Digital Theatre

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Mar 042011
 

Melbourne’s The Age newspaper reported this week about British-based Internet venture Digital Theatre, who have secured corporate deals with many of Britain’s leading theatre companies for digital downloads of full-length stage productions.

Companies currently represented include The Royal Shakespeare Company (The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It), the Royal Court, Almeida Theatre, the Young Vic and the English Touring Theatre. Productions are available as complete downloads (SD, HD) or as streaming media (VOD – video on demand) for reasonable prices (8.99 pounds).

Unfortunately, there are only about 10 shows currently available for download. At the moment this is a bit limiting, but the concept is indeed a great one and this sort of venture should be supported by drama and theatre teachers, as video footage outside of quick YouTube clips is uncommon for productions from well-renowned companies such as these.

All downloads on Digital Theatre are legal with the various copyright holders receiving appropriate royalties.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 8:00 am  Classroom Activities, Technology

YouTube in Drama Education

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Mar 032011
 

I’m sure most Drama and Theatre teachers reading this blog have made better use of YouTube in their classes than myself, but yesterday in a Year 9 Drama course studying various forms of comedy, YouTube effectively erased my DVD comedy collection in the Drama department at school.

After spending a few hundred dollars five years ago purchasing old films of the Marx Bros, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, Monty Python and the like on DVD, yesterday YouTube and an interactive whiteboard used as a projector became a far better option. Of course, other people had ripped and uploaded to YouTube all the funny scenes I had intended to show from the various movies.

But the best part of the lesson was a group of 14 year-olds fully embracing black and white video, and even silent video in the case of some Charlie Chaplin, while laughing hysterically. Even after deconstructing the routines and analysing where the slapstick or satire was evident, the students still enjoyed the experience beyond my expectations when it became academic.

I showed my class the very famous Abbott and Costello routine Who’s on First? as an example of stand-up with excellent comic timing (they are simply standing in front of a curtain when delivering the script), the train scene in The Marx Bros film Go West where they chop up the carriages as firewood for the engine, a number of cream pie fights from The Three Stooges and the cabin scene from The Marx Bros film A Night At The Opera where about 20 people all roll out of the door at the end. Not to mention the globe scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator – in fact this was their favourite comic scene of about a dozen showed that lesson and that alone made my day as a Drama teacher.

YouTube, like Google, is bread and butter Internet use in the classroom these days, but I’d still like to hear Drama teachers share with everyone some of your innovative uses of YouTube in the drama classroom or even simple use of it that turned into great experiences. Comment below.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 11:11 am  Classroom Activities, Technology

Live Blogging: Year 9 Drama (Part 2)

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Feb 182011
 

Continuing on from a post a few days ago, this is live blogging (Part 2) of a Year  9 Drama class performing 2-minute satirical scenes of well-known celebrities. Today, students will exaggerate voice, movement, facial expressions and gesture in order to satirise the celebrities. Update coming soon…

Update:

  • Justin Bieber – slapstick evident, goofiness of Bieber (due to his youth?) now evident, Bieber started to look like a teenager trying so hard to be a ‘man’, mannerisms and gestures were all exaggerated
  • Britney Spears – in parody, Britney’s blonde wig in performance is now deliberately off centre, her lipstick smudged over her cheeks, gestures and arm movements over the top, head jiggling around bobbing left to right while speaking, hair flicking now very obvious (subtle in previous version of performance), voice emphasising key words

Update:

  • Jamie Oliver – automatically twice as loud in this performance, the cutting knife in previous version of performance is now a toy sword(!) – love the oversized prop used in order to parody the celebrity, Jamie’s excitement over his own cooking is almost out of control, arm gestures many times bigger now
  • David Attenborough – Attenborough’s uncontrollable enthusiasm for the whale shark in his TV documentary now has the class in quiet fits of laughter, voice and gestures in particular are overblown, extra loud, yet focused – hilarious performance – an accurate parody of the celebrity

Update:

  • Oprah Winfrey – this student decided to satirise Oprah in this performance partly by exaggerating her costume/outift – cushions were placed down Oprah’s jumper/sweater and she now possessed a very large booty, so Oprah’s body shape changed wildly from version 1 performance two days ago to today. Oprah’s voice was VERY loud, her gestures big and her excitement with her audience WAY over the top! Very, very funny.
  • Lindsay Lohan – this celebrity’s troubled nature now evident through her gestures and movements, topic of conversation was court case after court case, Lohan’s apparent IQ also clear through dialogue, gestures over the top
  • Michael Jackson – now being parodied, performer emphasised Jackson’s voice (high pitched squeals) and facial expressions (freaky stares to audience when talking about young children), the ‘performer’ in Jackson was evident for the first time

Update:

  • Miley Cyrus – the self-centred public perception of this celeberity now evident, her teenage ego out of control, confident beyond her years – shown through dialogue and exaggerated gestures and movements
  • Eddie McGuire – (Australian TV personality and football club president) now being parodied, the performer exaggerates the celebrity’s hand movements at a media press conference and through voice, certain words are emphasised for effect
  • Britney Spears – in parody Britney arrives on stage with a toy baby over her shoulder(!), character costume on the skanky side in order to over-emphasise the public’s perception of this celebrity in recent years, Britney accidentally kicks her baby offstage – again deliberate

Update:

  • Christina Aguilera – satirised via exaggerated facial expressions, over the top emotions, lots of hair flicking, but little comedy – the audience is the indicator – very few laughs – perhaps because the audience couldn’t recognise aspects of this performance as uniquely belonging to Christina Aguilera
  • Steve Irwin – More could have been done with Steve Irwin being parodied – as with the Oprah Winfrey and Jamie Oliver character performances earlier, Steve Irwin’s  enthusiasm is the perfect avenue in which to explore the satire – but no evidence of over-exaggeration fighting with crocodiles, no excitement about how much he loved his job etc

Ran out of time. A few performances left to be performed next lesson. These students have only had five lessons in their comedy course and two of these have been performance classes, so this is a great beginning for them. This was also their first time in high school that a solo character performance was introduced in one of their Drama courses. Their understanding of the complexities and challenges involved in pulling off comedy successfully are only just being explored…

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 12:10 pm  Classroom Activities
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