Transcript Performance analysis questionnaire

The Performance Analysis Questionnaire
In the pages that follow, we have created a detailed questionnaire to
help you collect your impressions, responses and understandings of a
live performance. The analysis of performance is an increasingly
complex activity for the reasons that we have outlined in Chapter 10.This
complexity requires great detail in the questionnaire. There is so much
that one might respond to both before, during and after a performance,
and performance in today's theatre takes many different forms and has
many social functions. The questionnaire is designed to include every
sign of performance and to include both the analysis of devised
performances and performances based on an existing play text.
The questionnaire is in six sections, as follows:
1 Expectations. We seldom go to a performance cold. More usually we
have a set of expectations of the play, of the director and the venue
among other sources of information that create a certain expectation of
the performance itself.
2 Summarise expectations. In this section you are asked to gather
together your expectations prior to the performance itself.
3 Pre-performance. Once you arrive at the venue, you encounter other
sources of information about the performance from the venue itself and
from the visual and spatial arrangements in the auditorium prior to the
opening of the show.
4 Text in Performance. If the performance is based on an existing play
text, you will need to consider how effectively the play text has been
translated into performance. This section will be particularly important
when you watch the performance of one of your set texts or of a play text
you are studying or know well.
5. Performance Text. In this section you make an analysis of the actors'
technical and interpretative skills in performance. You also consider the
use of technical theatre, and the dynamics, or flow, of the performance.
6 Post-performance. Finally, we help you to collect together your first
impressions into a framework for group discussion so that you can
share your responses and gain from the views of others in your group.
Each section makes use of some of the terms that we have introduced
in this book and asks a number of key questions about the performance.
At some point in your studies it would be valuable to try and complete
the entire questionnaire for a live performance so that you can become
aware of all that is involved in making, performing and responding to
performance. If you experience the performance in a group then you
could divide up the various sections of the questionnaire so that
individuals take responsibility for making a complete response to one
section only. In other situations, you may want to select from the
questionnaire according to the type of performance that you are going to
see and your own purposes for making an analysis. There are parts of
the questionnaire which will be irrelevant if you go to see a devised
performance rather than a performance of a play text, for instance. You
may want to focus on a particular aspect of the performance such as the
acting or the use of technical theatre, in which case you would focus on
those sections rather than trying to keep a record of all the sections.
The questionnaire will also be useful to you in the final stages of your
own performance work. It provides you with a checklist of all that you
will need to consider in polishing your work for public performance.
1.
P
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Expectations
Play Text
Title?
Is it: a new play, revival, classic, translation,
adaptation?
Author
(if
applicable)
Is this a new or established author?
What else has she or he written?
Is the author’s cultural background relevant in
terms of gender, cultural/ethnicity, social class?
P
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Period
(if applicable)
In what historical period was the play written?
What historical period is the play set in?
What do you know about these periods?
Genre
Is the play in a particular genre?
What other plays have you seen and studied that are
in the same genre?
What do you expect from plays in this genre?
Director
Does the director have a reputation?
If so for what kind of work? (e.g. playwright's
director/auteur)
Company
Is it a permanent company (e.g. RSC/Rep/nationally
known)?
Are there any 'stars'? If so what previous work have
they done?
Venue
What type of venue is it?
What else have you seen there?
What do you expect from shows at this venue?
Reviews
Has this performance been reviewed?
If so what were the opinions and points raised in the
reviews?
Publicity
How and where has the show been marketed?
What images and text are used in the marketing?
Does the publicity target a particular audience?
Friends
Do you know anyone who has already seen the
show?
What's the word?
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2. Summarise Expectations
Based on your pre-performance research:
What do you expect the performance to be like, in terms of style and effect?
What problems might there be in the staging of this play?
If you have already studied the play what will you be looking for in the
performance? Are there any interesting differences in the reviews to note?
What do you expect to enjoy/not enjoy in this performance?
3. Pre-performance
Ambience at venue
What is the 'feel' of the venue?
What is the age/economic/cultural profile of the
audience?
How welcoming is the venue?
Visuals/graphics
Are there any posters?
Are there any images from the production?
Scenes, costumes, set?
Are there any photos of the actors as
themselves/in character?
Are there posters and photos from previous
shows?
Programme notes
What information is given: About the play?
About the interpretation?
About the producers (biographies etc.)?
V
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Preperformance
events
Music/sound
Does the performance extend into the lobby, in
terms of:
Displays or material directly related to the
performance?
Actors mingling or calling the audience into the
theatre?
Sound or music to signal the performance is
starting?
Performance
space
When you enter the theatre/performance space,
how is it organised?
Sketch the space, paying careful attention to
how it is divided into acting/audience space and
any fixed objects or scenery present.
How do you expect the space to be used?
Will there be a close relationship between
performers and audience for instance?
Audience
space
How will the seating affect the audience's
response?
Set
Are there any ambient sounds/lights?
Use of Acting/Audience Space
(Sketch of Space)
4. Text in Performance
Consider and comment on:
•Casting
•Spoken text
•Characterisation
•Genre and/or style
•Period
•Setting
.
Is it a literal presentation of the play, with few changes to the original text
and directions?
Is it an interpretation of the original play text based on the director's ideas
and themes?
If so, what changes have been made to the original text?
Are the signs used to tell the story in its period and setting mainly realist or
non-realist?
Did this performance teach you anything new about the plot, language,
characters, setting or themes of the play text?
Did you have a problem with, or not like/understand, any aspect of the
staging of this play?
5. Performance Text
Actors use of:
Literal
Space
Voice
Body
Movement
Timing
Interactions
Interpretative
Realist
Non-Realist
Use the tick boxes to decide whether the actors' signing is: literal (according
To the original directions) or interpretative (commenting on or 'making
strange' the original directions); mainly realist (iconic or 'lifelike') or mainly
non-realist (symbolic).
Was there a dominant acting style: 'representational’ actors 'being'
characters (Stanislavskian) or 'presentational’ actors 'showing' characters
(Brechtian)?
Were there any significant changes, or contrasts, in the acting style during
the performance?
If so, what was the intention and effect do you think?
How conscious were you of the actors as actors rather than as characters?
What effect did the performance of the actors have on your understanding of
the play and/or your experience during the performance?
How did the actors use each other and how much direct notice did they take
of the audience?
Were there any outstanding/weak performances?
If so, what distinguished these actors from others in terms of their signing?
Technical Theatre
Fixed
Props
Costumes
Scenery
Music
Sound
Other
technical
Change
Realist
Nonrealist
On
Off
Use the tick boxes to decide which technical theatre effects were: fixed
throughout or changed during the performance; realist or stylised in
their appearance or effect; mostly 'switched on' (used) or 'switched off'
(not used).
Which effects were you most conscious of during performance?
Were there any significant changes in the use of an effects system e.g. sudden music, or dramatic lighting changes - if so, what was the
intention and effect?
Did the effects blend in with the other signs in performance, or were
they in contrast with other signs - Le. realist acting with a stylised set or
lighting? Were there any design themes, such as colour, textures,
shapes?
Dynamics
Effect
Contrasts
1. Rhythm
and pace
of voice
and action
2. Sound/
Silence
3.
Light/Dark
4.
Solo/Duo
ensemble
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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Sound
Movement
Participation
Applause
5. Audience
Response
Divide the performance up into units (see diagram above) - possibly the
act/scene structure or time elapsed. Make a simple flow chart to show the
rhythms and pace of the performance. The bottom of the chart represents
'slow/quiet' and the top is 'fast/loud'.
Make a note of any significant moments of contrast between sound/silence
and light/dark.
What was the intention and effect of these moments?
What was the mix of solo/duologue and ensemble playing in the
performance?
Were there any obvious contrasts - e.g. an intimate duologue followed by a
busy crowd or ensemble scene?
What did the audience contribute to the performance and how conscious
were you of other audience members?
6. Post Performance
Use the information that you have gathered in Stages 1-5 to prepare the
following notes as a basis for group discussion. Refer back to the evidence
that you have collected during the discussion.
P
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Images
retained
Strongest
moment
When you close your eyes and think back to the
performance, how many moments can you clearly
visualise in your head?
Why are these the images that you have retained?
What for you was the strongest moment in the
performance? A moment of tension, sadness, anger,
beauty or truth, perhaps? A particular scene which
affected you the most? One of the images that you
retained?
P
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Weakest
moment
Which moment was the weakest for you? A scene or
use of sign that really didn’t work for you? How
might that moment have been ‘rescued’ or done
differently?
Inconsistencies
Were there any problems with the logic or
coherence of the signs in performance? Anything
that jarred or seemed out of place with the rest of
the performance?
Didn't
understand
Were there any points in the performance that
confused you, or where you couldn’t work out the
intentions?
Strong
points
overall
Did the performance have a particular strength? The
acting or design for instance?
Weak
points
overall
Did the performance have a particular weakness?
The pace or director’s interpretation, for instance?
Personal
response
Finally, make a list of issues or points that you really
would like raised and shared in the discussion.