help from fellow dramatists please (1 Viewer)

[AlleyCat]

not yet. i'm about to ring the old video shop to look for it in fact. i have a day off exams tomorrow and am finished for the day now so hopefully i'll track it down and get back to u as to whether or not your 'fuckin awesome' claim is accurate....
it better be dammit.

it really is.
it's my fave musical and kicks bridget jones' ass in terms of the characterisation of the 'every woman' looking for love...
beautiful. you will love it.

 

[steffo]

I agree with most of what you say. There's nothing wrong with checking off the marking list and making sure your piece covers all the criteria... everyone should be doing that regardless of their style. "character motivation and meaning" are also on the criteria (there are 10 whole marks devoted to character and characterisation) so I'm not preaching against that. There's nothing wrong with not challenging yourself too much with the the drama IP. Naturaly it should be a challenge anyway due to the highstandard required of HSC drama but if you know your strengths then it's foolish not to capitalize on them.

Is your piece humorous Steffo, just out of curiosity?

in answer to your curiosity, yes. but not my normal kinda style. i chose to do something a bit different to what i normally do. i'm a big comedy person. i really do enjoy immediate praise from an audience and my favourite acting is comedy. but i was in a play recently that was not a comedy and i found it really challenging, and really really different, becuase you dont get the immediate vocalised reaction from an audience. it was intimidating, but when u get it right it feels pretty good. so yeh the first bit of mine is a kinda self-deprecating humour, and then she just peters into a bit of a depression, not so funny.
i went with my skills in comedy, as well as challenging myself with a serious side. hopefully it'll work out and pay off. it's more rewarding doing something that you are a bit afraid of though. but yeh, making sure i check off the requirements too. but for a serious actor, it shouldnt have to be a conscious effort, the list checking i mean.
im being a total wanker here, but what the hey.
how about you? comedy?

 

[steffo]

Everyone Should Rent 'sweet Charity'!!

it really is.
it's my fave musical and kicks bridget jones' ass in terms of the characterisation of the 'every woman' looking for love...
beautiful. you will love it.

it really is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, not the best, but really awesome! haha i cracked up at all the dance scene.s MAN THEY WERE SO 60S AND COOL!!! FUCKIN AWESOME!!! YOU WERE TOTALLY RIGHT!!

holy crap that was so good!!
it had a totally weird ending though. i was glad it wasnt all happy though, and i liked how it said "and she lived hopefully ever after". very cute.
but so awesome.
she was a bit too innocent for my character, but her sad bits were very accurate. if i mixed her with some of the other dancers from her work, the black chick and the old lookin one, they were more similar. rough girls.
but totally good!!!!!

thanks for the hot tip!
NOW EVERYONE HAS TO GO AND RENT IT AND LOVE IT. DARE YAZ!

 

[fleepbasding]

looks like a good suggestion there alley cat!
In answer to Steffo's question- mine is all out comedy, though I'd like to think there is an element of sophistication to my humour (ha, who am I kidding!). The humour is neurotic (think Woody Allen bar the American accent) so I try to cash in on the whole Yiddish Jewish thing. Though I'm not really Jewish I've pulled off this style succesfully in the past and so I'm trying for the HSC. To bring it up to standard has been one hell of a challenge though and I'm still working hard on it.

Goodluck with yours, it sounds interesting!

 

[AlleyCat]

it really is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, not the best, but really awesome! haha i cracked up at all the dance scene.s MAN THEY WERE SO 60S AND COOL!!! FUCKIN AWESOME!!! YOU WERE TOTALLY RIGHT!!

holy crap that was so good!!
it had a totally weird ending though. i was glad it wasnt all happy though, and i liked how it said "and she lived hopefully ever after". very cute.
but so awesome.
she was a bit too innocent for my character, but her sad bits were very accurate. if i mixed her with some of the other dancers from her work, the black chick and the old lookin one, they were more similar. rough girls.
but totally good!!!!!

thanks for the hot tip!
NOW EVERYONE HAS TO GO AND RENT IT AND LOVE IT. DARE YAZ!

hell yeah! go me!
sweet charity rocks my world. i have it on dvd and video...
how rad is sammy davis jr and the hippie dancers, and the rich mans frug dancers, hey big spender, OSCAR!, and the brass band dance...

the best film ever.

im so glad you liked it, gorgeous.

(you are my friend now...)

 

[steffo]

hell yeah! go me!
sweet charity rocks my world. i have it on dvd and video...
how rad is sammy davis jr and the hippie dancers, and the rich mans frug dancers, hey big spender, OSCAR!, and the brass band dance...

the best film ever.

im so glad you liked it, gorgeous.

(you are my friend now...)

we are definately friends now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SAMMY DAVIS JR WAS THE POO!! SO GOOD!! man i LOVE that song. fuck the dancers were the BEST. holy crap i wanted to be in that movie so bad!!
we should do a remake.

 

[AlleyCat]

we should definately do a re make...

*cough*shotguncharity*cough*

you can be....VITTORIO VITALE! (hehehe)

and beyonce can be nikki and cath-zeta can be helen.

yeah!

Christina Applegate plays charity on broadway at the moment, apparently she is alright, but the original and best charity was Gwen Verdon, but shes dead now...

 

[jaihson]

My teacher knows the man who puts together the Onstage showcase and she told us that yeah its not necessarily the pieces that recieved 30 that get in. Its not like ur exemplar samples from the standards package. She said that a group piece may be put in for the ability of one performer, or an individual performance for an inventive way of using a prop or approaching a script.

Also, for the past three years of Onstage, does anyone else find it fishy that there is always a male individual performance where he is wearing a tail suit and white gloves?

 

[AlleyCat]

i personally really like onstage every year.

its not perfect, but for gods sake, the kids are 17/19 what do you expect from them???

i think that it is a strange coincidence that there have been three tails/gloves men, but you cannot deny that all those performers were shit hot...

ill never get into that though, both my pieces basically consist of swear words and porn...

 

[Skillo]

However, Skillo- I'll have you know that I'm not deluded. Onstage are all those things you said, but don't tell me they're not the best marks? Almost every individual at Onstage would've got 30/30... I thought that would have been obvious. Sure there are other high-scoring pieces that aren't in Onstage. I know what Onstage is so please, don't patronize me.

My teacher knows the man who puts together the Onstage showcase and she told us that yeah its not necessarily the pieces that recieved 30 that get in.

It was also something I was told at State Drama Camp in 2003. I apologise if you took offence to my post. I did not mean to cause harm. I was merely stating a point in reply to a post that annoyed me as it was stating facts that were manipulations of the truth.

We had a top of the state in 2000... and I'm top of my class (of 26) this year. My mother is also a HSC drama teacher... So I'm talking from experience.

Hehehe. Sorry, but that's the kind of thing I would of written too in such a thread.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh I feel like joining in. Here is my connections rant. My father is Head of Creative Arts (with Drama under his juristiction) at his school, I know 4 drama teachers one of whom can drink me under the table, another once changed my nappy as a baby, my papa and has been teaching for 28 years, I've been doing drama since I was 9 (competitive, AMEB and normal school stuff), as a country student I can't participate in State Drama Ensembles or Festivals but I did go to State Drama Camp in 03, I'm studying theatre studies next year at the University of Melbourne and I topped my class for Drama last year with 94, wanted 97...but you get what you're given.

So I'm talking from experience too. Let's just agree that we're both not stupid


It is a pity that the HSC has morphed into an exercise of the students ability to manipulate work to forge desirable marks...rather than the pursuit for a performance that is challenging, entertaining and makes you think. I really wish that after the HSC you guys delve into the world of drama outside the two dimensional HSC syllabus. I was hoping that HSC drama would teach students to appreciate drama for years to come, however I am growing to see my theory be squashed.

Someone asked what style my IP was. It was a two character serio-comic piece derived from a play called Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang. I can't really draw comparisons from other performances I've seen. The serious part was a bit cate blanchett meets kathy bates. The comedy was...me? I played on the text rather than my situation, physicality for the comedy in the second character. I can't really remember it now...which is funny because I have to perform it for a school soon...*worried look*

 

[steffo]

i personally really like onstage every year.

its not perfect, but for gods sake, the kids are 17/19 what do you expect from them???

i think that it is a strange coincidence that there have been three tails/gloves men, but you cannot deny that all those performers were shit hot...

ill never get into that though, both my pieces basically consist of swear words and porn...

me too! we say every single horrendous swear word possible to the earth in our group piece. well not every single one, but the worst ones anyway, and not coz we set out saying "LET'S PUT STACKS OF SWEAR WORDS IN!" either. and my whole IP is about sex...so....see ya onstage!

 

[freaked!]

i annoys me that you guys are looking to manipulate your pieces to achieve desirable greades... i know that it is unrealistic but it really isn't supposed to be about that is it! I mean pick a piece that challenges you and that you think that you can do well... not something that you assume will get good marks because you aren't really in love with your piece then you are never going to do it to the best of your ability and the you wont get good marks any way....end rant!
Though i am just about to entirely contradict myself i do think that its true that there are kinds of pieces and theatre that are marked higher then others....i just don't think that that should control what kind of pieces we choose! Show the markers that there is other stuff out there too!

 

[AlleyCat]

i annoys me that you guys are looking to manipulate your pieces to achieve desirable greades... i know that it is unrealistic but it really isn't supposed to be about that is it! I mean pick a piece that challenges you and that you think that you can do well... not something that you assume will get good marks because you aren't really in love with your piece then you are never going to do it to the best of your ability and the you wont get good marks any way....end rant!
Though i am just about to entirely contradict myself i do think that its true that there are kinds of pieces and theatre that are marked higher then others....i just don't think that that should control what kind of pieces we choose! Show the markers that there is other stuff out there too!

i never set out to choose a piece to get good marks. i chose something i enjoyed reading, and that got me thinking. if i had set out to schieve good marks, i wouldnt be singing sans backing tape in a (half lost) voice for 2 out of 8 performance mins.

and the GP basically consists of rudeness and funny comments about life, death and sex. this was directly from the heart, not one part of the syllabus has been consulted. and in the work inprogress we got 28/30 so it looks as if it all paid off...

i agree with you in saying that you have to believe in what you are doing. i trult love both my pieces, and this keeps me motivated.

 

[fleepbasding]

It was also something I was told at State Drama Camp in 2003. I apologise if you took offence to my post. I did not mean to cause harm. I was merely stating a point in reply to a post that annoyed me as it was stating facts that were manipulations of the truth.


Hehehe. Sorry, but that's the kind of thing I would of written too in such a thread.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh I feel like joining in. Here is my connections rant. My father is Head of Creative Arts (with Drama under his juristiction) at his school, I know 4 drama teachers one of whom can drink me under the table, another once changed my nappy as a baby, my papa and has been teaching for 28 years, I've been doing drama since I was 9 (competitive, AMEB and normal school stuff), as a country student I can't participate in State Drama Ensembles or Festivals but I did go to State Drama Camp in 03, I'm studying theatre studies next year at the University of Melbourne and I topped my class for Drama last year with 94, wanted 97...but you get what you're given.

So I'm talking from experience too. Let's just agree that we're both not stupid


It is a pity that the HSC has morphed into an exercise of the students ability to manipulate work to forge desirable marks...rather than the pursuit for a performance that is challenging, entertaining and makes you think. I really wish that after the HSC you guys delve into the world of drama outside the two dimensional HSC syllabus. I was hoping that HSC drama would teach students to appreciate drama for years to come, however I am growing to see my theory be squashed.

Someone asked what style my IP was. It was a two character serio-comic piece derived from a play called Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang. I can't really draw comparisons from other performances I've seen. The serious part was a bit cate blanchett meets kathy bates. The comedy was...me? I played on the text rather than my situation, physicality for the comedy in the second character. I can't really remember it now...which is funny because I have to perform it for a school soon...*worried look*

I like you Skillo! Yeah, I may've sounded like I was manipulating the truth which I guess I was... my forte is manipulating the truth!

Good luck with theatre studies next year, sounds like a great course!

I very much agree that the way HSC drama is a mark-getting exercise is kind of dissapointing. But I guess that is just the pragmatic truth of it all... I love my piece and chose it to challenge myself (had to adapt it from a letter/correspondence format). It's Woody Allen who is my favorite comedy writer of all time. Just wanted to get it straight that I'm not as competitive and mark-hungry as some of my earlier posts may've implied.

I have a drama life outside of HSC drama, and one which I'm sure will continue in some form or another post-HSC.

Good-luck in the performance exams everyone!