How did your role emerge and how was it communicated?
A2 Drama and Theatre Studies
Unit 4
By R s Warren
"The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with
many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shore less
seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-
present peril; both joy and sorrow sharp as swords. In that realm a man
may, perhaps, count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very
richness and strangeness tie the tongue of the traveller who would report
them. And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many
questions, lest the gate should be shut and the keys be lost."
J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories,"
How did your role emerge and how was it
communicated?
The art of the fairy tale has been around for centuries. Their continuing
popularity indicates that there is more to them than sheer entertainment
value, that they contain a deeper meaning which touches us on some
profound level, and helps us in some way to understand or cope with the
world.
My main role was that of the Tramp, he was the most important character
I played on a psychological level. Before we had even started the actual
scripting of the play we all knew that there would have to be some
characters that parodied those of genuine fairy tales. The tramp was one
of those characters, my first impressions of him was that he was a wise
old man, perhaps he was a wizard, but as the play progressed we created
the tramp in order to fit in with the rather dysfunctional story.
I also played a child from the two school scenes.
I created the tramp to be a similar character to Lucy, the young girl, his life
has been similar to hers, in many ways, this is made clear in his final
monologue in which real truths about his existence and hers are foretold.
In what way was the stimulus material developed through drama
process?
"Using one or more traditional fairy tales, investigate the themes,
and produce a piece of theatre for a post 16 audience."
We had many ideas between us, maybe too many, it came to the point
where we had to look at our own views of what 'post 16' really means in
society today, could we really justify a nude version of the three little
pigs... My nightmares engulf me.
In my opinion a fairy tale is meant for any age group its all in the
interpretation, if one tries to force adult objectives into that of a fairy tale
then the true meaning of the piece will be lost. Now if you let the audience
make their own connections, then the result should be fascinating. They
will end up questioning there own moral values, because they made the
assumption that we were being rude while we may have had only innocent
intentions.
The fairy tale journey may look like an outward trek across plains and
mountains, through castles and forests, but the actual movement is inward,
into the dusty old lands of the soul.
The dark path of the fairy tale forest lies in the shadows of our
imagination, the depths of our unconscious. To travel into the wood, to
face its dangers, is to emerge transformed by the experience. Particularly
for children whose world does not resemble the simplified world of
television sit-coms ... this ability to travel inward, to face fear and
transform it, is a skill they will use all their lives. We do children, and
ourselves, a grave disservice by censoring the old tales, glossing over the
darker passages and ambiguities.
It is this darkness or fear that I think is necessary to create a piece that
would be more entertaining to a post 16 audience. The rest of my group
didn't agree, so we replaced it with violence, drug abuse and anorexia
instead.
How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama?
We had one major problem in our group, each one of us, apart from Ed,
was a leader, we all had our own ideas as to how we wanted the play to
develop. I think the hardest thing that we had to get over was the inherent
need to control. We never once sat down and talked about how we
thought we were doing or how we could improve the play, in fact after the
third rehearsal we didn't talk much at all.
It was strange to see how different members of the cast responded to the
pressure. Some used to storm out at least twice a lesson, others would sit
in the corner dishing out genuinely cutting frowns. ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
develop. I think the hardest thing that we had to get over was the inherent
need to control. We never once sat down and talked about how we
thought we were doing or how we could improve the play, in fact after the
third rehearsal we didn't talk much at all.
It was strange to see how different members of the cast responded to the
pressure. Some used to storm out at least twice a lesson, others would sit
in the corner dishing out genuinely cutting frowns. It was amusing to say
the least. I kept trying to tell them that we all had potential to create a really
good play, but working with women is nearly impossible so I quit.
Interpersonal skills and Performance skills
The groups communicational were loud, to say the least, whether or not
we actually heard each other was a different story. As far as negotiation
and diplomacy skills are concerned I now think I'm ready to solve
Northern Irelands problems once and for all. Organisational skill we just
left that to the girls. And as far as constructive criticism went, we had no
choice. It still hurts.
Most of the script was written in stages, I would write some bring it in
they would rip it apart steal my ideas and a new scene would be
produced. Most of the scenes were actually devised from improvisation.
The lighting, staging and sound effects were all masterminded at the very
last minute, much to the dismay of the technically supported crew, who
we later nick named the bomb squad.
In what ways were acting techniques or design elements and
dramatic
form used to achieve the intended effect?
Design
The set was simple, our sole reason for doing this was to keep up the
pace of the play, by minimising the blackouts and what goes on within
them. A few items were brought on to symbolise different settings, for
example we used a rug covered in leaves draped over a wooden block,
this symbolised a bench in the park, albeit an abstract view of a natural
environment, it was ours and nobody was going to take that away from
us.
Props were also left to a minimum, we used some distinguishing objects
like bags or glasses to differentiate between the different characters that
we played, sometimes even a newspaper was enough to portray a
completely different character.
Again the lighting was simple, perhaps we were trying to make our roles
seem more complicated by building the play out of Lego. Subtle changes
in the lighting depicted different moods during the scene where the fairy
tale characters came to life the lights changed from a natural wash to a
deep blue and green, this symbolised the contrast between reality and un-
reality. Our point was that the audience should notice this change while
Lucy did not, to her this fantasy world was the norm. For the last scene
we almost relied on the lighting to boost the scenes intensity.
Sound was an important factor within our production, I personally
believed that it would have been more effective to use more music
throughout the play, this would help to create the atmosphere I intended to
produce. But due to genetics I am inherently lazy and its all my fault that
we have no sound. Obviously.
During the embryonic moments of the first child / school scene many of
the cast began to search desperately into there personal archives of
dramatic knowledge. Unfortunately they only came up with over used and
uninspiring ideas, as seen in nearly every student production they had been
to. I dont want to sound obnoxious, but I desired some much more
original and effective dramatic devises, something to make this play
different. As a result of me making my point clear I was laid into by an
onslaught of pre-menstrual young women, an act I dont usual shy away
from, but these girls no, I still have to receive treatment. On a serious note,
we ended up dancing and wearing masks, now fine this may be a good
way of getting marks, but it just seems boring. After watching other plays
performed by students, the whole dance routines and other such prancing
around seemed to only serve one purpose, and that is to make the actors
feel like they actually look good. And we are actually only clapping out of
politeness. We finally agreed that we should use masks during this ill fated
dance scene, I say ill fated because I may have accidentally slit my own
throat while participating in it. We eventually opted for paper bags, a rare
and new idea only used by the thousands of ugly comedians throughout
the world.
Dramatic Form
I was advised not to use monologues in our production, I think that was
to stop us trying to get good marks as an individual, rather than creating a
good play. So we did not use monologues. There were quite a lot of
scenes where only two characters were interacting at one time, for
example I played a tramp who tells Lucy the little girl a story, this story
follows similar themes to that of the play, basically I created it to sum up
the play if you like, to iron out any confusion, that our merry little
production may have caused. A lot of the characters were all quite
natural, and finding a balance between contrasting characters proved to be
very difficult. Some members of the cast used the same accent for a child
as they did for there older characters. I began to wonder if we should all
blend together to become one big super character, but I managed to stop
myself for fear of being confronted by Viv's inner mind didn't.
My main character the Tramp was old, but wise, the sort who had
travelled the world, and got board of it. His movement were slow and
nervous around other people, he was to used to being on his own and did
not know how to react around people, and it was this uncertainty that I
tried to produce.
How did the group plan for a range of responses from the audience?
Our main objective was to get the audiences attention.
I wanted the audience to be intrigued, and persuade them to look into a
land of fairy tales, and then ask themselves where they would rather be.
Our very first scene pulled the audience in to the theme of fairy tales, we
used an essence machine to convey these themes.
The final scene was probably the most powerful of all, here we combined
many different factors, using them all to there limits, we had music playing
and a thought inducing dark melody, perfect for making neck hairs stand
up. We had a deep red wash flooding the stage, the only colours you
could see were red and black, then we had a rather dashing contrast as the
scene takes a dramatic twist, and just before our starring role finds peace
in the very place she was running from we have probably the most
technically remarkable piece of equipment known to man, the mirror ball.
I personally wanted the audience to have worked out a little bit more about
fairy tales. That they are more important than we think. This brings the fear
of fantasy argument into play. Why for so long storeys, myths and
legends have been suppressed by the powers at any given time, for
example the Christian Church holds information on the Gnostic faith that it
will not reveal. Just like a mother not telling her son a story about dragons
for fear of him growing up to be violent.
How did the rehearsals and the production process contribute to the
final performance?
During rehearsals we used a number of techniques to actually create the
play. We tended not to go home, script a scene and then bring it in the
next day and perform it. One of my biggest problems there was the fact
that I would write a scene and be really proud of it, and then id start
thinking about how the rest of the group would appreciate it knowing they
wouldn't like it id destroy it in a fit of rage only to meet their wrath the
following morning, for not writing any scenes.
We used a rather unique ritual when creating scenes from scratch. First
we needed the blood of a virgin, Ed usually got the blunt his ideas would
be ripped to shreds and then, with a great deal of cunning and stealth I
would re-formulate his ideas into ones worthy of the tribal leaders of our
group, and hence the scene was born. It was a dog eat dog world, out
there, good job I had survival instincts or I may not be here to tell the tale.
Scenes were seriously born out of thin air, an idea would suddenly arise
after hours of arguing, as if any souls looking down on us just got so
board the had to flood us with inspiration. So technically our play was
divine... Any way we usually improvised most scenes changing and
demanding, I mean directing along the way, I think the only scene to
remain virtually unchanged from the start was the initial essence machine
we used or the first scene. A true portrayal of our creative abilities.
I found that too many people wanted to take control, which intern led to
rioting and a mild spot of nuclear warfare. It was very difficult to judge or
criticise without generally upsetting someone, which made it very difficult
to make the play better. I adopted a gorilla approach to this new battle
field, not to get myself any more marks, and not just for my own
amusement, but I had shape the way the piece was developing, and if that
meant saying that I thought that person 1's idea, albeit my own, was
bloody excellent and we should do that, now this I called the mini bin after
the slightly more ruthless terrorist Bin Laden. Not that I am associating
myself in any way to terrorist organisations, I'm just naturally tanned. I
should be a diplomat any way I digress. We did a lot of role playing, well
it said in my special book that girls liked role playing, most of the dialogue
was improvised, or a god send, basically the whole drama process was
organised chaos. Unfortunately we let Andy organise it... so its his fault if
the play was bad.
Explain how research material was gathered and used within the
process.
One of my primary sources for inspiration was William Yeats' book
Crossways 1989. He talks of the two worlds one of fantasy and one of
reality. Do we really exist here or there?
I did little research for our play although I did a lot of reading in order to
gain inspiration. Most of the books were of the self help variety, but I
found the ideas I needed to contribute successfully to the production. Our
play was not based on true events, nor did any of the characters represent
real people, so the actual research that was needed was on a very small
scale.
There was one book that was obtained from the college library, about the
inner workings of the fairy tale. This book highlighted the need to portray
some of the more untouchable truths about fairy tales how fear and danger
can force you to live in your own world, just what happens if you follow
your instincts to there limits.
Evaluate ways in which ideas were communicated to the audience.
I had some very interesting feed back from various members of staff,
rightly they were drunk, but I received feed back and I don't have to make
this section up.
Many people believed our play to be the most impressive of the three
performed that night. Yes, well. A lot of the audience managed to pick up
on key themes and moments. A number of my friends commented on how
the school scenes managed to maintain their interest, "A savage
bombardment of comical genius" one student commented. I had hoped
that these scenes would provide a slight relief from the agony of teenage
angst, it did for us anyway. I remember being quite shocked during my
final scene with Lucy being quite touched, as I looked around I could see
people looking rather emotional, as I was requested by the rest of my cast
to be a sad old man.
I feel that we actually pulled it off, I remember an overwhelming sense of
achievement after I finished my seventeenth pint at the pub afterwards.
All in all I was happy with what we achieved. Obviously given more time
we could have worked miracles, but alas we only managed a good play
with Andy in it.
I believe that our primary objective was to communicate the flaws in
society today. How one person can be happy and one person can be sad.
And what happens when an innocent child meets a dysfunctional family
and is tortured by neglect, deprived of her very youth, and forced to live
in her own make believe world just to survive..
Explore the impact of social, cultural and / or historical conditions
of the work.
I am aware of the new insights people tend to be having about life, how
human science can only go so far into ones mind, and how ultimately
powerful ones own mind can be.
On a social level the play highlighted our neglect of our imagination.
Dreamers very rarely go and sit under apple trees now. How many kids do
you know that dream of being an astronaut, and sit up at night watching
the stars. We are a dying breed as technology gradually takes over, as we
head vertically into the abyss of time we no longer need to wonder where
we will end up we can just phone somebody who has already got there.
Society is building itself walls, padded walls, from which it will hide
within, all warm and secure. I wanted to highlight this by demonstrating
what will happen when one person cant build any walls, or worse those
walls are continually being destroyed.
Historically Fairy Tales have been passed down the generations, who
knows how they first started out. Ancient tales that could have been born
out of reality. How do we know there was not once a magical world full of
dragons and elves. A world that may have once harvested such stories as
Jack and the Beanstalk or Cinderella. How can we truly judge what we do
not understand. Have you ever looked at a fairy tale, years have passed
since you first read it and you read a different story all together. Its this
magic that may indeed work on levels that make a true fairy tale what it is.
The look on a child's eye when you read to them about witches and trolls.
Fairy Tales were composed to express eternal joys, sorrows, hopes, and
dreams of human kind. Although these folk tales may be aimed at children,
they surely reflect the values, assumptions, and concerns of our modern
cultural traditions.
Indicate how the influences and ideas of other playwrights and/or
directors, designers and performers have been used.
I truly enjoy reading stories from distant lands of magic, where Kings
battle furiously to save princesses, who are trapped in towers, that
dragons guard. Throughout my youth I have followed the endless
adventures of Merlin and King Arthur. I have battled side by side with
Lancelot and other knights. I too created a world of distant glories, but
that was all it was distant. William Yeats was my main inspiration for this
play. When I first read a selection of his poems they seemed to remind me
of Faery Land, as he calls it. An instinctive childhood dream reawakened.
I don't think I used any ideas that were specific to any other playwright or
director, we all had enough knowledge between us to create the play. The
play is simple, it follows fundamental ideas on life, some have commented
on a slight similarity to Alice in Wonderland, I dismiss these punishing
remarks with a cold heart. It was my idea first any way.
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