Kristie

I am in the Macbeth group, playing the main role of Macbeth. We have decided on portraying Macbeth as a 'WOW" nerd. The costume we have chosen is pictured on Laurens page.

__ Q1. Describe examples of how two non-naturalistic theatrical conventions were used to tell the story in this performance. __ Song- The singing throughout the musical Wicked is a non-naturalistic convention. It helps to tell the story and fill in the characters feelings at that moment of the performance. When Elphaba sings “I’m not that girl” after Fiyero and Glinda have just walked off stage together, she shows the audience that she is happy for him but wishes it was her leaving with him. The song is sung in a slow tempo to create the effect of sadness. When Elphaba and Glinda sing “what is this feeling” they show the audience that they share a mutual hate. The song is played in a fast tempo to show the excited anger of the song. Costume- Before Galinda or Elphaba being to even speak their lines, the audience sees that they are different because of the clothes they wear. Galinda come onto the stage wearing a perfect, pretty white outfit, with hair in perfect curls, showing that she is very perfect and popular. Elphaba comes on stage wearing a long, black, baggy dress with a very different beanie, showing that she is an outcast of the ensemble. __ Q2. Describe one character from the performance, including a brief description of their personality, status, and motivation (what did they want?) and their purpose in the plot (who or what did they represent). __ The wizard is a father/god like figure who is looked up to by all the citizens of Oz. He gets a taste of power when he first arrives in Oz and decides to abuse that power. He wants to make a town, perfectly suited to everything he wants so he uses Elphaba to get that dream town. He causes the conflict between Elphaba and the citizens of Oz when he asks her to give his monkeys wings so that they may spy on Oz for him. When Elphaba refuses to help him spy, he convinces Oz that Elphaba is evil. Being a man of high status, they believe him. __ Q.3 Evaluate how one actor used his/her expressive skills to portray their character. You will need to describe at least 3 specific skills the actor used and evaluate how effective these were to portray the character to the audience. __ Anthony Callea uses his voice very well to portray the character of Boq. Being a quiet, timid school boy, infatuated with the popular girl, Galinda, Anthony Callea speaks in a quiet tone, stuttering every now and then. As the performance plays on his voice becomes louder expressing his hatred towards Elphaba. He shows courage by wanted to kill her and his stuttering subsides. Anthony Callea’s movement at the start of the performance is short, quick and stiff. He has very little movement unless dancing with the ensemble. He also trembles a little when talking to Galinda, showing his uneasiness being the scrawny student. As the performance continues his movements become bigger. When he is turned into the tinman he gets his stiffness back in his movements but still performs big, eager movements. Anthony Callea’s facial expression was used very clearly, as sitting way up the back of the theatre, we were still able to see his emotions move across his face. He is so eager when Galinda asks a favour of him and shows this by the huge smile across his face. When he is Nessarose’s servant he has a scared look across his face as though he is about to do something wrong. __ Q4. Evaluate how two dramatic elements were used to engage the audience and communicate meaning. You may refer to the use of any stagecraft elements as part of your answer. __ __ You may describe one moment from the performance where 2 dramatic elements were presented together or 2 separate examples for each dramatic element. __ Conflict is shown when Elphaba has just helped the wizard for a purpose she believes to be wrong. She becomes angry and starts “flying off the handle.” When the citizens of Oz are notified of what has happened the conflict moves from being between The Wizard and Elphaba to being between Elphaba and all of Oz. The conflict leads up to the climax of the production, “Defying Gravity”. Elphaba decides to stand up for what she believes in, standing up to all of Oz. The song Defying Gravity gets the audience sitting up in their seats, giving they a great feeling of power and support to Elphaba. __ Q5. For one of the moments represented in the pictures, or for another moment of your choice, explain how two stagecraft elements were used in the performance. __ In the first picture shown, the day in Emerald City, the main focus of colour is green. The set and costumes, designed in green remind us of the movie The Wizard of Oz. The green setting, being the colour of peace, a happy colour, shows the audience that the characters are happy to be in the Emerald City. The costumes, also green, are so bright and sparkling that they show the happiness of the Emerald City. In the song “one short day” Glinda and Elphaba sing that the Emerald City is a “place where they belong”. This makes the audience think about Glinda fitting in because of the gorgeous outfits, and Elphaba fitting in because of the fact that the city is green.