OnStage!

Everyone went on an excursion to go see OnStage!!! (except me). However, I did cry for an hour and convinced my parents to buy tickets for another day which they did. So I still got to see it (yay).

Most of the group pieces that were selected to be performed on OnStage were in the style of docudrama and raw, self devised pieces of theatre. I liked most of the group performances.

Monologues were mainly dramatic. However, the stand out monologue was a comedy.

I will shortly summarise each piece below.

(In order of the actual show)

Daddies For Dummies

• Synopsis: Three Fathers in search for advice. Lucky they found Davo! Davo knows everything. The placenta is an urban myth. Only 50% of babies need milk and the rest can survive on water!

• Lighting/Sound

• Blue background lighting with shadows.

• Faint baby crying noises

• Use of acapella sounds

• Characterisation

• Use of slapstick

• Contrasting characters

• Variety of emotions

• Tableaus and still moments

• Costume/ Props/Setting

• Blacks

• Baby dummies

• Personal reflection

• I found this performance highly entertaining. It was well rehearsed and had impeccable timing. The humour was also on point and was suitable to the audience. It was m favourite group piece.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

• Synopsis

• It’s big daddy Pollitt’s birthday. He is dying and the inheritance is undecided. Maggie confronts her husband Brick, but he is sunk in a gloom of alcoholism since his best friend Skipper died. Maggie wants the inheritance with the passion of a cat on a hot tin roof.

• Lighting

• Yellow red light

• No sound effects

• Costume

• White dress with chorus shoes (looked very Texas country)

• Characterisation

• Accent ( Southern American )

• Personal Reflection

• Personally I did not enjoy this piece as much as the others as I could not understand what she was saying because of the accent. It felt like she was more bothered about getting the accent right than actually building up character.

Tick Tock

• Synopsis

• Amelia has lived in a cupboard for 20 years , repenting for her disloyalty to her husband. When her seducer Jacob, returns she finds she no longer needs to fear him and that she has the key to her own salvation.

• Lighting/sound

• Purple spotlight on the cupboard

• Costume/stage:

• Pre-set cupboard

• Ratty old clothes, rags torn white skirt and grey vest

• Characterisation

• Insanity

• Heightened senses and emotions

• Personal reflection:

• This piece for me included a surprise factor when the tall girl crawled out of this tiny cupboard. It was fascinating to watch.

Boundless plains to Shhhh

• Synopsis: When you’re a refugee you can’t be scared. You can’t get in, you can’t get out. Can’t go forward, can’t go back. Australians all let us rejoice…

• Lighting

• Making sounds with their bodies and acapella sounds

• Costume/Props

• Wearing all blacks

• Using a ladder as different objects (aeroplane, train, boat)

• Characterisation

• Synchronised movement and speech

• Theatre of the absurd

• Personal Reflection

• I thought this piece needed an introduction. I did not get what it was about until I read the Program booklet. However the piece was done impeccably well. All the girls had awesome focus and great synchronisation for their choreography. Overall, it was a very moving piece of theatre.

Wasteland

• Synopsis

• Four characters show us through a world where plastic chokes us and survival is precarious. Happiness is fleeting and the only Jewel is a book – TS Elliot’s The Waste Land – giving voice to this heap of broken images

• Lighting/Sound

• Background sounds of water

• They had different lighting stages (spotlight on garbage bags, slow full stage wash)

• Costume/Props

• White flowy clothing (representative of plastic bags)

• Use of plastic

• Scattering of plastics like confetti

• Use of the book

• Use of Lots of cartons – made the cartons have several emotion by changing of the eyes

• Using toilet paper as steaming tears of sadness

• Using a big carton box as a boat

• Characterisation

• Very limited dialogue (related to Artaud: elimination of language conventions)

• Personal Reflection

• This piece was fantastic in terms of the use of props. I had personally never seen a piece use props thee way this group did so I thought it was very original. However, my teacher said that they had taken the idea from another group of performing artists. Overall, I thought this piece was great in terms of conveying the message across to the audience.

Breakdown

• Synopsis

• Dr. Elisabeth Kübler Ross proposed the five stages of grieving – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. It’s possible that hadn’t accounted for The Cool Girl when she thought it was possible to get past ‘anger’.

• Lighting

• General stage wash

• Stage

• Pre-set lectern

• Characterisation

• ABOSOLUTE BRILLIANCE (read personal reflection for more information on this)

• Personal Reflection

• This piece was my favourite by a mile. It is one of the best comedic monologues I have ever seen. The girl had such amazing focus and her focal point was amazing. When she was asking the audience a question, she was staring directly at the audience. Her hand gestures were used to perfection. She had great pace and her build up of tension to the swear word and then stuttering before saying the swear word was so realistic. I actually have nothing negative to say about this piece it was absolutely brilliant.

Goneril

• Synopsis

• King Lear, wishing to shake himself free of ‘all care and business’, is dividing his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. In order to decide who should have the largest share, he asks them to declare who loves him the most. Goneril’s words are melodious, but her heart is cold.

• Lighting

• Red backdrop lighting + full stage wash

• Costume

• Black long dress

• Characterisation

• Tried too hard to be comedic

• Personal reflection

• I thought the placement of this piece in the show was very harsh. It was right after Breakdown which made it almost impossible for me to get out of. Breakdown was AMAZING, then Goneril, though it was a comedic piece was not as comedic as Breakdown and so it looked like Goneril was trying too hard on stage to make the audience laugh. It also did not appeal to the audience enough as most people did not know the story of King Lear. However, like my drama teacher, I do believe that her editing of the piece was good. It was modernised and rearranged very well. Overall, I believe the piece would have more potential to be liked if it was placed somewhere else in the show.

Copyright

• Synopsis

• Infinity Corp, the greatest advertising company in the world, would like to explain something. No, it is not an apology! Brainwashing? Ha. Ha. Ha. An advertising company would never do that.

• Lighting

• Different lighting stages (spotlights, full stage washes)

• Costume

• Casual clothing (track pants, tights, tee-shirts)

• Characterisation

• Different accents

• Changes into different characters

• Synchronised/ Choreographed movements

• Personal reflection

• I thought this piece was very relatable. It was well choreographed. However, I thought that the pace was too fast for anyone to completely absorb one thing. As soon as they made their point in one scene they would move on to the next without giving the audience the time to digest the information. Overall, it was a very energetic ending piece.