Presentation Bedfellows Project

ProjectBedfellows

Author: Bruce Kane Director: Zuzanna Tokarska (2220580)

Directing MP5116

20/03/2023

Assessment Brief

Assessment brief for the Directing module retrieved from moodle.

Bruce Kane

Born in New York, grew up in California, where he graduated from University of California, Berkeley. His plays have been produced in twenty countries, translated to numerous languages.Kane wrote for stage, but also for television, being known as a comedy writer. (Bruce Kane, n.d.)

Bruce Kane. (n.d.). In authorsden.com. http://www.authorsden.com/brucekane

Bruce Kane's plays

Keywords

Short and fun

Bruce Kane's plays are usually short comedies, that mock modern world and its social issues, showing people as victims of their needs and primary instincts. Audience friendly, either original or based on works of famous authors, such as Shakespeare or Brothers Grimm.These are available royalty free for immediate downloand on the official site of Bruce Kane Productions company based in USA. (One Act Comedy Play Scripts, n.d.)

1. One act plays
2. Ten minute plays
3. Comedy mystery plays
4. Script in hand plays
5. Monologues

Bruce Kane Productions

Jerzy Grotowski

Director and innovator

Born in 1933 in Rzeszow, Poland, died in 1999 in Pontedera, Italy, Jerzy Grotowski is considered to be one of the great reformers of 20th century theatre, being a director, educator and even a creator of acting methods. (Jerzy Grotowski - Theatre Practitioner - Acting Method, n.d.) Grotowski’s work was influenced by Stanislavski, Artaud and Vsevolod Meyerhold. He focused on actors’ training. (Cash, 2022) Grotowski still is a mystery for a common reader, as his unwritten lessons live on, but a lot of his practice is yet to be interpreted. He remains the biggest critic of his own research. (Salata, 2013;2012;)

kulturaonline.pl. (2013, May 30). Jerzy Grotowski. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/photo/author/z7868.Jerzy_Grotowski

Bedfellows by Bruce Kane

.What do women want?

Narcissistic lawyer

Dave Corbin

Dave cares about three things: his car, tennis and himself. He does not respect his women.

Exhausted housewife

Betty believes she should not complain - she has a house and a family. Why should she ask for more?

Betty Corbin

Independent beauty

Shelley seems to have everything a woman may dream of - but now, she wants to settle.

Shelley

Why Bedfellows?

There are a few reasons

1. Short play

3. Audience engagement

Bedfellows engages the audience and working with breakage of the fourth wall its an opportunity to not only invite the viewer to see, but also to be a part of the performance.

Given short period of time to develop a play, it is better to focus on shorter piece to ensure all details have been given enough focus.

2. Comedy

4. Not a very famous writer

Developing a comedy is always very enjoyable. Simply, the genre was one of the main reason for this choice. It was not the only one, another one being also a comedy.

Popularisation of small writers may only lead to more great plays getting the attention they deserve. Bruce Kane is a small writer who definitely deserves to be recognised.

Grotowski on stage

In his productions, Grotowski unified the viewer and actor as much as possible, dividing only active and passive participants. No one was a consumer – everyone was a creator (Mokrzycka-Pokora, 2002)

His works were often performed only once and to a very small audience. Grotowski ignored traditional stages in favour of smaller rooms and buildings. He aimed to eliminate the divide between the actor and audience and sought union between them. The actors were to perform around the space, placing themselves amongst the audience. (Jerzy Grotowski - Theatre Practitioner - Acting Method. n.d.)

CHARACTERISTIC

APPEARANCE

suit, open, loose tie, elegant shoes

EGOCENTRIC

phone, car keys

DAVE CORBIN

CHARMING

tennis racket

HUSBAND, LOVER

ATTORNEY

UNFAITHFUL

Other information

ABOUT DAVE

• Loves and care more about his car than loved ones.
• Destroys womens self esteem.
• Brags about everything he possibly can.

Dave is materialistic and narcissistic person. He works as an attorney and loves his 89 BMW. Dave likes to play tennis and is very proud of his scores. He takes a good care of his family, although he is cheating on his first wife. Dave does not change, which only shows his unability to grow as a person.

BORED

MANIPULATIVE

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

BETTY CORBIN

WIFE OF DAVE - SINGLE WOMAN

BURNED OUT, TIRED

ABOUT BETTY

APPEARANCE

UNHAPPY, DREAMER

At the beginning, Betty is very insecure and shy. She is forced to enjoy the life as a housewife. Betty was married to Dave for 15 years and does not think it is her place to complain as her life is not so bad - she has a house, a family, Dave provides money. She admits she wants to finally enjoy her life, feeling like the family is holding her back. Betty wants freedom, adventure and change, thinking about other men than her husband. She wants to feel sexy again. Betty decides she wants a divorce, but does not go back to her maiden name. She rediscovers herself and feels excited about a new lover.

BEGINNING

long sleeve, one coloured shirt, dark jeans, comfortable footwear for home

SEEKING CHANGE

LATER

knee-lenght skirt, necklace, high heels

FINDING HERSELF

OTHER ITEMS

HAPPY, CRAZY ABOUT HER NEW LIFE

brush for sweeping, phone, apron

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Shelley

LOVER OF DAVE - WIFE OF DAVE

SUCCESFULL, ADMIRED

ABOUT SHELLEY

APPEARANCE

DAUBTING, UNSURE

She is confident and very feminine. At the beginning, owns a condo and an interior design firm. Was never married, but for eight months has been sleeping with Dave. Shelley has her independence, believes she has almost everything she could dream of and brags about her sexuality, like this is her biggest strength. She admits she feels lonely and needs security - wants a family, loving husband, children and home. When Shelley gets married to Dave, the reality seems to not be as colourfull as she iagined. She stops working in her company and her self confidence dissapears. Her life now consits of typical housewife chores.

BEGINNING

dress, leggins, high heels, jewellery

LONGING TO BELONG, NAIVE

LATER

long-sleeve shirt, leggins, comfortable home footwear

FINDING HERSELF

OTHER ITEMS

REGRETFUL, INSECURE

hairbrush, phone, bag

Characters

Notes about the characters including session notes.

Shelley

Dave Corbin

Betty Corbin

Notes about the character to help an actor to develop it further.

Notes about the character to help an actor to develop it further.

Notes about the character to help an actor to develop it further.

Notes

Questions

For actors to answer in character to better understand them.

Some additional notes prepared to provoke a further discussion on character development during the first reading session.

grotowski's setting

Grotowski experimented with different aspects of the theatre, one of the biggest being the relationship between actor and spectator. He invented what is today called Poor Theatre – a style of performance where all of the extraneous parts of theatre disappear – there is no lavish costumes, no complicated props and the set is not very much detailed. The whole performance relies on actors’ skills. (Jerzy Grotowski - Theatre Practitioner - Acting Method, n.d.) Given this, the first idea of the staging was not developed. Instead, actors performed being sat on the chairs, with no particular light focus, without any props. Whole focus is on their performance - and this is why character development became a main focus.

Stage management

First version of stage setting was a first idea of the director. It consisted of three chairs, placed in the center of the stage, and three spotlights placed directly above them. Second version was made according to Grotowski's Poor Theatre idea. The chairs are placed closer to the audience and there is no spotlights, simply one light on the whole stage. It is worth mentioning that first idea for the performance included additional props and specific costumes that indicated the characters. Although, after deeper analyse of Grotowski's style and technique, actors were not asked to dress in costumes nor any additional props were brought to the space. Whole performance focused only on the actors' skills, and nothing else.

Main focuses of grotowski's technique include

silence

maintaned human contact

Hyperfocus of actors

Creative passivity, when the actor attains silence on the inside, provokes intense creative concentration

To able the actors to reach the full potential both mentally and physically.

Being close and not listening, but actually hearing the others to develop connections.

physical training

Voice

MEMORY OF EXPERIENCE

Everything that can be felt or experiences is done through the bod

Ability to recreate the emotion.

Vocal development.

(Backstage, 2022)

First session

First reading

The session began with reading of the play, followed by first run through. During the session, further character development was discussed with the actors, as they answered the questions about their characters.

Two major exercises were performed. 1. Opposities Actors performed acting exactly opposite to how they would actually act. This exercise awoke discussion about correct choices of emotions for the character and helped to understand it on a deeper level. 2. Name game Actors performed the scene saying only the names of the characters instead of the lines. This helped to develop appropriate peace and place the pauses or accents in the text to achieve the bes results.

Dave Corbin

Andrew Aimson

Betty Corbin

Shelley

Bethany Piper

Leah Street

Video

The video shows a short piece of the exercise Name game performed during the first session with the actors. They are following the script, carefuly choosing the timing and emotion for their next 'line'. Actors were not in a hurry - they had time to carefully read and get to know the script.

Second session

During the second session, we focused on character development and performed a few exercises

Switching places

Actors performed as different characters, engaging in new role and showing their understanding of it.This exercise aimed to show the actors how their characters as seen from the viewer or bystander point, providing them with the insight of their personalities.

Improvisation leader

Grotowski emphasized the importance of a structure during the improvisation. There is a leader, or a team of leaders, that the rest should closely follow. (Richards, 1995) In the video actors were asked to perform an improvisation as other characters than originally casted. It is clearly visible the actors are looking for a leader - even after being given a cue to start, they are confused and unsure, who should be the first to speak.

Third session

Last session

Psychophysical Actioning

This was the last session, and the text was performed two ways - with actioning and without.This will be a ground for the later development of the piece.

During the third session, actors had a chance to look at the previously actioned by the director text. Just before, actors were asked to action their text as well. The text was compared by the actors and director and the differences were discussed, taking into considersation actors instinct and their knowledge about the characters.

Actors and their effort are very much appreciated.

Psychophysical Actioning

How to do it?

What is it?

Many directors see actioning as an essential part of table work. It was developed by Bill Haskill and Max Stafford-Clark. (Moseley, 2016)Actioning offers an immediate way to chieve the objective, describing what character does – are they welcoming or not, what is their relation to the other characters etc. (Caldarone & Lloyd-Williams, 2003) As an outcome there is a visible change constantly happening in a play. (Greig, 2005)

Actioning requires to divide the lines into phrases or thoughts and assigning them an action verb, expressing the intention of the line. To properly action the text is important to answer a few questions: 1. What are the circumstances? 2. What are the objectives? 3. Are there any obstacles? 4. What happens in the scene? 5. Are there any counter-objectives? (Moseley, 2016)

(Moseley, 2016)

Video

In the video, there is a presentation of the actioned scene, which part can be seen on the picture below. This is the part where actioning was done by both actors and director.

Thank youfor your attention

Zuzanna Tokarska

Bibliography

Backstage. (2022, March 15). Guide to Jerzy Grotowski Technique. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/guide-to-the-jerzy-grotowski-technique-74788/ Bruce Kane. (n.d.). AuthorsDen.com. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.authorsden.com/brucekane Caldarone, M., & Lloyd-Williams, M. (2003). Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus [Ebook Central]. Nick Hern Books. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uocuk/detail.action?docID=5149866# Cash, J. (2022, October 29). Grotowski's Immersive Poor Theatre Techniques - 40 Explanations. The Drama Teacher. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://thedramateacher.com/poor-theatre-conventions/?utm_content=cmp-true Christof, C. (2017). Gurdjieff in the Theater: The Fourth Way of Jerzy Grotowski. Religion and the Arts. (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), 21(1-2), 209 Gioia, C., Ghiani, C., Buffa, M., & Stella, C. (2020). Grotowski’s method is positively valued by pre-adolescents and improves acceptance towards the others. Heliyon, 1(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e03104 Greig, N. (2005). Playwriting: A Practical Guide (1st ed.) [Ebook Central]. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uocuk/detail.action?docID=199405#

Jerzy Grotowski - Theatre Practitioner - Acting Method. (n.d.). Drama Classes. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.dramaclasses.biz/jerzy-grotowski#:~:text=Jerzy%20Grotowski%20was%20a%20theatre,in%20the%201960s%20and%201970s Mariusz Pogonowski. (n.d.-a). Teatr Dramatyczny Im. Jerzego Szaniawskiego W Płocku. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://www.teatrplock.pl/pl/pogonowski-mariusz Mariusz Pogonowski. (n.d.-b). Teatr Capitol. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://teatrcapitol.pl/aktor/mariusz-pogonowski/ Mokrzycka-Pokora, M. (2002, October). Jerzy Grotowski. Culture.pl. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://culture.pl/en/artist/jerzy-grotowski Moseley, N. (2016). Actioning and How to Do It? [Https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/]. Nick Hern Books. https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/asset/3265?cmsAsset=1 Nych, R., & Myszak, J. (2016, September 9). De Facto zaprasza na "Laskę'. Teatr Dramatyczny Im. Jerzego Szaniawskiego W Płocku. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://www.teatrplock.pl/pl/de-facto-zaprasza-na-laske One Act Comedy Play Scripts. (n.d.). One Act Comedy Play Scripts. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from http://www.kaneprod.com/

References

Richards, T. (1995). At Work with Grotowski on Physical Actions (1st ed.) [Ebook Central]. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uocuk/detail.action?docID=179586 Salata, K. (2013;2012;). The unwritten Grotowski: theory and practice of the encounter.(Vol. 26). Routledge Siuta, M. (2011, September 28). Spektakl w Teatrze: W absolutnych ciemnościach. Encyklopedia Teatru Polskiego. Retrieved March 18, 2023, from https://encyklopediateatru.pl/artykuly/124530/spektakl-w-teatrze-w-absolutnych-ciemnosciach