Recently in Lizzie Hodgson Category
It came down to this:
The drama festival was amazing. I could have not had a
better first experience! I'm not just going to give you a run down of how our
play went, but of how we got to experience the cool things that come along with
being a drama student. There's a lot more than rehearsing and pizza with a few
friends. It's more than living in someone else's shoes for half an hour, then
finding out what could make it better and redoing it, but with more passion.
It's more than just meeting new people and awkwardly saying 'hi' in the halls
of the hotel. No, it's way more than that; it's all of that!
So, we get there, and we don't know anyone. We six people,
and then there's the rest of everyone, but don't worry, that was soon
rectified. A few short drama games the morning of the second day got us all
warmed up and talking. We had had three plays the night before, and we knew
that we were in the right place; lots of laughs, smiles, joy, overall good
moods. The plays were all done really well as well, I had a really good time
watching them, and I thought there were some outstanding actors.
Like I said, we had made some friends from the festival, and
at first it was, well no, we were actually immediately good friends. The drama
group from Appleby was hilarious and we fit right in. It was easy to get to
know them, because we all liked the same TV shows, like Doctor Who, Community,
Fringe, Supernatural... you get the picture. There was a pool party, hilarity
ensued. We made sure we cheered at the end of their play extra hard.
And then there was one. We were the last play to go, and I
think all of our late night practices were worth it. Besides the one mistake,
which wasn't too big, Bertha, we were fine. If you want to know what happened,
well, Bertha was the maid in this scene, and due to an unfortunate mishap,
could not get on stage at the specific moment what she needed to, which was no
fault of her own (wardrobe malfunction!). But there was some quick thinking by
Claire (Tessa), and everything was running smoothly. I think that the Carolyn
and Grace scene was one of our strongest. It was like I really was mad at Gabi,
even though I wasn't, and it made it believable. Gabi acted like a daughter
torn between two choices, which is good, because that's what the scene was
about.
Overall, I think that this was one of the best choices of my
life. I hope we can go back next year with another great play. I hope Mr.
Newman is gonna cook up something that can rival the Dining Room, I know it
will be hard, because a lot of work went in to making the dream a reality. I
would like to thank Mr. Newman for planning this whole thing and giving us the
opportunity to experience theater, as well as driving and the Timmy's runs!
We'll see you next year CISDF!
About Drama Festival Rehearsals
I think people would agree with when I say, LINES! Of course
my unpreparedness has made parts of rehearsing a bit hard. But over time I have
gotten better, and we have been able to block out all of the scenes. So far it
is coming together really well. Every time we find a little something to change
up, but we have memorized our ques.
There were a lot of ques for Gabi, because she is a maid in
two of the scenes, and she has to go in and out of the kitchen. I however am
lucky, and I really don't go anywhere other than the main stage and entering
and leaving.
It's hard to stay focused for 3 hours, but breaks for pizza
renew our energy and we're back to the 1900's. We have a practice tonight, just
for the grade 10 scenes. This is good because we haven't really been able to
rehears a full scene with no interruptions.
Now that I actually have my lines memorized, its just about
putting it all together and running without stopping. I know that we'll make it
for the 26th!
Since March break, six students have been rehearsing for the
Drama festival, at the end of April. I am one of them. There are six scenes
spanning through out many years from a play called the 'Dining Room'. It
explores the nature of humans when they interact and their feelings, all set in
a dining room. Each of us, four girls and two boys, plays an array of people of
different ages and financial standpoints. It really is a great play.
The first scene is the relationship between a father and his
children and wife. I play the daughter, Lizzie. The time period is about
1960's, and the family is a middle (possibly upper) class family. The scene
shows mostly the relationship between the boy and his father, and how the
children grew up back then.
The second scene I am in is exploring the choices a teenage
girl faces, and how her mother reacts. I play the mother who is adamant on letting
her daughter go to the theater with her maiden aunt. The mother tries all sorts
of ways to convince her daughter, especially when she tells her about how her
aunt ran away to Mexico with her riding teacher. This did not deter the
daughter and in the end the mother Grace runs after her not daring to give up.
The last scene I am in, as well as it being the ending scene
of the play is about a family and how they react when their uncle gets
insulted. The husband, Standish, tries to leave before dinner, and the wife,
Emily (me), asks him what is the matter. Standish has a very hard time
admitting that someone at the club called his brother gay, and the majority of
the scene is him explaining why he must go down there. The part I like best is
after Standish leaves and I take control of the situation, commanding the two children
to do chores and get ready to leave.
... was a weird movie. It is all about a teenage boy in the 1980's. He is just starting to go through the challenges of puberty and what happens when you actually grow up. Even though we are all probably a bit ashamed to say it, we were all snickering behind our hands at parts of the movie. I'm quite sure all of us were wondering what the director was thinking when he decided to make this movie. Among other weird things mention in this movie, One of the main things that Eugene wanted was to see a naked woman.
The true purpose of the movie didn't really reveal its self until about the last fifth of the movie. When the brother opted to go and join the army, and the main character Eugene, had to stop him, he talked about losing his innocence. That was when the message of the movie because apparent.
All of the trivial problems suddenly lead up to one big
fight that actually brought the family closer together. Lots of small issues
got resolved, and Eugene finally got his one with, to see a naked woman. Also,
he matured and was finally able to start acting like a man, rather than a boy.
Even though it was a weird movie, it did have a pretty good message, but I don't
even know if I would watch it again... or with my parents...
Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Our drama class
saw it at the Soulpepper Theater. It was an amazing production by the Soulpepper
acting company. There were only five actors in total, a small set and a simple
plot. Sometimes big things come in small packages. It featured Diego Matamoros, as Jacob Engstrand, Michelle Monteith, as Regina Engstrand, Nancy Palk,
as Mrs.
Helene Alving, Gregory Prest,
as Oswald Alving, and Joseph Ziegler, as Pastor Manders. There
were three things that I had comments on, the plot, the sets, and the actors.
In my mind these are the three most important things to look for in a play.
The plot, oh the plot! I
loved the plot of this story. It was about a widow, Mrs. Alving, who has a son,
Oswald. He is a painter, and spends most of his time "In the city". The maid,
Regina, has a father, Jacob Enstrand. Jacob the carpenter works in Mrs.
Alving's orphanage. The thing is, it seems simple at first, but as the story
progresses, we find out about Mrs. Alving's ghosts, and how they haunt her.
Ibsen did a great job on writing a small play, with a small cast, and he kept
me interested in the subject the whole time. I must admit, it did take them a
while to get to the point in some cases. The twists and turns made me see that
everyone has their ghosts and you life doesn't jus run in a straight line.
Trying to see around the corners is impossible. Mrs. Alving new where her life
would turn, but she took the chance anyway, and she discovered many things
along the way. The dark gothic feel of the play reflected how Oswald was
feeling. At the end when he was able to tell his mother how he felt correlated
with the change in mood, and when the sun rose, ending the play.
The set was perfect.
There is nothing more that I could say about it. The gothic look gave it a
melancholy sense. It was pathetic fallacy, the way the set reflected and
mirrored the characters emotions and feelings. One thing that I found about the
set was that the pillars didn't really suit the theme. The rest was 1900's
furniture, with winged armchairs, and beautiful filigree covers, but I found
the Pillars oddly modern. This, however, was not a huge concern of mine; I was
too wrapped up in the rest of the play!
Just as Mr. Newman said,
Soulpepper rose to the challenge, and the acting was flawless. The actors
worked well together, and like a well-oiled machine, nothing was rough or
awkward. They could act and preform, and put on a show. No line was muttered,
or unclear, and I enjoyed watching them preform. They chose the right actors
because they could react to each other so well. When you're acting, reacting is
just as important, in my mind.
It turns out that Ghosts is much more than just a woman's skeletons in the closet. It
dealt with relations, mortality and family values. I thought that the play was
amazing. It had a great plot that kept you engaged, an excellent set, and
actors who knew what they were doing. I would love the opportunity to see
another of Soulpepper's plays, because Ghosts
was, well you could call it haunting!
November 10th 2011 was the day of the remembrance
day ceremony. It was a beautiful and touching ceremony. This was also the day
that we, the grade ten drama class, preformed our dramatic piece for the Upper
School. It was two poems, one by Jessie Pope, and the Other by Wilfred Owen,
and read some snippets from letters sent in world war one. It went really well from the amount of
complements that we got through out the day.
As a group, we worked fluently. The movements were
choreographed and perfectly timed. I think that we probably could have
projected more, but for a first performance, it was good. The first poem, Who's For The Game, I hoped we would
remember a line that was awkward to say, and easily forgotten, but we did
remember it, even if there was a short pause! The second poem, Dulce Est Decorum Et, was perfect. We
have been rehearsing it since the middle of September, so we knew it backwards
and forwards.
Personally, I had fun. At first, the shy part of my
personality took over, and I had a hard time getting over the idea that we had
to preform for people. But I did, and I feel more accomplished now. I can
preform, in front of people! It's a new concept for me because I thought I
wasn't a good actor, or performer, but I really enjoyed it. My hands of course
were still shaking, when I got up there, and I could feel everyone's eyes on
us, but like I said, it was fun!
This is something that I would like to do again. As a group,
because we all work well with each other. It was a new experience, and I liked
it. Acting might be something I consider doing more regularly
I have never really experienced the joys of a monologue
being preformed before. Last week the grade eleven and twelve students
preformed a few monologues for the rest of the drama class. Even thought I had nothing to compare them
to, I thought they were a wonderful experience! It was a new thing for me, and
I hope this can continue next year. The students preforming looked like they
had a fun time rehearsing and preforming.
Each person chose their own monologue, and I have a few
comments. Jeff did a really great job on the emotions and acting. He seemed so
frustrated, and there were a lot of pent-up emotions inside of his character,
and Jeff conveyed that well. Bella also did an excellent job of showing he
characters emotions. She was calm and the situation almost felt normal to her,
talking to a dead man. It seemed as though her character was lonely, but kind
and sweet natured.
Jacob and Rory had great props that made their performance
go from great, to excellent! The props weren't over used, or made any
commotion, which was good. I got the sense that the props were needed to make
the scene. Also their interaction with the props was good. It wasn't made o be
about the objects, but they were essential to the tableau.
Ellen and Robin chose great monologues. I loved the subject
matter in each, and I would love to see the play they were from. It was a great
snippet of someone else's life. Robin's was funny at times, and Ellen's got me
thinking. They each acted the part very well, and when I get to see them again
this Friday, I'm sure I will enjoy them just an much.
If I was to ever do a monologue, I would remember the day
that I first saw a monologue. In the English class, done by my fellow students.
I could for sure take a leaf out of all of their books!
