Final Draft Evaluation

Hello!

In class today, we performed our final draft of our Commedia Performance.

Part 1

The strength of our performance was the use of Gromalot in our performance. This is because we all used Gromalot. Though sometimes it was unclear, I feel that we improved a lot on it because we were actually using what sounded like words most of the time. Another strength of our performance was our mimed interactions. We had five mimed interactions during our scene which I think were very clear and made sense to the audience. We have improved on this from last lesson because we did not have as many mimes in our rough draft performance. 

If I were to score our performance, I would give us a 24/35 (6/10). 

Overall, I think that I tried very hard with this performance. I did as well as I could when speaking Gromalot and tried to stay in character even though Ayasha forgot to do the ending of our performance AGAIN. We practiced our performance quite a lot which helped our performance. I think I did my best. 

If we did have the opportunity to perform again, I would improve our scene structure. This is because, I felt it was a little unclear for the audience even though we had practiced a lot. To improve, we could create a scene structure that was easier to remember (as I touched on before). Also, we would improve our characterization in our performance to make it clearer as to who was who. We did try to improve on this by changing the way that we walk and also the way we speak. I still think that we can improve on this more if we had more time to practice and discuss our performance more thoroughly.

Part 2

A group that did as well as us was Amara and Ibtehal's group. This is because I feel that they met the same descriptors that we did and I would give them roughly the same score I gave my own group Ibtehal played Magnifico and Amara played either Zanni or Harlequino. I wasn't quite sure.

I think that the strengths of their performance included their audience interactions. This is because they made good use of audience interactions and also used takeouts to the audience. The final time of their performance was 4 minutes and 10 seconds which was in the time limit given to us. Another strength of their performance was the structure of the scene. It was clear that they had planned it well as they knew what they were doing and when they had to do it.

If I could, I would score them a 23/35 which is also a (6/10).

I think that they did try to do their best but didn't put 100% effort into their performance. They included most of the elements that have been shown on the rubric and effectively incorporated them into the performance. They also played along with the audience when they did something they weren't supposed to like throw the balls back at Ibtehal. They improvised and made it work. I am not sure if it was planned but it worked really well.

If they had a chance to improve, I would tell them to improve on their use of Gromalot and sound effects. This is because the use if them in the performance was limited as they did not use a lot of it but when they did, it was effective. I would also tell them to improve on their characterization because it was not clear what Amara's character was. This could be because I don't know the characters extremely well though so this is an unfair comment to make.

Part 3
A group that did not do as well as us was Nafisa and Shadman's group. NAfisa played the First actress on Shadman played the captain. I don't think they did as well as us because they did not meet a lot of the requirements listed on the rubric.

The strength of their performance was the use of Gromalot. I thought that it was quite clear even though Nafisa spoke for most of the performance and Shadman just said a couple of words. It was understandable for most of the performance put their were no sound effects used to enhance the performance.

If I were to give them a score, I would give them a 19/35 (4/10)

I think that Nafisa did try her best to perform well but it was difficult because it was clear that Shadman didn't practice and didn't put a lot of effort into his character. If he had tried harder, it would have been quite a good performance. It was clear Nafisa was trying hard since she took on the bulk of the performance whereas Shadman didn't do a lot.

If they had time to improve upon their scene, I would tell them to improve on their character movement and gesture. If they walked in the way that their character did, it would have been a more convincing Commedia scenario. I would also tell them to improve on their audience interactions because they did not have many and the one that they did have was confusing to some of the audience members as they did not know what they were supposed to do. The last thing that they could improve on was their scene structure. Some parts were a bit confusing and unclear and the performance was under the time limit given.

That is all I have to say for now!
Bye xx

Rough Draft Reflection

Hello! Once again, it's me; Kheilah. In class, we performed our rough draft of our final performance task.

Part 1: My Performance Evaluation
In my performance, I think that our mimes and interactions were the best aspect of our performance. I think this because, we used at least five mimes in our performance and they were quite clear. Also, I think that our Gromalot was OK but it can still be improved over time. our performance did go wrong at the end because Ayasha forgot some of our scene which impacted very heavily on the scene and we had to cut it short. She forgot to go fetch something from the audience which is what rounded off our performance.

This is the feedback that we received in class on Wednesday:
*Gromalot seemed to be repetitive
*Go back and research your characters to take a better look at how they move and their personalities
*Some of the audience interactions were confusing
*Plot line was also a little confusing


I think that we can improve by practicing more so that we are comfortable speaking loudly and clearly in Gromalot and also become more confident with it. I have gone back an researched more on the character of Columbina so I now have a better understanding of her which I will put into practice on Wednesday.

Specific improvements that we will make will mainly to be to do with the audience interactions and also the plot line of the scenario. This could include bringing someone up on stage and supporting them through the scene or including more takeouts to the audience. We may also change the plot to make it easier for the audience to understand us.

Part 2: A Group That Didn't Do As Well As Us
One group who's performance wasn't as good as ours was Arman and Farhan. Arman played Maginifico and Farhan played Zanni.

In their performance they did do some things well. This includes that it was clear what characters they were. They used clear movements and lead with their leading body part. This made it easy to determine who was who and what the status level was.

This is the feedback that I gave them:

*There was no Gromalot used little sound

*Would Magnifica hug Zanni? 

*More audience interactions (take outs)

*Don’t set up Zanni

*Back to the audience a lot

I would give them a 19/35 (4/10) based on the rubric

They need to improve on their gromalot because they didn't use any! They only had one sound in their entire performance and it was very short. All it was, was Magnifico shouting 'Oi!' at Zanni. Also, they need to take a look at how the characters treat each other as Magnifico wouldn't hug Zanni, though their characters were clear. Inlude more audience interactions and takeouts to get a higher level.

Part 3: A Group That Did Better Than Us
I think that Guglie and Rohan's group did better that us. Guglie played First actor, and Rohan played Maginfico.

They used Gromalot very well as it helped the scene and we could sort of understand them. They were confident with their Gromalot and almost spoke it fluently! It was as if Guglie knew the language (even though it really isn't a language, it's improvisation). They had a clear structure to their scene and it had a beginning, middle and end.

This is the feedback I gave them:

*Guglie controlled the scene

*Include Rohan more

*Use some sound effects

*Change the characters to make realistic

I would give them a 25/35 (6/10) based on the rubric

To improve, they should each have equal parts in the scene. Guglie kind of took over the scene as Rohan died quite early on in the scene. They spoke well in Gromalot so to improve even more, they could add appropriate sound effects like sad music when Rohan dies instead of Guglie just screaming and crying. I don't think that the first actor would ball his eyes out over Magnifico's dead body or even stab him for that matter. It's more something Brighella would do so they should re-think their characters.

This has been an update by...Moi! So thanks for reading! BYE! xx

Exploration of Exemplar

In one of our previous classes, we watch a video of the Cirque du soleil cown Amo Gulinello. This is the video link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkjQUxedbGQ&list=PLduNxeUSH1tyQ8DqQNy6nplqZDMlNiAzR

My favourite lazzi (part) of the performance was when he got his hand stuck in her hair. I found this funny because it would be really embarrassing in real life and that is what he made it look like. He was making it look like his hand was really stuck it was actually just placed in her hair. He looked like he was trying really hard to get his hand free.

During the performance, he only used three props. These were two chairs and a rose. All of his other interactions were mimed like the car, the car doors, etc. It was clear that he was in a car because of his clear interactions with the chairs, steering wheel and the mirror. Because of his interactions, we could see that he was talking a walk with her in a park or some other place like that. His character was clear. He was a man looking for love but he was failing to find it because his character was awkward and strange.

He had many takeouts towards the audience that did not include bringing someone up on stage. He made small gestures to the audience that made them laugh like when the girl did something she wasn't suppose to do, he made fun of her to the audience. He did a few of these throughout his performance.

He had a lot of exaggerated emotions during his scene. At the beginning, he was nervous because he was going to meet a girl. Then he was excited because he found a girl and she had agreed to go on a 'date' with him. He got progressively more excited as the scene went on which means he went from a 1 to a 10. But when they got stuck in traffic, he got angry and frustrated that they couldn't move. After this he was in love but this time he went from a 10 to a 1 because she wasn't getting into it and his hand got stuck.

His physicality in the scene was very good as he used the entire stage in his scene. His movements were also exaggerated to help show his emotion to the audience so that they could follow along the scene and understand it. This also had to do with his facial expressions. These had to be big and exaggerated because he was entertaining a large audience and had to make sure that even the people at the back could see what was going on. If he just used normal facial expressions, it would be hard to understand what he was trying to get across to the audience.

I think that the Commedia stock character that he was mostly like was Arlechinno. This is because his major emotion was in love. Arlechinno falls in love with any passing women that he deems attractive. He also makes frequent takeouts to the audience which Amo does too. One of Arlechinno's lazzis, is to lose control and flail around which Amo does often. 

He made great use of sound in his performance. This includes music and sound effects. The music helped to show what was going on in the scene as did the sound effects. The sound effects also explained the mimes because sometimes they would not have been clear like the traffic. Other mimes were clear like closing the car doors. He didn't use too much lighting. The only lighting he did use was when he was finding the audience member to bring on stage.

He made it clear to the girl what she should do by leading the way. When he wanted her to walk, he started walking and then she followed him around the stage. When he wanted her to sit in the chair, he showed her the chair first and then she sat down. This may not have been clear to her because she sat down before he could mime opening the door. He made her feel comfortable because he didn't go too far with her. He made it awkward but he didn't make it so that she didn't want to be there. 

Bye! ;)

Commedia Emotion and Language (Gromalot)

Hello! It's me again.

In our drama class, we have been looking and the emotions and the language (Gromalot) of Commedia dell'Arte. We watched two National Theater videos that I have put the link to below:

Emotion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIFR6c7NZc 

Language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gTs9xWJcgg

We completed a series of tasks in class to help us to further understand the form of emotion and language in Commedia which included small skits and performance tasks.

What gromalot is: My understanding of gromalot is that it is the language of Commedia dell'Arte. It is used to have communication between characters without really having to say anything. It's all babble really, but because of body movement, facial expressions and tone of voice, the audience and other characters can understand what is trying to be communicated.

The seven primary emotions: Happiness, Grief, Fear, Laughter, Anger, Surprise and Love.

For the emotion point, we had to chose one of the seven primary emotions. After we had chosen, we were to act out these emotions either starting from 1, which was when the emotion was dialed down, or 10, which is when the emotion was at its highest. If we had started from 1, we needed to work our way up to 10 getting more and more exaggerated. If we chose to start from 10, we had to slowly dial down the emotion to a 1. I chose to do Fear. I started from a 1 and escalated to a 10. 

To practice our Commedia language (gromalot) we were put into pairs. In our pairs, we were to devise a short skit in which we spoke in gromalot. I was put into a pair with Nafisa. Our scene showed us walking and talking to each other and then  we found a dead body on the floor and started to cry. It was actually quite difficult to speak in gromalot because it is all improvisation. 

Thank you for reading this! Bye! xx

Ideas for Commedia dell'Arte Scene

My partners are Farah and Ayasha. We are doing a Commedia dell'Arte scene together. I am Columbina, Farah is The first Actress and Ayasha is Brighella. We also have to include emotions. These are our ideas:

1. Farah is walking with the First actor and I am her maid following her along. Ayasha sneaks up behind us and stabs the First Actor. Farah cries and then faints I scream at the sight of the dead First actor. I help Farah up and then we accuse the audience of the death. Then we catch Ayasha with the knife and she is hung. We choose someone from the audience to hang Ayasha

2. We are all in a carriage and Ayasha is the driver. She hits the horses so that we fall out of the carriage. Audience member helps us back up. Farah breaks her foot. Ayasha makes ambulance sounds and makes the horses rush to the hospital. Audience member holds up Farah's foot while she waits. I badage up her foot and we get back on the carriage. Ayasha maks us fall again. Audience helps us up again.

3. Farah has just got engaged to the First actor and is showing off her ring to me. Then, Ayasha is stealing something and I catch her. I take her to Farah. She has to kiss Farah's hand but steals the ring off her hand. There is panic in the house. Ayasha goes into the audience and asks them to keep the ring. I asks the audience if they have seen the ring. I look behind some of the audience members to look for the ring. Ayasha feels bad and leaves the ring for me to find. I give it back to Farah and she gets married.

We chose idea 3. This is because we thought that it was the most realistic Commedia scenario out of all of our ideas. In the first and second idea, Ayasha purposefully tries to hurt us, but this is not something that Brighella would do since she does not want to really hurt other people but just cause mischief.

Our scenario choice fills most of the requirements that are listed in the rubric. We have two audience interactions but they are quite simple. We have included mimed interactions but only two at the moment which is something that we need to improve on to get a higher grade. We speak in Gromalot throughout the scene and I think that we are okay at using Gromalot.

One weakness that I can already see is our character personality and gestures. They aren't very clear and it can sometimes be difficult to understand which characters we are playing for other people. Our scene structure is good but can be confusing at times which means that the audience might not be able to understand what is going on.

BYE! :-) 

Commedia dell'Arte Task 7

We did our final performance in class last week.

For my rough draft performance, I chose to play the girl that everyone loves/likes. In my performance, I invited someone up from the audience and walked with them. I got a phone call. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder so I said spoke to them then walked away.
I practiced my performance in class before the performance and also a few times at home.

This is  the feed back that I got for my rough draft performance:

Hair out of face when you perform

Good use of audience member and good “hosting” her through scene

Use Gugli bit

Physicality more defined

Good use of space

For my final performance, I changed how it stood as I said in my previous post. I did this so that I look more defined and not just like an average girl. I also changed my walk. It was more bouncy and less flat. the last thing I changed was when the person tapped me on the shoulder. Instead, someone bumped into me but then I took the blame for it and apologized to the person. I think that my final performance went well but I think that it was hard for the audience to see the difference between my two performances. The piece was clear in my head but not really for the audience. The feedback that I got said that I looked like the same person in my rough draft performance.

I would give myself a 7/10 using the Criterion B descriptors. This is because I performed with a good level of proficiency because I had rehearsed. Also, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do and a theme.

Peer Evaluation

I will once again be evaluating Amara's performance as her character is the opposite of mine. Her character is The Party Girl”—She goes to parties and does illegal things. She portrayed this character very well I think because she was committed to her role. 

For her rough draft performance, this was her feedback:

Waking up from night before?                

Drinking something from cup

More grumpy?

Falling into someone, hugging them, etc.

Pukes, smoking something

Good reaction to Sapphire

Good interaction with Guglie & audience members

Nice parallel going back to sleep

Beginning/Middle/End to scene that was nice

Really committed into character—looked tired but sick but somewhat animated when necessary

Good use of space, but make sure you go where everyone can see you?

A little long?

I believe that she got her character spot on. I liked the beginning, middle and end of her performance because it was something that no one else had. When she walked she stumbled which made her character more believable. She improved from her rough draft performance because she took her feedback into consideration. To improve, she should make sure that her back isn't to the audience. She also spoke during her scene which she wasn't meant to do.

I would give her a 9/10 for her performance because her performance and ideas were very clear to the audience. She performed very well and didn't break character.

Bye!