-_dRamA GAmEs_-

so, today was the day of all days.. not really.. sounded dramatic though.. :D
Played our fabulous drama grames -
yes, all hail the insane pop murderer!!
in the manner of the word - highlights were definately lewis passionately mopping the floor and erin flirtatiously having a shower.. we were on the floor yet again with laughter..
3 objects game - sorry, dont remember the game name! where the best one was having the stickypads as a naked flame, the tisse box as a fire extinguisher, and the cookie container as petrol.. yep.. we all died..
and space jump.. my god that was the funniest thing ive ever seen and done.. kirri as a puffer fish and molly as a gorilla who wants to be on australian idol.. fantastic :D
finally, the singing game.. one group had old style chanting.. but my group had power metal style.. theme of dry chewing gum.. kate and i sliding across the floor and playing our guitars lying down.. ha ha bloody ripper that one!
born natural performers .. at times anyway!
xox

*A GAY OLD TIME*

yes ladies and gents, we have performed..
angus and matt were amazing - gus especially.. a brilliant prime minister :D and compliments to matt for learing a part in something ridiculous like three days.
shelly was awesome too - i loved what she picked out as her characters clothes - go the bandanna, and i think that really showed teh audience what she wanted to get across about her character. kirris costume was awesome too! facial makeup worked really well with the fake beard.
I didnt think - well actually i know i didnt do well. to begin with i was away all that day - turns out i had a chest infection - so i had to perform jacked up on asthma meds and antibiotics - wich wasnt fun at all.. but on with the show right?
i had to learn alicias part in a day? yea a day. so funnily enough, i remembered her part better than my own reporters... i completely screwed up the first scene - forgot my lines..
i was really mad at myself for that because i have never had stage fright before - and i can normally hide the fact that i have forgoten lines - but.. well i was sick. and freaked about playing two chracters - one which i didnt know very much about!
so there you go ms mace! maybet hat will explain it for you!
i did however get the lst scene dead on.. yey for me..
im just glad is over.
xx

..all hail the amazing writer..

i have solved our problem!
basically one of the biggest problem in our group was that noone could remember what the group had decided - and there was a lack of morale.. noone seemed to want to work which made it hard for those who did. who wanted this play to succeed. so.. myself - with the help of gus wrote a 7 page script.
this definately helped - and we ended up doing more work in a day then we had for the last four weeks.. ironic.. sad really.
but im glad that it had that effect - i feel much better about our performance now that we all have defined parts - and everyone can focus on their own character - rather than the building of the performance.
i perosnally found writing the script really easy! thoughts, puns, and general funny ideas came to me, and i could hardly write them down fast enough before another popped into my head!
this felt really good that i discovered i could do this - i have never written a script before, so i hope everyone likes it.

..Group production..

just a quick update on the going ons of the production "a gay old time..."
starting to freak out - my group just doesnt work well together and we dont seem to be getting anywhere!!
basically we have too many ideas - and so each lesson is spent debating which would be the best idea to use - instead of progressing and developing one idea. it is frustrating - because i can see we have the ability to be a good group - but it will take a while to get there. a while which we dont have.
2 weeks to go!! eep!
xx

--baby in the holidays--

so ladies and gents - its the holidays - well actually its week 6 but thats all been explained :D
the whole point of going in during the holidays was to work on our group production - where myself, angus, matt l, kirri, alicia, and shelly would concoct the brilliant subject of "a gay old time.." but only myself and shelly rocked up..
however this time was not wasted as shelly and myself were able to build characters - not yet known if they were to be our own. we created a past, present and future for the characters maureen mackavoy (reporter) and for the prime minister of australia. no pun intended.
we used the steps which kane so willingly "taught" us.. using super objectives, objectives, secrets, givens, etc. to give depth to each character.
thankyou to kane for making all of us mature, sensible and all rounded grown up drama students errupt into fits of laughter over the word titalte. cheers kane :D

yey, this works!!

so viewers, it has been quite a while, thanks to this newfangled technology.. so ill just copy down everything that ive written the old fashioned way.. you know.. with a pen and paper.. ancient stuff..

weeks 9 and 10.. maskwork.

maskwork was probably one of my weak point in being able to keep charactet -as the masks were quite stuffy - claustrophobia! - and there were a few moments of freaking out which obviously meant going out of character.

i actually got annoyed at myself for freaking out - i wanted to experience this wierd world properly but really, was unable to do so. however, the general effect of the mask made me feel alien - having to focus on my movement as opposed to facial expressions. i still felt myself making faces behind the mask! but i was aware of my body to a greater extent. every movement made was made for a reason, and i think that was the point that ms mace was trying to get across?!

this body work led to ideas for our group production.. which shall be continued in the next post..

xx

hand puppets

it is amazing to think that our hands have a life of their own. but seriously - they do! Without looking at them, they can show all elements of emotions and feelings. Without the use of facial expression, it is indeed hard to show an emotion by only using your hand, but there are some that are easier to convey.

anger - use tension and a claw like spread of fingers. by pretending to hold something, the tension within the muscles is really obvious.

forgiving- an open hand - palm upwards, perhaps the index finger is prominant over the other fingers.

demanding - index finger pointing outwards, the rest curled under in a semi fist.

miming is another way to use hand puppetry, and the white gloves are the highlight of the show.. amazing huh?

xx

..movement...

about a week ago now, my class was given some fabulous sci fi creepy haunting music.. and basically we had to create a movement piece involving teh music somehow.

Glen, joanne and myself decided on the following to create our piece..

storyline: mad scientist (glen) is messing about with his potions and generally following his dream of eradicating the human race.. the elements of his creation (jo and i) start of very airy fairy, coming in on either side of him - very mystical not quite sure as to what we are going to turn out as..

then the music changes and jo and i crouch down and become one.. one giant thing that glen can no longer control.. and we - as one - in synchronised moves - begin to hunt him.

In the end creation triumphs over master, showing the audience.. basically.. dont mess with the human race... bad. very bad!

im really enjoying movement, theres a certain aspect of freedom involved and a masquarade.. you are not yourself, you are not even human. you are a being, and all you wish to do is to express yourself and your emotions.

fun!

cheerio

xx

Play Building...

lo all.. been a while i know..
right. the illusive art of play building.. according to http://www.hartbeatensemble.org/HartBeat/Hip%20Hop%20Theater.html , when building a play.. without a script, improv does come into it..
1. a "burning issue" has to be decided on.
2. then the general action of the play begins to develop,
3. the group then focuses on the visual, vocal and physical world in which the characters live. basically this means deciding on the who, when, where, why and how. all of these elements are mandatory for a good play. each actor should then be able to grasp their character on these key facts.
4. Dialogue is the last element added to this process.
All of these can ultimately be driven by rhythm, movement and poetry.
This is drama baby
cheerio xx

...Make up for all...

You need some make up on darling..

today..well actually not today, a few days ago now.. but hey im lazy.. we discussed make up and its effects under different lighting.

With the use of make up you can: Age a person, define their character, create different elements of culture, or completely transform someone by using the technique of "fantastic." No, not "THATS FANTASTIC!!" but radical who are you type of makeup.

When under a light on stage your face dissappears. Well, it becomes a blurr - hence the need to highlight and define your features. A base is always needed, highlighting the eyes, lips and cheeks is also a must. That is, if you want to be seen... i mean you could just want to dissappear... to which i would say what ae you doing acting???

Lines are good for defining and aging a character: horizontal lines widen, while vertical lengthens. Oh, and check this out..

<--------> >--------<> is longer and >--<>

cheerio xx

-_Horrah for walking signs_-

Today.. publicity. We went through purpose of publicity - clearly to:

• advertise
• promote
• create a cash flow with profits
• inform
• and my personal favourtie - to share your creativity and ideas with the world.
  

We discussed the many MANY forms of publicity..whcih began with the usual boring types.. posters, flyers radio and tv ads... then it got a bit silly..
sky writing, blimp messages, sky diving formations, crop cutting, and again, my personal favourite..
THE WALKING SIGN!!! WOO!! i salute anyone who does that for a living.
of course, there are certain types of publicity that are suited to specific things.. aka theatre..
basic rules for putting up a sign - eye level, catchy and.. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!
xx

-->Y B BLUE<--

....Costume Design....

i would just like to point out that my wig wasnt as bad (or fabulous) as this one opposite..
well then... as you all know, well im assuming maybe some random person is reading this (hi if you are!!) we covered costume design today... what do costumes bring or add to the performance?

• Highlights the kind of character to allow the audience to place the character in the story
• Adds another dimension to the character
• Shows an element of their inner-self "outwardly"
• Helps actors get into a role
• Brecht uses stepping into role through the use of costume
• Defining status (for example.. a poor character would wear rags..

So.. using this information and our brilliant minds each of us were given an item of costuming and we had to create a character around that. i myself was given a fabulous mullet wig.. which instantly made me think of chopper.. otherwise the stereotypical aussie bloke wearing a navy wife beater, stubbies, beer in one hand, ciggie in the other.. perched on the sunken couch watching either the cricket or the footy.. depending on the season. Beer perched on the beer belly.. like a pergnant woman.. prickly unshaven face and overweight, my man had to stagger everywhere - couldn't rush because his weight would pull him downwards.. a true bogan ey.. good fun, molly couldnt stop laughing at me (gee thanks molly for makig me feel dero!! :D) The whole costume thing really works for me, it makes it so much easier to dechiper a character and everything just clicks. Horrah for bogans xx

Lizzy Dawkins

I am extremely tempted to launch into the tale of miss elizabeth bennet and the incomprable mr. darcy, as this dress reminds me of her but hardly anyone will get it so ill just make up my own!! by the way.. does anyone know if it is possible to add audio to these entries?? would make the whole posh accent thing really work..

Lizzy Dawkins was born in 1830, into one of the wealthiest families in the county. A true elizabethian woman, lizzy was beautifully dressed on all occassions, this gown being amongst her favourite.
Lizzy was seen by all outside her home as the typical upper class woman - snotty and rude, only speaking to those she deemed worthy. Constantly being swooned by admirers, lizzy adopted a certain arrogance about her when she was out, so that only those who truely cared would persist.
However, this was an act forced upon her by hours of training by her horrible step mother. The mother wanted lizzy to marry into a wealthy family so that she would reep the rewards.
Lizzy herself was actually a true beauty - inside and out. She was truely quiet and shy when at home, but longed for freedom from the restraints of social expectantions. She wanted to ride horses "like a man" run wild and marry the poor blacksmith whom she secretly loved passionately.
Ironic really, as her delicate skin had never seen the likes of hard labour. Her shiny wavy black hair had never been covered with soot and her piercing sky blue eyes had never experienced and seen a poor mans world. despite this, she had a fire inside her, that her step-mother desperately wanted to squash.
One day, however, the fire will escape and lizzy will beon her way to freedom, alongside her ture love, the blacksmith.

Directorial Concept

So.. what exactly is directorial concept??
dont worry, i didnt have a clue until today's lesson so youre alone in feeling thoroughly ignorant : )
It:

• Makes the play unique
• Defines parameters for other back stage roles
• Explore the style
• Outlines the theme
• And is the foundation for all other decisions

However, all these fancy words failed to sink into my brain, and so we decided to use 'visual aids' to help the learning process..
By taking a fairy tale ( the hare and the rabbit for example, and not "the rabbit and the hare" or "the lion and the hare") and deciding what were the main themes within the tale..
eg. slow and steady wins the race, or superiority, or, as we used.."karma will get those people who are up themselves."
By taking the fairy tale and changing it so that it was our own - adapting the story to suit us, we created an improv. basketball game scene where a single player wanted all the glory, and ended up breaking their ankle - leaving the "weaker player" to win the game.
This also highlights the faith that all players should hold regarding their teamates.
its a team effort people!
xx

what makes me.. me :)

Hi all :)
wowee, we survived the first week of senior! go us!! i just thought id write a bit about myself.. favourite topic and all..
my name is lauren kate taylor, but people call me loz.. no idea why but thats the way it is!!
am a complete music nut.. love anything rock, alternative, acoustic, gospel and celtic.. thinkt hat covers just about everything.. utlimate festival to go to would be falls festival in lorne, victoria.. describe myself as a cross between punk and a hippie..
if i had my way the schools uniform would be tyedyed cheesecloth..
i love drama! no really!
ive been dancing around the living room with ridiculous costumes on since i was little, and now i can do it in public :D actually i broke my foot because of it... good one loz..
i hope you all have a fabulous year and enjoy all the craziness that comes with drama and acting.
enjoy xx