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.

La ópera de tres centavos

Firstly, there was very good scenery. They used only the necessary material. For example, to represent the jail they only used a structure of wood painted with a grey colour. They used little scenery for some scenes and you could still imagine where they were and you could understand it very well. Another example could be the prostitute house. They used a table some chairs, that was it, nothing else.

Secondly, the lighting was also fine. They played with the lights. On a normal scene the lighting was the same, without a change but when a character started to sing the lights automatically changed and focused on that character. When a character was singing the lighting was only for those characters and all the rest of the stage was dark.

The music was being played at the same time, real, it was not a CD. That´s from the beginning a positive point to the play because a lot of hard work and concentration is needed so that the musicians could understand the characters and so, make different sound effects and musical pieces at the beginning or at the end of each scene. Thus, the sound effects were played always on time without mistakes as well as the musical pieces. The instruments used were a bass guitar, a clarinet, some drums and a keyboard. The music helped by giving the audience the ability to feel the characters’ feelings. For example, when “Máquina baja”, a famous thief, was in jail the music was mysterious and then sad because he was going to be executed in one hour and those was his feelings.

The acting was great. I liked them a lot. It was clear that the actors sat and analyzed the play before acting it to make sure that everybody could understand their roles in it and their intentions and actions. This is a very important step when receiving a play. The audience could identify with any of the characters.

The character that I liked the most was the Maquina Baja´s girlfriend. It was very clear that the actress had a lot of experience, ability and preparation. To represent her character she used oppositions. Her head was in an opposite direction in contrast to the hips. It was amazing all the balance that she had and how she had total control of her body. I also liked her voice, it was very loud and it was like a doll. Her character was very funny because of her face expressions also. When you were watching her you could also see a doll; the creative make up helped a lot the face expressions to look like a doll.

In general, this Colombian play was very interesting and good. It was an example for us, the young actors, who are still learning from other performances. I´m glad to watch plays like this and not just bad performances, where you get bored very easily.

El Jardín de Mónica

We read in class the play and it was wonderful. I liked it a lot because it was very funny and it was very interesting. We all laugh and spent a good time. However, we went the same night to watch the play and it was a total disaster. The performance was totally different of what I´d imagined when we were reading the play.

The scenery was ok. They presented Monica´s garden like they imagined it. On the garden there was a box with bottle taps pasted on a side and brown papers on the other side, representing the garbage. There were a lot of brown bottles surrounding the scenery creating a barrier to indicate the end of the garden. On top of the box there was the representation of a tree, an artificial structure of wires. It was clear that they didn´t want to show the garbage as it is on the streets, they wanted to show it as a whole using brown bottles and brown papers. I was happy with the scenery because everybody has a different ways to imagine and interpret a text.

The music in the end, didn´t helps. The play had a sad ending because the boy was being taken by someone and he was desperate and shouting. When this final scene finished, a happy musical piece was being played. The music broke the effect that the spectators were feeling. It could have been better if there wasn´t music or maybe a sad song.

The lighting was interesting. When the actress was performing as the mum, shouting, a lot of lights started to appear and it gave us a scary atmosphere. However, this effect was constantly repeated. One time was fine but two or more was the same boring stuff. The play had a lot of lighting changes and games. It seems to me like if they were thinking that the play was boring and the only way to entertain the audience was by changing and using different lighting.

The performing was terrible, it was a bad experience. Firstly, the actors need to learn all their lines correctly. When they were performing it was very clear that they didn´t know their lines well. Sometimes they waited a long time to respond to the other person and these little silences gave the audience a boring feeling. They didn´t understand what they were saying.

When an actor receives a text, they must write on it. They need to know why they are saying the lines and for what reason, what is the intention. There was no interaction between the characters because they didn´t understand what they were saying as well as the reason why they are saying them. They were just throwing them up.

I´ve learnt a lot with this play, what an actor should´t do in a performance. I´m a 100% sure that I wouldn´t have been able to understand the play without reading it first. This representation taught me that a good text isn’t always the synonym of a good performance.

Meeting with Débora Correa

Today we had a meeting with Débora Correa, a member of Yuyachkani Theatre Group. In this meeting she explained how the masks were used and how.

Firstly she started to warm-up. She began to warm up with the backbone. When you are warming up its also like game, you are playing with your column. When playing with it, you can discover many different ways in which a character could be represented. The character’s position or way to walk will say a lot about the character. Just by watching a character you could tell more or less its age, and old man or a young one, just by looking them. So, the position of the column is very important in the process of creating a character.

It is necessary to keep in mind the imaginary triangle: the face, neck, shoulders, arms and hands. An actor needs to have a good use and control of levels, of velocities, volume, and equilibrium. She said that what help her to characterize some characters are the dances. All the process, the movements and choreography comes from the dances.

It is important to find a presence on the stage so that you can call the attention of the audience. Because your objective is to get the audience interested and focused on your character.

Then after warming up and giving us a little introduction, she started to talk about the use of masks. Any mask must be treated carefully, it’s like a face. When you receive a mask for the first time you must analyze it and observe it from all the possible angles and ask yourself the following questions:
· Who is it?
· Where does it come from?
· What does it want?
· What is it doing?

When using masks it’s like if you were lending your body to it and the mask will lend its face, so combining them both you will create an structured character.

Firstly, she showed us the Caporal’s mask. He was the devil of the Festival Puneño. She dressed as the character and then put on the mask. She started to dance and it was amazing. It wasn’t the Débora from before, it was a total different person.
An actor needs to have a lot of ability for the movements.

She mentioned that she had to practice some martial arts in order to be able to develop this character. The martial arts helped her because it has a sequence of cuts, kicks, punches and blocks which are needed to make the Caporal´s movements.

I learnt that the small masks that only covers the top/bottom part of you face are called Caretas in Spanish and Encubrirse means to cover all your body or to dress up.

Then, she showed us a mask inspired on a Huaco Retrato from the Moche culture. She confessed that she always uses inspiration models.
Then she interpreted the Ukuku. This mask was different from the others, it was woolen, this means that the mask can hit to the face. The Ukuku is a bear and it is a character based on improvisations. The actors improvise because the Ukuku interacts with the audience. When an actor interacts with the audience he will never know what will happen. Every audience is different.

Another character that she represented was the Cat of Los Músicos Ambulantes. She mentioned that she had to work a lot on her column to be able to represent the cat. At first, you must work in the characteristics of the animal. How does it moves, runs, make sounds, etc. The second step, is the voice, starting from the animals’ sound. You must imitate their sound and try to find a way to talk and the voice will come out. Apart from the voice, an animal could also give the rhythm and the agility.

Finally she concluded giving us some advice when working with masks: The feet are very important because they are like your guide. Sometimes is better to close your eyes when using a mask because you can get distracted very easily when performing. She finished the meeting by saying that masks are a work with a lot of details and therefore a lot of patience is required.

Paucartambo - Musical Instruments

Music is used a lot in plays. They are used sometimes for the introduction of a play, when there is a change of one scene to another one or sometimes when characters enter to a scene. The musicians can be visible or invisible. When I refer to them by using the word visible, I mean that they appear on stage using their own musician’s costumes or sometimes they are dressed as a character but they are just the musicians. However, a theatrical representation could also have characters that are musicians.

The most demonstrative example of the importance of music is, without a doubt, the Paucartambo Celebration. I will know show the instruments used in some comparsas in the Paucartambo celebration.


Majeños

The Majeños personify the merchants who, during the republican period, crossed the Andes from their valley home of Majes to trade in wines and spirits. On horseback or on foot, they go through the streets during the festivities with a bottle in their hand, except when they find themselves in the presence of the Virgin.

They are known as the rowdy Majeños, this is because their music uses a lot of high volume instruments: snare and bass drum, trumpets, trombones and drum plates. I think that the orchestra wants to stand out the wind instruments like the trumpet or trombone because these instruments are the ones that produce a lot of noise, and the other percussion instruments are just in the orchestra to accompany the melody.The music contributes a lot with the theatrical representation of the Majeños.

Music helps them to have a coordinated pattern when dancing because their choreography consists of big steps going forward and backward. They carry beers and dance with them. They interact with people by offering them some beer. They dance in all Paucartambo. Between the streets, at the plaza, on the bridge, etc. Anyway, this is an example of popular theatre.

Chuqchus

Chuqchu means the action of trembling and it is a symptom produced by the infection of Malaria. As I explained before these are the sick people representing the diseases. Their masks are painted with a yellow colour to show that they have the yellow fever from the jungle. We went to their house and they were like in a party. There were Chuqchu’s musicians playing their music while some other Chuqchus and also tourists were dancing together. This was a good opportunity to analyze the instruments used in the Chuqchu´s comparsa.

I saw for the first time two new instruments used in a comparsa apart from the accordion. The “rasgueo” in Spanish. This instrument is like a guide for all the different instruments and is useful to maintain the rhythm of songs. The other instrument is called timpani. This instrument is most commonly used in the salsa type of music. These instruments help a lot to stand out the Chuqchu’s actions, especially the timpani. When the Chuqchus are performing on the streets, the timpani helps them to stand out their action of trembling. The timpani starts from a low volume and its volume also starts to increase.

Meanwhile, the Chuqchus are also increasing their intensity of their movement that represents the trembling. So, the music would increase the tension and excitement created to the audience and will also help them to have a more realistic Chuqchu and they would believe that game.

Cápac Q’olla

Is a ceremonial religious dance which symbolizes the merchants of Ccollao who would travel to Paucartambo carrying a variety of products to be offered in trade. Some say that it was the Qollas who brought the Virgin to Paucartambo. I had the opportunity to walk next to their comparsa and I took some pictures of them and their instruments.

The instruments used in the Cápac Q’olla´s orchestra are: a flute, an accordion, a violin and a harp. The harp and the flute used are not expensive ones. The people in Paucartambo do not have a lot of money, their social stratus is very low. They are poor people. However, they have good instruments, not high quality ones but just some good ones. They have the instruments which are necessary to create a good dancing atmosphere.


Guerrilla
Another example apart from the Paucartambo Celebration is the Guerrilla. This was the time when I realized that music was playing an important role in the celebration. When the Guerrilla started I was very excited because I had waited almost half year to watch it. The Guerrilla’s musical piece is the Qolla’s piece.

The bass and snare drum is used a lot in this cases to increase the tension of the spectators and also to increase the expectations. Also the wind instruments and flutes were other important instruments in the orchestra because they also helped to increase the tension. When the Chunchos were chasing the Qollas the orchestra was also helping us, the spectators, to see it clearer and to believe that it is actually happen and it is not just a performance of popular theatre. In other words it helps you to get involved in the Guerrilla.

Suddenly something happened and the music stopped. I didn´t know what happened, they stopped for six minutes approximately. Those six minutes I was thinking that the Guerrilla was empty. You could see how the Qollas and Chunchos were running but there was no tension anymore. You could feel that something lacked: the music. I was getting interested in the Guerrilla but when there was no music I realized the important role of music. When there was no music, but the Chunchos were still chasing the Imilla and the Qollas were running, I felt an emptiness sensation. It was strange because I was so involved in the Guerrilla and suddenly the tension went off because music wasn’t being played anymore.

In conclusion, the role of music is comparsas is very important. Music makes a big contribution to the theatricality of the Paucartambo celebration.

The Paucartambo celebration would be the same one, as it is today, without music?

It’s all business – The performance day

It was a wonderful night, everything went well. I made one mistake, I repeated YOMI two times because I got confused but in general, everything went well. I´m very happy and proud of my classmates and Roberto, we are an excellent group but I´m also kind of sad because this was supposed to be our last One Act Play. We are about to leave school and It's all business was one of my last plays with the school. I gave my best. A lot of friends went to watch our play, the theatre was full. I remember that before the performance, when the director was speaking, I was on the other side of the curtains concentrating and thinking that I had to give my best because this was my last One Act Play. I was nervous but also excited.

I heard the music and it was my turn to open the curtains and so the play begun. I think that people had a lot of fun watching our play. They laughed in almost all the play. We didn’t expect them to laugh at some parts but I think that their laughter gave us the necessary confidence and so we understood that we were in the correct path.

We made some mistakes during the play. Mistakes are sometimes originated because actors and actresses are nervous. However, I think that we made some mistakes because we never acted It´s all business in front of people. We only rehearsed it with Roberto and no one else. So we didn’t know if the audience was enjoying the play or if they were getting bored. The first clue that made us confident that people were focused was their laughs. We didn’t have any experience with the play; I mean a real performance with real people.

We had a lot of responsibility because we were the first British School performing and there was a lot of people who were going to watch our play and so our tension also increased. I felt really comfortable interpreting my character, Mr. Kawabata Jr. I was nervous at the beginning but then I started to play and have fun, in other words I was enjoying my character.

Although the play was very difficult to watch, people understood it very well I think. The play was difficult to watch because there were three stands, all of them acting at the same time and people at the beginning didn’t know if they needed to look at the first one, the second one or the third one. Maybe they were thinking that if they focused on one stand then they were not going to be able to watch the other ones. This is the reason why some people were confused at the beginning but finally they understood our little game with the stands.

After the play everybody congratulated us and said that it had been an amazing performance. I was very excited. Later that night, at home I had time to analyze the performance and I realized the big influence that the audience has on a play. There is a lot of difference between acting in an empty theatre than acting on a stage with a big number of people staring at you.

I have noticed that I have a big problem when creating a character: I always repeat the same type of movements for my characters. For example, while I was representing Mr. Kawabata Jr. I did some movements that remind me about the Governor in El Rabdomante, my first play. I’m a little worried because it’s hard for me to change and look for other types of movements.

How am I going to be able to change and look for innovations that I need instead of repeating the same stereotype of movements and actions? What do I need to do in order to achieve that?

It´s all business – Building my character

The play was planned and everybody knew how their character would be. I was totally lost, my mind was empty. I didn´t know what to represent or characterize. However, I received some advice and the idea of being the man who charges the rent arose. I wasn’t totally convinced. Talking with my IB partners, we decided that my character could be the son of the charger, and he always goes to the market to charge the rent, but the guys of the DVD store instead of paying him the rent, they give him porn movies so that he cannot charge them any income.

This idea was really cool. I liked it from the first moment but I didn´t have a character to represent. I was a little it worried because I could see that everybody had a character and I was the only one without one. However, I had an idea. I thought of my Tae Kwon Do teacher and I said that maybe I could be a Japanese charger of the rent. That was a great idea. So I started to work on the Japanese guys. I started to watch videos like Heroes and especially focus on Hiro Nakamura, or the MTV show, I survived to a Japanese challenge. This helped me a lot to build my character. Also when I went to practice Tae Kwon Do, I also observed every movement of my teacher and how did he talk.

There was a time when I wanted to quit; I wanted to change my character because I didn’t like the idea of being a Japanese man. The idea that people had was to be typical Japanese, without movements, calm and serious, and I wanted to be a funny character. Off course I was confused and disgusted.

When I was going to bed one of these stressful days I imagined my character, but not the one that some of my classmates wanted, I imagined a combination of both, a funny one and a calm one. In some parts my character could be calm and serious and in other parts it could be very funny. I worked on this idea until I finally found a way to represent my Japanese character.

Mr. Kawabata Jr. is the son of the man who charges the rent. But Mr. Flash and Captain, the ones of the DVD stand, instead of paying this boy with real money, they convinced him to pay him with porn movies. So Mr. Kawabata Jr. has a secret: he doesn´t receive money for the rent.

My character is kind of nervous because he does not want the other people to know about his secret of the porn movies. If someone discovers, they could call his dad and that's it, end of the job. This kind of movies are like a vice for him, he can't say no to them.

It´s all business - Creating the Scenery

After the successful play, La Vida es Sueño, we had to prepare for the One Act Play Festivals. I was, as always, very excited about it. The IB Drama club had some meeting before the holidays to plan our new play. We decided that the scenes were going to develop in a market like Polvos Rosados and so we agreed to have three stands.

We again had to focus on different tasks about the production process. I was in charge of the scenery and Diego was my partner. We designed the scenery. We all decided that the scenery will consist of three different stands. The first one, from left to right, is a DVD and PlayStation stand, the second one is a fruit and flower stand and the third one is a shoe stand.

Creativity and a lot of planning is needed. It is a production process totally different from the one that I did in La Vida es Sueño where I was the assistant director. In order to create the scenery, Diego and I, first draw a sketch of the scenery. We designed how the stands would be.

The first stand, the one of the DVDs and the PlayStation games, it has been painted with a gray colour. We decided that it was going to have a table and another big one, the table used to put the school´s projector during assemblies. So, we decided to paint the tables black so that it could make contrast with the walls. We also planned to have a TV on top of the big table, a joystick, some toys and we also planned to hang up some game posters.

On the second stand, the one where you can buy some fruits and flowers has been painted with a type of painting that would make it look like wood. We decided that the flowers were going to be dead and the fruits were going to be rotten. So, it is going to be clear that he doesn’t take care of his plants and fruits very well. We also designed the stand with two shelves; they were going to be necessary to put buckets with the dead flowers. The shelves weren´t painted because it already had a wooden colour. Finally, it was going to have also a table, the same wooden colour as the walls. The table is where the fruits are kept and exhibited.

The third stand is the one where shoes are sold. It has been painted with a light blue colour. It was designed with some shelves; they are useful because this is where the shoes are exhibited. The shelves are painted with a very white colour. This stand has also a mirror especially for customers, to look in it their new shoes.

To conclude, I knew from the beginning that being in charge of the scenery was going to be a very difficult and demanding job. There is a lot of pressure because everything has to be perfect, according to plan. You had to hurry the school stuff because if not they would have taken so long building up the scenery. Diego and I had to pursuit the painters and our school stuff in order to get the scenery done. I really enjoyed designing the scenery for our last One Act Play Festival.

Danza Abierta

2/07/09

On Thursday, we went to watch a dance for the Danza Nueva XXI International Festival. We watched a group called “Danza Abierta” from Costa Rica´s University. It was amazing, I was surprised. The dancers were really good, they jumped, they runned, they did strange movements, they did different shapes and they interact with each other in a very interesting way. These movements require a lot of concentration and some of them require a lot of strength. That was the first thing that shocked me, the movements.

The dances were the representation of a story, they didn´t talk, they just dance. There were three different dances, I liked all three. They had little props, some tubes, where they used to dance and to do some acrobatics.

The second thing that shocked me was the costumes. They wear very nice and colorful costumes. Some of them were very elastic ones and it stretched a lot to represent different moments of the story.

Another thing that I like and it is very important when acting or dancing is the face expressions. In this case, they had a neutral face expression but in some occasions they changed to sadness, happiness, angriness, mysteriousness but in general they were neutral. Some of these faces were frightening.

The lighting is another reason why this performance was very successful. The lights gave to the scenes a very important aspect, it gave them life. There were some red, blue and white reflectors that help to create the environment; the lights combined with the costumes. There were some lights that gave like a cage view; it was a white light but with black lines, just amazing. We could use these concepts of lighting in posteriors performances.

Is this considered a dance or a type of theatrical representation?