carianne; Medea impro
Today we got into groups and chose a scene from Medea to perform that would incorporate all of us. I grouped up with Katelyn and Courtney, and together we chose to perform the scene from Medea where she kills her children and Jayson has a fight with her. Katelyn was to play Medea, Courtney was to play the child and I was to play Jayson. We found out that the best way to perform an improvisation is to firstly outline the 6 main plot points, then creat tableux.
After creating our 6 tableux, we were told to have each character saying one word for each tableaux. The first tableaux showed Medea with a knife in her hands in a questioning gesture. To emphasize the questioning motion, Katelyn was to say “should i?”. This tableaux also showed Courtney as the chid, playing with her toys. To portray the child as innocent, we had her simply say, “Weeee!” The next tableaux showed Medea hiding her knife behind her back while she turned away as her child came to hug her. Katelyn’s word was “Don’t” to show the mother trying to detatch herself away from her child. Courtney’s word was “Mummy!” to show the child’s want for her mothers attention. The following tableaux had Medea about to stab her child. Her word was “Sorry” to show she really cared about her child but she had to kill it. Courtney made a whimpering sound to display her as scared. The next tableaux showed Medea stabbing her child. Each character screamed to create a dramtic effect. After this tableaux, Jayson entered with a shocked expression, screaming “Medea!” in realisation of what she had done. Katelyn was on her knees and said the word “Done”. This symbolised the end for Medea. The tableaux after that showed me as Jayson huddled over my child and saying “Why?” to show the shock and sadness of Medeas actions. In answer to my word, Medea said “You!” to finalise her actions and blame Jayson for her own hardships.
 After putting in one word, we were told to add in choral speaking and repetition. The tableaux with the main use of these techniques were the first questioning scene and the scene where Medea was about to kill her child. As I was off stage for these tableaux, i was able to conduct most of these techniques. The firt scene where Medea was questioning herself, i whispered in a hissing manner, “Yes/No” repeatedly. This symbolised the thoughts running through Medea’s mind and also the good and bad sides of her soul. In The scene right before Medea kills her child, i begain whispering “Kill, kill” and gradually projected my voice until I was screaming it. This created a suspenseful feel and aso reflected the thoughts of Medea.
After we had played around with our tableaux, we had established the main points for our performance which we could build on to create drama. We began to write dialogue for each of the characters to build on their personality and reasons so the audience would react in a certain way. Â