The Clash….

Although the Dramaturgical performance went well I too saw problems with the sound, the main being the clash between the musical score being misplaced and the use of instrumental Ukulele being played by the “grotesque” as its becoming known.

I think that the sharp and unmelodic plucking was a brilliant idea for the scene of the circus on the stairs and felt that it could have gone better with more technical rehearsals because I feel that this very Artaudian device may have been lost to our audience. Or possibly not? maybe the clash bombarded the audience and made them feel ill at ease. Personally I think the former but if any audience member wishes to give their point of view feel free.

Secondly I think it was a small pity that we ended up not being able to use the waltz music for the dancing due to technical difficulties but I think that by the final performance I may end up using a diffrent song anyhow.

Aaron

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

Drum major

A drum major is the leader so to speak when a marching band or parade is on the move and was originally used as another method of communication duing a time of war by using short and precice rhythms and battle signals. Sometimes drum majors were even used to apply military punishment and justice with the use of many methods including whips and tasks. They are the front man and are dressed differently to the rest of the march, usually in an elaborate ornate patterned uniform so as to show a status of control.  As shown below:

I believe that this will be where I shall base the angry and self-rightious nature of the wartime character, he will seemingly see everyone else as ants scurrying before his mighty sense of self accoplishment and power. Since he is supposed to be a representative of military might I would present him as a man with almost no weakness in the production, this is because that is the image a man that would represent something as brutal as an army should be at any time.

“Even though Buchner deals with the theme of animals and animal nature, he reserves a traditionally “animalistic” portrayal for the Drum-Major. With his strutting, his plumed hat, and his chauvanistic attitude towards Marie, the Drum-Major seems like a rooster, interested in nothing more than copulating and propagating. He uses the words “breed” and “spawn” when referring to Marie, and also calls her a “hot bitch.” Society pens up sexuality so that when it emerges, as in the case of Marie and the Drum-Major’s affair, it is explosive.”

(gradesaver.1999-2011.Woyzeck article. http://www.gradesaver.com/woyzeck/study-guide/major-themes/)

In the scenes not yet covered in this piece the character of the drum major will be shown as a man that is also very demanding not only in his violence but also in his sexual appetites, it would seem that to achieve his goal he would even wrench the character of Marie away from Woyzeck.