Matthew Christopher Bourne
Matthew Christopher Bourne Born 13th. January, 1960, London. British dancer and choreographer. His parents were June and Jim Bourne and he had a brother Dan. His mother was a secretary and his father worked for Thames Water for 30 years. When 12 or 13 he and his friend Simon Carter waited to get the autographs of actors outside the Apollo, Lyric, Palace, or Queens theatres. He attended a Methodist-run youth club which had a choir and he put on his versions of musicals. He went to school at the Sir George Monoux mixed comprehensive (later a sixth-form college) in Walthamstow in north-east London. He left with two grade C A levels. He didn't admit to himself that he was gay until he was 18. He then rang the telephone number for Gay Switchboard which was printed on the sleeve of Tom Robinson's single Glad To Be Gay and he was directed to a gay youthclub in Holloway. He first took a job in the contracts department at the BBC. He next had a job with the Keith Prowse ticket agency. This was followed by a job in the Royal National Theatre bookshop. He also worked as an usher and became aware that among the other theatre devotees were dance and drama students. In 1982 he was given a place at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance. Being 22 he was older than usual, and he also had no previous dance lessons. However, he had a great breadth and depth of knowledge of
theatre Studies portfolio
AS Theatre Studies Portfolio Devised Drama UN- seen No of words: 3984 AS Theatre Studies Portfolio Aims Our aim is to produce a realistic piece of drama which is amusing through its truthful observation. Our production should lead the audience to believe that we are young people looking for love on the internet, who for many different reasons cannot face real life and real relationships. Thus, in watching this piece of drama the audience should question themselves why we are sometimes afraid of other people. They should also relate to their own lives and be amused by the accuracy with which we perform; they should recognise elements of themselves in our characters. In order for this to work we need to include the audience in our journey as much as ourselves. They need to feel sorry for Sophie, who cannot take her life in her own hands and by the end of the piece feel relieved that at last she finds someone. To produce humour we create increasingly confused situations which should be believable. What we also would like to show is the contrast between the characters (two opposite female characters: shy and self- confident). All of these things would mean that the audience engages with the piece and think about themselves, which will make the performance both entertaining and educative. Research In research for this play, there were many things which I needed to
Imagine you are describing Alston's Pulcinella (87) to someone who knows little about dance. Write an introductory review, which includes key facts, for example, set, lighting. Identify the type/ style of the dance and its stimulus.
Imagine you are describing Alston's Pulcinella (87) to someone who knows little about dance. Write an introductory review, which includes key facts, for example, set, lighting. Identify the type/ style of the dance and its stimulus. Pulcinella was choreographed by Richard Alston in 1987. It was created for the sixteen dancers of Ballet Rambert, the year after he was appointed Artistic Director of the company. It previewed (shown for the first time) at the Leeds Grand Theatre on January 13th 1987. The original version of Pulcinella was created in 1920 by Massine. It was created for the Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. Igor Sravinsky originally produced the music score, which was re-used by Alston in the 1987 version of Pulcinella. Massine's stimulus was having watched Pulcinella in a street fair in Naples (1917). This was the first time Massine had ever seen this Italian comedy. The storyline was taken from an original play called 'Quatro Pulcinella Simili', meaning 'Four identical Pulcinellas'. This dated back to the 1700's. Diaghilev's Ballet Russes first performed Pulcinella on 15th May 1920 at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris. Its London premiere was at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 10th June 1920. The set design was by The abstract set design was by Pablo Picasso. Alston's stimulus for his version of Pulcinella was Massine's 1920 version of
Stanislavski's System and 19th Century Theatre Tradition
Stanislavski Essay Bryn Davies Today we can consider acting as an "art form", with all the dignity, nuance and technical precision of painting, or music, or literature, or any other creative entity to which we attribute that noble title. However, it was not always valued as such. Undoubtedly this is due in part to its fleeting nature- until the invention of film, it could leave no imprint on history but for the accounts of audiences. Perhaps equally important though, was the absence of any structured method for interpreting a role in all its emotional subtleties. Until the early 20th century, acting students depended on replication of their teachers, and of proceeding successful performances, in their stage craft, without any real consideration for a process or an underlying motive. Without a fundamental understanding of the character's "inner life", movements on stage were mechanical and thoughtless. Moreover, the prevalent acting style across Europe in the late 19th Century was melodramatic, unrealistic, and ultimately un-emotive. Into this artistically bankrupt age emerged Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), a man whose influence shapes the landscape of dramatic art even today. His dissatisfaction with the state of theatre in his native Russia and his work in the Moscow Art Theatre led him to a fundamental re-evaluation of accepted conventions and ultimately
Emerging sexuality is one of the striking preoccupations of puberty and an awfully traumatic dilemma. Budgie Lung Theatre Company decided to tackle confrontationally Fiona Sprotts optimistic play,
EAGER TO BREATHE Dylan Milde Emerging sexuality is one of the striking preoccupations of puberty and an awfully traumatic dilemma. Budgie Lung Theatre Company decided to tackle confrontationally Fiona Sprotts optimistic play, "Eager to Breathe." The play is all about school peers taking on emerging sexuality and is portrayed by four stereotypical characters, with the names Eager Boy, Gay Boy, Body Girl, and Anxious Girl. Sprott has meshed their interactions in such a way that assorted sexual issues are examined, from masturbation through to the double values of sexual morality. The opening scene was an ecstasy of colour and movement and not to mention a feast for the ears, playing composed music to portray a calm mood. As a soft wash lit the stage, a giant multimedia screen attracted the audiences attention, showing large trees turn from green to brown and loose their leaves, as if to portray the change of puberty, in which the whole play was about. Each of the four actors were blocked onto separate sections of the stage, acting out different actions simultaneously relevant to everyone's own unambiguous character, going upstage and downstage making precise, their movements. Lit by Par Cans situated on the floor, creating massive shadows on the projection screen, Eager Boy had the most definite and outstanding movements, by means of him running downstage and jumping with
language of performinga arts
Language of performing arts. In Drama we studied different techniques and how to cooperate these techniques into our individual performances. We looked at the abnormal through characterisation and dialogue. We explored how different playwrights used characterisation and dialogue as a way of communicating to the audience. We looked at Steven Berkoff, Samuel Becket and William Shakespeare. All of these playwrights use different techniques which in our final performance we attempted to incorporate them all in some way or another. Samuel Becket is about the theatre of the absurd, the language that Becket uses is emptied of meaning, the words become senseless, useless and absurd. His plays have a dream like quality; he often dealt with real life problems such as dying and isolation. We looked at "end game" which demonstrated the absurdist qualities that Samuel Becket uses. Steven Berkoff has a contrasting style to that of Becket's. His plays often filled with sex and furry he had a certain style of humour. His plays are usually very physical such as "metamorphosis" the actors are under great physical demand. He uses a technique called total theatre which is the idea of the audience using all of their senses. William Shakespeare has a distinctive style of dialogue, verses and proe's- 10 syllables, iambic pentameter. Shakespeare incorporates the use of dramatic irony (the audience
Improving dance performance through an awareness of the effects and implications of an audience
Improving dance performance through an awareness of the effects and implications of an audience NAME: CANDIDATE NUMBER: CENTRE NUMBER: FORM GROUP: PE GROUP: PE TEACHERS NAME: AQA Applied Physical Education GCSE Performer Portfolio: Improving dance performance through an awareness of the effects and implications of an audience AUDIT The activity which I am currently participating in is Dance. We are doing a group dance performance which is based on racism in the world. It is against two teams who battle it out to be the best but then unite as one when someone in their group dies. In this portfolio I am analyzing myself through an awareness of the effects and implications of an audience. The effects and implications of an audience can change a dance and the way in which the performers perform. Effects of an audience The effects of an audience are the way that the performer feels through out the performance due to the way the audience act and respond. If the performer is aware of what the audience is feeling and which part the audience enjoy then the performers mood could also be influenced the audience Nervous: If I get nervous whilst performing my dance; then there is a chance that I may forget my routine. This would cause me to become shy and therefore I would not look at the audience. Shy/Scared: When performing my dance, shyness is a negative
Dance - the use of improvisation.
Dance By the use of improvisation, rehearsal and performance we compiled a number of sequences, which essentially led to a structure of a dance. The work reflected the knowledge and understanding of the purpose of performance that we had acquired of the genre of contact improvisation. Steve Paxton was the founder of contact improvisation he saw potential of fusing together athletics, gymnastics, martial arts and movement. The focus is on the physical sensations of touching, supporting, leaning, falling and counterbalancing as if bodies are conversing. We used this style in order to convey that a relationship was occurring. The stimulus for our piece was a section of dance performed by V-tol called 'Where angels feared to tread'. The balcony section has 3 cubicles in it where a physical conversation takes place in each one. It shows the use of the restrictions of space to add tension and climax to the dance within the individual cubicles. This was the main stimulus for the use of the lift in our dance, which later evolved, into many different marked out areas in a certain space. The workshops we attended throughout the improvising stage of the dance gave us an insight and experience into the technique and genre of contact improvisation. We came to realise that the main principle of the technique was to support each other's weight in action and to manipulate around one
Historical and Textual Research of Harold Pinter
Performance Workshop Research Historical Context: The sketches 'The Black and White' and 'That's All' were both written by Harold Pinter in 1959. During this era, many important events occurred. The 50's saw the Korean War, the fashion of the 'Teddy Boys', 'Sputnik 1'- the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth - was launched, and Queen Elizabeth II crowned. Whilst the 60's saw a rebelling against the 'norm', fashion and music revolted with the forming of 'Mods' and 'Rockers', 'The Beatles' hit the big time, England won the world cup, Churchill died and men landed on the moon. The 60's was a turning point for Britain; with an obvious increase in employment and therefore, a rise in income, a dramatic change in culture occurred, attitudes to class and sex were liberalized and the British working class 'loosened up'. Harold McMillan was a key part of this change. McMillan took a firm position in politics and bore a passionate hatred of the suffering of the British working class, caused by mass unemployment. To Labours' shock, Harold McMillan led the Conservative party in 1959 to their third general election victory in a row. Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home continued to promote liberal trade regulations and less State involvement throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Textual Research: Strong themes in Pinter's 'The Black and White'
How did the rehearsal and the production process contribute to the final performance?
How did the rehearsal and the production process contribute to the final performance? The work, as a whole, developed at a slow but methodical pace that only speeded up in the final few weeks of rehearsal. This was structured carefully by planning every lesson the day before so we could use our time more effectively, this made sure we were on target through the whole process and we could schedule enough time for any modifications that the piece needed and allowed us to plan numerous run-throughs of the play before our tech/dress rehearsal and the final performance. This meant that we were prepared and had made sure that our piece was as fantastic as it could be for our performance, in our final performance this came through as we were organised and focussed with all our transitions and