Week 24: The Beginning of Something New

Wednesday: Mr. Fearnehough talked to us about the PPP (Practical Performance Proposal). Mr. Fearnehough told us that we would be doing a mock PPP for our summer exam. I was actually really excited to give the PPP a try, because I like to be creative and come up with stories. Mr. Fearnehough gave us a lot of advice on the PPP.

Parts of the PPP

The PPP is supported by theory and and ideas.

• On stage action 
• Movement: type and theory
• Who is on stage
• How are they working together
• Pace
• Contrast
• Climax
• Opening
• Ending
• Production elements
• Technical elements
• Sound
• Lights
• Costume
• Props/Sets

Things to Include in the PPP

• What is success in the piece? e.g. audience is happy, sad, moved, changed,...
• How do you train the actors? (warm-up techniques, classes,...)
• Brainstorms-thought process
• ANNOTATION on everything (e.g. picture, diagram, and list)
• tell why you have decided to use this idea, underpinning it with theory
• Come back to each point and make sure it works with all other points/ideas
• Explanation of how you got each idea
• All whys
• Name dropping (anytime possible)
• Completely outline each point
• Every artistic choice must be justified by the performance concept

Theory that I have learned

• Commedia dell'arte
• Modern commedia- "One Man, Two Guvnors"
• Adolphe Appia
• Edward Gordon Craig
• Stanislavski
• Clowning
• Improvisation
• Acrobatics

But the most helpful piece of advice Mr. Fearnehough was ATFQ (answer the flipping question). This means that even if I use a lot of good stuff I need to make sure it answers the question or fulfills the criterion. I had thought that we had not covered very much material, but looking back at what we have covered, I realized that we have learned a lot. I am super excited to work on this project. 

Thursday: Today Mr. Fearnehough told us that he had changed his mind and that we would be doing a TPPP style presentation about our Commedia piece instead of a mock PPP. This is a little disappointing because I had been kind of excited for the PPP, but it will be  nice to be doing something that we have had practice with already. We also discussed how to write pitches again, and Mr. Fearnehough has told us to rewrite our pitches for the commedia piece. When we looked through our old pitches we realized that a lot of key things were missing, especially since the pitch was written before the piece was finished. Such as...

• Mentioning the setting
• The sounds used in the piece (type of music, sound effects, the sound “punctuates the story” borrows from skiffle band),
• Mentioning the conventions of commedia dell’arte or modern commedia
• range of lazzi, playing with audience
• no fourth wall
• not wearing the masks
• using the names
• Mentioning other theories used
• Clowning/circus (acrobatics maybe examples, interaction with audience, slapstick-violence, take yourself seriously,)
• Stanislavski’s super objectives
• Improvisation
• The intended atmosphere-involving the audience
• The storyline
• Elements of popular culture used
• Using dynamic language and the rule of three
• Explaining that it is aimed at touring therefore we do not need lighting

We also had some in class reflection about the pitches. We realized that it would be easier to write after having devised the piece for the last three months. We now knew everything about the piece and could use more theory in it. Also our performance concept was more solid. One good thing about writing a pitch at the beginning of the devising process was that it helped bring our ideas together. 

Mr. Fearnehough also gave us some tips on the TPPP

• Compare and CONTRAST experiences with other experiences
• Name theories and practioners
• Use 2 cultures
• Keep non-IB experience at the beginning
• Use a lot of examples but only focus on a few (explain how these ideas have worked or failed or could be improved)

I am a little disappointed about not doing the PPP and the TPPP kind of scares me. I hope it works out ok...