Drama nerd NOT GEEK

In drama class today, it was quite an eye-opener to actually see the amount of thought and consideration that had gone into a ‘top class’ solo performance on the dramatic element of Symbol and the Expressive Skills of Gesture and Movement. Each movement and gesture that portrayed the character had to be stylised and over exaggerated but had to (to a point) look spontaneous. Spontaneous meaning that the movement and the gestures of the characters should not look choreographed and forced but should look as naturalistic as possible. It all comes down to the timing of the movement in effect with the context of the solo performance.

A common theme amongst all of the ‘top class’ performers of 2006 were that they all incorporated symbol and found ways to make that symbol believable amongst the audience. Roses used to symbolise love and romance that were contrasted against their portrayl of being her lover’s blood. In my solo, I will be using a graphics calculator for my symbol. It is a symbol of how the world views ‘nerds’…Smart, emotionless and a loner. It also is a symbol for the character as its best friend.

Mr Cash also discussed that character transitions were an important part in the solo and that we should keep it as naturalistic and believable as possible. Although character transitions are a non-naturalistic convention our aim is to make the audience believe in our character and our secondary characters. I liked the idea that Mr Cash brought forward about our these character transitions that maybe we could incorporate just one sentance (that made sense of course) and have one word spoken by our main character and secondary characters. My secondary characters are some ‘Americanised teenage girls’ who finally bring Albert down to earth. Maybe instead of them saying, “Look at Albert, he is such a freak…he is such a loner! Look how he holds that calculator. That’s the most disgusting t-shirt I’ve ever seen…” etc. (By the way Albert hears this conversation) I’ll say instead: ‘Look at Albert…freak’ Albert then says: ‘Mis-understood’ ‘loner’ ‘lonely’ ‘totally sad’ ’scared’ ‘disgusting’ When Albert hears that he leaves. The benefits of this version is that the audience can understand the feelings of Albert in accord to the comments of the girls.

Have a good holiday everyone! Formal tomorrow

After the previous Drama lesson on Friday when I worked in a group of three showing small scenes to the other two I found it didn’t work as well as I expected. So today (Tuesday) I decided to practice by myself on my solo and found that it worked much better. Instead of feeling self-concious I was able to do complete run throughs many times with no interruptions.

I’m happy with the way my solo is going. I have written a script but I have ended up improvising a few scenes or changing a few lines here and there but the idea is still evident.

I’m really enjoying play Albert! Albert is a combination of a bit of me and a bit of a couple of people I know (who I better not mention) and a bit of made up characteristics. Well I can mention one person, thanks to Mrs Nichols, Albert’s best friend is now his graphics calculator (named calcy). Thanks Mrs Nichols! I’m very comfortable with this solo…Whether that is a good or bad thing will soon be known…

Today’s activity was fantastic in discovering who our character actually is! We started off by going through some notes and mentally noting down certain characteristics and then we had to stand in our own space in the room and close our eyes…focus! We had to then walk, speak, be happy, be sad, be angry, sit and be in an imaginery scene. I think everyone thought that this activity was vital for us to understand who the character we had created actually was in reality, not just on paper.

After we mimicked the actions of our solo characters we began to break from our solidarity and introduce ourselves to the other ’sub-cultures’ in the room. It was fantastic improvisation practice for our character and everyone had to try hard to stay in focus. I struggled with that at first when Boxy started talking to me but I managed to settle. I also managed to figure out a name for my character during this time! I didn’t have one before this exercise and when other character were telling me their name it just came out….Hi! My name’s Albert! So that’s my character’s name! FINALLY! I was finding it difficult to choose the name that most suited the personality of my character….IT’S ALBERT NOW!

I also managed to figure out that my Albert’s best friend’s name is Victor Tran, I like Star Wars, I won the math’s competition and my mum thinks I’m cool. Yay!

At the moment I am happy with my progress of scripting for our solos. I am glad that it is compulsory for us to script as I prefer the structure of a written script and a clear aim of what I need to do. I have written over three quarters of my script so far and next lesson (Thursday) I will be focusing on getting up and doing some acting. I can’t wait!

 My solo will start off at a maths competition (I am portraying a ‘nerd’) in which I win. It then goes on to convey the torments that a nerd faces every day during their life. Symbol will be used through a calculator which will act as a best friend that my character never had. There is a real sense of journey throughout the solo as my character realises who he actually is.

My secondary character does not feature a main role. My secondary character is the gossiping bitchy type of ’sub-culture’ making snide comments and really is the turning point in the plot. It is necessary for this character to be present as it is the climax in the plot.

I just realised that I didn’t include the actual process of what I did to form my solo. First after receiving the criteria sheet, I worked out a sub-culture that I would enjoy portraying and I chose something that was kind of close to my heart - nerds! Yay! Then I went home and went on wikipedia to search for a formal explanation of the term ‘nerds’. After having a pile of notes I read through the criteria sheet a couple more times to understand exactly what we needed to do and I jotted down common characteristics that stood out amongst the notes.

 It was then that I started to form an idea of how I actually wanted the character to be portrayed. Humorous? Dramatic? I didn’t want to just have a play that focused on the humiliation of nerds for the sake of laughter but I wanted something deeper than that. So I am choosing a more dramatic or deeper response. I’d like to convey a message.

We started off the year completely understanding Dramatic Elements, Stagecraft Techniques and Expressive skills. This knowledge we would then use for our Drama solos portraying a particular ’sub-culture’ in today’s society. I’m sure most of the other girls have realised that this particular category will be a comic one. I have chosen to portray the sub-culture of nerds.

I’ve written down a fair few pages of notes about common characterisitics of nerds and my script is probably about three-quaters finished. Symbol will play a large part in my solo. I am using a calculator to symbolise my character’s sole friend.

My solo will start at a maths competition for which my character will win and you will see the basic common version of a nerd at school. But what most people don’t realise is that some nerds have a life at home which may be pressured and narrow-minded. It’s very hard to explain in words but hopefully it will be understood when it is performed.

For our SAC we have been discussing the play, ‘Destin’, we watched at NMIT. Through use of symbol and the incredible mood that was set through lighting and sound the play created an interesting piece of Epic Theatre. Our SAC is on Tuesday.

Got to go to work now! Sell some Coles brand soft drink…

maddi xox

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