Classical Theatre Performance
Assignment –
‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th November
2015
The final week of rehearsals, before the
performance week.
Movement Sequences Rehearsals
Finalising rehearsals lead to improvement
of our movement sequences. For this we
had to establish the following:
·
What
performance style were we doing the movement sequence in?
·
What
effect will it deliver?
·
and
Where are they set?
In a previous session of rehearsals we
plotted our personalised movements (dancing, smoking, drinking, and taking a
selfie) and incorporated the movement to song choices to suit the scenes. Now, we had to establish the style of movement
for the sequences. I personally noticed
that we gave fluency to our movements and paced it, not to a point of complete
chaos, but to a sense of near realism.
All of which reminisced to the style of Frantic Assembly.
This production company produced
productions that tell stories through movement, but not to a degree that it is
all one huge dance piece, but more to an effect that can enhance the plot and
characters. Here is a video example of
Frantic Assembly at work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U.
We established this style of movement in
our devising assignment, last year, and we all agreed that it was the most
effective when it came telling the subplots that we couldn’t include in our
interpretation of ‘Much Ado’. The three subplots
that we won’t be performing, but have to make reference to for our audience to
understand what occurs throughout the play, is:
·
Act 2, Scene 1 – The second half of this scene takes
place at a masked ball and the scene climaxes with Claudio and Hero announcing
their marriage.
·
Act 3, Scene 2 – In Act 3, Scene 2 Don John shows
Claudio and Don Pedro a false Hero bedding with Borachio.
·
Act 4, Scene 1 - In Act 4, Scene 1 takes place at the
wedding and Claudio accuses Hero of being a liar and a cheat.
Plus the movement choreography was to be
simple and identifiable, for sake of not losing the audience’s interest. The choreography was plotted to this accord:
By incorporating a Frantic Assembly style
of movement, it would really up the intriguing factor of the performance. Having lead characters like Claudio, Hero,
Borachio, and Margret, taking centre stage would also assist in the audiences
understanding of who’s who and what is occurring. All of this would make the progression of the
play more understandable and entertaining.
Final Preparations
Concluding our final week of rehearsals,
we began the lighting preparations. Our
lighting style for the play was to be kept to a simple, but effective pattern. Spotlights will be used for character
speeches, like Benedick and Beatrice’s monologues (Act 2 Scene 3, and Act 3
Scene 1) and their duologues (Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 4 Scene 1).
Although for our movement sequences, the
lighting will be the complete opposite to the movements themselves. The movements will be fluent and elegant,
reflecting Frantic Assembly, while the lighting is to set the atmosphere of discos. The lighting will be chaotic and flashy
throughout to increase the amazement for the audiences eyes, all the while
upholding its purpose.
All the more bringing our interpretation
to life with exceptional intention and effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment