One Act Play Festival - "The other side"

Last week we went to the One Act Play festival at San Silvestre School and we watch “The other side”, a ply performed by Newton College.

Synopsis: Tommy Shoo is a little orphan in trouble. Or not? But Mrs. Clemendra Nottingham won’t hesitate to protect the poor creature. Or will she? In the end, Benjamin Pennywrath, the butler, is the lovely boy’s best friend. Isn’t he? When we look at the other side, things aren’t quite what they seemed to be.

I really enjoyed watching the play although I didn’t understand it very well. There was a “mirror” in the middle of the stage but it was just the frame but with no glass. And so, when the actors walked in front of it, other actors at the other side of the mirror were representing the reflection. This was a great effect. They had a lot of coordination but I think that with one extra week of practice it could have been better.

Before the beginning of the play, you could see the scenery there and it looked very impressive. All the props made contrast with the scenery. And when the characters entered, the costumes made contrast as well. The design concept was amazing.

This play was something new for me, it was very funny but I think that the actors didn’t work too much on characterization. Maybe they didn’t have enough time but what I saw was just the same people that I know. In other words they weren’t a 100% inside their character. I know that it is difficult and demands a lot of time but with more work on characterization the play could had been better.

HALCÓN DE ORO "QORIHUAMAN"

Last Friday we went to Yuyachkani and watch a play called HALCÓN DE ORO "QORIHUAMAN".

The play had no text it was all mimic and movements. There were only two characters. The first one reminded me a lot of the Butoh characters that I studied when doing my research task. This character had white skin and no hair. It was almost naked, he was using a short.

I liked a lot the effects that they did. The main prop was a bed. But just the fierros jajaja and the character started to play with it and it was amazing. He was next to it and then at one end and it seem like a jail. He also jumped and he stood on top of it. I was surprised because I couldn’t imagine the different ways to use a bed other than to sleep.

Then the play reminded me of a circus because this character was hanging of a rope that connected with the sealing. Then he put the bed as well on the rope and he started to move it in circles and then he jumped on it. Really good that part.

I just like this character and the effects, but the other one and the play in general was boring, with no text at all, only two lines and that was it. Before the play finished the character that reminded me of a Butoh dancer took his pants off. NOOOOOOUUUUU. It was totally unnecessary. What a horrible end. It is not necessary to take all the clothes off.

What do I need to do or to represent so that the play could be interesting and call the attention of all the audience? I hope the answer is not to take all the clothes off.

Extras - Biblioteca Nacional

Last Friday we went to the Biblioteca Nacional and saw a play called Extras. There were only two actors performing the play (Sergio Galliani and Giovanni Ciccia) and it was amazing.

Both actors had to represent different characters they had like 7 each one or maybe more. You could see all the hard work of the actors because they had to create different characterizations with different voices, face expressions, gestures, centre of energy and movements. I noticed that sometimes the actors couldn’t change of character very quickly and sometimes they took a little bit longer to enter in the character. Maybe a little bit more of work on how to change from one character form another could have helped. However, they did a great job and I was able to identify the different characters.

They only used 2 huts and a big black bag as props, the other ones were imaginary. Again, the actors were very imaginative because they didn’t have anything but we, the audience, were able to identify which object or prop they were using.

They had no scenery but the cyclorama was a big screen like in a cinema where images representing scenery were projected. Also some videos were shown. This was a great idea because it helped a lot with the scenery and with the development of the scenes. The lighting also helped with the development of the scenes. When the actors changed the location, from the set to the bar for example, the lights turned blue and a little bit of red and these helped to create the illusion as if it was a bar. Sometimes, lighting was very dim and sometimes a very bright light was focusing just on one character.

Both actors used the same costume but one with a red in the hips an the other one with a green one. They used sandals which helped to express the idea that they were poor, because they were just the extras of the film.

The play was very funny and I spent a good night in the theatre. As I’ve said before, I liked the way in which the actors changed from one character to another. However, I think that they could have done it better with more preparation.

So, to what extent do we need to prepare in order to make a clear change from one character to another?

Concierto Olvido - Yuyachkani

Last Friday we went to Yuyachkani and watch a play called Conciero olvido. I liked this play because it was a play where the actors expressed their emotions and feelings instead of having a structured story. In this play the actors showed, apart from the good acting, that they are very talented musicians and singers as well.

In the middle of the stage there were some chairs in a row. The actors were sitting there and each one of them had some instruments around them. The instruments used in this play were: drums, guitars, saxophones, a trombone, a trumpet and a violin. It was very exciting watching them because I really didn’t expect them to be very good singers or even good musicians. I was very surprised when the play finished.

Because this play was full of musical pieces, from my point of view, the acting focused on showing and transmitting to the audience the feelings and emotions that the characters were having.
One of the things that I liked the most was the effect they made when one of the characters died. While one actor was on the floor, the other drew his shape around his body with a white chalk. Then, the “dead character” stood and the others were talking to the drawing on the floor. It was amazing.

These are the reasons why I liked it but the truth is that I couldn’t understand the play very well. Although it had a lot of fantastic and innovative ideas, their stories are very strange and it is difficult for me to understand. It is the same with all these plays. The only play that I could understand from Yuyachkani was “Los Músicos Ambulantes”.

Down to earth : Props

Yesterday, when the rehearsal finished I told the actors to bring some school equipment that they don´t use anymore at home. They were told to bring rulers, pens without ink, glues, etc.

By doing this I would be able to make a list of how many school equipment do we have and how many do we need to build the rest of the props. I'll wait until the next rehearsal and see what they bring.

The other day, I worked with the three bullies. These boys have a lot of potential. They acted very well and they could be able to interpret all my indications as a director.

I like the comedy a lot and so I gave them some tips to make their scene very funny and it worked.

¿Te duele?

Yesterday I watched a play called “¿Te duele?” from the Bolivian theatre group Teatro de los Andes. The play represented the violence between couples. I really enjoyed this play. I liked all the visual effects they made just with their body.

At first, the scenery was very interesting. It was a big square like a boxing ring but instead of ropes it had some lights like the ones we use to decorate the Christmas trees. Each corner of this “ring” had like little bells that the actors touched as if a new round had ended. Inside this square, there was a table with some plastic dishes and two chairs.

The lighting was simple. They only used some white lighting and the “ropes” of the boxing ring (lights that we use to decorate a Christmas tree) also helped, sometimes they were very shinny and sometimes had a very dim light.

The things that fascinated me about this play were the effects. I think that the actress was a ballet dancer because she knew and controlled totally her body. She was able to do a lot of plastic movements without falling down. In one of the scenes she was standing very straight and the man was carrying her all around the square and it gave me the sensations as if she was a doll. Another thing that I liked was when the actress used the broom. The floor was totally clean but when the actress moved the broom, some grey papers went out of it to represent the rubbish and after doing more movements, the floor was full of these papers.

Another part that I liked was when the actress stood on top of the table and the actor was standing next to it while grabbing the table cloth. Suddenly he started to pull the table cloth and the girl started to walk. This was amazing and you could see the hard work of the actors. In another scene they put on their boxing gloves and started to “fight”. Their backs were together and one was looking to one side and the other one was looking to the other side but they were actually looking to each other eyes. This was their way of interpreting this part of the fight and I really enjoyed it.

All this effects could be used on this year´s play in some way. In the first scene the girls who clean in the manager’s office can maybe use the effect of the broom and also when the super heroes fight against the villains we could use the effect of the actors’ backs together and their front looking to opposite sides. This could be very useful.

Down To Earth: Props

I´m in charge of the props for this year’s play. My first idea was to use 2 different materials for the props, plastic and . But then, talking with Valentina and Roberto another idea came up, the use of school materials to build different props. This is a great idea because Felipe is designing a Ciclorama that will create the sensation of a notebook. The theatre will be like Sophie’s notebook or diary and so school materials are used to write in notebooks.

The materials that I will use to construct the props are: rulers, compass, protractor, pens, pencils, notebooks, bags, pencil cases, scotch, colours, paint, featherbed. Some of these props will be painted with red, blue, yellow, blue or green colours to make them colorful and some other will be left like they are so that the audience will be able to find a relationship between the scenery, the props and the costumes.

El Álbum

Yesterday I went to the María Reiche park in Miraflores to see a Colombian play called “El álbum” from the Tecal theatre group. The play was about a family album. One of the girls in the photo was telling us the different stories of her family members in different moments in their life.

The girl who was telling the story had a microphone in her hand while the other characters were in still picture at the back on top of tables. I felt as if I was in a 4 year old party with animation. The actress’ voice gave me this sensation, this could be because she was with a microphone in her hand and she was moving a lot.

The actors had an incredible balance and control of their body. They could stay still for a very long time while doing difficult postures. They also had body paint. They represented one specific colour. For example one of them was blue and all the props and costumes were also blue. This character used to watch blue TV shows and used to eat blue food.

The body paint, the costumes and the props helped a lot to create the illusion of a statue. The costumes were like old and they looked like if they were made of plastic. This three factors and the ability to stay still of the actors helped the audience to think that they were just statues instead of normal people when doing very structured and well organized still pictures.

What I didn´t like of the play is that it was represented in an open space, in a park. I was standing up with a lot of people in front of me and the actors where in the same level as I was. I think I prefer to watch plays in theatres. A proscenium arch is better for me. In here I can sit very comfortably and watch the actors in a higher or maybe lower level than me. It’s my preference.

Cocina y Zona de Servicio

Today, I went to watch a play at Teatro la Plaza Isil called Cocina y Zona de Servicio. The play was about a dinner where everything went wrong. Some old friends join after 10 years for a dinner. The actors didn´t show the actual dinner but they showed the kitchen and the patio were the characters used to fight or to say how bad the dinner was or what was happening at that moment in the living room. The play was about the different comments of a disastrous dinner.

The acting was amazing, it was clear that they had a lot of experience. They knew how to balance the space very well, everything was in equilibrium. The actors sometimes gave the back and that made it more interesting because you had to imagine what the character was feeling.

The lights were simple. When the play begun they used a very dim light from the top and then the characters came out and the lights were brighter. From the change of scene they totally turned off the lights and put some music as a background. The music had been recorded and prepared for the play. They used a wide variety of rhythms and different types of music.

The scenery was very realistic, it was like a real kitchen. It had a fridge, a table with three chairs, some windows, glasses and dishes, etc. everything to make it look as real as possible. My seat was very close to the actors and so I could feel as if I were inside the house watching everything from another room because of the realistic scenery also.

The props that they used were also part of the scenery as well. A good example could be broom. It was in the patio next to the lavatory but suddenly the character picked it up and started to walk with it. The broom was part of the character now. It became like a doll for one of the characters. The actress used the broom to talk with it and to hug it because she was feeling desperate because of the disastrous dinner.

The actors didn´t use microphones. The theatre had a good acoustic and so the microphones weren’t needed.

In general, it was a very good play in terms of set design and acting. I spent a good night at the theatre.

Boeing Boeing

I saw a play called Boeing Boeing in the “Teatro Peruano-Japonés”. It was about a business man who had three different wives which were flight attendants. The business man lived in a big house with his three wives and with the maid. The wives didn´t know about the other two because when one of them was at home the other two were working in different countries all around the world.

I enjoyed a lot the play. The scenery was amazing. They used big scenery to represent the house with big exaggerated picture frames on the walls and a big door. The furniture used was green, yellow, blue and red. The different colours used made a good contrast and attracted the attention of the audience.

The costumes were also very colourful. One of the wives was wearing a red costume; the other one was wearing a yellow costume and the last one was wearing a blue costume. The three different costumes made a lot of contrast with the greenish furniture.

The lighting was very simple. They had a lot of Follow Spot lights and some Profile Spotlights that were lighting all the stage. The intensity of the light varied a little but the lighting in general was the white-yellow light and didn’t change very much.

The actors were very good actors. It was very clear that they worked a lot on their characters because the flight attendants had different nationalities and so it demanded to speak with the country’s accent. One was from Germany, the other one from Colombia and the last one from France.

In conclusion, it was a very good play in terms of acting and of set design. I enjoyed a lot watching this play.

Second rehearsal

Yesterday we had the second rehearsal for our play. It went very well. We started again with ha hondom because it is important for the actors to have a lot of energy and we can get this energy by playing this game. Then felipe did a relaxing exercise that helped each one of them to be conscious of their body parts and what they are capable of doing with them.

After this Diego did another exercise that helped them to build their characters starting from an animal. This exercise was useful because it helped them to explore their body and movements by imagining that they were an animal.

Then, we told them to separate in groups: villains, superheroes and normal people and they had to do a little sketch to show how their characters were and what power did they have. This was a useful exercise because we could see the different actors interpreting for the first time what his/her character is like.

In general, this rehearsal went better, we organised it well and we succeed.

The First Rehearsal

On thursday we had the first rehearsal for the school play. A lot of people went so we needed to had a lot of activities to entertain all of them. We first divided into groups and played a ha-hondom competition. This was to help them to get the energy necessary in order to have a good rehersal. Then we presented each other, to all the people and told them about this year´s play.

They were very interested an excited about superheroes. Each one of them, told us what character they wanted to be in the play, maybe a super heroe or maybe a villain. They also chose a super power for each of the characters.

I think that the rehearsal went well but there were some mistakes that maybe we can fix them for the following rehearsals. When we were playing "match improvisations" we didn´t have anything planned, the themes and number of players, etc came to our mind in that moment and so, we didn´t had good ideas or sometimes we were taking so long.

Overall, I felt it was a good rehearsal and I think the next one will be better.