Theatre Performance

& Production

Level 1 & 2

The Level 1 & 2 courses cover a range of theatre arts disciplines, both performance based and behind-the-scenes in production. All students will complete all units but depending on whether you are a performance or a production student, or still deciding, the type of work you cover within each unit will vary. This will allow you to explore a wide spectrum of theatre arts and then specialise further down the line in your studies. Students will work closely together as a company of training professionals, each following their learning through a range of practical "hands on" and written/research projects. As well as acquiring practical skills and performing in or producing shows, students will study the context of theatre and look at the employment opportunities available. The College offers facilities unrivalled in the region, including a 160-seat professional theatre, high specification rehearsal and dance studios, and extensive production workshops.

Karamazoo

Lockdown came just as we were beginning to form our ideas for a devised show and were not something we could complete in isolation. We discussed doing monologues about being in Lockdown but it has been a worrying time for students so it was decided not to focus on what was happening around us but to do what Theatre does - allow ourselves to use our imaginations and become other characters.

Karamazoo is a play written by Philip Ridley for one character - a very long monologue - and one that lends itself to a filmed ‘talking heads’ format. Within the monologue a modern day child’s fairy tale is told which is a metaphor for the character of ‘Ace’. The monologue has been split into sections and each of the sections is performed by a different performer playing the same character. Two are from Level 2 and the third is a Level 1 performer. The students who have been in a place where they can work effectively and have had some resources and relatively reliable internet connection have worked hard to produce some stop motion animation films that tell this fairy tale. Although stop motion animation is not a usual skill we look at on the course, it does come under the umbrella of Audio Visual Design and has given the students some experience and skills they would not have usually explored at this level.

Karamazoo has two versions, one with a male character and the other with a female character, both called Ace. Each version has a different fairy tale. In this presentation we will be showing extracts from both versions together with their different fairy tales in animation form.

This is the first time Level 1 & 2 have been invited to participate in METfest and I am proud of their hard work under challenging conditions.

Cheryl Jones

Level 1 & 2 Lead Tutor

Instructions

Karamazoo is a one character play but for the purposes of the project we split the play into sections and each performer took a section to work on, playing the same character of Ace. Please note that the complete play is not fully represented here. During the play the character recites their deceased parent’s story and this is represented by the stop motion animations. The animations do not occur in the order of the original play.

It is important to watch the videos in order of their parts starting with Part 1.

The ALTERNATIVE PARTS are the female version of the play showing the story the character tells and the beginning of the monologue. PART 5 EXTRA is an alternative to the Dolphin Story and is a film created by a Level 1 student.