This week was a bit hectic and organized, but as fun as any week with Drama. Our class was a bit mixed up with the others, and we are still waiting upon the fixing of we played a game called Keeper of the Keys. This meant that one person would stand at the back of the classroom – back to the class – and turn around every now and then to call people off for moving when he was looking. Working as a class, we had to retrieve the keys without being caught out on whom had them at the time the Keeper was watching us. We – the class – were successful in our endeavors. The game entitled us to be quiet, and keep ourselves still and out of notice. Transporting the keys from person to person, all the way to the back of the classroom tested our skills – it’s not easy moving a bunch of keys quietly! Working as a team was necessary, without precise movements and silent communication, we wouldn’t have been as succetimetables to ensure the classes are the same as last year’s.
During this week, ssful as we were.
During the last lesson of the week, we worked with masks. In small groups, we had to come up with a little skit, but the catch – we had to be animals! Thank goodness we were able to have human qualities, such as being able to talk and walk on two legs.
Our group decided to be peahens and peacocks. The storyline consisted of 3 males and 1 female – enough said! Each male peacock had their own personality, which was how the female identified the one she liked the most.
Working with a mask was great – a little irritating, confining and suffocating but it helped me feel more in character. It felt like people were looking at my character, rather than the person who was playing the character. Even when watching other people’s short stories, I found myself being able to believe and picture the characters more clearly.
I look forward to working with masks; I think I can be more expressive with them. I now understand why people from Ancient Rome and Greece used them – they make the actor feel more in role and make the believe-ability of the storyline more authentic.
Week 3
This week's drama consisted of reading through Greek and Roman plays and discussing masks, costumes and the scripts of both comedies and tragedies within Roman and Greek theatre.
We used one lesson to read through Oedipus the King - a Greek tragedy. This story involved a man who married his mother after killing his father, though he didn't know what he was doing at the time. Though revolting and slightly disturbing - the story was intriguing and mind-blowing.
Reading Lysistrata was a totally different story the next lesson. The story is of a group of females with their leader - Lysistrata - trying to end the war by refusing to see their husbands when they return home from war. Our class enjoyed many laughs, and this play was a true comedy.
The play The Frogs was a bit slow - and not as thrilling or emotional as either of the other plays. The play had lots of complicated humour.
Reading through these plays gave me a good feel at the difference of Greek theatre. Though the comedy is somewhat crude - the storylines are exciting and suspenseful. I now have a good feel as to what I want to entail within my assessment piece, and what I should be looking for in a mask to create a better character.
Week 4
This week - jam-packed with only 1 lesson - included some more reading of The Frogs. As the story wears on, the story becomes more interesting, and there is a lot more humour. The humour had turned somewhat immature or childish. For example, at one point Dionysus used someone's name to make a silly pun.
The reading homework given to us beforehand was insightful and gave me a good idea as to what I would need to include within my assessment tasks. Colour, costumes, masks and talking are all very key components to creating a successful scene. Using lots of emotions when speaking, and making the respectful emotion very clear is the best way to interpret a Greek play into real life acting aswell.
We chose the groups we were to work in for the assessment, and I look forward to making my mask and working with my group to create a successful piece of Greek theatre.
Week 5
This week in Drama was ruined partially by a cold I had, but then again, Drama can never be dull. This week we worked on our exert from Lysistrata and slowly developed our script and scene into something we could work with.
Because the scene we had chosen required a small chorus - we had to change the script. The lines were also rearranged to give everyone a fair amount - as Lysistrata seemed to have a million in comparison to Lampito, Cleonice and Myrrhine. It was evened out so everyone had roughly 18 lines.
Before choosing who was going to play what, we read through the scripts a few times before directing out the roles that each of suited the most. We discussed traits our characters may posses and mine were: attempting feminism, sort of saucy, a bit wild, acting a little drunk, etc.
I researched a lot on my mask this week, in preparation to begin it. My character is a husky, Spartan damsel, so it required being very male-like, but also attempting to be feminine at the same time. Just hearing this made me think of a transvestite - so I researched Transvestite masks and also took inspiration from that guy in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Dr-Frank-N-Furter.jpg
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My group members and I were often found getting a bit distracted and off task. If we had put more time and effort into our scene this week, we probably could have gotten a lot more done.
Our scene is really coming along, and I'm sure with a bit more time we will come up with a successful piece of Greek Theatre. This has been a really fun topic, because the plays we looked at, and are performing are all unique in that there aren't many plays that are similar that I have ever studied, or probably ever will. It's also interesting to learn the sort of styles that evolved and changed into the acting styles used today. It's also very interesting to learn about the origin of my favourite subject.
Week 7
This week was hectic, as it was the last chance for us to practice as a group before our final performance (which is next Friday). It was hard to develop our scene completely, as one of our group members was away sick for the most part. We managed to get lots of choreography and blocking of the scene completed - and if Cate returns next week we can show it to her.
We were worried that Cate wouldn't be well enough to do the performance next week, so we came up with an idea. We worked with the script to create a 3 character script, by cutting and distributing Cleonice's lines to other characters. It worked well, and during Show and Tell on Friday, we performed the edited script and it was a success. This will work well if Cate doesn't return in time for next week, because we know it works and it also makes sense when read aloud.
The show and tell we had on Friday was a good opportunity to see if our scene was going to be successful with how we had blocked and positioned things. After a successful run through - with scripts - we had positive feedback and took this as advice to not make any drastic changes to the scene we had done.
We had many ideas as to where to set our scene. We didn't all want to wear togas, so we discussed the best way to modernize our scene, without making our lines seem out of reference. Our first idea was the stereotypical 50s housewife, but then decided that hippies would probably work best. This allowed us to play with our character's personality and create a costume that fitted both of the requirements.
I also finished the final touches on my mask this week, and I do believe it is looking good! :)
Week 8
Because we didn't have drama this week until our performances, we decided that it was in our best interests that we gathered for a last practice before we were to perform. We gather in Drama Room 1 for an hour and a half, and rehearsed our scene a few times.
The most important part to this was showing Cate all the blocking we had been doing in her absence. Though we had prepared a back up plan if she was to be absent on the performance day, she needed to know her positioning, lines and reactions throughout the scene.
We filmed our last practice, and rewatched it to see if we were doing anything wrong. We found a few spots that didn't work, and we made mental notes in places where we were blocking other characters, and what expressions and actions did and did not work.
This last practice was very successful and a very good idea.
Week 1
This week was a bit hectic and organized, but as fun as any week with Drama. Our class was a bit mixed up with the others, and we are still waiting upon the fixing of we played a game called Keeper of the Keys. This meant that one person would stand at the back of the classroom – back to the class – and turn around every now and then to call people off for moving when he was looking. Working as a class, we had to retrieve the keys without being caught out on whom had them at the time the Keeper was watching us. We – the class – were successful in our endeavors.
The game entitled us to be quiet, and keep ourselves still and out of notice. Transporting the keys from person to person, all the way to the back of the classroom tested our skills – it’s not easy moving a bunch of keys quietly! Working as a team was necessary, without precise movements and silent communication, we wouldn’t have been as succetimetables to ensure the classes are the same as last year’s.
During this week, ssful as we were.
During the last lesson of the week, we worked with masks. In small groups, we had to come up with a little skit, but the catch – we had to be animals! Thank goodness we were able to have human qualities, such as being able to talk and walk on two legs.
Our group decided to be peahens and peacocks. The storyline consisted of 3 males and 1 female – enough said! Each male peacock had their own personality, which was how the female identified the one she liked the most.
Working with a mask was great – a little irritating, confining and suffocating but it helped me feel more in character. It felt like people were looking at my character, rather than the person who was playing the character. Even when watching other people’s short stories, I found myself being able to believe and picture the characters more clearly.
I look forward to working with masks; I think I can be more expressive with them. I now understand why people from Ancient Rome and Greece used them – they make the actor feel more in role and make the believe-ability of the storyline more authentic.
Week 3
This week's drama consisted of reading through Greek and Roman plays and discussing masks, costumes and the scripts of both comedies and tragedies within Roman and Greek theatre.We used one lesson to read through Oedipus the King - a Greek tragedy. This story involved a man who married his mother after killing his father, though he didn't know what he was doing at the time. Though revolting and slightly disturbing - the story was intriguing and mind-blowing.
Reading Lysistrata was a totally different story the next lesson. The story is of a group of females with their leader - Lysistrata - trying to end the war by refusing to see their husbands when they return home from war. Our class enjoyed many laughs, and this play was a true comedy.
The play The Frogs was a bit slow - and not as thrilling or emotional as either of the other plays. The play had lots of complicated humour.
Reading through these plays gave me a good feel at the difference of Greek theatre. Though the comedy is somewhat crude - the storylines are exciting and suspenseful. I now have a good feel as to what I want to entail within my assessment piece, and what I should be looking for in a mask to create a better character.
Week 4
This week - jam-packed with only 1 lesson - included some more reading of The Frogs. As the story wears on, the story becomes more interesting, and there is a lot more humour. The humour had turned somewhat immature or childish. For example, at one point Dionysus used someone's name to make a silly pun.The reading homework given to us beforehand was insightful and gave me a good idea as to what I would need to include within my assessment tasks. Colour, costumes, masks and talking are all very key components to creating a successful scene. Using lots of emotions when speaking, and making the respectful emotion very clear is the best way to interpret a Greek play into real life acting aswell.
We chose the groups we were to work in for the assessment, and I look forward to making my mask and working with my group to create a successful piece of Greek theatre.
Week 5
This week in Drama was ruined partially by a cold I had, but then again, Drama can never be dull. This week we worked on our exert from Lysistrata and slowly developed our script and scene into something we could work with.Because the scene we had chosen required a small chorus - we had to change the script. The lines were also rearranged to give everyone a fair amount - as Lysistrata seemed to have a million in comparison to Lampito, Cleonice and Myrrhine. It was evened out so everyone had roughly 18 lines.
Before choosing who was going to play what, we read through the scripts a few times before directing out the roles that each of suited the most. We discussed traits our characters may posses and mine were: attempting feminism, sort of saucy, a bit wild, acting a little drunk, etc.
I researched a lot on my mask this week, in preparation to begin it. My character is a husky, Spartan damsel, so it required being very male-like, but also attempting to be feminine at the same time. Just hearing this made me think of a transvestite - so I researched Transvestite masks and also took inspiration from that guy in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
My group members and I were often found getting a bit distracted and off task. If we had put more time and effort into our scene this week, we probably could have gotten a lot more done.
Our scene is really coming along, and I'm sure with a bit more time we will come up with a successful piece of Greek Theatre. This has been a really fun topic, because the plays we looked at, and are performing are all unique in that there aren't many plays that are similar that I have ever studied, or probably ever will. It's also interesting to learn the sort of styles that evolved and changed into the acting styles used today. It's also very interesting to learn about the origin of my favourite subject.
Week 7
This week was hectic, as it was the last chance for us to practice as a group before our final performance (which is next Friday). It was hard to develop our scene completely, as one of our group members was away sick for the most part. We managed to get lots of choreography and blocking of the scene completed - and if Cate returns next week we can show it to her.We were worried that Cate wouldn't be well enough to do the performance next week, so we came up with an idea. We worked with the script to create a 3 character script, by cutting and distributing Cleonice's lines to other characters. It worked well, and during Show and Tell on Friday, we performed the edited script and it was a success. This will work well if Cate doesn't return in time for next week, because we know it works and it also makes sense when read aloud.
The show and tell we had on Friday was a good opportunity to see if our scene was going to be successful with how we had blocked and positioned things. After a successful run through - with scripts - we had positive feedback and took this as advice to not make any drastic changes to the scene we had done.
We had many ideas as to where to set our scene. We didn't all want to wear togas, so we discussed the best way to modernize our scene, without making our lines seem out of reference. Our first idea was the stereotypical 50s housewife, but then decided that hippies would probably work best. This allowed us to play with our character's personality and create a costume that fitted both of the requirements.
I also finished the final touches on my mask this week, and I do believe it is looking good! :)
Week 8
Because we didn't have drama this week until our performances, we decided that it was in our best interests that we gathered for a last practice before we were to perform. We gather in Drama Room 1 for an hour and a half, and rehearsed our scene a few times.The most important part to this was showing Cate all the blocking we had been doing in her absence. Though we had prepared a back up plan if she was to be absent on the performance day, she needed to know her positioning, lines and reactions throughout the scene.
We filmed our last practice, and rewatched it to see if we were doing anything wrong. We found a few spots that didn't work, and we made mental notes in places where we were blocking other characters, and what expressions and actions did and did not work.
This last practice was very successful and a very good idea.
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Unit 1 - Greek Theatre