Drama for Secondary Course Outline Student production of adaptation of King Lear.
Slide 1. Course 1 – Pre-Production Starts with a play – in this case King Lear was mandated by the curriculum. However, alternatives are a play chosen by the students cooperatively with teachers or one written by the students. In between these options is having the students adapting a play that is beyond their language abilities.
Slide 2. Adapted script – King Lear became Sultan Mahmud Leman Shah. I like this option because it presents the students with the opportunity to understand elements of character, meaning of dialogue, themes and other literary devices while keeping the language within the range of their abilities and providing opportunities to reasonably expand their use of English. Script writing was undertaken by the whole cohort.
Slide 3. An added advantage is it provides the opportunity to deepen an understanding of other important information; in this case the play was set in a Malaysian historical period (1488 -1528) in Malacca when the true Sultan Shah reigned and the set, actors’ mannerisms, etc. reflected that period. It even included a traditional dance, a mix of Gazal and Zapin, I think.
Slide 4. Assignment of Roles: Election of Director and Assistant Director, casting, and Committees. The Director, Syam upper Left left, and Assistant Director, Adam right, were elected by the cohort and other roles were subsequently assigned by the D and AD including the important responsibility of Stage manager (Nazmi – Lower left) who oversees all other committees for the play: costumes, set, props, lighting, make-up, etc. each of which had a coordinator. Izzati and CK (Center), principle students of the courses, oversaw the process.
Slide 5. Casting: students were free to try-out for any role and the final decision was made by a committee of students and teachers. It is important to do the best to match up students’ physical, vocal and performance characteristics as well as their ability to grow in the language demands of their roles. The choices were not easy as everybody was enthusiastic.
Slide 6. Course 2 – Rehearsals –The concepts of Blocking (actors positioning during scenes) and the Stage Manager’s need for a Playbook to keep track of all aspects of the staging, blocking, set changes, costume changes, lighting changes were explained and the necessary materials obtained. The SM did a great job. (show books)
Slide 7. Actors began memorizing their lines (easier for some than others) and script editing began and was ongoing throughout the rehearsals. In terms of language development this aspect was of greatest benefit to the students. Understanding of the themes, symbolism and metaphors in the play were discussed, revealed and deepened.
Slide 8. Very important aspects of the rehearsal stage, especially for budding teachers, were the warm-up exercises done before each rehearsal began. These are necessary for development of voice control and projection used by professional actors always and handy in a classroom. First step are breathing exercises to feel and expand the muscles that control breathing: rib cage and diaphragm.
Slide 9. Next are resonance exercises. Various means of Humming are the central techniques. Floor, top of head to ceiling, and out to audience. These help relax and loosen the body and help with projection. Pant splitting is a potential hazard. (Demo)
Slide 10. The third set of warm-up exercises focus on articulation and involve facial, tongue and head muscle movements. Sticking out and manoeuvring the tongue, contorting the facial muscles, then tongue twisters or just practising sounds that are difficult (Father vs Fodder) are all effective and good fun. (Goose sound)
Slide 11. During this period the actors are memorizing their lines, Director and his Assistant busy with blocking changes to reinforce themes and symbolism through set and props and characters’ body language, gesture, posture, pacing, and stage action all the while co-coordinating changes recorded by the stage manager.
Slide 12. All the while the back stage crews are busy planning and building props, finding or making costumes, deciding on make-up and stage dressing… and all on a very limited budget that came mostly out of their own pockets! Under these circumstances they did a terrific job!
Slide 13. Course 3 – Final Rehearsals, Production, Post-Production - Rehearsals were difficult. Originally scheduled for Al Farabi, a power outage on the old campus which affected the student housing as well, forced the Director and cast to find and use alternative spaces. We used a room in BKU when they had temporary generators and the lobby of the TELTtrac campus before finally, at the last minute, we could arrange for use of the TELTtrac hall where the play was booked for performance.
Slide 14. The changes and frustration began to take its toll. Here Don thought gardening would be much more fun and productive. Plastic Flowers? (Don seemed to be in his own world many times) but he was quickly reminded to get back into his role by Theebon or suffer serious consequences… all in good fun of course.
Slide 15. In all seriousness, the stress the changes caused cannot be underestimated so a mid-production BBQ was arranged. Everyone left feeling recharged and ready to carry on after consuming about 60 sausages and equal number of burgers and a whole lot of chicken. All Bar-B-Q’ed of course. Maintaining the fire was a team effort!
Slide 16. The play came together with a heroic effort of cast and crew. The makeshift lighting wasn’t good for picture taking during the play but the audience was truly impressed and moved by the play. Puan Zalihar commented that she could see the performers had a clear understanding of the meaning and literary devices in the play and understood the lines they were speaking - which was, after all, the main objective.
Slide 17.There was great satisfaction demonstrable on the faces of the cast and crew after the house lights came up and picture taking was much better. Here you can see the dramatic effect of costumes, make-up and sets and the beaming satisfaction and pride on the faces of everyone whose job was well done. So many people dedicated to one outcome. A good case for Active, Project based Learning.
Slide 18. The day after the production was a holiday so another BBQ was organized to celebrate the success. Almost twice as many sausages, burgers and chicken was joyfully gobbled-up and the atmosphere was jubilant, the satisfaction with a great team effort was obvious.
Slide 19. After a Production it is always hard to bring down the sets, remove the make-up and costumes and know there will be no show tomorrow; no challenge to remember lines, where and what you’re supposed to be doing on stage; having others rely on you as much as you relied on them. A special kind of teamwork draws to a close. There’s only sweeping up after the cast party to do and go home.
Slide 20. This effort will be remembered for a very long time by the members of PPISMP Semester 2 TESL. It was not an easy assignment and there were times when support seemed to be completely absent. But you did it. You overcame the obstacles and your characters are stronger as a result. BRAVO!
Slide 2. Adapted script – King Lear became Sultan Mahmud Leman Shah. I like this option because it presents the students with the opportunity to understand elements of character, meaning of dialogue, themes and other literary devices while keeping the language within the range of their abilities and providing opportunities to reasonably expand their use of English. Script writing was undertaken by the whole cohort.
Slide 3. An added advantage is it provides the opportunity to deepen an understanding of other important information; in this case the play was set in a Malaysian historical period (1488 -1528) in Malacca when the true Sultan Shah reigned and the set, actors’ mannerisms, etc. reflected that period. It even included a traditional dance, a mix of Gazal and Zapin, I think.
Slide 4. Assignment of Roles: Election of Director and Assistant Director, casting, and Committees. The Director, Syam upper Left left, and Assistant Director, Adam right, were elected by the cohort and other roles were subsequently assigned by the D and AD including the important responsibility of Stage manager (Nazmi – Lower left) who oversees all other committees for the play: costumes, set, props, lighting, make-up, etc. each of which had a coordinator. Izzati and CK (Center), principle students of the courses, oversaw the process.
Slide 5. Casting: students were free to try-out for any role and the final decision was made by a committee of students and teachers. It is important to do the best to match up students’ physical, vocal and performance characteristics as well as their ability to grow in the language demands of their roles. The choices were not easy as everybody was enthusiastic.
Slide 6. Course 2 – Rehearsals –The concepts of Blocking (actors positioning during scenes) and the Stage Manager’s need for a Playbook to keep track of all aspects of the staging, blocking, set changes, costume changes, lighting changes were explained and the necessary materials obtained. The SM did a great job. (show books)
Slide 7. Actors began memorizing their lines (easier for some than others) and script editing began and was ongoing throughout the rehearsals. In terms of language development this aspect was of greatest benefit to the students. Understanding of the themes, symbolism and metaphors in the play were discussed, revealed and deepened.
Slide 8. Very important aspects of the rehearsal stage, especially for budding teachers, were the warm-up exercises done before each rehearsal began. These are necessary for development of voice control and projection used by professional actors always and handy in a classroom. First step are breathing exercises to feel and expand the muscles that control breathing: rib cage and diaphragm.
Slide 9. Next are resonance exercises. Various means of Humming are the central techniques. Floor, top of head to ceiling, and out to audience. These help relax and loosen the body and help with projection. Pant splitting is a potential hazard. (Demo)
Slide 10. The third set of warm-up exercises focus on articulation and involve facial, tongue and head muscle movements. Sticking out and manoeuvring the tongue, contorting the facial muscles, then tongue twisters or just practising sounds that are difficult (Father vs Fodder) are all effective and good fun. (Goose sound)
Slide 11. During this period the actors are memorizing their lines, Director and his Assistant busy with blocking changes to reinforce themes and symbolism through set and props and characters’ body language, gesture, posture, pacing, and stage action all the while co-coordinating changes recorded by the stage manager.
Slide 12. All the while the back stage crews are busy planning and building props, finding or making costumes, deciding on make-up and stage dressing… and all on a very limited budget that came mostly out of their own pockets! Under these circumstances they did a terrific job!
Slide 13. Course 3 – Final Rehearsals, Production, Post-Production - Rehearsals were difficult. Originally scheduled for Al Farabi, a power outage on the old campus which affected the student housing as well, forced the Director and cast to find and use alternative spaces. We used a room in BKU when they had temporary generators and the lobby of the TELTtrac campus before finally, at the last minute, we could arrange for use of the TELTtrac hall where the play was booked for performance.
Slide 14. The changes and frustration began to take its toll. Here Don thought gardening would be much more fun and productive. Plastic Flowers? (Don seemed to be in his own world many times) but he was quickly reminded to get back into his role by Theebon or suffer serious consequences… all in good fun of course.
Slide 15. In all seriousness, the stress the changes caused cannot be underestimated so a mid-production BBQ was arranged. Everyone left feeling recharged and ready to carry on after consuming about 60 sausages and equal number of burgers and a whole lot of chicken. All Bar-B-Q’ed of course. Maintaining the fire was a team effort!
Slide 16. The play came together with a heroic effort of cast and crew. The makeshift lighting wasn’t good for picture taking during the play but the audience was truly impressed and moved by the play. Puan Zalihar commented that she could see the performers had a clear understanding of the meaning and literary devices in the play and understood the lines they were speaking - which was, after all, the main objective.
Slide 17.There was great satisfaction demonstrable on the faces of the cast and crew after the house lights came up and picture taking was much better. Here you can see the dramatic effect of costumes, make-up and sets and the beaming satisfaction and pride on the faces of everyone whose job was well done. So many people dedicated to one outcome. A good case for Active, Project based Learning.
Slide 18. The day after the production was a holiday so another BBQ was organized to celebrate the success. Almost twice as many sausages, burgers and chicken was joyfully gobbled-up and the atmosphere was jubilant, the satisfaction with a great team effort was obvious.
Slide 19. After a Production it is always hard to bring down the sets, remove the make-up and costumes and know there will be no show tomorrow; no challenge to remember lines, where and what you’re supposed to be doing on stage; having others rely on you as much as you relied on them. A special kind of teamwork draws to a close. There’s only sweeping up after the cast party to do and go home.
Slide 20. This effort will be remembered for a very long time by the members of PPISMP Semester 2 TESL. It was not an easy assignment and there were times when support seemed to be completely absent. But you did it. You overcame the obstacles and your characters are stronger as a result. BRAVO!
bar-b-queing_shakespeare_-_a_pecha_kucha_presentation.pptx | |
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