Drama @ MSC

Over the last couple of drama classes we have been working on our performance piece from the greek theatre tragedy called Medea. We were to get into a group of 3 or 4 and choose an event to perform. My group chose the scene where Medea kills her chlldren to seek revenge from her estranged husband, Jason. Our group seperated 6 different climax’s in this scene and performed them as tableaux. They were:

. Medea questioning if she should kill the children or not.
. Pushing her child away to make it easier.
. Holding the knife up in the air, ready to stab her children.
. Stabbing the child, Jason unable to stop her.
. Jason holding the children, Medea saying ‘it’s done’.
. Jason holding his children, Medea making him feel guilt for the lives she has taken.

After our group performed the tableaux we were to add a word into each tableau to express what each character was feeling. Then we would add a couple more words until we had improvised our own script. We are now to perform this piece infront of the class next lesson. This exercise has really helped me to express what Medea is feeling and to understand the script more. If we had’nt done this exercise it would have made it harder for our group to create our own script. Now with the confidence from the tableaux i am very excited about performing this to our class.

 2nd-March-2007

During our class today we took the six plot points from Madea and broke one (the one we chose last week for our task) down into another 6 main plot points of that scene.

Ours were (from the scene where Medea kills the Princess)

1. Medea screaming in her room
2. Medea telling the chorus her plans
3. Medea giving the princess’s gift to her children
4. The messenger hearing them die
5. The messenger telling Medea what has happened
6. Medea telling the chorus that her plans had worked

Once we had finished that we started to make a tableau for each point. Then we had to add a word per person per tableau. Ms Palmer then took a picture of the tableaux. After that we added chants to it and then we were able to start putting things in between and started to turn it into an actual scene. I play the messenger. Micheal, Shannon and i played the chorus listening to Medea in the first two and the last scene but we face a back to the audience so as not toconfuse them.

I look forward to next lesson and finishing our scene and then adding set designs and costume.

Bree-Anna Finlay

27th-Feb-2007

 In our drama lesson today we learnt about the different methods of acting.

We started with an activity where we got into small groups and acted a short improvised scene from Cinderella. In the scene were the two ugly step sisters and Cinderella. In this scene we used the method of Melodrama

We then learnt about the others.         

• Method - Realism
• Melodrama - Cinderella
• Gesticular - Shakspeare
• Declamatory - Chorus           

We then did an excersise focusing mothod acting (realism). We each sat on a chair spread around the room and Ms Palmer said an emotion / scenario eg; nervousness, and we had to show it non-verbally and then verbally. We also tryed argumentative, tired of waiting, and denial. For homework we had to fill out a table containing each of these and  write the non-verabal and verbal characteristics for each.

At the end of the lesson we went back to the topic of Medea. We got into groups again and broke the play into six main plot points and then chose which scene we wanted to use for our task. We chose the scene when Medea Kills the Princess and the King. I think its going to be brilliant.

Bree-Anna Finlay

Taday we transformed our Medea script into 6 tableus. Last class we chose a piece of the script which we wanted to perform in a group as our assesment task. Monique and I chose to perform the banishment scene involving Kreon and Medea. We broke this scene into 6 main parts which were:

1. medea feeling betrayed
2. Kreon Banishing her
3. Kreon admitting his fear of Medea.
4. Medea pleading for one more day in the city
5. Kreon accepting this circumstace and allowing Medea to remain in the city for one more day.
6. Medea schemeing

These plot points were used as the base of our tableus. After creating a freeze-frame of every plot point, we were then instructed to add a word each to every tablue to help carry the story accross. We then added verbal techniques such as pause, pace, pitch, repetition, tone and volume to express certain moods or attitudes. For example, one of medea’s (moniques) words was “please?”. To potray her characters feeling of desperation, monique drew out the vowels of the word and used a projected whisper to deliver it. One of my lines was “Leave”. As a king I am very confident when asking someone to leave and expect them to do as i wish. To show Kreon’s confidence and importance, I used repetition of the word “leave”, and delivered my dialogue at a loud, projected level. I think that as well as showing Kreons confidence and importance, the repetition also expressed to the audience just how eager Kreon is to have Medea leave at once.

After our tableus, monique and I practiced our script, using the tableus as a guide for our blocking. We thought that it would we a good idea to have one character freeze while the other talks, but after realising that they refer to each others dialogue we thought that freezing should only be ussed sparingly. I believe that if one character is frozen, then its giving the illusion that the speaking character is not speaking, but thinking. Therefore the freezing would not work because the frozen character would not be hearing it and therefore cannot reffer to it.

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_{oday we had to pick a scene to act in tableauxs with a certain amount of people. The first time we did this this, it had to have just 6 different scenes. Then we do the same thing using one word per person per tableau. Then, we had to do it agian using Greek Chorus then finally adding bits in between so it was a normal play. My group’s scene we had to act out was Medea killing the princess by giving her two children to give her a gift.}

Our play did not kill the princess on stage & did not even have the princess as a character, but we shown she was there through dialoge & bu what the messenger person said.

Today’s lesson was all about how to take the first steps towards producing our group’s scene of the play “Medea”.<>

<>The first part of our lesson was learning about the graph of our play. We looked at the suspense, the climax and the resolution.

<>Caris and I then wrote six plot points focusing on our scene. Ms Palmer then instructed us to add tabloids to each one.

The first tabloid showed Creon (Caris) greeting his people, as Medea (Me) cried.

<>In the second tabloid Medea had her hands open wide asking Creon why she had been banished.

<> The third tabloid showed Creon pointing off stage, instructing Medea to leave, while Medea, crouching on the floor, refused to go.<> The fourth tabloid showed Medea pleading on her knees to Creon for one more day.

<><>The fifth showed of Creon’s acceptance to one more day, and Medea curtsied to show her thanks.<>In the sixth tabloid Medea was left on stage, in a pose of revenge.

<><><><> We were then asked to add one word per character to our tabloids.
Caris and I used the following words for the tabloids (in number order):

1. <>Medea: Betrayed. Creon: You
2. <>Medea: Why?. Creon: Trust
3. <>Medea: Won’t. Creon: Leave
4. <>Medea: Please. Creon: Maybe
5. <>Medea: Thank you. Creon: One

<><>Medea: Revenge. Creon- Off stage.

I am really looking forward to filling in the gaps in our tabloids and completing our Medea scene next lesson.

Date: 02/03/07
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Todays lesson was focused on acting methods. An actor uses their method of acting to suit their character to the piece of theatre it is involved in. For example the roles of the two ugle stepsisters in cinderella would be melodrama acting. Melodrama is drama which is overacted and which ususally interacts with the audience such as pantomime. acting methods are:
* method-realism
*melodrama- cinderella
* Gesticular- Shakespear
* Declammatory- Chorus>actor

We practiced method acting by taking part in an exercise involving chairs. We all sat in a chair each and were given situations to potray through our verbal and non-verbal acting techniques. The situations included being nervous, bored, argumentative, pleading and being told off while denying accusations.

We also did role plays of cinderella and the ugly step sisters. This task resulted in melodramatic characters (step sisters) with overdramatic arm movements and speech.

Ths class taught me how the method of acting can either suit a character or NOT suit a character. For example the witches ffrom MacBeth would not be acted using a meloramatic method of acting.

Todays lesson was focused on the role of the chorus in greek plays. We began the lesson by playing the game “yes, lets”. This game gave us an oppertunity to practise the skills which are involved in being a chorus member in greek theatre.

We then talked about the script of Medea and how her character was potrayed throughout the story and how the chorus carried the storyline. We were then sorted into groups and given a piece of the chorus dialoge to perform as a greek chorus. My group worked really well during this exercise and we all contributed ideas towards our performance. We added syncronised movement to our act which explained what we were saying. For example on the line “We pitty you” we all clasped one hand over our hearts with the other directed at medea and our faces turned towards her with a serious expression.

This lesson taught me how a greek chorus contributes to a performance and the impact of synchronised movement and speech. This added a great affect to our performance and lifted our characters of chorus.

Today we officially became a greek chorus. Our class have been studying the tragedy of Medea. We were to be the conscience of Medea as ‘every lady’ would think. We were her little shoulder to cry on and to give her advice through the stages of her hatred for Jason.

 Our class was split in two and given a piece of the script ‘Medea’. To be a greek chorus you must be the talk and move in the same ways. This makes it more effective and doesnt draw attention away from Medea. Our group then performed our piece in front of the class, therefore becoming a ‘greek chorus’.  

today we officially became a greek chorus. the activities we performed proved that we were. we had to construct various plays and games that releted to the topic of greek chorus… we also went a bit deeper into the play media and found out so much more about her character and how she felt. medea was the first play to really take the womans perspective in the chorus area anyway. thats really cool i reckon. its a fun subject and im learning something everyday.

by chantelle davy