Blog entry number 2
ANALECTS from my Theatre Class with Ricky Abad (Directing 101)
Recovered transcripts #1
One of the things that I have to deal with, as a director of a theater company is receiving donations of all sorts of props. Lately, some people gave me donations of shoes that we might be able to use in the theater. So in case you might want it for a play, it will now belong to the TA property. You have boots...
STUDENT: Wow! Anong size niyan? Pasukat! It's very theatrical!
It's a bit modern because of this thing but you can paint this. It could give a high mood for a play.
STUDENT: Pero sayang Sir.
The other one, this I like because it's very period. The other one is this.
STUDENT: Oh my God! Di ba?
Steven, you can use this in your play. Anong period niya?
STUDENT: Where did they get these shoes? Saan mo nakuha to Ricky?
Let's see what happens. Size 6 iyan, ito ito. This is a bit bigger. It's the same person who gave it to me.
STUDENT: Magagamit mo iyan Steven di ba white yung kay ano? Tingnan nga natin Ara. Hahahaha! Ba't ang kinis ng ilalim? Sir, kailangang ipraktis ko ng ilang buwan.
Itaas mo nga nang konti. Iyan. O. It gives you attitude o. Very nice period.
STUDENT: Pwede na iyan, pointed toes. Kasya kaya siya? Hello! Hindi siya. Paa lang niya, hello. Oh my God, maglakad ka! Tingnan natin kung anong period siya. Malalaman na kung anong period ito. Oo kung paano ilakad, chika!
Very important to get period costumes or footwear for a play for actors very early.
STUDENT: It adds attitude and posture. Sige nga Ara, sample.
Sometimes wearing a costume generates an attitude.
STUDENT: Actually. Hindi pa ako naghi-heels Sir! Ay, oo nga pala!
Modern girl kasi.
STUDENT: Sir, hindi lang talaga siya girl. Ay mali! Ay tingnan mo! Tingnan mo o! Rampa! Rampa! Rampa! Patingin nga. Para makita natin. Ay! Ang galing! Grabe, ang winner! Dancing shoes. Ibigay mo ang pamaypay! Dancing queen?
I also have another period shoes. It's high-heeled, gold. Somebody gave it to me also.
STUDENT: Pointed Sir? Pointed toes?
Pointed toes. Very nice. So this will now go to the property area. Okay. Once I received a box of jewelries.
STUDENT: Oh my God Sir!
Just last year Badong Bernal cleared his bodega and gave me a whole batch of all sorts of costumes. Props, coats, showgirls, tubes. Maraming showbiz outfits, sequined things, tapes and so many things. One project of the TA this summer is to make an inventory of all of these things. Now remember that this place would be our costume morgue. We call this the costume morgue, the place where you put the costumes and for the majors, you must know that so you will know what stuff or pieces you can use for your production. So we should have a theater manager here who will take care of the property.
Okay? Sige. Now! Today I will give some tips on directing and design and I hope I will find time to talk about staging. Okay! There is a line from William Wordsworth. It's called... very famous line... called "The child is the father of the man." Alright? The child is the father of the man. Have you heard that line before? From the romantic poet Wordsworth. No? The child is the father of the man. How about you Pope? Have you heard that line in English literature? The child is the father of the man.
STUDENT: High school.
O high school, oo.
Like Ara's shoes for instance. Before the performance, you are so used to walking in high heels. Once when I played "Macbeth," Tinio told me I was gonna play Hekatet, the witch. Ang costume nyan ni Hekatet is some sort of a... some transvestite. Ah! A witch in high heels, alright? Imagine me wearing high-heeled shoes! So I had to practice wearing high-heeled shoes. And so I had to get one. And so I looked for one. I know I had to get one, I know. Then change the concept. So I've to change the concept. I would have to rehearse in high-heeled shoes. As I am whipping the witches, "Damn you!" Character. Tangga leather-leather pa ako diyan.
Sa "Sopranong Kalbo," the costume... I played Mr. Smith... the one [?] very absurd, so that constant [?]. When I wore that it didn't feel right. You were in a tube, with earring. Parang hindi ikaw iyon! So it's uncomfortable. Is that me? Well, that's because I didn't know the costume until technical week. So it took a while before I was comfortable with it. Hey! This is me. It's very hard to do it if you're just wearing it for the first time.
Color again is like light. It indicates character so [?]. Texture! Very important. Texture kasi is the fabric. Texture gives boldness, statement. Alright? And contrast. And emphasis. Texture is the quality of the material. If you always use katsa, ang lumalabas black yung dating. But kung merong things like... Ano ba yung ginamit sa isang play? For the guards. So what I did, I got mat, yung sa department store. Sa grocery. Yung floormat, where you wipe your feet... I got two of these. I let the guards wear it like placards so parang may armor sila diyan. All my props... ah... I got from the market, stores and department stores. Yung kanilang armor is yung doormat na dalawa. Texture iyon eh. Dinikit-dikit so parang armor. Feather duster and I got, oh! for a [?] a toilet pump na ginaganyan, the flower and the toilet bowl, you know. So things like this that I use for the play. When I want props, I just go out and go to the market.
to the audience. [?] really from the proscenium and all of that. [?] a more radical [?] space we have is [?].
STUDENT: [?] Ah, Threepenny is from Germany. The idea here is no free spaces, no [?] you can work with. It's better if you know the strength and limitation of each line or space. [?] the flexible space of, shall we say, mixing the [?] called proscenium class. We have a proscenium like this but we add a ramp in the middle like a fashion show. So some action takes place in that ramp. In fact, everybody is out there. You can combine space. [?] but we can only afford two or three rows on the left and right. So the viewpoint is still very much in the center. Alright? Ang theater in the ramp ang hindi pa natin ginagawa sa Ateneo. Maybe we should try to experiment with that in the future productions. Ah, yes, sorry. The [?] Oh, Pope can you pass this thing?
What options do we have for scenery? Earlier we talked about options in space, now we talk about options in scenery. Okay. There are five possible options for scenery that we can use. And the idea is if we can mix them up. What kind [?] the first, the longest scenery is what we call the placement scenery. Like this, what we saw before. [?] the great tradition of Renaissance, painted scenery. Painted scenery. Integrate ha? You see that? Ah, that's projected scenery. One of the options that we see there.
Now, the next kind of scenery is what we call architectural scenery. That's one form of architectural scenery where set and property are built. In that painted scenery [?] painted set pieces. [?] the facade, that wall, is fixed. The backwall, alright? [?] kind of spaces to create [?]. The scene is built to represent something. It will be realistic. Actual chairs, my God. Architectural scenery iyan.
And then it's the other thing we saw in the [?]. Alright? More architectural scenery. Architecure and paint. Look at the drawing of that. You paint one part and the rest is architecture. Where do you have that? Projected scenery, what play? There is the combination of architectural scenery, plus projection. That's very inexpensive and you can make quick changes.
Recovered transcripts #4
traditional [?]. The painted scenery of [?]. Alright. See how elaborate this painted scenery is in terms of costume [?] they're very very elaborate [?] it goes very very deep. And look at the audience. The proscenium arc [?]. We have no arc here [?] trying to get away from in contemporary [?]. We have no more theaters like this. Here's another play. Tell me about the use of properties in this scene from Samuel Beckett's play called "Happy Days." The leading actress in Happy Days [?] and she spends the rest of the play in a garbage, in the dumping garbage. But she does not move from that play throughout throughout. And here is one way where set property is used to make a [?]. Take a look at it and see what's [?]. There. A very popular director of [?]. But anyway, the use of hand properties. That girl is in the garbage dump all throughout the play. How can you magnify, how can you amplify her position? Her role? See? There's no movement. Hand property. That makes her more and more visible to the audience despite the immobility of the character. Ingenious use of hand properties. The props is an extension of the body.
She has her bag, she has her toothpaste, everything. So that's a very good example of how set property or hand property can be used to highlight or stress [?]. I think they won an award for this play. It's a very very difficult play. I was asked to play the man surrounding the garbage [?] once but the girl did not come from the States.
This is something more traditional. Alright? From "A Doll's House" by Ibsen. Now, this is a more traditional kind of costuming but very important is that it is a period play. You know the time period. But look at the attempt at what we call painted and architectural scenery. It is not fragmented. In those days we want the set to be reproduced faithfully. Look at the details. Look at the floor. That floor is a block of wood joined together. And it's very complicated. Look at the piano, the wallpaper. Alright? This is 1994. Look at the authenticity. Look at the attention to detail which people don't do now in the theater.
Recovered transcripts #5
a matrix of 2 by 2. [?] so it became too obtuse. How do you separate the levels? [?] We light to illuminate the faces also. Because part of communication is seeing. You don't understand me simply because of what I say. You understand me partly because of the expression on my face as I speak. The gestures that I use conveys a meaning. [?] If you do regular light "THREE TIMES MORE FOCUSED ON THE LINE!" So remember that. [?] In "Adarna," because of the darkness the actors were handicapped. [?] Wala na ngang set, thank God! [?] Andami nang binago doon sa play. [?] Until the play stretched on and on and on. What were in the play that was not in the original? Several.
STUDENT: Yung pagbubuod na ginawa ng koro.
[?] Yung koro. [?] Wala sa play iyon.
[?] Yung iba parang Tarzan. Yung iba modern jumpers. [?] Urban guerilla? Napaka-Versace! So I couldn't get the fusion. [?] Hay! Hay! Very ethnic but the dress. [?] What is the meaning of that fusion? [?] There. [?] Tapos binago ni Arthur in such a way na [?]. A cerebral play. [?] The lament of the partner. So the play becomes now a play that champions the leftist agenda. [?] It's a play that Mao Zedung and Stalin [?] and Kumander Dante would like. [?] Because the movement was so detailed. So detailed. [?] In the entire Artenista. [?] More visual than aural. [?] As I said, the only caveat or warning [?] must be organic [?] add something to the theme or essence of the play. [?] If I choose this chair against a simple block like this, what meaning will that convey? [?] Clash them, but do not make them distracting. Right? And good direction is one where you see this balance. [?] Over. Under. There are directors who work on the edge, they're called cutting-edge directors. [?] You know why they are called cutting edge? Because they are there at the borderline, over and just right. Over and just right. Alright?
The secret is, whatever you do over, you pin it down to the text of the play. [?] para hindi maging over. [?] I was doing "The Drunknness of Noah." There was one scene. [?] I was sitting down like this. I was so filled with emotions inside. "Ya-ah-haha-ha-ha!" like that. [?] Almost over. Almost over [?] I felt like a baby. I cried like a baby complete with feet. Complete with feet, like that. [?] I'm a feet actor. [?] I didn't even know it. But it was over.
Last scene of "Total Eclipse." Sabi ko [?]. I tried many versions. [?] The soft version. I tried the middle version. I tried the sad version. I tried the wistful version. The Director does not like. "Scream, Ricky, scream!" [?] I kicked. Eh nabutas. [?] "Sorry I broke the set." "[?] but don't do it again." [?] If its' over or under, kayo na ang bahalang [?].
Now when you come Thursday I will talk about stage design. [?] What options do we have? What kinds of stage do we use? [?] Okay? So that's it. I forgot to ask your play. [?] Okay? Good. So see you Thursday. [?] we can talk on it already in class so may preparation na rin kayo on your project, okay?
Recovered transcripts #6
So how will you put the cabinet? Low cabinets, ah. Low cabinets. Or transparent. Yung tipo bang skeletal. How will you do the [?] in the theater in the ramp? Where will the [?] come from? Maybe it will be from the low bureaus. It'll be in the cupboards kung hindi iyong sa ibaba. Di ba? O we could do something like that. Design problems. "HOW WILL I DO THIS? (shouts)" They're fun to solve. I like solving those problems.
Now, the other thing is flexible space. Now, flexible space, as we all know, is... you are given an environment then bahala ka na. Now here is one example. "Mother Courage." The acting area and the audience area are one. So sometimes you act here, you act there... wala nang lugar. Alright? Kaya lang the audience, you might stumble over them, smell your costumes if you haven't washed it. O if you speak sometimes yung mga laway natin tumatalsik pag nagsasalita. [?] Parang the lesser evil ang gagawin mo. [?] And the props, you can hit the audience anytime. [?] Then you can remove your clothes if you want. Orgy, orgy. The audiences can join. Dance, dance. But if you want to, join them.
STUDENT: Kung may cute na actor.
A, oo. Be sure you're in the right way when he passes.
This comes from a Polish director named [?]ski. Ah, very interesting. Another kind of... ito... it's a different category. Ah, ayan tingnan mo. The actors are in black. The audience are in the middle. [?] "Dr. Faustus." The dark figures are performers, the light figures are the spectators. That's interesting, ha? Just another possibility of what you can do with open space. Now if you have a box type theater magagawa mo iyan. But if you have RMT, hindi mo magagawa iyan. Sa parking lot pwede mong magawa iyan.
STUDENT: [?]
Ha? Voyeur, oo. Sa karnabal 'no? Mga kambal. Mga babaeng [?]. They are peeping like that. Mga one-act play lang siguro iyan, ano? O may chairs na ganoon.
STUDENT: [?]
O pwede rin iyon! Maganda rin iyon. Dapat ganoon ang spacing natin. Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Oo, maganda iyan. I find this part very interesting. But again it shows [?]. And he is always experimenting, experimenting. He wrote the book on "Poor Man's Theater." Well [?] theater had very low resources. It had beautiful sets, but the actors are so strained in movements. [?] experiment various ways of relating [?]
Recovered transcripts #7
This is what we call fragmented play. Sometimes [?] does it when [?] goes into a fit. He comes up with a very very creative set and he does it spontaneously. And he does it something like this. Alright? But something like this is hard to retain. Wala tayong lights dito eh. Pero we will come to that later on.
[?] is what you call source considered light. Source considered light is a light like lamps or bulbs that is on the set. You know the source of the light. If you have a lamp or a candle, and if you have a light or a candle, we know the light comes from the source so it's very realistic. In modern plays, you have what we call unconsidered source. Unconsidered source--the light just comes, you don't know where the light comes from. It's not... the source of the light does not come from the set. It doesn't stem from the light in the object. Alright? Now the thing is, it's not logical therefore. The audience will say, "Saan nanggaling ang ilaw na iyan?" Alright? So when you do lighting [?].
What the elements of light [?] is that it illuminates the actor. But more than simply illuminating, what makes light important is you not only see the actor... but the actor in movement. It was different in the theater of the 16th century because unlike before lighting the play was only candles. And then oil lamps. And then gas lamps. And then electricity. Kasi before, the speeches before, they just stood up, di ba? "TO BE OR NOT TO BE!" Bow. Leave. Then somebody else comes because the light does not follow them. If you must act then, you must act in one area so you can be seen but not to illuminate the actor as he is moving.
And secondly, light helps improve the audibility of the performers. Some people say that if the light of the theater is very dark, it evokes something in the audience. It evokes many moods in the play. But when it's dark, it creates mystery. And it is the psychological effect of mystery that might make me look a little bit scary and anxious. Alright? So when you direct, be careful when you use dim lights because that will strain the audibility of your actors very much so. So you have to find other ways to be clear. So there. Illumination.
Colored or uncolored. Usually colored is more conscientious and very beautiful. The difficulty with colors is how to control. How to control colors so it makes a statement. Ah, ah! The law of modern movement is colors which means that ah... ah... you use filtered light na ganyan. Filtered light. Soft colors rather than strong colors. It's very difficult, I know, and the costumes came out so [?]. The problem with a lot of colors is that, okay [?] costumes and the set is not seen. Alright?
We have good designers that will give you this... this nice, velvety cloth. Red for instance. But you don't know light. If you put some other light on the red, it won't look red anymore. Because the pigmentation of the costume is altered by the light. With unfiltered light, the red will show very well. Very important for the costume and light designer to get together. Light can ruin costume and set. It becomes awful [?] colored movies na ang sama-sama ng colors. It doesn't come out very sharply.
So the idea, therefore, for directors is to use the colors, but ah... more selectively. And use light that will make the colors stand out. But color evokes moods. If you have many colors it will evoke many moods. I don't mean less or more, it's how it all combines, eh. The costuming for "Once Upon an Island" for instance. Of course there's palm tree in the set and everything. We also have to think of cost. So we went to SM. And he saw the most flowery, Hawaiian printed shirts. And he ordered 20 of those Hawaiian printed shirts. So the lighting is not all that colorful because the design is so colorful.
Costume designers give you a lot of colors. Then use light that shall highlight those colors. Then you can use more colors. Everybody is in gray or white. Well, that would be monotonous if you use unfiltered light. So there you can have the colors. So it's a matter of balancing between costumes and light. That's very important.
The other is movement. Ah, again, movement. How do lights move? I don't mean chase lights, I mean lights that move from... to bridge one play to the other... change of pace... then special effects... then all of a sudden, magdi-dim yung lights: Monologue. Yung ganon. Lights will move. But you don't move as much as possible. Right? Lights can move to emphasize, stress, to change scenes, indicate time of day, things like that.
So I love lights. I'm not very good at it, so I get a lighting designer. But I know when [?].
Recovered transcripts #8
We also have what we call fragmented scenery. [?] It is fragmented. It is fractionated. They don't have walls, picture frames or flowers. And things like that. It is fractionated. But because we are in the theater in the ramp, we can't be so detailed.
STUDENT: Ara's play is fractionated.
Ah, yes. That's fractionated. This only indicates what we have in the 1980's. The dominant stage form in [?]. Fractionated scenery. [?] realism. Wala na iyon, wala na iyon. Ah, yung combination sometimes. The illusions are so literal. So fractionated scenery became the dominant form now. But in the 80's the fractionated form is very popular.
We have an architectural scenery here from the theater in New York. This is a combination of architectural and fractionated. [?] because those vertical columns at the back can be anything else. [?] if you want a Shakespeare play, you are also in modern times. The past and the present are together in this environment. When you watch this, you see the lights of Manhattan at the back. [?] The concept is: Shakespeare still applies to the present. It's a beautiful suggestion of an environmental theater. [?] I guess you have floor mics.
STUDENT: [?]
Ah, but they do it in the summer [?] July or August. Siguro ngayon may mga naka-tank tops na diyan o punk head. It's a more comfortable setting. And the audience, ah, are so many! So [?] do we use realism or abstract? [?] Of course you have the lights and you have the costume. [?] I like this space so much. May mga levels o? Different heights.
Now the other thing about those spaces. Platforms like that. Painted scenery [?] and flat spaces. [?] But I think they are not. There's abstract staging. Very symbolic. Ah, pa-L shape. P-J shape. Blocks of different sizes to indicate that kind of symbolic [?]. So the symbolism is quite very strong. Very formidable. Very difficult for plays. Now there's this option for space and ah... ah... ah... scenes. Scenery.
Then next Thursday we [?] options for costumes, light and Oh! One more thing. One more property. The key figure is printed in italics in the bottom. Okay, the idea is, it is very important, [?] character and theme is [?]
Recovered transcipts #9
Here are some examples of light that are used predominantly. Here's one from a play, a Shakespeare's play. That's Tanghalang Ateneo of Yale University. Okay? Okay. You see the backlights, may men in black effect. Very interesting ha? Modern lights. Parang mga hangar ng mga planes. I don't know if [?]. Strong backlighting. The principal characters in Shakespeare's [?]
Here's another one. Light that is used from Berkeley Theater, the Tanghalang Ateneo of the University of Berkeley. Ayan, so light coming from one source. Look at the effect ha... very dramatic ang effect. Notice the picturization of the scene.Yan. Use of light, costume, [?] of the body, [?] levels. To underscore the actions of the man playing the [?], alright? By the way, parang gumagalaw ang hitsura ng tao. Kaya may sidelights yan para three-dimensonal ang tingin ng tao sa iyo. So sidelighting is very dramatic.
Okay. Look at this climactic scene from "Miss Saigon." Alright? The light from the helicopter. There is a light that is source considered. I don't know if you can see this, this is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where light is used to create fantasy. And so in the [?] dark. I have two shots. Look at the floating [?] We see the light come from here. More floating in the next picture. In Peter Brook Taylor's production of Midsummer Night's Dream. So that's Peter Brook's production. Very acrobatic ang mga actors diyan. We don't have that facility here. We can't do floating floating.
STUDENT: Sir outdoors.
Ha? More [?] in this scene from "The Phantom of the Opera." Look at the sidelights here. O, very dramatic. So you can see the [?] too many possibilities. Alright? But they're highly entertaining.
Now let us now go to costume. So cosume becomes very much a part of [?]. Costume indicates a given circumstance. It indicates a place and the time when the play is taking place. Period test, period costume. It gives you the place and time. More important, costume gives you character and dramatic action. Alright? Costumes are statement. Alright? Many times you rent them out. When a director handles costumes, the important thing is to particularize, individualize. You give me a costume na galing sa ibang play. Iibahin ko dapat iyon to fit the actor. [?] accessory, dye it ah, so it's [?] differently. Ah, tighten it because costumes must particularize. Once the actor gets into the costume, the actor feels into the character... of the actor's interpretation. Okay? It's a dramatic statement, costume. So make sure that the actor, in rehearsal, they have to get an idea of part of the costume to get a sense of it.
Recovered transcripts #10
JP did you see any self-conscious directing? [?] wala namang sinasabi. [?] Hazel, did you notice anything? [?] Yes, Missy. [?] When I see something glaring [?] I can't remember the name. [?] But I'm sure I saw several. [?] is underdesign, underdirection. What do you call it there? Underdesign. Underdesign means kulang na kulang pa, may kulang pa yung pag-angat nung meaning ng text, alright? [?] "Sierra Lakes" was underdesigned primarily because, as Missy said, the movement, the set pieces were placed there and here. And so much of the movement--if there was any at all--is between here and there. Many times they just sat there. [?] Maybe half the play was from that bench, or that area. [?] ledge. The director likes to sit down all the time, I think. He's a fat boy so I don't know ha? But I have a feeling na the internal disposition of the director dictates: "Ah, you must be tired. Please sit down." [?] Never mind but 15 minutes of there, and the audience [?] 15 minutes your head is like this [?] strained na yung neck mo. [?] Nagne-neck exercise pa, nagwa-warm up pa yung audience.
Underdesign, underdesign. At tsaka yung [?] ano ba yan? [?] I don't know what that means tsaka it was not shown in the play what it was, so we don't know what it is. So underdesign. [?] something elese is lacking, some other element is lacking [?] to highlight the sadness of the relationship... the sadness of "We always love people who don't love us back." That is the theme of the play. It should be a sad, sad, sad story. It's not a pa-cute play--a kilig play--but a sad play. So when the audience started to "Hi-hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi! Ang kyut-kyut-kyut-kyut-kyut! Ang cute ni Sander, ang cute ni Mimi!" GAGA! [?] O. [?] shocked. I would have changed that entire block. I would have Mimi vomit in her sadness, or something like that. Pwede bang ganon? After the kiss, suka. "Why am I kissing you? I don't love you." Kiss. After that, "Raaah!"
Yun. That's physicalization of a concept. How can you physicalize sadness when you end it with a kiss? The tender moment. Sad iyon eh! Yun nga. [?] but then it ends with a silhouette pa, of the two of them kissing. Like a 1914 movie. Kulang na lang may heart-shaped crocus. [?] Sa background [?] parallel lights. [?] Smoke machine? O sobra nang pa-epek iyon. Dapat that last scene should be sad. Sad. I would have Mimi cry after that, ano. [?] And so the kiss becomes a cry. Alright [?] you end it sad, not cute. [?] kasi para bang [?] The kiss is wrong. The kiss should communicate something else.
Recovered transcripts #11
Open areas, flexible spaces are usually employed in theater groups to break away and to distinguish theater from [?]. That's why I like [?] Okay, I will come to number [?] later on. Ah, blocking suggestions, compositions [?] you can add furniture ah... ah... the idea here of composition is that, since it's a wall, then, I commit this mistake all the time, I have to correct myself, kasi marami akong line na, you're thinking and you're thinking from afar. I wonder what would happen to me?
Now [?] of "Medea" is in the audience. I forget that this is a wall. So in real life if I am looking very far away [?] I look at the wall parang gago. It's a wall. So I could block differently [?] and not so much strain if there's a wall here. Unless it's outside. External. Or unless I block the play [?] the audience knows that where they are sitting is also part of the stage. Otherwise kung wall lang ito you cut the people looking at that. That is a wall! [?] You forget sometimes. I forget sometimes that there is a wall.
Okay. Ah, even furnitures must be open. When you block people in proscenium, you have to make sure that they are [?]. Look at Steven's [?] o you put furniture. Open open open [?] even furniture [?] furniture mo, di uupo ang actor, ganyan. O profile, ganyan. [?] open. You see may mga block na gumaganyan. Even the furnitures have to be open. Or if you have a simple block, if you have a simple block like this, alright? Sometimes imbes na ganyan, it'll open nang konting ganyan. And kung ganyan ang block ko, not like this open din [?] ganyan [?] so [?] people sit on corners all the time. So that the other actors are always open like this. Or not like this. [?] back o ganyan. O, medyo open. Unless you make a deliberate statement, unless there's a statement.
But generally, even the furnitures, even the people who step on the furniture [?] open stance. Always pa-ganun. The viewpoint is there. Now if you use arena, okay lang yan. O [?] kita naman ako dito. I would block another actor sitting here para may makita naman yung kabila, alright?
[?] stage. Here is an example of a thrust stage which Shakespeare is a part. New York. Every Summer, in August, they have a [?] performance. Open air. [?] apartments of Manhattan at the back. Central Park. It is thrust because the audience are [?] site. And that's a natural lake at the back so it's perfect for many scenery. Ah [?] look at the entrance-exit. And look at the way they do levels. [?] steps, platforms. [?] How can you make different levels? Look at the position. There are many possibilities, a thousand and one possibilities! So, steps [?] 1, 2, 3 even on the [?] you can [?] hanging there, there. So many [?] here.: Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Act 3. Many. So thrust stage. And the kind of staging [?] so many opportunities for acting areas. Alright? Di ba? You see possibilities?
And look at the obstacle course, pati sa gitna meron. [?] there di ba? Anybody can sit down [?] stand up. There can be more. It's a fixed [?] eh. I remember it, maski nung Shakespeare, yun rin ang step. I put a little curtain or something like that to make it different. Thrust stage. Open air. Delacroix Theater in New York. I used to go there when I was a graduate student but I was never lucky to sit in [?] ay once lang [?] closed. Because it's free to the public, the city holds Shakespeare productions for the tourists and residents in the summer. It's a free offer. If the show is 6, sigurado mga 2 o'clock dapat nandon ka na sa Central Park falling in line. [?] I carry food already. [?] open, naku! We're still very far away. But it is wonderful. But the sound is [?] naman. Maganda. [?] claims that [?].
Now an indoor thrust theater, as we shall see in the famous [?] theater in the [?]. Tyrone [?] is one of the most famous directors. You [?]. Look at the steps... how they are arranged. Thrust stage. Thrust iyan ha? Look at the set. Ang magandang thrust sometimes may backwall, minsan wala but, you see, you can put the set anywhere else. Anywhere. Any place. [?] look at the two actors on front [?] Dito o. [?] saka maraming mga [?]. Look at the furnitures. [?] The furniture can just be any form. Obstacle course. [?] Look at the levels, the chairs. Exciting block there. [?] Kung ilalagay mo sa gitna hindi na makikita ang nasa likod [?]. It is transparent [?]. The secret of thrust [?]
Any comments from the picture? Now notice the parallel [?]. In the thrust stage and the stages of the theater of the... the theater of the [?]. Ruins na yan. But you will see how thrust-like it is. [?] a circle. It's very aesthetic di ba? [?] Ruin na yan.
STUDENT: What's the difference between thrust and arena?
Ha? Ah, arena. Ah, mainly the audience. In thrust, the audience are on 3 sides: 1, 2, 3. Arena is ah, all around. Arena, round theater, theater in the round.
But here is a very excellent design. Oh, the Romans copied the Greeks, and built their own kind of... like a Greek theater. [?] That's the Roman theater built on the same principles as the Greek theater. [?] thrust. Look at the stage at the middle. The semi-circle plus the platform at the back plus the [?] at the back there at the wall. In Greek they call it "skein" [?]... and they call it in Romans "scana"... so that's where the word "scene"... from the Greek words. The back wall.. it's fixed. So in thrust stages the wall is either fixed or not.
The contemporary [?] in the Philippines, you see PETA. [?] in PETA you find a wall like that [?] that is used for many purposes. [?] Alright. [?] we go to Shakespeare theater. [?] Oh, there again. Shakespeare play. Oh, there. [?] theater. 16th century. [?] reconstruction, you can see [?] Shakespeare without a [?]. But again the audience is from the [?]. But you can see that the formation is like that. This is sophisticated theater already. Yung mga [?] theater noon sa Shakespeare in [?] and look at the permanent wall on the back. [?] In fact sa Shakespeare yung mga tradition. The proscenium [?] for three centuries. But ancient and modern.
The thing is, in our theaters, I think our designers do know nothing but proscenium. Our best theaters are proscenium: Philam Life, FEU, Meralco Little Theater, Main Theater--it's all proscenium. And designers are afraid to [?] with thrust. So if you want thrust you go to Huseng Batute in CCP.
Thrust, open space, proscenium. The ideal theater? Badong and I will think of a theater, if they will give it to us-- is a box. Big theater but a box. Box theater on which the space you can mount any possible frames on the stage. So directors have more options. Now, it's very hard. Give me a theater [?] in RMT but what can I do? It's very difficult, right? Because the space doesn't give me [?]. But [?] from New York's Delacroix. It's very, very dificult. It's all proscenium, all proscenium. Alright? So, because it's very common. [?] you might as well know proscenium because most of the theaters you will work with in the Philippines is [?]. In academic theater or in CCP [?] okay? If you're a designer you will like these spaces. That's why I like Batute better.
For amateur actors it's better for proscenium. Because you can [?] the instructions. For thrust and theater in the ramp, mas madaling i-block. [?] mas kailangan mo ng mas magaling na actors [?]. Ang composition mo dito sa ano, very open stance. Hindi mo nakikita yung left, back, side. Pag composition mo sa thrust o arena, [?] mas lifelike kasi you see it at all angles. So the actor must know how to act from all parts of the body. [?] Maraming block na ganyan. [?] Pagdating mo sa [?] ampangit-pangit. So you must try to block like this [?].
So ang viewpoint mas marami [?] you will have to [?] around to see "Does my composition look good on three or four sides?" You go around all the time. [?] rehearsal you sit there. [?] mas madali. Now ang actors kailangan mas magaling kung mag-gesture kasi lahat ng gestures mo hindi lang dapat maganda just on one side. Maganda rin dito sa lahat. Kaya yun ang mahirap sa thrust saka ramp... mas lifelike pero mas maraming mababago. Kaya to simplify our lives we use proscenium.
O theater in the ramp. It's a little more difficult because surrounded ka by people. At tsaka theater in the ramp, if they watch here, I watch the action, I see the audience on the other side. So I feel more like the audience is with me. Kesa yung proscenium [?] like [?] a novel. Or thrust, medyo periphery. Theater in the ramp is a different psychology kasi while I'm watching [?]
Recovered transcripts #12
Be sure to inform me when your final rehearsals are. Anytime within the last 2 or 3 days before, invite me to come to watch.
Okay. Today we shall take up two more aspects of design and that is, costumes and light. I will not yet discuss make-up and sounds. Maybe we'll do that na lang later. Except that make-up is not so difficult in terms of directing because it follows from the costume. And the sound... sound effects and music... that's another thing but it's a minor problem. But I will give parenthetical remarks later.
So let's go again to music... uhm... costumes and light. I will show you a picture from an introduction of a Russian play and you tell me if it's proscenium. What elements do you see that we've taken before applies to here?
Can you see that? Okay. Can you tell me if that play is set in proscenium? Ramp or arena? Or flexible space?
STUDENT: Proscenium.
How do you know that? Ha? There are open furnitures, look o! Facing the audience. Okay. What kind of scenery does it use? Architectural? Fragmented? Projected?
STUDENT: Fragmented.
Alright? Ah... so ah... can you see any counterpoint, anything unusual about the design, any... what do you see here that tries to arouse the audience's interest?
STUDENT: The big guy.
Ha? Alright. Look at the levels, acting areas. This suggests exteriority. Do you see how the inside and the outside are used to create an effect? It is also very startling to see something like that there. Very hard. You don't know if it's the inside or the outside, you don't know. Ah, do you find an obstacle course?
STUDENT: Not much.
Not much, correct. But you see levels ha? Levels here, levels there. It is interesting ha? The use of projection to highlight the scene, whatever that man is doing. In other words, you theater people, you can identify it by names and labels, and we will have a common language. Okay?
Here is an example of set, costumes and light. This time from a very traditional play. The painted scenery of the Renaissance time. Alright? See how elaborate the painted scenery is.
posted by Pope at 10:54 PM
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