1) What character were you playing and how did you try to portray this character to the audience? (how did you want the audience to think of your character?)
My character was Roderigo, the rich, unintelligent guy who thinks that if he sends Desdemona enough expensive presents, she'll fall in love with him. In this scene where Roderigo is talking to Iago in a duologue he's usually portrayed sad and miserable, however I wanted to show a more confident and passionate side of his to show his true emotions. I wanted the audience to understand his "blinded by love" point of view, doing anything to get the love of his life and that meant even trusting a psychotic evil persona Iago.
2) Was there a part of your scene that you thought was the most effective? Or a line that you think you delivered well? (explain and describe)
There were a few climatic parts in our scene, usually Iago or Roderigo exploding with rage from what the opposite side would constantly be ranting on about. I believe for me personally the strongest part was either Roderigo's rage after Iago consulting him with garden metaphors, or Iago's long monologues showing various tones and moods, again all contributing to his maniac characteristic. In further detail, Roderigo's range was built up during the beginning of the play, where he just discovered that Desdemona, the love of his life, was legally eloped (married) with Othello, "the guy who has stolen Desdemona from him". This sadness, anger and mistrust of Roderigo leads to Iago using him and getting him on his side to also attack Othello for his own reasons. During this mini talk we were in the front left stage where a couple of blocks were placed for us to sit down and talk. The blocks were low and that showed more power towards the characters once they stood up, portraying the power in height difference contrasting their dominance. We were also in the front so that the audience would be more engaged (this was for both the parts), so that they would be able to witness a more intense element of the scene. Roderigo's line was "This isn't the time to be talking about your gardening problems! I have a whole in my heart that needs to be filled with Desdemona's love!" which was delivered right after Iago when he was comforting him for the elopement. Iago's monologue was the perfect time to show the anger building up, for example to show this I was breathing louder, cracking my knuckles and even face-palming. These were all body language to show his annoyance towards what Iago was trying to consult. Once it was all built up and Roderigo couldn't take it anymore, he exploded, flipped his block that he was sitting on and intimidated Iago and the audience through his outrage.
3) What was the greatest challenge for you in this task? How did you overcome it?
I believe for the both us the most challenging part of this task was to portray the characters manly. There were parts in the scene where my character was required to be shown as miserable however it was complicated to make it less feminine as this mood would open up spots to vulnerability of making it too girly. And it was those little gestures that could change the entire role of the character that we worked hard to cover up. We were able to overcome the issue by many techniques, lowering our voices, standing tall and strong, avoiding little gestures especially neck and head waving like a bratty girl but the most effective one was keeping someone manly in mind. I believe the characters were able to evolve through these techniques.
4) How do you think the performance went overall? Was there anything that could have been improved? What could you have done better?
Overall I believe the performance was excellent, we worked hard and watching the recording over and over again there were less mistakes than expected probably only two or three. If we were to do this again I would probably want my character to seem more clueless, however the way I portrayed him was a different light and a new side to Roderigo. I would also want my character to say more lines in between Iago's speeches. Such as ad-libbing random but relevant things.
5) If you think back to the start of this unit, what performance skills do you think you have developed across the term? (confidence, voice projection, use of gestures and movement etc..)
In the start of this unit I was confused with the gestures and movements needed for Shakespeare plays as I didn't want to make them seem too overdone but I now understand that the gestures can be anything from mini to huge. I also became more familiar with stage business, mainly because my character had a lot less to say so he had to stay busy and not randomly standing there doing nothing. I was able to show this through movement and gestures.
6) What was the best part of the Othello unit and all the work you did in class? What was valuable to you about learning about this play?
I enjoyed working with a script because it gave us more time to plan the movements. Once the base of what we were meant to say was settled we were able to build on it improving bits and pieces easily.
7) If you had to do this unit again, what would you do differently or what would you improve?
If we were to do this unit again I would want both the classes to participate in the comedy version as well as the modern because from both the plays, both the classes were able to improve different skills that would help them boost confidence as well us have more fun.
8) Anything else?
My character was Roderigo, the rich, unintelligent guy who thinks that if he sends Desdemona enough expensive presents, she'll fall in love with him. In this scene where Roderigo is talking to Iago in a duologue he's usually portrayed sad and miserable, however I wanted to show a more confident and passionate side of his to show his true emotions. I wanted the audience to understand his "blinded by love" point of view, doing anything to get the love of his life and that meant even trusting a psychotic evil persona Iago.
2) Was there a part of your scene that you thought was the most effective? Or a line that you think you delivered well? (explain and describe)
There were a few climatic parts in our scene, usually Iago or Roderigo exploding with rage from what the opposite side would constantly be ranting on about. I believe for me personally the strongest part was either Roderigo's rage after Iago consulting him with garden metaphors, or Iago's long monologues showing various tones and moods, again all contributing to his maniac characteristic. In further detail, Roderigo's range was built up during the beginning of the play, where he just discovered that Desdemona, the love of his life, was legally eloped (married) with Othello, "the guy who has stolen Desdemona from him". This sadness, anger and mistrust of Roderigo leads to Iago using him and getting him on his side to also attack Othello for his own reasons. During this mini talk we were in the front left stage where a couple of blocks were placed for us to sit down and talk. The blocks were low and that showed more power towards the characters once they stood up, portraying the power in height difference contrasting their dominance. We were also in the front so that the audience would be more engaged (this was for both the parts), so that they would be able to witness a more intense element of the scene. Roderigo's line was "This isn't the time to be talking about your gardening problems! I have a whole in my heart that needs to be filled with Desdemona's love!" which was delivered right after Iago when he was comforting him for the elopement. Iago's monologue was the perfect time to show the anger building up, for example to show this I was breathing louder, cracking my knuckles and even face-palming. These were all body language to show his annoyance towards what Iago was trying to consult. Once it was all built up and Roderigo couldn't take it anymore, he exploded, flipped his block that he was sitting on and intimidated Iago and the audience through his outrage.
3) What was the greatest challenge for you in this task? How did you overcome it?
I believe for the both us the most challenging part of this task was to portray the characters manly. There were parts in the scene where my character was required to be shown as miserable however it was complicated to make it less feminine as this mood would open up spots to vulnerability of making it too girly. And it was those little gestures that could change the entire role of the character that we worked hard to cover up. We were able to overcome the issue by many techniques, lowering our voices, standing tall and strong, avoiding little gestures especially neck and head waving like a bratty girl but the most effective one was keeping someone manly in mind. I believe the characters were able to evolve through these techniques.
4) How do you think the performance went overall? Was there anything that could have been improved? What could you have done better?
Overall I believe the performance was excellent, we worked hard and watching the recording over and over again there were less mistakes than expected probably only two or three. If we were to do this again I would probably want my character to seem more clueless, however the way I portrayed him was a different light and a new side to Roderigo. I would also want my character to say more lines in between Iago's speeches. Such as ad-libbing random but relevant things.
5) If you think back to the start of this unit, what performance skills do you think you have developed across the term? (confidence, voice projection, use of gestures and movement etc..)
In the start of this unit I was confused with the gestures and movements needed for Shakespeare plays as I didn't want to make them seem too overdone but I now understand that the gestures can be anything from mini to huge. I also became more familiar with stage business, mainly because my character had a lot less to say so he had to stay busy and not randomly standing there doing nothing. I was able to show this through movement and gestures.
6) What was the best part of the Othello unit and all the work you did in class? What was valuable to you about learning about this play?
I enjoyed working with a script because it gave us more time to plan the movements. Once the base of what we were meant to say was settled we were able to build on it improving bits and pieces easily.
7) If you had to do this unit again, what would you do differently or what would you improve?
If we were to do this unit again I would want both the classes to participate in the comedy version as well as the modern because from both the plays, both the classes were able to improve different skills that would help them boost confidence as well us have more fun.
8) Anything else?
This is superb Deniz, you have answered many questions in great detail demonstrating an excellent understanding of the play and a real depth of thought. I like that you have been honest and that you do feel that this was a valuable experience for you in developing your drama skills. Well done. 8/8 Criteria D
ReplyDelete