As a designer, outline your ideas for lighting this extract. Explain and justify how these would help to create an appropriate mood and atmosphere at this point in the play.
Extract used P109-112
Read the extract IN FULL
In pairs / small groups take EACH of the MOMENTS identified below and MIND -MAP (15 mins) the information you think is relevant to answer the question. [Include a diagram for the placement of the lights]
Your conversation needs to be FULL of the vocabulary of lighting (placement, type of lights, colour, special effects and over all MOOD /ATMOSPHERE)
MOMENT 1 = The apple throwing
MOMENT 2 = ‘New scene’ Bottom of P110/111
MOMENT 3 = ‘Gregor’s Dream’ P112
Create a MIND-MAP that has 1 introduction (with an overview of the context of the extract, your AIMS (affecting the audience) or how lights assist with Berkoff’s/Kafka’s style)
2-3 paragraphs where you EXPLAIN and JUSTIFY specific ideas/moments with terminology
(If time allows) Present ONE of your ideas/moments to the class.
IN CLASS you will write out your answer to the above question.
You may use your notes
You should attempt to have 5 quotes
You must have a diagram (but take no more than 5 mins producing it) TIP: your diagram isn’t meant to show ALL your lights for ALL of your ideas -use the diagram to ‘explain’ your most ambitious idea and refer to the diagram in your writing when you get to that bit of your answer.
EACH of your paragraphs should address one of the MOMENTS specified above.
THIS WORK WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE MARKING CRITERIA
Homework [after looking in detail at these set designs (below), Explain and Justify them in words (about 200 words per set design)- use all the specific vocab you can = see last post]
Berkoff’s acting style and his design of sets has often been described as “Expressionistic”.
German Expressionism in cinema (take some notes in your Journal) – what can be translated into a theater style?
Look at the 3 pictures and identify the ‘expressionistic’ elements of the set.
Pick 2 moments EACH where these ‘expressionistic elements’ could be used in the play ‘METAMORPHOSIS’
How can symbols and emotions be represented on a set ?- think Gregor’s Room – The Samsa’s living room – what do these places symbolise – how do you show that in materials, colours, set dressing and props?
Identify the 4 different design jobs that could come up in the exam.
Why is EACH aspect of design necessary? [What does it do for the audience or production?] SPEND A FEW MINS CONSIDERING EACH.
FUNCTIONAL design – ?
EXPRESSIVE design – ?
What is the difference?
List as much specialist vocab as you can to help when discussing EACH design area. (E.g: spotlights, cue, instrumental sound, backdrops, etc)
Where/How could it be used in the play? [Find 3 moments where a design element would really help the story telling – eg: when Gregor finally opens the door a shaft of light can pour into the living room.]
Read P 72 & P77 of the Introduction and Stage Setting (at the beginning of the play) to discover ideas for Set, Music, Lighting, total theatre – Record quotes in Berkoff’s own words
Explain the original set design (Hwk)
(Explain it) Draw the set and label it on plain A4 paper and stick in.
Set dressing (things you add to the basic structure (shelves, pictures etc)
Cyclorama (white cloth across back of stage – for lights to be projected against.
Shadow screen
Gauze (material that is transparent if a light is shone from behind but which is opaque if light is shone from in front (can be painted or projected upon)
It is more than just placing actors on the stage. (stage picture)
They are the audience in the rehearsal room – ( what meaning will the audience understand from a line delivery or a piece of action)
They are responsible for the Overall Concept
They are responsible for the casting (what look – shape of actors do the characters suggest)
Here are some sentence starters to quickly GET WRITING ABOUT BEING A DIRECTOR.
COPY THESE INTO YOUR JOURNAL AND MAKE UP SOME OF YOUR OWN
The main idea in this extract is….
My directorial concept is to …..
My aim as a director is (EXPLAIN)… revealing [Insert your justification] for the audience.
By placing the characters (explain)….. the audience would understand [reveal something about the play/extract/character(s)…..]
I would instruct the actor playing X to……[insert something about physicality, voice or proximity]
This would reveal…….[explain what the audience would understand]
14 general points for improvement.
Read the Question carefully and the Extract even more so. [10-15 mins to read/prep for all 3 Questions]
No lengthy introductions – this is not your Standard Essay – Only in 1 answer should you plan to use the name/date/practitioner/ source material/ style info.
Avoid any lengthy explaining of PLOT or Themes – Only relate plot in so far as it creates a context for the EXTRACT given and what has happened just before. (No general plot of the whole play as the examiner will know this is a play about a man who transforms into an insect.)
Engage with the question in the 1st few lines. (know exactly what the question’s focus is) – “attitude of Lodgers to family” NOT family to Lodgers.
Zoom in ONLY after you establish the focus of your answer and the context of the moment you are focusing on.
Choose the ‘best moments’ – The Lodgers 1st entrance, interacting with Samsa’s, eating (as there’s lots of ideas already on the page)
Use paragraphs for EACH new moment you ‘go to!’
Start each paragraph with a strong statement: “I want to suggest that the Lodgers are greedy so I will direct them to sniff around the living room like pigs as if looking for food. On the line…. I would have them grunt before saying X and their ‘looking’ will be quick and jerky, with them occasionally going on all 4s to flag up this animalistic impression.
Look at the Stage Directions as much as the spoken words. As Berkoff is highly physical there’s a good chance that ideas, and action is hidden in the Stage Direction italics (e.g: mime…pig faces…greedy…copy each others movements.)
Time keeping – you won’t have a teacher calling out when to move on – 20 mins of writing PER Berkoff question (about 3 paragraphs) DO NOT STEAL TIME AWAY FROM OTHER BERKOFF QUESTIONS
Aim to use quotes (about 5-8 per Berkoff question) in the form of lines BUT also Stage Directions, and interviews with Berkoff
Don’t spend too long on one example – and don’t repeat the same skills or justification in multiple examples – SHOW THE EXAMINER YOUR RANGE OF UNDERSTANDING
Make sure your interpretation of the role can be supported by what the characters do and say.
Be more creative (add value to Berkoff’s ideas) – don’t just repeat what is implied in the stage directions. If you don’t do it like Berkoff sets it out then have another idea that is BETTER! [Justify your NEW idea]
Use some of the BIG terms (expressionism / total theatre) and knowledge of the whole play for your Justification.
“This is in keeping with the expressionistic style of the whole piece and would highlight the idea that their attitude to the family is one of ‘wants’ and ‘greed’ – they are out to exploit the Samsa’s as it is my director’s interpretation that they know how much the family need the money they can provide.”
How would you direct the text and action on P81-84 to reinforce the idea that this play is non-naturalistic?
View the clip at 03:35 to get an idea of the ‘style’ described by Berkoff as ‘animated marionettes’.
Word bank to use:
action mime, staccato {jerky} movement, “animated Marionettes”, slow motion (lyrical – smooth – seamless) , heightened /exaggerated characterisation, tableau or freeze frames, mie, narrative voice, character voice, tone, direct address, 3rd person narration, contrapuntal speaking, split stage, cross-cutting, chorus work, sound effects by actors,
USE QUOTES FROM THE STAGE DIRECTIONS Eg: “In time to the ticking” or “resembling automatic figures in a wax-work”.
Paragraph structure: Statement (director’s aim) What will it look like? How will the actors do it? Why this idea works (link to aim, Berkovian style, the question, audience response).
“so they became like mechanical dolls – eating away. Why I wanted to make it mechanical was that when the beetle wakes up he also is in a sense mechanical.”
“I used this idea of mechanistic, robotic theatre because by changing the rhythm of what we see in naturalism, we make people re-look at people.”
Berkoff on Mime film
Watch the whole film clip of Berkoff on Mime and hear how a course in Mime in Paris in 1965 shaped his ideas about how the body could be used in theatre (ideas which were radical in the UK in the 1960s – 80s. Now it’s more mainstream and accepted).
SAMPLE PARAGRAPH (Explain and Justify structure).
My aim, as director, would be to show the Samsa’s breakfast routine as a monotonous activity that they do without thinking every day
I’d have each family member sit on their stools down stage (except Gregor who is still up stage in his room) eating breakfast using action mime to suggest the food, drink and table.
Mr Samsa will stab at a sausage in a staccato rhythm, making big movements, Mrs Samsa will dap her napkin to her mouth, Greta will make small bird-like movements lifting a cup of tea to her lips.
Berkoff has said in interview that he chooses sometimes to direct his actors in a robotic and mechanistic way,“because by changing the rhythm of what we see in naturalism, we make people re-look at people.” By using this technique for this meal, it would remind the audience that this is a non-naturalistic play.
Watch the video enough times to really understand what the point being made is. Take quotes but put them in inverted commas – ALSO put the ideas into your own words.
“Precision, physicality and power are paramount in Berkoff’s theatre…”
“Style is actor-focused…. The actor is everything on the stage.”
“Working from the outside in” “Psychology comes from the way we feel within the physicality”
[HOW IS THIS RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM NATURALISTIC THEATRE? Working from the inside out]
Have your notes in your Journal OR in whatever form you use in order to be able to access them in class.
