Abdullah Mohd Nawi University of Canterbury

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia abdullahmnawi@utm.my

SWINBURNE DRAMA WORKSHOP

abdullah.mohdnawi@canterbury.ac.nz

copyright - Abdullah Mohd Nawi

Abdullah Mohd Nawi

• Lecturer & teacher trainer at Language Academy, UTM

• PhD candidate at University of Canterbury

• Experience teaching ESL/EFL at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels in the UK, Malaysia and New Zealand

• Experience in drama in UK, Malaysia & New Zealand

• Member of Drama New Zealand

:Question How much do you alreadyknow about drama/theatre?

Leading questions: Why do we go on stage? Is it a solo or collaborative effort? Surely say collaborative. Make them think - if you memorise the lines, and are able to say them, does that not make it a personal rather than a collaborative effort? How to make it collaborative? !Suggested answers: Done on stage To tell a story To entertain To make people think

Question: Is scripted theatre

collaborative or personal?

PART 1

• Warmup

• Basic stagecraft - breathing, voice projection

Warmup: Shakeout, Exaggerated vowels, Motorboat mouth, Mirrors, Marionette held at tailbone, sandbag with holes, Name, Whoosh. !!Focus on importance of touch. Importance of eye contact. !At the end ask: why do you think we did some of these activities?

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable”

PART 2: INTRODUCTION TO IMPROV THEATRE

• What is Improv? 2 types - gag improv, narrative improv

• Why improv - value of spontaneity and genuine interaction

• 3 rules of improv (Diggles, 2004)

• Dare to be obvious

• Dare to be average

• Do not try to be clever

• Two moralities & handling obscenity

• “Yes, and…?”

• Make your partner look good

• Taking and throwing focus

Throwing focus: Freeze Face 3/4 upstage Look at partner !Avoid conflict - Don’t argue. Say Yes, And…? !Expert game

• ACTIVITY: The Expert game

Special Focus: Status

• TASK: Groupwork - What are indicators of status? High & Low

• Discussion

Read out the example Loc 775 on iPad.

Status play 1

Status play 2

Samples taken from Diggles (2004)

TASK: Come up with a situation that requires two main players involving some form of status play.

You may use some of the keywords below for ideas:

Love Trouble Marriage CarBoat School Counsellor Desk

Window Knife Gun SmilePlane Carpet Bag MagazineLights Zoo Shoes FamilyApple Sky Pets PizzaFire Ocean Newspaper Air stewardess

Pairwork. One rep per group to take out 4 pieces of paper for group.

PART 3: WORKING WITH SCRIPT

Working with script

• Interchange of words

• Pacing

• Emotions

Pacing - like the class that I had under Janinka !TASK - Pairwork. Read dialogue in twos. Other two give feedback. Exchange. 8 people per group.

• TASK: Prepare sketch

• Write script - 4 parts - story of a love affair. 1 group will be responsible for meeting. 2 - proposal. 3 - in love. 4 - conclusion.

• Intersperse with the earlier parts of the story - this will be from improv.

Abdullah Mohd Nawi University of Canterbury abdullah.mohdnawi@canterbury.ac.nz

Thank you