After opening ten years ago Homunculus Theatre Group has been focused in providing workshops and shows for todays youth. Assisi Catholic College’s drama class got to experience their Commedia dell'Arte workshop they also performed “spirit of the mask”, which was a modernized version of the classic Commedia Theater.
During the performance Clint Bolster and Ben Cornfoot showed us many different examples and elements of the Commedia characters, which both engaged and entertained the audience. All of which was enhanced with elements from the physical theater genre. This was shown during the scene when there were two Capitano characters, because Capitano is someone who always boasts about his greatness but in reality a giant coward. Enhanced the scene when the two characters were about to fight, but during the dramatic tension their movement was forward and back as of if they were trying to start a fight, which also raised the tension of the scene however due to the characters having a the personality of a coward they both ran away from the fight.
After that they gave us an example of t...
Cosi uses a wide range of Dramatic elements, all through-out the play. This play particularly highlights The Tension, the Role and the way the characters portray their selves on stage. The use of these techniques allows the audience to accept more readily the intent of the play. It draws everyone into a world, that in many ways is foreign to us, but the human interaction, with the characters, makes it seem more real.
...ition to costume, language and dialogue is what fixes the atmosphere and the action. In a manner very similar to Shakespeare, Calderón weaves description of the scene and of what is occurring into the main thrust of the play. In this sense, he is more than a poet, he is a dramatic craftsman who predominantly through his verse alone, creates a drama in its own right. All the clues to the plot and its themes lie in the text; the use of staging, costume, music and props can be used to enhance what lies in the script. What they give to the play is a fuller and more entertaining dramatic production. Thus, if used sensitively and intelligently by a director, these factors can increase the dramatic power of the work. The primary focus, however, remains the language, which relies on a high standard of acting in order to do justice to the subtleties of the play.
As the play opens, there is much merrymaking and festivity in preparation for the play. The sheer happiness of all of the colorful characters is transferred to the reader almost instantly. The mood is portrayed very well as being light and bubbly, an overall good feeling. The next major shift comes when Cyrano enters and, after riding himself of Montfleury, puts on the spectacle wherein he demonstrates not only his impeccable verbal dexterity, but also his fencing abilities - and both at the same time. This whole scene causes a strong reaction from the audience, and in turn, the re...
” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21.
The dynamics were played out excellently by the use of unity of time, place, and action. The climate was heated and so too were the members of the jury as the story progressed. The characters grew to understand each other and the audience learns more and more about the individuals. Perhaps, the motive for that said characters verdict or backstory on the matter. A few characters were highly stereotypical and the actors did a worthy job in portrayed them as accurately as possible. For such a short production, it was an extremely elaborate one. The absence of an intermission also played an important role in keeping the audience submerged in the action. The use of the thrust stage made the acting and situation feel more real. The message was powerful and received well by the audience.
The playwright provides many aspects to create a play and to make it interesting. The actions and dialogue the characters make must be fluid and have a purpose. The playwright entices the audience with the different aspects to captivate their attention and keep it throughout the play. In The Illusion, Tony Kushner provides vivid details of the characters’ actions through dialogue. The actions characters perform absorbs the audience’s attention and leaves them wanting to see more of what will happen next to the characters. Although all aspects provided by the playwright are essential, action is the most riveting.
Galens, David, and Lynn M. Spampinato, eds. Drama for Students. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print.
When a play is presented on film, the director takes the script, and with poetic license, interprets it. A film not only contains the actual words of the author (in this case Shakespeare), but it includes action, acting, and cinematographic techniques; the three are used to better portray the author’s story. Using these elements, the director’s interpretation of the plot is reinforced. The film provides symbolic images and a visual interpretation, hence Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” is better understood by the viewers.
Lazarus, Joan. "On the Verge of Change: New Directions in Secondary Theatre Education." Applied Theatre Research 3.2 (July 2015): 149-161. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1386/atr.3.2.149_1.
Director Adam Burke was born and raised from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went on to get his Bachelors of Fine Art from the University and Arizona and his Masters of Fine Arts from Northwestern University in Theater Directing. Adam was the founding artistic director at Chicago Theatre for Young Audiences. In addition, he received a national Theatre Communications Group New Generations Fellowship; with this fellowship he spent two more years as an artistic associate at a local professional theater—Childsplay. Adam Burke had been living in San Antonio for the past five years until his move to Charlotte last June. He worked as an assistant professor in the theater department at St. Mary’s University. Additionally, he is the artistic director of the Scioto Society, which produces the drama “Tecumseh,” in Chillicothe, Ohio. Burke is currently working as the artistic director at the Charlotte Children’s Theater. Recently, our class had the tremendous opportunity to interview Mr. Burke with questions relating to his process in directing.
Technical Theatre class was a great learning experience for me. When I first signed up for the class, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I had always been quite clumsy, and I’d never been very handy; so I didn’t think I would be of much use to the set building process. However, before the building process began, the class was taught how to properly and safely use power tools. Being educated on how to handle the equipment made me feel a lot more confident. Now, I’m proud of myself because I ended up getting a lot of work done that I didn’t think I was capable of.
Applied Theatre work includes Theatre-in-Education, Community and Team-building, Conflict Resolution, and Political theatre, to name just a few of its uses. However, Christopher Balme states that “Grotowski define acting as a communicative process with spectators and not just as a production problem of the actor” (Balme, 2008: 25). Applied Theatre practices may adopt the following “theatrical transactions that involve participants in different participative relationships” such as Theatre for a community, Theatre with a community and Theatre by a community Prentki & Preston (2009: 10). Whereas, applied theatre one of its most major powers is that it gives voice to the voiceless and it is a theatre for, by, and with the people. However, Applied Theatre practitioners are devising educational and entertaining performances bringing personal stories to life and build
...onal connection. The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht is a perfect example of the conventions Epic theatre uses to alienate the audience form emotion connection in order to allow an objective viewing of the themes and issue presented. These being ones of social order: is the social structure and legal systems providing fair and just rulings and procedures? By examination of Post World War Two damages we see the effects of war then as a result consciously attempt to prevent it and change our situation. This is an effective way of challenging and informing the contemporary audience as it is visual and audibly dynamic as well as informative, the medium of live theatre is intense and it allows audience members to ascertain meaning together. This sparks discussion which will lead to the individual assessing and attempting to change the way in which society works.
Theatre serves to reflect society. From Shakespeare to Sophocles, a playwright’s work illustrates the different mechanics within a culture or time period or society. Theatre offers viewers the experience of taking a step back and looking in on themselves. In this way, theatre is a mirror for the world and the way it functions.
The point of this essay was to illustrate the key concepts of the Performance Theory, to show how to understand them and apply them on the actual performances and actions. I think that the most important thing to elucidate is that „everything around us is a performance.“ So after all, everybody is a performer and an actor in their own way. And life is a performance.