Saturday 21 April 2012

Monologues and Scene Studies.....April 23

April 23 is traditionally celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday (it was common practice for babies to be baptized at 3 days old).  I expect the monologues performed will be exemplary!


Once the monologues have been performed, you are to select a scene and a partner (or two), for the scene study.  Most students who were in class on Friday have done so.


This will be the last big task before you receive your end-tasks.  More info, including due date, to follow.


William Shakespeare-- English playwright/dramatist (at least, we THINK this is his portrait).  Baptized April 26, 1564, died April 23, 1616.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Triumph through Art...Gumboots and beyond....

Good luck to everyone writing their Civics exam on Thursday.

We will be watching portions of Spirit as well as The Stamping Grounds, as other examples of creating performance from traditional dances of indigenous peoples.  Spirit is based on aboriginal dances of North America, while The Stamping Grounds is a ballet based on the aboriginal dances of Australia, as interpreted through a Dutch .

There are no specific tasks for this.  As residents of a small Northwestern Ontario town, we have limited exposure to any theatrical performances.  My goal for you as theatre students is to expose you to a variety of cultural experiences, for you to see the possibilities that exist for people to triumph through art, despite repression, oppression and poverty.

Things to think about:  Gumboots

"For every drop of water here, a man lived and died in the mines." 

How do the Gumboot dancers create a meaning ritual and symbol through the use of water in their set?

What sort of transformation might take place in a person who creates art from the pain and hardship of his/her earlier life and the history of his/her people?

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Last Week before Report Card marks due....

Today we saw the last two Three Scene Issue plays.  All questions on Theatre Etiquette and the reflections on group work, performances and your own groups performance are due tomorrow, Wednesday.  If you have misplaced the papers, scroll down--all the questions for the Issue plays have been posted here.

We have been watching Gumboots, which is a performance based on South African gumboot dancing.  I hope you have paid particular attention to the staging of the performance and the use of the set.

Roots of Gumboot dancing in South African mines

Gumboot dancers in South Africa