Name: NATIONAL 5 DRAMA

PREPARATION for PERFORMANCE

Class:
LOG (PfP)
Teacher:

Your acting piece

Title:

Playwright:

Role:

PREPARATION for PERFORMANCE LOG (PfP)

STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION
Play title + playwright + when it was written (period) and where it is
set.

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RESEARCH
Give information about the play (as a whole) based on information
gathered from your research process. You might discuss
themes/issues, character relationships and motivation, genre and
genre features etc.

DESCRIPTION OF ROLE
Give specific information about the character you have selected to
portray – personality, motivation, relationships, status etc. This
should be based on your textual analysis of the play.

REHEARSAL PROCESS
Explain what practical activities you did and how these have helped
you develop a realistic character. You should refer to a minimum of
two activities.

FINAL AGREED INTERPRETATION OF ROLE

Describe how you will you use voice and movement to communicate
your final interpretation of the character with an audience. If you have
chosen to portray the character slightly differently you should use this
section to make these changes clear to the examiner.

PREPARATION for PERFORMANCE LOG (PfP)

ACTIVITIES
TASK 1: Create a PPT with all your findings.

Read reviews/articles Read Play

 Shadow Performance  Shadow Performance 2
 Find out more about
Watch YouTube Clips
playwright
 Shadow Performance
RESEARCH

Investigate the period

Investigate themes/issues
 Shadow Performance
 Shadow Performance

Investigate setting (location)

 Shadow Performance

What you did... What you found out...

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TASK 2:
Describe the DRAMATIC FEATURES of your script extract.

THEMES/ISSUES
A theme is the central idea of a
piece of work. An issue is an
important topic/problem that STRUC
is explored. MESSA

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SOCIAL/CULTURAL INFLUENCES
TASK 3:
CHARACTER CARD

Name:

Age:

Occupation:

Role:

Background:

Personality:

Purpose:

Voice (accent, pitch, pace, tone, pause,

emphasis, volume, clarity, articulation,
fluency, intonation, register)

Movement (body language, eye contact,

facial expression, gesture, mannerisms,
posture, pace,
stance, levels)

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VOICE TERMS

TERM DEFINITION
Pitch How high or low a voice is.
Pace The speed of speech.
Emphasis Stress on a word or phrase.
Volume How loud or quiet a voice is.
Accent Way of speaking in a country or local area.
Clarity Clearness of the voice.
Intonation The rising and falling of the voice.
Pause A break in speaking; a period of silence.
Tone The changing of the voice to express emotion.
Articulation Clear pronunciation of words.
Fluency Natural, flowing speech.
Projection Strength and volume in the voice when
speaking.
Register Appropriate speech for the person being
spoken to.
Rhythm Words delivered following a beat or pattern.

MOVEMENT TERMS

TERM DEFINITION
Body Language Messages given by the position of the body.
Facial Expression Look on the face to show emotion.
Eye Contact Where the eyes are looking to portray emotion.
Gesture A movement of the hand or arm, which
communicates a message.
Mannerisms A common movement used by a character to
show personality.
Posture How the body is held upright.
Positioning The placement of the actors on stage.
Proxemics The positioning and distance of characters on
stage to give dramatic impact.
Use of Space The way the character moves around the space.

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TASK 4:

CHARACTERISATION ACTIVITIES

Writing In Role
This means imagining that you are your character and writing to
another character or the audience to explain more details about
yourself or a situation.

Thought Tracking/Tapping
The character speaks their thoughts aloud
I can’t stand this
anymore. Why does he
treat me like this? I
don’t think I deserve it.
What am I going to do?

Hot Seating
This is when a character is questioned in role. The character and the
questioners must remain in role to find out more information.
How do you get
on with your
Ever since the
siblings?
accident I
haven’t been
able to trust
them.

Improvisation
Using a stimulus to create and present a performance on the spot.

Character Card
Completing an information sheet with details about the character’s
personal details.

Character Swapping
Swapping roles and running the scene to see what it is like from a
different perspective.

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 TASK 5:

SCRIPT ANNOTATION
 Annotate your script with detailed information about how
you will use voice and how you will move (your blocking)
during your final acting piece.
 Select two key moments that your character is involved in
and mark these with a star (*) on your script extract.
 Record information about these key moments in the table
below.

Example
Key Brief Acting Concepts Justification
Momen Description (Motivation/Subtext/Audien
t of Action ce Reaction)

1 Scene 1 when I would use an angry tone I want to show the audience
my character of voice. I would clench my that I am very frustrated
has an fists. My body language with what is happening. I
argument with would be open and my eyes want them to be surprised by
his mum would be open wide and my reaction, as it is
about staring. confrontational. This shows
truanting that my character is angry
school. which is how I want to
portray him throughout the
performance.

Key Brief Acting Concepts Justification

Moment Description (Motivation/Subtext/Audience
of Action Reaction)

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 PfP - EXAMPLE
INTRODUCTION
For my acting role, I have chosen to play Poncía from "The House of Bernada
Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca. The play is set in a 1930s Spanish village,
which tells the story of a family who has suffered a recent bereavement.
RESEARCH
"The House of Bernada Alba" displays many themes, which are reflected
through my character. The theme of repression, for example, is displayed
when she speaks to Bernada about how her daughters will attempt to break
away from her control. She is the only one who can truly stand up against
Bernada’s tyrannical rule over the family. This relates to a historical context,
as at the time the play was written and set, Spain was a dictatorship.
Federico Garcia Lorca was an outspoken member of the dictator Primo de
Rivera's opposition. He was assassinated before he could see his play
brought to the stage. Another strong theme reflected through Poncía is
religion. The religious theme is the main reason for the repression in this
play, and Poncía reflects this through her language, when she says "Don't go
against the law of God!" Many of the names in this piece are also symbolic
and Poncía is no exception. Her name relates particularly to the religious
aspect of the play and it could be a reference to the biblical character,
Pontius Pilate, as she simply observes the unfairness that she sees in the
Alba household but does nothing to actually stop it.
DESCRIPTION OF ROLE
Poncía is a 60 year old woman who could be described as calculated and
vindictive. She is two-faced and mean but also very intelligent. Poncia has
high status in the household because she is fully aware of the things that
are going on around her. Poncia is the only character brave enough to stand
up to Bernarda and tries desperately to make her see some sense about
what she is doing to her daughters and how it is wrong.
REHEARSAL PROCESS
At the beginning of the rehearsal process I read the play and support notes
about the play’s dramatic features. This helped me to understand my
character better and it taught me that Poncia spends a great deal of time
observing what is going on around her. I enjoyed developing a more rounded
idea of her background, which I did by writing in role. In this exercise I wrote
a letter to my son to explain what has been happening in the Alba household
since Antonio had passed away. Here I realised that Poncia despises
Bernarda and feels some pity towards Adela. I also participated in a thought
tunnel exercise, where I shouted about Librada's daughter, who was killed
for becoming pregnant outside of a marriage. I discovered that my character
thinks that what happened is disgraceful and this is because of her strict
religious views.
FINAL AGREED INTERPRETATION OF ROLE
In my final performance I will portray Poncia as someone who is a bit
younger than 60 year old. In my mind Poncia is not a frail old woman but is
someone who is bold and feisty.
I chose to highlight the two-faced aspect of her personality. I did this by
using completely different tones when speaking to different characters. I
decided Poncia would be quite aggressive with Adela in the extract. To show
this I invade her personal space quite often, grit my teeth as I talk and use
angry facial expressions. The shove I include at the end of the scene depicts
my frustration with Adela and the despair that I feel for what is to become of
her. My sad tone and quiet volume here should help to show this to the

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 YOUR PfP – FIRST DRAFT
INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH

DESCRIPTION OF ROLE

REHEARSAL PROCESS

FINAL AGREED INTERPRETATION OF ROLE

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 YOUR PfP – SECOND DRAFT
INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH

DESCRIPTION OF ROLE

REHEARSAL PROCESS

FINAL AGREED INTERPRETATION OF ROLE

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