Ensemble Performance

Ok, so I have a massive lesson planned. We will begin to devise our ensemble (group) performance. We will be using selected dialogue from the play Macbeth. I'm hoping we can incorporate the physical theatre techniques we've developed thus far with these lines and maybe some music. The scene from Macbeth that we will be using is the famous 'Sleepwalking' scene where Lady Macbeth reveals a little too much information about having murdered old King Duncun to speed up the process of her husband Macbeth becoming King. It is a powerful moment in the play and the indisputably best ever portrayal of this role is by Judy Dench (1979).

Shakespeare: "Macbeth" (Judi Dench) - sleepwalking scene

Non-Realism

Non-realism was a dramatic movement that emerged in 1885 and signaled the beginning of modern theatre.
Artists reacted against representing the natural world on stage.
Modernism could be seen emerging, especially in the visual arts as abstract paintings and sculptures appeared.
Playwrights and directors began to use non-realistic forms and styles in their plays such as Symbolism, Dreams and Subconscious, Expressionism, Futurism and Dada.

YOUTUBE links - please watch some of the following clips.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) - Full Movie
The Blind by Maeterlinck PT 1 Directed by Neil Smith

Please see me to get the rest of the notes from today's lesson (27-07-09)

Don't forget to comment about last lesson's practical task under the ViewPoints entry.

Viewpoints

Viewpoints is a technique of improvisation that provides a vocabulary for thinking about and acting upon movement and gesture. Originally developed in the 1970s by choreographer Mary Overlie, The Viewpoints theory was adapted for stage acting by directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. Overlie's Six Viewpoints include: space, story, time, emotion, movement, and shape.

...

Integration/Isolation
• All of the different elements influence each other and work together, and can "cause" a change in a different element. For example, the shape of your body may carry a certain emotion with it as well - something in the space of your environment may make a story out of what you are doing - etc.
• The actors must focus first on the isolation of each separate viewpoint element on its own, before integrating and working them all together. It's often that a performer finds one of the elements comes naturally, and perhaps uses that one element they really understand to access the other elements, which they must work to become more familiar with.


Please see me for extended version if you were away on Wednesday's class and missed the work I set to copy out. If you haven't copied out all of teh info into your books, please do so as it will help with our written assessment...coming soon.

Physical Theatre - Board notes - 15-07-09

Physical Theatre
Physical theatre is a general term used to describe any mode of performance that pursues storytelling through primarily physical means. There are several quite distinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre" such as:Dance, Puppetry, Noh, Kabuki, Butoh and Tadashi Suzuki’s actor-training method.

Physical theatre may utilize pre-existing text, but the primary focus is on the physical work of the actors, expressed through the use of their bodies. It is a highly visual form of theatre. The action in physical theatre may have a psychological base, or symbolic resonance, or point to an emotional centre, or have a clear storyline, or any combination of the above, and it may grow out of codified forms, improvisational work, or invented gestural language among other means of creation. However, the means of expression are always primarily physical rather than textual.

Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_theatre

Tadashi Suzuki
Tadashi Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga(SCOT), Chairman of the Japan Performing Arts Foundation (JPAF), Artistic Director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor-Training.

[Please ensure you have a copy of excerpt from The Way Of Acting by Tadashi Suzuki]

A preview of what's to come...

Welcome to Yr 10 Drama!

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