Raoul

• Parisian circus performer/dancer/comedian/physical performer
• Beautiful set, huge, dusty and full of sheets and metal bars. Old furniture.
• Minimalistic - used lights and didn't use tools, climbed on whatever
• Animals - fish, shrimp, jellyfish, woolly mammoth, these were very endearing (the fact that they were silent and remained expressionless helped, as if they were wearing masks. Exaggerated their physicality. The actors operating them had the job of moving something inanimate to give it a personality and character)
• Raoul was very funny, in a magical circus way, extremely comfortable with his body, moved quickly
• Shifted between slow and fast - like the slow motion fighting with himself, seemed to make him more than a body, as if he was placing special effects on himself
• Used some of the furniture and bric-a-brac - like the metal bin, the metal spoons, pan etc, the gramophone, the curtains
• The general idea was that he was a lovable fool, and his actions were motivated by trying to achieve some goal he generally would not achieve. 

Treacle-cutting

Interesting phrase - desentimentalising a scene or an issue through comedy
e.g. making fun of tragedy, crime, poverty, painful issues, 'stiff upper lip'
Very present in Beautiful Thing and English humour in general, such as Music Hall

Dido and Aeneas notes

small things don't matter as long as you tell the story
repetitive gestures and spatial awareness
noticed how audience could notice small problems
became more aware of good facial expressions in chorus
dancers could have used hands more to be synchronised
gestures help audience understand what singers are saying
singing opera songs for the first time in a show made me breathless from nerves which made it more difficult but acting came easily and i wasn't nervous about that
generally much less nervous than for a non-musical play
umbrellas and flags were very visually attractive
details are important in a minimalistic stage
consider every part of your body
take a show day by day, do not worry about the final product

The Price - Arthur Miller

I recently was lucky enough to be taken to see Miller's The Price or O Preço, as it was in Portuguese. It was perhaps the best play I've ever seen. The most striking thing for me was the set. The stage is unorthodox in that it is very large and shows great depth, but away from the audience instead of being wide and frontally shallow. The set was filled with beautiful pieces of old furniture and knick-knacks, some enormous, some little. It was such an attractive set that I was immediately intrigued. The actors were very good, taking on their characters splendidly. The best was the policeman who acted in such a policeman-like way. Can't really explain how but he was so much his character. The actors spoke very clearly and projected beautifully while managing to remain naturalistic so even when they were angry I could understand everything. I was impressed as Portuguese is a second language to me and I don't usually understand fast-paced conversations. My acid test would probably be the old man at the back of the room, measuring and labelling things during the arguments and drama downstage. He moved so slowly you barely noticed him moving at all.

Dramaturgy

Interviews with dramaturgs:

What is the biggest misconception you've encountered surrounding your profession?

NE:  I suppose one of the biggest misconceptions (and one that I have a particular dislike for) is that dramaturgs are glorified assistant directors. We are not. We have our own distinction, our own training, our own field; we focus on plays as literature and have expertise in the following:

1. placing plays into their historical context (by compiling and distributing succinct background research to actors and creative teams),

2. aiding in the development process of new plays (by working with writers to reshape their work and with directors to honorably interpret that work),

3. communicating about plays to audiences and other theatre patrons (through writing newsletter articles, hosting talkbacks, interviewing playwrights for donor events; etc), 

4. serving as a sounding board for directors and writers and as a representative of the writer (by offering feedback to directors on the production before the audience arrives). 

I like to think of myself as a midwife in the birthing process of a play, a right-hand woman to a playwright, a third eye in rehearsal.

What was your role, specifically, as a Dramaturg?

J.A: In the beginning I think one of my integral roles was to help choose the three Phaedras that we were going to perform. One Year Lease is dedicated to performing classic texts. Classic for us is defined as a play that is necessary, durable, and urgent. One of the beauties of this project was to actually perform our mission statement. To chose three texts that spoke to each other and to the fact that they have been interpreted and performed by playwrights from different eras, cultures and values. These three plays in particular spoke to the breadth of the Phaedra myth and to our definition of classic.

In terms of my role during the actual rehearsals and production, I felt that for this project what was of the utmost importance was for me to go back to the myth and provide a solid background of who these characters are (where they come from, how they are related to each other) to our actors. As well I believed it was integral to give them a background of the cultural climate that the myth and the adaptations of the myth sprang from.

The same actors played the roles of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and Theseus in a nightly succession. While the roles of the myth slightly deviated for our other three actors (Oenone/Nonny/Strophe) (Aricia/Strophe) (Theremene/Angus/Priest) all of our actors had three plays in their heads at once. Whatever I could do to provide them with any information that would help make each of their characters clear and distinct was the integral job that I had as dramaturg. 

First dramaturg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is widely considered to be the world's first ever dramaturg. Born on 22 January 1979, in Saxony, Germany. he worked for 3 years as a dramaturg in the Hamburg National Theatre. 

Some more research

The job requirements of dramaturg, according to the Dramaturg's UK Network, can consist of:

Reading plays, Translating or Re-translating plays, Encouraging new writing, Devising new work, Adapting, Analysing, Editing and Cutting, Research, Advice, Assisting, Compiling the Programme.

Brechtian styles of performance - Research

Brecht's acting theories:

Epic theatre

Brecht's view is that actor should not impersonate, but narrate actions of another person, as if quoting facial gesture and movement. The actor is free to comment on what he shows, either obviously or by implied comment. He can show how he forsees where the character's actions will lead.

The actor must be relaxed and not tense, Brecht was opposed to frenetic and uncontrollable intensity on stage, the actor is always in control of his emotions.

He is aware of the presence of the audience, and all this means he is communicating his thoughts on the character with the audience, and they develop their own thoughts on the character's actions, allows for self-reflection and critical view of the stage. An actor becoming a character in the style of Stanislavsky will make the audience believe he is the character, and they will enter into the world of the play. Brecht opposes this, and forces the audience to regard the play as the actor is, from an objective point of view.

Verfremdungseffekt - the defamiliarisation effect

It is “stripping the event of its self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity about them” - Brecht

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." Supports the defamiliarisation effect, Brecht believed in shaping and twisting reality for the audience with his plays.

French playwright Jean Genet in a letter to director Roger Blin advises an epic theatre approach: "Each scene, and each section within a scene, must be perfected and played as rigorously and with as much discipline as if it were a short play, complete in itself. Without any smudges. And without there being the slightest suggestion that another scene, or section within a scene, is to follow those that have gone before."

Gestus

The uncovering or revealing of the motivations and transactions that underpin a dramatic exchange between the characters; and second, the "epic" narration of that character by the actor (whether explicitly or implicitly).
A Gestus makes visible a character's social relations and the causality of his behaviour
"For it is what happens between people," Brecht insists, "that provides them with all the material that they can discuss, criticize, alter."
"The choice of viewpoint is also a major element of the actor's art, and it has to be decided outside the theatre" Brecht explains in his "A Short Organum."

http://www.actorhub.co.uk/266/bertolt-brecht
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/drama/brecht.htm#13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestus

Performance Studies - R. Schechner. Chapter 6 - Performance.

Notes, quotes and ideas:

• 'Performance', according to Schechner, and lots of other people, means a lot more as a word than what most people think.
• Acting is a sub-category of performance. Other categories are roles, ways of being (which in turn poses the question, are moods and even personalities types of performance?)
• "some people work hard at performing oneself" - it takes work even to develop your own character, let alone a new character on stage. Being 'yourself' is described as a performance.
• Surveillance cameras everywhere have made us evolve into being more self-conscious, and natural performers. We seek attention more than our predecessors, and feel the need to be impressive and "on" all the time. 
• Schechner: "The more self-conscious a person is, the more one constructs behaviour for those watching and/or listening, the more such behaviour is 'performing'." - Because we are more self-conscious our 'natural' behaviours are not in fact natural, but performances. 
• Surveillance Camera Players make fun of this, putting on silent plays in front of cameras as a protest.
• Performance is a spectrum, like colours, the different categories blend into each other, and there are no fixed boundaries separating them. Roles mix into rituals, the sacred into the secular.
• Rock concerts are a performance than involve the audience to a massive extent. The audience has the opportunity to become something else, to perform themselves. They scream and shout and jump and if the performer is good he will interact with the audience and excite them more. The audience can feel free and uninhibited in such a large crowd, and be able to assume a new character - free and loud. They can put on their own performance.
• Schechner: "The minimalist actor simply performs certain actions that are received as acting by spectators because of context. By contrast, in total acting, the "other" is so powerful it takes over or possesses the performer."
• The scale: Non-acting to acting. 5 steps there.

1. nonmatrixed performing - being onstage but not acting (stagehands, eg kabuki)
2. symbolised matrix - the performer perfoms actions belonging to a character while still being themself
3. received acting - onstage behaviour where no character is developed (eg extras, non-speaking roles)
4. simple acting - a performer simulating speech and behaviour of a character
5. complex acting - performer's physical, mental and emotional capability involved in portraying the character

• Michael Kirby: "Acting may be said to exist in the smallest and simplest action that involves pretense."
• Again, emphasised that it is a spectrum, the scale does not suggest values, all types of performance have "good" aspects, and depending on personal taste and culture, and a number of other factors, some may be preferred.
• Realistic acting assumes that the emotions of the characters are like those of "real people". These are easily recognisable to the audience, very common, used widely in films and television.
• This type of acting came from Western culture, and was regarded as progressive, while the traditional forms represented outmoded social systems and beliefs.
• The daily behaviours upon which realistic acting is based change over time. The acting in old movies may look unnatural and stilted, but it was simply stylized from the time.
• Mao Tse-Tung: Lenin said that art should serve the tens of millions of working people. "Works of literature and art, as ideological forms, are products of the reflection in the human brain of the life of a given society." "The life of the people" gives us "materials in their natural form...crude...but vital, rich and fundamental; they make all literature and art seem pallid by comparison" Life is an "inexhaustible source, their only source". Tse-Tung said "we must take over all the fine things in our literary and artistic heritage, critically assimilate whatever is beneficial, and use them as examples when we create works out of the literary and artistic raw materials in the life of the people of our own time and place." - Pretty good.
• Realistic acting - Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938), find situations in the actor's life that are analogues to what happens to the character. 
• Because revealing real feelings only happens among intimates, Lee Strasberg invented "Private Moment" exercise to make an actor feel less inhibited by an audience.

will finish notes on this another time

'Melancolias y Manifestaciones' & The Suicides process

I enjoyed this documentational piece featuring Lola Arias and her ensemble of amateur actors. It was visually something special, the use of projection, screens and lights were well designed and interesting. I now believe more than ever how effective projection of film within plays can be.
Our use of projection is one of the best visuals in The Suicides at the moment. The videos sourced of motorbike races and the asphyxiation games fit brilliantly with the smoking scene and the fast paced scene 2, and compliment an otherwise overly direct text.
We used a red gel in rehearsal today, and I thought the pink light used in Melancolias gave a brilliant garish glow to the karaoke village hall style dance scene. Coloured lighting works well in these types of pieces, as it gives a slight fantastical edge to the non-fiction stories.
We did all agree that Lola wanted us to do her play exactly her way, but we wouldn't be able to enjoy ourselves as much if we did that. From watching Chapito, I understand how important loving what you're doing is when it comes to theatre. Therefore, we're going to put some of our ideas into the play, not just stick to her stage directions.

Oedipus - Chapito

The adaptation of Oedipus by Chapito theatre company gave me lots of ideas about theatre:

• They showed how play is important - the director stated proudly that they would go into rehearsal without any idea of what they were going to do, and would just improvise once they got there, indeed he does this with a lot of his plays.
• The result of this is something fun, clever and extremely energetic. In fact, the plays by Chapito I've seen so far have been the most energetic pieces I've seen. I think this is because the actors aren't repeating a series of lines and blocking in rehearsal, following a script's stage directions, until they're bored of it. This comes out eventually on stage.
• We felt involved in the play, it was friendly and humorous. The fact that it was almost completely devised through their playing made something brilliant. The director allowed his actors to make spontaneous decisions and let their creativity flow, and the result was a piece in which some bright and unique ideas emerged, and the performers genuinely enjoyed their work.
• The most brilliant thing in their plays is the transitions between scenes. They never once use a blackout, which makes a play a thousand times better, and the flow of the piece was impressive. The transitions would seem like nothing, last maybe a second, and they would flawlessly move into the next scene in a feat of physical unison and control. 
• The beauty of the transitions made me think of how important they are, they can easily make or break a piece. Spending time working on the transitions between scenes is definitely worth it, instead of sticking a blackout there.

Reflection on The Chicago Story

11/03/13

The Chicago Story is an exercise linked to the Suzuki method we tried for the first time today. It involves walking in a slow and controlled way towards a partner, passing them, then reaching an opposite point, turning and repeating. This is repeated 4 times. As you pass them each time, you are supposed to connect in a magnetic way, and almost have to pull away from each other, without this being very obvious. Your partner is your enemy, and in the first pass, you acknowledge them. In the second pass, you think "I am going to kill you", and try and transmit this to them and to your audience, obviously subtly and silently. As you turn before your third walk, you decide on a weapon and hide it behind your back. You walk pass them once again, both of you holding your weapons and keeping the intense eye contact all the time. As you turn for the last time, you show your weapon, and you can then use it to kill them at any time during the next walk, the last one.
I enjoyed this exercise as there was an element of improvisation and play about it. You can be creative with the story you give your character, the weapon you choose, and how you kill them. When you choose to kill them is also important for the audience. The last time I passed my partner, just before he was out of my reach I stabbed him in the back, which I think is a more interesting moment than if we had both killed each other standing in front of each other, ready and looking each other in the eye.
People differed in who they found it most comfortable to work with, who they would giggle with and concentrate with. It is quite a social exercise, as it depends on how you feel about your partner whether you can maintain the concentration necessary while keeping eye contact.
It is a useful exercise to practice not only discipline for Suzuki training, but also to develop spacial relationships with others on stage. This is a vital skill for all theatre. It can also be applied to demonstrating silent stories and emotional connections between characters on stage.

Review - The Visit

Unimpressed by this adaptation of the play by Friedrich Durrenmatt. First thing - 3 hours long, by the interval I was yawning. Some unnecessary parts definitely could have been cut, to make it shorter and sharper, there were no "wow" moments, it was very samey. A couple of the main characters were quite engaging and acted well, but the acting and energy overall was poor. The male lead wasn't engaging and had little energy. The female lead acted "well" but it was slightly overdone, almost to the point of trying to upstage. The minor characters, townspeople, acted poorly. The story was interesting, and could have been interpreted much better. Some poor choices were also made: applying some uncalled for comic relief in the death scene ruined any tension. It could have been an exciting moment, but, like most of the play, was boring.
A couple of things I did like were the sets and the cartoonish quality some elements had. The sets were very simple and clean cut, the stage was large and the props were small, giving an attractive effect. The more outrageous costumes were impressive, such as the dress worn by the female lead and the leggings and stripy socks worn by two of the little men (who were played by women). The use of leggings gave them a cartoon-like look, as their bodies were round and their legs skinny. The costumes and set overall were attractive.

November Essay

How has my perception of what performance and theatre means changed throughout my brief learning process and experiences as a theatre arts student?

When I first started this course, I had quite a close minded view of what theatre could be. I barely knew anything about the sheer breadth of theatre and performance. I think many amateur actors are quite selfish in what they do, they only care about how their performance will affect them, meaning that they are unwilling to move out of their comfort zone. A great performer needs to explore every type of theatre available to them: curiosity and enthusiasm are every bit as important as talent in this field. Our study of different interpretations of theatre from around the world has greatly broadened our perception of theatre. We discovered that it was a lot more than merely reciting lines with a certain expression on your face, or even provoking an emotional response from the audience. An actor may think he is always in control, and controlling the audience, but at times, it takes a true performer to be able to lose control to create a beautiful and engaging piece of art.

When we began our Suzuki training, I liked the feeling of strength the tenseness and struggle gave me. It is an essentially physical method, but we incorporated text into the movements and I think it showed us the energy and effort required to transmit your message to the audience, whether you want them to see the effort your making (as they would in Suzuki) or simply for you to be a believable presence on stage. After our first training, I was surprised by how much strain was put on our minds and bodies, and how the breathing control and energy used puts your whole self into chaos. During the course of the training over the next few weeks I could sense that the entire group moving together and reciting the lines in synchronisation must have looked quite beautiful to an audience. For me, that's what makes theatre worthwhile, no matter how hard you work. During the training I also learnt about the importance of stillness, something Tadashi Suzuki emphasizes in his method. The experience changed my perception of theatre in that I was unprepared for the effort required to make something unique and remarkable such as Suzuki. I learnt that to truly impress an audience and give them a memorable performance will be a struggle, draining the performer physically and mentally. However, I found this training, although difficult and exhausting, one of the most rewarding theatre-related training I've been involved in.

Shanga Parker, an Associate Professor in the School of Drama at the University of Washington and a professional actor in theatre, film and television, reflects on his own Suzuki training in his blog. Parker writes that the point of the training was an “'inner sensibility'. This, it was explained to us, was the ability to focus over a long period of time—that one can exercise one’s will as one does a muscle—and that increased concentration was a primary emotion that an actor should feel.” I relate to this in that during the training I understood that if you are not completely focused, if your mind wanders for a second, you will either feel extremely tired or will lose your balance. This means that either the quality of the performance is constant, or there is nothing there at all. I believe this is true for all types of theatre. “Suzuki works on making all of the moments clear, strong, and consistent. The physical work is great. You will have stamina in Act V of Hamlet. More important than that, your mind will be clear and your intentions strong.” This consistency is something I had not considered before my experience of Suzuki training. However, I now realize the importance of clear intentions and continuity in every performance, even classical pieces such as Hamlet. For Parker, Suzuki has also increased awareness of the body: “Being able to hit your mark without looking down is the direct result of knowing exactly where your feet are.” This is something I experienced as well. In the training, I felt a sense of finality to my body, I knew exactly where I was and where I stood in relation to others. This training introduced me to spacial awareness.

Suzuki introduced me to spacial awareness, but Viewpointing perfected it. Viewpointing was fascinating because it showed me how relationships and emotional connections can be shown only with movement and proxemics, and text isn't necessary. From our first Viewpointing session, I loved how natural it felt and how creative we could be. I found a sensibility I wasn't aware of, in which I relied on kinesthetic response to make my choices. The method to me is a way for performers to communicate without the audience realising, a sort of telepathic connection fuelled by instinct. It was like playing, and we all worked off each others actions. I think we enjoyed it so much because we were the ones creating it, and we worked as an ensemble, we were never alone or unsure of what to do.

Viewpointing is not just a training method, I believe it is applicable, and in fact invaluable, in all genres of theatre. It is essentially a method of spacial communication for actors, and I'm sure it will help me effectively use space and proxemics in future performances. I'm really glad I discovered this method, as I think it was crucial in my understanding of space and time on stage.

"The Viewpoints are invaluable to all actors regardless of what kind of genre you're working in. The most important aspect of them is learning to listen to your body and the internal clues it's giving you in terms of the structure of a scene. I know after working with the Viewpoints I can look at a "conventional" scene and break it down into beats much easier. You learn to turn off the intellect a bit and just feel the rhythms of the scene and once a sense of rhythm is there the emotions just follow."
- Kristen Lee Kelly, actor.

Both methods increased my appreciation for physical theatre, and the beauty of simplicity. The floor patterns we created in Viewpointing felt like they would look intriguing to an audience, and the eye contact we used meant that we could provoke assumptions and emotional responses from an audience. These assumptions are important: everything that happens in a performance is translated into something (an event, a relationship, a shift in atmosphere) by the assumption of the audience, and it is our job to create our desire assumptions. I felt that the tension present during a Suzuki performance would captivate the audience and transmit a great deal of energy. It would be very exciting to watch, and quite unpredictable, something that is rare in conventional theatre. These two methods have changed my perception of theatre in relation to space and time, and shown me that stillness and silence can be as effective, if not more effective, than text or movement, something I was not aware of a few months ago.

In the course, one of our projects was to create our own ritual. As research, we all looked into rituals from different cultures, and read up on the meaning and connotations of a ritual. Whilst learning about different rituals, I understood the term as a type of applicable performance, with specific uses. Whether the Bororo people's celebration of death ritual, or the Berber people's call for rain through ritualistic dance and rhythmic vocals, I found ritual to be a type of group performance with a purpose. Our own ritual with the purpose of initiation combined the sacred and the secular, as it was not exactly spiritual but the elements of art and creativity we incorporated showed the “sacredness of the ordinary.” In our research we read a chapter from 'Performance Studies' by R. Schechner on ritual relating to performance. He put forth some interesting ideas, such as “no single feature of a ritual is peculiar to it. It is in the conjunction of its features that it is unique.” I found this intriguing, as it highlights the fact that all art is imitated, and new ideas are rare. Not only in ritual, in other art forms too, do the artists copy from other artists, but the combinations and structure of their ideas are totally their own creation. On some level, I already knew this to be true, but I understand it more fully now. This throws into question my perception of theatre, as it is never entirely original, but can appear to be, just because its structure is unique. Another quote I found was “rituals don't so much express ideas as embody them.” This is the main difference between ritual and conventional theatrical performance. An idea I found which I believe relates to Viewpointing is the difference between the ritual bees have when working (for they do demonstrate ritual) and human ritual: “Bees cannot improvise or express their feelings, but they communicate through a system of movements.” This shows that even rituals in different species have in common their basic purpose of communication through movement, which is in fact one of the main purposes of all theatre.

One of the first performances we went to see, Cadavre Exquis, was quite a unique piece of theatre. Most of my colleagues didn't like it, it was too “weird” or “unimpressive”. However, we also acknowledged that it was an experiment, by 5 different directors with different ideas. It reminded me of an organised game, as enjoyable for the actors as for the audience. Although it was unconventional, I enjoyed it, as I will any piece of theatre. There is something about the performers being present right in front of you, and giving you the gift of their time and energy, which is always a pleasure to watch, no matter how strange the play is. I was impressed how the performers danced repetitively for 15 minutes, using extreme duration and transmitting their struggle and exhaustion to the audience. This was most of my colleagues' favourite scene, which shows that visible effort made by a performer is always appreciated by an audience. The play challenged some people's theories of performance. I believe for us training to be performers ourselves, it is important that we try to experience any new theatre event that we can, so we can take in as much different information to give us a rich and varied perception of theatre. I now believe that a good performance doesn't have to be epic or tragic, it is enough to know that effort has gone into making this gift for you. It is entertaining enough to have people physically in front of you, because, unlike television, there is an element of unpredictability which makes theatre exciting.

My research into theatre of the cruelty also greatly influenced my perception of performance. This type of theatre was introduced by Antonin Artaud, a French director and actor, who hoped to unleash unconscious responses in audience with his theatre. He tried to release the audience's primitive instincts and make them realise their worst nightmares and fears. This shows that not all theatre is just a beautiful thing to be observed, but can also become a psychological violation of the audience. This theatre would apply real physical pain on stage and disturbing and loud sounds of clashing tones and rhythms. This type of theatre is meant to disturb the audience, and I had no idea this type of theatre existed before I studied it. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I like the idea of different audience members reacting in different ways. My colleagues and I experimented doing a soundscape, in which we all used our voices to create an inescapable sound. I like the idea of theatre affecting a different sense other than sight, and surrounding the audience so that they can't ignore. It is exciting and possible frightening. Although this may sound negative, I am intrigued by this type of theatre which is more of an experience to the audience than simply a visual piece of art (they might as well look at a painting).

In conclusion, my ideas of theatre and performance have been completely changed by this course, and I feel I've become a lot more knowledgeable about the field. The applications of theatre and the ideas about theatre and art we have discovered have been fascinating. This quote is accurate and brilliant in describing my ideas about the purpose of theatre:

“Melting the ice within, of awakening dormant cells, of making us more fully alive, more fully human, at once more individual and more connected to each other”. - Franz Kafka

Parker. S., http://freeholdtheatre.blogspot.pt/2010/12/few-thoughts-about-suzuki-movement.html, 2010

Jucha. B., 'Working with the Viewpoints', http://www.jucha.com/viewpoints.html

Schechner. R., 'Performance Studies'. Routledge, 2006

Purpose of Theatre - 3 Articles

New organization uses theatre to help the hungry

Dallas  - Local author and businessman Tim Whitney is launching A Play for Food, a new matchmaking organization for theaters, playwrights... and food pantries.

“When I begin any project, I ask myself over and over...what if,” says Whitney in an email. The Dallas-based entrepreneur came with the idea for A Play for Food two years ago, after the release of his first novel, Thanksgiving at the Inn (Bancroft Press).

“I was amazed and humbled by the impact the eclectic characters had on people’s lives. They are larger-than-life figures that each teach an important life lesson. I asked myself... what if these amazing characters could be on stage? Once the play was done, I began realizing it is a story of family and forgiveness. There was no way I could charge a royalty for the use,” he continues.

Whitney decided to use theatre to create what he hopes will become the largest food drive in America. A Play for Food would serve as a ‘clearing house’ for playwrights and theatres willing to donate all ticket proceeds from plays to local food pantries. “This is a grassroots effort to unite communities in a time of need,” he says.

Since October 2011, A Play for Food has already put seven plays, including a musical from a retired Canadian broadcaster and an adaptation of Whitney’s novel. Thanksgiving at the Inn will make its worldwide debut on Sunday, November 20, 2011 , at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine. Cash and food donations will be accepted.

How to make a drama out of a crisis

Chris Arnot meets James Thompson, a professor who uses theatre to resolve conflict, from prisons to war zones

Professor James Thompson went to San Quentin prison nearly 30 years after Johnny Cash. It's fair to say that his visit made rather less of an impact than that of the rumbustious country and western singer. But then he was not there to perform. He was simply observing a screen-writing course for inmates in his capacity as a Harkness fellow.

"I was attached to the University of Texas for a year, but looking at prison arts projects all over the United States," Thompson says. "One of the guards leant into the car as we were on our way in and said: 'Do you understand the state of California policy on kidnapping, sir? We don't negotiate'." Does that mean he was on his own if a homicidal prisoner decided to use him as a bargaining counter? "Yes, except that I wasn't entirely on my own. I was with the arts coordinator. Every state penitentiary had one in those days [1997] as part of a scheme called Arts-in-Corrections. It was scrapped in 2003."

By that time, Thompson had moved on from prisons to war zones. His speciality has always been using drama to explore and, hopefully, to resolve conflict. Initially, he did that in his capacity as co-founder of Theatre in Prisons and Probation (Tipp). More recently, he has used similar techniques to explore issues of reconciliation and justice with those caught up in tribal, ethnic or religious violence. Participants could be students or school children, refugees or non-governmental organisations (NGOs). From his base at Manchester University, where he is professor of applied and social theatre, he sallies forth to places even more dangerous for visitors than San Quentin - although he tends to play down the personal risk involved. "When you travel with outside agencies, like Unicef and the Red Cross, they tend to be very security-savvy," he assures me.

The second of two books he is publishing this year is called Performance In Place of War, which cites examples of the work done by a network he runs with colleagues in Manchester and Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. "We've just had our contract extended by the Leverhulme Trust so that we can carry on working in Kosovo, the Palestinian territories, Sri Lanka, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo," he says. The first book is published next month [May] under the title Performance Affects.

Note the A rather than the E at the beginning of the second word. "Applied theatre tends to explain itself through impacts," Thompson explains. "In other words, it's all about effects. My argument is that this has led to a failure to appreciate the affects - the emotional, sensory and aesthetic side of the work.

"For instance, it might be said that a certain project has increased the self-esteem of the teenagers involved and decreased the likelihood that they'll take drugs. What's forgotten is that this is theatre. It's beautiful, sometimes scary, and aesthetically interesting in its own right. We need to learn a language that can talk about these sorts of things in order fully to appreciate what the work is about.”

Simon Callow: The purpose of theatre is to melt the ice within

From a speech by the actor and director at the launch of London's University of the Arts, in the Banqueting Hall.

Nearly 35 years ago, I arrived at the Drama Centre, then a tiny fledgling independent school, now part of Central Saint Martins and thus the new University of the Arts London. One of the many challenges flung at us new students was the question: "Why? Why did we want to be actors?" What was the point of the theatre? Of film? Of any art?

Most of us had only thought of the idea of becoming actors from our own point of view - what we could get out of the theatre, why we needed to be actors, what kind of actors we'd like to be. If we thought of the audience at all, it was in terms of making them cry, or making them laugh, being released somehow and then applauding us a great deal afterwards.

This view of the theatre as a sort of relief massage did not go down well with those two terrifying and brilliant firebrands, Christopher Fettes and Yat Malmgren, co-founders of the Drama Centre. To them, theatre was a crucial mechanism within human society. A ritual re-enactment of the lessons mankind had learnt about itself, a way of restoring the spectators to their full human experience after the routine alienations of daily life, and a celebration of desire.

Of course, art can be many things - playful, challenging, funny, frightening, romantic, classical, for five minutes' amusement or a lifetime's enrichment. But it seems to me that all the disciplines that now form University of the Arts London have within them the possibility of unlocking the closed chambers of our hearts, in Kafka's wonderful phrase, of "Melting the ice within, of awakening dormant cells, of making us more fully alive, more fully human, at once more individual and more connected to each other".

Argentinian Theatre & Lola Arias

Argentinian Theatre

• Buenos Aires is one of the worlds theatre capitals.
• The 1874 murder of Juan Moreira, a persecuted troubadour, provided dramatists with a new hero. Possessing all the elements of tragedy, the anecdote inspired Eduardo Gutiérrez's 1884 play Juan Moreira, and the work made the gaucho, the inspiration for the Argentine stage in subsequent years.
• The 1897 relocation to Argentina of Spanish theatre producer María Guerrero, and her company, popularized professional stage theatre in the country.
• 50s – realism, 60s – theatre of the absurd

Lola Arias

Lola Arias was born in Buenos Aires in 1976. She is a writer, theatre director, performer and song composer. She is the co-founder of Compania Postnuclear, an Argentinian group of interdisciplinary artists. Her texts explore the boundaries between reality and fiction, using biographies and real documentation in a surreal or poetic way. In her plays she works with actors, non-actors, dancers, singers, children, babies and animals. Lola Arias has been working with Stefan Kaegi on various projects, such as "Chacara Paraiso", an installation in a skyscraper of Sao Paulo showing biographies of policemen and their families and "Airportkids" (2008), a play with nomad children. Her trilogy "Striptease", "Sueno con revolver" and "El amor es un francotirador", directed herself, had its European premiere at steirischer herbst in 2007. Her work has been translated into English, French and German. Lola Arias 

Notes on her work (Striptease):

• Liked the staging
• Dialogue seemed spontaneous and natural
• Disturbed
• Everyday life - relatable
• Uncertainty of life choices
• Immaturity of adults - insight
• Tension - assuming story
• Sad - natural dialogue but baby between them - very real

Francotirador:

• Don't know what to think
• Scared
• Contrasts between characters played well with each other
• Atmosphered made her uncomfortable
• Too vague - no structure, found it sad, depressing
• Good acting
• Strange
• Actions were strongest point - help to understand characters

Forced entertainment: "Nothing makes sense because the world doesn't make sense."

Airportkids:

• Liked the boxes (safe, personal environment)
• relatable, nice & comforting
• good ideas
• exploitation?
• imagination, happiness, children, snails

Caryl Churchill & Steven Berkoff

Caryl Churchill

• English London-born playwright, born 3rd September 1938
• non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, dramatisation of the abuses of power, exploration of sexual politics
• contemporary of Brecht
• Dance-theatre and Theatre of Cruelty
• Cloud Nine (1979), "a farce about sexual politics"
• feminist themes main principle in her work
• Top Girls, Softcops
• Dominic Cooke, artistic director of the Royal Court: "the exciting thing about Caryl is that she always tends to break new ground. The degree of innovation is extraordinary. Every play almost reinvents the form of theatre."
• Invented the standard forward slash "/" representing overlapping dialogue 
• Quality of dialogue 

Sources: wikipedia and Guardian website

Steven Berkoff 

Steven Berkoff was born in Stepney, London. After studying drama and mime in London and Paris, he entered a series of repertory companies and in 1968 formed the London Theatre Group. His plays and adaptations have been performed in many countries and in many languages. Among the many adaptations Berkoff has created for the stage, directed and toured, are Kafka's Metamorphosis and The Trial, Agamemnon after Aeschylus, and Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. He has directed and toured productions of Shakespeare's Coriolanus also playing the title role, Richard II, Hamlet and Macbeth, as well as Oscar Wilde's Salome.

Berkoff's original stage plays include East, West, Messiah: Scenes from a Crucifixion, The Secret Love Life of Ophelia, Decadence, Harry's Christmas, Massage, Acapulco and Brighton Beach Scumbags. He has performed his trilogy of solo shows, One Man, Shakespeare's Villains and Requiem for Ground Zero, in venues all over the world.

East (1975): "a play of boundless vitality. A piece of roller-coasting invention... Its two central characters are a couple of razor-happy randy tearaways of almost total moral repellence and absolute physical charm... Berkoff razzle-dazzles their lifestyle in a tumult of imagery; the language flashes from Shakespearean parody to the shatteringly profane... Restores one's faith and fills the cup of expectation to overflowing". Daily Mail.

As an actor, Berkoff usually performes as a villain (Octopussy, also played Adolf Hitler)

"Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "In-yer-face theatre": “the language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they feel like fleeing the building or they are suddenly convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen, and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation.”

My thoughts on 'East':

I love the verse, it gives a poetic trill to the cockney colloquialisms and is very modern. The movement was well choreographed and effective, the simple unpretentious scenes are engaging without being fussy. The characters are likeable but the play also manages to transmit some moving messages within its comic and farcical dialogue and monologues. The physicality used when delivering monolgues in an empty set is essential. 

Review - Macbeth by Chapito

This play was a brilliant example of physical comedy, creativity and simplicity in theatre. The characters were 3 men who would alternate between the characters, the text was entirely different, and very funny. The story was the same, but with humorous twists the dark mood you would expect from Macbeth was absent. The actors manipulated their own sound (they had a sound board on the stage) and effects (they would turn a smoke machine on and off). They had barely any props, but where very creative, using dinner knives to hit against the metal microphone stands, creating believable sounds of swords in battle. They would make the sound of wind themselves, and the energy they transmitted to the audience was constant and impressive. They were very fast, efficient and well timed. The sounds were very simple but very well done, and the companies take on the play was very effective and provided some comic relief to a dark and morbid story.
The physical comedy was very intelligent and quick, they made the audience laugh for the first 5 minutes without saying anything. The effects of physical comedy were wonderfully shown in the play, and supported my ideas that physicality is the most important aspect to consider when attempting comedy, along with reaction.

Edward Bond - 4 Essays

FOUR LITTLE ESSAYS ON DRAMA

by

Edward Bond

HOPE

Its asked of a new play “Where is the hope?” The question misunderstands drama. You are in a room. The curtains are drawn. You do not ask “Where is the sky? – its gone.” The sky is always there. You have a lottery ticket. You hope it will win. But do you hope that the number on the ticket will change so that it will win? The playwright must point to reality – to the number on the ticket. The hope is the audience.

DRAMA

Drama is the text of democracy. When the Greek audience looked at the stage they saw themselves: “you saw you.” Later Rome took over. The soldiers looked at you. Later the church took over. It said the great creative fictions of Greek drama were real, were vulgar facts. Zeus was fiction, God Almighty was a vulgar fact. Oedipus was fiction who killed his father, Christ was a vulgar fact and God his Father killed him. And so on through the Greek dramatic cannon and Christian scripture. God looked at you and the Inquisition looked over his shoulder. Then science took over. The scientist looked at you. You were a specimen. Now commerce takes over: TV and film. The eyes on the screen cannot look at you – they are blind. So you are blind when you look at them. (It’s a bit difficult. It’s a mutation. Think about it. The eyes are the organ of sight. They cannot be touched, heard, smelt, tasted. Film is fiction in a particular way: film is the wink of the blind.) The modern stage is parasitic on the blindness of the screens. When it looks at the audience the blind are winking at each other. The stage has never before been so corrupt. There must be a new drama. In it the audience will look at the stage and see itself. It will be revolutionary because it will be democratic.

POLITICAL DRAMA

A recent article claimed “political theatre brings subjects into public and popular debate.” The things people write in newspapers! The opposite is true. Theatre takes subjects that are already in public, popular debate. Its plays are not political. They are current affairs. We have no political theatre. Yet politics is the core of drama. Drama deals with the relation between self and society. How each creates the other. It is how we create our humanness. Political drama must look at the profoundest human paradoxes. Greek drama did this for us. All Western culture and religion are founded on this inheritance. It is our patrimony. We have exhausted it. Our theatre – our culture and politics – are dead. Post-mortem not post-modern. If we do not create a new drama we will be destroyed. Evolution will wipe us out. The times have never been so serious. It is a species crisis.

PURITY

The Royal Court staged my second play half my lifetime ago. I was attacked as the ultimate degenerate vicious debased playwright. Last year the Royal Court told me my moral purity prevented me from making contact with an audience. My first play (also staged at the Royal Court) had a rural setting. There was a murder. The murderer was the good man. The complexities of humanness. Last year the Royal Court staged another play with a rural setting. In it there was a good man. He was corrupt (and a danger to his child) but he had a heart of gold. Mr Really-Nasty came along. He didn’t murder Mr Good but badly beat him up. The play was written with panache. It combined News of the World morality with Mills and Boon sentimentality. What has changed? Let us now be serious and for a start change everything.

(September 2010, revised September 2011)

Greek Theatre

Plot
A tragedy's plot consists of a serious action that stirs up feelings of pity and fear. A comedy's plot focuses on an ordinary problem that regular people face. Comedies aren't necessarily funny; they're stories of worthy people who succeed.

Characters
A tragedy's central characters are nobles. The main character is the tragic hero. A comedy's main character is the comic hero, who has average morals, and is generally ignoble.



Settings
Tragedies often occur on a battlefield or in the great hall of a palace. A comedy occurs in an ordinary room.

Events
Tragedies have episodes that provoke feelings of disappointment and fear. Due to the tragic hero's ego and tragic flaw, along with something going wrong, he will encounter a semi-undeserved tragic fall. The charismatic comic hero will prosper and his innate nobility will be be shown through tests of character. 

Chorus and audience
Since the tragic hero's fall is not entirely deserved, the chorus will still admire the hero. The hero will learn from his fall and, along with the audience, experience a catharsis. While the comic hero will not have high morals, he will have enough magnetism to win the audience over but not always the chorus.

Structure
Tragedy: Prologue - Episodes - Exodus
Comedy: Prologue - Agon - Parabasis - Episodes - Exodus

Characteristics of the theatre
Ancient Greek Theatres were very large, open-air structures that took advantage of sloping hillsides for their terraced seating. Because of drama's close connection with religion, theatres were often located in or near sanctuaries. 

Purposes
To honour the god Dionysus, to entertain, educate and instruct, to invoke pity and fear in the audience (according to Aristotle).

Forms of Theatre: Entertainment & Art

Theatre as a Form of Entertainment 

Commedia dell'Arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of theatre which began in Italy in the 16th century. La Commedia dell'Arte translates as "Artistic Comedy"; The form is based on the free improvisation on stage. It started in the second half of the 16th century, in a period when theatre plays were classing, stylish, cold and rigorous. Maybe as a reaction, the Commedia dell'Arte was the opposite: loud, colourful representations blossomed everywhere in Italy, and the rules of theatre were subverted. It is considered a type of comedy as it amused those who watched it at the time; improvisation and rebellion amused the audience of the period as it contrasted with their typical theatre, so it became a form of theatre to 'entertain'. 

Pantomimes

The pantomime first arrived in England as an "entre acts" between opera pieces, eventually evolving into separate shows.

These pantomimes gradually became more topical and comic, often involving as many special theatrical effects as possible. It was quite amusing for the audience as these plays often featured clowns; mime was still a very new and peculiar form of theatre at the period and so people found this new practice cheerful.

Performance Poetry

Poetry that is specifically composed for an audience.

This practice began with the performance of poems in pre-literate societies. By definition, these poems were transmitted orally from performer to performer and were constructed using repetition, alliteration and rhyme to facilitate memorisation. The performer would add their own flavour to the poem, although fidelity to the traditional version of the poem was favoured. 

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering. It gives catharsis to an audience through their experience of emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama. 

Often, humans are entertained by pretend suffering, so this can be a type of entertainment.

Black Comedy

Black comedy is a type of humour revolving around a subject that might upset or be offensive to the audience e.g. death or war. 

"The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." - Sigmund Freud, 1927

Theatre as a Form of Art

• The horrors of the Second World War showed the total impermanence of any values, shook the validity of any conventions and highlighted the precariousness of human life and its fundamental meaninglessness and arbitrariness. The trauma of living from 1945 under threat of nuclear annihilation also seems to have been an important factor in the rise of the new theatre.
• At the same time, the Theatre of the Absurd also seems to have been a reaction to the disappearance of the religious dimension form contemporary life. The Absurd Theatre can be seen as an attempt to restore the importance of myth and ritual to our age, by making man aware of the ultimate realities of his condition, by instilling in him again the lost sense of cosmic wonder and primeval anguish. The Absurd Theatre hopes to achieve this by shocking man out of an existence that has become trite, mechanical and complacent. It is felt that there is mystical experience in confronting the limits of human condition.
• Parodies language, no dramatic conflict, no logic, scenic effects
• One of the more extreme manifestations of the avant-garde was the Dadaist movement, which took the desire to do away with obsolete artistic conventions to the extreme. Some Dadaist plays were written, but these were mostly nonsense poems in dialogue form, the aim of which was primarily to 'shock the bourgeois audience'. After the First World War, German Expressionism attempted to project inner realities and to objectify thought and feeling. Some of Brecht's plays are close to Absurd Drama, both in their clowning and their music-hall humour and the preoccupation with the problem of identity of the self and its fluidity.
• French surrealism acknowledged the subconscious mind as a great, positive healing force. However, its contribution to the sphere of drama was meagre: indeed it can be said that the Absurd Theatre of the 1950s and 1960s was a Belated practical realisation of the principles formulated by the Surrealists as early as the 1930s. In this connection, of particular importance were the theoretical writings of Antonin Artaud. Artaud fully rejected realism in the theatre, cherishing a vision of a stage of magical beauty and mythical power. He called for a return to myth and magic and to the exposure of the deepest conflicts within the human mind. He demanded a theatre that would produce collective archetypes, thus creating a new mythology. In his view, theatre should pursue the aspects of the internal world. Man should be considered metaphorically in a wordless language of shapes, light, movement and gesture. Theatre should aim at expressing what language is incapable of putting into words. Artaud forms a bridge between the inter-war avant-garde and the post-Second-World-War Theatre of the Absurd.
• Similarly, Franz Kafka's short stories and novels are meticulously exact descriptions of archetypal nightmares and obsessions in a world of convention and routine.
• The idea of a theatre of cruelty was first introduced by Antonin Artaud to describe a form of theatre that he hoped would unleash unconscious responses in audiences and performers that were normally inaccessible. Artaud was opposed to theatrical productions based on venerated classical texts or established literary forms and thought they merely represented worlds that were irrelevant and highly artificial constructions. He wanted audiences to find in the theatre not an area for escape from the world, but the realisation of their worst nightmares and deepest fears. He therefore tried to provoke conditions that would force the release of primitive instincts he believed were hidden beneath the civilised social veneer masking all human behaviour. Describing the energy and impact of a radical new way of performing and responding in strong and often dark imagery, he envisioned a theatre that rejected rational interpretation. Instead, he welcomed the irrational impulses that could be stimulated by suffering and pain and argued that every facet of theatricality should be employed to increase a sense of danger, violence and disorientation in the audience. However, Artaud argued that his concept of cruelty was not sadistic. He wanted to stimulate what was honest and true and the cruelty he envisaged required a rigour and determination that was necessary if performers and audiences were to confront and experience the dark and terrifying responses that lay at the heart of each human being.
  
  
  

Short Reviews: The Tempest and A Tender Thing

I was lucky enough to see the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company perform The Tempest and A Tender Thing in Stratford-Upon-Avon, these are my short reviews.

The Tempest

I enjoyed the production of the Tempest, although there were some aspects that I didn't like. I thought the level of energy dropped in the second half, and the actors let themselves become a little more passive. I thought many of the actors were fantastic, but some faltered in character at times. The effort the audience senses from an actor is an important feature of a good play. I loved the set and the fluid entrances and exits, which happened almost without us noticing. I thought the comedy duo, Trinculo and Stephano were very good, they transmitted a lot of energy to the audience. Ariel acted very well, he was quite mesmerising.

A Tender Thing

This performance was amazing, unique and moving. Kathryn Hunter was brilliant, I loved how she could be so flexible with the emotions she showed on stage, and it seemed to genuine. The projection of the sea on the back panel was effective because it supported the colours and mood of the play. The simplicity of a two character play was also a positive factor. Seeing the play reinforced my belief that the simplest plays are usually the most memorable. A clean set, a clear plot and minimal but deep characters are the best. The play gave my inspiring ideas about physicality on stage. I had never understood the importance of it until now, but after seeing Hunter use her body to demonstrate emotions, strength and weakness, I will always be sure to consider physicality as a crucial aspect of theatre. 

Review: Cadavre Exquis

24/09/12
Thoughts as a group:

• Seeing if 5 different directors with different ideas can create 1 play - demanding for audience and actors
• Some disliked it - uninteresting/unimpressive
• An experiment
• An organised game
• A good way to spend an afternoon
• Weird
• Everyone can enjoy any theatre - it's a physical gift, people are there in front of you
• We appreciate the effort that was real and shown by the actors when they danced
• Extreme duration
• They played with theories of performance

My review:

The performance was a gift - the actors were giving the audience their bodies and minds. What was special about this play was the effort they showed, the sweat and exhaustion. An audience appreciates this effort and it adds something to a play which engages an audience. 

In the play the actors explored different theories of what acting and performance should be, and were ironically discussing it in jerky, monotonous tones, as if they were acting very badly. I thought the idea of the play was interesting and innovative, and enjoyed it. I thought there was an element of naughtiness about the actors, as if they were defying the director by saying how they hated acting, and by all trying to outdo each other in the dance. The play made me consider performance: I now believe that performance doesn't have to be particularly epic or tragic, or famous or extravagant. I think it is enough for you to know that effort has gone into making a gift just for you. Just the fact of actors physically being there is entertainment, and a pleasure, no matter what they are doing. 

Japanese & Chinese Theatre

Japanese Theatre

The theatre types being covered:

• Kabuki
• Noh
• Bunraku
• Butoh

Kabuki Theatre:

• Kabuki is one of the traditional forms of theatre and its performance is rich in showmanship.
• Elaborately designed costumes, interesting makeup, outlandish wigs and accentuated actions performed by actors all make up this theatre type
• The accentuated actions are very important because they allow the audience to understand the story through use of visuals when the ancient Japanese language is difficult to understand
• Revolving platforms and trapdoors are used to facilitate the changing of the scene and the appearance or disappearance of the actors. The footbridge is situated in the middle of the audience to allow powerful entrances and exits.
• Instruments used are traditionally Japanese.
• The stories usually revolve around historical events, warm-hearted dramas, ethical conflicts, love stories, and stories of conspiracy. The performance is usually only of part of the story, and usually of the best part
• It originally was performed only by women, but this changed during the Edo Period (1603 - 1868), where it was performed only by men, this is continued today
• Assistants dressed in black appear on the stage to help with props, called "kurogo", meant to be invisible
• It is normal for audience members to call out the actors name to show support and appreciation

Noh Theatre:

• Involves music, dance and drama, derives from 14th century
• 5 main Noh groups have been established, and are still performing today
• The movement in Noh theatre is very slow, its language is poetic but tone is monotonous, and the costumes are elaborate
• Stories come from legends, history, literature and modern events
• Themes may relate to ghosts and spirits, the supernatural or dreams
• Performed on a square stage with a roof (usually performed outside)
• All sides of stage are open except the back which holds an image of a pine tree
• Only men can perform, leading man called the Shite
• Waki - supporting actor
• Hayashi - musicians (4 people, flute and 3 drums)
• Jiutai - chorus
• Kohen - helpers dressed in black, meant to be invisible
• The Shite wears a unique mask for his character made of Japanese cypress
• Kyogen - short story performed in the interval

Bunraku Theatre:

• Traditional Japanese puppet theatre
• Puppets 1m tall, controlled by 3 people, principal actor and 2 assistants, no strings, body parts manoeuvred and puppeteers dressed in black
• Single narrator who also does voice for all puppets, must have good vocal range
• Accompanied by music
• Stories are heartbreaking love stories, heroic legends and historical tales

Butoh Theatre:

• Stands for various actions, techniques and motivations for performance, dance and movement
• Involves good humoured and ugly imagery, forbidden subjects and intense or ridiculous environments
• Actors painted all in white and move in a slow, controlled way
• Perform with or without audience
• Actions performed inside and outside body, with purpose of "full movement control"
• Reaching correct Butoh state requires actor to be experiencing starvation, intense pain or sleep deprivation
• This is because those were the sensations of the actors originally, to help them have immense power

Chinese Theatre

Dynasties:

• Shang Dynasty (1766-1066BC) - started as haunting dances, animal movements still used in martial arts and theatre today
• Tang Dynasty (618-907)
• Song Dynasty (960-1979)
• Yuan Dynasty (1279-1369)
• Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)

Modern forms:

• Beijing Opera
• Cantonese Opera

Early period:

• Origins lie in early religious rituals
• Different theatrical approaches through different dynasties
• Started out with hunting dances and dances imitating animals
• Developed into chorus dances
• Displays of acrobatic skill
• Emergence of martial arts demonstrations

Shadow play:

Style of Peking shadow theatre developed into two major styles: Western with large puppets and Eastern with elements of opera.

"Chinese shadow puppets vary in size from some 20cm to 1m. They are cut from leather that is treated and coloured so that they became transparent. Their legs, waists, shoulders and elbows can be bent, and their arms are constructed from two parts. Thus the puppets can imitate human movements when they are operated with rods behind a paper or muslin screen. Their reflections on the screen are colourful and their finer details are chiselled in the leather as a kind of filigree ornamentation."