Drama portfolio - Oppression.

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Drama Portfolio

OPPRESSION

Response Phase

We have been exploring the theme of oppression for the past few weeks in our drama lessons and we have been finding ways through dramatic devices to understand and empathise with this concept. One of the first reactions to the theme “Oppression” were generally negative, and solemn; it seemed to be somewhat of a serious, depressing theme, and at first, on a personal level, I thought it seemed to be a rigid topic to experiment with (there was no immediate way in being able to fulfil different tasks, in an altered, effective way, each time) However, this also intrigued me into seeing what tasks we would be using to explore this theme effectively.

To show my responses (this includes personal thought, adverse and sometimes somewhat surprising realisations/reactions to the process and results achieved in different tasks) to the theme “Oppression” I will list the activities we completed and write about the things I have resulted in seeing/understanding from the drama used. They show how they helped me understand and be able to empathise and respond with Oppression, thus being able to respond with the drama effectively also.

To begin with, we started from a logical point; we needed to familiarise ourselves with the concept, so, we, as a group, listed words which we associated with this theme. A few of my own responses are shown below…

This was a good starting point, as this enabled me to see one word from different perspectives, thus being able to see how the dramatic aspect of oppression can expand so easily.  

One of our next tasks was a symbolic movement and comparison, of freedom through to oppression. This was a strong comparison where you could see the extremes of both sides either fade, or suddenly become extremely different. This helped me see the extremes, and the way it progresses. Our group used things a still image to begin with, and a beat began to clap, in a very solemn out-of-place manner; this changed the mood, and the body language of the piece entirely, showing control and authority, and the sheer helplessness of those who are oppressed. This helped “get the feel” of the comparison between such things as our lives, which are privileged and we have freedom, but those who aren’t, and are what we are looking at under the title “Oppressed” have almost opposite lives to us. This was good preparation for us to get in-role for the other tasks we were going to complete. I will comment on this exercise more in the Development Phase.

We also used the dramatic device of crosscutting; the normal way of simply showing two scenes, which could be happening at the same time. However we used this method slightly differently; we did this to experiment with the use of portraying large comparison, and almost “rubbing salt into the wound” We used method is used to emphasise things. This, as a consequence, made things very strong, both visually and mentally. My reaction to this was surprising; as it was so effective, I found others pieces fairly moving.  For example, one group’s example of the “oppressors” and the “oppressed” using the method at the end of their piece, by swapping words describing how each group felt. The oppressors being somewhat vindictive, proud and uncouth; the oppressed being foreboding, scared, and helpless. The words were so highly contrasting, and the cutting between the two, was highly effective.

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Forum theatre was a highly useful method as I saw a positive side of Oppression! We looked at hatred amongst different races, and to demonstrate this we picked a highly ridiculous, and ambiguous example of this, we chose to do brown eyes vs. blue eyes. By having speakers for a group, it was very good at showing the progression and reactions of others. It started off very timidly and by the end everyone was screaming and shouting at one another! I found this very amusing and I also noticed that it showed a lot about Oppression itself; being growing ...

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