Research presentation

For this task you must first select a theatre tradition. You can only use one of the traditions on the IB's list which you will find on pages 53 and 54 of the syllabus. Not all of these traditions are as easy to talk about as each other. For some there may be very little information available on exactly how actors physically perform their roles, so think carefully before you make your choice.

You are going to present in 15 minutes the results of your research into one aspect of the tradition, which must be to do with the detail of the actor's performance. The five elements you can choose from are:

1. gesture
2. body
3. face
4. movement
5. voice.

You can explore one or any combination of these elements, and you must apply them to a moment of theatre from the tradition. In your presentation you will therefore be giving a combination of a performance and a research presentation explaining your physical investigations based on what you have learned. Remember that it is only ONE convention that you are allowed to talk about and demonstrate.

Use a start-stop technique to demonstrate the work, explaining what you are doing as you go along. You may want to show some movements in slow motion in order to explain them clearly.

You are allowed to use any materials you wish in the presentation including props, costumes and masks. You are not allowed to use anyone else in the presentation but you should refer to the feedback that you have had from other students during the course of preparing the presentation. You can, of course, use a visual presentation tool like Powerpoint or Prezi but remember that you also need to give a practical demonstration of the skills which you have researched.

This may be a presentation but you still are required to cite the sources which you have used and/or referred to in your presentation. You should refer to sources in your presentation by saying where you found the information which you have used and how it supports what you are showing in your demonstration. So you might say, "As you can see from this photograph from "The World of Kabuki" by James Farnworth ...." or "in an interview with Mary Shuttleworth". You might also cite them in your visual material by having a slide with the reference on it, or you could give out a handout with the references on it and with your full bibliography.