Often during a play, instead of fully immersing myself in the experience I am constantly catching lines, or expressions, that seem fake and thinking about how I portray them differently. Overacting happens a lot in amateur theatre, and I'm not saying I don't do it sometimes too. It is usually pretty easy to spot though. A great way to avoid overacting is to have a good director. When we teach students to act we tell them to use expression and their body language, but teaching them to be subtle and to act naturally is important too. A great way to teach students to self-assess this is to play back video of them acting and ask them to think about what they were trying to convey. How might they be able to change the way they act to do a better job of it conveying certain emotions? Record a real conversation and compare it to one done from a script by the students. What is the difference? How can we make the scripted lines more real? This is something I would love to try with intermediate students.
Thanks for sharing your inquiry-based ideas for encouraging kids to think about how their dramatic presentations can be improved. Drawing criteria for future performances from this exercise would be, in my view, formative assessment at its best! I am glad that you are able, at this busy time, to maintain your interest in the drama club. And I wouldn't say that theatre is ruined for you - just that you have developed a discerning eye/ear and that you have higher expectations as a result. I'm sure that when you see theatre that is top quality, you enjoy it more thoroughly than those of us who are not as educated in this area.
ReplyDeleteSome of the acts I watched really were well acted. You are right, when I was watching the lines and expressions delivered better I was able to stop thinking about what I would change and enjoy the show.
DeleteI am curious to get your thoughts on teachers untrained in drama teaching drama. That didn't come out right. What I mean is how can a teacher with no acting experience teach students how to make scripted lines more real? I have mad respect for actors and am a huge film and theatre fan. However, I would have no idea in how to instruct acting. Tips please :)
ReplyDeleteAs with anything you want to teach your students, it helps if you are more familiar with the topic. Just because you haven't been in plays doesn't mean you can't spot bad acting and notice the difference between well spoken, and poorly spoken lines. I would recommend looking up some bad acting and comparing it to good acting. There should be a plethora of youtube videos on the subject. Check out this scene from the comically poorly acted movie "The Room" (it is was not meant to be a comedy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID9K_eZW5nY
DeleteI like your idea of getting students to compare natural conversations with their own acted ones. Getting them to watch themselves act is yet another reason I should buy an ipad! That is the drama version of the kindergarten picture/ video assessment project Sandra Hugget told us about. I also like the idea of getting them to watch bad acting & pick out the flaws. Really, that's what I would do with anything else. I can't wait until I can help out with the next Westside play. It's going to be brilliant!
ReplyDeleteReally, they could watch any old corny show to do that. It would be a hilarious way to learn it, and they would get it too, because they wouldn't want to be that ridiculous.
ReplyDelete