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?