Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 4

Things I Know to be True (Frantic Assembly) notes

(These notes were taken on the 29/05)

I took notes on this Frantic Assembly production because non-naturalistic productions like this are becoming increasingly popular in modern theatre. Frantic Assembly focus on non-naturalistic style, therefore it was important to include both naturalistic and non-naturalistic performance styles in my research

General notes

• Acting/movement 
• Series of monologues
• Physical theatre - series of hands over body - not in spotlight 
• Direct audience address 
• When addressing family, physical Theatre starts - various lifts 
• Girl lifted when mentioning making love 
• Lights pop up and spotlight changes 
• fast paced movement of furniture 
• Family under blue spotlight while dancing 
• Constant bell music 
• Change of backdrop 
• Lighting on fence and father 
• Duologue between father and mother 
• Father dressed in polo shirt and baggy trousers 
• Mother in shirt and suit trousers 
• Comedy element - identification 
• ‘Something’s happened’ 
• Fast paced speech 
• Comedic repetition 
• Props -table, chairs, teacups, fence, leaves, 
• Tableaux with chairs - comedy 
• Music introduced for transition (wind and piano) 
• Nonnaturalistic style 
• Always something going on during a monologue 
• Relationship between mother and daughter - abusive mother - trauma because sister climbed ladder 
• Humour due to dads ignorance 
• Argument scene 
• Father dominant in scene - leaving mother alone 
• Original music introduced when physical theatre takes place 
• Cuts back to kitchen where food is being prepared 
• A large amount of this takes place in the garden - significant 
• Props of - onion and carrots + bowl and cooking utensils 
• Ben introduced to the scene 
• Both parents have contrasting opinions 
• Mother has stronger relationship with son than daughter 
• “She’s me but stronger” 
• Pip enters the scene without acknowledgment from others (in the scene but spotlight shows different area
• Split through a letter and no eye contact 
• Young daughter leaves scene - mother daughter either side of a table 
• Link between scenes when singing - diegetic music 
• Physical theatre to present families relationship 
• Motifs of the character 
• Found love in Vancouver 
• Change of set - physical theatre used to bring desk on 
• Phone prop 
• Mother always on stage - showing it’s a letter to her 
• Letter ends 
• Lighting changes and whole stage is lit - then a spotlight on left side of stage (upper) showing older sun
• Raining on him 
• Cigarette being smoked under 
• Comedy in sad elements 
• Whole play describing moments taking place within their house 
• Change of costume 
• Set stays the same when conversation about sex change happens 
• Sympathetic for both mother and son 
• Son kicked out of the house 
• End of part 1 
• Part 2 starts with spotlights on each member of the family 
• Scene between son and Rosie packing suitcase 
• Transition - gentle spotlight on old brothers monologue 
• Ends with blue tint spotlight on parents dancing with lit up light bulbs 
• Costumes changed to suit and dress 
• Physical theatre including rest of the family 
• Showing relationship struggle 
• Direct audience address 
• Monologue by younger son 
• Passage of time shown by plants in the background 
• Funny ‘sexual’ scene brings contrast 
• Duologue between brother and sister 
• Ben on drugs - almost hits sister 
• Fallout between parents due to love separation 
• Music introduced at end of monologue after “u and me?” 
• Rosie enters 
• All other siblings enter 
• Physical theatre surrounding rosie 
• Rosie says she’s leaving for university 
• Rosie exits scene 
• Music introduced 
• Simple piano along with wind 
• Mother back in work clothes 
• Mother died and blue spotlight on father 
• Monologue from Rosie

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 3

Love Song (Frantic Assembly) notes

I have taken notes on this Frantic Assembly production because it is a non-naturalistic production, therefore I can compare this to The Seagull. I will do a summary slide on both Frantic Assembly productions and use this to fuel my conclusion

General notes

• Long time with no dialogue 
• Just old man on stage listening to music with headphones in 
• Slow piano music 
• Cuts out when he reaches for post it note on fridge and takes headphones out 
• Different music introduced when monologue begins 
• Static monologue 
• Other characters enter 
• Old man acknowledges them 
• Younger version of the old man 
• Backdrop used in transitions 
• Mix between a movie and a theatre performance style 
• Main title projected in the background 
• Old man and wife enter 
• Smart transition as old wife swaps out for younger version 
• String music introduced as contact improvisation between young couple 
• While old couple get on with normal tasks (reading and drinking) 
• Changing in proxemics with the chair downstage center 
• Comedy used to contrast serious issues 
• Relatable to the audience 
• Kiss used to transition to old wife monologue sitting on bed 
• Very nostalgic monologue - thinking of past 
• Contact movement on kitchen table 
• Old wife is watching to interlink scenes 
• Old wife falls into the contact improv 
• Backdrop projection causing a mysterious feel 
• Matched with the music 
• Young couple in tableaux while old couple talking 
• Blue tint light 
• Spotlight 
• Stage covered in leaves for a sense of realism 
• Simple set 
• Bed, leaves, table and chairs, fridge 
• Change in costume (clearly come from work) 
• Contact improvisation between young wife and old husband 
• Used to show his memories are walking away from him 
• Music is used throughout the play - sets the tone 
• Funny rant but with a serious message 
• Monologue about time travel - ironic with the style of the piece 
• Projection of hand running against a wall during duologue between old couple 
• Later referenced in speech 
• Man falls through bed 
• Young wife appears from the bed 
• Direct audience address 
• Change of set - moving the table

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 2

Brecht

With Brecht being the originator of non-naturalism in theatre, it was important to look at his method and his life. From this research, I have learnt about the various techniques he used, and the different topics he addressed in his theatre. I will include a slide on his life and his methods. I will then compare his techniques with Stanislavski's, and look at who has more impact now.

Bertolt Brecht was born in Germany in 1898 and died aged 58 in 1956. He was a poet, playwright and theatre director. His most famous plays include Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Brecht’s groundbreaking directing style has been hugely influential to many directors and designers over the decades. Playwright David Edgar once said ‘Brecht is part of the air we breathe.’

Brecht’s work was very popular in the 50s, 60s and 70s, but he is slightly less fashionable today. However his influence is still present in much of theatre and many would argue that Brecht changed the face of modern theatre.

Brecht was a Marxist and made his theatre highly political. He wanted his theatre to spark an interest in his audiences’ perception of the world. He did not want his audiences to sit passively and get lost in a show’s story, but to make them think and question the world they live in. He encouraged them to be critical of society. His work was often mischievous, provocative and ironic.

Brecht wanted his audiences to remain objective and unemotional during his plays so that they could make rational judgments about the political aspects of his work. To do this he invented a range of theatrical devices known as epic theatre.

Epic theatre is a type of political theatre that addresses contemporary issues, although later in Brecht’s life he preferred to call it dialectal theatre. Brecht believed classical approaches to theatre were escapist, and he was more interested in facts and reality rather than escapism. Epic theatre doesn’t attempt to lay down a tidy plot and story, but leaves issues unresolved, confronting the audience with sometimes uncomfortable questions.

Verfremdungseffekt, or the ‘estrangement effect,’ was used to distance the audience from the play and is sometimes called the alienation effect. Brecht did not want the audience to have any emotional attachment to his characters, so he did various things to break it. Here are some of the techniques he used.

Breaking the fourth wall

This is where the wall between the audience and actors on stage is broken. Rather than allowing the audience to sit passively and get lost in the show, the actors will sometimes directly address the audience with a speech, comment or a question - breaking the fourth wall.

Montage
Short movie clips are put together, often to show factual events. Sometimes clips are edited to juxtapose each other, and/or sometimes the montages are used to highlight the issues Brecht is trying to communicate.

Use of song, music and dance

Some of Brecht’s work includes songs, music and dance. This helps to remind the audience that they are not watching real life. Sometimes the songs are juxtaposed ironically, with cheery upbeat music but with dark lyrics. One of the most famous song lyrics comes from Brecht’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’: ‘Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?’

Narration

Narration is used to remind the audience that they are watching a story. Sometimes the narrator will tell the audience what is about to happen in the story, before it happens, because if the audience knows the outcome then they may not get as emotionally involved.

Minimal set, costumes, props and lighting

Brecht believes the stage should be brightly lit at all times. That sets should not be realistic, just suggestive. And that actors should use minimal props, often only one per character. Also props can be used in several different ways, for example a suitcase may become a desk.

Coming out of character

Actors will sometimes come out character, often at heightened moments of drama, to remind the audience that it is a piece of fiction that they are watching.

Using placards

A placard, or projection screen can be used to give the audience some extra factual information, for example it might say how many people have died in a particular war. Placards can also be used to introduce characters in generic ways, e.g. ‘mum,’ or ‘dad.’ Placards are also used to introduce a new scene, or to tell the audience when one has finished.

Freeze frames/tableaux

The actors may go into a freeze frame, so as to break the action. Sometimes it’s done so that the audience can stop and think critically for moment. And sometimes it’s done so that the narrator can speak, or so that an actor can come out of character and perhaps break the fourth wall.

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation 1

Stanislavski

(Information gathered on 27/05 and 5/06)

Stanislavski is a massive part of my hypothesis, with half of the question being focused on a style originated from him. On the 27/05, I worked on finding different resources so that I could include in my presentation (with some of that information being on this page, and some being on websites referenced on my REFERENCE post). From this information, I have learnt more about naturalistic theatre and understand Stanislavski's life story. When I next research Stanislavski for this project, I want to look deeper into his impact on the theatre industry, and how his method was used and taken on by modern directors/writers.

I have finished researching for today (5/06) and have gathered more information on the Stanislavski system. In my powerpoint, I will make a slide focusing on this method and dive into each individual aspect of the pie chart shown below.

Research

Born in 1863, Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor, director and theatre practitioner. Stanislavski Technique stems from his theatre practice and is still used by actors all around the world today. Stanislavski’s principles of directing and his collective theories on acting were very influential in the late nineteenth century and are still used by actors and directors today.

The method is an actor training system made up of various different techniques designed to allow actors to create believable characters and help them to really put themselves in the place of a character.

Understanding the world of your character is absolutely vital to creating a believable performance; Stanislavski used this idea to create Given Circumstances. The first step towards doing this is going through the play and writing down all the facts about your character you can find! Example questions you might ask as you go through the script could be:

Where Am I? When is it? (The year/the day/time of day etc) Who Am I? (Name/age/your family history/what you do for work etc) What relationships do I have? What has happened before the play started?

Once you’ve found out everything you can about your Given Circumstances, you should have lots of material to help you to start understanding your character. They are just as human as you are and need to have as comprehensive a world as you do!

Stanislavski describes The Magic If as being able to imagine a character’s given circumstances enough to understand what that character might do in any situation that arises. So when something happens to your character in the play you can understand how they would respond because you know so much about the world that they exist in.

Unit 104 Special Subject Investigation REFERENCES

This post consists of various main links I used throughout the research process.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxn4mp3/revision/1

http://vanessadramamonologue.blogspot.com/2013/10/from-last-lesson-we-were-introduced-to.html

http://www.theatrecrafts.com/pages/home/topics/stage-management/theatrical-style/

https://thedramateacher.com/realism-and-naturalism-theatre-conventions/

https://susielj.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/theatre-styles-naturalism-and-non-naturalism/

http://jemimadramahz.blogspot.com/2013/10/non-naturalistic-techniques.html

https://libguides.gen.vic.edu.au/c.php?g=217331&p=1436322 

https://www.dramaclasses.biz/bertolt-brecht-techniques-and-factsbertolt-brecht-techniques-and-facts

https://www.dramaclasses.biz/the-stanislavski-system

https://www.city-academy.com/news/what-is-stanislavski-technique/