The final topic in this comedy unit is adapted from a task in Matthew Clausen’s wonderful book Centre Stage. Students choose a current celebrity in society and satirise them in performance. From rock stars to prime ministers, students should choose a celebrity or well-known figure that would be well-suited to being mocked. Along the way, I teach students about parody and caricature, as elements of these forms of comedy naturally creep their way in to this task. Students write their own two-minute solo performance of a well-known figure in a typical setting for this person. It is best to avoid characters in films or television shows, but instead satirise the actor playing them. Students perform their solo twice. The first performance is an accurate imitation of their celebrity. The aim here is to imitate the voice, movement, facial expressions, gesture and energy of their character by researching them first on YouTube and then recording their observations. The next lesson, students receive teacher feedback from their first performance. The second performance uses the same script as the first, but the way in which the celebrity is performed is now exaggerated for comic effect and, hopefully, satire is born. All of a sudden voices are heavily accented, walks are exaggerated, and simple gestures now become very obvious. Occasionally changes are made to the original costume, with padding now accentuating a celebrity’s large bottom, stomach or breasts. Most students enjoy this task, partly because in choosing their own celebrity, they own it. Nevertheless, some students find this satirical solo performance a somewhat daunting experience, probably dependent on their skills and confidence. One thing is for certain though, the old adage it is easier to die in a Greek tragedy than pull off comedy successfully, definitely rings true.
Assessment
Typical criteria for tasks in this comedy unit may involve assessing a student’s:
- voice (accent, tone, pitch, pace, projection, diction)
- movement (rhythm, timing, blocking)
- facial expression
- gesture
- focus (concentration, memorisation of positioning on stage, text and actions)
- stagecraft (costume, props, make-up)
- energy
- actor-audience relationship
No comments:
Post a Comment