Engaging with the audience
The relationship between and Actor and audience can be quite diverse, the audience can either be involved or completely ignored. Some audience members tend to dislike being involved, as they don't want to get up on stage and in some opinion feel like a 'mob'. However, some people dislike being ignored and can find it harder to believe if the action has anything to do with them, they don't feel engaged but passive. An audience can be very excited to go to the theatre this is because it may be their favourite play or they enjoy going to the theatre. However, some people may not be interested as they could have been forced from school or their partners have took them with them. However, other people may be very critical on a performance and pay attention to every detail. The audience members could also be very young so some plays may not be suitable for them, others may be of older generation and have more insights to the play.
Because of these characteristics I will use certain techniques to make sure that the ones who wanted to come and see the play I perform to the best of my standard. There will most likely be children in the audience so I must be over energetic to keep them engaged and the language we use has to be suitable. If the audience are drifting, we can pause and wait, by this I mean the audience may think that we have forgot our line. Because some of the audience may have seen many different Romeo and Juliet's we aim to make ours in a way that is original and completely different.
Prior the 20th century, the audience was a vital part of the creation, actors spoke directly to the audience. It was argued that the relationship between the actors to the audience was more important to the relationship between performers. During the 19th Century actors would plant themselves in the audience for communication. Supporting players had to turn their back to the audience to play with the lead role, because of the 'bad' acting during the 19th century a technique called 'fourth Wall' was introduced.
Fourth Wall
Fourth wall is an established convention, which is an invisible wall which separates the actors from the audience. The audience can clearly see the actors but the actors act as if they cannot see them. Fourth wall is modern realistic theatre, which has led some artists to draw attention to it for dramatic or comedic effect. The fourth wall is broken, when an actor or character addresses the audience directly, referring to the play as a play or the characters fictionally. The temporary suspension of the convention engages the audience's attention for the rest of the performance. By this I mean we will not be using the convention of fourth wall. This is because we will trying to engage the audience as much as possible. By looking into the audience and using facial expressions to really play the moment.
Realism
Realism in the theatre was a movement that began in the 19th-century around 1870s, and remained relevant throughout the 20th century. It developed a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater loyalty of real life to texts and performances.
Stanislavski was committed to realism throughout his career and came to stand out against the scientific idea of naturalism. Stanislavski used experiments to approach theatre. Productions of Chekhov plays with extraordinarily realistic sets but Stanislavski also, for instance, explored symbolism.
These 5 key methods emphasise on using realism:
- Everyday conversations and style of speaking. Realistic plays would use prose rather than poetry. Actors would also use ordinary/modern language, rather than a heightened emotional vocabulary.
- Ordinary people. Stories are about people who are more readily defined as middle or working class. For Stanislavski, it was usually the middle class or bourgeois, to use the right term in the Russia of his day, that he put on stage.
- Carefully rehearsed acting style creates or confirms the impression of reality.
- Real settings. These plays are set in realistic contexts.
- A carefully selected and distilled representation of real life that is still theatrically effective
In our production we do not use realism as such. This is because we do not use modern language but rather Shakespearean language. We also are not using real settings as we are only using a minimum amount of props. However, the other convention of ordinary people also doesn't relate to our play, this is because We are upper and middle class actors, although not everyone in the audience will be upper and middle class therefore this takes away from the realism.
Naturalism
Naturalism is in European drama and theatre, which began late 19th and early 20th century. Naturalism attempts to create an illusion of reality through dramatic and theatrical stratergies. Naturalistic acting is when acting replicates real life and portrays the realistic version of it. I believe naturalism is essential part of acting as an audience can relate to real life situations and connect to the stories. Stanislavski, wanted his actors to become more emotionally and psychologically involved with their roles, he believed that acting was based on the truth and the actors put themselves in the characters shoes. In 1911-1916 stanislvaski trained his actors to draw believable emotions to their performances based on emotional memory. This method is still useful to actors today. I also think this is extremely useful as it allows the audience to see a variety of emotions of the character, the audience themselves could also feel emotional as the character shows great emotion. Because of this i feel naturalism can add great meaning to the audience as it represents real life and the different emotions emphasised with can really connect to an audience. As i am playing Juliet i will focus deeply on using Stanislavski's method of emotional memory when i see Romeo dead. Not only will this benefit me as i will be able to show the pain and heartache i am experiencing properly. But also for the audience to see the different layers of my character and connect to the journey of falling in love to loosing it all.
Non-Naturalism
Our play was mostly non naturalistic, one of the reasons is because we broke the fourth wall, by this I mean we are talking to the audience. For example when I've just had an argument with my parents I spoke out to the audience "O ancient damination most wicked fiend" I am speaking out to the audience therefore that is non-naturalistic and if the fourth wall is broken that means it cant be natural. Although I cannot directly see because of the lights in scene 5 where I found out Romeo is a Montague I say "My only love sprung from my only hate" I am making eye contact with the audience so that I am bringing the audience in with me on my journey. In scene 11 where we get married in Friar Lawrence's cell at the end Friar Lawrence looks out into the audience and makes some gestures breaking the fourth wall once again. We are also miming some scenes, in scene 12 when Tybalt and Mercutio are fighting they mime there swords which is un-naturalistic. We also have a use of physical theatre for the balcony and at one point they both look up and shake there heads, although this brings humour to the scene it is also non natural as a real balcony wouldn't come to life.
Methods used to convey meaning to an audience
Spacial awareness/ proxemics:
Whilst performing on a stage, stillness can be powerful however you may begin to lose your audience's interest. It is important that you are spaced on stage so that the audience can see your portfolio face at all times, because if you're too close to one another and are facing each other one side of the audience may not be able to see and will be missing out on crucial facial expressions or gestures and could switch off. The space between two characters can effect the whole scene, it can show the relationship between performers and the audience can interpret the scene differently. In our production of Romeo and Juliet proxemics is very important, this is shown as when Romeo and Juliet first meet they are already standing exactly opposite each other conveying they have a deep connection already and are comfortable with one another. However, when Capulet and Lady Capulet demand I be married, we are very spaced apart expressing the division and an unhealthy relationship I have with my parents which can be shown to an audience.
Blocking:
Blocking is the decisions on where an performer enters, exits and stands on stage. Blocking is important as it focuses on space and making sure everyone is seen. If a performer has a long monologue but rather than performing it downstage center they perform upstage left it does not look interesting for the audience to watch and will not feel connected. If an actor has to turn upstage to speak to another actor and we can no longer see their face, the power is lost. Deciding where a character moves to is very important. For example in scene17 Juliet, Paris and Friar Lawrence we had trouble blocking as everyone was walking into each other. However, we fixed this by having me downstage left and Paris to the right of me a bit more upstage and Friar Lawrence next to him, this shows the audience that I don't like Paris one bit.
Voice:
It is important to be able to use our voice whilst performing, the certain tones, pace or pitch can convey different meanings to an audience. You also need good articulation especially for Romeo and Juliet it is crucial that the audience understand everything you are saying to grow a connection. A stern tone could portray someone is in control and demanding another could be when someone is shouting this could show frustration, excitement or angry. One warm up that I use to help me with my voice is saying a line from the text and pretending to throw it over a hill this will then help me project my voice throughout the theatre. In scene 10 when I say " How art thou out of breath when thou hast the breath" I say these lines quickly to show the audience how impatient I am to hear the news. In contrast in scene 13 when I find out Romeo is banished, "O God did! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?" I slowed this monologue down dramatically and my voice was shaking to express to the audience the tragic event which has just happened and how emotionally broken I was.
Applying appropriate methods of communication to the audience
In our production of Romeo and Juliet, we aimed to modernise the play and take it away from a stereotypical version of the play therefore we don't speak in the 'Shakespearean voice'. We didn't want the audience to be bored and wanted them to see something different. This also links to our costume, We did not wear the 16th Century clothing but rather our own ideas of what our character would look like. My costume is a simple off the shoulder yellow and white stripped dress with white converse conveying to the audience I was a young stylish girl and although from a rich household I did not have to dress in rich clothing. Whilst watching the other schools they also used different methods to convey meaning. The midsummer nights dream cast used physical theatre to show the audience trees which brought the scene to life with the different shapes, they also used modern hastags such as 'lol' to add comedy to their scenes. In the Tempest they used two narrators on each side of the stage which was effective as if the audience was ever confused about the scene the narrator would fill us in on the events and keep us drawn to the piece.
We were given the privilege of watching the other performing arts and musicians perform on Tuesday. One group that stood out for me was the group that performed 'Billy Jean'. I enjoyed this as one singer in particular was enjoying his time on the stage which made the audience enjoy this performance with him. He was dancing and moving around in his space, which kept me engrossed in watching him. However, what he could have done to improve this great piece is perhaps look at the audience more instead of looking at the ground/microphone, therefore he would have grown a more intense connection with us. All of their vocals were also amazing, they kept to the pace of the musicians and all harmonized well. However, it would have been brilliant if not only just the one boy enjoying the music but everyone else getting involved and dancing too.
The following day the other actors/actresses performed for everyone. One group I enjoyed was the musical theartre's last piece. They performed a dance to a dream girls song. I enjoyed watching this piece as it was full of energy and excitement. They were all in time with one another and gave it 110%. There was a lot of movement and they used different levels which made it more interesting to watch. They also used great facial expressions. However in this performance they were only miming the lyrics hopefully as they develop their piece they can add singing and although some were using good facial expressions others faces were neutral, they may have been focusing on getting their routine correct but forgot to enjoy their performance.
references
https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zygqsbk/revision/3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zygqsbk/revision/1
https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/realism.htm
Fourth wall - Wikipedia
