Assessment for PA

Due to this information I researched the background of a traditional proud Spanish family (see appendix). After completing a relaxation technique I found this method of acting useful because it allowed me to be in touch with my character and I felt the emotion and the scene flowed very naturally. I could image myself being in the position of having to convince someone to marry my son and also dealing with the loss of her eldest son. By drawing of my own knowledge I thought my character would speak in a very well mannered Spanish accent. The audience should be able to put themselves in a similar situation of having to convince someone of something or meeting someone that is important and therefore they will be able to relate to my character and hopefully not look at it as acting but a real situation.

This is in contrast with Artauds method of theatre. Artaud was anxious to make every detail as powerful and as meaningful as possible. The choreographed acting, the amplified sound and the extreme mood created by the lighting all contributed to the overall intention: drawing the audience into the action for a sensory experience. Applying this method of acting to our assessment was going to be fun but hard work. We decided to have our audience placed in the centre with their eyes shut. Us the actors would therefore be performing around them. Having your eyes shut in any situation where other people are around can be intimidating let alone with noise and flashing lights.

I found this method of acting fun and easy to perform as it was over the top and you got to have fun with it and didn’t have to restrict yourself and the audience may feel more involved as they are in the centre. They could possible feel as though they are actually there in the performance.

In conclusion both acts took on a completely different method of acting. The performance overall was successful and has potential and with stronger development on the characters these potentials can be met. Each actor performed very well although the script could have been read slightly clearer so the audience could have heard better to capture the true emotion of the play. The group made good use of the space available and props such as the torch which was used only in Act 3.  Each actor was able to devise their character but could have made them stronger by a detailed character analysis for example: writing a list of how they would walk and talk this may be found from research that was carried out. This could have perhaps made our characters more believable to the audience but we did sustain our role of the character throughout. The subject matter was dealt with in an appropriate way and the emotions that were explored by the performer were realistic.  

Individual character analysis.

Ruth performed “Miss Julie” using Artauds method:

She sustained a good focus throughout the performance and managed to keep her concentration although she was playing such a dramatic character. She created a character that the audience could sympathise with. It became a very emotional piece of drama to engage. Her facial expression was very interesting and added great depth to her performance. She could have projected her voice slightly louder so the audience could understand her throughout as at some points in the performance it became hard to hear what she was saying and therefore did affect her performance. Overall Ruth made her performance emotional for the audience to watch and was quite touching, you got a real sense of realness and she became the character.