Friday 10th of December and more on One Hander

Today, I worked more on my performance. I thought through my outfit, props and such. I have decided, that since Grotowski believed in poor theatre, I will not use props, and my costume will be simple: a black shirt with jeans. In class we performed to each other, and received feedback. I was told that my facial expressions at the beginning were not clear or articulate enough, which I will have to work on. However, towards the end I do apparently have good facial expressions: when I believe that I’m being watched my eyes really show that. All of this relates to Grotowski’s ideas of the actor being the one who conveys the message, through the body, the movement of the body and tension. I also found that Grotowski encouraged the use of a lot of air in the performances- as much as needed. This is means that when I speak for a longer period of time without taking a breathe to show that I’m taking deep breathes- there are several instances in the beginning where this is possible. My voice at the beginning is articulated, and should convey frustration through the voice. Then towards the end, from the moment the character hugs her daughter; I start to show more movement with my body. My movements are clear and simple. I also experiment with facial masks for instance where I hug good-bye, showing the way the character wants to cry but is holding it in. I believe that the performance does come from me- the actor, as it is meant to in Grotowski style theatre.

Final Script

Every day. Get up at five, go for a jog, take a shower, wake Sally, cook breakfast down with Dave and Sally for breakfast. Eat a tiny portion. Be sure to leave some on the plate. Always leave some on the plate.

Get dressed.
Check on Sally. Comb her hair. Pack her lunch. Wait with her for the bus. Hug her goodbye. Then let go.

Choke back your tears. Go back inside. Check yourself in the mirror. Ugh. Cross through the kitchen. No one watching. Open the pantry, look inside. Grab the jar of peanut butter. Stick your finger in the jar of peanut butter. Feel someone watching you. No one's there. Put the peanut butter away. Wash your hands, careful to remove any trace of peanut butter. Reapply lipstick. Head out the door. To work.

This isn't fun anymore. There's something wrong with me.
 Comment: These cuts were made simply to polish off the script, as now I have a firm idea of how to perform this. At first, It’s simple: me walking, and listing the duties/activities that I’m going to do, in a bored, frustrated manner, exaggerated movements, a slow pace and a clear articulation. The first line should be enunciated. Then towards the end, I will act out the parts, so since I can show some of the lines with my body, there was no need for them.

2nd of December 2010

Today I worked on nailing the ideas for my one-hander script. I decided to do the beginning rather slowly and in a reciting manner, sitting on the floor, since Grotowski did not use a lot of props. The beginning will be spoken with a fast pace, but with a lot of pauses, with little emphasis. Then towards the middle of the scene, I get up and start acting out the scene. This will be done at a fast pace, however with a lot of facial and physical expressions that conveys the overall frustration of the piece. This is perfect in terms of Grotowski’s techniques, since now I can experiment with facial masks, which Grotowski used in several of his performances to convey the sentiment of the character. For the last two lines, I go down on the floor, as I say the words with little enunciation or articulation, and at a rather slow pace. So, once I had decided which direction the piece will take, I began working with the script cutting out parts that I though would either make the performance more like a maim or did not support the ideas that I had fro that section and how to convey it.

2nd revision of the script

Get up at five, go for a jog, take a shower, wake Sally, cook breakfast down with Dave and Sally for breakfast. Eat a tiny portion. Be sure to leave some on the plate. Always.

Get dressed.
Check on Sally. Comb her hair. Pack her lunch. Wait with her for the bus. Hug her goodbye. Then let go. Watch her walk away, board the bus.

Choke back your tears. Go back inside. Check yourself in the mirror. Ugh. Cross through the kitchen. Feel the quiet of the empty house. Open the pantry, look inside. Grab the jar of peanut butter. Unscrew the lid. Take a whiff. Stick your finger in the jar of peanut butter. Lick it off. Feel someone watching you. No one's there. Put the peanut butter away. Wash your hands, careful to remove any trace of peanut butter. Reapply lipstick. Head out the door. To work.

This isn't fun anymore. There's something wrong with me.

Comment:
I made these cuts in order to ensure that the performance would not be a maim but would actually have me act out the sections, and not talk. However, I left in the sections, which I deemed necessary for understanding the performance. Also, I left in sections that would facilitate the rather slow nature, more narrative nature of the beginning and the more dynamic ending section.

November 30th 2010

November 30, 2010
Today I started to work with my one hander. I started out just reading out the script aloud and trying to come up with a way to act it out. First, I decided that in the beginning I would not move around too much and focus more on my voice, and I am considering using a fast pace. Then when I get to the section towards the end with text that can easily be acted out, I am planning on simply acting it out. However, I am going to exaggerate everything, and go from have a lot of energy to being completely relaxed, the better to display the frustration of the woman. Also, facial expressions, and extremely strong ones are important, since they suite the piece well and Grotowski did experiment a lot with what is called “masks”, so strong facial expressions. I cut out some parts of the script in consideration of this direction. All in all it was quite succesful- I now know what direction the piece is taking.

Revised script for One Hnader

I'm up every day at five. Every day. Up at five, go for a jog, take a shower, wake Sally, cook breakfast down with Dave and Sally for breakfast. Eat a tiny portion. Be sure to leave some on the plate. Always.

Get dressed.
Check on Sally. Comb her hair. Pack her lunch. Wait with her for the bus. Hug her goodbye. Make sure that hug lasts all day long...that she feels your arms around her even at recess when the mean kids pick on her because their moms don't hug them enough. Then let go. Watch her walk away, board the bus.

Choke back your tears. Taste the salt slide down the back of your throat. Go back inside. Check yourself in the mirror. Ugh. Turn around. Cross through the kitchen. Feel the quiet of the empty house. No one watching. What can you eat? Open the pantry, look inside. Grab the jar of peanut butter. Unscrew the lid. Take a whiff. Stick your finger in the jar of peanut butter. Lick it off. Feel someone watching you. Turn around to face them. No one's there. Put the peanut butter away. Wash your hands, careful to remove any trace of peanut butter. Reapply lipstick. Head out the door. To work.

This isn't fun anymore. There's something wrong with me.

Comment:

I chose to make these adjustments in light of what I am planning on doing with the script. The beginning will be slow, but perhabs spoken with a fast pace, which is why I took out a lot in the beginning. Then I tried to make the ending shorter, since I am planning on acting it out, and taking my time to go through the action proberly, so I need to have time to do this in my performance.

Script for One Hander

I can't take it anymore!!

I'm up every day at five. Every day. Up at five, go for a jog, take a shower, wake Sally, cook breakfast—something healthy—egg whites, flax, kale, organic coffee, sprouted wheat. Sit down with Dave and Sally for breakfast. Eat a tiny portion. Be sure to leave some on the plate. Always leave some on the plate.

Get dressed. Something feminine, flattering. Kiss Dave goodbye. Make sure to give him a little something worth coming back home to.

Check on Sally. Comb her hair. Pack her lunch. Wait with her for the bus. Hug her goodbye. Make sure that hug lasts all day long...that she feels your arms around her even at recess when the mean kids pick on her because their moms don't hug them enough. Then let go. Watch her walk away, board the bus.

Choke back your tears. Taste the salt slide down the back of your throat. Go back inside. Check yourself in the mirror. Ugh. Turn around. Turn back hoping to see someone else. Cross through the kitchen. Pause. Feel the quiet of the empty house. No one watching. What can you eat? Open the pantry, look inside. Grab the jar of peanut butter. Unscrew the lid. Take a whiff. Stick your finger in the jar of peanut butter. Lick it off. Feel someone watching you. Shit. Turn around to face them. No one's there. Put the peanut butter away. Wash your hands, careful to remove any trace of peanut butter. Reapply lipstick. Head out the door. To work. Again.

This isn't fun anymore. There's something wrong with me.

http://www.monologuearchive.com/w/walker_001.html

Research for Dramaturgical paper part 2

Grotowski stressed that theatre was to be confrontational, and for that reason he only had a very limited number of audience members and actors at his performances with the Laboratory Theatre
"Jerzy Grotowski (Polish Theatrical Director)." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/246836/Jerzy-Grotowski>.
Grotowski’s work combined different cultures from the places he had traveled to, Asia, near East and Russia for example.
He tried to simplify theatre and make it into what it used to be: a message of culture, religion, and legends.
Grotowski believed that theatre should make the person-watching rethink their values and morals. Therefore, he believed in “shocking” the audience.
Grotowski tried to bring life into theatre with several of his projects, like  “Paratheatre”, where he worked with a small select audience, and “Mountain Theatre”.
Grotowski believed that theatre comes from the actor and for theatre to go forward the actor must improve.
“Rich theatre”, according to Grotowksi was including all of the elements such as costumes, props, lighting, literature, architecture and such. He believed that this was the Theatre trying to be like the movies, and failing all of the time. There for, he calls his theatre “poor theatre”, also the title of his book, Towards a Poor Theatre.
He believed that theatre could be performed in many ways to include the audience. The actors could move around next to and around the audience, taking notice of them or not or the audience could be physically stopped from getting close to the actor, with a bar. The audience could also be seated in the middle of the action, where the actors acted everyewhere.
Grotowski handout.

Dramaturgical research

Grotowski believed in the actor being the most influencing part of theatre, and it was the actions of the actor and the use of their voice that made up a performance. He believed in “poor” theatre, with no props, make-up, costumes and such that was a hug part of other European theatre at the time. However, he did not just leave out these effects, but these were not the biggest concern. 
Grotowski also established a sort of “sacredness” of the actor and the audience and the connection they had during a performance. He thought that the purpose of theatre was to confront and make the audience reflect on the message. Theatre, according to Grotowski was not about the image but about the message it conveyed through the actor. In Grotowski’s mind there was clear difference between theatre and cinema, and he did not believe in making theatre more cinema like.
"Biography of Jerzy Grotowski." The Jason Bennett Actor's Workshop. JBActors, 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jbactors.com/actingreading/actingteacherbiographies/jerzygrotowski.html>.
Grotowski stressed that theatre was to be confrontational, and for that reason he only had a very limited number of audience members and actors at his performances with the Laboratory Theatre
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/246836/Jerzy-Grotowski

Monday, November 8, 2010

Today we worked in groups to devise a physical theatre performance influenced by DV8. Helen, Bea and I started off with coming up with a general theme, or event. Helen suggested that we do a performance where one of the characters was mad, and the others were trying to comfort her or figure out what was wrong. So then we got to the part where Beatrice is crouched on the floor, her face bowed down, upset. To show her anger, we decided that she should push us aside. Then, because there was perfect part in the music for this, we needed to come up with a scene before that. We tried having a scene where two girls are playing, but decided to do a more abstract visual of us being calm and happy. Then we decided that one of us falling back into another’s arm was best as a lift, because we couldn’t lift each other. So, it made sense for the person angry to push the person. The twirls and the grabbing onto the arms came as we decided that Bea should run away but we didn’t want her to go. Then the final scene with Helen and Bea was Helen begging Bea to tell her what was wrong, or not to go. I went out because we decided that it was too much to have two people begging. Overall, the actually performance was good in my opinion. We had thought out what we did and when reasonably well in terms of the time we had. We knew what to do and when. However, there was definitely room for improvement. I’m not sure if I was corpsing, I didn’t notice it at least, but still we could have worked more with expressions and gestures, there were very little gestures in the performance. I also noticed myself loosing balance a once in the beginning when I went after Bea, something that should be improved. However, when Helen and I were creeping up, but trying to get in front of Bea, I believe that was a well devised scene because it used different aspects to set a certain mood, and our movements were planned out and sent a message.

Dv8 Physical Theatre clip analysis

To see the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAGGoh7F_bw&feature=related
In this scene, it would seem that Nigel and Wendy, the people in the clip, are stuck in a house where there is some danger. In the beginning, Nigel is running extremely fast, tension in his muscles. Wendy follows at an equally fast pace, and she throws herself on Nigel, who is standing at the end of the corridor, trapped. From the aggression of her approach and Nigel’s position, it can be presumed that Nigel does not want Wendy there. However, he hugs her, his muscles tightening, so he hugged her very hard, as if looking for some comfort. The hug is abrupt, as his hands had been laying limb, floppy looking, and then suddenly lift a little and are very tense. The action had no smoothness. This is when the idea comes that maybe he was hugging her out of relief. A howling noise is heard in the background, and suddenly, extremely fast, Wendy puts her hands on Nigel’s sides and pushes herself off him. The speed and the apparent alarm of her actions seem to indicate that they are in some kind of danger. She then extends a hand out to Nigel, but when he extends out a hand and takes a slow step towards her, she pulls it back, and this repeats several times, like she wanted to taunt him. It could be that it is Nigel’s fault that they are in danger and that she is angry with him.  He gets upset, as he slowly turns his back on her, his shoulder dragging. She rushes into a tight corner between him and a wall, a dark corner. Her pace and the tension of her body indicate her hurry. She quotes him, flowing him as he tries to distance himself from her, backing away, obviously scared or suspicious of her. Still, she extends her hand and when he tries to touch her, she pulls it back fast. She then reaches up near his face, around his throat. She moves her hands in unintelligible movements, at a fast pace, and you can her a sort of hitting or rushing sound, so it would seem that she slapped him several times. He is simply standing there, slouched, so it seems that Nigel does not know what is going on. However, Wendy is mad at him. She rushes behind him, and as she does so, Nigel’s posture changes, and he straightens up, his neck straightening. She probably grasped his neck. She then moves next to him, and pats him on the back, and sort of half hugs him tensing her arm around his side. It would seem that she believes that she punished him a little. She then runs away from him when he tries to touch her, as he moves his hand out from between the two.  She then runs of, touching all of the sides of the wall, so apparently, trying to escape. He moves his body around, slowly, following her movements, seemingly worried or curious about what she is doing. She then rushes at him from a dark corner, all tense and at a quite a speed, and he puts out his hands on her side as if to offer her support. She soon stops and turns, fast and hostile seeming, at him. She offers her hands, and this time accepts him, because she lets him touch her. Maybe she is less angry with him, or him touching her as she ran had been him saying sorry. She grasps his hands, and uses them to swing to the other side of the area. He then copies her as she throws herself with astonishing pace on the floor. She leaves him on the floor, by sort of rolling over him. He shoots up fast, seeming anxious. She the leans towards him, relaxed, and seems to fall towards him, but then as he offers her support by extending his arms, she falls onto the ground. On the ground, she does some spins in a crouched position. Then she lifts herself and leans towards him. Maybe she is trying to say that he can’t protect her. Or maybe he didn’t help her when she needed help and let her fall. She turns hostile towards him, twisting his hands, grapping at his hair, and pushing him down. As she gets up, her body loosens and she pushes his head onto his stomach, and eventually she falls back on the floor. He tries to offer her his hand, but she rolls on the floor. She then lunges at him, hugging him tightly, with her muscles tense. This seems to indicate her telling him that she needs him. She starts to slide away from him, but he has her wrist and does not let her go. She moves towards him and wrenches, her body moving up and down, muscles tense. He lets go, and bows his head, turning towards the wall. He seems upset and defeated again. She rushes in front of him again, and he moves away from her, slowly again, as if he does not care. She does some lunges, like swimming, and then some kicks. Maybe she is trying to say that something, but it’s unclear, Could she be saying something about swimming? She then twists away, and moves restlessly, as if she was expecting something bad to happen. For a moment she lies on the floor, not moving, like she was dead. She seemed to be indicating her or their fate. Then she moves around, spinning on the floor, aimlessly, as if looking for an escape tat is impossible to find. She freezes as some floorboards with rocks begin to shake, some of the boards coming up. The danger seems to have arrived. 

Jerzy Grotowski

 Jerzy Grotowski was born in 1933 in Rzeszow, in Poland. He grew up in Poland and graduated from the State higher School of Theatre in Krakow in 1955. He then studied directing in Moscow. He started directing in the Thirteen Row Theatre in Opole in 1959. He started to create performances, which were quite different.
Jerzy Grotowski experimented with different practices and techniques. He tried a technique in his performances of engaging the audience. The audience was the crowd, the mass of people at a ward. He also worked a lot with the actors on developing in their body and voice to be true to himself.
Grotowski also liked to focus on the actor in his performances. He believed that lighting, costume, sets and other components of theatre were not needed. To but is crudely, he like “simple” theatre. He thought that theatre was not cinema, and that it should not try to be.
Towards the end of his work with theatre, Grotowski began to investigate different and new ways to convey a message to the audience. He did not really succeed though.
"Jerzy Grotowski and Expressionist Theatre." BBC - H2g2. BBC, 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A7614902>.
Jerzy Grotowski worked on investigating the relationship between the actor and the audience, which is what his book “Poor Theatre” is all about. In his book he claims that everything, make-up, sets, costumes, sound effects, lighting, were not needed. He was also against having clearly marked area where the acting happened.
"Jerzy Grotowski." Columbia Encyclopedia 6th Edition. Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008. Web. 4 Nov. 2010. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jerzy_Grotowski.aspx>.

DV8 Physical Theatre

The film, over all, was quite strange; this perhaps because the characters in the movie are portrayed as weird, and not normal. The way the characters are built and the way the whole story is told is extremely effective and powerful. The use of movement in reaction to the movement of some one, the way a character moves, gestures and their facial expressions, build up the relationship of the people, and also, in the case of the party scene, you could see that it was party by the way people were standing close to each other, leaning slightly towards each other, the way that people stand in groups at parties. The whole idea, as this example demonstrates is to imitate or create movements, gestures, expressions, and relationships that people attach a specific significance to. This is done in hundreds of different body movements, touch, foot movement, movement of head, position of head, body, arms, eyes, expressions, hand gestures, movement of mouth`, position of limbs. These movements then signify a reaction to something, a relationship, and position compared to the other characters. Another tool that is used is timing; the time and location of the movement develop the meaning of the movement. If someone does something while someone else is doing it next to them, or after they have done it far away from them affects the way that the audience feels and thinks about the movement. Also, if a character runs away at a time another character is approaching, and then it shows that the first character is running away from the one coming towards them. Of course, the tempo and flow of the movement help give it more meaning; They also used props and costumes quite cleverly to indicate the character’s personality (in the case of cloths, Nigel is not dressed the same as the others) or the setting (in the case of props). Props were also used to help out the physical movements. Often there weren’t a lot of props, may be to allow for movement, but maybe to create an atmosphere or to recreate a place that people can relate to.

Rudolf Laban

Born in Austria-Hungary in 1879 Laban was educated in Munich and Paris, where he took courses on art. Later on, he began to look into dance, which he took on. He did a lot of work with dance, from choreographing plays, teaching dance, to working out how factory workers could move around in the most efficient way. He then developed so called “laws of movement” (www.motushumanus.org)
"Rudolf Laban." Motus Humanus. Motus Humanus. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://www.motushumanus.org/Laban.html>.
Rudolf Laban came up with a system of recording human movements called Labanotation. However, it started out as a way of writing dance. It is used to this day to record dance and human movements.
"Rudolf Von Laban." Infoplease.com. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0828471.html>.
He looked into and originated the study of choreutics. According to this technique an actor or dancer can go to 12 positions depending on their connection to the area around them. It was developed to be a theory of all human movement.  He also worked on eukinetics, a system that helps a dancer with their gestures and steps. 
"Rudolf Laban (European Dance Theorist)." Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica Online Encyclopedia, 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326639/Rudolf-Laban>.
The Laban Movement Analysis is a way of analysing human movement. It connects movement to the overall picture, in dance, acting or even scientifically. The method comes up with a few options of moving from a certain place, which helps in devising a movement pattern, either with the intention of it looking nice or being orderly. Using this a person can come up with a significant set of moves. The LMA deals with the body’s movements in all directions, taking into consideration the frequency of use of the limbs and how often they are used in a set of movements.  “This approach uses the patterns of radial, head-tail, left-right, upper & lower, and diagonal connectivity” (http://originsofmovement.com/Laban.htm). It looks at a persons “ effort quantities” and “ effort elements”, their connection to space and the people around them, and the entire world. It also focuses on a persons connection to themselves. 
Smith, Annelies. "Laban Movement." Embodyoga and Bodywork. Annelies Smith, 2006. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. <http://originsofmovement.com/Laban.htm>.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Today, we played Straigtman. It was an interesting game, particularly since I was one of the weird family members. However, it was hard to act weird in a feasible way. I managed to create an over-welcoming, peculiar character however. The scene lasted long, but at times it did not advance fast enough. When Helen, who was the straightman, and I were on stage, most of the time we just talked, not necessarily getting much further into the scene. However, at times, crucial information was passed on, so those moments had their merits. On the other hand, it was hard to do much else because we were the only two characters on scene. Some others came into the scene, but the scene definitely did not get weird until some of the guys came on stage and began to act a little like zombies, kicking each other and falling on each other. These characters could not hear anything either. At the end, when we were supposed to tie up the lose ends, it was hard to justify these characters, and it ended up with some others being killed or made into the zombie-like creatures as well. Then it just got weird. This was challenging, tying up the lose ends at the end, because we had kind of let our imagination fly, and had not thought ahead to justifying our characters.

Tuesday, 12th of October 2010

Today, we did some handles. First, three people, Rasmus, Anders and Sebastian went up, and did a handle where one person sat, one person stood and one person lay. It proved difficult, as it was hard to justify the physical positions, but it turned out quite comical. Then we all wrote lines one a piece of paper, and then the actors were given three, and they had to say them at some point in the dialogue, but the issue was that some of them did not talk much otherwise. Again, it was hard to justify. This, it seems is something that could need practice: justifying saying something or a physical position. Then, we played a game where a man went to look for his fiancé, and her family tried to prevent him finding her. This was quiet funny and the scene was successful- lasting well over five minutes. This is doubtless because the game was rather straightforward and you didn’t need to be aware of anything else than the scene and how it would advance.

Reflection on Improvisation Research project

The research Project was interesting and informative over all. It allowed us to experiment with different forms of improv. I for one had not realized that there were different types of improvisation. This meant that the hardest part of the project was researching improvisation techniques that I could use. I debated betwen Commedia dell arte and the Harold. In the end, I chose the Harold because it was more interesting in my opinion. Then, with the research done, I designed by mini-workshop. The hardest part was to fit the techniques that I wanted to practice into fifteen minutes. Still, I managed to come up with a plan that included the main techniques of the Harold- forming a scene around a word and forming three different scenes that all relate to the same word. The others found it hard. They found it hard to come up with one well-developed scene, and even harder to invent three. The first scene lasted a few minutes but the others fell apart very soon. I realized that my technique was quite hard. However, my group could have put in more effort and more energy. They were not exactly co-operating with each other. However, I learned new techniques from them as well. I learned about Commedia dell arte and about how it is based upon different characters that wear masks. This makes it easier to improvise because you have a certain personality, a certain character to refer to. What kind of situation would they get into? What would they do or say at this point?  Our group also learned about an improv game that is very near “Die , Story, Die”. You are in a group, and in order you begin to tell the story, with the moderator pointing at you when it is your turn to talk. However, you do not die. This is a useful technique to practice improvisation as it tests your ability to think on you feet. This game actually worked very well in our group. Christian who had planned the experiment did a good job. These were all of the improv techniques that our group had, since several people did Commedia dell arte. All of these are great in terms of having fun with improv, but on a more serious level the story game is the best. Like I just said, you have to think on your feet to come up with a plausible continuation of the story. This is one of the hardest skills of improv, so this game should definitely be used. Then games like the Harold actually work, though it is good for practicing establishing platforms. I contemplated making the group establish three platforms based on the word. The idea would be that if the a good platform is establish, the audience can already see where that scene is going and how it differs from the other scenes based on that word. However, it is difficult and not the objective of the Harold, so I chose not to do that. Commedia dell arte is a great technique to try if you are starting with improv as you have support from the characters. It could also be that you focus too much on the character, and not enough on the scene, but I doubt it. All in all, it was a successful project.

Evaluation of Improvisation Unit

In this unit, I have made some progress. Looking back, I would say that my greatest improvement was actually having the courage and the ability to go up on stage and establish a platform, like I did at Theatre Sports. At the first lesson, didn’t really dare to do much at all. All in all, the group’s best achievement is being able to hold a scene together. At the beginning, the scenes were everywhere, but many of the scenes performed in Theatre Sports flowed well, like our groups, Scene Three Ways, and In and Out Scenes. There was still a bit of the problem of there not being a solid plot in the Alphabet madness, but that is a hard game. In the beginning, we struggled with an ordinary scene. As I said, I personally have grown more confidence, which is essential for Improvisation, as you need to take loads of risks. Also, I think that we all have become better at thinking on our feet. A great demonstration of this was Sebastian’s performance during Theatre Sports, Die, Story, Die. It is not an easy game, as you have to think on the spot and fast. All of the scenes as well have proved how much we have improved in this skill because they flow better.  All in all, I think that this Unit was good as we learned and improved.

Evaluation of Theatre Sports

Theatre Sports on Thursday the 3rd of October was a success, in my opinion. The audience enjoyed it and so did the actors, I believe. At least I did, though it was occasionally quiet stressing. However, I surprised myself and actually even went on stage first. This was something I was a little concerned about. Some of the handles went well for our group- I believe that the Scene Three ways was one of the best ones. There was a solid platform and story. It was occasionally a little hard to integrate the movie genres, but we managed, the Bollywood version being especially funny. The Sci-fi one was quite hard.  The handle where everyone was assigned a word, In and Out, was good as well, though it lacked a solid plot. The problem is that people keep on going on and off, not always giving a plausible excuse for their appearance and disappearance.Also, seeing the movie, we did not use a lot of the space.  The alphabet madness handle was hard; you put your energy into focusing on the letter, not on the plot, something that should be reversed. Also, I completely forgot what handle we were playing at one point, and my letters were all over the place. After I realized it, it was hard to make a coherent sentence. Others inmy group found it hard as well, and so at one point there was an akward silence. Also, in Freeze tag, I went up, but was unable to think of anything to say. Still, I was trying to look for money to hand to the church, so at least I didn’t loom completely out of place. All in all, I need to work on thinking on my feet, as it is not always so easy. Still, it gets easier if there are other characters and there is a solid plot.

28th of September 2010

Today, we got into our groups and worked on our cheers. Our group did not really get it nailed, maybe because people found it hard to concentrate and to come up with a cheer. Then we worked on a handle: Three-way scene. This was a fun game, but it was hard to get into to the scene, as it is very short. This is something I will have to watch out for on Thursday, the handles don’t last very long, and it’s still important to be a part of it. On the whole though, this handle went really well. Perhaps because the scenes were so short it was easy to keep them contained.

Pre-evaluation for Theatre Sports

I feel that Theatre Sports on Thursday is going to be fun for the audience to watch. However, this depends on the acts being successful. I hope that they are, but I’m not sure how we will handle the pressure. Personally, I will probably be nervous, and it might affect my performance depending on how well I get it reigned in. However, I think that as a group, we will do pretty well since we have some confident people in our group. Still there will be pressure on us, and I hope that it will affect our performance positively. I will definitely try my best, and joining in scenes even though I might be afraid.  I’m sure that others will do the same, as it is important. I hope that this will result in scenes that are better developed than some of the ones we have done in class. Still, the handles will help give focus to the scenes. We are all familiar with the handles, which is going to be a big help on Thursday. I’m hoping for a successful and fun night.

Friday 24th of September 2010

Today we were divided into groups for Theatre Sports. Our group had some difficulty in deciding a name. We had ideas such as Johnny Wall, Pikies, My Nan rides the trolley in Netto, Chronic master babies, Grand Deaf Lama, Jerry and the pacemakers, Finland has nice lakes, General attack and eventually the one we settled on, No, I’m nuts. Most of these suggestions were random names thrown out be people. We seriously considered  “My Nan rides/nicked a trolley in Netto”, which we dismissed because it was long and just too weird, and “Finland has nice lakes” , not choosing it because it was random . The one we settled on, “No, I’m nuts” also went through a transformation. It started by me saying, “No, I’m not”.  The problem was that we could not think of a outfit to it. We almost changed it until Mr Sarstedt suggested that we turn it into “No, I’m nuts”. Then we decided that we would all be dressed as different nuts. Then the next challenge was to come up with a cheer. This proved hard as no one really had ideas. Someone thought of getting a bag of nuts and throwing them at the audience. The we just played around with different phrases, trying to come up with one that works. We came up with, “Those who like nuts, stand up”.  We did not really come up with much more before the end of the lesson. For the last ten minutes, we rehearsed handles. The handle we did was a game where the first letter of a word had to be the last letter of the previous word. This was hard because you concentrated on coming up with words that had the right letter, meaning that the scenes often did not advance far. Of course, if the people in the group were more willing to go up on stage to save the scene then it would have worked out better.

Reflection on workshop experiment

The mini workshop that I had designed was on the Harold, a long form improvisation game. In a group of five, we tested it out. First I talked about the Harold, and then we tried out some of the techniques. The group was given a word, and then they had to create three scenes based on the word. The word chosen was pencil in this case. This proved hard, as you had to think on the spot, forming a whole scene over a mundane object, a pencil. The scenes did not turn out to be very focused, and didn’t advance anywhere. The idea was that three different scenes are done based on the word. The first one was fine, about a pencil factory, but it too got a little out of hand. Then the group had to come up with another idea for a scene with the word pencil. This did not progress much further than the platform. The third scene got even more weird and unfocused. The feedback I got was that my group felt that it was quite challenging. I feel that it is important to get people to be serious about, as it does require some dedication and effort. If the scenes can be made to flow smoothly and to advance further, than it could work. Perhaps it would be good to try out assigning topics related to the word for each scene, at least until people get more comfortable with the technique.

Tuesday, 14th of September 2010

Today was a relatively short session of improvisation. We continued with the Theatre Sports. We played a game where everyone was assigned a certain number of words that they could say for each line. I got one. This proved difficult because it was hard to keep a conversation going. Not one of my best performances, as I had trouble thinking of how to advance the scene. However, the whole scene just kind of fell apart. The reason was that everyone was counting his or her words. This was what we concluded when we discussed it. The advice was to pretend that you are speaking the right amount of words. The main point is to advance the story.

Friday, 10th of September 2010

Today we did theatre sports as most of the class was missing. Theatre sports was a new thing for me, so I didn’t really know any of the games. However, they were fun and built up improvisational skills. When we played evil twin, I did fine when I was a good – partly because my evil “twin” didn’t intervene but also because it required less creativity and thinking on the spot. When I was the evil one it was harder to think of what to do. Also one of the scenes just fell apart because no one was working on advancing it, the one with the guys finding a wallet. It was also quiet hard when we played the commentator game because I didn’t always realize that I was refusing an offer, an example being the commentators taking about getting a ladder and me not doing so for a while. All in all it was good class, especially since we were so few.

The Harold research

Improv theatre:
The Harold
This is long form if improvisation, started by Del Close in the 60’s.
It can take anywhere between 10 and 45 minutes, and follows a certain structure.
1.    the “moderator “(about.com), a person selected to run the Harold, asks someone in the audience a question with a one word answer like: “What is you favourite activity?” or “Name one thing that you are wearing.” The whole Harold will be based on this. Then there are several options for the opener:
-a speech by the moderator
- the actors talking about their experience with the word
- play a word association game
- the actors perform a dance based on the word

2.    Three short improvs based on the word
3.    An improv game
4.    Three more short improvs either sticking to the same word or making it more specific
5.    Another improv game
6.    Some more improv scenes to wrap up and tie together the several themes and characters

Bradford, Wade. "Long Form Improv Game - The Harold Improv Game." Plays / Drama. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://plays.about.com/od/improvgames/a/harold.htm>.

Summary of source: This source was very informative and detailed; outline the structure of the Harold. It is a valid source as it is owned by a major newspaper company, New York Times.

Each scene has 2-4 actors in it but about 12 people, not all of them in the scene, could play the Harold. It is also not important if you stick to three rounds, as long as all of the scenes are loosely tied together. 
"Harold." Improv Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://improvencyclopedia.org/games//Harold.html>.
Summary: This was a more concise account of the Harold. It explained the main rules of the Harold and briefly the structure. It was also a very valid source, as it’s an encyclopedia of improvisation.

The Harold was invented by a improv actor, Del Close in Chicago working at the “Improv Olympic” theatre in the early 1980’s. It’s an alternative for Theatre sports and short form “Who’s line is it?”
"Who Is Harold...or Rather What Is Harold?" NYU NYUHome Homepages. NYU. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://homepages.nyu.edu/~bvc202/tools.html>.
Summary: This source was rather brief but very clear on the structure of the Harold and it’s origins. It’s a valid source because it is the site is by the NYU.

Evaluation of people in our drama class

Helen: Helen was always ready to jump in and take part in the improvisation scene. She stayed in character and moved the scene along, without making it go all over the place.
Bea: Bea had good ideas for moving the scene forward, and was able to do this.
Kento: Kento was very creative with his characters, especially the one that he was assigned. He was a little unrealistic when he sent his lama to Russia and pulled things of it’s back, however, was able to keep the scene within boundaries.
Erland: Erland was active and often ready with an offer. Occasionally a little random, but this happens in improvisation easily.
Rasmus: He was always a part of the scene, and ready to move the story forward. During freeze tag his positions were often very neutral however.
Nicolai: He did a good job when he was assigned a character, however occasionally was laughing out of character.
Markus: Markus was often moving and not just talking. He came up with ideas that made the scene get a little random however.
Iain: Iain is able to come into a scene and move it along with believable characters.
Himanshu: Himanshu is creative with his characters, choosing for instance to be a pet herring. He was able to make the scene move forward as well, with though perhaps random ideas, like escaping as the pet herring.
Johannes: He was always ready to advance the scene, but his ideas often were not the most realistic and made the scene take a different turn.
Anders: Anders can be funny on stage, and still remain in character. He is also comfortable playing any type of character.
Sebastian: He was willing to take on any character, which helped advance the scene.
Christian: He was ready to be part of a scene and was able to help advance the scene in a constructive way, keeping it together.
Caleb: Caleb helped in developing the scene, often constructively. He stayed in character.

September 6th 2010

Today we worked more on improvisation, playing several games. I was more active today, participating in several scenes. I did stay in character, but am still a little stiff on stage, meaning that I’m not necessary very creative. It gets better though once I get into a scene, then I’m more comfortable on stage. During the game “Freeze tag”, my postures were often quite neutral, meaning that I have to learn to use posture and body movement more while improvising. This would mean that the game “Freeze tag” was probably good for practice. My characters were often believable however, advancing the scene. Others did well as well, though there was still a bit of the problem that the scene got a little bizarre. 

Tuesday 31st of August 2010

This was my very first drama lesson at CIS. We worked on improvising, which I gather is the current unit. We focused first on establishing a platform. This is the first few seconds of a scene where the actor establishes the who, where, when and what of the improve. We all practiced establishing a platform. This is surprisingly hard to do, as you have to mention aspects of where you are and what you are doing that you wouldn’t ordinarily mention.  Afterwards we were divided into half and in turns the group worked in an improve scene. There were different types of scenes; there was trouble keeping the scene going and not losing the plot by going all over the place. One of the improvisations went from desert to waking up to a person having mental issues. After this, we did an exercise singing by the piano, something I didn’t entirely understand. Through out this lesson I was rather quite, but I will try to be more active in the future.