Au revoir!

Greetings, Bloggers.

Well, seeing as I opened our blog with a ‘general hello’ in Hello World, I think I perhaps ought to be the person to say Au revoir! Not goodbye, because it is certainly not the end for Woyzeck. We have great plans for this play.

Before we go, I hope it’s clear on this blog that collectively we’ve all worked hard. Not just on our characterisations, but we’ve done some serious digging into the role of dramaturgs. We’ve also learned that promenade is an effective staging point for creating an atmosphere within our piece. If we should choose to continue with this method, we certainly have our work cut out, but we could also present one hell of a chilling play!

The German military in the 1800’s was an interesting place. I suppose that’s putting it mildly for poor old Woyzeck! If we can stage the play in Lincoln Castle it would be great to give that military feel.

I think there is still more to do on the subliminal stuff with the poem If, but I know, depending on our final staging that we can get it right.

Woyzeck will return…

Captain Martyn

🙂

No Pictures!

Hey guys,

Does anyone know who the dude with the camera was taking pictures all the way through our performance? I wish I’d remembered sooner because, if they’re any good, we could stick them up here!

I think the pictures would have shown us off the effects of how we created an atmosphere pretty well. They’d also be great for marketing our show for Theatre Company.

Any thoughts? 

Martyn

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 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

Review of the performance

Well, that’s it, Dramaturgy is now over apart from this blog. The performance has been done, and now all that’s left is to reflect upon it and progress into Theatre Company. So here it is, the review of our performance; outlining the parts that were good, bad, and all the other stuff that goes with a review.

To start with, we’ll look at the technical side. To be completely honest, that could have gone a lot better. The lighting in the studio was on cue and very effective, highlighting the right parts of the performance at the right time and also creating the right atmosphere, as one lecturer described afterwards when giving feedback; he stated that when he came in it seemed like he was entering “an asylum”. This creepiness and sense of unease was sustained throughout the performance in accordance with how we wanted the audience to feel. However, as much as the clinical lighting in the studio worked well, other lighting effects didn’t. To be fair on us though, that was completely out of our control. To put everything straight, we had planned for the lighting outside the auditorium to go out (apart from two standing lamps) just before the performance, followed by a continuation of the blue and green colour scheme with green and blue floor lighting on the stairs leading up to the upstairs corridor. These planned lighting effects didn’t happen due to the fact that security switched the lights off. Unfortunately, because the lights went out, the two performers waiting for that very thing to happen assumed that that was the cue to start, and that meant that the rest of the group was still preparing props upstairs, and that noise carried down to the lower floor while the performance was going on. Thankfully, this did not affect the performance that Braden and Martyn gave, and by the time they were half way through the scene, everyone upstairs had finished their preparations and were ready to carry on. While the problems with the lighting were completely out of our control, the sounds weren’t, and the faults with that were entirely of our own making, as we hadn’t practiced enough with the equipment, and so had no idea of the effect produced by a ukulele and an iPod playing music at the same time. The second mistake with the sound was purely technical in that, for some unknown reason, after pressing ‘play’ on the iPod, there was a gap of a few seconds before the music began to play. The third music cue in the studio went well, and contributed effectively to the scene. To solve the technical problems, we just have to practice with the equipment, and make sure that all the security staff are completely cognisant of our plans.

Another aspect of our performance that could have been improved was the scene on the stairs; as it was, we had no idea of the sheer number of people that were going to turn up to watch our performance. Regrettably, because we hadn’t planned for that amount of audience, some of the audience who were situated at the back of the crowd couldn’t see what was happening on the stairs. Although in that way we could have improved the scene by planning better, those that did see the scene said that the way we had staged it was very effective.

Overall, the promenade style of performance was well received, and was seen to suit the piece well. Our style of acting was; “spot on”, we didn’t “overact or underact” but performed the roles well. The choice for splitting the Doctors’ role into two parts was enjoyed, as the text lent itself to be split in such a way.

In terms of expanding it, we’ve had several ideas, and not just for expanding it, but for improving it as well. One of which was the furthering of the fairground theme, with more, as I’ve called them, ‘grotesques’. This would not only create more roles for the women in our piece (one of the contributing reasons that we chose the scenes we did for this performance) but would also give more chance for experimentation within the piece itself.

We might even decide to create our own ending…

All in all, our version of Woyzeck was enjoyed by everyone that watched it, with great anticipation for what we’re going to produce for our performance at the end of the Theatre Company module which leaves me with just one last comment to make.

Well done everyone, and I can’t wait to get started on the expanded version!

Signing off for now,

Sally.