[Laura]

Right.

Year 11 Drama (I'm in Victoria, Australia).
Semester One = Self-devised ensemble performance. Fine, good, that's all OK, there are three other people in the group to work with, brainstorm ideas, etc. We developed a pretty good non-naturalistic performace. *Tick*
Semester Two = Self-devised solo performsce (cue the panic attack and have some oxygen on standby)

The guidelines:
- I am playing the character of Soraya, a 12-year-old refugee girl from Afghanistan who has seen her father, three siblings and grandparents killed by the Taliban and fled to Australia to spend 2 years in a detention centre befor getting out on a Temporary Protection Visa.

- The performance has to go for 5-7minutes and has to be non-naturalitic (if you need a definition, let me know)

- I am scared and stuck for ideas. I am finding it really hard to let go of my inhibitions and allow myself to make a mistake, as i am a perfectionist and it's really hard for me to expose myself and my ideas in this way.

Basically, I'm asking for any help with this performance. Any ideas, any non-naturalistic sequences I could include, any drugs I could get to keep me from hyperventilating in the middle of the drama group etc

That would be great

Thanks,
Laura

[fjays]

Hello~
Are you doing VCE unit 2 right now?
So am I, even though I'm year 10.

Right now, we're doing these solo technical exercises.
I'm doing the movie of Chicago and I have to fit it into two minutes. performing tomorrow.
Woo. but really!
But in a few weeks I'll be doing what you're doing. How coincidental?

Hrm..
Right now, all the advice I can give is make sure you use juxtaposition/flashbacks.
Make all the characters very distinguishable in the way they move their face and body and how they speak.
Also, make transformations very very clear. Use space wisely, and so on.

Sorry I can't help more.
As I said, I will be able to help in a few weeks

P.s, are there many good solo characters to choose from?

[music is my life!!!]

Hi There! I'm starting my second year of GCSE Drama in September.

We spent like 6 months on our first piece of coursework. It was based on tracy beaker and I was demented 10yr old, and I was sick of it by the end of the performance. I got one of the higher marks (I got into the 'A' mark band ), and we're now working on our second piece of coursework. This time, we started before 6weeks holiday and are performing TO OUR PARENTS at the start of October

Anyway, before we did our 1st coursework, we did monologues.

Thye advice in fjays' post is very good for monologues. Mine was only 2mins long (or less ).

Advice I think could help you:
Believe yourself into being the character not "playing" the character. It'll make your performance more convincing and you'll find it useful!
You could use alcohol to keep you calm, or any other kind of depressant drug. Look on wikipedia for more. (let's face it, she's been in a detention centre. She's probably not going to be against alcohol )
Use flashbacks and thoughttracking (again, wiki this, or ask your drama teacher)
Make sure you tell the story and make sure that SOMETHING HAPPENS during the monologue, like somekind of revelation (getting news etc...)
And finally... Don't be afraid to show what you can do. If you have trouble remembering the whole script (like me! hehe), just remember what happens in the scene, and the order in which it happens. trust me, this saved my butt in my coursework - i had to improv a whole scene on my own that would allow continuity!

Have fun with this, and Good Luck!!

[nabla]

I'm doing this same course (except our drama teacher is making us do one of the year 12 solos). Do you have dramatic elements and theatrical conventions you have to include, do you have a prop yet?

[Laura]

Thanks for the help!

[nabla]

Oh yes, i saw this one performed at Top Acts, the girl that did it had, i don't really know how to desribe it, a middle eastern accent, that sounded like it was coming from a little girl. If that's at all helpful, lol

[Ͼ~Renee...Life]

Hi Laura,
Im also doing my unit 2 Drama solo for year 11. I've chosen my character; Vivian Bullwinkel, haha i know strange name but she's truly an amazing Australia hero.

Scene transitions are the biggeast part of this solo, has your teacher gone through many of the techniques with examples? If not, which i doubt, i have a list here with many easy descriptions. My solo is nearly completed i only have editing left with a few, more horific scenes and i have to work a little harder on my sound-scape.

The best thing to do with a solo is not jump right into it, and basically play around with your character, what era is she from, where and why is she in Australia?...etc... Assign a personality you think best suits her and act out small scenes of your own creation till you feel comofrtable with your characters personality, remember; before you finish your solo you need to know exactly what your character's moivations are etc.

Lol the best thing ever, is simply imagining what your character would do, act, speak, look like and feel.
I have to create a massacre scene where my character (Vivian) was the only Australian nurse to survive in WWII not to mention the torture scenes..

Just remember to breathe and take it slow because as soon as you relax many ideas will come but a lot easier.