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The Sam / ensemble costume consists of;

Blue Christmas suit (trousers and jacket)

Christmassy suspenders (if I can my hands on some, if not then a belt will probably suffice)

A Christmas tie

A pink shirt

A Christmas hat

With the optional parts being;

A mask (Currently working on it, just needs the elastic/string)

A White Wig

Black underlayer (a black full body suit which covers the entire body in black, hides hair and skin. Thus giving an interesting appearance with the stage lighting)

Long black fingers (to pair nicely with the underlayer, it will hopefully emphasize the intriguing / unsettling look caused by stage lighting.

Green Elf Slippers?

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Name: Sam Mirage

Code name: The Shopkeeper / unknowing alibi

Age: 28

Borne in: Hertfordshire

Currently living in: In an English Town

Nationality: English

Occupation: Shopkeeper and sole employee

Hair style: short, smart, and dyed red.

Build: composed and average build

Eye colour: brown

Outfit: Overly festive with the heart of a Christmas Salesman. A flashy yet formal Christmas suit and hat. And of course, a smile.

Distinguishing features: At this time of year, the Christmas suit

Accessories:

Grooming: apart from sporting a twiddle-able moustache, Sam is clean shaven

Tics: very animated when talking to customers, sometimes it seems like Sam interacts with someone who is not there.

Health: They seem fine for the most part. However, the stress of running the shop has got to them and their mental health is not too great. They have a lot of intrusive thoughts. Hallucinations even?

Speech style: quite light and bouncy, some vowels are often held, overly cheerful / Harrybo’s Harry’s.

Accent: English

Posture: Smart and upright

Gestures: animated movements, often exaggerated

Expressive: expressive arm movements as well as being a pacemaker.

Fighting style: calm or extreme. Depends on the voices

Weapons of choice: If acceptable then a pack of frozen peas, however as they cannot then their weapon is “kill’em with kindness”

Special abilities: Patience

Strengths:

Is very resourceful when things go wrong. For example, finding a solution to the shop freezer freezing over.

Being reliable and therefore trusted by the local community.

Remembers everyone in the town and everything in the shop.

Being able to know which of their products are likely to sell out and when. (Potatoes at Christmas)

Being able to push their intrusive thoughts aside for the most part.

Weaknesses:

Gullible.

Often has intrusive thoughts.

Easily distracted and prone to zoning out

Hallucinations & Negative Sam

Death

Death by cat allergies

Past: Raised by their father Mark Mirage, Sam had an average upbringing. After leaving college Sam in his early twenties moved back in with his father Mark who was suffering from stage 5 cancer. Sam has been running the family shop since. They like the work but not so much the people.

Childhood: Sam’s mother died shortly after childbirth, so they spent their childhood playing in and around their dad’s shop. Sometimes Sam would even spy another Sam, and they would play and read together.

Jobs: shopkeeper, Christmas sales worker,

Regrets: not visiting home and his dad more often

Hobbies: Reading, baking deserts, mask work and a bit of crochet

Saddest memory/moment: looking after his father through cancer

Happiest memory/moment: playing in and around the shop with their father and Negative Sam

Clearest memory/moment: the first Meeting / Finding of Negative Sam

Closet skeletons: Negative Sam and the shop’s monthly bills

Life beats:

Criminal record: N/A

Family: to an extent the townspeople

Friends: Negative Sam

Enemies: The opposing shop across town.

Perceived as: A hardworking and reliable Skopkeeper.

Role: unknowing alibi for Mary

Depends on: The shop and the townspeople

Optimist or Pessimist: They portray an optimistic outlook; however, they are quite pessimistic about their situation.

Street-smart or Book-smart: Book-smart

Introverted or extroverted: they would rather eat cake whilst watching a film or reading a book than running the shop.

Fave sound: church bells and running streams

Fave place: The shop back rooms

Biggest fear: The shop being condemned.

Wants: to earn money but also want to take a break from the annoying Christmas shoppers.

Worst flaw: Having intrusive thoughts about others.

Best quality: The patience to deal with Christmas shoppers.

Approach power: by diving right in

Approach love: as an akward mess

Approach ambition: with a smile

Approach change: not very well

Sentimental object: The Shop

Pet peeves: How Mary acts like an eternally cheerful Disney princess. It's just too much.

Moral campus: good question... I think they're a bit lost.

Quotes: “a man is only as good as the women next to him”  "Cheesecake won't bring your husband back, fatty!"

Goal: To get through the Christmas season

Motivation: To earn enough money to relax without having to worry about the shop going under.

Key moments:

Sam's Character Portrayal:

Emotional reach: the voice (Harrybos Harrys) of Sam is the main tool used to reach the audience to elicit emotion.

Emotional Recall: When I've working during a busy period.

Given Circumstance: Not applicable. In the context of the play Sam is a joke and a tool to progress the plot by providing an alabi.

Subtext: Sam finds themselves in a phycological dilemma where negative Sam puts forward intrusive thoughts and ideas, leading to Sam's internal struggle.

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A fabulous fireplace the superb Sarah made, this alongside the real Christmas tree will enhance the ambiance therefore elevating the performance in turn. For myself it will also give Charlie and I something to decorate during the tableaus at the start of the performance as the fireplace is likely to be on stage right which is where we are during that segment.

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Wednesday 18th September,

We started with Ice Breakers. This is due to the importance of getting to know and grow bonds with your fellow actors. Then we looked into Rahld Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter. Finally revisiting the rules of improvisation. My improv was not good as I was rusty due to not practicing any for a good length of time and the chaotic stress from midway through the day.

Thursday 19th,

We revisited Jacque Lecoq and his 7 Stages of Tension and how they impact our physical acting and movement. We further explored the use of levels and movement through a set of exercises. Moving a stick as a pair and being confined to a box. Through both of these exercises I felt more conscious on the movement and flow which I forget about from time to time.

We also worked on Tableaus covering the life of Mary and Patrick.

Friday 20th,

Looked at devising Theatre and Monologues scripted by Collin. I kept sitting on the fence, indecisively swapping which monologue to choose wasting a considerable length of prep time. I attempted to use Vocal Elements such as Emphasis, Accent and Pause, as well the Given Circumstance for the context surrounding Patrick in this stage of the story the monologue takes place. I received insightful and constructive feedback.

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General Gubbins and Reflections: White Posts

Research: Purple Posts

Photos, Videos and Animated GIFs: Red Posts

Personal notes: Blue Posts

Other: Green Posts

Notes for Me: ((EXAPLE))

Reference / reference link: [EXAMPLE]

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Splendid poster digitalised by Robyn.

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Wednesday 2nd October,

We partook in the Alabi minigame. I revisited Emotion Recall. Performed hot seating for Mary, Patrick, Sam and a pair of officers. Improvised scenes from the Stimuli. Utilised our creativity to creativity to extend an incomplete script based off Patricks confession to Mary. Charlie and I worked on a duet jazzy exploring the inner turmoil of Patricks mind. Colin suggested that it could be a Greek chorus. I feel that having a chorus of invasive thoughts would be very snazzy. It would also incorporate the work the group did on Greek Choir.

Thursday 3rd,

We explored movement through limiting our other methods of communication. We conducted this via the use of masking, exploring how they'd move, hold themselves and interact with others and certain situations. A fun evolution from there was our devised scenario where Charlie, Walter and I worked as our masked characters to showcase a mishap at the skating ring. THEORY.

Friday 4th,

We explored the application of slowing down ones motion and the incorporation of accent to improvised dialogue. We used a middle clash and common English accent. The latter being more cockney, akin to Officer Plod or The Governor form the Slammer. To achieve this drop your Hs and emphasis your Gs; "Well if you Got that. Then come'ere then". For middle class we can get away with it for the most part, we simply have to avoid incorporating too much or any jargon.

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I feel these aren't reflective enough and that these seem to consist only of entries and records rather than steps and growth.

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(16-18)

Friday 18th

Quick warm up

We covered the entirety of what we have so far. So up until Patricks final monologue in the 'Afterlife'. I pondered changing how I deliver the "and holds a high level of authority in the local community" by saying it in a higher pitch to emphasise the word.

I assisted Ellie with police scene, our goal for this session was memorisation. With this particular scene it has to be very quick and has to bounce back and forth repeatedly. Therefore, the best way to speed up the scene without losing the quality is to have the lines memorised. We made decent progress however only having one of the officers in the scene did limit how much we could achieve.

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Tuesday 22ns October

Lots of Padlet work... A good reminder to memories and the consequences of failing to properly recollect them.

Wednesday 23rd

We all travelled down up to London to see the almighty Coriolanus by William Shakespeare. Due to an issue on the M1 we unfortunately had a delayed arrival but we were able to get the our coach of peoples seated thankfully. I enjoyed the mixture of historical and modern elements such as the Shakespearean speech, Roman decorum, decore and architecture and weaponry yet also including modern technological advancements such as suits, military uniforms and trench coats, televisions and microphones.

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Jack Lecoq was a French practitioner who is recognisable for his movement, physical theatre and miming. Lecoq wanted to convert conventional vocal based theatre to a more physical theatre by exploring movement and acting. Something we also explored the previous week. Life isn’t eternally static therefore why should theatre? An actor should be able to move and flue with the environment and actors around them.

Jack Lecoq, born on the 15th December 1921 was very phisical in his teenage youth partaking in various sports and activities. Lecoq found himself drawn to gymnastic in particular where he started to see the geomentry of movement. In 1937 he began studying physical education and sport which he taught from 1941 to 1945 nabbing himself some teaching diplomas as well as starting a drama group with Gabriel Cousin by 1945. He was then taken on by the “Comédiens de Grenoble” to train his fellow actors in physical training. Here he discovered masks and was introduced to the ideas of Copeau (the theatre had to enlighten the human spirit).

Leqoq then found himself in Italy from 1948 to 1956. During his 8 year stay he directed his first pantomimes at the university theatre in Padua and embarked on research into masks.

In 1956 he came back to Paris and opened his School of Mime and Theatre which was a huge success.

Lecoq’s had techniques such as Clowning and Lecoq’s 20 movements. Another was the 7 Stages of Tension which helped actors with varying levels of tension. For actors these provide an effective method for exploring the dynamics of characters, scenes and improvisations. The stages being:

1. Lazy / exhausted - No tension whatsoever, Limp, movement and speech is laboured.

2. Laidback / relaxed - Laid back, relaxed. Characters usually are unbothered and don't have worries at that moment.

3. Neutral - Funtional with no urgency. Efficient with just enough energy as you need to get things done.

4. Curious / alert - Exploratative, you are interested in the world around you.

5. Suspense - Suspicious and on edge, jumpy. Is there a threat in the room?

6. Passionate - Frantic, wild, quick, irrational. There is a threat in the room.

7. Tragedy - Deer in the headlines, The bombs just dropped, you are so tense you are locked tight and are frozen stiff.

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Performing Arts Level 3 Summer Project: Walking With Dinosaurs Review

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https://www.eveningstandardtickets.co.uk/london/shows/7649-coriolanus

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I believe having the music be inspired or based on the 1950/60s with a Christmas twist. This is due to our stimulus The Lamb to the Slaughter being published in 1953/54 and our performance taking place on the 19th December. If possible we could borrow some of the music students however, volume and availability would have to be considered as we don’t want to prevent them from their own study,

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Week One Research (Rules of Improvisation)

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Week One Research (Rules of Improvisation)

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Improvisation is crucial for an actor as one has to be creative and confident with their improvisation. It is further helpful with aiding development and devising a piece as often something improvised may be more engaging, enjoyable or natural than a line of interaction which is scripted. Actors can use it to devise scenes, emphasise, understand / get into their character, experiment with new material or ways to express themselves.

“Yes and..." always remember to add something into the scene to help keep the flow going between you and your fellow actor.

"No..." or blocking... Flat out refusing to go along with what your fellow actor contributes to a scene damages the flow of the scene but more importantly refusing to go along with the flow puts your fellow actor down and you end up hogging the direction.

Questions. Questions. Questions... Too many questions can also be negative as you force your fellow actor to put their next contribution aside as they improvise an answer for your fiftieth query. Therefore the flow is hindered, your fellow actor is put down again and you end up hogging the scene.

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An example of the editing that went into producing the summer project.

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Pitch: How high or low ones voice is.

A higher pitch can indicate excitement or fear, while a lower pitch can suggest seriousness or authority.

Projection: The volume or loudness of ones voice.

A loud voice could indicate that a character is angry, excited, or in a crowded location whilst quiet voice or whisper could indicate shyness, youth or old age, or small stature.

Pace & Rhythm: The speed of ones speech or cadence.

Variations of pace make the dramatic journey an exciting one for the audience. It can also aid in conveying a characters emotions. If a character is fast spoken it could convey nervousness, panic, or inner conflict.

Pause...

helps actors convey emotion, create tension, and develop their characters.

Accent: A distinctive way of pronouncing a language.

Can help actors add depth, realism and authenticity to the characters and performance.

Tone: The delivery of ones lines. Are they Jovial? Envious? Irritated? Disappointed?

For actors, your tone of voice impacts how much the audience finds your character authentic.

Emphasis: Putting importance on certain words or phrases to increase their impact and significance.

Emphasis can change how the audience views a line or scene. It can also help actors deliver a truthful performance and communicate emotions.

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1. Start with an Idea or Concept: Unlike traditional theatre, devising often begins with a theme, concept, or even a single image rather than a script1.

2. Collaboration: The process is highly collaborative, involving all members of the group in the creation of the piece. This means everyone contributes ideas and takes part in the decision-making2.

3. Improvisation: Improvisation is a crucial tool in devising theatre. It allows performers to explore different possibilities and discover new ideas organically 3.

4. Physicality: Devised theatre often relies on physically expressive performance styles. Movement and physical theatre techniques can be as important as dialogue3.

5. Flexibility and Adaptability: The process is fluid and can change direction based on what is discovered during rehearsals. This means being open to new ideas and willing to adapt 4.

6. Use of Stimuli: Various stimuli such as music, images, texts, or objects can be used to inspire and generate material5.

7. Yes, And…: This is a fundamental principle in improvisation where participants build on each other’s ideas without blocking them. It encourages a positive and creative environment1.

8. Editing and Refining: After generating a lot of material, the group will go through a process of selection, editing, and refining to shape the final performance 3.

9. Embrace the Unknown: Devising theatre often involves embracing uncertainty and allowing the piece to evolve naturally4.

Focus on Process: The journey of creating the piece is as important as the final product. This means valuing experimentation and discovery throughout the process

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Roald Dahl in his signature arched arm chair, which he needed due to spinal injury inflicted during his aircraft crashing.

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Born on the 13th September 1916 in Llandaff, Cardiff. After graduating from the public school Repton in 1934, Dahl joined an expedition to Newfounndland. Working in Tanzania from 1937 to 1939 before enlisting as a pilot for the RAF during the second world war before serverly injuring his spine in a crash landing in Libya. Dahl was also and more recognisably a British Author with a preference for the colour yellow whom has various books and short stories published. Dahl died in November of 1990 and during his lengthy writing career has published many works, ranging from beloved childrens books to scary or saucy adult fiction and short fiction. A few of which include;

The BFG (1982)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)

The Twits (1980)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970)

The Witches (1983)

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (1985)

James and the Giant Peach (1961)

Matilda (1988)

The Enormous Crocodile (1978)

Revolting Rhymes (1982)

Billy and the Minpins (1991)

Kiss Kiss (1960)

Dirty Beasts (1983)

Someone Like You (1953)

The LandLady (1959)

Lamb to the Slaughter (1953)

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes (1994)

The last 2 could be handy, the first is our Devising Theatre Stimulus and the second could potentially be useful in preparing for the performance itself.

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Anaglyph; a stereoscopic picture consisting of two images of the same object, taken from slightly different angles, in two complementary colours, usually red and cyan (green-blue). When viewed through spectacles having one red and one cyan lens, the images merge to produce a stereoscopic sensation.

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Ambigram; something (such as an image of a written word or phrase) that is intended or able to be oriented in either of two ways for viewing or reading.

For our 'Mary Christmas, Dead Good Story' I wish to potentially utilise ambigrams and anaglyph art to enhance the poster concepts by giving them an intriguing aesthetic.

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Stimulus: The Lamb to the Slaughter (Roald Dahl)

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Stimulus: The Lamb to the Slaughter (Roald Dahl)

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Publish 1953-4 The Lamb to the Slaughter is a short story following the murder of Mr Patrick Maloney. [Stimulus Link]

This is our stimulus for our devised theatre piece set to be performed in December. Therefore, understanding the stories' thematic and narrative choices will allow us to be able to refer back to them when devising the key aspects of our performance. Using these key points and themes as a trigger for idea generation and as a starting point.

Themes we identified were; Family, innocence, Love and later Betrayal, gender, and intention vs impulse.

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Week Two Research: Devising Theatre & Stimulus

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Week Two Research: Devising Theatre & Stimulus

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Devising is the process of collaboratively creating a new work without a pre-existing script. Utilising or consisting of improvisation, physical expression, using and researching a stimulus or stimuli, editing and refinement and a well coordinated development process to allow for a smooth or as smooth as can be production.

For us, the stimulus for our Devised Theatre Performance will be Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter. A stimulus being the inspiration used to create a piece. Stimuli are the diving boards which allow devising theatre to be unique whilst still having an anchor to refer, reference and get inspiration from.

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Stanislavski Was a Russian theatre practitioner whom focused on the realism and nationalism of his performances and developed a good many dozen of techniques to a achieve this. However, the main techniques being:

Emotional Recall; when an actor pulls on their past emotions to aid in conveying a character’s emotions.

Subtext; what is meant in between the lines.

Objective; what is the characters objective in the scene?

Super objective; what is the characters objective across the entire performance?

Magic If; what would you do If you were in the character’s shoes?

Given Circumstance; what is the context for your character?

These aid an actor in faithfully portraying and emotionally connecting to their character and role.

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A collective voice whom comments on the actions in the scene they're present in. Usually through song and dance. A unified entity with an individual presence whom amplifies the dramatic tension by their reactions to the scenes' happenings.

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Miming only uses physical movements, body language and facial expressions to display emotions, narratives and scenarios in varying levels of complexity.

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Workshops Trailer: Perform, Devise and Train

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Week Four Research (Vamos Theatre Company)

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Week Four Research (Vamos Theatre Company)

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Vamos Theatre Company solely utilises masking and miming in their performances often with portrayals spit into a variant with verbal work and one without. They hone in on their expressive body language, movement, levels and motions to create their performances and as such Vamos are an invaluable resource to take notes and inspiration from.

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Trestle Masks are blank masks bar their singular designated expression / emotion which are made by [Trestle Theatre Co].

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Harold Pinter - IMDb

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More fantastic work from Sarah, as an important part of the production is the costume and dress for the actors and actresses. I probably should put together a list of my own pieces I have gathered for the performance.

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I wanted to open with a joyous depiction of what could have been with an underling sense of unease. To convey this I wanted the characters other than Mary to act abnormally. I originally intended to use Watermelon rind and Eggnog pie as these sounded fun and were recommended in 1956 for Christmas [gunthertoodys]. However, I went torwards the classic British Mince Pie and Trifle [British Hamper: Christmas Through The Ages] instead as well as cheesecake which Patrick Maloney enjoys. British Hamper also was insightful as it mentioned Christmas decorations, the return of Christmas carollers and Christmas presents. For example Mr Potato Head being launched in 1952.

I've stuck with characters used in the stimulus as best I could out of ease however I included the unborn child. However, as there was no way of knowing the future identity the scene had both a girl and boy. For the Moloney children I used [Behind the Name] which had popular baby names from 1954, the year Lamb to the Slaughter was published. From there I chose Jacqueline (Ranked 13th) to call back to the police Sergeant Jack Noonan from the stimulus and Colin (Ranked 22nd) for a clear reason.

I realise afterwards I formatted it as a screenplay script rather than a stage play script.

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Props, Costume and Other borrowed bits list...

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Props, Costume and Other borrowed bits list...

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For our devised piece (Mary Christmas) I have contributed a few bits and bobs towards the performances' production.

These at the moment consist of; A blue Christmas suit, a couple bow ties, a couple Santa hats and a brimmed Christmas hat, a length of red and sliver paperchain, and a pair of extended fingers and a pair of gloves.

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While discussing music choices this piece immediately came to mind for the bumbling officer scene. However, even with ouncy and fast paced back and forth dialogue the track only goes up to the line "Bloody Turkey bollocks he's dead!". Which could then swap to a more slower tune, loop the song again or have a pause to emphisis how dead in the head Patrick is and then kick back in around the line "Someone has done a cracking job"?

Update: However, while running through the entire script with the music put in, I noticed that for the police scene despite how well the tune fits the scene, due to how the scene has been changed with the "Love abit of Turkey" and the musical screaming? joke the scene takes far too long especially with the speed Ellie and Spencer deliver it. In turn the song had to be looped over and over. I doubt the track would work in this instance now without being modified and edited to accomidate the scenes direction. I could very well do this however, this runs a higher chance of potential copyright infringement. Therefore, I shall go out on the prowl for more fitting music to capture the cartoonish essence.

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Sexy O2 (Giovanni's Theme) 🎵 | Epithet Erased

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I was fortunate to attend and bear witness to some of the talks for Taking the Stage. The main one I wish to discuss is the discussion on 'Protecting Your Intellectual Property' with Lesley Gannon from Writers' Guild of Great Britain. It was a splendidly insightful look into the Rights and Copyright a creative can have over their own or shared creations. It was interesting to try and assess afterwards where our devised piece "Mary Christmas Dead Good Story" fell based on what was said. Because of how involved everyone is in all parts of the devising and production processes if the performance was to be publicised and monetised it would be rather the complex ordeal trying to split all rights and claims correctly and fairly.

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A useful resource given out at the talk. 

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6th-8th

Wednesday 6th

Went through everything we got up to pre half term which was to the end of act 1. Then Robyn, Spencer and I worked on the Sam scene. Colin suggested we have the negative version of Sam puppeteer the happy Christmas worker Sam, as well as have the negative Sam comment on what’s going on. Emphasising the utter distaste they feel inside. I brought along the mask and we discussed wheather we should have a set of masks mimicking the half masks from the Phantom of Opera with a Greek tragedy & comedy twist. This would allow for a connection between the Sams as well as show of some facial expressions.

Thursday 7th

Covered Shakespeare and his works. His tragedies, comedies, sonnets and historical works. Walter and I worked on a monologue from Coriolanus. Attempting to faithfully portray the passionate rage presented in his betray scene. To achieve this I utilised tone and pause.

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Harold Pinter (October 1930 to December 2008) was a British Playwriter, Screenwriter, director and actor with a lengthy 50 year writing career. Even having a theatre named in his honour (which is currently showing Macbeth), The Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

Born in Hackney, north London, Pinter was the son of a Jewish tailor and grew up in a working-class area. He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1948 however left after two terms to join a repertory company as a professional actor. Pinter then toured around Ireland and England until 1959.

Pinter is known for their naturalistic use of silence and pauses as well as casual and informal language to create realistic conversations, interactions and connections between the characters in his plays and scripts. This unique writing style is referred to as "Pinteresque style". Which makes me juxtapose it against picturesque as real life is often not idyllic, beautiful or perfect.

Pinter was also awarded a Noble Prize in Literature 3 years before his death. Pinter's plays include Silence (1969), Tea Party (1963), Monologue (1973), The Room (1960), Ashes to Ashes (1996), and Betrayal (1978).

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Pinter Jerry and Emma scene. For this scene I worked with Charlie who portrayed Jerry. I enjoyed our take on the scene and our feedback was very positive. Especially Charlies' stern and distant delivery and my actions, reactions and facial expressions.

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During Units 1234 we looked at skill building and creating a devised piece over the course of 14 weeks. (intro)

challenges - (fears from last year - absences, a lack of enthusiasm, not having lines learnt till the last week) however, the group were enthusiastic, and absences were reasonable (by Nov/dec we were golden)

doing my back in, illness and absence, scenes with Soh and Charlie,

i missjudged time management with job / work and theory, driving

videos, photos and gifs were fab but lacked emotional depth, my og padlet layout was messy and unhelpful, difficult to navigate.

Props and bits for stage design, music, writing, directing,

I didn't change Sam, they were Harrybos Harrys. checked changes with feedback on movement and staging. Suggested props which came after I did Mr back in

Strengths - directable, showed good etiquette, good ideas and concepts, contributed to differing parts of production

weak - confidence in ideas & communicating said ideas, directing, my improv and spontanious ideas were weaker this term. poor time management & Organisation. could of suggested more stuff to push myself out of my comfort zone.

All on board, no communication, getting ideas out and out of our groups

I've learnt... & [need do] -

i need to be more physical (too much tension & stiffness) [exercise movement to release stress],

quite the bit on the differing practitioners & I need to manage time more effectivly [pomodoro?, plan study focus & time], confidence & put ideas forwards,

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After our "who took the cookie from the cookie jar" and "you did not draw that this morning" scenes I thought this could be an intriguing scene to put forwards to Mandy.

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The Themes of Mary Christmas a Dead Good Story

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The Themes of Mary Christmas a Dead Good Story

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A few themes we cover in our performance are:

Guilt; Mary and Partick both feel guilt in their actions of adultery and murder.

Murder: Mary Murders Patrick.

The Supernatural: Through the play ghosts, the afterlife and even the angel of death are described and envisioned.

Betrayal: Patricks affair and Mary murdering Patrick. Through Patricks inner thoughts it seems Patrick feels betrayed by Mary leading to his affair.

Toxic Relationships:

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Tableau Work Process Thursday 19th September 2024

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We put together a sequence of tableaus depicting the story of Mary and Patrick's love and fall out of love. The scenes in question was; the First Date, the Wedding, the Pregnancy, the affair, the Confession and Mary getting away with murder. Out of the two groups ours had a better scene of direction as we had Charlie and Catelyn. I existed so my thought is I should involve myself in the decision making.

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Act one went quite well in terms of timing and flow. One note is immediately after this almost everyone came the conclusion that the final lines "what is Mary going to do now" followed by "shite" was far too funny and the Marys' line had be scrapped for the sanity of the cast... I understand the comedic timing and implication that Mary went to take a shite immediately after killing her husband but for me it seems a bit extreme to cut the line for that reason alone.

It has taken mew till now to realise that personally for act one my role is rather small. In terms of lines I have two immediately after the start about Marys' excitement, Patricks status and that not all is as it seems, then two lines at near the end of the act with "loud" and "What's Mary going to do now???". With just the Sam scene in act 2 I should try and aid more in the production side.

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Feedback: Good use of movement, the change in facial expressions and delivery expressed Patricks' hesitation and confusion, the staggering and disorientated manner of moving and speaking after being struck felt impactful and helped express the character. I’m glad my use of Pause and Pace aided in conveying confusion, hesitation and disorientation. This was also probably assisted by my use of Emphasis on parts such as the ‘my pregnant wife’ and ‘Falls, Crumples, and Cries’. The Accent was appreciated due to its uniqueness, however my narration is naturally comical which meant a lot of the emotional impact I wanted to covey was lost unfortunately. This is something I must work on and solutions must be further explored. I was fine but I think I quite got the stage fall half right, I tried to fall, rolling along my side however, I then flopped and continued going.

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At the moment for during the opening of our devised piece; Mary Christmas, Dead Good Story. Charlie and I are part of the tableaus however once we have the tree and fireplace set up we can work our stances into decorating said set pieces.

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Sam speaks insink when being neutral.

Sam: "Hi there."

Mary:"Hello there Sam."

Sam: "Merry Christmas love. You got everything you need?"

Mary: "Almost."

Sam: "What you looking for?"

Mary: "Gravy, yall logs, Brussels sprouts.. oh and potatoes"

placing everything near Mary into a bag

Sam 2: "Coming right up! Sorry if the potato's are a bit squished loved."

Mary looking confused

Mary: "Why on earth would they be so squished?"

Sam 2: "Because I've been sleeping on them. Potatoes are so multifunctional they can act like a bed."

Mary: "Why are ypu using potatoes as a bed Sam?"

Sam1:"cause my house burned. In a fire. Now im homeless

Sam2: But the commute to work isn't so bad. I just get off the potatoes

Sam1:"cause I live in the shop now"

Sam2:"cause I live in the shop now!"

Mary: I'm very sorry to here that Sam. What happened?

Sam1:"Well I paid some one to burn it down for the insurance claim but I never paid my insurance.'

Sam2: "But now my horizon is wider and I'm more comited to my work"

Mary:"Oh...how lovely?"

Sam2:"yeh it's pretty nice"

Sam1:"unless you count… The temperature,"

Sam2: "the humidity"

Sam1: terrible coppers

Sam2:"and robbers. It's pretty nice"

Mary:"Well Sam I must be on my way.Myst be getting back to that husband of mine"

Sam:"Well how is Patrick I hope he's doing fine"

Mary:"He's alright just a very picky man when it comes to food. He's at home waiting for me to get back and cook him Christmas Dinner. That reminds me ypu got anything festive?"

Sam2:"mince pie?"

Mary:"No thank you?"

*Sam eats a bite

Sam1:"gin and tonic"

Mary shakes her head and puts her hand on the baby

Sam chugs it

Mary:"alright Sam. Well I better be on my way. Merry Christmas."

Sam2:"Merry Christmas"

Sam1:"and a mediocre new year"

Mary and leaves

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Devised Theatre; improvised Police and Mary scene

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Devised Theatre; improvised Police and Mary scene

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We were given 20 minutes to create a short bumbling police scene with the only vocal elements being; Wow! Oh my god! And something else I forget to recall as Charlie and I decided upon going completely mute and letting the physical acting and slapstick carry the scene. With more time we would have been able to choreograph the scene beat by beat with the music. Despite moving the table out of the way so we would not collide with it, I still managed to crash into it somehow.

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A shot of Walter, Charlie and I for our mask work.

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Charlie, Walter and I worked together to create a scenario where our 3 characters were in a skating ring. We were praised for our portrayal of the masked characters and our manner of movement. It was quite hastily thrown together concept wise and then went over the flow and storybeats rather than choreographing movement. This I feel worked out in our favour this time and didn't negatively impact the performed piece however, I should further consider the movements and how they can recreated reliably.

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While on our trip to the National theatre in London to watch Coriolanus I had the thought of incorporating our masking and movement work into the role I do occupy as Sam in the performance "Mary Christmas".

I found I am very expressive and use my expressions effectively as shown recently in our Staged "Who took the Cookie from the Cookie jar" scene and Pinter scene. However, I do not want to mainly be reliant or over reliant on my facial expressions. My plan is to force myself to utilise mask work, body language and movement and thus in theory improve these elements.

The mask itself is wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper and I'm currently pondering whether to add a Greek comedy design to it. Either that or inverting the wrapping paper to hide the design and give a blank appearance.

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Whilst the team discussed what music to utilize in our performance colin revealed he had a triangle by giving a demonstration. I believe this could be used in some way during the performance to emphasise certain moments through the triangle and use of silence. I thought this could add a Pinteresk quality to the performance.

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A gif showcasing snapshots from the first act.

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I was given the reigns to direct the possible future scene where Mary visualises her perfect but fictional family. The scene’s blocking came out rather well. This was despite myself being the director as I performed my role poorly, taking a back seat as others in the group took it upon themselves to enhance and further build the scene. The main direction and input was from Colin and Katyln with a K, with myself adding on bits. This was an intriguing yet embarrassing realisation, to go further I shall seek out the roles and responsibilities of a director and how I can implement my findings into my processes and methods.

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Feed the Fam! Scene Friday 29th November

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Out of Shakespearean and Greek extracts, Walter and I decided upon Coriolanus's banishment monologue. I used emphasis on certain words and we addressed / targeted the audience (sorry spencer). This was praised however feedback given also addressed our use of space. To resolve this and enhance the performance Walter and I could further explore the blocking to make use of the available space in an intriguing and engaging manner. I'm naturally drawn to and slip into comedy and absurdism so I attempted to portray this more faithfully and seriously, and i believe I achieved this due to the feedback we received and Mandy saying that they would push more serious pieces to move me out of my comfort zone. The extreme emotion I was going for was Unbridled fury however, my unnatural movements, ticks and shaking gave a display of anger with mania. Feedback described it as madness.

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Evie, Robyn and I displayed the blocking we had for the Sam scene. I tripped over a lot of the lines whilst attempting to memorize them. With this I realized that I had been trying to rush the memorization process and in turn. To enhance my line learning I plan to use and associate movement and the blocked actions to trigger and prompt where I am in the scene. As well as a method from Charlie where an actor reads through the script one line at a time, thrice. Once with the script, once with prompts and a third with no aid. For every line and then gradually cover all lines which need memorising. By taking longer to grow accustomed to the wording and delivery I'll in theory avoid missing lines, getting segments the wrong way around and I should be able to retain the lines.

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I know this was immediately after the Coriolanus scene and saying I would try and avoid comedy but due to being late, a misunderstanding and my sheer stubbornness, this near ten minute Monty Python sketch now exists in memoriam of the globe umbrella. The responses received were of awe, shock and surprise. Mainly at the shockingly sudden destruction of my props and clothing and utter determination to keep soldiering through the scene. I'm glad I flipped the line "this is abuse" from the department being abuse to the client abusing the staff member. I took heavy inspiration from Anton Scott's one man adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya where Anton portrayed every character. This was very well received as I was swapping character between the client, abuse and argument staff and receptionist.

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Monty ￼Python argument sketch Thursday 21st November

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To help add flavour to our stage we wanted to enhance the Christmas feel by having a Christmas tree. Thankfully we were donated one by Dobbies Garden Centre in return for a photograph of the cast whom would put the tree to good use. A small couple of us gathered to collect the tree which went without a hitch. We were informed with how to preserve the tree by treating it like a bouquet of flowers; having it in a container of water. It currently sits outside in a bucket, hopefully it lasts through all our groups performances and doesn't freeze over.

The tree will be a valuable asset to our performance as it will give of not only a pleasing aesthetic but also a sensory boost to the ambiance through scent.

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Photos of all the cast. This was quite fun and fulfils the condition set by our Christmas tree supplier.

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Greek theatre is a form of performance art where a limited number of actors and a chorus conduct a tragedy or comedy based on the works of ancient playwrights. Greek theatre typically has as its theme stories from Greek mythology or comedic situations where real ancient Greek politicians and others are made fun of.

Ancient Greek Comedy was a popular and influential form of theatre performed across ancient Greece from the 6th century BCE. The most famous playwrights of the genre were Aristophanes and Menander and their works and those of their contemporaries poked fun at politicians, philosophers, and fellow artists. The works featured happy endings where common, everyday characters who, through the course of the story, elevating their standing.

Greek Tragedies were a popular and influential form of drama performed in theatres across ancient Greece from the late 6th century BCE. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were famous playwrites of the time and their performances and work are still prominent today. Exploring themes such as love, loss, pride, the abuse of power as well as the fraught relationships between men and gods.

Greek Satyr.

The Satyr were half man, half beast creatures from Geek mythology. Therefore, Satyr performances were a mix of comedy and tragedy. Cyclops by Euripedes is the only complete play to has stood the test of time whilst others like the Dictyulci (“Net Fishers”) of Aeschylus and the Ichneutae (“Trackers”) of Sophocles are only fragments known from papyrus discoveries.

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Living through the overlapping reigns of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and King James IV / I (1578/1603-1625), William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) is one of the most influential individuals to the English language and its literature. Through Shakespeares many sonnets and poems to his various plays the mind is captured and enthralled. Shakespeares plays range from his comedies, tragedies and historicals. His works covered the Romans, Greeks, Tudors, Egyptians, Scots and explored themes such as Fate, The Supernatural, Nature, Appearance and Reality, Ambition, Jealousy, Love, Identity, Gender, Tragedy and Human Suffering.

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire in 1564, Shakespeare attended grammar school, Married Anne Hathaway in 1582, and left to mighty London around 1590 to work as an actor and playwright. ​Public and critical success quickly followed however, the London playhouses were likely not open from many seasons during certain years where there were severe outbreaks of plague in 1592-93, 1603-04, 1606, and 1608-09. As well as the 1613 fire where the Globe burnt down in under an hour during a performance of King Henry VIII probably didn't help.

His comedies include: As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummers Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, The Tempest and All's Well That Ends Well.

His Tragedies include: Coriolanus, Macbeth, Othello, Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, King Lear and Timon of Athens.

His Historicals include: Richard II, Richard III, King John, Quite a lot about quite a few Henrys: Henry IV (parts 1 & 2), Henry V, Henry VI (parts 1, 2 & 3) and Henry VIII.

What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague | The New Yorker

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Shakespeare lived his entire life in the shadow of bubonic plague. On April 26, 1564, in the parish register of Holy Trinity Church, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the vicar, John Bretchgirdle, recorded the baptism of one " Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere." A few months later, in the same register, the vicar noted the death of Oliver Gunne, an apprentice weaver, and in the margins next to that entry scribbled the words " hic incipit pestis " (here begins the plague). On that occasion, the epidemic took the lives of around a fifth of the town's population. By good fortune, it spared the life of the infant William Shakespeare and his family.

Such outbreaks did not rage on forever. With the help of strict quarantines and a change in the weather, the epidemic would slowly wane, as it did in Stratford, and life would resume its normal course. But, after an interval of a few years, in cities and towns throughout the realm, the plague would return. It generally appeared on the scene with little or no warning, and it was terrifyingly contagious. Victims would awaken with fever and chills. A feeling of extreme weakness or exhaustion would give way to diarrhea, vomiting, bleeding from the mouth, nose, or rectum, and telltale buboes, or swollen lymph nodes, in the groin or armpit. Death, often in great agony, would almost inevitably follow.

Innumerable preventive measures were proposed, most of which were useless-or, in the case of the killing of dogs and cats, worse than useless, since the disease was in fact spread by rat-borne fleas. The smoke of dried rosemary, frankincense, or bay leaves burning in a chafing dish was thought to help clear the air of infection, and, if those ingredients were not readily available, physicians recommended burning old shoes. In the streets, people walked about sniffing oranges stuffed with cloves. Pressed firmly enough against the nose, perhaps these functioned as a kind of mask.

It was early recognized that the rate of infection was far higher in densely populated cities than in the country; those with the means to do so escaped to rural retreats, though they often brought infection with them. Civic officials, realizing that crowds heightened contagion, took measures to institute what we now call social distancing. Collecting data from parish registers, they carefully tracked weekly plague-related deaths. When those deaths surpassed thirty, they banned assemblies, feasts, archery contests, and other forms of mass gathering. Since it was believed that it was impossible to become infected during the act of worship, church services were not included in the ban, though the infected were not permitted to attend. But the public theatres in London, which routinely brought together two or three thousand people in an enclosed space, were ordered shut. It could take many months before the death rate came down sufficiently for the authorities to allow theatres to reopen.

As a shareholder and sometime actor in his playing company, as well as its principal playwright, Shakespeare had to grapple throughout his career with these repeated, economically devastating closings. There were particularly severe outbreaks of plague in 1582, 1592-93, 1603-04, 1606, and 1608-09. The theatre historian J. Leeds Barroll III, who carefully sifted through the surviving records, concluded that in the years between 1606 and 1610-the period in which Shakespeare wrote and produced some of his greatest plays, from "Macbeth" and "Antony and Cleopatra" to "The Winter's Tale" and "The Tempest"-the London playhouses were not likely to have been open for more than a total of nine months.

It is all the more striking, then, that in his plays and poems Shakespeare almost never directly represents the plague. He did not write anything remotely like, let alone as powerful as, his contemporary Thomas Nashe's haunting "A Litany in Time of Plague":

Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

In Shakespeare, epidemic disease is present for the most part as a steady, low-level undertone, surfacing in his characters' speeches most vividly in metaphorical expressions of rage and disgust. Mortally wounded in the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues, Mercutio calls down "A plague on both your houses." "Thou art a boil," Lear tells his daughter Goneril, "A plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle / In my corrupted blood." "Here's gold," the misanthropic Timon of Athens offers his visitor. "Be as a planetary plague, when Jove / Will o'er some high-viced city hang his poison / In the sick air." "All the contagion of the south light on you / You shames of Rome," Coriolanus spits at the plebeians:

You herd of-Boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er, that you may be abhorred
Farther than seen, and one infect another
Against the wind a mile!

Plague constantly appears throughout Shakespeare's works in the form of everyday exclamations: "a plague upon it when thieves cannot be true to one another"; "a plague of sighing and grief! It blows a man up like a bladder"; "a plague upon this howling"; "a plague of these pickle-herring!" But this is a sign less of existential horror than of deep familiarity, the acceptance of plague as an inescapable feature of ordinary life. As such, it can be turned to comic effect, as when Beatrice mocks what it is to be befriended by Benedict:

O Lord! He will hang upon him like a disease. He is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio. If he have caught the Benedict it will cost him a thousand pound ere 'a be cured.

It can even be used with something like cheerful resignation, as when the countess Olivia in "Twelfth Night" marvels at the speed with which she has fallen in love:

How now?
Even so quickly may one catch the plague?
Methinks I feel this youth's perfections
With an invisible and subtle stealth
To creep in at mine eyes. Well, let it be.

The contagion that continued to take so many lives has morphed into a happy image of lovesickness: "Well, let it be."

The plague as an actual event figures prominently in only one of Shakespeare's plays. Friar Laurence in "Romeo and Juliet" has asked a fellow friar to deliver a crucial message to the exiled Romeo in Mantua, informing him about the clever drug that is going to make Juliet appear to have died. In a few lines, the messenger conveys a wealth of information, far more than seems strictly necessary for the requirements of the plot:

Going to find a barefoot brother out,
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Sealed up the doors and would not let us forth,
So that my speed to Mantua there was stayed.

Franciscans, who as a discalced order went either barefoot or in sandals, were required by their rules to travel in pairs. Hence the messenger had to locate another Franciscan in Verona ("in this city") to accompany him ("one of our order, to associate me"). He found this intended companion visiting the sick, and both were therefore suspected of having been exposed to the disease. As a result, they were put into quarantine. "The searchers of the town"-that is, the public-health officers-literally locked them in by nailing the doors shut. The quarantine has evidently only just ended. Friar Laurence returns to the key question-"Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?" -and receives a dismaying answer:

I could not send it-here it is again-
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Not only did the message never reach Romeo in Mantua but the confined friar could not get anyone even to return the undelivered letter to Friar Laurence and warn him of the problem. The crucial interval of time has now been lost, and the despairing Romeo will not receive word that Juliet is not dead but only sleeping. This tangle of unfortunate circumstances leads to the suicides of both Romeo and Juliet. The plague, which is hardly represented in the play, does not cause their deaths, but the profound social disruption it brings in its wake-conveyed in the rush of seemingly irrelevant details-plays an oddly significant role. The ill-timed quarantine is an agent of the star-crossed lovers' tragic fate.

There is one passage in Shakespeare's work that vividly conveys what it must have felt like when the whole population of a city or a country fell into the iron grip of plague. It comes in "Macbeth," which was probably first performed in the spring of 1606. (In the summer of that year, the plague erupted and forced the theatres to close for seven or eight months.) Memories were still fresh of the horrendous epidemic of 1603-04, which began around the time that Elizabeth I died, and which led her successor, the Scottish King James, to delay entering London and to postpone the public festivities planned for his coronation.

Shakespeare's lines conjure up a country so traumatized that it no longer recognizes itself, where the only smiles are on the faces of those who have somehow not followed the news, and where grief is so nearly universal that it scarcely is registered:

Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be called our mother, but our grave, where nothing
But who knows nothing is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not marked; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy. The dead man's knell
Is there scarce asked for who, and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.

In Shakespeare's English, the word "modern" meant something like trivial, as when a character in "All's Well That Ends Well" muses that "They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear." "Ecstasy" meant any extreme degree of feeling, the state of being beside oneself. So, for a people afflicted by the plague, violent sorrow comes to seem a commonplace emotion, a "modern ecstasy." Extreme suffering has become so familiar that it is banal-precisely the accommodation to the recurrent epidemics that we have noted through much of Shakespeare's work.

The words, then, perfectly capture the experience of living in the inescapable presence of an epidemic disease and hearing constantly the ominous tolling of the church bells. But the strange thing about these lines from "Macbeth" is that they are not intended as a description of a country in the grip of a vicious plague. Instead, they describe a country in the grip of a vicious ruler. The character who speaks them, Ross, has been asked how Scotland fares under Macbeth, who is nominally the country's legitimate king. But everyone suspects what is the case, that he has come by his exalted position through underhand means: "I fear / Thou play'dst most foully for't."

The results have borne out the worst suspicions. In office, Macbeth has ruthlessly pursued his enemies and betrayed his friends. Egged on by his "fiend-like" wife, he will do anything to make himself feel perfectly secure-"Whole as the marble, founded as the rock." But, though he always finds people willing to carry out his criminal orders, he only ever feels more anxious: "cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears." And, under increasing pressure, calculation gives way to raw impulse, the reckless confidence that his instincts are always right: "From this moment / The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand."

Shakespeare seems to have shared Nashe's skepticism that there would ever be a medical solution to the plague-"Physic himself must fade"-and, from what we know of the science of his time, this pessimism was justified. He focussed his attention instead on a different plague, the plague of being governed by a mendacious, morally bankrupt, incompetent, blood-soaked, and ultimately self-destructive leader.

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What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague

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Shakespeare lived his entire life in the shadow of bubonic plague. On April 26, 1564, in the parish register of Holy Trinity Church, in Stratford-upon-Avon, the vicar, John Bretchgirdle, recorded the baptism of one " Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere."

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With the aim to be moved, shocked and involved in the performance, the theatre of cruelty plays with extreme actions and emotions, dance and gestures to create deeper meaning than words and to showcase a lack of control.

French poet, actor dramatist and theorist, Antonin Artaud proposed the experimental theatre project in 1931. Said to have been inspired by Balinese dancers in the 1930s, Artaud was the first to encourage theater beyond text. He proposed removing the barrier of the stage between performers and audience and producing mythic spectacles that would include verbal incantations, groans and screams, pulsating lighting effects, and oversized stage puppets and props. Artaud further believed confronting the grotesque could liberate a person from the clutches of the strict influence of the civilized. "Without an element of cruelty at the root of every spectacle, theatre is not possible."

The belief that there are no limits to how theatre can stimulate an emotion or how this can be brought about carries over and throughout the Theatre of Cruelty. Theatre of Cruelty characteristics include;

Audience Participation: where not only should the audience be engaged, they should be central to the performance. Actors should invite the audience in through interaction, while the play should use lights and sounds to draw the audience in.

Gestures and Movement: Artaud wanted actors to engage the audience with physical movements and gestures, which were often used to replace text and words. Artaud believed that assaulting one’s senses with movements and gestures (and other aspects) allowed for a greater emotional experience. In this way, combining facial expressions, lights, and sounds helps bring the audience into an experience they can get lost in.

Experimenting with space and staging: Artaud wanted to eliminate the separation of the audience by removing the stage, therefore tearing the walls down and merging the space the actors and audience were in. This was to further enhance the actor and audience relationship and in a literal sense bring them closer together.

Less of a reliance on text: focusing on a combined assault on the senses to immerse the audience in a way that would not be possible using solely, the theatre of cruelty further breaks more barriers between audience and actor.

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Developed during and in the wake of the second world war (1940s-1960s) Absurdism expresses the belief that human existence is essentially absurd thus devoid of meaning or purpose, therefore all communication and justification breaks down. As well as communication, structural norms are tossed aside to elevate the absurdism with puns, wordplay, poppycock, cliches, repetition, desmissal or denial of reality and the concepts of a "well made play". A few examples are Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano. Where logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion: silence.

key characteristics being broad comedy juxtaposed and mixed with horrific and tragic images. Such as characters forced to do meaninglessly repetitive and absurd actions in unflatteringly hopeless situations.

Though through the 60s the theatre of the absurd started to decline through being incorporated into other theatre styles and techniques.

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Aldis

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Everything we ran through on Wednesday 4th Dec

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Is the craft of controlling the evolution of a performance and can be devided into four key elements: communication, leadership, supervision, and motivation.

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One would expect an audience to be respectful and engage naturally with the performance. Respectful, polite, honest with a sense of sportsmanship. The audience should be able to be truthful without being rude or unsavory. They should also be considerate of their fellow audience members as well as the cast as it is basic etiquette to allow your fellow audience members to enjoy the show without any interruption. A good set of rules one can follow is: Arrive to the show and from the interval on time, stay quiet, turn your phone off and don't photograph or film the show, don't rattle through wrappers or packages and stay seated.

However, this differs slightly with shows such as pantomime where the cast will call upon and expect the audience to respond or even leave their seat to go up on stage. Promenade theatre is similar in how the audience isn't expected to remain seated as they are expected to walk around the performance space instead.