the audience concentrate more on what is happening and let the audience feel more intrigued by the play. The last message that could be seen was "would you still clap?". With this message on, the boxes where lifted all the way to the top and left there for the whole play.

The play started with this four persons already tied in the basement, waking up, and asking themselves what happened. I found it a little bit confusing at the start: I can say I felt just as confused as a kidnapped person would feel in that situation. Then, the kidnapper came in, and started saying where they where, and why, etc. He had a "directors chair" that was in the same place as all the other chairs in the audience, but had a big sign to indicate that it was for the director. This gave the illusion that the director was also watching the play with the audience. The play also used other ways to incorporate the audience in the play: at some point the director stood up in the chair and asked the audience what they wanted to watch. I thought it was an excellent way of capturing the audience attention.

The play also made use of music to portray the play too. There was a scene where four of the actors walked in squares, one following the other. Since they were all tied to a rope in one end, with the other end the upper bar, the ropes started making a not. The whole scene with them walking in squares and the ropes making a not gave a feeling of desperation to the audience. This was complemented with the music that was being played. I think that using music in plays coordinates the auditive with the visual senses so it brings the message better to the audience. In the end, it is all about the perception of the audience! :)