After doing an extensive resaerch on the Paucartambo celebration it was now time to perform and put in practice our PPP. Our proposal consisted of bending traditions as we bend the conventions in the original celebration to fit our stage and content(useless authorities). We had everything planned and were excited to act i t out, however we realize all the issues that our presentation had once we started rehearsing. As the rehearsals started we soon took notice of the amount of effort that went every time we rehearsed a scene, it was extremely exhausting to wear the masks, the ones made of wool(waqollos) were tightened to our faces and due to the shape of it we were not able to breath through our noses well enough and had to breathe through our mouths. As we did so it ended up tiring us even more and due to the heat , not only because of the mask but because of the costume itself. That scene came out nicely and enjoyable for the public as we highly interacted with it however it was a performance were we had to put a lot of effort and time in order for it to be successful. The next day we presented another sene were two of us were Saqras, demons, who were the bodyguards of a corrupt politician. We had previously wore the masks and wigs necessary to play the characters but everytime it became much more exhausting and furstrating as we failed to tie a string to the wig for it to stop falling. Not only the wig, but the masks weight pulled them down making it impossible for us to see. The last day one of the Sqras brought his costume for the first time, he had previously broguht the mas k and wig but never rehearsed fully dressed. At the moment of chnigng to the costumes he had other pants and not those which went according to the scheme. Th upper part of his body was colour blue and te pants green, the long socks were colour plae white and they were supposed to be transluscent.
This not only caused us to alarm as the right costume was not present, but also it caused distrubacnes int he gorup as a whole, we became more stressed, we started acting more impulsively and agressively. Afterwards we calmed down and performed however, this showed how a rehearsal turly helps us to prepare for the actual perforamnce, but most importantly, this experiencce showed how a play consists of every single person whos involved and if someone fails in one way or another the play itself, or the erformance, might also fail or suffer.
Is rehearsing as relevant in other theatre traditions as it is in Occidental theater?
lunes, 29 de noviembre de 2010
domingo, 21 de noviembre de 2010
PAUCARTAMBO
When creating a play following established conventions seen in a theatre tradition around the world, we are not able to adapt every single convention into the performance succesfully, therefore we have to leave aside some of them.
We are now creating aperformance by following conventions seen in the Andean celebration of La Mamacha del Carmen, we are using masks, costumes, adapting characters to fit our story and several of these conventions also include the use of an open environment as a stage, and no use of words as we only express our ideas through mannerisms and body movements.
The presentation is soon and the performance has changed drastically since the starting idea. We first planned this to last 3 days and there would be a performance each day, each lasting 5- to 10 minutes and we would touch upon the idea of useless authorities, a concept cosntantly seen not only in the Peruvian society but inthe world in genral and also inside of oru school.
Now we have had to cut the presentation to last only two days long, we have had to adapt the story into two days. We decided this as we noticed we had to focus more on the structure on the play, and on the content rather than simply presenting a mediocre play.
This experience leads to me a question i find rather important when adding theatre conventions from a different tradition into a play. To what point can we alter and bend conventions when adapting a theatrical tradition while maintaining it as true as possible to the original?
We are now creating aperformance by following conventions seen in the Andean celebration of La Mamacha del Carmen, we are using masks, costumes, adapting characters to fit our story and several of these conventions also include the use of an open environment as a stage, and no use of words as we only express our ideas through mannerisms and body movements.
The presentation is soon and the performance has changed drastically since the starting idea. We first planned this to last 3 days and there would be a performance each day, each lasting 5- to 10 minutes and we would touch upon the idea of useless authorities, a concept cosntantly seen not only in the Peruvian society but inthe world in genral and also inside of oru school.
Now we have had to cut the presentation to last only two days long, we have had to adapt the story into two days. We decided this as we noticed we had to focus more on the structure on the play, and on the content rather than simply presenting a mediocre play.
This experience leads to me a question i find rather important when adding theatre conventions from a different tradition into a play. To what point can we alter and bend conventions when adapting a theatrical tradition while maintaining it as true as possible to the original?
domingo, 14 de noviembre de 2010
HEBRAS
HEBRAS
During this school year we have seen a variety of school plays, including those which experiment on the medium and defy conventions seen on western theater such as Yuyachkani´s “Con-cierto olvido” or “Qorihuaman” presented also on the Yuyachkani Theater. In this occasion we watched a play called “HEBRAS” created by our theater arts teacher Roberto. I mentioned the previous plays because I find something similar in all of them, they all explore furthermore the possibilities of theatre as an art and go against the common ideas many have about theater in general. In this case, HEBRAS was a play where the actions performed had to give the audience the clear idea of the motivations behind each movement and had to express the character´s feelings since we couldn’t see the actors face due to a mask. This mask was plain white and the only visible aspect where the eyes. Again this element also contributed to create a special effect on the audience, we were able to “fill in the blank” with the feeling we thought the character expressed at each moment.
From the moment we entered the stage we took notice of those unconventional aspects, the first one being the stage itself,the seats had been arranged in the form of a circle around the characters (only two for this play) which were already posing in the center of the stage. This second aspect was immediately striking, the way in which the two actors posed intrigued me as they were both joined and contorted (contorsionados, sorry Robbie no conozco la palabra) as two single strands. They were both weaved together and the play started the moment they started separating and the moment they split apart different a wide variety of images appear. The story told is not straight forward; I noticed mainly a wide amount of images, such as greed or a conflict of interests and how badly they treated each other at moments. I soon realized the symbolism behind the play, after each “conflict” they reconciled and hug each other until there are moments in which the conflicts are way too tragic so the “couple” keep fighting until at last, the characters join together in the weaving pose, the exact same one from the beginning of the play.
After watching the play we were explained the stimulus behind it was “love”. By definition love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person but it´s not necessary for those individuals to be a couple. This is why the symbolism in this play is so important, The characters presented wear the white mask for us to fill in the blank and put ourselves in the middle of that relationship, we can imagine a couple as we can imagine a relation between siblings or a father and son relation. It is entirely up to us to decide what we want to “see” and feel as we watch this performance.
In conclusion I can surely affirm, HEBRAS, goes beyond what many of us expected from the initial title, this play explores human relations and compares their weaknesses and strengths through a singular experience; from the dramatic and superb live music performance to the subtle smells from candles behind the stage. The most important aspect to highlight form the play is its message, how it portrays human relations as simple strands which start as firmly tied together, soon conflicts appear and the strands separate, they later on join again and this process repeats however each time the strands appear more and more damaged until a point where they no longer join until the last image, where they wove back which we interpret it as either a final reconciliation or as the final destination of the two individuals.
As a final question i must ask myself what was the meaning behind the circle formed around the stage, did it have the purpose of highlighting that this is in fact a neverending cycle, that we all experience this at one stage or another during our lifes (we shared the same level as the characters) or was it both?
During this school year we have seen a variety of school plays, including those which experiment on the medium and defy conventions seen on western theater such as Yuyachkani´s “Con-cierto olvido” or “Qorihuaman” presented also on the Yuyachkani Theater. In this occasion we watched a play called “HEBRAS” created by our theater arts teacher Roberto. I mentioned the previous plays because I find something similar in all of them, they all explore furthermore the possibilities of theatre as an art and go against the common ideas many have about theater in general. In this case, HEBRAS was a play where the actions performed had to give the audience the clear idea of the motivations behind each movement and had to express the character´s feelings since we couldn’t see the actors face due to a mask. This mask was plain white and the only visible aspect where the eyes. Again this element also contributed to create a special effect on the audience, we were able to “fill in the blank” with the feeling we thought the character expressed at each moment.
From the moment we entered the stage we took notice of those unconventional aspects, the first one being the stage itself,the seats had been arranged in the form of a circle around the characters (only two for this play) which were already posing in the center of the stage. This second aspect was immediately striking, the way in which the two actors posed intrigued me as they were both joined and contorted (contorsionados, sorry Robbie no conozco la palabra) as two single strands. They were both weaved together and the play started the moment they started separating and the moment they split apart different a wide variety of images appear. The story told is not straight forward; I noticed mainly a wide amount of images, such as greed or a conflict of interests and how badly they treated each other at moments. I soon realized the symbolism behind the play, after each “conflict” they reconciled and hug each other until there are moments in which the conflicts are way too tragic so the “couple” keep fighting until at last, the characters join together in the weaving pose, the exact same one from the beginning of the play.
After watching the play we were explained the stimulus behind it was “love”. By definition love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person but it´s not necessary for those individuals to be a couple. This is why the symbolism in this play is so important, The characters presented wear the white mask for us to fill in the blank and put ourselves in the middle of that relationship, we can imagine a couple as we can imagine a relation between siblings or a father and son relation. It is entirely up to us to decide what we want to “see” and feel as we watch this performance.
In conclusion I can surely affirm, HEBRAS, goes beyond what many of us expected from the initial title, this play explores human relations and compares their weaknesses and strengths through a singular experience; from the dramatic and superb live music performance to the subtle smells from candles behind the stage. The most important aspect to highlight form the play is its message, how it portrays human relations as simple strands which start as firmly tied together, soon conflicts appear and the strands separate, they later on join again and this process repeats however each time the strands appear more and more damaged until a point where they no longer join until the last image, where they wove back which we interpret it as either a final reconciliation or as the final destination of the two individuals.
As a final question i must ask myself what was the meaning behind the circle formed around the stage, did it have the purpose of highlighting that this is in fact a neverending cycle, that we all experience this at one stage or another during our lifes (we shared the same level as the characters) or was it both?
domingo, 24 de octubre de 2010
MEDEA
Many already know the play of MEDEA, the greek tragedy written by Euripides. This play is able to adapt to our modern society as the events which occur during the play keep happening nowadays. Every day we hear at least about one man/woman who has acted agressively and has even killed someone in order to get revenge from the man/woman who betrayed him/her.
Because this events are depicted in the play, many occasions the story is adapted in order to fit the society at the time(i.e the addition of a cellphone or props such as that).
The version of MEDEA we saw was an adaptation of the original Greek tragedy and even though many elements of the text remained the same, such as the dialogue, the costumes and props were changed. In addition the conventions from greek tragedy were not applied at all and instead used common theatrical conventions seen in occidental theatre.
The reason I suppose for the costumes annd props to be elemnts in our society is to remind us how this events keep ocurring and have been going on and keep repeating since ancient greece. This design concept is interesting and might sound really innovative when explained, however we´ve seen this already multiple times. Not only in other adaptations of MEDEA but also in adaptations of other greek tragedies, for instance, LAS TROYANAS which was our school´s play for2007 and had a similar, if not the same, concept.
Im not trying to say that concept is a bad one, but im trying to highlight the idea of this concept being overused. However i found some problems in the execution of this, sometimes it went to over-the.top. For instance Egeo was motorcycle driver and carried a helmet, some might argue this had comedic purposes however if ound it too distracting. However the major flaw i found in the execution of the design concept was the use of a Television from many decades ago as it told the revenge of MEDEA. In this case it was probably an error to include this part because the preoious scene built up too much tension as we knew MEDEA was about to assassinate her children to et revenge on her cheting husband. Then the TV came and as one character said a sentence the TV narrator finished it, however sometimes there was a pause between what the actor said and the narrator´s continuation and it was distracting and just took all the tension away.
In the acting aspect the actress which portrayed MEDEA had a powerful voice and her acting was the most outstanding out of all. It really standed out the most of all the actors. Also the choir had interesting interactions between them and many actions they performed were coordinated and precise, especially moments in which they moved elemnts which would later be used as part of the stage. The only problem it had with the acting in general was the portrayal of JASON, the actor used the same entonation for the most part, and for the most part acted the same, his voice sounded fake and honestly as he came to stage i hoped and waited for him to leave the stage to see MEDEA and the choir act together.
To finish this review i must highlight the striking changes of scenery, there were no blackouts during the play which really helped the tension to build up. At moments the scenerry changed as the actors kept acting as all it was needed for the scenery to change was a curtain in the back or to pull down the existing one which covered the real stage.
As I ve tried to analyze different aspects from the play I come to a final question, i ask myself what are the complications the director faces when directing not only the acting aspect, but also the execution of the design and direction concept?
Because this events are depicted in the play, many occasions the story is adapted in order to fit the society at the time(i.e the addition of a cellphone or props such as that).
The version of MEDEA we saw was an adaptation of the original Greek tragedy and even though many elements of the text remained the same, such as the dialogue, the costumes and props were changed. In addition the conventions from greek tragedy were not applied at all and instead used common theatrical conventions seen in occidental theatre.
The reason I suppose for the costumes annd props to be elemnts in our society is to remind us how this events keep ocurring and have been going on and keep repeating since ancient greece. This design concept is interesting and might sound really innovative when explained, however we´ve seen this already multiple times. Not only in other adaptations of MEDEA but also in adaptations of other greek tragedies, for instance, LAS TROYANAS which was our school´s play for2007 and had a similar, if not the same, concept.
Im not trying to say that concept is a bad one, but im trying to highlight the idea of this concept being overused. However i found some problems in the execution of this, sometimes it went to over-the.top. For instance Egeo was motorcycle driver and carried a helmet, some might argue this had comedic purposes however if ound it too distracting. However the major flaw i found in the execution of the design concept was the use of a Television from many decades ago as it told the revenge of MEDEA. In this case it was probably an error to include this part because the preoious scene built up too much tension as we knew MEDEA was about to assassinate her children to et revenge on her cheting husband. Then the TV came and as one character said a sentence the TV narrator finished it, however sometimes there was a pause between what the actor said and the narrator´s continuation and it was distracting and just took all the tension away.
In the acting aspect the actress which portrayed MEDEA had a powerful voice and her acting was the most outstanding out of all. It really standed out the most of all the actors. Also the choir had interesting interactions between them and many actions they performed were coordinated and precise, especially moments in which they moved elemnts which would later be used as part of the stage. The only problem it had with the acting in general was the portrayal of JASON, the actor used the same entonation for the most part, and for the most part acted the same, his voice sounded fake and honestly as he came to stage i hoped and waited for him to leave the stage to see MEDEA and the choir act together.
To finish this review i must highlight the striking changes of scenery, there were no blackouts during the play which really helped the tension to build up. At moments the scenerry changed as the actors kept acting as all it was needed for the scenery to change was a curtain in the back or to pull down the existing one which covered the real stage.
As I ve tried to analyze different aspects from the play I come to a final question, i ask myself what are the complications the director faces when directing not only the acting aspect, but also the execution of the design and direction concept?
domingo, 17 de octubre de 2010
NARUKAMI
Let´s start with the basics, Kabuki is one of the two most well known japenese theatre traditions the other one being Noh theatre.There are four traditional forms of japanese theatre however Kabuki is probably the most well known and easy to recognize of all.
It has passed through several complications since it´s start in 1603. During 26 years Kabuki was performed only by women, Okuni, however Kabuki women were not allowed to perform because most of them were prostitues and after the plays many left with the spectators. Afterwards young men came to stage but happened the same thing, it was discovered many served as prostitues as well so then young men were not allowed to perform neither, so adults where now the only allowed to perform.
Kabuki is a very criticized tradition because of its past and many times because of the plays themselves, even though many show the importance of the bushido(the code of honour) in samurai´s or even the traditions in japanese culture, other plays often depict situations with high dose of violence and sexual inuendo.
An example conventions in KABUKI is the iconic play NARUKAMI. I read NARUKAMI as part of my research task because we had to use a play and im grateful i did. In it we are able to analyze different social conventions in this form of theatre, not only the themes but also because the staging of the play and some acting conventions such as the mie.
In my case i read a version with elements from the third and first versions of the play and truly enjoyed it. At the start we are introduced to two monks which defy the laws and drink and eat instead of praying while their master is meditating. After a brief discussion the two go and try to accuse each other to the master priest, NARUKAMI.
These two are Hakuun and Kokuun, two apprentices who act as a duo, sometimes one starts a sentence nad is the other who finishes it, and many times they both act the same and do the same actions in the same moments. From the start these two create a huge contrast with NARUKAMI and with TAEMA a woman who enters the stage after both apprentices go and dsicuss with NARUKAMI.
Taema enters and tells how sad and tragic the situation is throughout the country, since there is no raining in the entire nation. Therefore she asks for permission to wash her clothes in the waterfall where NARUKAMI was meditating. As she does so, she starts telling the story of her former husband and how tragic it was when he died. Narukami notices takes notice of how friendly she´s acting and becomes suspicious because he´s responsible of the drought throughout the nation and the empire might have sent an spy.
Narukami then tells taema he thinks she´s an spy sent from the empire and she must leave, Taema feels offended and in order to prove she´s not an spy she´ll commit suicide and drown herself in the waterfall. As she´s about to enter the waterfall NARUKAMI stops her and tells her there´s another way to clear her name, to become a priest. She accepts and hakuun and kokuun go to the base of the mountain to search for the tools needed to shave her head.
As she realizes she must shave her head she starts crying and feeling melancholic, then Narukami tells her he can give her a massage and as he does so he accidentaly starts groping her and touching her breasts.
IT might sound silly and even unreasonable for a man to grope a woman by accident however, Narukami was raised as a monk and had to refuse to every human instinct to become enlightened. Therefore as he touched Taema´s breast he couldn´t stop until Taema asked him to do so. As he did he relized what he had done and asks for forgiveness however after a brief argument we realize Taema is seducing him and tells him she will INDEED become her lover. As a celebration Taema offers him sake and with the first cup NARUKAMI is already drunk and starts telling the secrets of how he wa able to capture the DRAGON GOD who resides inside the cave behind the waterfall where he meditates. In addition he explains the dragon god would enter the ocean and because of the splash huge amounts of the ocean water would start falling from the sky. ALSO he reveals that by cutting a rope hanging above them the dragon god would be released and afterwards falls into sleep.
Taema leaves the sake in the gorund and reveals, as she apporaches to cut the rope, she was INDEED an spy sent by the empire. She then releases the dragon god and the rain comes back, as she leaves hakuun and kokuun arrive and waken their master, he realizes what has happened and swears that he´ll seek revenge and follow TAEMA until the end of time. A transformation occurs and hakuun and kokuun help their master to become a god-like figure, to truly become NARU(Thunder)KAMI(god). He then does a mie and leaves the stage chasing after TAEMA.
This play was truly enjoyable, at times it was dramatic, energetic and in other moments it was hilarious. One important aspect were the annotations given at the end of each page explaining the significance of movements perforemd by the actors. A moment which i truly remember is how the Onnigata who is performing TAEMA´s must act when serving NARUKAMI´S cup of sake. The importance of this tradition (a female serving sake to a man)is explained with such detail that it is truly amazing. The description was such that it explained how the hands had to be positioned, and even at what height.
Something i have to highlight is the amount of stage directions in this play. Perhaps my version of NARUKAMI has more than any other has because it´s included in a research textbook. But it was indeed interesting because of the amount of detail that was included after each sequence, and after going through other plays i realized many also had that amount of stage directions. Also i must add that it is logical for a KABUKI play to have this amount of stage directions since many actions have to be choreographed and many times and actor msut strike a mie(pose which define their character).
These directions were truly astonishing and completely different from the ones in other theatrical traditions we´ve studied. The music was explained and at times it said that a certain instrument had to be played a certain amount of time before the curtain opened, in addition it was also interesting how the use of the stage was used and how the hanamichi, the walkway in between the audience, was used when NARUKAMI started chasing and searching for TAEMA as he left the stage.
In conclusion NARUKAMI is a play which i feel happy to use as base for my research since its an excelent example of KABUKI as a form of theatre. It has many conventions employed in this kind of theatre and shows why this tradition has been criticized(Narukami´s, a priest gropes a woman and wants to have sex with her) and altered throughout time in order to prevail and remain present in the world.
As part of my task i must ask a question at the end of this entry. Therefore after reading the play i ask myself two questions, how well does a play with stage directions from hundreds of years ago adapts itself to the public nowadays? and What where the main reasons for the changes(the first version narukami was a monk, in the third he was a hermit, as I stated my version is mix between the two) between the versions of NARUKAMI?
It has passed through several complications since it´s start in 1603. During 26 years Kabuki was performed only by women, Okuni, however Kabuki women were not allowed to perform because most of them were prostitues and after the plays many left with the spectators. Afterwards young men came to stage but happened the same thing, it was discovered many served as prostitues as well so then young men were not allowed to perform neither, so adults where now the only allowed to perform.
Kabuki is a very criticized tradition because of its past and many times because of the plays themselves, even though many show the importance of the bushido(the code of honour) in samurai´s or even the traditions in japanese culture, other plays often depict situations with high dose of violence and sexual inuendo.
An example conventions in KABUKI is the iconic play NARUKAMI. I read NARUKAMI as part of my research task because we had to use a play and im grateful i did. In it we are able to analyze different social conventions in this form of theatre, not only the themes but also because the staging of the play and some acting conventions such as the mie.
In my case i read a version with elements from the third and first versions of the play and truly enjoyed it. At the start we are introduced to two monks which defy the laws and drink and eat instead of praying while their master is meditating. After a brief discussion the two go and try to accuse each other to the master priest, NARUKAMI.
These two are Hakuun and Kokuun, two apprentices who act as a duo, sometimes one starts a sentence nad is the other who finishes it, and many times they both act the same and do the same actions in the same moments. From the start these two create a huge contrast with NARUKAMI and with TAEMA a woman who enters the stage after both apprentices go and dsicuss with NARUKAMI.
Taema enters and tells how sad and tragic the situation is throughout the country, since there is no raining in the entire nation. Therefore she asks for permission to wash her clothes in the waterfall where NARUKAMI was meditating. As she does so, she starts telling the story of her former husband and how tragic it was when he died. Narukami notices takes notice of how friendly she´s acting and becomes suspicious because he´s responsible of the drought throughout the nation and the empire might have sent an spy.
Narukami then tells taema he thinks she´s an spy sent from the empire and she must leave, Taema feels offended and in order to prove she´s not an spy she´ll commit suicide and drown herself in the waterfall. As she´s about to enter the waterfall NARUKAMI stops her and tells her there´s another way to clear her name, to become a priest. She accepts and hakuun and kokuun go to the base of the mountain to search for the tools needed to shave her head.
As she realizes she must shave her head she starts crying and feeling melancholic, then Narukami tells her he can give her a massage and as he does so he accidentaly starts groping her and touching her breasts.
IT might sound silly and even unreasonable for a man to grope a woman by accident however, Narukami was raised as a monk and had to refuse to every human instinct to become enlightened. Therefore as he touched Taema´s breast he couldn´t stop until Taema asked him to do so. As he did he relized what he had done and asks for forgiveness however after a brief argument we realize Taema is seducing him and tells him she will INDEED become her lover. As a celebration Taema offers him sake and with the first cup NARUKAMI is already drunk and starts telling the secrets of how he wa able to capture the DRAGON GOD who resides inside the cave behind the waterfall where he meditates. In addition he explains the dragon god would enter the ocean and because of the splash huge amounts of the ocean water would start falling from the sky. ALSO he reveals that by cutting a rope hanging above them the dragon god would be released and afterwards falls into sleep.
Taema leaves the sake in the gorund and reveals, as she apporaches to cut the rope, she was INDEED an spy sent by the empire. She then releases the dragon god and the rain comes back, as she leaves hakuun and kokuun arrive and waken their master, he realizes what has happened and swears that he´ll seek revenge and follow TAEMA until the end of time. A transformation occurs and hakuun and kokuun help their master to become a god-like figure, to truly become NARU(Thunder)KAMI(god). He then does a mie and leaves the stage chasing after TAEMA.
This play was truly enjoyable, at times it was dramatic, energetic and in other moments it was hilarious. One important aspect were the annotations given at the end of each page explaining the significance of movements perforemd by the actors. A moment which i truly remember is how the Onnigata who is performing TAEMA´s must act when serving NARUKAMI´S cup of sake. The importance of this tradition (a female serving sake to a man)is explained with such detail that it is truly amazing. The description was such that it explained how the hands had to be positioned, and even at what height.
Something i have to highlight is the amount of stage directions in this play. Perhaps my version of NARUKAMI has more than any other has because it´s included in a research textbook. But it was indeed interesting because of the amount of detail that was included after each sequence, and after going through other plays i realized many also had that amount of stage directions. Also i must add that it is logical for a KABUKI play to have this amount of stage directions since many actions have to be choreographed and many times and actor msut strike a mie(pose which define their character).
These directions were truly astonishing and completely different from the ones in other theatrical traditions we´ve studied. The music was explained and at times it said that a certain instrument had to be played a certain amount of time before the curtain opened, in addition it was also interesting how the use of the stage was used and how the hanamichi, the walkway in between the audience, was used when NARUKAMI started chasing and searching for TAEMA as he left the stage.
In conclusion NARUKAMI is a play which i feel happy to use as base for my research since its an excelent example of KABUKI as a form of theatre. It has many conventions employed in this kind of theatre and shows why this tradition has been criticized(Narukami´s, a priest gropes a woman and wants to have sex with her) and altered throughout time in order to prevail and remain present in the world.
As part of my task i must ask a question at the end of this entry. Therefore after reading the play i ask myself two questions, how well does a play with stage directions from hundreds of years ago adapts itself to the public nowadays? and What where the main reasons for the changes(the first version narukami was a monk, in the third he was a hermit, as I stated my version is mix between the two) between the versions of NARUKAMI?
domingo, 10 de octubre de 2010
Analysis of the stimulus
The stimulus ive chosen for my project is the planetary system. The first idea that has come to my mind when thinking about this stimulus is the fact of someone being very important, an individual with such a relevance in a community that this group relies heavily on that person which woudl be the equivalent of the sun in the planetary system. In my proposal some would depend tremendously in this person as planet earth is the one that depends the most of the sun energy.
In my proposal there would be 9 individuals who would rely on the person which represents the sun. I have not developed the content of the presentation itself, however i would choose a common aspect which we see in our society in which and individual is the economic source for his/her own family. There would be 9 persons which would rely specifically on the icnome of the "sun" individual.
The aspect i have not decided upon is the concept, when i choose my direction concept i will be able to could start developing my ideas further and decide my design and acting concepts.
In my proposal there would be 9 individuals who would rely on the person which represents the sun. I have not developed the content of the presentation itself, however i would choose a common aspect which we see in our society in which and individual is the economic source for his/her own family. There would be 9 persons which would rely specifically on the icnome of the "sun" individual.
The aspect i have not decided upon is the concept, when i choose my direction concept i will be able to could start developing my ideas further and decide my design and acting concepts.
domingo, 12 de septiembre de 2010
One Act play festival
During September 9th and 10th the One Act play took place. We created and produced the play "The Otherside" for the One act play festival. The process of creating it was hard, strangely enough the most difficult part of this play was not the production aspect, as in Down To Earth, in "The Otherside" the hardest task was the undesrtanding of the text. There were too many things implicit on the text, too many in-jokes which would not be understood if the tone of the line was no adequate. When rehearsing we repeated each scene many times and had to cut many lines of the characters because we were not able to say them properly and when practicing we realized many were even out of context and could not be easily understood.
In my case i had several difficulties when rehearsing since many of the jokes incorporated in mytext were said by the puppet i used. When acting like the puppet I had to change my voice to a higher pitch and made it more difficult to understand me. Not only the text but when using the puppet i had to learn how to move it. My hand itself was the puppet and i had to learn when to open its mouth, not only when speaking but when laughing and reacting in general to my chracter. If someone in the room was talking not only I stared at the person but also the puppet had to, working with it was a different experience than any other I´ve had while in the school plays.
What is the importance and trascendence of an elemnt such as the puppet in a play like The Otherside?
In my case i had several difficulties when rehearsing since many of the jokes incorporated in mytext were said by the puppet i used. When acting like the puppet I had to change my voice to a higher pitch and made it more difficult to understand me. Not only the text but when using the puppet i had to learn how to move it. My hand itself was the puppet and i had to learn when to open its mouth, not only when speaking but when laughing and reacting in general to my chracter. If someone in the room was talking not only I stared at the person but also the puppet had to, working with it was a different experience than any other I´ve had while in the school plays.
What is the importance and trascendence of an elemnt such as the puppet in a play like The Otherside?
domingo, 22 de agosto de 2010
QORIHUAMAN
Qorihuaman was a play with no words, with only two actors and a LOT of actions. In this play more than a story, there were images contrasted one to each other. The maina ctor was a man fully painted in white wearing nothing but shorts, the second actor wore a mask all the time and carried a bag on his back in which he transported different clothes he gave later on to the man in white. One of the few props was a bed, a naked bed with no mattress which was used to represent a prison and used as a ladder for the character to climb on to.
To describe this paly is really difficult, everyone in the audience understand the same basic thing from this play, the search of freedom, how ever each of us understand different themes in the paly such as the strong bonds between a mother and her child, the abuse of the minorities and the allienation to different individuals.
As I previoulsy mentioned there are a lot of actions and a lot of bodywork involved, the actor tries to the back of the scenery but is prohibited from entering by a wall, an imaginary wall, the actor then tries to escape from it and rolls throguh this wall. Afterwards the man in white climbs to the roof of the scenery and hangs from a rope.
In this paly we are presented with different images, a remarkable one is when the man in white dresses fully in golden clothes and then acts as a pregnant woman. For this the actor wears a mask and we´ve been told a mask does not hide you form others, on the contrary, it reveals who you truly are. Therefore when the man in white wears the golden mask it is shown his tru personality and it is up to us to decide whether or not he represents a woman whose child has been taken away.
In conclusion this play was a different experience from others we´ve seen this year, it is a play in which even though there´s is a storyline we can follow and even if some themes are clearly established, we can interpret every image and action presented.
After watching the play and paying attention to the themes in it im stil left with a question, why is there such a big presence of the color white, why are the characters dressed/painted in white and what does it truly represent?
To describe this paly is really difficult, everyone in the audience understand the same basic thing from this play, the search of freedom, how ever each of us understand different themes in the paly such as the strong bonds between a mother and her child, the abuse of the minorities and the allienation to different individuals.
As I previoulsy mentioned there are a lot of actions and a lot of bodywork involved, the actor tries to the back of the scenery but is prohibited from entering by a wall, an imaginary wall, the actor then tries to escape from it and rolls throguh this wall. Afterwards the man in white climbs to the roof of the scenery and hangs from a rope.
In this paly we are presented with different images, a remarkable one is when the man in white dresses fully in golden clothes and then acts as a pregnant woman. For this the actor wears a mask and we´ve been told a mask does not hide you form others, on the contrary, it reveals who you truly are. Therefore when the man in white wears the golden mask it is shown his tru personality and it is up to us to decide whether or not he represents a woman whose child has been taken away.
In conclusion this play was a different experience from others we´ve seen this year, it is a play in which even though there´s is a storyline we can follow and even if some themes are clearly established, we can interpret every image and action presented.
After watching the play and paying attention to the themes in it im stil left with a question, why is there such a big presence of the color white, why are the characters dressed/painted in white and what does it truly represent?
The One act play is a theatre festival between several Peruvian-British schools. Every year my school, Newton College, has participated in this event and almost all the time Form V IB theatre students are those in charge of creating the One Act play. We create the play itself, we write it and are in charge of the production aspects of it. The play is going to be presented at the start of September which leaves us less than a month to rehearse since we have already finished the production aspects of it.
The play is called the OTHERSIDE and there are only 6actors in the play, There are 3 characters and the story centers around an orphanagae in which there is a mirror which separates two parallel dimensions. In this orphanage there´s only one orphan a butler and the director of the orphanage. The characters wer the same in both “dimensions” but be ause they were parallel they all were inverted, their personalities were different for example, on dimension A the butler loved the orphan, Tommy, and the owner, Clemendra, hated him. On the other dimension it was the opposite Clemendra loved the kid and the butler hated him. To make this differences more obvious we rely on the costumes, for example on one dimension the kids uniform may have long sleeves and on the other short ones.
In this play I was once again in charge of costumes. In Down to Earth we had to cut down most of the human designs (most of them were mine) because of budget limitations, therefore I would take care of the costumes AND make-up in the one act play. Because we are only 6 actors we could now use better textures for the clothes. In this occasion we spent more time revising each costume, and trying to make the costumes different enough so the audience will notice without making them so different that they will look as two separate characters.
The play is called the OTHERSIDE and there are only 6actors in the play, There are 3 characters and the story centers around an orphanagae in which there is a mirror which separates two parallel dimensions. In this orphanage there´s only one orphan a butler and the director of the orphanage. The characters wer the same in both “dimensions” but be ause they were parallel they all were inverted, their personalities were different for example, on dimension A the butler loved the orphan, Tommy, and the owner, Clemendra, hated him. On the other dimension it was the opposite Clemendra loved the kid and the butler hated him. To make this differences more obvious we rely on the costumes, for example on one dimension the kids uniform may have long sleeves and on the other short ones.
In this play I was once again in charge of costumes. In Down to Earth we had to cut down most of the human designs (most of them were mine) because of budget limitations, therefore I would take care of the costumes AND make-up in the one act play. Because we are only 6 actors we could now use better textures for the clothes. In this occasion we spent more time revising each costume, and trying to make the costumes different enough so the audience will notice without making them so different that they will look as two separate characters.
lunes, 5 de julio de 2010
CLAUN
“Claun” is a type of acting which combines conventions from both theatre and circus. An actor’s “claun” is a cartoonish version of the individual; it takes most of the actor´s physical aspects, for instance it´s way of walking or sitting exaggerating them in a comical way. We were explained several conventions from two formal “clauns”, , they have come to Peru from Argentina in a trip across Latin America in which they go from country to country presenting their shows and teaching workshops for “clauns”.
, came to our school in order to teach us more about this style of acting. The two IB drama classes joined together in this occasion and the ten of us formed part of this workshop which lasted three days. At first it seemed to be all about improvisation we did exercises in which a person would sit on a chair and another person would come and make him stand up and leave the chair, you could use any argument you wanted, you could come and say under the chair there was a radioactive substance making the other person stand up. In the second day we continued practicing improvisation while we were asked to bring a photo of ourselves when we were kids to the school.
On the last day we were finally introduced fully to “Claun” we now had to act as another student in the class while exaggerating his/her movements. The student went and sat in a chair in front of us while introducing himself, then one of us had to come out and act as that person, we had to pay attention to the small movements which differentiated him from other students so it would be clear it was that person. Afterwards we were introduced to “claun” we all put on the classic red noses which identified a clown and according to the photo we brought we mixed our movements with those when we were kids and resembled the photo.
With this workshop we were introduced to a new way of acting, even though “claun” is well recognized I never imagined all the process needed in order to create your “claun”. I want to thank both actors, and , for coming and teaching us this style of acting and letting us be part of this workshop.
Final Question: Is “claun” style of acting more influenced by formal theatre or circus?
, came to our school in order to teach us more about this style of acting. The two IB drama classes joined together in this occasion and the ten of us formed part of this workshop which lasted three days. At first it seemed to be all about improvisation we did exercises in which a person would sit on a chair and another person would come and make him stand up and leave the chair, you could use any argument you wanted, you could come and say under the chair there was a radioactive substance making the other person stand up. In the second day we continued practicing improvisation while we were asked to bring a photo of ourselves when we were kids to the school.
On the last day we were finally introduced fully to “Claun” we now had to act as another student in the class while exaggerating his/her movements. The student went and sat in a chair in front of us while introducing himself, then one of us had to come out and act as that person, we had to pay attention to the small movements which differentiated him from other students so it would be clear it was that person. Afterwards we were introduced to “claun” we all put on the classic red noses which identified a clown and according to the photo we brought we mixed our movements with those when we were kids and resembled the photo.
With this workshop we were introduced to a new way of acting, even though “claun” is well recognized I never imagined all the process needed in order to create your “claun”. I want to thank both actors, and , for coming and teaching us this style of acting and letting us be part of this workshop.
Final Question: Is “claun” style of acting more influenced by formal theatre or circus?
martes, 29 de junio de 2010
REALISM
Theatre is not realistic, even though there are authors which try to emulate reality onstage theatre was never designed to portray realistic depictions of our environment. Theatre has been changing accordingly to every literary period in history, In several occasions every literary period contradicts the previous one and many times one period shows a positive and optimistic view of life and the next one contradicts this showing a more sad and pesimistic point of view. Theatre has evolved during all these years, we are now able to see plays following conventions from a period of time.
We were explained by our teacher why couldn´t we portray realistic depictions of life on theatre, the reason is simple, as a form of art theatre has one purpouse, to entertain us, even if the play is extremely sad and makes us cry it still entertains us and at the same time it gives out a message to us, the spectators. However if the play shows a women cry in a realistic way we find it boring, why? because art is not supposed to express life as it is, as a form of art theatre gives you infinite possibilites to express your idea and give out your message. Not only in theatre realistic depictions of a certain event does not fit well, for instnace in comic books, if you read a superman comic book you don´t want to watch his pit stains when he flies.
In conclusion theatre gives us infinite possibilites and we are able to express ourselves throughout it, however theatre is not realistic, there is no form of art which can be 100% realistic, in movies you don´t see the actors stop acting and go to the bathroom and once you enter the theatre to watch a play, you know precisely it is not supposed to be real, its simple purpose is to tentertain you. This is the reason why do realistic acting on theatre almost never will be succesful and its unlikely to appeal to the audience.
We were explained by our teacher why couldn´t we portray realistic depictions of life on theatre, the reason is simple, as a form of art theatre has one purpouse, to entertain us, even if the play is extremely sad and makes us cry it still entertains us and at the same time it gives out a message to us, the spectators. However if the play shows a women cry in a realistic way we find it boring, why? because art is not supposed to express life as it is, as a form of art theatre gives you infinite possibilites to express your idea and give out your message. Not only in theatre realistic depictions of a certain event does not fit well, for instnace in comic books, if you read a superman comic book you don´t want to watch his pit stains when he flies.
In conclusion theatre gives us infinite possibilites and we are able to express ourselves throughout it, however theatre is not realistic, there is no form of art which can be 100% realistic, in movies you don´t see the actors stop acting and go to the bathroom and once you enter the theatre to watch a play, you know precisely it is not supposed to be real, its simple purpose is to tentertain you. This is the reason why do realistic acting on theatre almost never will be succesful and its unlikely to appeal to the audience.
Down To Earth
This year´s school play has been created by us, the students. For the first time in the school´s history the school play has been written and produced entirely by us.
DOWN TO EARTH is a play for children in which humans, supervillains and superheroes confront each other, the play was designed with the concept of a "sketchbook", every prop and part of scenery looked as if it was drawn by kids on a sketchbook.
We are ten students in IB theatre, every two of us were in charge of an aspect of the production of the play I was in charge with other student of costumes, other two pupils were in charge of playwritting, other two designed make-up, others the scenery, and lastly one was in charge of directing the play.
My duty was to design the costumes in DOWN TO EARTH, i had to design 20 or so costumes following a certain color scheme. For instance the basic colour for both heroes and villains was silver, but heroes´costumes could have green, light blue or dark blue, villains wore costumes colour red, purple or a dark turquoise. One of the rules for costumes was the abscence of colour black, because DOWN TO EARTH was a play targeted for children, only bright colours were permitted and even during the change of scenery in-between scenes no fade outs were used as a convention established for children´s plays.
Once the designs were completed we contacted Mr. Cajas, the SASTRE, he had the task of manufacturing around 75 costumes. After we discussed what changes had to be made to the designs Mr. Cajas came to us with pieces of cloth resembling the colour scheme. Once we decided which fabrics to use Mr Cajas made an approximate budget and when we realized it was to much we had to make the decision to eliminate the costumes of ALL the humans in the play. They all had to obtain their own costumes following the colour schemes for humans, pale orange, yellow and mustard.
The overall process of designing the play costumes was really tiresome, we had to redesign several according to the limitations of the budget and evey actor had to bring their own footwear, I was absent during a week and some of the designs were not handed in at time but in conclusion i have been able to experience one of the aspect of producing a play, thanks to the Ib I can understand what skills are required to design the costumes, how much time it actually consumes, and how responsible we all must be when handing in the work needed.
If the designs I presented were not late, the manufacturing would have been faster and the costumes would have been ready before the final rehearsal, this way we could have improved them and the play´s presentation could have been improved. This is a lesson I have learnt when designing the costumes for DOWN TO EARTH and hopefully i will not commit such a mistake once again
DOWN TO EARTH is a play for children in which humans, supervillains and superheroes confront each other, the play was designed with the concept of a "sketchbook", every prop and part of scenery looked as if it was drawn by kids on a sketchbook.
We are ten students in IB theatre, every two of us were in charge of an aspect of the production of the play I was in charge with other student of costumes, other two pupils were in charge of playwritting, other two designed make-up, others the scenery, and lastly one was in charge of directing the play.
My duty was to design the costumes in DOWN TO EARTH, i had to design 20 or so costumes following a certain color scheme. For instance the basic colour for both heroes and villains was silver, but heroes´costumes could have green, light blue or dark blue, villains wore costumes colour red, purple or a dark turquoise. One of the rules for costumes was the abscence of colour black, because DOWN TO EARTH was a play targeted for children, only bright colours were permitted and even during the change of scenery in-between scenes no fade outs were used as a convention established for children´s plays.
Once the designs were completed we contacted Mr. Cajas, the SASTRE, he had the task of manufacturing around 75 costumes. After we discussed what changes had to be made to the designs Mr. Cajas came to us with pieces of cloth resembling the colour scheme. Once we decided which fabrics to use Mr Cajas made an approximate budget and when we realized it was to much we had to make the decision to eliminate the costumes of ALL the humans in the play. They all had to obtain their own costumes following the colour schemes for humans, pale orange, yellow and mustard.
The overall process of designing the play costumes was really tiresome, we had to redesign several according to the limitations of the budget and evey actor had to bring their own footwear, I was absent during a week and some of the designs were not handed in at time but in conclusion i have been able to experience one of the aspect of producing a play, thanks to the Ib I can understand what skills are required to design the costumes, how much time it actually consumes, and how responsible we all must be when handing in the work needed.
If the designs I presented were not late, the manufacturing would have been faster and the costumes would have been ready before the final rehearsal, this way we could have improved them and the play´s presentation could have been improved. This is a lesson I have learnt when designing the costumes for DOWN TO EARTH and hopefully i will not commit such a mistake once again
lunes, 7 de junio de 2010
Extras
Stones in his pockets is a play which tells of the arrival of a movie set to an irish village and the fatal consequences it brings to the region. The play was created by Marie Jones and was critically acclaimed worldwide, in 2004 Sabina Berman adapted the paly into Extras, the numbers of actors were reduced to two and the setting was changed and the events now ocurred on a Mexican village.
Since there is no background and the lightning is very basic the play relies heavily on the acting skills for Sergio Galliani and Giovanni Ciccia. The actors always wear the same costumes and there are only three props in the play two of them are "sombreros", the hats the actors use during most of the time, and a black box used for the storage of the hats. Extras most recognizable aspect is the fact its got only two actors in stage all the time, they never leave and in order to perform as other character they simply chane their posture movement and voice in a matter of seconds resembling a new character, i.e from an old mexican man to a gracious and beautiful American woman.
In conclusion Extras was a nice experience and the message it sent against oppresion was powerful, however the play lacked a direction concept. It was not clear the purpose of the play and why wasnt it adapted once more to fit the context of our country furthermore ti was a n exapmle that in a paly there must be a balance of acting and direction in order to make its message much more precise and clear.
Wouldn´t it be more interesting if it was presented featuring aspects from another country, for instance Peru and showed different realities in our country with characters we encounter in our everyday life?
Since there is no background and the lightning is very basic the play relies heavily on the acting skills for Sergio Galliani and Giovanni Ciccia. The actors always wear the same costumes and there are only three props in the play two of them are "sombreros", the hats the actors use during most of the time, and a black box used for the storage of the hats. Extras most recognizable aspect is the fact its got only two actors in stage all the time, they never leave and in order to perform as other character they simply chane their posture movement and voice in a matter of seconds resembling a new character, i.e from an old mexican man to a gracious and beautiful American woman.
In conclusion Extras was a nice experience and the message it sent against oppresion was powerful, however the play lacked a direction concept. It was not clear the purpose of the play and why wasnt it adapted once more to fit the context of our country furthermore ti was a n exapmle that in a paly there must be a balance of acting and direction in order to make its message much more precise and clear.
Wouldn´t it be more interesting if it was presented featuring aspects from another country, for instance Peru and showed different realities in our country with characters we encounter in our everyday life?
domingo, 30 de mayo de 2010
La niña de cera
La niña de cera is a play written by Maritza Núñez and tells of the life of Gabriela Mistral, a well-known poet and diplomat from chile who lived in the 20th century. The whole play is a monologue and is written in both verse and prose, there were parts in which the actress would start singing and dancing.
We didn´t actually see the play, we read the script accompanied by Maritza Núñez, the playwright, and afterwards we were able to ask her questions about the process of writing a play, her experiences and how what where the differences and complications on writing a play in the form of a monologue. Maritza answered all our questions and also shared osme of her experiences, she told us how the play had been received in Europe and mainly around the world.
This was a great opportunity we all had to know more about the writing aspect of theatre, not only about its process but also about the tasks required in order to write a play.
We didn´t actually see the play, we read the script accompanied by Maritza Núñez, the playwright, and afterwards we were able to ask her questions about the process of writing a play, her experiences and how what where the differences and complications on writing a play in the form of a monologue. Maritza answered all our questions and also shared osme of her experiences, she told us how the play had been received in Europe and mainly around the world.
This was a great opportunity we all had to know more about the writing aspect of theatre, not only about its process but also about the tasks required in order to write a play.
Con-cierto olvido
Yuyachkani is a Peruvian theatre group which was founded in 1971. Since then the seven members have created several plays centered around terrorism in Peru and the cultural and historical aspects of the Peruvian Sierra. Yuyachkani means "I´m thinking, I´m remembering" in quechua; their plays contain heavy social and political content and are often presented using experimental techniques situated on the poorest parts of Peru specially those which have experienced violence from terrorist attacks.
Throughout the years Yuyachkani has created numerous plays and this year their newest play, "Con-cierto olvido" is being presented at their own theatre.
Con-cierto olvido is a play which appeals to our senses especially to our hearing sense. It resembles a concert and most of the time theres music in the background which the same actors play. While some two of the seven actors act the other 5 may be playing different kinds of instruments, from typical instruments likea bass or a simple guitar to intruments which come from the Peruvian sierra.
The actors not only play instruments, some also sing in quechua while others are acting and telling the audience about their son´s death, how they asked for help and where simply insulted by the army. Because there are no fixed characters the actors change several times throughout the play from character to character, and even start acting in different genres, sometimes the music changes and one starts performing as a clown and others one wears a mask and acts as an old man while the music changes.
There´s a moment in the play where al the actors sit at one side of the stage and form a line while they start making the noises which resemble those of a jungle, making sounds of different animals. In con-cierto olvido the three major areas of Peru are shown, the coast the sierra and the jungle are all present, they are shown throughout instruments, the acting techniques and the stories told by the characters
In conclusion, "Con-cierto olvido" is a play which appeals to different senses while representing different aspects of our country. It shows , not only the locations but also the traditions and the kinds of people which we encounter in our every day life. After nearly 40 years Yuyachkani keeps creating high quality palys which can be interpreted in different ways, either artistically, politically or socially.
Throughout the years Yuyachkani has created numerous plays and this year their newest play, "Con-cierto olvido" is being presented at their own theatre.
Con-cierto olvido is a play which appeals to our senses especially to our hearing sense. It resembles a concert and most of the time theres music in the background which the same actors play. While some two of the seven actors act the other 5 may be playing different kinds of instruments, from typical instruments likea bass or a simple guitar to intruments which come from the Peruvian sierra.
The actors not only play instruments, some also sing in quechua while others are acting and telling the audience about their son´s death, how they asked for help and where simply insulted by the army. Because there are no fixed characters the actors change several times throughout the play from character to character, and even start acting in different genres, sometimes the music changes and one starts performing as a clown and others one wears a mask and acts as an old man while the music changes.
There´s a moment in the play where al the actors sit at one side of the stage and form a line while they start making the noises which resemble those of a jungle, making sounds of different animals. In con-cierto olvido the three major areas of Peru are shown, the coast the sierra and the jungle are all present, they are shown throughout instruments, the acting techniques and the stories told by the characters
In conclusion, "Con-cierto olvido" is a play which appeals to different senses while representing different aspects of our country. It shows , not only the locations but also the traditions and the kinds of people which we encounter in our every day life. After nearly 40 years Yuyachkani keeps creating high quality palys which can be interpreted in different ways, either artistically, politically or socially.
lunes, 19 de abril de 2010
Las tremendas aventuras de la capitana Gazpacho
The premise was simple, the misadventures of a captain and her "crew", however "Las tremendas aventuras de la capitana Gazpacho" contains two other sub-plots which develop throughout the play. These two sub-plots eventually connect together and the author makes each o the three stories be related to the other. For instance the captain Gazpacho was looking for a woman to love, who she called Dulcinea, and a woman from one of the other plots somehow became part of the captain´s world and the captain became in love with her.
Even though interesting ideas were presented, these are poorly executed. The acting was poor, some performances were simply hideous and scenes in which there were choreographies, there was no coordination in them.
Another big issue in the play was the lack ofa concept in it, even thoguh the scenery was small there were only a few props and honestly no concept was visible.
"Las Tremendas Aventuras de la capitana Gazpacho" is a clear example of how much we have learnt in this past years. Previously we wouldn´t notice all these errors and we would even enjoy this play, however because we have acquired all the knowledge about theatre we are able to see the errors.
Even though interesting ideas were presented, these are poorly executed. The acting was poor, some performances were simply hideous and scenes in which there were choreographies, there was no coordination in them.
Another big issue in the play was the lack ofa concept in it, even thoguh the scenery was small there were only a few props and honestly no concept was visible.
"Las Tremendas Aventuras de la capitana Gazpacho" is a clear example of how much we have learnt in this past years. Previously we wouldn´t notice all these errors and we would even enjoy this play, however because we have acquired all the knowledge about theatre we are able to see the errors.
domingo, 11 de abril de 2010
"Cocina y Zona de Servicio" is a play originally written by Agnes Jaoui and Jean Pierre Bacri in 1992. The script has won numerous awards and has been adapted into a movie winning several awards. This year, the play is being presented as the opening of the season in the theatre "La Plaza Isil" directed by Marisol Palacios. The play is about a group of riends who meet after 10 years of splitting, up however the reunion doesnt go as planned and multiple truths are revealed.
I was looking forward to watching this play however it didn´t live up to the expectations i had. The acting was too disjointed and unbalanced, it went from realistic depictions to exaggerated drama and comedy. There seemed to be no research behind the presentation of the play. The setting was flat, it was simply a nice-looking kitchen and even though the characters interacted in an interested way and responded according to the situation, it went form comical to dramatic.
Mnay tiems there were transitions between scenes where music was played, the bad thing is the music did not fit the previous scene and many times the end of a scene was dramatic and the music distracted the audience.
In many occassions the acting was convencing the audience the play was oriented to be a drama or a comedy but someting occurred, for instance the meal burnt in the oven while the characters argued, they left the discussion aside and never came back to it, focusing instead on the meal.
The play´s strong point is the empathy we can all feel while we watch it, we´ve all been in a reunion were secrets are revealed and everything seems to fall apart and we can´t help but empathize while we watch these characters interact.
I was looking forward to watching this play however it didn´t live up to the expectations i had. The acting was too disjointed and unbalanced, it went from realistic depictions to exaggerated drama and comedy. There seemed to be no research behind the presentation of the play. The setting was flat, it was simply a nice-looking kitchen and even though the characters interacted in an interested way and responded according to the situation, it went form comical to dramatic.
Mnay tiems there were transitions between scenes where music was played, the bad thing is the music did not fit the previous scene and many times the end of a scene was dramatic and the music distracted the audience.
In many occassions the acting was convencing the audience the play was oriented to be a drama or a comedy but someting occurred, for instance the meal burnt in the oven while the characters argued, they left the discussion aside and never came back to it, focusing instead on the meal.
The play´s strong point is the empathy we can all feel while we watch it, we´ve all been in a reunion were secrets are revealed and everything seems to fall apart and we can´t help but empathize while we watch these characters interact.
martes, 6 de abril de 2010
Play rehearsals
The "serious" rehersals are now starting, we are now going to start rehearsing the actual play. Because I´m part of the IB course i have to go to every rehearsal in case they need me and /or to organize different activities related to the play. First of all we need to work on our characters, voices and actions and then we´ll work on the production of the play, working on the scenery, costumes,lightnin, make-up and music so it fits the play.
Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the flies is one of the most recognized english novels from the 20th century. It is written by William Golding and explores the hostility and darkness in this world through the survivors of a plain crash, 10 year old kids , who try to survive in a desserted island and slowly become savages leaving civilization aside.
The novel has become a classic in modern literature and won a novel prize, it has been considered controversial beacuse of the environment and message it delivers to the readers, because of the characters, little kids, Golding implies evil corrupts children and there may be no honest and civilized people in the future.
There have been many atempts to adapt Golding´s succesful novel into different mediums however, non of the movies have reached the level of sophistication in The lord of the Flies, however there have been theatre plays which have done an excellent job portraying the novel on stage.
In this case The Lord of the Flies has been presented in the "Mario Vargas Llosa" theatre in Lima Peru directed by Paco Solis Fuster. Gladly it has been adaptated greatly retaining most of the aspects in the original novel doing some minor changes to the original source.
The presentation of the play was well done, using only a few props and with a simplistic but yet effective scenery. The lightning was used in order to show the feelings in each scene and the contrast between the start and end of the play. The lightning changed from white, used when the kids just arrived to the island, into a dark red, almost black, once most of the boys are savages and hunt pigs.
Because all the actors where young adults,portraying little kids was not an easy task, however they were able to act correctly, the entonation in the lines and the voices were precise and the characterization thorugh the actions was effective and the intentions were clear.
In conlcusion The lord of the flies, was well adapted into an amazing play conserving teh original plot while adding several scenes which only worked in a theatre play such as the introductory monologue of the pilot before dying. The play has been well received and it will apparently start again next season so more people will discover the amazing novel by Willaim Golding , and those who laready know it, will now experience a magnificient adaptation done by a talented group of artists.
The novel has become a classic in modern literature and won a novel prize, it has been considered controversial beacuse of the environment and message it delivers to the readers, because of the characters, little kids, Golding implies evil corrupts children and there may be no honest and civilized people in the future.
There have been many atempts to adapt Golding´s succesful novel into different mediums however, non of the movies have reached the level of sophistication in The lord of the Flies, however there have been theatre plays which have done an excellent job portraying the novel on stage.
In this case The Lord of the Flies has been presented in the "Mario Vargas Llosa" theatre in Lima Peru directed by Paco Solis Fuster. Gladly it has been adaptated greatly retaining most of the aspects in the original novel doing some minor changes to the original source.
The presentation of the play was well done, using only a few props and with a simplistic but yet effective scenery. The lightning was used in order to show the feelings in each scene and the contrast between the start and end of the play. The lightning changed from white, used when the kids just arrived to the island, into a dark red, almost black, once most of the boys are savages and hunt pigs.
Because all the actors where young adults,portraying little kids was not an easy task, however they were able to act correctly, the entonation in the lines and the voices were precise and the characterization thorugh the actions was effective and the intentions were clear.
In conlcusion The lord of the flies, was well adapted into an amazing play conserving teh original plot while adding several scenes which only worked in a theatre play such as the introductory monologue of the pilot before dying. The play has been well received and it will apparently start again next season so more people will discover the amazing novel by Willaim Golding , and those who laready know it, will now experience a magnificient adaptation done by a talented group of artists.
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