Ashleigh’s IB Theatre Journal

Today in Theatre, I gained some experience with masks. First, I got an introduction to masks, and learnt:
-          Never put a mask on while facing the audience. And when taking the mask off, turn away from the audience.
-          Never adjust your mask on stage, as it would be like readjusting your face. It’s just [...]

Today in Theatre, we helped Ms Anketell with her year 9 drama class, as their performance of As You Like It is tonight, and they needed lots of help.

Ronelle and I were put in charge of lighting, and were asked to create a general wash of the stage and re-focus the lights to suit their [...]

In order for Ronelle to gain some experience in directing, Ms Anketell gave us a short dialogue, and Ronelle had a go at directing Kate and I. I enjoyed acting this out as it was much different to Shakespeare and Bunraku.

The script:

Who drank the milk?

A. Who drank the milk?

B. I did. Isn’t there some more [...]

Here is a summation about all the things I have learnt in the Bunraku unit:

By researching the basic concepts of Bunraku, I was able to get an overall concept of Bunraku which was good as a starting point.
Bunraku is the traditional theatre in Japan, and involves the manipulation of puppets.
It takes three people to manipulate [...]

An adaptation of Tartuffe by Moliere, directed by Peter Evans.

Australian slang was used frequently in the play, this helped established the setting.

The costumes were a contemporized version of French Neoclassical costumes, but didn’t assist with the setting. But did help the audience establish the family’s wealth.

The set design consisted of many chandeliers on the roof, [...]

Today we got our Bunraku puppet ‘Baby’ out again, and practiced with him so we could begin to finalize our Bunraku Unit.

First we practiced perfecting our eyeline with sticks, as maintaining the correct eyeline with puppetry is important as it makes it realistic. We also used the sticks to help us with our breathing, and [...]

In class, Kate, Ronelle and I are working on a mini Practical Performance Proposal (PPP). The stimulus for this PPP is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but a different version of the classical story. Involving a very self centered Goldilocks. As a group, we came up with mind maps, set designs and costume designs and [...]

A Butterfly and Its Journey
The aim of my production, A Butterfly and its journey based on an image given to me in class is to capture the journey of a Butterfly caught in a web. Due to the light-hearted nature of the play, my targeted age group is 5+. It will be a visual theatre [...]

My production of Ocean Oneness will portray the loneliness experienced by people. Due to the mature theme of the play, and the setting, my targeted age group is 15+.  The setting is a mental institution, situated near a coastal area. It will be a Visual Theatre piece performed on a proscenium arch stage. The three [...]

Moliere required a much faster rhythm; therefore we had to alter our breathing to suit this. Whereas in Shakespeare we had to control our breathing to make the rhythm much slower.

Shakespeare was full of imagery and ideas whereas Moliere and A Country Practice didn’t contain as much imagery.

The costumes for all three were different. E.g. [...]