1. Preparation for Performance
HIGHER DRAMA

2. IN YOUR EXAM YOU WILL BE MARKED ON;
Communicating the agreed interpretation of acting concepts by demonstrating an understanding of character through textual clues
Sustaining character and conveying relationships through credible interaction with other characters
Appropriate and effective use of voice
Appropriate and effective use of movement
Impact on audience

3. REQUIREMENTS
Max 2 sides A4 typed – approx words. But less than that is preferable!
It should provide a concise description of your research, role and interpretation of that role during the rehearsal process.
You need lots on rehearsal process.
You need lots on how you will portray the part physically and vocally. BUT make sure what you write is what you do!
Contextualise the extract – what has happened before/after – shows wider knowledge of play – research

4. Paragraphs could tackle the following:
1. Intro to the roles – who you play, what occurs in the scenes, context of the scene/point it occurs in the play.
2. Research undertaken for each role – what and why it helped
3. Rehearsal techniques + how they contributed to your portrayal. For example, link things you did to how it helped you to develop the role. Include challenges and how they were overcome (and not ‘my pal was off so it was hard to rehearse’ – that is an N4 answer)
4. Your vocal interpretation – tone, accent, pace, intonation, use of pause, etc…
5. Your physical interpretation – posture, gesture, mannerisms, gait, facial expressions, eye contact, focus etc …. Costume/props might be important to mention for some roles
6. Relationships with other characters – what is it and how is it shown by your acting/use of proxemics/staging decisions etc
7. Audience response – what/how do you want the audience to feel about your character? Consider mood and atmosphere.

5. REHEARSAL TECHNIQUES YOU MIGHT REFERENCE NB: THERE IS NO MENTION OF HOT SEATING!!!
Improvisation – freedom from the text within the structure of the scene
External director
Video + review
Audience feedback – to gauge whether you are communicating the desired emotion/relationship etc.
Experimentation with different staging set ups
Wearing appropriate clothing to help ‘get into character’
Practising with props
Anything that helped get you in the mood/right emotional state to play the role
Observation from life
Observation from film/earlier productions to help with understanding of characterisation and motivation
Emotional memory/recall
Being off book – early line learning – to free you to explore the movement and intention fully in rehearsals

6. Other words or ideas that might be helpful!
Stylised/Naturalistic portrayals
Credibility of relationships/believability/finding the emotional truth of your role
Projection
Motivation
Responding to other characters
Non-verbal character actions and reactions – ie. what you do when you are not speaking!
Establishing the mood/atmosphere
Use of dramatic pause

7. A perfect ten answer follows - with the following colour coding
1. Intro to the role, scene and context within the play 2. Research 3. Rehearsal techniques 4. VOICE AND MOVEMENT 6. Relationships with other characters 7. Audience response/Mood & atmosphere

8. ROLE 1 In my first performance I play the role of Henry, husband to Lily, in a broken marriage. The scene is from the play ‘Suburban Motel’ by George F. Walker and occurs near the end of the play; Lily has discovered that Henry has killed 3 men out of frustration during an extended period of unemployment. Lily confronts Henry about the murders which leads to a heated argument before Henry finally accepts defeat and admits it. As my character has been unemployed for an extended period of time, I did some research before progressing into rehearsals. In particular I looked into the affects of unemployment on men specifically. The typical affects on health are depression, stress, substance abuse, loneliness and isolation and unhealthy habits. I developed these ideas in rehearsal through improvising Henrys first monologue. I used various different voice techniques and movement before making a final decision on what the best way was to portray Henry. For example, some elements that worked were selecting the best moments for Henry to increase in rage to ensure appropriate dynamics throughout the piece. We also experimented with stage proxemics – on one hand, distance represented tension well but we also felt that close proximity could suggest that despite the tension they both heavily rely on each other. In the end, we opted for a mixture of both to represent the love and hate between the two. With my research in mind, I felt it would be effective if Henry had a short temper and displayed episodes of aggressive outbursts which clearly contrasts his typical behaviour before becoming unemployed. To portray this I will use a loud volume at spells with an aggressive tone while shouting at Lily. Also, at one point by grabbing Lily in an abusive and hurtful manner which will increase the tension as Henry is clearly unpredictable. To portray the high levels of stress my character is suffering from I’ll ensure he has the inability to sit still by my use of movement - when sitting down I will have a constant agitated shaking of my legs as well as constantly rubbing my hands together when they do not have a glass in them. When on my feet I will show his stressed nature by pacing backwards and forwards. The idea of unhealthy habits and substance abuse will be shown through the use of props - my character Henry, will often have an alcoholic drink in his hand. This also makes him volatile and agitated. To ensure Henrys depressed nature is evident to the audience I will use a slouched over posture, hold my head in my hands and rub my hands through my hair which again will show that his current situation is new to him. Henry has a strained relationship with his wife. Although they love each other, their current circumstances (unemployment for Henry and staying in a motel for Lily) has caused emotional separation. This could be shown through stage proxemics so we have staged it so that Henry and Lily are often far apart from each other on stage and do not engage in eye contact. I will be hoping that initially the audience will feel sympathy towards Henry because he has endured a prolonged period of unemployment which has had a detrimental effect on his health. This has lead to the deterioration and eventual break down of his marriage to Lily. However I anticipate their sympathy will turn to disgust once they realise he has murdered three innocent people.

9. ROLE 2 My second character is ‘Duff’ in the short play of ‘Guys’ by Robb Badlam. The play is about 2 friends- Duff and Ty-hanging out at MacDonald’s and exchanging banter back and forth before my character, Duff, spots an attractive girl of similar age to the 2 boys and tries to encourage his friend Ty to go over and speak to her because he really wants to himself but is too scared. After Duff finally plucks up the courage to go over and talk to her she has left. For research I looked at great comedy films based around 2 characters relationship with one and other and how they achieved the comedy. In particular I looked at ‘Rush Hour’, ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’ in which the comedy was mainly achieved through having one more serious and intelligent actor and the other one to the duo being a lot more laid back and lacking intelligence. With this in mind and with close relation to the text we decided my character should lack intelligence and had a very weak attention span and often go off in day dreams away from the conversation. I also decided that he was quite immature so could be quite excitable at times and always wanting to be the joker. I think that he come across very confident when with his friends but lacks confidence when he leaves his social circle. A problem we had when we first rehearsed was trying to get the comic affect we were looking for. This was primarily down to the pace and rhythm as at times it was just too slow to be comical. So with this in mind we just sat down and went through our script agreeing what pace we should adapt for each part to achieve the optimum comic affect before looking to add movement. From this we established that it worked best to have a slower pace at the start and as the play progressed and there was more banter flowing between the 2 of us to adopt a faster pace. To show that my character likes to be the joker and with that being generally annoying I will use a sarcastic tone at times in an attempt to mock Ty and make the audience laugh. Also I will use what is in front of me at times as part of the joke to emphasize how Duff likes to be the joker. To portray Duffs lack of intelligence I intend to go in a trance sometimes staring into nothing to show he is not fully understanding the conversation or has been distracted and lost where he was to help add comedy. Also I will further emphasis Duffs lack of intelligence by fidgeting and playing with nearby objects. Furthermore to show Duffs lack of intelligence I will use a confused facial expression at times when talking to Ty at times. Also to show his lack of intelligence at the end after he is upset I will again be willing to muck about with Ty which shows his lack of intelligence means he’s forgotten about the drawback that just occurred. To show my characters immature and excitable trait I will used a slightly faster pace and higher pitched tone to show how excited he is. This combined with over exaggerated hand gestures when talking will emphasize my characters excitable trait and help add comedy to the performance. To show his lack of confidence at the end after going out of his social circle I will use a slouched posture, looking down and move slow to show his confidence has been crushed and he can’t immediately put it behind him which a confident person could. Also to show his confidence has been crushed at the end and he is feeling down I will use quite volume and poor articulation. All this will be a contrast to what he’s like when it’s just him and Ty when he is feeling comfortable and relaxed. I will show this by using loud volume and quite an open posture while sitting down on the chair. Duff and Ty’s relationship is that they are best friends, which will be highlighted by close stage proxemics. Their close friendship will also be shown by their ability to make one and other laugh on stage and being relaxed around each other. As our play is a comedy ultimately we hope to make the audience laugh throughout the performance by our use of voice and movement in relation to the script. In particular we hope to get the audience to laugh with the opening few lines to set the tone for the performance. Also near the end of the play I hope to make the audience feel sympathy for my character after it took a lot for him to gain the confidence to go talk to the girl and she had left.

10. YOU CAN SEND US YOUR DRAFTS…
DUE DATE
WEDNESDAY 22ND MARCH