Week 35: More Sticks and Massage, and the RI

Tuesday: Bekki gave her presentation on Bunraku Puppets, Costumes, and Props. I was particularly impressed with the simplicity of of the puppets. They were little more than wooden head on top of a wooden rod. The arms were strings, yet the puppets look almost life-like on stage. This is a credit to the puppeteers and the costumers. I had expected the puppets to be much more complex and include mechanical parts controlling facial features and other body movements. In this presentation I also learned that the puppets often interact with props onstage. I found this impressive and unexpected, at least partially because my largest experience with puppets is "Sesame Street". In this instance the puppets rarely interact with props, even though they interact with real actors, who interact normally with props. This creates a distinct difference between the humans and puppets, that I unconsciously generalized over all puppets. Following Bekki's presentation we watched a documentary about Bunraku. I liked how the different things we had discussed were illustrated. This made it easier to understand.

Thursday:This was the first due date of the RI. I had finished my very first draft, with very little editing, or embellishment. When I came to class Mr. Fearnehough asked for our papers. When he discovered the lack of effort put into this draft, the only one that he would be able to give us feedback on, he was understandably disappointed especially as this one of the primary determiners of our predicted grade in theater He gave us the weekend to work better on them, and then it was due. I have been finding it difficult to concentrate and get into writing papers lately, which is part of why my paper was such low quality. Then, we got back into our exercises with Bunraku. We practiced balancing the sticks again. I found this very difficult again, and part of me just did not care if I was able to do it, which is a way of believing I couldn't do it. We progressed to balancing the sticks on our chins and noses, though I had little success with it. This exercise ended with Bekki sitting down to give up, followed closely by me. My heart was not in this exercise, I was not committed to it, and it showed. This brought down the morale of the entire ensemble, and ensured my own failure. Then Mr. Fearnehough brought us back together and had us do an exercise that actual Japanese puppeteers had to do in their training. I involved balancing the stick on my outstretched wrists and standing with slightly bent knees. While this did not originally sound difficult, it becomes more and more uncomfortable the longer I stood there, my shoulders got tired, my arms got heavy, and my legs started to hurt from standing. But I have discovered in sports exercises that if I find something else to concentrate on time will pass quicker and I won't notice the uncomfortableness as much, but one problem with this strategy this time was that the exercise was not active. So I couldn't focus on the movement, I had to "entertain" myself, and I found it kind of difficult, especially because I had to make sure to not be to distracted and drop the stick. This exercise showed me that I have to do things that I don't like to get better, because of the failed RI draft I found myself applying this lesson to it. I have to push myself to do my paper even though it is hard and boring and seems pointless. Another thing that I learned from this exercise was that it is difficult to empty my mind, I generally dislike sitting in class just listening to the teacher, but this was like sitting in class listening to nothing. Mr. Fearnehough talked about a type of theater, in which the actors were pushed beyond the point of exhaustion and then their subconscious did the acting. 

Friday: Today Mr. Fearnehough introduced us to a book "Zen in the Art of Archery", book is about a dramatist that attempted to master Bunraku, by learning Japanese Archery. A key quote that was read to us is, "If one really wishes to be a master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an 'artless art', growing out of the unconscious." This summed up several of the key qualities we would need to succeed, or progress in this theatre practice, perseverance, skill, commitment. Mr. Fearnehough compared it to watching David Beckham play soccer. He is a master at the sport, and has a skill in it that cannot be taught. He could teach his technique to others but they would not have his "style" and would not be the same as him by just learning his style. It is similar in this art. We need to be committed and learn technique, but it does take a gift to excel at it. Then, we continued with the Bunraku exercises, but this time it was more teamwork. We teamed up "balancing" the stick between two people. At first one person led. I found it easier to let Bekki lead me. Partially because I had no idea what I wanted to lead her to do, no goal, and also because I knew that Bekki would let me take over if I wanted to, although I was happy to let her lead. Then we had to swap leaders, this meant I had to lead, which I did not like. I find my leadership style to be more background and diplomatic. I let people decide what part of something they are going to do, and then after I make sure everyone is working toward the same goal I let them take care of it, only interfering when I think that they are struggling. In this exercise, I was not able to lead in this style, because even though I thought that Bekki had everything under control, I was placed in a position of direct, totalitarian leadership, which is generally my last resort when placed in a leadership role. I usually allow the team to make the decisions, only taking direct charge at the end bring everything together. It was impossible to lead in this way for this exercise. I found myself running out of things to do and feeling as though I was being very repetitive. The next thing we did was decide there was no leader, and we did it with our eyes closed. This part of the exercise seemed very rhythmic or like dancing to me. With our eyes closed, we weren't able to take visual or physical cues, we had to rely on the movement of the stick. Then we swapped partners. This was more difficult than I expected it to be. I had gotten used to the way that Bekki and I did it and found it kind of hard to get used to the way Lydia did it. This showed me how teams need to have experience with one another to succeed. We experimented holding the stick with different parts of our bodies; this made the experiment even more difficult. Then we moved up to making a circle, with the sticks held between each person. When any person moved it affected everyone else. Then we went on a trip around school, this involved me being put in fronts followed by the rest of the ensemble. I found it hard to regulate my speed to accommodate everyone behind me. Then Mr. Fearnehough led us. I had to keep my face next to his hand, and everyone behind me had to copy my movements. I actually enjoyed this exercise. I felt as though everyone was focused as a team. This exercise seems like the Silver String (from TaPS) level 2. It involved focus, although as a group it meant each person was following someone else, with one leader. As a group, it was not diplomatic, similar to Bunraku. The final thing we did that day was massage. This was more of a group trust exercise than a Bunraku exercise. It takes a lot of trust of the people doing it, as they touch the massaged person all over. Even though I did not go, I felt very awkward touching the others in such a 'personal' way. I have always been kind of weird about touching others, or letting them touch me, especially in such a close, continuous way. I am kind of nervous about going, and being the center of attention for such a long time. 

Week 34: The Paper and the Stick

Tuesday: We discussed the IPP again, and Mr. Fearnehough gave us the Theatre subject report from last year. This will be helpful because it tells us what the examiners thought was good and what they wanted to be improved. 
Friday: Today we really started doing Bunraku. We did two exercises to learn about Bunraku. 
Paper Moving: This exercise was a team exercise. I was with Lydia and Axel and Bekki were a team. This exercise involved moving a piece of paper from between the teamates heads to between their feet and back. 

• This exercise was harder than I thought it would be when it was first introduced
• It took physical experimentation, not just mental reasoning 
• When we started we were stiff and uncomfortable with each other, but as the exercise went on we got more comfortable with each other-although we were not completely relaxed
• It took perseverance and innovation to complete the task
• It was strange how we were still reserved after a year of working together and our commedia piece-it shows  how much we hide behind our socialized selves

Stick Balancing: This exercise is simple balance a pencil, then the broom stick in yours hand or on your finger for as long as possible. 

• This exercise was harder than I had originally thought, as well
• I found it particularly difficult to focus on the activity and concentrate, my mind kept wandering and there were lots of distractions in the room 
• In this exercise control, balance, concentration, and focus were vital
• When I first attempted this exercise with the broomstick I was focused on the bottom of the stick, this was the wrong part of the stick, which shows how I need to focus on what is important, when I focused on the top I did better
• When I first began the exercise I instinctively expected to fail- I need to be confident and expect myself to succeed
• When we all focused on one person doing the activity, they did better-this could have been because of a lack of distractions or because of a common focus on a goal that helped the person working on the task feel supported and confident
• In this activity I really did not like being watched while I was trying to do something, especially when I was really bad at it, but just like in the previous activity I had to put myself in an uncomfortable position to allow success

Bunraku and IP

This past week has been spent on a new chapter of our IB theatre course! Not only are we starting a whole new project on Bunraku, we also looked at the IP. We spent some time with Mr. F. making sure that we understood all about the IP, marking schemes, facts about theatre projects. Having it explained like that really helped me understand exactly what I have to do.
Mr F. also made it very clear to me how things like footnotes and proper references are very important as the presentation is worth a whole quarter of my IPP


Thursday 19th September:

We made sure that we were all clear on the deadlines for the course and learnt some more theory on the basics of Bunraku.




Friday 20th September:

Today we spent two hours on Bunraku. We have already learnt a bit of theory about Bunraku due to our presentations and today we were going to be doing some physical exercises. It's all well and good to do the theory but at some point, you're gonna have to work at it practically to understand it.

We began with an exercise where we were put into pairs (I was with Bekki) and we had a piece of paper between us which had to travel from the top of our head to our feet, then back up again, Not using our hands!Sound easy?Nope! This was very difficult but Bekki and I nailed it in the end!Of course, this was after many, many fruitless attempts. We sorted out a technique and managed to shimmy it up and down. The real tricky part was when he asked us to all stand next to each other and make the paper go from my foot to Abby's, whilst going up and down everybody else.Now that was tough. But it did teach us a lot. We struggled to do this for more than twenty minutes. Bunraku puppeteers learn their craft through 30 years of hard work. First, they spend 15 years doing the legs. Then they spend another 15 doing the left arm. After this, they can finally upgrade to the right arm and face. The relative difficulty of our exercises puts this all in perspective.

One thing we discussed was being reserved as an ensemble. As an ensemble, we have to try not to be reserved because we have to work with each other as a team. At the beginning of the year, I was much more reserved than I am now but I realise that it will take one or two goes of a task to become comfortable. 

The next task we did was balancing a pencil on our fingers. This task was really difficult but it required a lot of concentration. I didn't manage to balance a pencil on the tip of my finger more than a second but I did realise some points whilst doing it. Although I didn't manage it (try it, you'll see), I realised that by moving it was (slightly) easier to balance the pencil.

 

However, we transitioned from a pencil to a broom handle and that was much easier! When i was a kid I used to balance bamboo poles on my finger so I already knew the technique. As long as you concentrate on the top of the stick and keep moving with it, it will remain balanced. However, Lydia and Abby had probably never known this so they didn't manage immediately. One very important thing we did take from this though is that with encouragement and constructive criticism from the rest of the ensemble, they really progressed and nearly manage to balance it by the end of the session. Another very important aspect of this is group concentration. I found it much easier to concentrate when there weren't any voices around me to listen to. This is useful knowledge to have, as we know now that in future projects, group concentration is key.

Important Theatre dates, notes & Bunraku

This week in class, we spent some time making sure that we understood all about the IP, marking schemes, facts about theatre projects. It helped me realise the amount of work I will have to do and also what I need to aim for the higher grades.
Mr Fearnehough also made it very clear to me how things like footnothing and referencing everything properly is important because we could mistake and end up failing.

Friday 20th September:

Today we spent two hours on Bunraku. We have already learnt a bit of theory about bunraku due to our presentations and today we were going to be doing some Physical exercises. I was excited to get up and do something and I thought it would help me understand Bunraku a bit more.
We began with an exercise where we were put into pairs (I was with Abby) and we had a piece of paper between us which had to travel from the top of our head to our feet, then back up again, Not using our hands!After the first go, I thought it would be impossible. I realised it took quite a few times to understand some sort of skill to get it down to the feet but getting it back up with another thing. At the beginning, I think mine & Abby's movement to get the paper down was quite restricted. But as we understood more technique and really wanted to do well, we became much more comfortble with eachother to do no matter what it took to get the paper back up. We did manage to do it once but to do it eachtime without fail would have taken much longer. After this exercise, we reflected on the different things we got from that task.

1. We thought it would be impossible but it wasn't. We learnt that we could learn different techniques after practise, copying and trying out new things. We had to be more daring in this task.
2. I understood what it meant by the puppeteers in Bunraku taking 20 years to learn how to move some of the puppet. It took us 20 minutes to get the paper down to our feet and it was no where near perfect. You need committment and patience.
3. This task required perserverance, communication, trust and to be comfortble with the other person in this task. Much like the three puppeteers controlling one puppet would need in Bunraku.
4. No matter how uncomfortble you are in the position you have to do, you have to carry on and succeed. We might feel uncomfortble doing controlling the puppets but we have to continue because it is about the puppets not the puppeteers.

One thing we discussed was being reserved as an ensemble. As an ensemble, we have to try not to be reserved because we have to work with eachother as a team. At the beginning of the year, I was much more reserved than I am now but I realise that it will take one or two goes of a task to become comfortble. 

The next task we did was balancing a pencil on our fingers. This task was really difficult but it required a lot of concentration. I didn't manage to balance a pencil on the tip of my finger more than a second but I did realise some points whilst doing it. 

1. I was easily distracted by any noise or movement, i got better concetration when facing the wall instead of everyone else. 

After we used a broom to balance instead but we turned it into just a pole. 

This was much easier to balance.

Abby went first but didn't manage to do it but we thought it was all okay, none of us had tried and we didn't know how easy it would be. Plus Abby was first so we were talking and it wasn't as serious. Axel went after and was really good at it and balanced it for a really long time. After he did it for a while, I tried to put him off by saying stuff to see if he could still balance it and he could! Then Bekki went and she was also really good and then I went. I wasn't good at all. I wasn't sure if it was lack of concentration or I was doing something wrong. After, I realised if I looked up at the pole, I had more concentration and it lasted a lot longer. After Abby tried again and still struggled. During this time we all were silent and had a lot of respect. We tried helping Abby and finally she was able to do it. We all realised how we were there for eachother and this task required group concentration. 

Start of Bunraku: 

To get started in Bunraku we did 2 exercise. At first we weren't told what was the meaning of these exercises and they were just warm ups. The first exercise we were put into pairs and told with a peice of paper blocked with both our heads we had to get it down our bodies to our feet then up to our heads again. And we had to do so without the use of hands. At the start i thought it was going to be possible at all to do this but with Axel we tried lots of different possibilities to do it. I didn't really feel awkward when we were doing it because i wanted to get it done before the opposite team did. I realized the more we were trying different things out the more we were communicating with each other. When we started communicating and we found a way to get the paper down we got it much more quicker.

On reflection with the ensemble we found that the key thing to do during the exercise like this is concentration and communication. In Bunraku concentration is key to operate the puppets and because they are controlled by 3 puppeteers so communication is also key. If this doesn't happen the plays would be ruined for the spectators. The communication me and Axel had was key for us to make the piece of paper go down and back up but the thing we were lacking was concentration because we wanted to be the first to get it done.

For the second activity was to make a pencil balance on our fingers. We all went into our own corners of the room and tried doing it. This activity was much harder then the first and was much more concentration based. I found this activity really hard and it started getting frustrating when the pencil wouldn't balance. We then went on to try it with a broom pole which was much easier. I found when i was doing it i was getting the hang of it quickly and i was doing little movements if it was starting to go off balance. Abby at first couldn't get it - but when she tried the second time she managed a lot better. We helped her by giving her advice about how she could stand to get it right.

On reflection i think that the aim of this activity was to control movement, have concentration and always remember the help and respect from others. When Abby couldn't do it we were determined to help her and as an ensemble that is key. The concentration was key for ourselves to make the broom or the pencil balance. And the movement of our whole bodies to keep it balancing was also key because movement is also key in Bunraku the puppets are made to see as realistic as possible so even the movement of the puppeteer could effect the performance.

Week 34: Moving into Bunraku

Thursday:Since we are starting a new school year we went over the due dates of the various theatre projects and reviewed our blogs. Then we began our next topic: Bunraku Japanese Puppetry. This is the first time any of us, including Mr. Fearnehough, has studied Bunraku, so this will be a new exciting experience. Mr. Fearnehough will be learning about this with us. The first thing we did was look at the National Theatre of Japan website and discussed the reliability of it.
Pros

• It is the official website of Bunraku and its homeland
• It is written and taken care of by the Japanese people who are experts in Bunraku

Cons

• The Japanese government censors its websites to make its image look good, this could include providing incorrect information

Friday:Today we concentrated on learning the basics of Bunraku by making and presenting powerpoints on different parts of Bunraku. I made one about the  Chanter, Shamisen player, and puppeteers. After each person presented Mr. Fearnehough asked questions to get us to think and see what was missing or unclear. Then he told us to  redo our powerpoints with this added information. This seems like a good way to do this because  hen each person gets a "rough draft" version and then gets feedback on what is missing. 

Week 2: Introduction to Bunraku

Tuesday 10th September-
This lesson we had a quick test on the facts about the RI. This helped me to understand how I can improve my RI and also how I need to take better care in looking in detail about the mark scheme.

Thursday 12th September-
Today we began with Bunraku and we discussed all about Bunraku. Mr Fearnehough gave us each something to research about and create a presentation. This would help all of us (including Mr Fearnehough) into understand the basics of Bunraku Theatre.
We started creating our presentations in class. I was researching about the history, social and intellectual context of Bunraku Theatre. I found out a lot of interesting things that made me more clear on Bunraku. I had heard about Bunraku before though my RI as I am doing Kabuki.

Friday 13th September-
We presented our presentation and I felt happy with how mine went. During the presentation, I tried to be as confident as possible and try not to read stuff from off the board as a quick practice for my TPPP. I felt like it went well and as well we all learnt a lot through eachother presentations.
I can picture in my head the stage, the puppeteers, the story where Bunraku came from and lots of other things. It gives me more of an idea what we might be doing for our project. All we need now is to listen to Bekki's presentation.

Year 13: New Beginnings!

RI UPDATE: SO far, I have written just under 1400 words but I have now realized I have two main problems with my draft. I have no images and I lack enough sources. However, there are two weeks until the deadline in which I can make those changes so I am fairly confident that I will be able to turn out a decent RI. As a task, I cannot say in all honesty that I enjoyed it. Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to learn about Noh theatre.

IP IDEAS: This is a thorny issue as I do not currently have many of those. I was toying with the idea of a monologue composed of different opinions on one subject, using verbatim and repeating the words of my interviewees. So far, that’s all I have, but stay tuned for more!

REFLECTION OF ME AS AN IB THEATRE STUDENT AT THE BEGINNING OF YEAR 13 (ARTWORK):

This is an anonymous piece of artwork found in Los Angeles in 2008. I chose this piece of artwork not only because I love street art but because I felt it represents me as a Theatre student halfway (or nearly) through the course. The rickety bridge represents my course right now as I try not to mess up. The black pit represents my worries of failure as I really want to succeed in this class. The fact that this piece of art is located on a street in Los Angeles is also significant because I sometimes feel that other people don’t realize how much of a commitment IB Theatre really is, making me feel slightly isolated.

REFLECTION OF ME AS AN IB THEATRE STUDENT AT THE BEGINNING OF YEAR 13 (PHOTOGRAPH):

I set up this picture to look like two things. One interpretation is that I am halfway through taking a leap of faith into the Theatre world. Another is that I am in a balancing act trying to play “the floor is lava”, where the lava represents my fears of failure.

Week 33: The Begining of a New Year

RI Status
Over the summer I have finalized my RI topic, Masks used in Antigone, and continued my research.
IP Ideas

1. A workshop exploring the effect of stance, movement, an facial expression on the stage picture
2. Directing a monologue with a volunteer actor
3. Assisting in props. with another student

Me Halfway Though IB Theatre Course

Artwork

• Fear of failure 
• Standing on the stage right before the curtain goes up: butterflies everywhere, nervous, petrified
• The light (success) is on stage to get to it I have to do something hard to succeed

In Class Picture 

In this picture I attempted to portray myself as drowning in a sea of confusion, overwhelmedness, and exams. I am surrounded on all sides and I am sinking in it. 

Friday: Today we did an exercise in which one person stood with their back to the rest of the ensemble. The rest of the ensemble was instructed to come up with a compliment for the other person. It was then repeated, word for word, by  different members of the ensemble in different ways until the other person felt that it sounded sincere and turned. 

What this Excercise did

• The importance of rehearsal- it tooks multiple tries for each turn for each person
• The actors have to be very convincing and rely heavily on the audiences suspension of belief because it is hard to accept a compliment that is not "meant" given for the sake of the compliment
• It was harder to accept the compliment from people I knew because I know how they act, how they give compliments, and what seems natural from them-not knowing the audience is a good thing for actors
• Culture can make how I see a compliment different- a play will have to change subtlely to be understandable to another culture
• The accent or the voice of the person who is giving the compliment can make a big difference-casting is important
• Strangely I was not as uncomfortable in  front of the group as I thought I was going o be
• I am a product of where I came from  and what I have experienced- some compliments of observations will mean different things to me
• It is sometimes hard to "fake" a compliment especially- new respect to actors/performers
• Sarcasm can be perceived by a short or breath-actors have to be very meaningful with every syllable and spacing

Beginning of Year 13 !

RI Update:

Right now, my RI has around 1,500 words and a rough annotated bibliography. I have a lot of research but I am starting to struggle to find more depth and therefore I feel as if I'm repeating myself. Tuesday in class we will be working on them and I am sure this will help me a lot. I thought the RI would not be that hard but I have struggled to connect things together and find lots of information. I am not sure if this is me or what I am researching about. 

Independent Project Ideas:

Last year, I was involved in Maria's IP which was immersive theatre. I really enjoyed it and we also did a bit of work on immersive theatre in TAPS so I would love to find out all about it myself as I think the approach Maria used was original and also very interesting. It is also very different from all my other work I have done so far in Theatre!

Reflection of me as an IB Theatre Student at the beginning of yr 13:

This painting is called "The Excitement Photograph" by Mike Savad.
I think that this painting represents me because the colours in the photo represent the excitement I have for what I am going to learn this year and also for finishing this year! The paint is quite a mess and this represents the worry about how I am going to handle everything and it can also represent how I think my brain might be feeling at one point. There are lots of different colours which can symbolise the amount of new things I will learn during this year of Theatre. The dark blue underneath all the colours and at the top represents the calmness which is what I am hoping for at the end. 

These two images represent how I feel at the beginning of year 13. The first image (left) shows how I feel like I am going to be surrounded and suffocated by work but I am curious and anxious to finish but curious about what I will learn. The second image (right) shows that the hands represent the amount of work trying to hold me back but I am reaching out towards my future and dream and that it what I am aiming for. That is what is making the work worth while and I can get through it.

First Lesson of IB Theatre in Year 13 !!


RI Update:

Over the summer i managed to do the RI on Kathakali dance movements, the research itself is completed but i still have to do the annotated bibliography for the sources that i used for the research. I managed to find a play from Kathakali that has been one of the focus's in the research. Whilst writing up what i had read on internet websites i found that it wasn't as bad as i first thought it was going to be. I'm happy so far with how much I've got done.

Independent Project Ideas: 

-  directing a monologue
-  directing a few workshops for drama students, teaching them about a theater practice.

Reflection on being an IB Theater Student half way through the course:

 We were told to choose an image that we thought represented us as an IB theater student half way through the course for this i choose this painting

 This painting is an abstract painting and i think represents well how i feel at this stage of the course. The areas of this painting shows the colours from warmer colours (yellow and orange) and colder colours (blue and purple), to me the warmer colours portray what i know and what i have learnt so far and the colder colours represents the areas where i still have to work on to understand completely. The white colour around it is the areas where is still don't know about things but which i will be able to learn and by the end of IB it would be all colourful. This painting is a bit blurry this shows that even though i have good knowledge of things they still need touching up in order to complete the course. I also have an image of myself but that has not been uploaded yet.