Developement - Scaramouche Jones

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Development : Scaramouche Jones

After we had looked at how to use different explorative strategies and learned new skills, we were told that we had to develop those ideas and put them to the test by using them to perform a 10 minute extract from the script. We were put into groups of four. I was in a group with Annabelle Miles, Alex O’Connor and Luke Griffiths. We were told that we could use as much of and whatever parts of the script that we wanted to use. The project was a long process and took a lot of thought and we had to make sure that our ideas combined worked effectively.

Script Selection

   In our groups we had to decide what parts of the script we were going to select for our extracts. In my group we talked about cross cutting, but then thought that it would take away the structure that we felt was necessary in the play (Scaramouche as a child to an adult) so we decided to keep the chronological order. We then thought about whether to do each of the Seven White Masks of Scaramouche Jones. I felt that it was possible to do each of the seven masks within the given time quite easily and effectively, so long as we kept them brief and only used the key parts of the script. I thought this would be best because I thought it was vital to show each of the critical stages through Scaramouche’s life and all of the changes and events he has to deal with. I felt that to remove one of these would take key moments away from the piece. The rest of the group agreed that using parts of the script from each of the white masks would be efficient.

   The next step was deciding what roles we were to take and who would say what lines. We decided that Luke would be the best candidate to play Scaramouche, as he works well with paragraphs of speech rather than short lines, and can interpret a long set of lines much better. I took the part of Scaramouche’s mother, Alex took the part of Yazu the Snake Charmer and we all made up for other small parts.

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Rehearsing

  We then began to discuss how we would develop the script and what ideas we would use. We needed to decide what elements of drama and drama mediums we would use in our piece. The three main elements of drama we decided to focus on were contrast, characterisation, and dramatic form (physical theatre.) The main drama mediums we focused on were costume, make-up, lighting, movement and gesture, and voice.

The difficult aspect of this was deciding how we could interpret different sections of the script. We all had different ideas about what would work and be effective. ...

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