Go Team Woyzeck!

More than anything I wanted to add a little note of thanks to you all! Its been a challenge to work in a large group, especially a group of 8. The throwing around of ideas and suggestions can something cause abit of a debate or conflict, and i’m sure there were a few moments of this. Generally I feel we all contributed some great ideas and we managed to listen to everyone and develop these into the performance. I have already mentioned how less-stressed I have felt for this module in particular, I think thats because we had an enthusiastic and commited team, even with 3 members of the group who commute everyday, so thank you to you guys who had the extra effort of travelling. I have throughly enjoyed this module and working with you guys =) What a fab performance, if im totally honest, I didn’t expect for our audience, particularly the tutors to be as impressed as they were. Not because I think the performance didnt involve a lot of be impressed with. I guess seeing the performance from an outsiders point of view creates a whole different perspective. Being involved in the process removes the element of mystery and anticpation in comparison to first time spectator. Which is why I think the promenade was so successful. The audience can engage with the action and literallymove with the play. This adds a whole new dimension to the theatrical experience in comparison to what is usually expected when you prepare to watch a play.

Looking foward to working with you again soon. In the mean time, have a relaxing reading week!

Amie =)

The sound of Woyzeck and how its score affected the performance

In this Dramaturgical performance and for our final performance we have chosen to make the audience see the world through the eyes of Woyzeck, in order to create this we needed to block accordingly and to have the right “feel” or atmosphere for the piece. In the music we found a means, for instance we had a heavy influence from the playwright Antonin Artaud. The reason for this was that since Woyzeck is going mad internally we wanted to show the audience a slice of his life in a way that makes them empathise with him, the best way to do this would be to show the world as the ever changing chaotic force and not the character himself. Artaud believed that he should bring his audience to a state of shock to his audience to promote catharsis as he believed that his audience needs to be cleansed. How he used to achieve this was through performances and music, the music was used as an extension to the storytelling and that’s what we hoped to achieve.

The music used in this piece was all instrumental and used alternative instruments, for instance in the doctor scene where Woyzeck is being examined we used the song “Radiator” by Aphex twin because it used unfamiliar electronic and metal instruments that would make the audience be put into a state of emotional bombardment. The introductory music was/is an old music box which again wouldn’t be familiar to most especially since there was creepy carnival music emerging from it. This mixed with the lighting setup should have created a sense of unfamiliar and disturbing events that draw the audience to feel not only pity but fear of or for Woyzeck. The unfamiliar tones and strange music made the audience focus more on how the play “feels” as well as tell a narrative.

Due to our production being a promenade performance there were certain obstacles that needed to be dealt with, for starters since the action took place around a building in differing sections we had to use multiple speakers on differing formats just to get sound and music to all scenes. Other problems emerged from this too, for instance we were without a compact disk player. We got around this by using an iPod dock but needed to use the same iPod even during performance. This was tricky since that mean hiding a mp3 player during the performance as well as operating it.

“This type of performance presents special problems for the sound designer, and considerable planning must be undertaken to ensure that the action can be followed by the whole audience. This may involve the use of multiple speaker set-ups, wireless microphones, portable mixing desks and duplicate sets of equipment to allow the operator to move quickly from one location to the next.” (Leonard p14)

 

Leonard,John.A/(2001)/ Theatre of sound/London/ A & C Black

When considering the sound for the final piece I think I will again have to up the feel of the piece and use the soundscape as a way of forcing the audience to almost feel a part of the play, this will hopefully leave a lasting impression and maybe even lead to a few lessons in humanity.

 

Aaron

The Waltz

Chopin – Waltz in C sharp minor – Op.64 No.2

This song though never being used in the Dramaturgy performance due to technical fault was intended to portray the ease of how the character of Marie could be swayed from her lover. This song was to be added in to also provide the promenade theatre production a little more entertainment whilst the cast prepare the next scene. It would seem though that even without  the music that we managed quite well but this will be perfected for the completed piece.

Aaron