Drama
Work Hard. Be loving. Do the right thing.
WATCH
Use the ‘Digital Theatre Plus’ website to watch and analyse 2 performances of a different style. For example Frantic Assembly and a Shakespeare. What are the stylistic differences? How could these link to your own work or the set texts?
Watch a previous piece of A Level work on YouTube or from school and make notes on the performance. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses and suggest ideas for improvement.
Use YouTube to search for different interpretations of ‘Machinal’. Watch them and make notes. How do they influence your understanding how the plays can be brought to life.
Use YouTube to search for different interpretations of ‘Chimerica’. Watch them and make notes. How do they influence your understanding how the plays can be brought to life.
READ
All of these can be accessed via the School LRC
LISTEN
Read a chapter of ‘Stanislavski: An Actor Prepares’. This explores the fundamentals of naturalistic acting. Prepare a Stanislavski inspired rehearsal task to present to your group. The aim is to develop naturalistic acting skills.
Choose a play from the set text reading list and analyse character and meaning. What potential does it have for performance? How might it be reinterpreted? Are there effective scenes for your to perform?
Read ‘The Director’s Craft’ by Katie Mitchell
Listen to pod casts on Drama productions BBC Sounds (3 minutes)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006tnwj
Listen to pod casts on Drama productions BBC Sounds (15 minutes)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qy2s
WEBSITES AND APPS
RESEARCH
Use this website to research an accent. Can you master a new accent? Can you think of a performance that you could incorporate it into..
Carry out online research to further broaden your understanding of devised original theatre.
Read ‘The Director’s Craft’ by Katie Mitchell
Research theatre companies ‘KneeHigh’ and ‘Complicite’ and use their ideas to inspire and formulate your own. Can you include or adopt in your own work?
Try and come up with a warm-up based on voice and body training. Use texts by Clive Barker
‘Theatre Games’, Jaques Lecoq ‘The Moving
Identify main themes and messages in your set texts and research how those themes are still relevant today through news reports and current affairs.
Research a theatrical style and present your findings as an A3 poster. It should have clear headings and include relevant pictures, imagery, text and keywords.
CREATE
VISITS
Experiment with different staging. Use a performance that you are currently working on and perform it in different lay outs – 1) End on 2) I-The-Round 3) Apron 4)Traverse 5) Promenade. Identify and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each stage space.
Choose, rehearse and perform a monologue from a play. Research the play and the character you are playing and use rehearsal techniques. How can you create impact on an audience.
Write a monologue based on a character you have created from your scripted or devised performance. Be prepared to share the performance in front of an audience.
Write a biography of the person, company or individuals in the company. Examples could be Brecht, Artaud, Steven Berkoff, Forced Entertainment.