Best of Both Worlds

Description

This week in theatre we did several things. In which it includes a research of a certain topic, in my case distorted shadows.  We also had to do some research in our design task for th play, mine is make-up. After school we also had rehearsals as usual and as I appeared in the last scene I had to help direct. In this week I helped in 'Estación 2' in the family scene.

Analysis

First of all I would like to comment on my topic which are distorted shadows. I have a wider knowledge of this use of shadows and is really going to contribute in my more in depth research of my topic. I learned that the shadows create a contrast of light. It also gives another look to the same character. It creates various effects throughtout the plays. For example in Dr Caligari the shadows were actually fixed as they were painted as part of the scenery. This gave me a complete new perspective of shadows as I was not aware of the different tecniques that were applied. I need to improve my research because I need to explain how it is helpful for me rather than describing the source. Is the first time I do source analysis in theatre and is quite intresting. 

Apart from that research I did another on in my design task. I did a powerpoint full of pictures to show my makeup ideas. I also had various creepy makeups which we could apply to the play. I also found intresting the propposal of contouring. This is meant that you use a darker powder to contour your facial factions in order to exaggerate them. I have used contouring before but in a more natural way but it is going to be more fun to make it exaggerated for the characters in the play. I have to also create exaggerated physicallity. for each character of the play. This is going to be a really challenging thing although I love makeup it is going to be really hard to create extremities like longer fingers. I have to start looking for materials or maybe were I can buy them.

Furthermore I continued to help in the family scene which in my point of view has improved a lot. I is really hard to work in this scene as it is static because only few characters actually move and we havent been working in the moving chairs or piano because we dont have the actual props or scenery but instead of complaining we are trying to give more dynamism of the same. I would like to mention that it is also hard to find actions when there are monologues because it takes a lot of time and characters actually start to get repetitive as they have to be a long time listening to the characters speaking without interacting and just staying. So one propposal would be having a spot light in characters which are doing their monologues and blackout in the other characters rather than taking them away from the scene. I would like to comment that for me the actors are working really hard not only by learning their lines but to listen to the fedback and actually applying it.

connections

There are several connections on of the is a few years before at Miss Alicia's class we had to research for several estimuli's to help us have a better base for our character. We are doing the same when researching more in depth of german expressionism because we can really apply it by been aware of intentions. Also in Miss Alicia's class we did a research of Lima in the 80's in order to have a wider knowledge of the context of the sketch we were going to perform. This is were I think is really useful to do research because you just dont do thing for doing it but there is a deeper meaning to it and you are aware of the purpose of your actions.

Reflection

Altough I like more the practical part of theatre because I adore to act I have to work harder in the theory part because I am not really good at describing the processes or analysing deeper meanings as I do it by myself rather that write it. I definetely have to work more on my connections because I forget were did I learnt that in. I think I am improving more in directing because I am taking it more seriously than before and I am going to work harder in my theory part of doing the research and my work. I think that in order to be great at theatre you need to have the best of both worlds which are theory and practice. Because you need to be aware of what are you doing in order to do it. Miss Alicia once told me that I had to work on both not just one. My weakness is theory because I dont dedicate a lot of time to the work but now im more aware of it and im determined to work on it.

Questions

How do you improve your connections? how to apply more dynamism to the scene? how important are design elements? how do I improve my research?

Dedicated to my loving teacher Miss Alicia, who always saw me as a great actress :)

Gypsy

description

This week was hard. I was really attached to the theatre course this week because of the homeworks and the rehersals. We learnt more about german expressionism and at rehersals I had to help direct the little kids and the older ones. I dont want to say the name of the scenes because I dont want to spoil the play! I realise that the process of the play is hard and a lot of hardwork is needed.

analysis

Firstly, I had to say that I really struggle by making my theatre homework because this course is really demanding that the others because I have three times more homework  from this course. And actually by adding all the extras our I have to stay to the play rehersals takes all my time to make my theatre homework. But actually I enjoy this course because is my favorite one. This actually thought me to organize my time because I realise how important this is for me not only as a course but as a process of my personal learning. At theatre class we cotinued making a deeper learning of german expressiosm. As my role in the production task of the play is make-up I started talking about it and my reflecting we got to the conclution that make-up is used to exaggerate their factions of face expression which are really fixed and mask-like faces. This was in ordeer to break conventions as they imagine what would people look like, act and behave if society would not influentiate in their way of being. Instead expressionism rejects this at all.

Moreover, I had to help direct one scene that was made by kids from grade 6. This was the most challenging thing that I have done so far. This is because you have to show authority to the little kids because then they do not take you seriously this was really hard to me because overall my personality is really playful that serious. So my first encouteer with children was not really successful but I am working on it. I actually got a nickname 'gypsy'. The kids are really adorable but at the same time inmature. This was when I learnt that the process of the play is really challenging and needs a process to improve. This also thought me that I have to be more careful with my director because he might feel the same stress. This gave me I new experience and actually started seen the play starting to develop.I also helped in a scene were two of my friends are acting. This scene although is performed by other actors have the same challenges. They listen more and are more aware of their acting and ways to improve. But as every scene it was to be pulish and directed in order to make it perfect. I learnt that directing is really hard but im working to improve.

 connections

I actually connect to all the plays I have been in because the roll of the director is really needed because you can see the difference from a directed play than an amateur one. For example El valle oscuro altough it was a quite decent play it was obvious that they did not have an director because there were many mistakes and things that were not corrected and I feel that if they would've had an director the play would had being better in every aspect. Also in Confesiones from Ana Correa you can clearly see how there was a director behind because all her actions are well established and directed as it give you a complete and well developed play.

reflection

I learnt how hard is to direct and understand the feedback and actually applied it. For me is easier to act than direct because I enjoy acting while I have directed only a few times. But as being an actress I think is key to know how to direct because the process of theatre is to know every aspect not just acting. I think I have to improve in that aspect and actually develop more my directing skills. I will act more strict with the children because it is important in order to create the play and for it to work that as an Ib student I should impose respect. I also started to see the play differently is wonderful how a first idea starts developing and Is great to be part of the process of creation. Each time I see a scene now I imagine it with all the design elements and how great it would look at the end. This makes me really excited! I hope we manage to accomplish a great play and I know we will.

final question

how do you improve directing? what are the most difficult issues of an director?how do you know when your scene is perfect?

Dedicated to Roberto, Gracias por soportarme todos estos años!

The HunChback

description

Last week was pretty intense, reason why I did not write my blog. But that that does not mean I do not have to do last week's blog. So here it is. Last week I fully developed my character by adding a hunchback. I also learnt more about German Expressionism and I had the wonderful experience to watch a play were the structure was dream-reality-dream just like our play is going to be.

analysis

Firstly, I woul like to start with my character. By the begging of last week I thought that the hunchback would not help my character at all. This was because I have never heard about doing a hunchback and I did not like the idea at all. But as an actress I listen to my director and tried the proposal. The hunchback completely changed the way a saw my character as It brought life and grotesque to it. It was wonderful! I is incredible how a prop changes your body expression. I kept the way of walking of my character. But I add more things to it and made it more expressionist. This taught me not only to listen to my director but that small things like a hunchback can contribute a lot in the developing of your character.

Moreover, last week I also learnt more about german expressionism. We went through conventions in order to apply them to our character and our play. Is really intresting how things transform as we learn more. We finishing the writing of our scripts. Because of analysing the plays I was able to get ideas from the dreams of masses and man. And make a dream like scene in another perspective and using some ideas from the play. This helped me into the undestanding of german expressiosm that dreams can be distorted and insane! But obviously following the conventions and exploring feelings.

Furthermore, we went to watch a play called proyeccion privada. This is were I realise how theory and practice differ! All this time we were talking about making the game of the play reality-dream- reality but I had never seen that before. In this play we were able to appreciate this and the most important thing was that the dreams were in green light. This totally relates to our play were we intent to put color to our dreams. This gave me a whole new perspective of our play because something is to be told about it and another thing is actually see it in practice. Now I have more ideas for the dreams and how to connected with the scenes as to create different levels of reality. This play also taught me that the use of props is really essential for the play because otherwise it looks dull and less attractive to the audience. There are thing that definetely we should apply to out play. For example the clock at the dream. Because they lighted it meanwhile they were in a dream. Apart from looking amazing it shows the relativity of the time.

connections

There were several connections. First of all Shadow Queendom because was hard to understand if we did not use props and this was the way to differenciate characters as many people were the same character. This contribute the fact that the props help you develop more the character like my hunchback. This also was presented in El valle oscuro as the props really contributed into the characters because it was a really dynamic play. Also there is a connection of Confesiones because each character was way different from the other and this was achieve by the body expression but also by the props that contribute the characterization.

reflection

In that week I learnt a lot about characters and key things that help it develop more. The fact that we went to see another play gave me new perspective of our play and brand new ideas to be applied in the process of our because it is wonderful how another reality is created by the lightning and the use of props. But also by the actions of the characters that seem to be unreal which make us differenciate the levels of reality. I also learnt that we never actually finish learning as we improve by time. I dont know if i could develop more my character as i just realise that is possible to create more stuff to go with it. Also by learning more german expressionism conventions we can apply more to our play and actually understand why this things present. I actually learnt that the grotesque is because they want to reject traditional conventions to see the people in a fix way thats why they make their characters be exaggerated in every sense. They imagine how people will really act if there was not a society with tell them the correct way of behaving. I also learnt to use close shoes instead of sandals while going to watch a play because you can get injured like me ):

final question

Is my character finished? How to you accomplish a perfect dream scene? How do we manage to develop new actions? Will my foot ever heal?

 

Dear Diary,

Description

This week in theatre arts I learnt a lot while creating my character inside out.  We started by breathing energy and then focusing in a centre of energy of the character. Later we chose an animal and a character that inspired us to base our character on. Then we explored way of walking and mannerisms. Once we had this we began by making sequences. After having a sequence we added the voice of the character while counting to ten. Finally we added sound and eventually words.

Analysis

As I said before I created my character inside out. We started lying in the floor and breathing meanwhile we listen to music. The energy flowed as in and out of the body while breathing slowly. We imagined the energy flow that converted into a colour and a density. This needed to be done really concentrated otherwise you get distracted and loose the process. After it we located the place were we wanted all the energy to be concentrated. This helped me to achieve to know the centre of energy. I started to stand up with the centre of energy pulling and making the energy coe out from it. This was a key factor because it helped me to know how my character would stand up, as well, as choosing an animal. I chose a female cat as I thought of the way it act while feel threaten. I also chose Bellatrix from harrypotter as a base character, because I love Helena Boham Carte's way of acting and interpreting the character. I feel both Bellatrix and my character have a lot of similar aspects because they are kind of instable woman but at the same time powerful. My way of breathing was really fast kind of waiting to attact. The way of walking came as my character stepped really strong as to impose herself. I played with levels and used a strong look. I used a pen to represent my power just like Bellatrix uses her wand. With the pen along came the mannerisms, which applied with the way of walking. This helped a lot into building the character because you get to know more about it by knowing how it moves and behaves. In the sequence we had to put 10 movements. I chose to do strong movements and stares. The changing of movements was fast and staccato. I had some moments when I moved in legatto to exaggerate my movement. Then I added a lot of face expressions. I tried a lot for it not to be repetitive but to have different levels and actions that were increscendo and actually ended in the floor. Not only the movements’ growed in speed and streght but the emotions of my character grew by the things happening. For me it was hard to put words into the things I was doing because I did not know what to say. But then with a little help I started imagining a scene of what was happening. I achieved to know what to say. This helps me have another perspective of the character as it started becoming a full character. Also I developed a low pitch voice, which was slow and have kind of an accent. This helps me know how to explore with my voice and how the voice gives a whole knew look to this character.

Connections

I had various connections to my theatre class in school because we are learning from German Expressionism. One of these connections was that I did not have a character but I created its personality based on something that came from me. In this case I acted like an exaggerated version of myself when I am mean and I feel threaten. Also as German Expressionism is exaggerated but not funny. I tried not to be funny but to create a bitter effect on the people.

Reflection

In conclusion, I have learnt a lot this week because in previous plays I did not have the opportunity to have a deeper developing of the character but just did what I was told, that is kind of oppresing. But I think is great that actually in this play we get to use the conventions of german expressionism. You create a character from your deeper emotions and try to reflect inner feelings by it. Also I love German Expressionism since I was younger because I absolutely adore Tim Burton's movies. It is really intresting for me that I get to know the origins of Tim Burton's movies. I love how sometimes things that I like get to be involved in the things that I have to learn. So this learning is actually intresting for me. Is a new propposal that im fascinated with.

Final Question

Can we create a character without exploring? If we get a determined character we opress the actor? Is there another way explore a character?