Theory

The elements of drama

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role, character, situation, voice, movement, space, time, language, texts, mood, atmosphere, audience, dramatic tension

Warm up process

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Relax the body (face and jaw), Breathing, (diaphragm), Articulation, Resonance, Projection, Warm up the body, Character and group cohesion

Voice techniques

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* **Pitch, pace, pause, projection**
* **Articulation**: precision used in the formation of sounds and speech
* **Clarity**: accurate formation of sounds w/ the voice
* **Emphasis** - use of particular stresses in the spoken delivery of a sentence to highlight important words or phrases to improve comprehension
* **Inflection** - variation of the pitch and tone within a sentence to clarify emotional quality and intended meaning within a sentence
* **Tone** - emotional qualities added to vocal performance by adjusting the types of sounds produced by the voice

Movement techniques

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* **Energy**
* **Facial expression**
* **Time**
* **Gait**
* **Gesture**
* **Posture**
* **Weight**
* **Shape**
* **Proxemics**

What is energy?

effort and commitment used in the creation of movement and non-verbal communication

What is time?

tempo and rhythm of movement

What is gait?

manner in which an actor walks

What is weight?

adjustment of movement to create a sense of force

What is shape?

overall pattern or impression created by the body

what is proxemics

position of people (and objects) in relation to each other on stage

what is mood?

presented on stage

what is atmosphere?

created for the audience

what is form?

dramatic category that groups works together that share similar general characteristics or structures (like puppetry)

what is performance style? and types?

acting in a certain way that focuses on imitating life or presenting ideas

representational and presentational

what is representational style?

imitates life as it explores human psychology by placing characters in life-like situations and relationships on stage, characters don’t know audience is there

what is presentational style?

shows itself as a theatrical experience to the audience whilst the dramatic action unfolds

what are stanislavski’s methods?

emotion memory, observation, analysis, magic if, fundamental questions, hot seat

emotion memory

* actors actually experience (with control) the emotions of the characters
* recalling an experience to feel these emotions relevant to the scene

observation

learn more about people and behaviour

* watch and listen with real concentration
* more they observed, the more they would learn

analysis

* super-objective: characters reason or motive for their behaviour
* trying to achieve something vitally important to themselves
* understand why their characters behaved as they did
* objectives: might be scenes within each scene that contributed towards the final super objective

the magic if

* What if?
* ask themselves what I would do in this situation?
* project themselves into different people

allows them to understand character, deeper

fundamental questions

Who, what are my circumstances, relationships, objective, achieve objective, what is my action, what is my super-objective

hot seat

where actors are asked quick fire questions that they must answer as their character

improvisation, helps develop and understand character

conventions of interpreting a script

circles of attention, motivation, tempo/tempo-rhythm, psychological gestures (2)

circles of attention

* actors need to consider the area that their attention and actions need to be directed to
* 3 different circles:
* self: keep to yourself, not interacting with others
* conversational: having conversation with one other person, energy and attention is focused solely on them
* whole world: this is the most power and most energy-demanding of the circles

motivation

* a character was made up of 3 things: mind, feelings and will (or motivation)
* actor was driven by the character’s mind or feelings to choose physical actions
* looks at a characters past and their psychology while an objective looks towards their actions

tempo/tempo-rhythm

* emotions had a distinct pulse and pattern
* tempo is speed of an action (fast, medium slow)
* rhythm, internally, is the intensity of the emotion, and externally, is the pattern of gestures, movements and actions
* angry = fast, sad = slow

psychological gestures (who it was developed by too)

* developed by Michael Chekhov, worked under Stanisvlaski
* looked to find characters through a more physical approach
* psychological gestures looked to break down a characters want or trait into a physical gesture, to later affect your performance at a subconscious level via physical memory
* if you were playing a hero, you might find a gesture to symbolise the brave trait and use that in your performance

psychological gestures 2

* creative mind can flourish when using psychological gestures, which means the actor can benefit from disengaging themselves from the work
* this is the ‘inner life’ of the character, showing the different elements the character has come from
* walk on stage, you are that character instantly, off stage = not
* externalising these feelings is the role of the actor

Stage types (thrust, vs proscenium)

thrust:

* audience on 3 sides


* close to action, makes audience feel involved

proscenium:

* creates a window
* separates audience from action

==Principles of design==

* Balance
* contrast
* emphasis
* harmony
* movement
* pattern
* repetition
* rhythm
* scale/proportion
* unity
* variety

==balance==

equal distribution of visual weight in a design, can be asymmetrical or symmetrical

==contrast==

design element or group of elements are juxtaposed

==emphasis==

element is used at a specific place to draw audience member’s eye to it - is the focal point because of its importance

==pattern==

consistent, repeated use, can be regular or irregular, form a sense of rhythm or not

==repetition==

creates a sense of cohesiveness and unity

==Elements of design==

* colour
* line
* shape: when a line encloses space
* space: consider dark space
* texture
* value

Role of a scenographer

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* use of colour, texture and shape
* venue, size of performing area, entrances and exits of actors and ease of scene changes

Cooperative group work processes

* Memorising (self management)
* Improvising
* Interpreting
* Listening (self-management)
* Accepting (can also be self management)
* Delegation of roles
* Developing an agreed approach