This the presentation itself:
Friday, 6 March 2015
Presenation.
Me, Kj, and Saskia worked as a group of three and created a presentation. Saskia focused on Greek masked theatre, I focused on Commedia itself, and KJ did Japanese Noh Theatre.
This the presentation itself:
This the presentation itself:
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Evaluation of performances
Evaluation of commedia performances:
On Wednesday 25th February, it was national commedia day which was the same day as our two performances. We finished a whole run at around half 11 before our matinee performance and figured out the show would be from 40-50 minutes. In the rehearsal Luke got injured on his eye badly which meant he needed to go hospital to check it out, we had to quickly think of what we could do if Luke was not able to do the shows, this was sorted pretty quickly. Luckily he returned in time and was able to do the matinee, he cut himself out from doing the acrobatic scene because he felt rather sick but braved doing the sword fight with Jodie.
We had a small audience for the first show, but they was a great audience. They really supported us all and got really into the show. I wrote some notes after the show after Graham gave us all feedback, they said:
- Make sure to wait for the audience to stop laughing to carry on with lines
- Try not to laugh on stage (I was guilty for this)
- Easy on heavy feet across stage especially after scene 7
- Make sure props are in place as Jov lost his sword
- It was a very good show
- Be careful when coming on and off stage as a few people bumped into each other
- Careful with where people leave swords as I skidded on stage as swords where hidden by the curtain during a blackout
- Volume improved
We had a Q&A after the show and the audience was Da Vinci drama students. They mainly asked questions about what was hard and easier, then we had to get into pairs and make cool handshakes.
Then we had a break till half 5, and then done our every day normal wam up with jogging and skipping and then doing yoga and balancing tasks. Then we performed our second but last show to a much bigger audience, I was a lot more nervous for this show because my family and friends were in the audience, I felt the nerves off people more than the matinee.
The show finished and we did another Q&A and the questions were similar to the ones from the matinee but was interesting to see what they was interested in learning about what we was doing. And then I wrote notes on the second performance:
- So much better
- Covered up mistakes well such as when Matt confused his lines
- Improvisation was better
- Volume was better
- Stances and characterisation improved lots
- Sword fights were better
- Still heavy feet but better than before
Afterwards we gave graham a card to say thank you, and he told us he thought the show and the whole process went really well. I am really glad I took part in this as it is not usually something I would do, and I have learnt so much from it. Hopefully it will come in handy in the further future.
I think my strengths were that I improved my stance and characterisation so much. Because I didn't have any lines, it gave me the chance to show my character through my stance so much more which was a challenge but helped me out. I also feel a little more comfortable with improvisation more than I did before doing the workshop because the whole performance was improvised and non-scripted. I also think my feet were not heavy on the ground as we had to be light footed which I think I was good at.
My weaknesses were that sometimes I did come out of character without realising but this soon was improved especially on show days. Also the masks, I have never performed with masks so this was very different for me and very challenging. I found it hard to find a mask that fitted me well and suited me because most of the masks were rather large. Another weakness was trying not to laugh on stage at funny parts, it's something I shouldn't do and I did try not too but I do get nervous giggles or when something is funny I do find it hard not to laugh.
In the experience I struggled with stage combat, but I felt as by the show day I was quite good at it. I did an unarmed scene with Michael which I feel improved by the time it came to show day even though that gave us less than two days to make it work.
I would definitely say this workshop is worth it and it's great experience if you do not usually do improvisation and physical theatre. Considering the workshop was 10 days I did learn a lot and am happy with the outcome, if we was to do this professionally we would need to have more time to rehearse and to stay out of the wings more as that became an issue in rehearsals.
Footage of rehearsal
This is a video of mine and Michaels stage combat (it is just a walk through not full out)
This is an improvised slapstick scene with Chris and James just to show the technique:
This is the full song we did for commedia when we first learnt it:
This is the full song we did for commedia when we first learnt it:
Day 7:
Day 7 we performed the play for the first time properly and got given feedback afterwards I wrote down Graham's feedback:
- well done! 1st half wasn't perfect cos it was first time doing it on stage
- needs to be more snappy / quicker
- softer feet and softer falls
- (specifically for me) draw the neck breaking bit out more / say 'you may continue' to the rest of the cast after breaking Michaels neck
- practice the song
We now have to wait till show day and we may be able to get one more run in, we did three runs on Tuesday.
Day 6:
Day 6 was when we actually starting devising and making the play, (two days before show day), at first I thought we wasn't going to be ready but I searched up information about commedia and found out that it is known for improvisation which made it more clear for me.
I wrote some notes on the army/cadet scene:
- army scene to be put into the actual play
- during army scene there is a use of clicks when Matts character is unable to click
- fall asleep during matts speech
- perform acrobatic scene
- when walking forward in marching bit I start to lose balance
- bump into Michael
- then go off the wrong way
Then we sorted the actual scenes and the order they was in:
Scene 1: Andre starts play off / everyone frozen on stage / continues then with a fight between indie and Luke's characters / Luke character dies / afterward kj's and Aaron's characters meet.
Scene 2: Cyrano kills 100 men
Scene 2a: Tom and Metins meeting
Scene 3: pastry shop / followed by army cadets scene with Matts speech
Scene 3b: Aaron's refused by all cadets / Jodie's and Aaron's characters first meet
Scene 4: Kj and Andre's characters are about to leave Paris but Kj convinces him to stay to save Aaron's character / kj's character tells corals character to get Aaron's character to meet her that night
Scene 5: balcony scene
Scene 6: marriage scene
Scene 6c: Miguel and Deans Spanish captain part
Scene 7: Spanish attack
Scene 8: a song explaining what happens to Cyrano and other characters
Bows
Sunday, 22 February 2015
day 5:
We was introduced into the 'slapstick' on day 5. This did not hurt at all and was actually really fun. Worked in pairs at first to make a scene with the slapstick and I was with Saskia. Firstly performed without masks then asked to improve it and put a mask on. It was a lot funnier the second time and added more of the slapstick.
Then was put into a massive group as an army for the doctor, Matt was the doctor and the rest of us were Zanni's and the other half of the class were all lovers. I was part of the acrobatic Zanni's and when we performed in the masks it was slightly harder.
Then was put into a pair with Michael and created a no weapon stage combat scene, we struggled it worked but some of our punches looked really obviously fake. We had to improve it and this time we used slaptsticks and made it funnier and that worked a lot more.
Then was put into a massive group as an army for the doctor, Matt was the doctor and the rest of us were Zanni's and the other half of the class were all lovers. I was part of the acrobatic Zanni's and when we performed in the masks it was slightly harder.
Then was put into a pair with Michael and created a no weapon stage combat scene, we struggled it worked but some of our punches looked really obviously fake. We had to improve it and this time we used slaptsticks and made it funnier and that worked a lot more.
day 4:
On day 4, we focused on the character of the doctor. His character was really weird, as when he spoke it made no sense and he tended to go off subject and talk a load of rubbish. We learnt his stance. First we went into pairs and I was with Jov, one was dead and one was the doctor, started off with me being the dead person and Jov was the doctor, he struggled with the improvisation. Then we had to switch, Graham then gave an example with Tom to help give a clearer image of the doctor.
Then we went into groups of three, one as doctor, one as a Zanni, and one as a dead person. KJ was the dead person, Saskia was the doctor, and I was the Zanni. We struggled with humour for this as what we found funny was not as funny to the audience.
Then we had to work in pairs and I was with Jack. Jack played the doctor and I played Colombia. It was so hard not to laugh, Jack was really good at the doctor.
Then we went into groups of three, one as doctor, one as a Zanni, and one as a dead person. KJ was the dead person, Saskia was the doctor, and I was the Zanni. We struggled with humour for this as what we found funny was not as funny to the audience.
Then we had to work in pairs and I was with Jack. Jack played the doctor and I played Colombia. It was so hard not to laugh, Jack was really good at the doctor.
We then had to work in a group of six, and was introduced into the technique of 'Lazzi' which is seen as the part of a scene when the characters go completely off subject, such as the doctors speech or the captain speech. Then put into groups of four for a lazzi and I was a Zanni. I struggled to keep the masks on.
Then we was introduced into Brighella. We was shown how they run, how they stand, walk and so on.
Then we was put into a group of 8 fighting for our masters. 3 in each team and then two leaders. I was a Zanni. I struggled to keep the mask on.
day 3:
We had a whole day of stage combat on this day. I have never done this before so I was a little scared. We did sword fighting, parry (where to put sword when fighting) hair pulling, punching, kicking, neck cracking, fencing positions, performing with no weapons practiced with swords. I was with Jodie, we performed without swords as we both was not keen on the swords and I was not particularly good at it. We then improved it and changed our characters to Pantalone instead.
day 2:
On day 2, Graham introduced us to the 'Lovers'. We learnt that in their stance, they have one leg bent and one leg straight. They are very elegant and do not wear masks. They love people but think it is too much to touch and look at each other, they elegantly over exaggerate it. But at the same time they are very energetic as well as being elegant. I really enjoyed the lovers I thought they was fun.
We had to make a piece of primary lovers and secondary lovers. Primary lovers were perfect and knew what they are doing where as secondary lovers tend to copy the primary lovers but just get it completely wrong. I was a secondary lover with James, and we was put into a group with Miguel and Metin who were the primary lovers. The piece had to be about the lovers meeting up in the dark and getting with the wrong lover but then everything gets resolved in the end.
We also learnt the character 'Pantalone' which is an old man who can be seen as quite pervy. We learnt his stance and what his mask looks like. We learnt his walks, and learnt that when he falls over he cannot get back up and he has to face the audience when he fell down. He also struggles to lower to the floor so gets colombia to help him, usually watches her. I got put into a group of three with Aaron and Jov, Aaron was Pantalone and I was colombia and Jov was a male Zanni.
We had to make a piece of primary lovers and secondary lovers. Primary lovers were perfect and knew what they are doing where as secondary lovers tend to copy the primary lovers but just get it completely wrong. I was a secondary lover with James, and we was put into a group with Miguel and Metin who were the primary lovers. The piece had to be about the lovers meeting up in the dark and getting with the wrong lover but then everything gets resolved in the end.
We also learnt the character 'Pantalone' which is an old man who can be seen as quite pervy. We learnt his stance and what his mask looks like. We learnt his walks, and learnt that when he falls over he cannot get back up and he has to face the audience when he fell down. He also struggles to lower to the floor so gets colombia to help him, usually watches her. I got put into a group of three with Aaron and Jov, Aaron was Pantalone and I was colombia and Jov was a male Zanni.
day 1:
On the first day of Commedia, we learnt a few characters. Graham showed us masks of different characters (usually for males)
This helped give us a more clear image. He explained that some masks have long noses which could be seen as they are more 'dumb' in a way, and the shorter the nose meant you was more acrobatic. Graham explained that female characters do not tend to wear masks such as lovers, colombia, and senorita. Male lovers also do not wear masks.
We learnt the 3 step, the big step (which is shown in two images above), the skip step into the stance, we learnt about the masks and got to wear some, learnt the scared/running away run as well we have to face the audience and do the big step but leaning back and running. We learnt that Zanni's love food, sex, and sleep. But they do not eat humans! And we learnt the sleep stance.
We also learnt the character of the captain. His stance, the muscle walk, mountain walk, and there run that they do the trip and recover.
Also on the first day we learnt some rules about Commedia. These included:
- no pointing
- put on masks facing the back or on stage
- don't be to close to the audience
- no religious points
- no swearing
- no familiar hand gestures
- don't touch masks/could break easily
- can be vulgar but not obscene
- commedia is big, fast, and precise
- it has to be funny
- Zanni's are gross
- silence is ugly 'don't be ugly'
- masks are half faced/big nose
- the bigger the nose the more stupid the Zanni
- no decoration on masks
- masks are usually black, brown, red, occasionally green depending on character
- leather masks
- half masks to play instrument and speak
- female cougars are called le senorita
There was a 17 hundred painting of a commedia performance, and the captain had a mask (at this time period they usually did not wear masks) which made the painting incorrect. But from then onwards, captains now wear masks.
On this day we got to do some devising. I was in a group of three with Saskia and KJ, we had to sneak into a house and take some papers but not knowing there was other people in the house as Zanni's. We had to wear masks, I was not used to it and it kept falling off my face, but I found it funny and interesting. I did keep forgetting about the stance and the walks, but I knew that would improve in time.
Preparing:
Ella sent an email with clips attached that she wanted us to watch which involved sword fight scenes, faulty towers clips and the actual film of the play we are doing which is called Cyrano de Bergerac. A very big tale of love, manservants and noses.
Ella also wanted us to watch the second years Commedia performance last year to give us an idea for what was to be expected:
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