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Audition Times for Tuesday 22nd January.

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Audition Times for Tuesday 22nd January.

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Pick three wants and use them when performing your monologue or duologue.

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Complete all tasks for your Padlet

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Watch these videos of drama warm ups before you plan yours. Don't forget to research warm ups. You can Google 'Drama warm up activities' or 'Drama games'.

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Your teachers will make some recordings but remember, it is your responsibility to provide evidence of your work. As well as linking the footage below to your Padlet, you can also upload your own recordings. You must ask your teacher before you film anything in class.

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A You Tube link to the final performance will be included here so that you can link it to your Padlet.

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A You Tube link to the final performance will be included here so that you can link it to your Padlet.

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A You Tube link to the final evaluation discussion will be included here, as well as a copy of the audience survey, so that you can link them to your Padlet.

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A You Tube link to the final evaluation discussion will be included here, as well as a copy of the audience survey, so that you can link them to your Padlet.

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Here are research tasks set to help you, as well as other useful sources of research. You must complete all tasks and upload them to you Padlet.

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Here are research tasks set to help you, as well as other useful sources of research. You must complete all tasks and upload them to you Padlet.

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Watch the videos and pick three activities you will use in rehearsal

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Here you will find copies of all tasks set by and Neil to help you prepare your character/s. Make sure you complete them and upload them to your Padlet.

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Here you will find copies of all tasks set by and Neil to help you prepare your character/s. Make sure you complete them and upload them to your Padlet.

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Use this to help you plan your warm up and have it with you when you deliver. You must upload a copy of it to your Padlet.

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How do you go about evaluating your own work? When you're creating drama it's very important to evaluate your work as you go along. This means that you have control over its quality and can adapt and change things as necessary. You need to be honest about what works and what could be improved. Having a clear aim in mind will help you check if you are on the right track. Always consider what you're trying to achieve. If you need to write about the of creating drama, making notes as you go along will help. You will have a record of how your work developed in rehearsals.

Consider any key moments in developing the work that really shaped it or had an impact on it. These could be particular rehearsal techniques, such as to develop characters or improvised work that generated content. Don't just list what you did, explain why you did it and the it had on the direction of your work. When you're writing about the development of your work, it's a good idea to use any clear aims you have for your piece to assess your progress. For example:

We wanted to remind the audience of the emotional impact the crash had on the family so we decided to create a movement motif to represent it, a recurring physical theatre sequence. I realised this could be used effectively in transitions between the more naturalistic scenes. We experimented with performing the motif at varying speeds and with different levels of tension, such as a slow motion replay and a robotic interpretation. This ensured that the audience didn't become bored and successfully communicated how the memory of the crash is forever present in the characters' lives.

Read these two evaluations of drama development. Which one do you think is best and why?

Evaluation one

The episodic nature of our drama meant that the audience saw a lot of different characters onstage. As new characters emerged it became confusing at times so I suggested we could overcome this by adding narration. Our monologues spoke directly to the audience about the characters and announced the next scene. We used the style of Epic theatre by deliberately coming out of role and narrating. This kept the audience less emotionally involved so more able to consider why the characters behaved as they did.

Evaluation two

We added monologues for each character that worked like narration. They told the audience about our characters and were used to announce the next scene. We did this because we had a lot of characters and this helped make it clearer who we were. Coming out of role worked well.

The first evaluation is much better than the second. It identifies an issue and then explains how the problem was overcome. It also details the impact the writer's own ideas had on development of the drama. There is a clear aim in what they want the audience to feel and this is used to evaluate success. The second evaluation says what was done but gives little explanation as to why or what they were hoping to achieve. It is not enough just to say that something did or didn't work; the important thing is .

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Evaluating your own work - Writing about and evaluating theatre - GCSE Drama Revision - BBC Bitesize

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How do you go about evaluating your own work? When you're creating drama it's very important to evaluate your work as you go along. This means that you have control over its quality and can adapt and change things as necessary. You need to be honest about what works and what could be improved.

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Here are some videos for you to watch on ideas and tips for performing your monologue

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Here are some videos for you to watch on ideas and tips for performing your monologue

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Power Point to help write your evaluation. 

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Power Point to help write your evaluation. 

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Exercises to help perform your Duologue 

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Exercises to help perform your Duologue 

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Look at the list of exercises. We will explore them in class. Write down how it helped your duologue in the reflections and evaluations sheet.

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Exercises are a great way to kick-start creativity and open up actors to play, whilst also exploring the text. It removes the actors from the confines of blocking and props and allows open ended experimentation with lines and character, without the pressure of 'performing'. If you ever need to break up rehearsals, or want to shake-up an actor's performance, here are some exercises worth trying which keep things focused and free at the same time.
These exercises should help both actor and director:
Directing Exercises for Actors

T.A.S.

Towards, Away or Stay. This is a great exercise to use when first looking at a scene and gives initial insights into which character holds the power at different points. This exercise is not to be directed, just to be observed.

1) Start with the actors standing a short distance apart.
2) They can only move along a straight line, and must always be facing their scene partner. They can only move on their line.
3) With each line, they can make a choice: move towards the other actor, away from the other actor, or stay where they are.

The limited movement causes the actors to make clear choices with each line, and discover when they are on the attack, and when they are on the retreat. Which end of the room the actors end up on is a clear indication of which character has the most power in the scene.

You can also add SIT to this exercise, where an actor can tell the other actor to sit before one of their lines. This naturally happens when a character is trying to gain power or has important information to say. Again this exercise is to be observed not directed, and note any interesting interactions.

TAKE IT TO 11

Similar to Michael Chekov's VEIL exercise, what this exercise encourages is taking an emotion to an extreme to feel it in its full force. This exercise is great when an actor is stuck in a rhythm or isn't connecting with the given circumstances. Best used for short scenes or beats.

1) Give the actor a strong emotion, such as LUST, HATE, ANGER which works within the context of the scene.
2) Tell them to take that emotion to an extreme and disregard any blocking.
3) If it's not extreme enough tell them to take it further.
4) Discuss when that emotion in extreme worked and when it didn't with all actors.
5) Do the scene as normal without the blanket extremity, but incorporating any elements of it that worked.

This exercise can seem ridiculous and can often produce funny results, as the blanket emotion won't work for the whole scene, but what it does do is free the actor to commit to a big risk. More often than not, if you have given the right emotion for them to play, one or two lines will work perfectly, and it is these lines that are worth noting. This exercise will also help break an actor out of a rhythm and allow them to see another perspective on the character.

ANIMALS

This is a really fun exercise that is good to do if a rehearsal is getting stale. Although it can sound silly, it can be used for drama or comedy and again is designed to give a fresh perspective and breathe life into a scene.

1) Get the actors to consider their characters' spirit animal. If you have an idea, feel free to assign an animal to them.
2) Get the actors to spend a moment thinking about how this animal acts and moves.
3) Get the actors to do the scene, whilst channeling their characters' spirit animal. They shouldn't act like an animal, just bringing out their essence.
4) Discuss any thoughts around the exercise.

The two most famous examples of this exercise are Anthony Hopkins and Jim Carrey. In SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Hopkins played a crocodile. It didn't mean he slithered around, but it did mean he never blinked, stayed still and then struck with ferocity and extreme violence when the opportunity arrived. Jim Carrey in ACE VENTURA channeled a bird of paradise. Again it didn't mean he acted like a bird, but it did inform his walk, hairstyle and confidence.

COUNTER OBJECTIVES

This early stage exercise is great for scenes where the obstacle to the characters getting what they want is the other character on stage. Best for two hander scenes.

1) Take each actor aside separately and give two simple, but conflicting objectives. Each actor can't know the other's objective. For example, you may tell on actor to keep continuous eye contact, whilst the other you may tell to never still for more than one line. Or tell one to move a chair to one side of the room, but the other to keep it where it is.
2) Get the actors to run the scene, pursuing their individual objective.
3) Discuss the results. (They'll be interesting).

What this does is make the conflict very tangible. One person wants one thing, the other wants the opposite. The frustration which will arrive and tactics used to achieve their objective will hopefully climax as the scene climaxes. This is another exercise to observe and discuss, rather than to direct, but jump in if someone stops pursuing their given objective.

PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE

This exercise is for scenes with three or more actors. It allows investigation of who is the driving force in the scene, and who is a bystander. Or to put it another way, who has the most power and who has the least.

1) Every actor takes a turn standing right in the middle of the stage with the other actors spread evenly around them.
2) Like the TAS exercise, the other actors can only move in towards the central actor or away, but they do this regardless of whether they are addressing the actor in the centre or another actor.
3) Play the scene out with these confines.
4) Every actor in the scene takes a turn in the middle.

What this does for the actors and the director is establish who is the driving force in the scene. The most powerful character will comfortable in the middle with action revolving around them. The most passive character will notice the action revolving around them without being able to influence it.

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Directing Exercises | Directing Exercises and Games for Actors

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Exercises are a great way to kick-start creativity and open up actors to play, whilst also exploring the text. It removes the actors from the confines of blocking and props and allows open ended experimentation with lines and character, without the pressure of 'performing'.

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Fill in the boxes you may need to use some imagination

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Rehearsal Games to Explore your Duologue 

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Rehearsal Games to Explore your Duologue 

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Complete the worksheet

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Information about the National Theatre Connections Programme

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Information about the National Theatre Connections Programme

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Each year the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the UK's most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow.

Every year, 300 youth theatre companies and over 6,000 young people from every corner of the UK are producing a Connections play this year.

The National Theatre's Partner for Learning is Bank of America.

Connections is supported by The Mohn Westlake Foundation, The Buffini Chao Foundation, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Delta Air Lines, The Peter Cundill Foundation, Mactaggart Third Fund, The EBM Charitable Trust, Samantha and Richard Campbell-Breeden, Susan Miller and Byron Grote, The Broughton Family Charitable Trust and Katie Bradford.
Photograph by The Other Richard

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Each year the National Theatre commissions ten new plays for young people to perform, bringing together some of the UK's most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. Every year, 300 youth theatre companies and over 6,000 young people from every corner of the UK are producing a Connections play this year.

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We will be looking at what is expected of you to achieve the best you can in this unit.

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Research the the following for your duologue.

The playwright
What themes and issues does it look at. e.g. War, image.
If you find out hard to find something maybe you could get some clues from doing research into the play???

You could use video clips
Newspaper articles
Photos Images
Interviews with people that have been affected or experienced what your character has experienced.

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Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors. Konstantin Stanislavski

It's very easy to over-simplify the method of Konstantin Stanislavski, one of the greatest and most influential of modern theatre practitioners . The main thing to remember is that he takes the approach that the actors should really inhabit the role that they are playing. So the actor shouldn't only know what lines he needs to say and the motivation for those lines, but also every detail of that character's life offstage as well as onstage. In this way we can establish Stanislavski as a director and practitioner whose productions are naturalistic .

Stanislavski's background

Stanislavski's real name was Konstantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev but he adopted the stage name of Stanislavski in 1884. Born in 1863 to a life of considerable comfort as a member of one of the most affluent families in Russia, he died in 1938 at the age of 75. His family loved the theatre and he was able to indulge in amateur theatricals as a boy. But when he took a stage name it was to conceal his theatrical work from his family. However, in 1887 he had his father's approval and eventually became an established figure.

As a serious theatrical practitioner, he made careful notes and evaluated his work, a habit he followed from the first steps in his career. Later he was to write major texts on the art of performance:

My Life in Art

An Actor Prepares

Building a Character

Creating a Role

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Konstantin Stanislavski - Naturalism and Stanislavski - GCSE Drama Revision - BBC Bitesize

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Page 1of 9 Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors. Konstantin Stanislavski It's very easy to over-simplify the method of Konstantin Stanislavski, one of the greatest and most influential of modern theatre practitioners .

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Worksheet to help you research your monologue and duologue. 

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Worksheet to help you research your monologue and duologue. 