Blogologues: Find your own Material- Part 2 (Task 4)

The theme for our group is "Annoying Parents", and was accordingly selected by Mifrah, who is our director. The other members of the group include Ryan, Hamza, and Vanessa. This theme portrays daily situations in which parents act rather irritating or have weird habits based on how they take on their role of being a parent. The main reason as to why I like this theme is because it is a very broad topic, which can be interpreted, brainstormed and produced from different angles. Some perspectives that interest me would include families with typical cultures (e.g. Indian household), families with contradicting cultures, homosexual parents, foster parents, grandparents as parents, and much more. We could also look at this topic from another angle and see the different ways in which parents react to certain situations their children are going through (for e.g. is their daughter has a boyfriend). I think the two perspectives that would attract an audience the most would probably be families with typical cultures and parents with annoying habits. For example, if the family with typical cultures were Asian by nationality (either oriental or from the Indian subcontinent), an easy idea would be for the parents to talk about their children's school marks/grades and them being disappointed even though the grades are quite remarkable.

Blog 1: http://suburbanturmoil.com/the-25-habits-of-highly-annoying-parents/2013/10/29/

This blog is of interest to me because some of the annoying habits mentioned are relatable to a wide spectrum of teenagers and children in our society, including myself. My abilities as a performer are not very exceptional, but narrating these sentences would allow me to focus more on my articulation, projection, and inflection of words rather than my physicality, which is my strongest weakness. I have some ideas regarding how I could perform this blog to the best of its ability. After I finish narrating each habit, my other team members can briefly act out what the message is trying to say. For example, the first annoying habit is a about a crying kid in the theatre, and everyone in the audience getting annoyed because the mother or father is too selfish or careless to do so. If I were to direct this scene, I would have a mother and son sitting on two cinema seats at the front, and a couple sitting directly behind them that are trying to focus on the movie. There will be loud scary or action music playing in the background and the son will start crying. The mom will just ruffle his hair and not bother taking him out of the theatre, while the couple rolls their eyes at the odd family. The lighting would only have to be dim during the first scene as that is in a theatre, and the lights are always off while a movie is running. Costumes would almost constantly have to change from scene to scene which might be a struggle because the narrator (I) will need to stall time.

Blog 2: http://www.reddit.com/r/confession/comments/1j6akj/im_asian_and_i_hate_asian_culture
_because_of_my/

This appealed to me because it was an ideal example of our topic, and our audience members would definitely have Asian parents. Although this scene involves more gestures in general, they would be quite easy for me to perform as being angry is a norm for me and it would not be difficult for me to express rage. I would possibly use a red light backdrop for this blog because red represents anger the best, which will set the mood for the scene. No sounds would be needed and the narrator could just wear pyjamas or anything casual. Also, two people can pretend to be the parents and enter into the scene in between and scold the daughter for things that are not worth scolding for.

Blog 3: http://twodadsandme.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/big-boys-dont-fly/

This blog represents the struggles of two gay dads trying to raise their son, and how his behaviour stemmed up from his time at residential care. This blog appeals to me because I really enjoy the way the author has depicted his emotions using specific words and how their son treats them. I can see this being staged by two gay dads being present, and one of them being the narrator while the other on is acting with the son. There are many action cues in the script, so the gay dad and son have to perform some stage combat with each other. The lighting can be a bit dim, because the script's storyline is a bit dark itself. If I was the narrator, I would have to play a male role, and that is fine with me costume wise and acting wise because I have to pretend like I am gay anyway.

Blogologues: Find your own Material (Task 3)

This task consists of three possible sources of material for a Blogologue sketch, and the one I think would be the best to perform.

1. Doge

Link: https://www.facebook.com/VeryDoge?fref=ts

Doge is a popular Facebook page that displays various images of Shiba Inus (a dog breed), which originate from Japan. The pictures include various caption/phrases in different colours that are intentionally grammatically incorrect (or incorrect in spelling), and can sometimes be very hilarious for some people. A classic example would be:

We can compile the phrases to create a script, which would interest several people, as Doge has over 413k likes/followers. The key to successfully saying these phrases out-loud is to have ordinary facial expressions that are not very exaggerated, so that most of the attention is directed towards the words rather than the actions, and so the audience gets the whole, simple Doge appeal that can be seen in the pictures. I do not have many strengths as a performer, so using this blog would be of great help towards my lack of acting skills. I am not good at exaggerated facial expressions and actions, and I feel more comfortable with words. I, personally, am a huge fan of Doge and I actually laugh out loud sometimes while reading some of the things. This would keep me interested while rehearsing and would be easy for me to memorise the lines. It would be easy to come up with a storyline from the images, although it would be rather time consuming.

2. Cyanide and Happiness 

Link: http://explosm.net/

Cyanide and Happiness is a web-comics production that post various comic strips that are mainly aimed at teenagers and/or young adults. Some of the content contains bad language, however, this sometimes adds to the humour, which is why it is not aimed for kids. Below, is an example of one of their comic strips:

Similar to Doge, we can compile various comic strips in order to generate a script. This blog interests me a lot because I generally find the short stories really funny and relatable to teenage comedy that does not go too overboard. However, performing this would be a bit of a struggle for me, as these comics require exceptional acting skills, which I do not have. But, I feel that I am quite okay at playing roles that are a bit awkward or grumpy, as thats what I am generally like while performing. So if I pick a role that demonstrates these characteristics, it would be more feasible to produce a better sketch. I think this is a great source of material as they have several mini-stories, which can be arranged into one huge story.

3. Damn You Auto Correct! 

"Damn You Auto Correct!" is a famous website (and is also a Facebook page) that displays several images where auto correct corrects words somewhat incorrectly to the sender's intentions. The auto corrected words usually deliver a different message than what it was meant to be. For example, here is one auto correct fail:

They can range from different chatting platforms, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, BBM, and much more. These autocorrect fails can be extremely hilarious at times, which makes them worthwhile to read, and which is why I am interested in them. Adequate acting skills are required to express the right feelings while pretending to chat on stage because some of the fails can be really nasty, horrifying or hilarious. I feel that if I put in enough effort during practice lessons, I can easily improve my abilities as a performer. I think this is a good source of material because it is very relatable for a wide range of people and the content is generally very comedic.

The Chosen One

If I were to choose one of the blog/sites/pages from the three mentioned above, I would strongly pick "Doge", because, firstly, it plays to my advantage as the words speck for themselves over the actions (there are many actions but not many feelings need to be expressed), and secondly, it is very unique and will appeal to several people as it has become a trend of speaking.

However, it would be a bit complicated to stage this as a piece because we need to select appropriate images from "Doge's" Facebook page and compile them together to create an appropriate script and production. This will be extremely time consuming, but I feel it is worth the while.

The key concept of the piece would be daily activities and/or shenanigans presented in "Doge" language. For example, Doge riding a bike or playing the guitar. The brilliancy of this blog is that you can use as many people as you need. Essentially, there is only one character (i.e. Doge) but many other external influences can potentially and easily be added.

The staging would be quite simple, but various props would need to be used depending on the storyline. For example, if Doge is using a hula hoop , the cast member should be using a hula hoop.

The production elements that are required include: costumes, set, props, and lights. 

Blogologues: Review a Sketch (Task 2)

The sketch that I have chosen to review is "20 Guys Trying to Bang a Total Psycho on OKCupid". This is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMP-anxaOxU.

The material for this Blogologue was collected from an application that can be downloaded on smart-phones called "OKCupid". This app allows you to connect with random people that live near you, so that you can initiate multiple conversations and eventually take it to the next level (dating/going out). The main girl who was acting in the sketch created a fake, wacky OKCupid account in real life in order to get the words for the production's script. Her username was "Marlababy" and she had a dog named Booty, she was looking for men from the ages of 26-72, she really liked movies, and her profile picture consisted of only her shoulder, which shows no sign of whether "Marla" is even attractive or not. The sketch is then followed up with a series of random men rising to the occasion by trying to get Marla to go out with them, even though she is a complete nutcase and they do not know what she looks like.

The staging of the sketch was pretty neat and simple. There was a projector in the background that showed Marlababy's profile, but we can only really see her profile picture and username to give us an idea of what the app looks like. They also use it to show the different points that Marlababy has answered (for e.g. you should message me if...). No other props were used as they were not necessarily required. There was normal, white lighting and the clothes they were wearing were ordinary as it suited the various situations. No sounds could be heard, besides the audience's laughter.

I enjoyed seeing how Marla dealt with the different conversation prompts that were sent to her, which is essentially the entire sketch. It just goes to show how desperate some guys really are and how the world is gradually turning towards online dating mediums, which I personally find rather obscure. The voices that they used suited their personalities really well and they used enough gestures for their individual roles. They used the term "hot-pockets" during their performance, which I quite do not understand. Other then that, everything was clear. One minor change I would like to make to the sketch is the colour of their clothing. Most of the cast members were wearing pink and it seemed a bit too monochromatic. A bit more variety would have been nice to see.

From this sample, I generally feel that the reviews of Blogologues are fairly accurate. For example, as mentioned by the Huffington Post, I agree that their use of virtual/web media in live theatre is very effective and attracts a great number of people, as technology has become a developing necessity in first world countries. However, I do feel that some of the reviews were a bit exaggerated. The Observer: Betabeat, stated that Blogologue performance made them laugh relentlessly, but I do not entirely agree with this, as I only giggled a few times here and there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMP-anxaOxU

Source:

"Blogologues." L!VELY Productions . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://livelyproductions.org/home/what-is-blogologues/>.

My Brecht Montage

Since we never performed our piece, below, you can watch my montage, and the script created by Sunaira can be viewed as well.

Theme:

Wedding scam. The bride died.

Characters: Igor, Vladlenna, Valentina, Veronika

Script

Act 1: Scene 1

Igor: Valentina, this bread is stale and hard

Valentina: Sorry, father. We do not have enough kopeks for flour and yeast to make more bread

Igor: The crops are failing, it is becoming harder and harder for me to provide for our family

Vladlenna: Father, we are going to starve

Valentina: We do not have enough flour and yeast stored to last the month

Igor: We need a new source of money. Veronika, come here.

Veronika: Yes, father?

Igor: How old are you?

Veronika: 16

Igor: You are of age to be married. We have no choice here. I cannot feed you girls; we do not have the kopeks to feed ourselves anymore. If you get married, I will have one less mouth to feed.

Veronika: No! Father, you cannot do this.

Vladlenna: Father, no. Please do not separate us. After mother passed away, we are the only ones there for each other

Valentina: What if she didn’t really get married?

Igor: What do you mean?

Veronika: A scam?

Vladlenna: No, Valentina, we mustn’t. We are honest people.

Veronika: Vladlenna, even honest people need to change their ways during harsh times

Act 1: Scene 2

Igor: So, all is set for our plan?

Veronika: Yes, father

Vladlenna: I’m not too sure about this, father

Igor: Hush yourself, we need this

Valentina: Make sure you look your best when you meet your groom to be

Note about Brecht Rough and Final Performances

The reason why I have not completed a reflection for these two performances is because we never performed them, due to absences of group members and progression through the drama syllabus. 

Blogologues: Research (Task 1)

http://livelyproductions.org/home/what-is-blogologues/

Blogologues is a sketch comedy show that uses online media and/or blog posts to create an entertaining performance. Their idea is that there is enough information online to support them and that voicing these everyday shenanigans will give Western society something to relate to. Most people who watched one of their shows commented saying that "it was like memes coming to life". Blogologues were created by Alison Goldberg and Jen Jamula in New York City, spring 2011. The main concept or philosophy of Blogologue performances is to incorporate comedic information from the internet into theatrical viewings. 

The first step the group undertakes is to search for information on the World Wide Web. Some sites that are helpful for them to use include Craigslist, Facebook pages, online dating sites, and much more. They then get permission from the authors of the posts/memes so that it is professionally possible for them to use this information. After doing so, they compile all the information for their particular story together to generate a feasible script. And then, they just need to rehearse and rehearse till they get it right. 

Some typical elements used in their productions include melodramatic acting, strong facial expressions, good articulation, clear voice projection, wild costumes, and so on. 

“Groundbreaking.” – Rachel Sklar, The Li.st co-founder, Silicon Alley 100

“A genius recontextualization [of the internet].” – Lauren Kaelin & Sophia Fraioli, co-founders, When Parents Text

“Performed expertly, with perfect comic timing and dedication.”— Show Business Weekly

“Blogologues proves that the internet and live theatre can live in harmony.” –The Huffington Post

“Unrelenting laughter.” –The Observer: Betabeat

“The best thing since the world wide web.” – Lauren Leto, co-founder, Texts From Last Night

“For those who think that the Internet and theater can never co-exist, you need to get your asses down to Blogologues.” –Crushable

“Clearly, the best thing to do in New York City.” – Alli & Jen, Blogologues co-creators 

Sources:
"Blogologues." L!VELY Productions . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://livelyproductions.org/home/what-is-blogologues/>.
"Home - Blogologues." Blogologues. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2014. <http://blogologues.org/>.

The Love of 3 Oranges: Review as an Audience Member

"The Love of 3 Oranges" is a play written in 1919 by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Prokofiev's other works include the ballet music for Peter and the Wolf and Romeo and Juliet. I attended the play on both Thursday and Friday, as I was a Front of House member. 

The plot of the play revolves around Prince Tartaglia, who is the son of the King of Hearts. The play begins with the two narrators. Both of them have different outlooks on the play; one of them is very lively and comedic where as the other one is more realistic and sensible. They introduce the play. The King of Hearts is worried for his kingdom as he is growing old and needs someone to step up to his position. His niece, Clarice, is empty-headed and does not have the mental capacity to have such power and to put it to good use. His son, Prince Tartaglia, on the other hand is extremely ill and morose. But, the King suddenly remembers that a doctor once told him that the only way to cure his son is by making him laugh. Aroused at this uncovering, the King orders his PA Pantolone to create and prepare for a massive ball full of elements of entertainment. Leandro, who is the first minister, enters the scene and tries his utmost best to discourage the King from carrying through with his procession, as he wants to marry Clarice and become King instead. Leandro fails to convince him. The celebrations begin and are introduced by the jester Truffaldino. A series of activities take place to achieve laughter from the sick Prince, but nothing seems to work. Fata Morgana (dun dun dun), the evil wiatch, tries to assist Leandro by attending the ball. Her aim is to not make Prince Tartaglia laugh, and she thinks that is possible if she is around because of her sinister personality. The witch disguises herself, but is revealed when the courtiers are playing a friendly game of twister. Truffaldino starts chasing Fata Morgana and she falls. That right there is what it took to make the Prince laugh- hysterically. The witch gets furious and curses Tartaglia, the curse being the love of three oranges (hence, the title of the play). Prince Tartaglia's sick days are over and he is desperate to find his oranges. He takes Truffaldino with him on this adventure. The King of Hearts is extremely upset; even though his son is not ill anymore, he has abandoned his castle. A new character is introduced- the magician Celio, who was previously one of the narrators. She contacts a dark creature known as Farfarello. Celio finds out that Prince Tartaglia and Truffaldino are going to Creonti's castle, as that is where the oranges are. The Prince finds and steals his oranges and leaves the eerie castle. Truffaldino and him have to roam through a desert to get back home. The jester cuts open one of the oranges and a Princess pops out. She is very weak and thirsty, and sine Truffaldino is indeed a clown and clowns can be rather foolish, she does not notice that there is a huge lake of water behind her. Eventually, orange #1 dies. Then, orange #2 dies because of the same reason. The Prince wakes up and realises only one orange is left. He cuts it open and finds Princess Ninetta. She is thirsty as well and he notices the lake of water because the signboard hints to him. They decide that they want to get married. Fata Morgana kidnaps the princess with the help of her coworkers. Smeraldina, who is one of the coworkers, wants to become queen as well- just like Clarice. As Princess Ninetta is kidnapped, Smeraldina goes to the King of Hearts' castle, where Prince Tartaglia is giving his father the good news. But, instead of Princess Ninetta entering the scene, Smeraldina enters and acts as if she was the one that he proposed to. The Prince tries to deny this statement but the King of Hearts says that a royal promise, is a royal promise. Prince Tartaglia was confused and stunned at the same time. I did not quite understand what happened after this, but at the end, Prince Tartaglia gets married to Princess Ninetta, the King of Hearts is happy, Leandro, Clarice, and Smeraldina are punished for their treacherous behaviour, and Fata Morgana and Celio have a dual to the death. 

The production was mainly composed of girl actors, but that did not affect the overall story or characterizations at all. The females that were playing male roles fitted in very well and it was believable that they were boys for the most part. Personally speaking, I feel that the role of Prince Tartaglia, Truffaldino, and Fata Morgana were played extremely well as they were full of energy and their actions depicted the nature of their character. For example, Fata Morgana walked a bit slow, which emphasized on her creepy, slyness. Her makeup was also very effective as the green eye shadow made her look more like a witch. The way Prince Tartaglia portrayed her illness was very believable because it was loud, and the sounds matched her body language. Although her voice was feminine, her costume made her seem masculine, along with her acting skills. Truffaldino's performance was outstanding. The amount of energy she used really added to her silly character. Her costume was very bright and colourful, which attracted my attention. The use of backdrops to display the different locations in the various scenes was clever as not much of the props on stage had to alternate to get the location across. The use of the ramps were advantageous as they were used for different reasons in several of the scenes (for example, the "Lake of Much Water" was behind it). The throne for the King of Hearts was also very convincing. The backstage crew did not take much time to transition betweens scenes, which kept the audience engaged. The smoke machine was extremely cool and some of the scenes would not have the same effect without it. The directing aspect of the play is not really visible to an audience member, as we were not there during the rehearsals of the production, and did not visually see the director's role. However, based on the fluidity of the play, I would have to say that it was directed very well and that the cast and backstage members knew what they were doing. Overall, I was quite entertained in certain sections of the play, but lost interest in other ones. For example, I found the scene at Creonti's castle entertaining, but I did not find the ball/celebration/festival entertaining. The one skill that was highly noticeable throughout the performance was the level of projection that the characters utilized. As this was an acoustic sort of performance, no one used any microphones, except for one singing scene with Truffaldino. The characters were all very loud and easy to hear, which aided the overall perception for the audience. The articulation- especially by Prince Tartaglia, the King of Hearts, and by Fata Morgana- was excellent. 

The technical elements of the play had many positives and negatives during the performance. Firstly, the elements include: the set design, the costumes, the props, sound design, and light design. As I mentioned previously, the backdrops were smartly invented as it showed you the location of the different scenes without having to change around many props. The ramp served many purposes, which made it helpful for the overall production. The costumes were designed and worn very well, as they suited the character's qualities. I would like to emphasise the costumes worn by Fata Morgana and Farfarello. They looked really great and wavy, which grabbed my attention. The colours of these costumes also complemented each other very well (e.g. green and black). Truffaldino's costume suited her character the most because just by looking at her, you can make the assumption that she is a jolly jester. The three oranges did indeed look like three oranges because of their round, orange, net costumes. There were not too many props used, but that made the production simpler and better. Using the black trees for the eerie, forest scenes was an excellent idea, especially when the backstage members were swaying them around with the smoke machine going off in the back. The prop that the narrator/Celio was using made her seem both powerful and weak at the same time, and I think that it looks like it has an element of magic. Using the vessel for the Prince to throw up in was a good idea, and is more effective than him throwing up in the sink or on top of the floor. As I have mentioned earlier, I think the scenes transitioned very well as the backstage crew was efficient and the cast members came on stage at an appropriate rate. If the scene required changes in props, it was done quite efficiently. The lighting was done excellently and on time, as I did not notice any mistakes or hinderances. The spotlight was clear each time and I think the lighting crew did a very hard working, and highly rewarding task as a whole. They did not get distracted and focused on making the performance as good as it could possible be. However, the main weakness of the production comes down to the execution of the sound cues. Although they were accurate most of the time, they were usually played either too late, or too early. For example, during Thursday's performance, Fata Morgana's signature "dun dun dun" sound was either played too late or too early, and she actually kind of scolded the sound manager, which added to the humour. The sound timings improved during the performance on Friday.

Overall, I think the play was produced well and I enjoyed some bits and pieces more than others. I liked the scenes that included Fata Morgana the best because her character just has some vibe to it that I really seem to enjoy. I also liked when Truffaldino interacted with the audience by running around us and throwing a chicken to a member. Prince Tartaglia's acting during his illness was also very enjoyable. If I could change the performance, I would change the ball/celebration scene, because I felt that it did not seem as entertaining as it was meant to be for the story. I would make the horse fight more dramatic and realistic by actually using stage combat and other dramatic elements. The twister could have also been more big scaled and more wild (i.e. wild positions). I expected the show to be a bit worse than I thought, because my first impression of the title of the play was really unusual and I was completely unsure of what the story would unravel.