Drama Tuesday - The Empty Space is calling
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In Western Australia Year 12 drama students complete a Practical Examination with four parts in 20 minutes. As the Examination Guidelines stipulate, “All examination rooms will be set up in a consistent manner in terms of lighting, access to power supply for sound equipment and the placement of the markers as shown in the diagram below. Candidates are required to work within the marked performance area.” ( Drama ATAR course Practical (performance) examination requirements).
It is important to prepare and inspire students for this challenge.
The following notes are taken from a workshop developed by the Western
Australian Youth Theatre Company and then Artistic Director, Jenny Davis, to help students orient themselves to the task.
The practical workshop had four parts and included examples of performances from students who had completed this task in the previous year. It focused on helping students develop Part 1 of the Exam – Original Solo Performance.
To help students develop their Original solo Performance, we work through three exercises that are designed to help crystallise dramatic action in the specific format and limits of the exam.
Successful original solo productions are the result of a process of making effective choices.
They need:
Dramatic action – drama tells stories but it is not storytelling. Nor is it standup comedy. Something happens to someone.
Dramatic tension – driving the dramatic action is something at risk, some obstacle to overcome, some conflict to bring to a point of climax.
Characters – people in a situation
Characters on a journey – at a turning point in their lives, at a moment of transition or discovery, where things change
Characters we as audience care about, are interested in, fascinated (or horrified or moved by or…); people for whom we feel emotion and identification
Embodiment using space, time and energy; these characters in the situation create dramatic action through contrasts of movement and stillness, light and darkness, loud and soft, varying pace, getting faster and slower as the action unfolds.
In the workshop participants were asked to find physical ways of showing their ideas in images.
The next stage was to develop a Thesis Statement for their idea.
A thesis statement offers a concise summary of the main point of the Original Performance. It is usually expressed in one sentence. It contains the topic and the controlling idea.
The thesis statement is developed, supported, and explained through the Original Performance. Thesis statements help organise and develop the body of the piece. They let audiences know the writer/performer’s purpose..
Adapted from From Wikipedia
These three activities were the focus of the workshop. Participants were sent away with other possible explorations:
Exploring character traits. They explored the physicalisation of the characters in their stories. They worked from direct large opposites – boisterous/quiet; kind/cruel; trusting/suspicious. They were then asked to use observational detail that specified actions and reactions.
Finding form and style. Participants worked with the broad categorisations of Representational and Presentational drama. They are asked to work through their Original Solo Performance as if it is completely representational. In other words, to show the action as if it is actually happening. Then they work through their idea using presentational forms and styles: abstracting movement, reducing movements to minimal, challenge actor-audience relationships, etc.
There is a space marked out on the floor approximately four metres wide and three metres deep. The question every Year 12 Drama student must answer:
How will I fill the empty space?
