In Thursday's lesson with Starbuck, we continued with our TIE piece for Miss Exton, our client. We were given the task of creating a 'How to Build a Macbeth' piece and the video that follows below is my group's response to the stimulus:
The video below is my analysis, reasoning and evaluation of the piece:
For our first TIE performance, our client is Miss Exton from the English Department who has requested that we focus on Macbeth for GCSE exams.
Our target audience is the Y11 cohort, numbering c.200, who are studying Macbeth as part of their English Literature GCSE. There may be an option to split the target audience into 4 ability groups but this would impact upon the depth in which we choose to look at the play in, in the performance. Therefore, we have to bare in mind that the performance will have to be made more complex for those of a higher ability and less so for those of a lower ability.
Miss Exton suggested that we perform in the Performance Space rather than in the Hall for the piece, however, this would be dependent on how many are in the audience at a given time - for a smaller audience, such as the ability groups, the Performance Space would be perfect however, for the whole cohort it would be beneficial to use the Hall due to overcrowding issues. Ultimately, it may be impossible to engage the whole cohort at the same time as this would restrict the workshop and conversation we would have at the end of the piece.
We would have one hour in which to perform and complete the workshop within the space of a lesson - which would be Monday P1 and Thursday P1 - which will constrict the amount we are able to cover and the amount that we can go into detail on. Therefore, it would be wise to maintain a focus on one or two elements of what Miss Exton suggested and concentrate on them in depth rather than go through too many elements too quickly and not in the detail needed in the exam. Miss Exton set us a performance deadline of 2 weeks after the Easter holidays which gives us just over 10 weeks to create the performance and the focus of the workshop.
We asked Miss Exton what she wanted us to cover in the piece and she gave us a rather long list. I don't think we will be able to cover everything she had said however, if we maintain a focus on a couple of things and go into depth, I believe this will be more beneficial to the cohort. The key things Miss Exton would like us to focus on are as follows:
Key speeches - this would include key quotes to remember. As there are many key speeches, I think it would be wise to ask Miss Exton what key speeches exactly she wants us to cover. This would also include some analysis of language and potentially a modern translation of what is being said by a key character. We should also focus on different layers of interpretation especially if we follow the ability group style in order to challenge those higher up. To make the piece more visually appealing we could have a PowerPoint with key quotes which the audience are more likely to remember.
Theme - Miss Exton gave us recommendations as to what themes we should cover which include the contrast of leadership, how the play can be seen as a tragedy and therefore how Macbeth can be seen as a tragic character - the hero versus the broken man. For this latter theme I think we could have Macbeth at the start of the play side by side with Macbeth at the end of the play and show the stark differences between them - this is something we could do at the beginning to show character arcs. Other themes are regicide and the supernatural.
Plot - Miss Exton mentioned that the audience will know most of the plot but there should be some reminders by using key scenes which are: the witches prophecy; the first time we see Lady Macbeth and Macbeth together; Macbeth having doubts about killing Duncan; Lady Macbeth's manipulation; the relationship between Macbeth and lady Macbeth after the murder; the banquet scene; return to the witches; Macduff being told about the death of his family (incorporating the theme of gender roles); and Macbeth's final soliloquy.
Character - alongside key speeches we should focus on character motivation, especially that of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Miss Exton mentioned that we could hotseat characters however this may not work because it relies on a lot of audience interaction which most likely will not happen.
Context - some use of context from the time but she didn't talk about this as much, apart from saying not to make it that obvious.
Other things Miss Exton mentioned was the use of a narrator (facilitator), the use of key words such as hamartia and catharsis, neutral clothing (perhaps with a symbolic item - I thought we could use the Brechtian method of placards), the use of humour and to mention the exam criteria throughout. She wanted the interactive element in the piece to be high but I fear that some students may not react positively to this, thus creating an awkward moment between the audience and the performers.
In future blogs I will examine and discuss the key characters and themes and analyse some aspects of the Shakespearean language so that I am prepared for the workshop afterwards.
In Chipp's lesson we discussed what the client had told us she wanted from the piece including the impact of the potential 4 different performances of which I have mentioned above.
We focused on the beginning of the piece and decided that we can use humour to enagage with our target audience and thus get us on the same side as they are as we could potentially relate to our audience. We decided to go with an exam style beginning to show some thoughts that some students may have during an exam whilst still maintaining the focus on Macbeth. The piece below is the final product of our work and incorporated our favourite parts from the other groups' small performance. I do think that the piece is thus far too long for a humorous introduction but it does have potential. I do think that the people and their thoughts at the exam desks should remain there whilst the audience comes in and look like they're preparing for an exam. We were missing 4 people from the lesson and these people could be the ones to introduce the piece whilst having those at exam desks still preparing which I think would be visually effective.
As I've implied before, TIE companies are often small and underfunded. They will often perform in a place that isn't a theatre and will have time constraints - most of the time they work in a school environment and have to take into consideration lesson times of which to fit their piece into.
Using this, we were asked to name the aspects of normal theatre under the headings of story, location and character as shown in the table below:
We were then asked to circle what constraints TIE would have on this 'normal' theatre as shown in the table below:
As seen, certain aspects of theatre will be somewhat impacted, although they may not be entirely impacted:
Music/Sound: The performance space may not have the equipment to manage such a thing. The company may not be able to afford a sound system or have the ability to transport it from place to place.
Transitions: The space may not be as big nor may the time constraints allow for lengthy transitions.
Blocking: The space may be too small and thus the blocking may not show properly for the MOO's to work.
Costume: May not have the ability to transport the costume or the budget to have any.
Volume: Depending on the size of the space, actors may have to be louder to fill it up.
Proxemics/Interaction: Smaller space means less opportunity to distance a character from one another thus impacting the MOO.
As seen, there are certain aspects of a TIE piece that would be impossible:
Lighting: Heavy, expensive equipment that can't be transported and a lack of darkness in the place which would mean that any lighting effect would not look as good.
Set: Has to be moveable and to easily fit into a variety of spaces.
As is evident, the only thing that is left are acting skills. However, a TIE piece will have a lack of character arc to make the character more engaging to an audience and to keep them emotionally invested. There are a few techniques within the realms of TIE to help this:
Dynamic asides (a form of direct address) tell the audience the things that a character wouldn't be able to reveal subtly in depth in a normal piece. It allows for some emotion and allows an audience member to easily connect with a character much quicker than in 'traditional' theatre.
As I have mentioned before, the target audience defines the style of the piece, be it naturalistic (Stanislavski) or abstract or have elements of physical theatre. The two videos below will highlight the differences between a Stanisvlavski style piece and an abstract style piece. For younger students a Stanislavski piece will be much easier to understand without having to infer much from the abstract movements.
A vital tool in TIE is humour because if that is used then an audience will be on the actor's side as they have been engaged with.
We focused again on TIE but this time through the means of a game of charades. Although most probably not something that would occur in a real TIE piece, it showed how easy it would be to convey a setting much quicker than what we had been doing before. This ability is important in TIE because of the time constraints that are placed upon the piece.
We were then split into groups - myself with Bella, Joel, and Lauren and told to make an image that conveyed loneliness to an audience with the use of a very simple set of 4 chairs - when performing a TIE piece it must be noted that the set will be limited but I will talk more about this in my next TIE blog. We made a rather abstract image of myself sat in the middle of the stage and the other three around me sat on chairs facing the opposite way. We were then tasked with making the image more suited to a target audience - either to children aged 9, teens aged 17, and adults over 65. We were given the children aged 9. In order to make the piece more suitable to this TA we would have to make the piece - now no longer a still image - more obvious with stereotypes that children would recognise. We decided that we would have a child not fitting in with their previous friendship group. We needed to make movements and facial expressions overexaggerated and shown to the audience much more because even if children don't understand the words they would understand the emotion.
Then we were given a new theme of intimidation with the same TA. We decided to keep the same setting of a playground because it is what most children would recognise - the 'plot' of ours was that a kid was trying to make friends with the popular children but is rejected and bullied by the others. It was suggested that we use a Facilitator (narrator) to introduce the characters and situation easily and under the time constraints. Again, we used stereotypes because it allows the kids to understand the situation better - we also don't have to be subtle with our stereotypes. We would, however, have to be careful with language - such as with the word 'liar' - which is basically blasphemy to children of that age.
Our final theme was the topic of Stranger-Danger. Again, we used the role of the Facilitator to introduce the piece/setting and to explain what different parts of the scene meant. We also were instructed to use 'Marking the Moment' (a dramatic technique used to highlight a key moment in a scene or improvisation; this can be done in a number of different ways: for example through slow-motion, a freeze frame, thought tracking, or music) and we had small pauses in the piece between the stranger and the child. We could have used the role of the Facilitator better by pausing the scene and having them explain to the audience or by having the audience give advice on what to do in the situation. We used repetition by having the same type of scene play out 2 times before the child took the advice and acted of her own accord - repetition is needed for children of that age because they will probably follow the instructions after seeing it played out many times.
Theatre in Education (TIE) is a theatre style first named in Britain in 1965 and typically includes a theatre company performing in an educational setting, such as a school. Alongside Director's Challenge, we will be exploring TIE and will create 2 TIE styled performances. Therefore, I think it is important that I investigate the style of TIE.
What is TIE? As suggested by Roger Wooster in 2016, the 'classic' TIE is where young people are engaged at an emotional personal level but are protected by the constructs of theatre. Following WW2, parents wanted a more egalitarian approach to education that nurtured as well as informed the young.
Main Aims
To get a point/message/piece of information across to an audience.
Who is it used by? By theatre companies employed by client's who want to spread a specific message to their target audience.
Differences between TIE and 'normal' theatre TIE is motivated by their target audience and the client's message rather than one of empathy or getting an audience to become emotionally attached to a character.
What type of theatre is it similar to? In some respects, it is quite similar to Brechtian theatre as both would have a strong social or political message, both break the fourth wall and therefore may have an element of audience participation.
Client's Role
In TIE the client's role is to provide the message irrelevant of what a theatre company thinks and will provide the funding.
Target Audience
This determines how the theatre company will shape their piece. If it is for children they have to be mindful of language and to not bore them by using facts.
In lesson, we looked at how to present a TIE piece to differing target audience's while still maintaining the client's main aim of decreasing deaths on the roads. The target audiences were children under 9 and adults over 25. We learnt to not be patronising, something which is clear from both pieces and to include more facts. Personally, I think that TIE is a great tool but is hard to pull off successfully.,
