IB Theatre Arts

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Starting Points: #2

Mannequin Head;

Shows how thoughts roll around someone’s head

Initially quotes from of mice and men

Taking risks for the first time

Stepping outside the box

Emotionless face

Cold quotes for a faceless person

Eerie

Amethyst;

Perception

Inner beauty

Internal growth

Nothing starts beautiful but can grow to be be beautiful

Nostalgia

Memories 

Innocence

Purity

Headlight;

Passive Assistance

Guidance

“Lighting the way for you”

How people can light the way for you even when you don’t realise it

The wind at our back

Gratitude 

We thank those who are right there with us

Forgetting about the structures and basics that provide the opportunities

Accessibility

Maya’s excerpt “Panic”;

Feeling lost

Somewhere else

Words 

Forbidden

Unliked

“You”

Pain people bring

Suffering people bring

Insecurity people bring

Mistakes 

Mistakes that haunt us 

Mistakes we let ourselves be haunted by

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Practitioner Study: Brecht

Born in 1898, in Germany

Worked as a medical orderly in WW1

Started working in theatre in Munich and Berlin

After the Nazi’s came to power (1933), Brecht fled and had his nationality stripped; became stateless; strong political stance

In 1941, became an American but then returned to Europe

Most famous plays; life of Galileo, Caucasian chalk circle

Was a Marxist

Broke 4th wall, tableaux and montage all to break the flow

Wanted theatre to spark an interest in audience, not be passive

Incouraged the audience to be critical of the world around them

Influenced by a lot of international theatre

“Art is not a mirror, as which to reflect reality but a hammer to shape reality” -Bertolt Brecht

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Starting Points:

What could a starting point be?

- Choosing Groups

- Establish strengths and weaknesses

- Inspiration

- Moodboards

- Manifestos

- “Something to think about as we create”

- “What do you care about”

- Everyone could bring something different in a group

- A story

- An image

- A song

- Anything

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What I care about || Manifestos

Mothers

Daughters

Sons

Fathers

The ones who are left to grieve

Children who are victims of their parents

Natural Disasters

Unnatural Disasters

The people we choose to be represented 

Womanhood

Sexuality 

Who we choose to punish

What we choose to punish

My hair

My body

My culture

My people 

Gentrification

The role of religion 

Godliness 

Mental Health 

Unnecessary Goodbyes 

Regretted Hellos 

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Collaborative Project

Beginning the Journey

Scorched Moments

3 images that inspire us from other artists

What matters to us?

Life convictions and experiences

Exploring different styles of theatre

Performing in the style of a practitioner

Artists that inspire us 

What they have done to influence society

Artist Creating Dangerously

Theatre Companies that Create 

List of everything I’ve done as an artist

Art that I’ve created

Art that I’ve seen

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Artists Who Create Dangerously

What qualities do these artists share?

Are there any common experiences?

Is there a connection between their culture and their art?

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Talchim: Masked Dance

Characteristics of Masked Dance:

A spiritual base of respect for nature and respect for freedom of expression

Embodiment of feelings

 of Han 

Deep inner sentiment that is manifested as profound grief or sadness

Of sinmyeong 

Artistic ecstasy or exhilaration that occurs at final dramatic moment, darkness to light

Cathartic experience

Masks

Ceremonial Burning

Some masks are created for permanent use, others are only for temporary

Shamenism

Belief in spirits

Male and Female

Male masks have their mouths only (can speak)

Only grandmothers have their mouths open to 

Amount of Wrinkles

Tells the age

Spots

Disease and leprosy

Communal play

Close connection with audience and stage

Madang;

Theatre in the round

Performances spans an hour

A lot of interactions between musicians, audience and actors

Audience can shout out and intervene

No barriers between stage and audience

Can become a conference for debating issues in real life (not always about fantasy)

Pre-show parade and post-show dance

Composed of solo scenes and songs

Freedom of time and space

Allows a variety of dramatic conflict

No stage decoration

Can move freely from one scene to the next (no scene change)

Move freely from one time period to another

Use a few gestures, lines and props to tell a story

No narration needed to tell the difference between scenes and such

Excellent device for satire

Dramatic conflict to deal with issues in life:

Oppression

Class dominations (yangbans)

Monks

(White) Male supremacy

Unity of ideology and reality

Wants people to come together

Elimination of social class discrimination

Gender equality

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Introduction to Korean Theatre

1) How long have you lived in Korea? 6 years

2) What kind of Korean Art forms have I seen? I’ve seen Korean Masked Theatre and Korean traditional dance.

3) Do you know what Pansori is?

4) Do you know what is?

5) Do you know what Tal-chim is? Tal-chim is form of korean masked theatre, which 

6) Do you any K-dramas? I know a lot and my favourite K-dramas are; Descendants of the Sun (태양의), Reply 1988 (응답하라 1988) and Age of Youth (청춘시대 )

7) Do you any K-pop bands? Yes, my favourite bands are Red Velvet and BTS, even though they aren’t a band AOMG <3... yes Jay Park

8) Have you read any Korean literature? Yes, when I was little my uncle brought me back a Korean Children’s book but I can’t remember the plot that much just that it was Korean and not Chinese and i was mad. 

9) What was the last Korean film I saw? Midnight runners or 청년경찰 was the last movie I watched in Korean

10) Have you read any books about North Korea? I can’t remember the name but in my english class in year 9, we read a non-fiction book about North Korea

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Commedia dell’Arte

Commedia dell’Arte translates to “Comedy of Skills”, as a style of improvisational theatre which originated in Venice, Italy and spread across Europe. Commedia included the literary society and the street performance, basically having 1 foot in the palace and 1 foot in the street. Therefore, it included and reflected the types of people in society, archetypes or stock characters, effectively a satirical caricature . Commedia dell’Arte gave roots and “grammar” to theatre as a whole and gave European Theatre a shape, especially in creating Actor’s Theatre, which gave the actor’s control over the piece and allowed everyone to be paid. Commedia also allowed both male and female actor’s to be on stage, a first.    

Scenes themselves were short, only 3 minutes long, within each scene there were “lazzi” which were a form of comedy relief that would take a break from the story line before bringing it back. 

Three Universal Types of People

Masters

Servants

Lovers: non-masked characters, who are played off of as if they are masked

The Hierarchy of People

All the characters became a commentary on society usually through the extraordinary physicalisation of the characters.

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Balinese Legong Dance

In Balinese dance, the eyes are continually wide open with a fixed point of focus. Hand movements are very distinct and purposeful, much like the rest of the body, they move with the music giving the dance the musicality and rhythm. Although performed bare foot, the dancers perform as though they have shoes that make their feet point in irregular ways. 

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Kabuki Theatre

Kabuki Theatre uses make-up as mask, which is fantasy primarily and uses exaggerated vocalisation and actions (almost like melodrama), even includes a lot of surprise elements. Costumes and makeup are both highly elaborate. Make up specifically is its own art form in Kabuki, it is used to exaggerate facial features. Colours are used symbolic; Red represents bravery whereas blue represents the paranormal and evil. Hanamachis are walkways that are explicit to Kabuki and is used to bring Audience and Actor closer together.

Mie, a dramatic technique used to make a grand impression on the audience.

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Kathakali

Video 1: 

In the video we watched in class, of the exercises that the actor/dancer needed to do before performing, I noticed how distinctly different a facial expression (Rasas) can be perceived as depending on the slightest movement of the muscles in the face. It was phenomenal how easily he could isolate certain areas of his face for example; only moving the right corner or his right eyebrow or his lower lip. I was really impressed as well with his ability to move between the different mudras. 

Video 2:

In Kathakali, each emotions has a specific facial expression for each emotion (this being a convention of Kathakali), which is unlike in western theatre where the representation of emotions depend on the individual actor and their interpretation. 

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World Theatre: Masks

Practitioners who use neutral masks:

 Jacques Lecoq

Simon McBorney

Antonin Artaud

Jean Louis Barrault

Jaques Heggen

Theatre De Movement

The neutral body is: 

Symmetrical

Centred

Integrated and Focussed

Relaxed

Involved in being not doing

Economical

Doing only what needs to be done

Coordinated

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“There are three masks. The one we think we are, the one we really are and the one we have in common. Neutral mask is the one we really are... It is holding the centre

Jacques Lecoq on Masks

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Practitioner Project: Yael Farber Research

Evidence and Research Bank

Notes on Yael Farber

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Design: Elements and Principles

Line: 

Vertical, horizontal, diagonal or curved. Provides direction for the audience to create emphasis

Colour:

Combinations called color schemes can create mood, movement and emphasis. 

Should be able to see colour when reading a play

Space:

Set pieces are arranged in the acting area. A good use of space creates good composition.

Composition; arrangement of parts in relation to each other

Levels: 

Higher positions are given more attention 

Shows power 

Depths/ Planes:

Avoid straight lines 

Triangles create depth on stage

Placement of characters have a message and meaning behind

Focus

Can tell the thoughts of a chracter

Helps pull the audience’s attention to the focus of the scene

Lack of strong focus can cause create confusion

Texture:

The way a surface feels (actual texture) or seems to feel (implied texture, looks 3D however it is not)

Value:

The range from light to dark, it is used to create depth through the use of highlight and shadow.

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

Balance: 

The sense of equality (Symmetrical) or inequality (Asymmetrical) in visual weight. 

Pattern and Rhythm

The constant repetition of elements of design that can create a sense of movement

Emphasis or Contrast 

The visual accent, stress or sense of importance.

Variety:

The use of different elements to add interest

Unity:

Wholeness or completion of a scene, due to the multiple elements of design working together

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Signs and publicity ideas