LONG LIVE MATHILDA - school play: check ✔

A very important entry, a VERY important week:


This was the final week of a LONG and exhausting process: creating the school play "Shadow Queendom".


The process started the first week of school, when we began to explore the ideas of puppets and masks, and gave different words for our vision of the play.
Then, an innovative GAME for the play appeared, and the ideas for the puppets, masks and different scenes began to flourish.
However... the process wasn't at all as easy as it sounds.

one of the first steps: a workshop about
puppets, which gave us our first ideas
for the "puppet making".

We spent MONTHS thinking about the types of puppets that we could use, and then, spent even moooore time MAKING all of them.

I learnt that PLANNING is always the best way to achieve a goal.

* So, what did I learn from this? *
the creation of a play is never an easy process. It takes a lot of TIME, deep THINKING, and cooperation (which many times we lacked).
We need to create and follow our PLANS, and stop just giving ideas without 'doing something' about them.
I also need to make more use of my IMAGINATION, and 'take more chances' without being afraid of making mistakes (for example, when I had to make the masks - I think I could have explored more, and give better results)
However, I also learnt that theatre is 'collective' (team work), as I ended up organizing and deciding many aspects from the costumes with Mr. Cajas, and making (doing what I could with my lack of ability in plastic arts) puppets.




After almost four months working on the play, it turned out much better than all of us expected.


*What made the play work + made the audience like it? *


This was a play that surprised the audience VISUALLY, by the use of techniques that had never been seen in a school play.
It was a completely new and interesting EXPERIENCE for the "Newton college audience".


When we hear the word "puppet" we often think about a hand puppet or a marionette, but the use of puppets such as the tax collectors and the 'big royals' created a great impact on the audience.


*The play worked due to the application of the "ACTIVATION THEORY":
-variation
each scene was different from the other, and there were many different techniques used, from slow motion to the use of puppets, masks, shadows and stilts.
-uncertainty 
The audience didn't expect a twist in the ending of the play, and there was always an uncertainty in the plot.
-novelty  
The use of completely NEW and innovative things for the audience: giant puppets, hand puppets moving on stage, shadow puppets, masks in a school play, etc.
-complexity
A game that made the play harder to understand + different actors representing the same character = a more interesting and complex play.






Creating this play widened incredibly my point of view and ideas about puppets and masks. As Martin once told us "There is a whole universe of puppets"; and presenting these new theatrical techniques to the school's audience ended up creating a successful performance.
It wasn't easy at all, but after all the "ups and downs" we feel proud of the final results.
However (I don't want to be negative but..) many things could still be improved, such as the acting (vocalization, characterization, etc), the masks (exploring more possibilities), the way of telling the story (maybe including a narrator as Roberto mentioned), maybe improving some things from the scenery or puppets... and this takes me to the question:


Does the process of creating a play never really end?  


other questions...
Is the Activation Theory always helpful and successful when creating a play?
I think it is, and that we should follow these "steps" when creating the One Act Play.


Would the play have been as successful without such a creative GAME?


Does the audience pay more attention (concentrates) when the actors talk directly to the public?


Is it 'easier' for actors to act when they are wearing a mask? / Do they feel more confident?
-Artaud said that theatre reveals, and lets you put on a mask to bring the "real you".
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."Oscar Wilde

3...2...1...SHADOW QUEENDOM!!

1. Description

This week we were focused in two main aspects: Paucartambo, and mainly, THE SCHOOL PLAY, which will be presented for the first time in ONLY 4 DAYS!! -on my birthday ;)

On Wednesday 13th we continued talking about 'La fiesta de la virgen del Carmen', and the structure of the celebration's first day.
On thursday, friday and saturday, we were concentrated in Shadow Queendom, rehearsing and starting to finish our production tasks.

2. Analysis

[Paucartambo]
We are learning that the celebration in Paucartambo has an specific structure, which starts with: 'la entrada', Sera apaykuy (prosetion from municipality to church), 'Qonoy' (beginning of celebration: light show, qoyas saqras and Maqt'as) and Alba (dance in suits).
This structure is very important and needs to be followed as this is a cultural tradition, which has taken place for years.
The different events of the first day may represent the entrance of the different cultures and people from different places into the town (e.g. the Qhapac Qollas from 'Meseta del Qollao'), the virgin's importance and worship, and the mixture of this religious tradition with the Andean culture and past events.


*Actors train all their lives to do this, and we learnt that you need to be considered a 'Paucartambinista' to act or be part of the 'comparsas'.


[SHADOW QUEENDOM]
This week we will finally harvest what we've being sowing.
The LONG process will finally end, and the results of our work will be showed.
-The majority of the scenes are improving, and specially the scene changes too.


My first scene (scene 2) seems to be getting better, and I am sure that we will try to do our best this week to improve it even more, but a problem that appeared this week for me was my displacement using the long skirt (costume). We only rehearsed the scene once, but it made me see what I can and what I can't do using the costume, and one of my goals for tomorrow is finding ways of making it work.
My other 'mission' is to finish COMPLETELY the production of masks, leaving them ready for the play.

3. Connections

Training has not been a part of acting in most of the Western World, and there are MANY approaches to what is acting.
For example, we learnt that in some parts of Asia dancing, Acrobatics, Circus, etc. can be considered acting.'
Or, for example, in Kabuki, acting was focused more in the quality of the actors rather than in the actions taking place, and as well as in Paucartambo, traditionally only MEN would dance.
In Medieval theatre for example, specific actor training did not exist, and it was developed later by Stanislavski*.

4. Reflections


"La fiesta de la virgen del Carmen" is a theatre TRADITION which has been respected and kept during years. Its specific structure has a meaning, and shows the great importance of this celebration for the town and its culture.


--
Working and rehearsing with the costume is extremely important in order to see your LIMITS and possibilities in a scene.
(Not only costumes, but props, masks, hair "styles", etc.)
You should ALWAYS rehearse with the items which will be used on stage.
That is why it is necessary to have the props, costumes, masks, etc. on time.


Both of this topics made me ask myself the following questions...


*Why do actors in Paucartambo train ALL their lives for this celebration?
*Do they give greater importance to the virgin's worship or to the culture and tradition involved in it?


*What is the meaning of the structure?


*Which problems with the costume could be presented in my scenes, and how can I solve them? (I will really think about this)




As I said before... we will finally harvest what we've being sowing.
4....3....2....1.... (matamee) SHADOW QUEENDOM 

'Culture and Ironic characters'

Description

This week we started discussing and studying Andean theatre, focusing on a cultural tradition which takes place in Paucartambo.
We spent a lot of time arguing about the basic concepts, specially about CULTURE and AUTHORITY, and we learnt different conventions and characters from the tradition.

Analysis

"La fiesta de la virgen del Carmen"  is a theatre tradition that takes place in Paucartambo, Cusco.
** "A tradition is always a practice, but a practice is not always a tradition".

In order to understand the theatre tradition it is necessary to understand the Andean CULTURE, and the functions of theatre in it.
First of all, we need to know that culture refers to the way you ACTUALLY live, and not how "you are supposed or want to live". And (after discussing it a lot of time) I believe that changes in this culture will happen depending on the needs of people.
**A necesity needs to appear in order to change a culture

The functions of theatre can vary from entertaining an audience, social criticism, celebrating, etc.
So, the audience plays different roles in different kinds of theatre and may be treated in different ways.

As well as the audience, each character (we've studied so far) has a different role or characteristic.

An important aspect about each character in Paucartambo is the IRONY involved.

For example, The Maqt'as' masks, body and sound expressions are funny, exaggerated and noicy. However, the IRONY is that their role is to stablish order.
click to see (Maqt'a) picture

The Qhapac Qollas click to see (Qhapac Qolla) picture
seem to be strong and masculine merchants, but they have very high pitch voices, and
the Qhapac Ch'unchos [click to see (Qhapac Ch'unchos) picture]
are warriors from the jungle, but are totally dressed and look very sad.
This irony may represent different criticisms from the people, or probably has a meaning which I hope to understand as we study the tradition.

Connections

Culture is a VERY IMPORTANT element in theatre traditions.
For example, deep inside every Japanese, there is a Kabuki actor/character.
Each culture NEEDS a different kind of theatre, with different purposes.
For example, in Japan, the audience concentrates in the acting and not in the plot of the story, however, the majority of people in our society look for theatre that entertains.

The masks used by each character resemble different expressions and feelings that may be ironic, which reminded me to the "daily masks" represented in "Más pequeños que el Guggenheim".
The irony in each character may be used to make fun of different stereotypes and "masks".
Finally, the tradition could also be connected to the play "Los músicos ambulantes", as different people/cultures join together (or in this case meet at one "central place") and share different aspects of their lives.

Reflections/Questions

In order to understand a theatre tradition you need to know about its culture.
Different groups of people or places need different kinds of theatre with different audience roles...

Do the performers in Paucartambo do everything for the audience?? Are they really concerned about the audience as much as we are (e.g.in the school play)?

What is the role of the audience in Paucartambo?

What message to they want to transmit with the irony?

Shadow Queendom.. coming VERY soon

Week #12: Finally receiving back our first research tasks, presenting information about the play on Friday's assembly and working on the School Play..


1. Description
On Wednesday 30th, we received back the correction of our Research task's first draft.
Marks weren't high at all, as most of us expected, but it is part of our learning to correct what we missed or did wrong.


On Thursday 31st, we were told that we were going to present a short scene with information about the play in the assembly, which we practised both on Thursday and Friday.


Finally, we keep working on the School Play "Shadow Queendom", and this week I had to act with the puppets mainly in the persecution scene, and work on the shadow puppets scene.


2.Analysis


Assembly:
The use of puppets (mainly) on the presentation was essential.
Their role was to surprise the audience as their use is a completely innovative idea, and to catch their attention. We wanted them to be fun in order to have the effect of entertainment and interest on everyone, about the school play.


In order to produce that effects, the puppets had to be very expressive and controlled with lots of care.
According to some comments received and the laughs heard from the audience we could say that they were funny and entertaining, but more body and vocal expression would have helped to produce the effects we wanted to achieve.
What I learnt from this experience is that as we had mentioned before, controlling a puppet and learning how to do it takes a lot of time, and it has to be done with care and following steps such as finding its posture and personality (mentioned in past entries).
On the other hand, presentations such as these ones might be prepared with more anticipation, as we had some issues such as the change of our planned space, and forgetting some things, due to lack of concentration. We need to CONCENTRATE more on what we are doing when we are presenting something.


"Shadow Queendom"
(This ideas were given to me by Roberto, but I want to add them in my entry as I found them very useful):


In the scene I rehearsed this week, the first idea was to run into the audience for the persecution.
Role: this establishes a closer contact with the audience, and catches their attention as it should be fun.
However, the idea didn't work as the puppets would have to move very fast and that is impossible according to the plays convention and the correct use of the puppets, and if they move in slow motion around the public, they'd get bored.
I learnt that running around the audience doesn't always work (I always had this idea that talking or moving around the audience was fun), but it depends on very specific conditions.
In this case, the persecution will be funnier and better appreciated on stage.




On the other hand, in the Shadow puppets' scene, the first idea was that every single character was going to be a plain/flat puppet.
Role: They would create effects that are not possible with humans, apart from being very innovative and surprising for the audience, as the scene will open the second act.
However, we found out that some actions work better with the shadows of actors, and they can be realized playing with the shadows (such as the torture scenes). But some "extreme" actions such as leaving a man with only his spinal chord can and will only be done using shadow puppets.
I learnt that actors can play and explore A LOT with shadows, and create effects or make actions that are impossible for humans or actors acting on a conventional stage.




3. Connections


Connecting the idea of treating the puppets with care with the play "Vedova in Lumine", we can say that when puppets are not controlled with care they can become just "things" instead of persons on stage. This happened sometimes when some puppets in that play were moved without special care in some moments.


"There is a relationship with the audience in Los Músicos Ambulantes but it does not require chaos, rather adressing the audience directly and establishing a brief but specific contact with one of its members, like when they share the corn" -- Roberto's example.


This also reminds me of the organized chaos of "La Cocina", and this idea is applied in the persecution scene, which is like a choreography that shows a "disaster" in a organized but 'fun to watch' way.




4. Reflection


This week reminded me the importance of being careful for puppeteers, and not only for them but for everything when doing a play, as the effects you wished or first planned may not result in the end.
Planning and EXPLORING the different actions and their effects is extremely important.


Finally,this ideas made me think about some questions:


*I'd like to explore if the use of 'slow motion' for a long time makes the audience get bored.


*If a puppet (such as the pirate of the assembly) never moves one of his arms (for example), would it start becoming more 'fake' or 'unreal'?


And finally....
*Can a shadow be considered a puppet? It can perform actions that humans can't, and it is an external 'part' of the actor's body.


*Is the actor like a puppeteer controlling its shadow?