In our drama piece, instead of using dialogue as a tool, we used the lack of dialogue to create tension and anxiety. Kirsty who played the character who said nothing till right at the end was our most important tool to create tension and anxiety. The tension was mainly emphasized when she didn’t reply when me and the other performer spoke to her. I think this was because not speaking to total strangers is realistic but not talking to people when spoken tells us that there is more to this character then meets the eye e.g. maybe she is rude or scared. Her not replying made the audience want to know why. I think our different characterizations worked really against each other. I think it was obvious each character was well developed because they each were completely different to each other so it gave a great contrast. For example when each of us were introduced we all gave completely different impressions; you had the quiet one that started the play off the happy and smiley one and the stuck up one. Maybe these impressions wouldn’t have been highlighted as much if it weren’t for the dramatic difference between each other.
Kirsty’s physicality’s demonstrated a lot about her character. Her whole persona changed she used closed gestures which suggested her insecurity and nervousness. For example we give the audience a subtle clue that she might be claustrophobic by her sitting down when we are trapped. This shows the audience that she feels the lifts walls moving in on her. I think our use of proxemics were probably the strongest element of our piece especially when we got the time right when moving with in the space, I don’t think the scene would have been very believable or realistic and that is what we set out to achieve. I think this really helped us show the audience we were in a lift. We used a very small space, which was our lift, and I think that really gave the effect that we weren’t just acting, there was something actually stopping us from moving out of the space. We all discussed where everything should be we all knew e.g. when it came to entering the lift we pressed the button in the same place so that it gave a realistic impression that something was actually there. This technique we used was from Stanislavski’s idea of the ‘magic if’ e.g. if this were a lift where would everything be?. I think that we did actually use tension very well. We used the silence of Kirsty to contrast with me a Natalie, as we were both very out spoken and loud. We used the silence at the beginning when people entered, as this can be a very awkward for most people in reality anyway. We also used Facial expression against each other e.g. me and Natalie gave nasty looks to one another as this can make anyone fell tense. The main time we used this was when I told Natalie not to keep pressing the button as it might break it and she turned to me and gave me a very nasty glance. I think this was very effective when the timing was right.
This photograph from a Nazi concentration camp conveys a certain degree of what our drama piece was about. We wanted to show in our piece how people change or react when put in a confined space with a bunch of strangers. I think this picture has the same ideas except it’s an extreme version of it. They felt some many different thoughts at the same time. Being trapped in a small space with complete strangers made them feel lonely but at the same feeling trapped claustrophobic. These are the exact feelings we want to show in our piece. A lot of people in concentration camps would lose their minds because of their extreme circumstances and this is what we are showing in our piece, just how someone can flip and lose there self control.
Rehearsing
Our drama piece took two lessons before our piece was ready for some serious rehearsal. Where as our dance and music pieces took four lessons before they were ready to rehearse with. I think this was because in our drama piece we were showing reality so once had planned out the blocking we improvised the scene for the rest of the two lessons and then all it needed was polishing. If we had spent too much time planning the piece would have been too mechanical and made up for a realism piece. The only thing we changed in the drama piece was that in the beginning we built up to fast to arguing or even talking to each other and this made the piece unrealistic. I think we were worried if we spent too much time building up the piece would start to drag on, and once we found the in between the build up was much more effective. We decided that it was best for the talking to come in when the characters start to panic as the realization that they’re trapped sinks in. This became clear from research of people who have been is this type of situation, comments from people tell us that once the panic starts people forget manners or who there and say what they want when they want.
I think the main challenges of the three pieces were trying to stay focused when something wasn’t working. Whenever I couldn’t get something right in dance or I couldn’t hit a note in music or I couldn’t grasp how to portray something in drama, I became frustrated. In drama I had a lot of trouble with my character. I found that because I picked a character that was a lot like myself, it looked like I was just acting as myself instead of playing my character. This resulted in changing my reactions that were not my own but then I knew that I also wasn’t making sense as my character. The only thing I could do was act as her and face the fact that it might look like I wasn’t acting. Although Stanislavski’s theory of realism stage is that no actor should want to look like they are acting. Stanislavski would say this was naturalism so from this point of view I achieved what I set out to achieve. After doing this I decided that if I ever do this kind of acting again I would try and pick a character less like myself.
Something that I found useful in all three art forms was to be willing to put in extra rehearsal in your own time for the main reason of memory. I found that even practicing on my own still helped me remember the phrase or the pitch. It is something that I will think more about in future performances.
Performing
After the performance our audience gave us some feedback. In our drama performance we got quite a lot of feedback. The class said:
- We had a good use of proxemics.
- We had a realistic piece of drama.
- We had strong and clear projection.
- We used tension very well.
- We used level very well, which reflected Kirsty’s feeling of insignificance.
- Need to improve the realism in entrances and exits.
- Need to improve fluidity.
We didn’t use warm-ups in any of the performances but decided to have run troughs of each piece before starting to make sure everything was clear in our heads. I think this led to a better performance. In our drama I think we achieved the effect we wanted to. I think we managed make everyone believe in the reality throughout the piece and I think the climax really hit everyone which was another thing we were aiming towards.
Throughout the project I have learnt that projection can be very important in a performance. I have that learnt that improvisation is very effective when used in the early stages of developing a piece from a stimulus because it is a lot easier to create and try out a lot of different ideas. I also learnt that the use of gesture can express a lot to an audience actions are much louder then words. I will defiantly spend a lot more time thinking about my characters posture, habits and speech when doing a performance. I will defiantly apply each of these to any performance I do in the future.
By Victoria Barnes
