Children's Theatre My Journal - Children's Theatre (2005) Week Eight

Trying to be a perfectionist (yes! I admit it) does mean that I often work on something way too much that it becomes way over the top; and therefore unnatural. I feel this is the best approach for theatre, as movements need to express what you want to do and how you feel. Actions need to be over the top, although not so that you stand out as odd compared to the others on the stage. As Paul said on the notice board in week seven, you will never be able to act like your animal completely and quite frankly I don’t think I want to meet a talking crab (boring conversation!) What is important is to communicate to the audience and the best way is to communicate is in the language they are familiar with. Children are our audience, and therefore we need to communicate in a way that allows them to understand.

This was very important information that was reiterated in the production meeting today. Children can believe what is shown to them, not because you demand them too, but because you connect it culturally to their world. It appears to me that animals are treasured in children’s lives because of the connection with animation. Regular Disney characters and my daughter’s favourites, Care Bears and My Little Pony, connect fun and discovery with animal personalities.

By using animals as our base characters, I think it is easier to communicate to children because they can instantly connect to these semiotic cues. I thought that Caris stood out in this week’s rehearsal as she presented a strong interpretation of a penguin. Ironically not many of us would have seen a penguin in the wild. We may have seen one in a zoo, but definitely on television or in a book. As adults, our understanding of a penguin could be constructed from watching cartoons as a child, discussions at school or even a field trip to a zoo. The continuous cultural gathering of information that has occurred since our birth allows us to construct an image of any animal from these interactions.

In case of a penguin, I imagine a black and white animal, webbed feet, waddles like a duck, dives into the water like a dolphin, hands out to the side and squeaks when you sit on it (possibly not the last one!) My perception has been constructed over many years, and as you can see, I have actually used other animals to define its appearance and movement. ‘Reading signs is the way in which we set about making sense of the world’ (Aston & Savona, 1996:99). Caris’ presentation of the penguin Priscilla possibly relies on her childhood knowledge to identify the animal. She has used firm gestures and movements to communicate a penguin, as well as introduced a voice that compliments. The voice that is used is quiet, yet squeaky; this copies the established movement as well as supposed speech of a penguin. No one really knows how a penguin might talk; however it would be safe to say they don’t scream at each other in anger. I think that penguins are mainly perceived as cute and playful creatures, reflected in Caris' interpretation.

Bree’s character Marilda also has a similar style of personality to Pricilla. Her role in the script is described as a playful kitten. Like a penguin, children might easily identify with this character but how does an adult audience interpret her significance? As a kitten, I believe that Marilda is literally a personification of innocence; 'the age when on can forgive anything, the age when hatred is unknown, when nothing can cause distress: the golden age of human life' (Jenkins (ed), 1998:49).Her presence in the production communicates the play’s association with our cultural past and future generations. Katzenellenbogen’s protection of Marilda from Jan, all be it unfairly, connotes a realistic portrayal of a Father/Daughter relationship. This relationship also connotes the time period, as Katzenellenbogen’s treatment of his daughter communicates an out dated style of parenting and teenage expectations. In this sense, Marilda (like all characters in the production) communicates different meanings to various audiences.

[i] Bree to her ill husband, Rex, Desperate Housewives, Media and Marketing pull-out, The Australian, Thursday 28 April 2005, p 20.

[ii] Sandy Gutman talks about how the holocaust has effected his life on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, interviewed with Andrew Denton, on the Australian Broadcast Corporation, on the 28^th March 2005.

(...as actors and crew members, we re-code meaning back into the play for the audience to decode)

Bart: 'Blackbeard...Captain Nemo...Captain Hook...Long John Silver...Peg Leg Pete...Bluebeard' [i]

Today was great as I had the opportunity to see an additional rehearsal with the pirate group. Because most of the group was on prac, and most were still busy today, the rehearsal was interesting for a number of reasons. Darren’s one-on-one direction with actors had instant and visible result; just like Shola’s scene on Wednesday. Direct feedback, and interaction with a small group had noticeable benefits, allowed students the arena to improve with out the fear of the whole workshop watching.

I was also great to see the commitment that these students have to the production. Although in the middle of school experience, having time to rehearse was inspiring. With only about a month to go until performance week, any opportunity to personally improve your group performance will have great results. When John gets back from prac, the Dutch group will need to have a meeting. I feel this will allow us to plan how we should interact with each other on stage as well as develop a group back-story for character development. Even off on prac, John’s continuous character development is obvious due to the detail he placed into his entry (study week two notice board)…Brilliant!!!

[i] Ray Richmond (ed) (1997), The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family, New York: HarperCollins, p. 34.

Augusten: 'He believed in toilet bowl readings...the shape of what you see in the toilet tells you what kind of day you're going to have!

I was quite disappointed with my effort today. I spent most of last week focusing on learning Nick’s music, and with most songs I did rather well. This was a little premature as I failed to really sit down and review my script, especially in the second Act. I know Act one very well, but not so much the second; I know all lines, just not perfectly or the exact cues. With only about a month to go, I should sit down with the script every day and read every line at least twice. Preparation is the key to success in this production, the more discussions that occur, the better the final product.

One thing that I noticed in my journal is that I haven’t gone into detail about warm-ups. Although not crucial to semiotics, it does create an important platform for the base of character development. Focus is constantly on the neutral position, as this is the point of return for your body. In that case, I thought it was important to place in my notes. By outlining the stance, I hope to define and create some change in my character’s presentation. By using this as a base, I can manipulate and expand upon my ideas over the coming weeks. This poster was designed for my portfolio in Drama and the Curriculum.

To continue my day, it was honestly not that bad. During one of my readings I came across the term of a ‘family crest’, which made me think of an idea. A crest is an important symbolic emblem of a family’s life. It includes pictorial and written elements that connote what is viewed as personally important. Why have I drawn a crest? I felt it was important to draw Katzenellenbogen’s family crest to not only outline what he believes to be important, but what is also not relevant to him. By doing this I hope to outline Katzenellenbogen’s world by defining his point of view.

Firstly I have included the, possible, equal elements of Katzenellenbogen’s world. The symbolic cat paw, the Duyfken and blocks of gold bullion represent the three most important elements of his world. Gold traces (coloured in yellow) reiterate his love and yearning for the expensive and lavish things in life. The background is the shape of a cat’s face (also defined by whiskers) and is coloured by the Dutch flag. I feel these elements define his cultural background, as the cat identifies his heritage and the Dutch flag connotes his pride and the tradition of his past. The motto I chose was ‘Yourself First’, I felt this defines his independence and arrogance. The journey he takes through the play changes him so that eventually he is working together with others.

What is also interesting to note is that I’ve chosen to not include his daughter Marilda. At the beginning of the play, Katzenellenbogen is essentially unaware of his daughter’s presence. It is only at the end of the play that he sees her as important, comparing the loss of his bullion and his daughter in the same sentence. I found the activity of constructing a family crest helpful, because I had to provide an avenue with which to speculate on Katzenellenbogen’s priorities. By doing this I can establish what is important to communicate to the audience. Until I wrote ‘Yourself First’, I had not even established his self-imposed independence. It allowed me to think beyond the script and attempt to decode how the character communicates with the audience. With this in mind, I decided that I needed to ask some possible audience members… children.

In this unit so far I’ve been looking at the semiotics of performance, trying to define how an audience could decode the aspects of a character. I then remembered what I did last year, which was to ask my son Hayden, and his friend Thomas to draw what they saw at last year’s play. I thought this time it was important to ask the kids, in this case Thomas and his sister Bella, to draw what was important in regards to specific characters and animals in this production. Without any additional character information or details of the play, they were asked to draw some flags.

I first asked an open question to Thomas, requesting a flag that shows the three most important things to a cat. As I called it a flag, Thomas split the page into three sections, drawing fur, a cats face and its tail. Referring to Kowzan’s classification of sign-systems (Aston & Savona, 1996:105) Thomas’ picture suggests a cat is defined be external appearances. In reference to the play, these visual signs are external of the actor and therefore would depend highly on costuming to produce believability. With the second request, I asked Thomas to focus on elements exclusive of a pirate costume. His picture focuses on swords, ‘skull and crossbones’ flag and a treasure chest. Although this picture again illustrates external factors of a pirate, his approach demonstrates the importance of properties existing in both space and time. This would suggest that Thomas’ cultural perception of a pirate relies highly on multiple external properties.

Thomas’ sister Bella who is 5 years old, also helped with some drawings. She was first asked to draw a flag that depicted what was important to a pirate. Bella literally drew a pirate mast from a ship, drawing a pirate flag on the top, a pirate’s face and a pirate’s hat. In this example, Bella has drawn elements that are important to both the external appearance of an actor and elements that appear on the stage. For her second picture, Bella was also asked to focus on elements beyond the appearance of the subject, which is what surrounds a cat. Bella drew a bed, a mouse and something else that I have forgotten (and I can’t decipher it!) This demonstrates Bella’s perception of a cat and how it exists within its environment, however once again these are all the visual signs of a cat.

For both of their last pictures, Bella and Thomas were asked to draw three things that an octopus needs. Thomas drew three individual items, namely water, a cave for a home and a bottle of ink. Knowing that octopuses squirt ink, Thomas wanted to draw ink but was unsure how to illustrate it. He decided to use a different cultural item of an inkbottle to connote the ink in an octopus. Although two different types of ink, Thomas’ drawings have textually compared unconnected elements. Bella also focused on the underwater setting for her picture, illustrating water, fish to eat and ink to squirt. Again the costume was seen as important, however Bella has communicated the importance of the whole setting. The water fills the page, just like the backdrop in the production. It would appear that the staging elements assist in defining an animal. Referring back to my query in the first study week, it would appear to me a backdrop is appropriate for a young audience. According to the construction of her drawing, Bella views the background as a relevant element that is essential for the identifying the various animals. The more clues the entire production crew can give the audience, the best ‘reading’ of all characters will occur.

Finally this last drawing is from my daughter, Jessica who is almost three. While watching the other two draw, she also joined in. Although her artwork is only developing it was her responses that are most interesting. When I asked if she had drawn a pirate she answered by swinging her arm in the fashion of a pirate jab and letting out an… ‘Arrgh!’ Although she is only young, Jessica has made significant connections with this cultural term. I believe she has expressed both the importance of visual signs, of movement and gestures, as well as auditive signs. This would suggest that Jessica relies on a pirate to cry ‘Arrgh’ to allow her to decode a pirate presence. When drawing a cat, Jessica made two paws and cries of ‘ Meow’ (similar to ‘like a tiger’ on The Late Show [ii]) connoting the recognition of the term ‘cat’.

Jessica has demonstrated how she differentiates between the two terms, defining their difference, and helping her Daddy along the way. I realised while she was ‘meowing’ that I had failed to include cat noises into my characterisation of Katzenellenbogen. I have focused on cat movement and a Dutch accent, but somewhere along the line I had forgotten to incorporate any other vocal additions. What this exercise has reminded me is that children find all elements important to decoding a character, however some are vital. At this moment in time, Katzenellenbogen walks like a cat yet does not sound even close. Why have I forgotten this simple element? This is something I need to change…and soon!

[i] Augusten Burroughs talks about his childhood and his psychiatrist foster parent on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, interviewed with Andrew Denton, on the Australian Broadcast Corporation, on the 2 May 2005.

[ii] The Late Show, (1992-1993) Australian Broadcast Corporation, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103468/

(My picture of Katzenellenbogen's flag. Note: the focus is on his ship, his gold, his paw and the Dutch flag)

‘I was so pumped! It was like I had to laugh, sneeze and pass gas at the same time... you would die if that ever happens’ [i]

Ding, Ding, Ding!!! It has taken me forever but I have finally worked out Katzenellenbogen’s voice. After last week’s revelation, namely that I had forgotten to include cat sounds in my characterisation, I started to experiment with various noises. At work on Saturday, I spent most of the time (when the store was empty) walking around meowing and purring; it was particularly funny when a customer walked in on a mmmmmeeeeeeooowww…gooood afternoon! Anyway, I started to talk after the meow and out came my character’s voice. Wow! I tried it in rehearsals today and it worked brilliantly.

I think the reason it worked so well was because it offers my characterisation a new verbal way of expression, in addition to my focus on the physical movement. Whether I am happy or upset, I could verbally communicate to the audience and other actors how I feel. Furthermore, the voice is now displaying some much needed aspects of a cat. Because I spent too much time on how to speak Dutch by focusing my ‘voice set’ by developing ‘the ‘background’ vocal characteristics deriving from physiological factors, gender, age, build, etc’ (Elam, 2002:71). The previous approach to the presentation of my voice was also a strong British accent that didn’t work. I found this was the voice I used the most previously, as Katzenellenbogen is obviously well educated with a large vocabulary (he uses terms like ‘effrontery’ (i.e. the nerve of…) and ‘chiaroscuro’, namely words I can’t pronounce).

I found by asking possible members of the audience (i.e. children) I rediscovered the elements that were important from their point of view. ‘The actor’s voice and body, considered as signal-transmitters, are rendered pertinent to the text in their materiality, since his personal stature, vocal qualities and physical idiosyncrasies, however incidental to the drama, will influence the spectator’s perception and decoding of messages’ (Elam, 2002:38). The audience needs to decode the presentation of my character; I had simply forgotten that the cat is one of the most important aspects of my role to display.

It was crucial to change the approach to my character as this change in focus to the ‘voice qualities’ such as resonance and ‘vocalizations’, ‘the actual sounds emitted’ (Elam, 2002:71), clearly improved the quality of my communication. The voice also works well because it identifies the flaws within the character. The accent now makes Katzenellenbogen seem old and crabby; which he is! My vocal approach should always have been a combination of all three vocal areas, rather than just the one that I focused upon. This new approach does however offer some new challenges.

The voice that is used is very nasally, and therefore could become inaudible. To use the voice correctly I must over pronounce my lines, as without the appropriate articulation no one will understand what I am saying. What I also noticed today was the inconsistent movements that I am incorporating. I’ve been using the claw type paw to connote a type of deformity or impurity and am finding it a bit problematic for a couple of reasons.

Firstly I unintentionally changed my hand around so often today, sometimes I had a claw other times I just had a flat hand. I need to keep a consistent gesture that either remains true from the beginning to the end of the play, or deliberately changes half way to connote his change in personality. Secondly the gesture is slightly problematic, as it does not necessarily communicate clearly to the audience. This gesture could have multiple cultural interpretations, from a stressed individual, an angry father or a constipated cat. This is one of the problems as cultural codes ‘permit a range of diverse messages to be brought together to the united end of producing a performance text’ (Melrose, 1994:16). Although they may unite, multiple readings may still exist. This is something that I may need to look into as it totally contradicts my search for methods of communicating an unambiguous character.

The major aspects of today’s class were a costume check and a dance workshop. The dance workshop was fun, and although I was mainly taking pictures and watching the class, I did take part in some aspects. I’m not very good at dancing as I am sure Ai Ling could confirm from watching and laughing at me today (I could have feelings you know…I don’t! But I could have had them!) Dance is important in theatre as it communicates the character’s feelings and physically celebrates the music score and 'decodes what it felt like at the time’. [ii] Just as the music develops the narrative of the production, dance offers a physical way to assist in telling the story.

As previously mentioned, costume checks were also the focus of today’s workshop. It was great to get to wear my costume because I find it helps to develop the mental image I have of my character. Just like getting the script down, the addition of a costume develops a focus on other elements of my characterisation. I can now start developing new approaches to Katzenellenbogen, namely how to use my coat and hat, and could I incorporate my tail into my characterisation? How much like Henry the Eighth do I look like? From the pictures that I’ve seen, it seems almost my entire costume is based on his social stature.

Last week I found that my assistants (Thomas, Bella and Jessica) mainly demonstrated a belief in the importance of external factors to a character. Costumes were by far and away the most important element that was chosen by these kids, maybe with the exception of Jessica. This week however Jessica showed me the cat that she made in playgroup. The important aspects that she pointed out to me were its nose, its whiskers and the fur on its forehead. Not only has this again suggested the importance of an animal’s look in identifying it, but its’ feel is also considered important. The small piece of brown material on the forehead of the cat appeared to be very significant, as it was the element that Jessica continued to touch; patting it like a real cat. It is also interesting to note that when this picture was taken, Jessica was growling like a cat and was holding her hand up like a tiger once again. Her limited gathering of cultural knowledge can still highlight what she deems as recognisable characteristics. She may be young, but like most children, she has a relatively firm idea of what any given animal is like.

[i] Jessie Taylor, finalist on Last Comic Standing, Network Seven, broadcast date unknown.

[ii] Baz Luhrmann, Audio Commentary One on Moulin Rouge (2001) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Great work, Andrew. Always a pleasure to read your thoughts! My perspective as a non-actor (in this production anyway) is different, of course, from yours. I will tell you more on that later, but now I have to
go to a committee meeting for KADS

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