Drama Snobs

I don't know about you but I get really annoyed by those overly confident types that are instantly classed as the "Drama Snob". No, this is not a hate speech about these kinds of actors, but more of a critique of their style of acting.

Like all stereotypes, there is a general list of common behaviours of this kind of person, including: an overconfident personality, the ability to throw themselves in any sort of acting situation, a smiley attitude, ability to take criticism, a good posture and a generalised British accent to name but a few. 

The thing that annoys me most about this sort of person is their acting style. Don't get me wrong, I am so jealous of how much confidence these people have! To be able to be confident in yourself and throw yourself into any situation is fantastic! I wish I could do it! But I'm sorry, to me the way these people act is not realistic enough. In my opinion, theatre and film should be as realistic as possible (unless you're acting in a genre that doesn't require a lot of realistic acting, i.e. comedy or presenting), but this sort of person has only one or two acting styles that crop up every single time they act. Sometimes, you get the odd person that is just naturally talented and can mould to anything, but this is once every now and again! 

I think this type of actor needs to break out of their habits of being "generally good" at acting. These are the types of people that would benefit hugely from Stanislavskian theory and methodology. If you have the potential for being an amazing actor, why just stick with what you've had since GCSE/A Level Drama? Please boost yourself! Make yourself more realistic because that's what's annoying, the fact that these people are really good, but not realistic enough!

I think it is more important to be realistic in your acting than to be confident. There's nothing worse than watching a performance, whether its TV or film, and cringing at how unrealistic and amaturist the acting is. Again, this is not a hate speech, I'm just stating my opinion. I'll say it again, I am jealous of these people, I just think their acting style could do with a little tweaking! 

If you agree or disagree please leave a comment. I know this will offend a few people but don't take it to heart, I just think some people can do loads better. Let me know what you think!

:D

What the hell is dramaturgy!?!?

Dramaturgy! That one word that sends shivers up the spines of Drama Students. What the hell is it?

I will try and explain as simply as possible...

Dramaturgy is the composition or structure of a play and the process of making theatre. It covers all the elements of the text in hand including: the context of the play, the history of it's adaptations/translations etc.,

Dramaturgy is not a fixed process, it is a development of a play from text to stage. There are many things to think about when considering the dramaturgy of the play: the stage space, the spectator, the live performance text vs. the original text, etc. The list is endless; from scenography to performance style, all this is part of the dramaturgy. 

To create a successful performance analysis, you would have to consider the dramaturgy otherwise you would be creating a review of a performance rather than an analysis. You can analyse the dramaturgy of a performance in terms of the play, which includes the text, context, scenography, acting style, etc. Then you can analyse the dramaturgy of the performance in terms of the spectator, which includes how the audience interprets the play etc. And finally, you can analyse the dramaturgy of the performance in terms of the framing of the play, which includes the space in which the play is produced, the theatre, etc.

Basically, dramaturgy is all the elements of a performance that you can possibly think of and how they contribute to the final performance.

Baby-faced

It is no secret that in the entertainment industry that there are thirty-something year old actors and actresses taking up roles for characters aged sixteen to twenty. But how beneficial is it for an actor/actress to look younger than they are?

We as a society try to look as young as possible to try and hold onto our youth, but eventually, biology gets the better of us, yet there are that lucky few that stay looking young well into their thirties. 

Production companies obviously prefer actors who look younger than they are; minors can only work for a certain amount of hours per day, education must be supplied for them and they must have someone to look after them on set. Getting an actor who looks young, but is legally an adult, save the production company a lot of time and money.

It is also a major convenience if you employed an actor that as they grew up, stayed relatively young so you could drag out the storyline and make a year span a couple of years in a series.

However, does being baby-faced give you more opportunities to be an actor? I don't think so. Yes, production companies prefer it if you look younger than you are so they can use you for younger characters, but you still have to fit the bill. Instead of giving you an advantage of getting more acting jobs, you're just put into a separate category, i.e. adults that look like teens, adults, old people, children. 

So, it is helpful if you look younger than you are (for production companies) but you still have to burden of being asked for ID everytime you go to a wrap party! :)

I'm sure there are people who have a different opinion, so please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Here are a few trivia about actors that are older than they look! :D

• Luke Perry was 24 when he started playing 16-year-old Dylan McKay (Beverly Hills, 90210)
• Michael J. Fox was 24-29 when playing 17-year-old Marty McFly (Back to the Future)
• Cory Monteith is currently 29, playing 18 year old Finn Hudson (Glee)

:D

Game Theory

I recently read a blog from Double Glazing Blogger about "Why Advertising Does Not Work", and if it is plausible that two companies that are advertising for the same product/service cancel each other out when it comes to advertising.

I have studied advertising and the techniques it uses to gain customer attention in the past and I know there are flaws in every theory or technique you can use in an advertisement. 

When advertising for a small business, it is important to understand your target audience, clarity of what you are trying to sell and where you want your ads placing. Pretty simple stuff, yes, but is it worth understanding the rules of Game Theory so you don't fall into the trap of another business 'stealing' your customers.

The theory goes; if two companies were advertising at the same time, spending roughly the same amount of money, any advantage gained from that advertising will cancel each other's out. If that company had never advertised in the first place, the market would remain unchanged - no worse off, and that company would have saved all that extra cash, and their business would be in roughly the same place anyway. - Double Glazing Blogger, 2011

 
Having a lot of advertising is obviously a good thing because you're gaining lots of exposure to get the company name out there, but when you start having to think about the amount of money this is costing you, is it worth it?

It is possible that you can have too much advertising, especially when there are more than one company that provides a similar service/product? People get annoyed seeing the same adverts over and over again, so while having lots of exposure is a good thing, too much can have a negative effect. 

Companies should look at different ways of gaining exposure, such as a website, word of mouth, an online presence etc. Whilst this is still advertising, most of it is either cheap or free! 

Advertising is good for new customers, but I find hearing good reviews of a company from someone you know is much better and feels more reliable.

This is more relevant for small businesses that are trying to gain exposure rather than huge companies with franchises etc. Obviously there are more variables to consider why advertising does or doesn't work, but this is something to consider.

Let me know what you think! I will talk about other advertising techniques at a later date!

:D

Family Theatre

I don't know about you but have you noticed the lack of children's theatre at seaside resorts in the UK? I know when I was younger, there were lots of small sideshows for family entertainment, like Punch and Judy and Magic Shows. 

I think of everywhere I have been over the summer I have seen two shows, one at Land's End where there was a magic act for children and a guy doing football tricks in Leeds City Centre. I know this is not what you would class as 'serious' theatre but every performance that you see is important in some way, especially for children of a young age. 

Young children respond well to bright colours and simple, educational story lines. It helps stimulate the imagination of these young minds and develops their creativity. They like to laugh and join in with magic shows and similar talent acts; but where are all these disappearing to? 

As well as the decline of children's street theatre, I've noticed an increase of children's cinema, which is all very well and good because as a society we need to develop but we all know that watching TV all day is not good for you so starting this from a young age can't be good can it? Yes, it helps the learning development of young children and helps parents control a busy household by putting on children's programmes so they have something to do but really we should be promoting healthier options, like going out to the theatre or seaside and finding sideshows to watch.

I might just be naive and there are still lots of acts like this around the UK, but I do know that there aren't as much as there used to be when I was small. It's not as if I have been ignorant and haven't noticed these around because I have two cousins which are quite young and I like to find things for them to experience. 

Should we produce more street theatre for children and families? Is media taking over theatre? Let me know what you think. Sorry this is a short post.

:D

Download 2012

So, two out of three headline acts have been announced for Download 2012, and to be honest, I could not be more excited!

First to be confirmed on Radio 1's Zane Lowe was Metallica, by Lars Ulrich. The band will perform The Black Album in its entirety and three songs never performed before: The Struggle Within, My Friend Of Misery and Don't Tread On Me. They last performed at Download Festival in 2006, and before that at Monsters of Rock in 1985. 

Now, I don't know about you but I am over the moon! I am going to witness one of the bands I have grown up with since birth play live at my favorite rock festival! The distinct gravelly voice of James Hetfield, the talents of Lars Ulrich, classic rock songs performed for thousands! 

"For me, coming back there is very special," - Lars Ulrich

Second to be confirmed is the one and only, Black Sabbath! WITH OZZY OSBOURNE! The band have played Ozzfest with Ozzy at Download for several years, but this was never an offical. Their setlist has not yet been confirmed but no doubt they will be playing classic songs like Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man. 

I have always wanted to see Black Sabbath play, and I've always wanted to see Ozzy play, so having these guys back together is absolutely f***ing fantastic!

As well as the reunion of Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, the group are recording their first album together in 32 years since Ozzy was fired from the band in 1979. Their are currently no rumours of what this will be named but the album should hopefully be released in 2012.

Pause for Thought

My workshop today informed me that we must take time to pause after each thought. So when we started this I thought, well, yes, it's common sense to pause after each thought. We were given this extract from Electra - Sophocles:

ELECTRA: Sometimes she would let me stay while she undressed. Sometimes she would sit here while I brushed her hair. My mother. She would let me open jars and bottles, sniff and touch, she would let me uncover close things from drawers, treasures, and tell me where they came from. 

Tell me stories of a life before. Sometimes she would hold out her hands for me and I would rub them with oil, taking the rings off, one by one, feeling the deep lines on her knuckles, shifting her skin, gently, over veins and bone. I wanted to climb back inside her, always, and settle down behind her heart. 

As we started reading through the dialogue, our tutor started shouting out more things to think about. 

• What can we gather from the words we have just spoken?
• How do I feel after saying this phrase?
• What is my relationship with the person I have just spoken about?
• How would I react to this memory?

Now when I started getting into this, I completely conjured up a situation that I hadn't ever been in, but still I was feeling emotions towards this situation. After every thought, I revelled in what I had just said, thinking out every possibility. It was quite nice to be forced into thinking about the text in hand, finding out every way you could interpret it. 

Once we had thought about our own little story, we performed them to the whole class. What was interesting about this was that no two stories were the same! Because of the gift of imagination, we were able to think of so many possibilities for this extract that we didn't repeat ourselves. This is why I believe it is important to use your imagination when interpreting a text. 

Normally, when reading a play you look into the given circumstances, which tell you the facts about the characters and their histories, but we were given a lot of freedom in this extract, and we were not expected to know the back story of Electra. If you are ever privileged enough to be able to do this please try what I have just done! 

1. Separate the thoughts in the dialogue
2. Really think about the possibilities of each thought in terms of emotion and physical movement
3. How would you react to these thoughts?
4. Revel in a moment of thought after you say the phrase
5. Stay in these moments throughout the dialogue
6. Repeat this over and over until you have your own story, whether made up or coming from your own experiences.

You may find that you have shifts in thought throughout your dialogue. THIS IS GOOD! Real emotional memories contain shifts in thought and this is the key to keeping the audience engaged and touched by what you are saying. 

All these techniques revolve around Stanislavksy's methods, using absorption, concentration and focus; engaging your imagination and separating your thoughts. Use your own emotional memory and use the words to engage with your own emotions, rather than manufacturing them. Be honest to the text and keep present in the moment rather than thinking ahead. Whilst using your emotional thoughts, find the impulse that makes you want to say the words you're about to say. 

I hope you find this useful! I did which is why I wanted to share this with you all! If you have any comments or questions about this, please comment below! Also if you have any other methods or exercises which you would like to share, again, comment below! If you don't understand any of the words or phrases I will be adding a Glossary to my site in due course which I hope you find helpful too! 

:D