Performance Essay's? (1 Viewer)

[CrOsToWnTrAfFiC]

For Drama we have to do a performance essay. It's definately not a written essay on a performance we have to actually go up and perform something but I'm really confused as to what it is we actually have to do. Can anybody help, Does anybody actually know what a performance essay is?

 

[Anonymous16]

i dont really understand what u have to actually do. do u have to make a performance and do an essay about that performance?

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

er. this is weird. ummm...maybe u have to perform part of ur IP (i'm assuming thats what this is for) and then like explain to the class orally ur intentions n how ur putting it together and stuff... yeah sorry thats all i can think of that makes any sense lol.

 

[tanguyen]

My guess is that you have to write about what you did, what was the intention, how did you achieve what you intended and stuff like that. Sort of a "making of" documentary but in written form.

 

[angelfied]

I have to do performace essay aswell. I don't really understand it either. But we have been given a question to answer, which is like an essay question. So what I am doing is basically going at it like an essay but performing techniques and stuff and making it into more of a performance piece rather than a rant about the plays u have studied.
I hope that helps.

 

[SuNrIsE_oVa_sEa]

ok everyone a performance essay is hard to explain but here goes...

Its like you write a essay explaining concepts of the plays you are studying (usually they give you a question) and then you read this essay on stage but through out this you cut to extracts of the play that show the concept you just spoke about.

For example "In 7 stages of grieving Mailman and Enoch choose to use the extended metaphor of fairytales such as seen in the allusion of the big leather book which Ray reads from" -Then you will cut to an extract of the play showing Ray reading from the book which you and your fellow actors will act out.

I dont know if this explains it or not. It's kinda liek acting out ur essay. You say a statement and then proceed by backing it up with evidence from the play which you perform. Its quite brechtian as you will cum in and out of diff characters on stage. Little props n costumes are used in performance essays. Make sure you dont write to much in the essay part. The biggest tip is to make every sentence count that you say as you normally have little time.
Easiest way to write a performance essay is to break it up into fragments for everyone to do. For eg. If they ask you about the issues in the plays Choose about 4 issues, explain them seperately n choose a short scene that back ups what you are stating.

A good structure would be as following;

1.Overall intro of plays

2. Intro to 1st play

3. 1st issue-explain

4. (Perform scene)

5. 2nd issue -explain

6. (Perform scene)

*ect*

7. Intro to 2nd play (Should link plays somehow for eg if they are both contemporary australian pieces)

*ect*

8. Conclusion to both
sry this is so long! lol i think i replied to late to this thread but i hope it helps anyone else in need!


xxx

 

[Morky]

Hey Mate

Just wondering if you have already done your P'Essay (i didn't look when you posted the thread). If you have then there is not much point telling you about mine, but I will anyway, just in case you still need the info.

Our question was "How do Australian theatre practitioners respond to issues in our society through the use of dramatic forms, performance styles...etc." or something like that anyway.
This is the basic process we used for our P'Essay, it was a group project, so i'm not sure if it is relevant to you? It's not very detailed because i am just providing an insight to how we did it, but i can give you more information if you e-mail me on supabob_waz_here@hotmail.com

With your group (or just you if it is an induvidual thing), plan your essay, plan the points (recommended 4-5) and the quotes / ideas you will talk about for each point.

Think about the metaphor you will use, some in our class were the "annual general mneeting for BOS drama teachers", "a director discussing concepts with her actors", although the metaphor we used was a "game show", we found this to be really versatile and easy to work with. We had a "host" asking questions relating to our essay plans, the essay points being the rounds of the game show. There was correct and incorrect answers, and the host answered the incorrect answers. I can send our original script (written by a group member) by e-mail if you want me to, just send me an e-mail at the adress above.

Other groups used the same style of performing the essay, the outlining of a concept related to your question and then explaining it, with quotes, in more detail. For quotes our group used "audiovisual clips", which we performed, and then answered questions about them.

Make sure you qrite your essay with plenty of time to spare, so if you think of something that you want to add to your P'Essay then you have time to practise it.

One thing our class noticed is that the actual pieces were pretty boring, which is understandable since it is basicaly an essay dramatised. So try and make your's as interesting as possible.

Hope i have helped, if you want any more info about anything above or if you think i have forgotten something (veeeery likely), then please, send me an e-mail =D.


PS. I think you have all done your essays by now...when i pm'ed the guy who started the topic i did not look when it was posted. i'm putting this on here for anyone else anyway...since i have already written it lol (this is the original pm that i sent to him/her).