The Caucasian Chalk Circle Performance

           We had our performance on an extract from the play 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle' today! Everything went well, and I surprisingly memorized all my lines despite of their length, and so does Daniel (Simon) and Shari (Grusha). The audience like how we use them as the river separating Simon and Grusha, so they can feel the tension between them. They said it is interesting and although they can only see one person at a time, it is not frustrating as only one character speaks at a time and they only need to concentrate on the speaking character anyway.

          By doing this project I gained basic knowledge of how an act on stage is created or designed, also it let me realized the possibilities there are in a small extract. 

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Preparation 2

           In Today's lesson we decided on the form (how are we going to place the audience, how are we going to shape the stage etc.) of our play.

           At first we just want to show our play on the stage, then I came up with an idea of using the audience as the river. Although that may reduce the vision of the audience, and they can only focus on one of the two characters (Simon, Grusha), but that's not a big problem, in my opinion, as they will only talk one at a time, and because the audience is sitting between the two characters, they can feel the tension, I think that this method of arranging the audience is worth risking, luckily my group mates agreed on it.

           For the Singer, which I am going to play, as the singer only have two long paragraph in the extract, I will sit among the audience before I have to say my line, in order to create a surprise. As my two paragraphs are for Simon and Grusha respectively, I will stand on their side respectively, to show that I am expressing their inner thoughts. And to move smoothly between the two paragraphs, I will make use of the last line of Simon's thought "For bed I have stones in water", then I will lay down in the 'river' (among the audience), and stand back up again when I have to speak out Grusha's mind. Also, we decided that when the Singer is having his lines, all the other characters will freeze to show they can't here the Singer and it is kind of not in the real world.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Preparation

          We received the script, it is an extract from the play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle", the storyline of our extract is: Years pass, and Simon (Grusha's unmarried fiancé) finds Grusha while washing clothes in the river. They have a sweet exchange before Simon jokingly asks if she has found another man. Grusha struggles to tell him she has unwillingly married, then Simon spots Michael. The following scene between the two is told predominantly by the Singer, who speaks for each of the two character's thoughts, and is the most heartbreaking part of the play.

          Before we get into details, we decided to read the script out a few times first, then we worked on the movement of the characters.

          For Simon, he will first have a confident standing position as he is proud of himself being a soldier, but as the dialogue continues, he gets to know something happened to Grusha. In order to express the change in Simon's mind, Daniel (Simon) will start to change his stand into a more defensive position, and then later in the extract, he will even wander around to show his impatience.

          For  Grusha, she will come in with a basket of cloths, and throughout the conversation, she is mostly trying to go forward, showing that she wants to reach Simon (sadly there is a river splitting them), but when Simon asked her about the child and if she is still single, we decided to show it by making Shari (Grusha) stepping backward when that happens.

         We spent our lesson mainly on these two main characters, then we are told by Oda to read the script a few times in our free time before the next lesson.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Task title: 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle'.

Date of task: 28th October, 2011.

Aim of task: Team up into group of four, and work on an extract from 'The Caucasian chalk Circle'.

Description of task:

• I am in a group with Oda as the director, Shari as Grusha, Daniel as Simon, and I am acting as the singer.

Reflection:

• This is really the first time I am involved in a play, acting, according to an extract from an actual written play.

Conclusion:

• The performance is successful, the idea of using the audience as the river is accepted.

Research Homework Task: Arena/Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre (or amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.

Ancient Roman amphitheaters were:

• major public venues, circular or oval in shape, and

• used for events such as gladiator combats, chariot races, venationes (animal slayings) and executions.

A contemporary amphitheatre is:

• a curved, acoustically vibrant performance space, particularly one located outdoors.

A natural amphitheatre is:

• a performance space located in a spot where a steep mountain or a particular rock formation naturally amplifies or echoes sound, making it ideal for musical and theatrical performances.

An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events.

One Person Show

Task title: 'One Person Show'.

Date of task: 10th October, 2011.

Aim of task: To reflect on our feeling on the play "Private Peaceful" through a one person show

Description of task:

• We are paired up, and we are going to create a one person show about other feelings about the show.
• I am paired up with Jason, as he did not go to watch "Private Peaceful", it is only me who is going to act out my experience, then Jason is doing the job of a director.
• This is the story of my one person show:
• Before I start my journey to the show, I am very excited, I am expressing it by walking out the stage jumping joyfully, and yelling out "Yeah! I am going to watch 'Private Peaceful', it is going to be very interesting! Just think about it, being nearly twenty characters in one performance, how awesome is that!"
• Then the setting moves to the bus, on my way there, I had an argument with some of the students about whether Economics or History is better, and at the same time I am still excited about the show. To show this, I will walk in a circle around a chair and talking about how good Econ is when I am in front, then expressing my excitement when I am behind the chair.
• Then I sit on the chair to symbolize the start of the play, and when I heard a gun shot that execute Private Peaceful, I stood up and talk about how I feel about his death, "After all the I have listened to his stories, he just died, in front of us, I already know so much about him that I treated him as a friend, but he just left the stage and *bang*." Then I fall on the ground to show the suddenness of Private Peaceful's death, and as the end of my show.

Reflection:

• After actually trying out a one person show myself, I realize that how difficult it is to be all alone on a big stage, I need to be very confident in order to act out well, also, as there is no other actor on stage, I need to memorize all the lines and I can't get any help from others.

Conclusion:

• We can use creative methods to express our feelings on things, I used a one person show to express my reflection on Private Peaceful.

Show watching 2: Private Peaceful

Name of the show: 'Private Peaceful'.

Date of show: 8th October, 2011.

Description of show:

• 'Private Peaceful'  is originated from a book by Michael Morpurgo, it is the story of a young teenager named Thomas Lugnut Peaceful, who tells the story in account format from the past to the present day events of his experiences of living in the village of Iddesleigh during World War I. He talks about his childhood, his brother Charlie and his love Molly. During a charge of the German lines during World War I, Thomas disobeys a direct order from Hanley and stays with Charlie while he is injured on No-man's-land. As a result Thomas is given a court martial and is accused of "Cowardice" .At dawn, Thomas is marched before the firing squad, where he dies happily singing their favourite childhood song, "Oranges and Lemons". The story ends with Thomas's execution.

• This is a one person show, the stage is set without any trappings, just a young man curled up on an old iron bedstead in a barn, awaiting execution by a firing squad.The young man is Private 'Tommo' Peaceful, and the play keeps returning to this location as his pocket watch "slowly slides away the seconds" towards the final moments of his life.

Reflection:

• This show is really powerful, I experienced flashes of his life as Tommo's story gradually unfolds during the course of the play, there is slowly an invisible bridge formed between me and Private Peaceful, I started to feel sad for him as the play goes on, I treat him as a friend as I know so much about him, he is basically sharing his life to me, but he just died after walking off the stage, just a loud "BANG!", and that symbolized his death. It really has a great impact on the audiences' mind and with such a shocking ending, they won't forget the play.

• I think making this play a 'One-Man Play', is really suitable, as one of the main aspects of this play is to share the story of Private Peaceful's life through his words from his mouth, if there are other characters in the play, it will be more complicated, and the audience may not feel as much as a single character telling his own life story to the audiences.

Conclusion:

• The show is an excellent one-man show, the ability of the actor to control his voice, tone and movement is amazing, he will just change into another completely different character in a click, very swiftly. I think it is a very important aspect for the actor of a one-man play to have to make it successful, and no wonder 'Private Peaceful' is a great one.

The Origins of Theatre

Theatre Guide (Syllabus)

The IB Theater Arts programme is made out of four components; two are internally assessed and two are externally assessed.

The internal assessments are the Theater Performance and Production Presentation (TPPP) and the Independent Project Portfolio (IPP). The external components are a Practical Performance Proposal (PPP) and a Research Investigation (RI).

TPPP:

The TPPP is a presentation on the student's involvement in their performance and production aspects of all areas of the core syllabus. The presentation is 30 minutes long for HL and should be supported by 7–10 visual materials (no larger than A4). For SL, the presentation is 20 minutes long and should be supported by 5–7 visual materials (no larger than A4).

IPP:

The IPP is an essay of 3000 words at HL and 2000 at SL in which the student reflects on his/her learning and development during the production of an independent project, which is a project in which the student explores and practices a role in the theater (actor, director, dramaturg, scriptwriter, etc.). It should also show a connection to their experiences in the core syllabus. There are two options: Option A: Devising Practice and Option B: Exploring Practice. The portfolio must include sections marked Preparation, Action, and Reflection.

PPP:

For the PPP, the student has to adopt a directorial perspective and write a concept for a play using one of the prescribed stimuli. For SL, it contains a 250-word pitch and explanatory, visual material that illustrates the student's understanding of the intended process of realization. For HL, it also includes a 1,000-1,250 word rationale.

RI:

The RI is a research essay in which the student presents his or her research on a previously unfamiliar theater practice. From the chosen theater practice, students should choose a specific aspect of a play or theater piece and create a research question to answer. Student's research should contribute to a realization of the play or theater piece from their chosen theatrical practice. The practice cannot be studied in class and must be no later than the 19th century. The question must be taken from a directorial, actor, or designer perspective. For SL, the essay must be 1,500-1,750 words with visual documentation and/or textual references. For HL, the essay must be 2,000-2,500 words with visual documentation and/or textual references. At HL, students must also write a critique of the sources in the research investigation.

What is a Director?

Task title: 'The Movement Performance'.

Date of task: 20th September, 2011.

Aim of task: To create a play with a skeleton movement text.

Description of task:

• We are spited into groups of five, I am with Undine, Tara, Oda, and Prodhi, two of us, Undine and I, as directors, and the rest as A (Prodhi),B (Oda), and C (Tara).
• This is our instruction:

• We decided to make it in a story about drug dealing, A wants to but drug from C and B is her friend, trying to stop her.

Reflection:

• I realized how many possibility in a simple skeleton frame of a play! I enjoy being a co-operative director, we discussed with the actors and we did a good job.

Conclusion:

• Creativity is very important for a director, and a director can have a god-like image (everything is following his order) or can also be co-operating (listening to others' opinions and ideas).

True Lies

Task title: 'True Lies'.

Date of task: 19th September, 2011.

Aim of task: Pair up in two, and tell your partner two stories about yourself, one false and one true. See if they can guess which is which.

Description of task:

• Partners in turn tell each other two stories. Act as if both are true, but one is false. Partner has to guess which one is true.

• I told the true story about why and how I came into LPCUWC and a 100% false story of my first girlfriend. My partner,  Undine, guessed correctly. She told a story about hitchhiking and meeting a photographer (false) and her road trip in the summer (true). I guessed wrong.

Reflection:

• I think I need to further improve my skill of observing people, I read a book written by a former FBI agent about mind-reading, and then I guessed Steve's true and false story correctly, after observing his small movement of his body and especially eyes. Undine purposely  pretend to be nervous when she is saying his true story, I am not really thinking much as I am planning my own story, so I guessed wrongly, I should have realized that it is too obvious.

Conclusion:

• Knowing how to tell a fake story is important as acting is performing an imaginative story.

Show watching 1: One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 ― Cultural Revolution

Name of the show: 'One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 ― Cultural Revolution'.

Date of show: 16th September, 2011.

Aim/reason of watching the show: We got free tickets, and our teacher, Steve, think the director, Danny Yung, is very good.

Description of show:

• 'One Hundred Years of Solitude 10.0 ― Cultural Revolution' is using the idea of the book, 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', by Gabriel García Márquez, expressing the incidents happened in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by using the horizontal movement of actors on stage throughout the whole play, they represent different types of activities, such as weddings, funerals, revolutions etc. They express them mainly with action and the show only contains a little bit of sounds, including the count down of numbers and some songs that is popular during the beginning years of the PRC.

Reflection:

• This show is very abstract, the whole idea of the show is just expressed by the movements and actions of the horizontal-moving actors, I think it is a brilliant idea, but the show is a bit too long, there are a lot of repeating elements throughout the show, and it became quite boring in the middle part, but the last part is excellent, my favorite part is that they dim all the light and when the lights turned on again, there is a crawling girl in the middle of the stage and all the lighting device above the stage is lowered to almost ground level, the visual effect is excellent!

• I think the show is split into three parts, which are before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution. As there is a big difference in the actions, first they dress in white, and everyone is just walking around, then some people turned black, and there are people holding bamboo sticks, hitting them on the floor, and at last the people are mostly dressed in black, and they are holding modern suitcases.

• I originally think that the play is about the book by Gabriel, but it turned out to be they are just using the idea of the book, as I learned another book, 'Chronicle of a Death Foretold' by him, I am excited of watching the play, but this Chinese version of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' is also good, I am not feeling regret of watching this!

Conclusion:

• The show is a very good example of a creative abstract play, and it also reveals the changes in China in the past one hundred years.

What is an Actor?

Task title: 'Three Types of Acting'.

Date of task: 15th September, 2011.

Aim of task: Act out 'The Life of Steve Caligar' in three different types of acting: Realistic, narrative, and abstract.

Description of task:

• 'The Life of Steve Caligar'
• We need to make up a story, and we are split into three groups, each with six people, then perform the story in three types of acting: Realistic, narrative, and abstract.
• This is what we designed Steve Caligar's life:
• He was born in New Zealand
• He dropped school and went to China, work as a maintenance worker in a school.
• He fell in love with a girl called Olivia, but she rejected him
• He felt sad and suicide
• I am the abstract group with Undine, Adam, Jason, Nashwa, and Dorte, I act as Steve and Undine act as Olivia. We decided to use the rest of the team as the emotions of Steve, they surrounds the two and at last, dragged Steve on the floor and killed him.

Reflection:

• This is my first time in the Theatre course acting! And also a quite interesting one! I have never really think of doing an abstract play before, I think we did a good job, although our play is a bit short, but I think if we have more time, we can come up with more thing.

Conclusion:

• There are lots of different kinds of acting, and in order to be a good actor, we need to understand them, and know the properties of them.

Introducing myself

Task title: 'Presenting Myself'.

Date of task: 14th September, 2011.

Aim of task: Using words, images, and objects to present myself.

Description of task:

• 'Use words to describe yourself'
• Each person gets a piece of A4 paper, and need to write words that they think can describe/represent him/herself, in a form of a spider web.
• This is my web of words:

• 'I chose Theatre because...'
• Each person gets another plain A4 paper, and need to write sentences that explains why we chose Theatre.
• This is my reason of why I chose Theatre:

• 'A picture that represent yourself'
• Each person gets a piece of A3 paper, and need to draw a picture that they think can represent themselves.
• This is my picture:

Reflection:

• I think the words I chose to describe me are quite suitable, I think I need to work harder on not being lonely, I will try to get more friends, and I think joining the Theatre can help me with that, and I also got a lot of friends in the Theatre class!
• The reasons why I chose Theatre are quite reasonable I think, but I am the only local students from local school in the Theatre class, maybe other HK students would rather choose another science/humanities subject. I think at this moment, I will say the Theatre is more than my expectation, my teacher, Steve, is really amazing, all the other students are talented, and I love it, I think I won't regret my choice.
• For the photo that I drew to describe myself, I drew a man with a cactus covering him, and I wrote "A cactus (man) who wants a hug (water)." It is like a crossover methopher, it means a man who wants a hug, like a cactus wants water, but I am sometimes like a cactus, I sometimes look like a person that doesn't want to talk, but I really want to express myself to the others. And I think this picture can describe me. And surprisingly, people started hugging me when all our pictures are displayed! I felt the love in the theatre class and I almost melted! I guess this picture will never represent me in the future again!

Conclusion:

• Understanding myself is a really important thing, not only for theatre, but even for the life of a person. After knowing myself thoroughly, I can then act like someone else, it is the process of breaking my original personality and build up another one.

Trust

Task title: 'Building Trust'.

Date of task: 12th September, 2011.

Aim of task: To build trust between classmates by playing two games, 'Trust walk' and 'Trust fall'.

Description of task:

• 'Trust walk'
• Partners in turn cover their eyes, the one who can see guides the other to walk in the room with many other pairs, firstly with a palm, then with a single finger, and finally with only sounds (not words).
• My partner is Adam, as we met each other in the Challenge Day during the admission process, we trust each other. The game runs quite smoothly, not many people bumped together.

• 'Trust fall'
• Six people a group, five of them forms a circle, and the one left stands in the middle, with his/her legs closed, keeping his/her body straight, cross his/her arms, close his/her eyes, and fall. The people in the circle need to prevent the one in the middle from falling to the ground, and all six in the group will be the one in the middle in turn.
• I have played this game before, so I personally don't have any problem on letting myself fall freely, but the biggest problem we have is that the boys (including me), are too heavy for the girls to catch and push back, so the game became really exciting when some of the boys nearly fell!

Reflection:

• I really like these two games, I think they can really make all the theatre students become closer,  I enjoy being in a strong community, where we all trust each other and work towards a common goal.

Conclusion:

• Trust is a very important element in a team. In a Theatre class, we need to trust each other in order to have good co-operation in a successful play.

Intro

This is a record of my IB theatre journey, in Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, academic year 2011-2013. I am Felix Chu from Hong Kong.