BTEC Drama

Now that we have created some images, we are have begun the initial block for the opening section. This post will outline the work that we have done. At the beginning of the script, the stage directions suggest that their should be an opening sequence before the first line of the play, which introduces the characters. We decided that we wanted to focus on presenting the family relationship. We did this through the idea of introducing Gregor as a marionette which each of the family members took control of in turn. This was not only done to reflect the reliance the family have on Gregor but also show how Gregor allows this reliance without any challenge. The lines that each character says do not come from the script, but were created in relation to each character. Watching back the section it seems that their was some disparity between the ways in which me and Megan were doing the actions. I was trying to present the loose movement of a real puppet while Megan had chosen a more Stac...

Today we began to look at another play by steven Berkoff. This play is called Metamorphosis and is part of a trilogy of scripts which Berkoff adapted from Kafka between the years 1968-1970. One of Berkoffs most famous adaptions, it follows salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a huge insect. The other works in this trilogy are: 1970 The Trial- Joseph K has been arrested and is awaiting trial but never finds out the charges. 1968 In the Penal Colony- about a torture mechanism which slowly reveals the reasons why the man is being tortured. We looked at a small, four page extract of the script and began to try and devise movement to it. We began with a focus on the vocalisation and staccato style of Berkoff. This first attempt was a good foundation, but was particularly lacking in physical movement. We began using the gasp in canon, which I think would work better with a greater space in between each one, as the sounds blurred together. T...

We have decided to use an extract of metamorphosis for our final piece, as we believe that it will best suit the capabilities of the group. We feel that Metamorphosis will better allow us to push our strengths in the physicality, whilst working on bringing vocalisation and character into the piece without being overly dictated by the emotive language used for example in East. The first thing we decided to do was to pick out key scenes/ images from the extract. We thought that with physical theatre it was best to first play with different ideas so that we could create a bank of them when trying to fit ideas to the script. These were: Setting the table Ballet of the stools The insect We chose to explore the way we could incorporate the insect Gregor into the families daily life. We began to experiment with ways we could move the table with the insect. We wanted to present this idea that Gregor was attached to family, and that no matter how much they wanted to, they could sh...

East is a 1975 ode to Berkoffs East End and explores the difficulties and uncertainty of growing up in the East End of London. We explored a small extract of this in groups and devised movement in the style of Steven Berkoff for it. Personally, I really struggled with the sudden launch into this style of theatre. While I enjoy the devising side of the physical theatre and enjoy working with a group, I struggle with personal aspects of acting, in this particular unit the over the top vocal style. However, despite it being a personal issue this does have an effect on the group as a whole. So while I helped out with the devising of one of the pieces, I didn’t act in them myself.   First Berkoff piece: The thing which you initially notice about this piece is that although the actors portray well this sense of confidence and aggressiveness in their lines and in their facial expressions, there seems to be a lack of certainty which impacts on this. Their actions, such as th...