The Beginning to an End

December 14-18 2009 

The troupe spent the entire week sweating over the play. It is going to be the grand finale of the drama class for this term. Everyone will be doing their best to show what they have learned and prove how much they have improved on their acting capabilities. 

I am very excited yet a little bit nervous because there is no written script. I guess that is what makes Commedia Dell'Arte interesting. We can rehearse it over and over again but the dialogues are different every time.  At the advice of Mr Smeed, we added Lazzis to our little play to make it truly funny.

Finally, the big day is here! In my opinion, I think we did a really good job because we managed to make our audience laugh. The other troupes were very funny too, especially Christie's group. I must say that 7F truly has talents!!

SHOWTIME :)

December 7-11 2009 

This week, the Commedia Dell'Arte troupes had a chance to practice their plays in class, in preparation for their presentations on the 17th of December. 

The first problem that our troupe encountered during our practice session was that the play only lasted for 2.5 minutes which was much too short from the required 5-7 minutes. In order to overcome this issue we decided to add on monologues for each of the characters. As Commedia Dell'Arte has no written script, we have to think fast and be quick on the feet. At first, I was worried but I managed to make up lines as I went along. I found it rather strange, having to face the audience when I was arguing with Capitano. I guess it takes time to get used to this type of performance. 

My Masked Face :)

November 30 - December 4, 2009 

At the beginning of the week, we concentrated on perfecting our script. The original idea was to say something that could reflect on the personality of the character. However, mid-week Mr. Smeed told us that if we were to make fun of someone, it should not be the audience but another Commedia Dell' Arte character. I had to quickly come up with a new idea and I pretended that I was conversing with Brighella. 

The difficulties I encountered when I was rehearsing was to walk in a slow jerky manner and speaking in a high-pitched tone. I think I did quite well at the presentation today because I managed to make the audience laugh at my movements and my story. 

Now, Cherri, James and I are working on a rough draft on "misunderstanding". I will be Pulcinella, James, Capitano and Cherri, Brighella. This is going to be the last project on Commedia Dell'Arte, and we have every intention to make an excellent job out of it. 

BE MASKED

November 23-27 2009 

This has been the most exciting week. We watched a DVD which explains the significance of masks used in Commedia Dell'Arte. There are altogether ten masks and they are used to denote masters and servants. Masters walk with their backs straight and speak in a low tone whereas servants tend to be high pitched and walked about randomly as if without purpose. 

After jotting down notes, we were asked to pick three characters that we would be interested in playing. I have been chosen to play Pulcinella who speaks in a high-pitched tone, and likes to argue for the sake of argument. I chose this personality because I think it would be fun and very comical to play this role, especially when he walks in a slow jerky manner. I found these information on the DVD but I intend to do further research. 

Funny HAHA

November 16-20 2009

This week, Valerie and I have been working hard on our script. As we are only allowed 2-3 minutes for the interview, it would be impossible to include all the facts about Commedia Dell'Arte. We only picked facts which we considered to be both important and relevant. Due to the nature of this type of drama, we tried to make our lines funny. This proved to be most difficult because it was not easy to make facts humorous. We worked on our opening line for a long time but could not come up with anything interesting. In the end, we decided to use the formal way of introducing the guest. We have finished recording and hopefully Mr. Smeed would like it.  

Mixed Week

November 9-13 2009

This has been the most interesting week. I started off with a powerpoint presentation on Commedia Dell'Arte. Mr. Smeed said it was a good one as my group had included all the important elements related to the subject. I think I spoke clearly but I could improve on my presentation skills by speaking a little bit louder. 

Valerie and I are now working on a script for our radio talk show. She plays the role of the hostess while I am the Commedia Dell'Arte expert. We have difficulties coming up with funny lines to make the audience laugh. This is made harder by the fact that the audience will not be able to see our facial expressions and body language, so it boils down to the tone of our voice. However, this does not mean that we did not have any fun. We have to disguise our voice and change our tone so dramatically that it is impossible for us to laugh at ourselves. 

The class is privileged to meet and play games with the Zen Zen Zo physical group from Australia. Through these activities, I come to appreciate the various levels of physical energy; the importance of focused observations and the effect of over exaggeration. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am sure I will be able to use these techniques in my future performances.

Comical Entertainers

November 2-6 2009

This week, our group had to practise on the Commedia Dell'Arte scripts for the forthcoming Reader's Theatre.

From reading the scripts, I can now understand why it is important for the actors and actresses to like people. They can see the funny people and use it on stage to make the audience laugh. It is not expensive to watch them perform, and I am guaranteed to have a good laugh. I can't wait to see their performance.