Drama: Performance and Character Essay

Submitted By hanfran
Words: 1215
Pages: 5
Open Document
SECTION A
JUNE 2010 QUESTIONS

Describe what the piece was about; state the style, period and genre of the piece, the performance space and any technical or design elements used and your target audience. You should state whether your contribution was as actor, designer or technician. (10 marks)

The piece that we performed as a group were extracts from the play, Shakers. The genre of the play is a drama but it is realistic. It is a modern play based around the present time, as four waitresses working at a cocktail bar show their way of living, as well as playing previous customers and re-enacting previous events. We performed our play end on in our school hall. We used two different levels of staging; one being slightly higher than the floor of which the audience were sitting on and behind the bar there was a set of two steps to exaggerate the fact we were working behind the bar. We used natural lighting almost throughout, as the play we were performing was realistic. The ending was the only part of which the lighting was darkened to give an eerie effect, as the waitresses were walking home and the suspense rose. Our target audience was for teenagers and above. We found it would be highly inappropriate to perform to young children as there was much use of sexual references and bad language. My contribution to the play was as an actor playing many different roles, as the main theme of Shakers is multi-roling.

Explain how you applied your chosen skill to at least one aspect of the piece. (10 marks)

My chosen skill was as an actor. One of the parts i played was Daz, who was a man out with another male friend, looking for women to take home. I portrayed this as a character by constantly looking around, and if i spotted a woman, i would nudge my fellow actor, and look at him as if to ask for his approval. I responded to my fellow actor when he did the same, by making my hand into a fist and pulling my face as if to be happy with his choice. To show that we were going out looking for girls, my character would comment on waitresses and say rude remarks about her body. For example, to exaggerate this i would laugh with my friend after every joke was made to show that they were immature men who didn't treat women with respect. The tone of my voice was lowered to show i was playing a man. There was lots of crutch holding and sitting down with our legs wide open and elbows on our knees to exaggerate our masculinity. Another character i played was a common girl out with her friend, shopping for a new outfit. I showed that i was common by prolonging the ends of my words and talking with a very Northern accent. I also showed i was ditzy by pretending i had chewing gum in my mouth, and exaggerating the chewing motion. I also played with my hair a lot to show i though i was attractive and thought people were looking at me. When me and my friend went into the changing rooms, we had to mime getting changed. For example i did many motions such as, trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans by jumping up and down and scrunching my face up. I also did lots of looking in the mirror and smoothing my hand over my stomach as if to approve of the outfit.

Analyse the improvements that you made during the rehearsal process. You should refer to at least one specific occasion where you developed your own skill. (10 marks)

During the rehearsal process, our group did much improvement. We did mind maps to collect peoples' ideas or to expand on something someone had said which we thought we could use. One specific occasion where i developed my own skill during the rehearsal period was when we were rehearsing my scene where i played a common girl looking for an outfit. This character which i played didn't initially start off as common; she was just ditzy and had no common sense. I decided to make her common as i felt the character needed more depth and it would also make it funnier for the audience to watch. Once making my character
Show More

Related Documents: Drama: Performance and Character Essay

History Of Elizabethan Theatre

themes were based around romantic, supernatural or exotic. In the 1820’s they became more familiar in settings and characters; and in the 1830’s they became more elevated: “gentlemanly” melodrama. Melodrama comes from “music drama”- music was used to increase emotions or to signify characters. It usually contains a simplified moral universe; good and evil are embodied in stock characters. It is usually a very episodic form: the villain poses threat, the hero escapes, etc. and has a happy ending. Usually…

Words 1432 - Pages 6

Bertolt Brecht and Complex Performance Skills Essay

2015 Howick College Drama Department Internal Assessment Resource Student Name: _________________________ DRAMA Level 3 Achievement Standard AS91515 version1 Drama 3.4 Select and use complex performance skills associated with a drama form or period Credits: 4 “The Truth is Concrete” Bertolt Brecht Image taken from Google Docs. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­______________________________________________________________________________________________ Student Instructions Sheet This assessment task…

Words 5062 - Pages 21

Flight: Drug Addiction and Denzel Washington Essay examples

Flight was one of the most captivating films I have ever watched due to Denzel Washington’s Oscar nominated performance as an American Pilot. Critics and fans raved over the release of Flight when it came to theaters November 2nd, 2012. Though there is a lot of controversy about the film, most would agree that the well-executed drama is worth seeing. “Flight” is an action-packed, drama film directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis. This was Zemeckis’ first live-action film in over 12 years…

Words 1035 - Pages 5

What Are The Conventions Of Drama

Conventions of Drama Most dramas follow similar conventions, or rules, in how they are presented. An understanding of basic dramatic conventions can help you imagine the staging of the performance as you read. You may recognize that drama and fiction share a common set of elements: plot, setting, character, and theme. Acts and Scenes Dramatic plots are divided into acts and scenes, with each scene establishing a different time or place. As in fiction, the plot in a drama introduces interactions…

Words 427 - Pages 2

Aliens Ate My Homework: Character Analysis

projects, talk and drama projects, digital projects, and social action projects; which involved stories, slide shows, posters, reading theatre performances, essays, and podcast presentation. The students can work in groups or individual. (Tompkins, 2014). For the novel, Aliens ate my Homework, the third grade class will do a writing project and talk and drama project. For the writing project, they will rewrite a story from a different point of view, they can choice any other main character…

Words 268 - Pages 2

Herons Essay

wanted to communicate with the audience about my character is that how my character who was Scott which was the main bully in herons was like and how treated Billy like he was nothing and tried to show how Billy’s lifestyle was like. This scene was important because it showed the audience the characters lifestyle and how they were surrender by crime and poverty. It also showed relationships between the characters and the relationship between the characters and the environment e.g. Billy likes fishing…

Words 1025 - Pages 5

Theatre Of Truth In Queensland Theatre's Lost By Matthew Miller

constructed, whereby the clever application of dramatic treatment in the style of magic realism has made for an extremely successful and entertaining piece of theatre. The play makes for an effective piece of drama as it communicates vital messages by the utilisation of the elements of drama, in particular, human context and symbolism as well as, the use of style and staging. Additionally, Ryan’s assertion, “…its impossible to truly capture the past – but we can always conjure its spirit,” (Ryan,…

Words 1780 - Pages 8

Essay Drama Revision Guide

register NOTES: MOVEMENT Definition Movement is a way of exploring and expressing ideas, emotions and relationships. It can be naturalistic, as in its use as an aid to characterisation, or stylised, expressing abstract ideas as in dance drama, mime, dance and mask work. Improvised movement may provide opportunities for a personal response. Rehearsed movement may allow for the development of ideas or of more stylised movement. Content Naturalistic movement, as in characterisation…

Words 1977 - Pages 8

Uncle Toms Cabin Research Paper

A historic book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin reached the hands of thousands and the hearts of millions. Inevitably, individuals, particularly those involved in stage performances and the theatre, tried to produce a profit off of Stowe’s novel. In many of these alterations, Stowe’s original antislavery message becomes lost or transformed because of the noticeable and sometimes shocking changes made to the authentic plotline and text. As a result of its popularity and high-respected status, many theatre companies…

Words 982 - Pages 4

Theatre and Discuss Louis Nowra Essay example

EACH PERSON IN COSI HAS THEIR OWN WAY OF ESCAPING THEIR REALITY. DISCUSS Louis Nowra in his drama “Cosi” presents all the characters in the play as troubled in their past and present life. As the drama progresses the audience realises how the characters use to get away from their painful reality in different ways. By turning their reality into illusions, some characters were able to escape problems faced in their past life. In many instances the mental patients were in the asylum for living…

Words 799 - Pages 4