Beginning of Second term yr 13

Tuesday 6th November

Thursday 8th November
Today was the deadline for our RI's. I thought I was going to like this assessment because I like finding out about types of Theatre I don't know much about, but I didn't like it that much. I stuggle finding good research and I hate how perfect all the referencing has to be!
I do realise that it has to be done and I want to do well so i just got on with it. When we came to handing it in, we realised there were little things that were wrong with our essays that needed to be changed otherwise we could lose little marks that count a lot. I was getting a bit frustrated when I found out about these marks but I just got on with it during the day and we all handed in our RI's at the end of the day which was good. I am glad that it is out of the way and we can move on with our other assesments now.

We went to see a production on Thursday night in the TNT to watch the production of Ouroboros by the Handspring Puppet Company. I thought that is was an amazing production, better than what I thought it was going to be. We were lucky enough to get the chance to have a half an hour chat with three of the puppeteers after the show and they even got out a puppet to show us how it works. Our class, as there is only three of us, all controlled a part of the puppet and made it walk. It was an amazing experience and we are very lucky to have had it.

Friday 9th November
Today we were going to make puppets but instead we discussed about everything that happened at the production, what we learnt and what we thought. You would think talking about a play that was an hour and a half for two hours the next morning would be a waste of time but it really wasn't!
Three words that I think represented the play and why:

• emotional-I thought that it was emotional because it made me think about life and death more than you would. There were no words and you had to think much more about what was going on and this made the whole story more emotional and a personal experience.
• reflective- You think a lot about your own life in connection to the story and think about the future and past. Everyone has their own take on the story.
• imaginative-Everything was creative from the story to everything on set. Created a surreal experience with no words, all actions.

I found that it struck me more than other theatre productions that I have seen because even though it was puppets, it seemed more human. There was no dialogue, no people trying to be something their not, no accents, no onstage voices. It didn't seem fake, the puppets emotions and actions seemed much more true than a human actor.
I learnt that there was a relationship between the puppet and puppeteer because I thought that they were just their to control what the puppet did. But now I realise they have to physically and mentally be there with the puppets. The puppeteers have to know and understand what emotions their puppets are meant to have, in order for the puppets to be able to pull of the emotions.
All the suttle little movements that the puppets made the whole show because that's what made it realistic and made the story hit you. The puppets took time to look at things and stare. This had impact on the whole show because it created a relationship with the audience and it marked a moment. The puppets eyes had no white, it was all black. This helped because when it looked towards you or something, it could look at more than one thing but to the audience it looks like it looks just at you, which is skilful and helpful for the puppeteers.
Everything i saw about how the puppets are, how they work, how to make them work, is going to impact all my own work with puppets.
We found connections to Brecht's epic theatre. The director like Brecht made the puppets freeze to give emphasis and deliver the message just like Brecht wanted to in his performances. ANother link was Brecht 'Epic' means episodes, each scene had a meaning, just like the performance we saw. There was a message all the time and lots going on but only a couple of climaxes.