Cardinal Newman Catholic School Drama Department Year 9 Knowledge Book

Transcription

1 Cardinal Newman Catholic School Drama Department Year 9 Knowledge Book

2 Monologue- Along speech to an audience or another character on stage. Cross-Cutting- Two or more scenes performed at the same time showing different significant events, from different times and places, at the same time on the stage. It can be used to provide the background or explain events Proxemics- The use of closeness or distance between character's to make a point. Levels- Using actors height and positions to indicate status. Status- Power, authority or importance. Thought Tracking- Whilst rehearsing or performing, freeze the scene. Every actor (in-role) has to say what their character is thinking or feeling that moment. This deepens the actors understanding of their character s thought and feelings. Drama Techniques Freeze Frame- Creating a still image that captures an important moment of the play. Hot-Seating- Answering questions in role about your character. Role on the wall- Draw an outline of your character and put in on the wall. Write the facts about your character inside the outline and the emotions and feelings outside the outline. Duologue- A scene between two characters.

3 Brain Storm- As a group, discuss the theme you want to explore in the play. Brainstorm stories that involve the characters experiencing each theme. Reflect- A the end of a rehearsal, reflect on what you have achieved and what needs to be done next. Set aims and assign jobs for the next session. Create a rehearsal schedule and stick to it. Devising Techniques Characters- Start by creating characters. Too Many devised pieces fail because the characters have not been carefully thought out. Name each character and discuss their personalities and relationships. Freeze Frames- Create Freeze Frames that depict crucial moments in the characters life. These can then be incorporated into your play later on. Monologue- In a group, think of one word each that describes your character. Then on your own use the list of words (in the order they were said) to write a monologue for your character. Improvise- Improvise a scene in every rehearsal. Don t just talk things through. Try to improvise a scene using different styles. A scene may work better as a comedy even though it was originally a drama. Music- Find a piece of music that represents your theme, either lyrically or through the dynamics or texture. Use the music to create a movement sequence that shows the mood of a character. Structure- Create a flow map of the story and highlight the key scenes. Experimenting with the structure may help you create a more imaginative and original play.

4 { { Body { Performance Voice Skills Space { Facial Expression Movement/Gait Body Language Gesture Posture Pace Pitch Tone Volume Articulation Accent Diction Projection Clarity Intonation Levels Proxemics Focus Audience Staging/Stage Areas Between actors { Between actors and audience Between actors and focus/prop/set

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6 What is a Stimulus? A starting point. Something used to base the piece around. There are 4 kinds of stimulus- words, images, sound and objects. Words- News paper articles, poems, song lyrics, play script, letters, transcripts and story's. Images- Photographs, postcards, paintings, drawings and comics. Sound- Music, sound effects such as rain or a clock ticking. Objects- Sculptures, objects, shapes, fabric or material.

7 Blood Brothers Plot Summary- Mrs Johnstone, a struggling single mother of seven, finds out that she is pregnant with twins. Her employer, Mrs Lyons persuades Mrs Johnstone to give her one of her babies. Scared of Edward becoming close to his biological family, Mrs Lyons convinces her husband to move the family to the country side. Soon afterwards, the Johnstone s (and Linda's family) are rehoused by the council. Mrs Lyons takes Edward and brings him up as her own, convincing her husband this is true. Mrs Johnstone goes back to work but fusses over Edward, leading to Mrs Lyons firing her. Aged seven, Mickey and Edward meet and become best friends, along with Mickey's neighbour Linda. The three get into trouble with the police when they begin to throw stones at windows. As teenagers, Mickey and Edward meet again and they rekindle their friendship. Linda and the boys remain close throughout their teenage years before Edward goes off to university. After marrying a pregnant Linda, Mickey loses his factory job. Unemployed, Mickey is involved in a crime with one of his brothers, Sammy, and both are sent to prison. After Mickey comes out of prison and starts a new job, Edward and Linda start a light romance. Mickey finds out and is furious so he finds Sammy's gun and goes to find Edward at his workplace, the town hall. Mickey becomes depressed and takes pills to help him cope, which he continues to take after being released. Mrs Johnstone follows Mickey and tells him in front of Edward that they are twins. The police also arrive. Mickey waves the gun around and it accidentally goes off, killing Edward. The police shoot Mickey. The twins both lie dead.

8 Hillsborough disaster Timeline of events: The semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest took place on Saturday 15 April, The match was sold out, meaning more than 53,000 fans from the two sides would head for Hillsborough for the kick-off. Despite being a far larger club, Liverpool supporters were allocated the smaller end of the stadium, Leppings Lane, so that their route would not bring them into contact with Forest fans arriving from the south. Football crowds at the time had a reputation for hooliganism and strict segregation was enforced. Fans began arriving at Leppings Lane at about midday. The entrance had a limited number of turnstiles, of which just seven were allocated to the 10,100 fans with tickets for the standing terraces. Once through the turnstiles, supporters would have seen a wide tunnel leading down to the terrace and signposted "Standing". As was common practice in grounds at the time, the terrace was divided into "pens" by high fences that corralled fans into blocks and separated them from the pitch. There was no system on the day to ensure fans were evenly distributed across the pens and no way of counting how many were in each pen. The match commander was Ch Supt David Duckenfield. He was new in his post and had limited experience of policing football matches. By a crowd had started to build outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles and it swelled rapidly over the next quarter of an hour. Progress through the seven turnstiles was slow and by just 4,383 people had entered, meaning 5,700 ticketed fans were set to enter the ground in the half hour before kick-off. The inquests were told Mr Duckenfield and Supt Bernard Murray discussed delaying the kick off to allow fans to enter but decided against it. By CCTV footage showed there were thousands of people pressing into the turnstiles and alongside a large exit gate, called Gate C. The funnel-shaped nature of the area meant that the congestion was hard to escape for those at the front. The turnstiles became difficult to operate and people were starting to be crushed.

9 Hillsborough disaster Timeline of events (Continued): The police officer in charge of the area told the inquests he thought somebody was "going to get killed here" unless the exit gates were opened to alleviate the pressure. He made several requests and at 14.52, Mr Duckenfield gave the order and the gates were opened. About 2,000 fans then made their way into the ground. Most of those entering through Gate C headed straight for the tunnel leading directly to pens 3 and 4. This influx caused severe crushing in the pens. At 14.59, the game kicked off. Fans in the two central pens were pressed up against the fences and crush barriers. One barrier in pen 3 gave way, causing people to fall on top of each other. Supporters continued to climb perimeter fences to escape, while others were dragged to safety by fans in the upper tiers. At Supt Roger Greenwood ran on to the pitch and told the referee to stop the game. In the chaotic aftermath, supporters tore up advertising hoardings to use as makeshift stretchers and tried to administer first aid to the injured. Police delayed declaring a major incident and staff from South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service at the ground also failed to recognise and call a major incident. Access to the pitch was delayed because police were reporting "crowd trouble". Only two ambulances reached the Leppings Lane end of the pitch and of the 96 people who died, only 14 were ever admitted to hospital. For the jury in the inquests, police errors in planning, defects at the stadium and delays in the emergency response all contributed to the disaster. The behaviour of fans was not to blame.

10 Monologue What is a Monologue? A script or dialogue for one person. How do I write a monologue? Determine the purpose of the monologue. The purpose could be- A story, a secret, an answer to a question or an emotional release from a character. Decide who will be addressed in the monologue. It may be a specific character from the play, the speaker themselves or directly to the audience. Consider the beginning, Middle and end. Add detail and description. Reflect on your character s past and future. Use your characters voice and language. Read the monologue out loud or ask someone to read or perform the monologue back to you.

11 GUM and GOO, Extract 1- Actor 1 She s goofy. (They shout at her) Actor 2 Oy! Iron Knickers! Actor 3 Goof! (Actor 4 screams and rocking become horrible, then suddenly stop. She s dead still, eyes closed) Actor 1 I think she d dead. You think she s dead? She s dead. Actor 2 Na. she s fainsy. Oy Kid! Actor 3 She s dead. (Actors 1,2 and 3 stare at each other) (In the black out at once. Actors 1 and 2 whisper the following deadpan, that is a fact, and not poetry. Actor 3 whispers the words almost simultaneously, but not quite a fraction after) Actor 1 The dark inside Actor 2-the light inside the dark inside. Actor 1-The beautiful lands inside. Actor 2 The lovely ladies in the fields inside. Actor 1 The silver children and the animals at play inside. Actor 2 The snows, and Christmas-is-forever inside. (Actor 3 at once, with a cutting, official doctorish voice) Actor 3 In extreme condition, the child s sense are totally dislocated. Fire is cold, cold burns. Words screech. Animate objects are stone. The child walks on another planet, converses with beings not conceived of the natural world. Actor 5 Mary Actor 6 Mary (Actor 5 and 6 overlap their cues to each other, their words tumble over each other) Actor 5 Mary Mary Mary Actor 6 Mary had-a-little-lamb Mary. (Actor 4 stares straight ahead)

12 GUM and GOO, Extract 1- Actor 4 Who you? Actor 5 I Gum Gum Actor 6 I Goo Goo Actor 5 He Goo Goo Actor 6 He Gum Gum Actor 4-What you? Actor 5 We Gemlins, Mary. Actor 4 Grem-Lins. Actor 6 He Gremlin Gum, I Gremlin Goo. (Actors 5 and 6 nod frantically) Actor 4 You good, or you bad? Actor 5 We good Mary, In t we Goo? Actor 6- Yeh, we good. Very very good. Not bad (Actors 5 and 6 nod frantically) (Actors 5 and 6 shake their heads Actor 5 We not bad Actor 6 We not bad. Cos we re good. (Actors 5 and 6 nod) We your friends Mary. Actor 5 You want us to be your friends? Actor 4 You...My..Friends? Actor 6 We your friends. You don t need other friends, when you got Gum and Goo. Actor 5 Gum and Goo, friends with you. Actor 6 Gum and Goo do what you want to do, Mary. Mary, what you want to do? Actor 4 Where the lovely ladies are and. Go there. It s magic Christmas. And where the animals are. And where it s magic all day and. And. (A pause)

13 GUM and GOO, Extract 1- Actor 5 You go there. Actor 4 Go now? Actor 6 Not now Mary. Actor 5 Not now Mary. Actor 6 You go home now Mary. Actor 4 I want to play? Actor 5 We play. But not now. Actor 6 Go home Mary Actor 5 Go home and have your tea. And don t tell. Actor 6 Don t tell. Actor 5 Don t tell, on Gum and Goo. Actor 4 Gum. Goo. (Pause) Sometimes I go funny, and I fall down. And. (Pause) But then I stand up. An I go home for tea.

14 GUM and GOO, Extract 2- Actor 1 When I m Scared I think. I think I ll burn the whole world down. That s what I think. I ll burn the houses down and burn the mums and dads down. Ill burn my mum and dad down. Specially my Mum. I d like to see my mum s hair burn and hear her scream.. She screamed once when I threw the iron at her. It made a funny mark on her face. I d like to see her silly legs up burning and her knickers turning black. And when all the world was burnt. I d. I d. BE HAPPY. (Actor 2 as the mother, mimes taking an apron down, tying it round her waist, smoothing her hair. Comes into the centre, and starts kitchen work.) (Actor 3 as the father, in another room, reading a newspaper. The mother s soppy.) Actor 1 Mummy Mummy. Actor 3 Not now Mary. (A pause. Actor 1 sulks, calculating.) Actor 1 YOUR HAIR S ON FIRE! Actor 2- WHAT? (She clutches her hair. Then rearranges it, tired, back to work.) Oh Mary you re telling lies again. Actor 1 It was. (A pause. Actor 1 sulks, calculating.) Actor 1 LOOK, A RAT. Actor 2 AHH. WHERE? Actor 1 UNDER THE COOKER. Actor 2 AHH (A pause. Mother on her toes. She calms down.)

15 GUM and GOO, Extract 2- Actor 2 Oh Mary, that was another lie, I don t know what makes you tell them. You mustn t tell lies. (Actor 2 goes back to work.) Actor 1 What s for tea? Actor 2 It s bread and butter, and that nice raspberry jam you like. I got some in specially. Actor 1 I bet it s rat. I bet it s rat for tea. Rat on toast. Actor 2 Mary, what a wicked thing to say to your mother. Actor 1 Rat rat rat! You give me rat for tea, you ratbag. Actor 2 Mary! (Actor 1 jumping up and down.) Actor 1 Ratbag ratbag ratbag. (Actor 2 slaps Actor1 round the face. Actor 1 stops jumping, stares, then howls. Actor 2 is at once mortified. Actor 1 puts all the agony on, falls down on the floor, howling. Actor 2 leans over, trying to get her to stand up.) Actor 2 Don t cry, Mary, I ll get you an ice-cream for tea. Mary, don t cry. Pink and green ice-cream, you like that. Don t cry Mary. Strawberry ripple ice-cream Mary (Actor 1 Grabs Actor 2s hair.) Mary Mary Mary let go my hair! (Actor 3 as the father) Actor 3 Mary! Let go your mother s hair at once! (Actor 1 does so and turns on Actor 2) Actor 1 Daddy Rat, the biggest rat of all. (She kicks her father in the groin) Actor 3-OOOHHHH (He doubles up)

16 GUM and GOO, Extract 2- Actor 1 I m going out to play, and I hope you BURN. (Actor 1 turns away, Actor 2, clutching her hair, acting 3 clutching crotch.) Actor 2 What did we do to deserve such a child? Actor 3 Don t distress yourself, my love. We must have patience. Actor 2 Patience. Actor 3 Patience Actor 2 But what did we do, and where did she get those thoughts? (They freeze in their contorted positions, as Actor 1 does her speech.) Actor 1 I was playing with my mum, and I got hold of her head, and It roll off. Under the table. And I run down the garden and. And my mum s head it roll after me. And I go in the shed. And I shut the shed and. My mum s head it bump against the door bump bump bump. And sey let me in Mary, Mary let me in.

17 What is Etiquette? During your assessment you will be need to demonstrate an understanding of Drama etiquette. Etiquette is a way of behaving in a situation. Tennis match = quiet audience. Audience Etiquette Paying attention Staying silent Leaning forward Eyes on the stage Sitting still Appropriate response at the end of a scene Following instructions Performer Etiquette Waiting for quiet before you begin Standing in neutral at the side of the space when not on stage Not losing focus or coming out of character Improvising when you or someone else forgets their lines. Freezing when the performance has finished