a dolls house report

A Dolls House Report on my Acting In the scene that I am in I am playing the character of Nora. This scene illustrates the relationship between Nora and Dr Rank and gives us an insight into an array of different inner tempos that both characters experience. In this scene Nora is on constant edge and is despite to confide in her friend and companion, however, find it incredibly difficult to bring her self to reveal her secret to him once he proclaims his love for her. I decided to portray Nora's character in this scene as one who is a little inconsiderate and very self centred, and doesn't seem to understand the complexities of Dr Ranks condition, however, I didn't really understand the under tones about the promiscuity with relation to Dr Ranks father, and as a result of my misunderstanding I do not feel that, that part of the scene was executed quite so well because I kind of brushed it off. After watching my performance I also realised that some sentences that I said were not said in the right tone that was fitting to the intensity of the scene I felt that I almost threw always some of my lines. Despite these flaws in my performance I feel that I did have sustained characterisation and I did believe in my given circumstances and portrayed Nora's constantly fluctuating inner tempos successfully, I also feel that I related well with the other character on stage. I also

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A Doll's House - Language

A Doll's House - Language Towards the end of the 19th century, Henrik Ibsen set out to write a play which represented a realistic society, a play without melodramatic language in unbelievable situations, and a play which attempted to show the realities of modern life. The result was unsurprisingly controversial, yet Ibsen sacrificed audience appeal for the naturalistic language he wanted to portray. The effect of this kind of dialogue meant that audiences were able to relate to the characters they were seeing on stage, and the familiarity of the situations was compelling. People were being shown situations that were possible, and realistic, and for many who preferred to see only the traditional Victorian values society, it was shocking. Unlike many other plays of that time, Ibsen used natural speech patterns and mannerisms appropriate to that time period, but didn't take realism too far that the dialogue was incomprehensible and overlapping. Throughout the play, Ibsen uses pauses to create a sense of awkwardness as well as using interruptions in the dialogue, in an attempt to portray more realistic conversations. Nora If you wanted to give me something, could you - could you - Helmer Say it, say it. The most naturalistic feature of the language is its ability to change within the play, and within characters. There is a clear difference between the styles of language Nora

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Berkoff's Theatrical Purpose

What is Berkoff's theatrical purpose? Steven Berkoff didn't have an easy childhood but he escaped this through theatre. He started in small theatre groups around the country, but when he formed the London Theatre Group he become known for combining mime and theatre, and now, also, is known as a playwright. In his plays Berkoff intends to provoke his audiences by showing grotesque images of his characters, and, with careful, exaggerated movement, include the audience in the performance and be consumed by the atmosphere of the play e.g. in the Fall of the House of Usher the sense of the 'House' is created before the audience enter by using a sound-scape and not through a set as Berkoff focuses more on the actor. Also Berkoff's idea of 'Total Theatre' aims to challenge the audience using all the aspects offered by the theatre including athletic actors. He used this style to make the audience more than just on-lookers of the performance and to bring the text to life, rather than just to portray what is written. He would also try to replace things on stage such as props and furniture with the actor's bodies so as not to let anything distract from the actors and what they are trying to put across 'why not make a grotesque throne out of bodies if other materials are scarce'. He goes between using stylized movement that seems almost robotic in plays such as 'East' and the very slow,

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As an actor using Stanislavski's system, how would you use his ideas on 'imagination', 'units and objectives' and 'emotion mem

As an actor using Stanislavski's system, how would you use his ideas on 'imagination', 'units and objectives' and 'emotion memory' in the preparation for a role? There are many ways we can use Stanislavski's system when preparing for a role as an actor. We can use 'imagination', 'emotion memory', and we can split the play into 'units and objectives'. Stanislavski believed that "every movement you make, every word you speak ... is the result of your imagination." Using 'imagination' makes the role that the actor has to undertake more convincing. Stanislavski believed that there were three types of imagination: actors who can take the iniative to invoke their own imagination, actors who can be easily aroused by the director and then people who just do not respond at all. The easier it is for the actor to use their 'imagination', the richer their characterizations will be when preparing for and acting a role. The 'imagination' should be focused and based on observations the actor has made so it will not wonder and become unrealistic. The 'imagination' fills in the blanks that the author has missed and so they need to be very precise and use their 'imagination' to provide extra detail to what has happened to the character not only on stage, but before and after as well. This helps the actor to go on an 'imaginative journey', everything must be logical so that the acting still

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A doll's House, casting decisions for Nora and Kristine Lynde

Breifly outline and justify your casting decisions for Nora and Kristine Lynde. Then explain how you would direct your actors in Act one of the play in order to highlight the contrast between the two. Both Nora and Kristine Lynde are extremely interesting characters however both have completely different personalities and appearances. Through these differing personalities, Nora and Kristine can be contrasted. Through my direction these parallels can be highlighted. Nora, for example, has a zest for life whereas Kristine quiet and polite. I feel these characters can successfully go together with each other because their differences work well together and complement each other. For the character of Nora I would want an actress to consist of these qualities: The actress would need to take controll of her own growth, as Nora's character rapidly grows throughout act 3. The change of an irresponsible, silly 'child' of Act 1 to the unafected, stable character seated at the table with Helmer in Act 3 seemed unimaginable. The energy of the play lies in her self-discovery. She is a very affectionate person showing this by kissing Helmer affectionately and playing with her children (as clothing in ninteenth-century is extremely extravigant and restricting, this would suggest that Nora is quite athletic). She has a cheerful and sympathetic atmosphere; when we see her

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Applying Artauad's theory of theTheatre of Cruelty to our staging of Kafka's "The Trial"

Natasha Scott Section 1 "The Trial" Antonin Joseph Artaud was a Frenchman, born in September 1896 in Marseilles, and was a major influence on theatrical concepts of expressionism and absurdism. Throughout adolescence Artaud had a nervous and irritable disposition which is said to have been caused by sever attack of meningitis at the age of four- this was thought to be the reason behind his neuralgia, stammering and severe depression. Owing to these problems, his parents had him committed to an asylum for five years where he developed a lifelong addiction to opium (among other drugs), prescribed by the chief doctor. His time in the Great War opened his eyes to chaos and instability, which paved for his theoretical theory. The manifesto for the "Theatre of Cruelty" and "Theatre and It's Double" set out his theory that the stage should voice the inner turbulence of the human spirit. Theatre should be a mirror of life but enhanced and taken to an extreme; there should be no limits in achieving an emotional response. The experience of theatre should, according to Artaud, include the audience as part of the experience and places an equal emphasis on all five human senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The actor's body should be highly-trained in order to achieve a variety of positions with ease. Strong lungs are required to achieve both loud and quiet sounds in a variety

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Indicate how the influences and ideas of other playwrights and/or directors, designers and performers (i.e. practitioners) have been used.

Indicate how the influences and ideas of other playwrights and/or directors, designers and performers (i.e. practitioners) have been used. Antonin Artaud was the creator of the 'Theatre of Cruelty'; Artaud was attempting to change the view of the word and society as he now thought that the world of theatre had become nothing but an empty shell. Artaud believed that the Theatre should affect the audience as much as possible, therefore he used a mixture of strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound and performance. He aimed to affect audiences on an entirely non-rational level. We liked this idea as we wanted the audience to feel intimidated, and figured this technique would work well to keep them interested. We used Artaud's work in a few scenes. Firstly in the scene after the child has been kidnapped. Our intention in that scene was to provoke an emotion from the audience. So in the next scene we wanted to change that emotion, by letting them feel involved. Laura walked around the audience helplessly, and handing out leaflets to them. We used the theatre of cruelty again in the abuse scene. We wanted to intimidate the audience and make them feel trapped an insecure, and momentarily make them feel like that had done something wrong. We did this by shouting at them a scenario in which we believed they had done us wrong. The subject I used was cheating. I made the

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Blood Brothers evaluation.

Blood Brothers evaluation. Written by Willy Russell Performed at the Phoenix Theatre, London Performance date 27 March 03 The performance was melodramatic with big hand gestures and with altered voices. Being melodramatic and the big gestures made it clearer to see what was happening on stage especially as the audience was seated so far away from the actions of the characters. The narrative was set in an old road in Liverpool with Liverpudlian accents, so the actors altered their voices to cockney accents to create a believable setting. The staging was well thought out because the stage was narrow and the seats were plotted around the stage with three floors and lots of seating. It had a rich and luxurious feeling to it and the audience must have felt the same way too, especially with the binoculars built into the seats. The cyclorama (hanging cloth/sky cloth) had a big affect on the audience because it created an illusion of stars and night, which is not commonly used on most stages so it was particularly impressive. The thing that makes or can make musicals in this genre more attractive are props because they add colour, they make it more realistic, added connotations and helps you to tell what is happening by symbolic representation. The set disappointed me because you could see people controlling the light and

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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