What is improvisation and how can it be used to create drama/theatre?
Jade Sullivan - Extended response
Improvisation is a foundational style which is used to create ensembles, it is the art of being in a scene/s with no preparation. Improvisation is used to Refine theatrical pieces, create ensemble, and extend our own creativity. It forces us react imaginatively and immediately. Improvisation is used effectively in the examples of Augusto Boal and his 'Theatre of the oppressed', the French company 'Theatre Du Soliel' and an example from my own experience in class.
Theatre Du Soleil is a French drama company that started in the 1960's, it employs drama as the means of making performance and mainly uses improvisations part of the process
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Using improvisation encourages play and spontaneous exchange of ideas/ process. It can be referred to as an 'extension of child's play' as it stimulates offspring of child's play and it forces us to react imaginatively to offers; like a child might do in the playground. As a class, we have explored this idea in a game we play called "Space Jump", there are many alterations to the game but the general idea is this; one student starts miming an everyday activity and is told to freeze. A second player then volunteers to build another scene based on the frozen position of the first player. The original space jump then gets played backwards. This game helps us as actors develop necessary improvisation skills such as being able to accept offers, react to others and create ensemble. Games such as these, and improvisation in general allows you to explore your physicality and abilities to present different characters on the spot.
To conclude, improvisation can be used to creates ensemble, explore an individuals expressive abilities, polish Individual or group performance, and to generate ideas. In the creation of theatre, improvisation allows you to explore different personas/ life styles, and gives you the opportunity to see the world through another person's eyes. Through the examples of Theatre Du Soliel, Boal and my own class experience, improvisation is shown to
Theatre is a collaboration of various forms of fine art which utilizes live performances presenting before the audience on a stage at a specific place within a scheduled time (Dugdale 10). The message is communicated through a combination of various channels like songs, speech gestures or dances. Stagecraft skills are combined with elements of art to make the performance more physical and near to real life experience. Theatre is categorized broadly into drama, musical theatre, comedy, tragedy and improvisation. Any form of these accepts integration of various production modes and collective reception to influence the artwork being presented. As a result of this cooperation of items in the theatre
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” William Shakespeare may have written these words in As You Like It in 1600, but Erving Goffman truly defined the phrase with his dramaturgical theory. Dramaturgical analysis is the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance. Unlike actors though, who use a script telling them how to behave in every scene, real life human interactions change depending upon the social situation they are in. We may have an idea of how we want to be perceived, and may have the foundation to make that happen. But we cannot be sure of every interaction we will have throughout the day, having to ebb and flow with the conversations and situations as they happen.
acques LeCoq, a French practitioner and Augusto Boal, a Brazilian practitioner both aim to take their actors and the audience on a journey of discovery. Both Practitioners believed in ‘Freeing’ the body and making it ‘De-mechanicalized’ to enable full interpretation. LeCoq and Boal both use emotion, imagination, extensive body movement, playfulness and political matters to create their methods of theatrical practice.
4) How did the work of established and recognised theatre practitioners, and/or the work of live theatre, influence the way in which your devised response developed?
Improv was always an intimidating faction of theater. Though there is no planning or scripting, no matter when or where the show was it always seemed a labor of love. Something that was worked on for an extreme length of time but really it was formed from the performer's mind only a second before the audience saw it. Even though I have done theater and dance in the past, improv always seemed something that I was never good at. From watching performances, tv programs, or improv workshops, it always looked like an art form that I could never learn or use besides the stage. With last week's class, that all seemed to change. I saw that improv could be used in many different factions of life. Providing new life skills and practices that cam
My viewing of the One Man, Two Guvnors production in 2013, and the feelings of chaos, shock, anarchic laughter and anticipation sparked my interest of exploring this play, and why its lazzi and improvisation added to the heightened experience I had, whist viewing this performance. I became interested in how much the One Man, Two Guvnors play written by Richard Bean, was based of the traditional Commedia dell’Arte play The Servant of Two Masters written by Carlo Goldoni. I planned to explore the extent of how much the play was improvised and the extent of how much it was scripted and planned. I looked at why Commedia dell’Arte used improvisation and the approach of incorporating improvisation and lazzi into a performance. I went about doing so by comparing the characters and the scripts of Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors to Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters. I researched the role of Improvisation and Lazzi in traditional commedia dell’Arte and compared it to its role in One Man, Two Guvnors. I decided to carry out my research by surveying audience members who had viewed the production of One Man, Two Guvnors , and finding out how the incorporation of improvisation and lazzi heightened the experience for the audience and impacted them.
Before attending a theatrical performance, one would want to gather information about it first. They would want to know who wrote it, a brief description, and if it is good. While attending the performance, one becomes part of a temporary community to see if his or her research was accurate. Afterwards, they may want to analyze the performance they saw. It all comes together for writing a good review for the performance.
For decades people found theatre one of the most enjoyable form of entertainment all across the world. With every play comes a cost. A value which somebody's story is told. Obviously it can be comic drama or despairing,. Each second of these plays are genuinely delightful and exceptional. Where the performing artists show a totally distinctive side of characters to the group of onlookers where they demonstrate to them something new and pleasurable. And behind the theatre and its plays is one person who keeps it all in check and that is the director. The director is like the heart of a person. You don’t see the heart but you know if it’s doing its job correctly
While watching the performance of the company, I notice how their choreography is displayed into action. The improvisation class that Robert Moses taught gives me an opportunity to really be engaged and focus on my habits to try to find an escape. Even though the Robert Moses Kin dance company is strictly a choreographic work, there are some improvisational components included in the performance, such as mirroring and the use of physical contact. By observing this performance, I am trying to base and look at it from an improvisational perspective.
Having knowledge and involvement in both the acting and the technical aspects of theater, I expected the production to deliver a qualitative performance that gave its audience the full experience. This experience is achieved by the elements of theater such as acting, lights, sounds, props, costume and set design
Before I had applied for the Summer MA program for theatre educators, I knew my teaching of dramaturgy was lacking. I had no systematic way of analyzing a script and being able to pull out the important aspects of the author’s intentions. Many aspects of theatre history and dramatic interpretation had been left out of my education. After classes my appetite had been wetted, I purchased a number of books to continue my education over the winter break, one of the books was “History of the Theatre 10th Edition” by Oscar G. Brockett and Franklin J. Hildy. Even though an overview of some much history it has lead me to want to teach so much deeper lessons to my students. After the eye-opening dramaturgy classes my mind has been washed with ideas on how to proceed, so much information had been given to us, I find it hard to concentrate on a single area. I truly look forward to teaching this year and these lessons.
Theatre is a live action picture, with acting, singing, dancing, and truth. The story can be told through dialogue or a song, just as writing or a musical instrument does. The actors paint a picture for the audience through dancing and words. Actors rehearse thearical pieces monthly, so they can understand the characters, which allow them to put on a touching and
In the words of Gay McAuley, “for an activity to be regarded as a performance, it must involve the live presence of the performers and those witnessing it…” (McAuley, 2009, cited in Schechner, 2013, pp.38). This statement recognises the importance of both the actor and the audience for something to truly function as a performance. In addition, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones highlights the significance of the theatrical space and how it can influence an audience stating that “on entering a theatre of any kind, a spectator walks into a specific space, one that is designed to produce a certain reaction or series of responses” (Llewellyn-Jones, 2002, pp.3). The relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space is no less important today than it was at the time of theatre during the Spanish Golden Age and the creation of Commedia dell’arte in Italy. Despite being very close geographically with theatre thriving for both in the same era, sources that explore the social, cultural and historical context of these countries and the theatre styles will bring to light the similarities and differences. This essay will analyse the staging, the behaviour of the audience as well as the challenges the actors faced, and how this directly influenced the relationship between actor, audience and theatrical space.
The above example illustrates not only how the theatrical performance affects the audience, but also how the audience influences its dynamics, development and the characters within it. The actors feel a certain level of acceptance from the viewer, who demands a certain way of depicting the character. Theatre is not just entertainment, itís something much more than that ñ itís education. Theatre should always represent things, rather than
Finally, the last element is the emphasis on improvisation: the ability to extemporaneously compose on an existing melody. This is often considered as a chance to show off for the performers. Through improvisations and ornaments which were both elaborated by the extemporaneously composition of performers added interest and differences between music and even the same piece of music might sound different.