Comparison table task

 

The Tempest

Staging
Our stage for The Tempest was set up in the 'thrust' style which is when the audience is set up on 3 sides like so.

AudienceOur audience just consisted of our classmates who were also in the performance so there wasn't a large capacity.
Production valuesProps:there weren't many props used, we used chairs on stage, a gun and a bottle of some sort of alcohol. Costumes: My costume was made up of a grey blazer, a grey hat, a bandana, white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Sound: In the opening sequence we used a peice of music by skrillex to add the effect and all changed dynamically when the line "oh my god" was screamed in the music. This peice of music was used again in a section with Medea speaking to the people on the floor.
Lighting: To show that there is a storm, we used blue flashing lights to symbolize lightning and also purple flashing lights for the section with Meda speaking to the people on the floor.
Political significanceConflict in scenes between different characters. Caliban seen as a black man and used as a slave.
Cultural significanceOur production of The Tempest was certainly not typical of original and other Shakespearean plays because we modernized it by adding modern music to make more affect to the scenes. Our costumes as well weren't typical for a Shakespearean play because in the Elizabethan times their clothing was very different to what we wear now. However, we could have bought/hired Elizabethan costumes had we wanted to make our play more typical of the original play of The Tempest.

This is a picture from a performance of The Tempest in it's original form.
Social significance

Modern Shakespeare

Staging

Audience
Production values
Political significance
Cultural significance
Social significance

 

Medea 5th Century BC, Greece

Staging- Ampitheatre seating 5000 with a round orchestra.

Audience
Production values
Political significance
Cultural significance
Social significance

 

Modern Greek Theatre(Our Medea)

Staging- Studio theatre with 130 seats in triangle shape.

Audience
Production values
Political significance
Cultural significance
Social significance

05/11/2013

Our lesson began with two games that developed our chorus work which both included communication without speaking and also focus. The first game was called 'Walk around stop' and the aim of the game is in the name really. Individually we all walked around the space avoiding to bump into one another by moving in straight lines. There's a ranking of walking speed from 0-5(0 meaning STOP and 5 being the fastest) and without speaking we had to all walk at the same speed from 0-5 and 5-0 in sync.
Afterwards we played 'School of fish' which is a choral technique where you have a group of people and together all move forward in the same direction and at the same speed. This effect looks really good from a birds eye view and quite coincidentally looks like a 'school of fish' in the sea.

In the second half of the lesson we refreshed our brains on what we worked on in the last lesson. We went back into our groups which we were to choreograph movements for the opening sequence of the nurse's speech. As a group we had to teach our movements to the entire class. Everyone showed the class what they had to put into this section and through this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaY-xLMlaCI&sns=em you can see what the piece looks like so far. In this run through we applied the chorus game exercises to this peice because it's a chorus peice. The games were exercises for individuals and an entire group and in the opening sequence of the boat and all the Medeas the focus is on everyone on stage and spotlights Medea.

Tempest - classical theatre unit

The Tempest: review on my performance

My character was Trinculo - A consistently drunken jester, who is a servant of Alonso's, and brought ashore in the shipwreck. He is a dull fool mostly, not capable of any real action, and providing a good deal of comic relief.

My costume - grey hat, grey blazer, blue bandana scarf, white t-shirt and blue jeans.
At first I tried this on as a joke but Adrian said it'd look good and suit my character so that was the inspiration for my costume.

In the early stages of rehearsing the scenes I couldn't find a voice for me to develop for my character. Adrian suggested I take up a high pitched voice due to my character being a comical one. The effect of the high pitched voice makes it funny because it's unusual for a grown man to have a high pitched voice. This decision paid off well as it got a handful of laughs from the audience(students in our class).
After watching the performance back over on video, I noticed that my speech wasn't always clear. I feel that because I was having to speak in a high pitched voice it caused me to speed up the tempo when I was speaking. I do feel that it's something that I must improve but I'll work on it. 

I felt that my strongest scene was in my second scene where Ariel interferes in a conversation between Stephano and Caliban and she pops up, unseen, and says "thou liest" towards Calliban and they both think that Trinculo is saying these words and so he is getting blamed. In this scene I think my characterization was much greater because my movement and speaking was clear rather than my first scene, there's also a little bit of physical theatre, when I throw my chair and Maisie(Stephano) kneed me in the ribs.

I feel my overall performance was well done as I done what I was asked to do though I could improve on my tone of voice.

Theatre time - line

534 BC - Drama AS competition

550-630 BC - Greek Theatre

900-1500 - Mystery plays and morality plays

1500-1700 - Comedia dell'arte/Satire/Slapstick

1550-1642 - Revenge tragedy and Elizabethan theatre

1642-1660 - Puritans ban theatre

1660-1800 - Restoration comedy

1800-1880 - Melodrama

1880-1940 - Realism/Naturalism

1952-1965 - Theatre of the absurd

1976 - National theatre opens

Elizabethan theatre

There was the nobility/gentry and the lower classes. However, many merchants and town folk were becoming so wealthy via trade and services that they could ape the manners of the upper class and enjoy many of the same luxuries.

Elizabethans were very superstitious and attracted to the fanciful and the occult. Charms and amulets were often worn. Signs and omens were taken seriously. Anything out of the ordinary could be taken as an omen - it was bad luck to hear a toad croak or an owl hoot. Many things could signal on impending death, like blood dripping three times from a nose, a red or bloody moon. Remedies were often based on folk tradition - tumors could be removed by stroking with a corpse's hand. Feeding on snakes could restore your youth.

Both public and private schools were becoming more and more available for the lower classes and those who could not afford private tutors.

In cities and towns, homes were usually built of timber and plaster. The merchant's shop was in the front part of the house on the ground level, rooms opened into one another and weren't the modern conventions of doors opening on a hallway.

Elizabethan folk loved a good festival. There were regular fairs called ales, at which ale (the staple beverage of the time) was consumed heavily.
Elizabethan folk also loved group sports such as football. Elizabethan's also loved music, both instrumental and vocal, and dancing. The higher orders and those trying to imitate them like upper middle class were fond of Italian and French dances.

Elizabethan plays:
-Hamlet
-Macbeth
-The Tempest
-King John
-Richard II
-The Spanish Tragedy
-The Jew of Malta