Do You See What I See?: A Workshop By Annette Procunier

Notes by Carol Beauchamp, Executive Director

• Adjudication has moved from judgment to interpretation and education for participant groups and audiences alike.
• Dramaturgy is the understanding of scripts: genre, structure, theme, conventions and all the components therein.
• Theatrics are the elements of the theatre: acting, directing, stage managing, and designing – all the elements used to bring the play to the stage.  The importance is the relationship between dramaturgy and theatrics – what do each of the elements do to enhance our understanding of the play?
• It is the adjudicator’s role to access the quality of the production NOT the quality of the play.

IS THE ACTING BELIEVABLE AND TECHNICALLY SKILFUL WITH EFFECTIVE TIMING?

• Vocal production, movement, quality of acting – is it consistent?  Is the use of language good? In other words are the actors technically skilful?

ARE THE CHARACTERS WELL INTERPRETED?

• Is the character suitable to the play and suitable to the intent of the play?  Is the character carrying the arc of the play/the contextual line?  Is the character believable and appropriate?  Is the character well-rounded as opposed to one- or two-dimensional?
• Annette’s personal style of directing is to block the play at the very beginning of the process – she spends approximately six minutes to block a page of dialogue and then spends a great deal of time exploring the characterization.

DOES THE COMPANY DISPLAY ENSEMBLE WORK?

• Listening – are the actors really listening and attending to the moment, or are they just waiting to say their line.  If as an actor portraying a character, you don’t have something to react to, then don’t respond.  How well-integrated are the elements of sound, light, props as part of the ensemble of the show – do they help to move the action and create the mood? Is it a truthful unit?  For example, a family, are the characters portrayed appropriate, and working together to create a truthful unit.  The sound plot helps us to feel the underlying mood of the production.  Annette encourages directors to use a sound plot throughout a show to move the plot and action.

IS THE MATERIAL APPROPRIATE FOR THE COMPANY?

• For example, do you have enough males to perform a play, are the ages of your actors appropriate to the play?  What are your space, budget and technical limitations?  All this should be considered when selecting a play for performance.

IS THE CONCEPT APPROPRIATE FOR THE MATERIAL, AND IS IT REALIZED BY THE COMPANY?

• Is there a clear vision for how the play should unfold?  Do you understand the play?  Are you going to do the play in the time the play was written, or can it be place in a different time?  Sometimes updating a show won’t work.  Don’t leave the audience with questions.  Technologically, our times are moving very quickly, this has to be kept in mind when doing a show e.g. 80’s, 90’s, 2000 – there has been, and continues to be a very rapid shift in the technological paradigm.  Not only the concept, but the realization of the concept through the theatrical elements of sound, lighting, acting, costumes, directing, props and set design must be fully integrated.

HAS THE STRUCTURE OF THE PRODUCTION BEEN CONTROLLED?

• Scene structure – has each beat been defined and explored?  Are the characters fully realized?  Has the rhythm of the play and the moments of the play been realized?  Does the narrative and the story ideas evolve naturally for us?  The building of the climactic moments is there tension and dramatic conflict? Have we got the emphasis in the right part of the play?

ARE THE MOVEMENTS AND STAGE PICTURES EFFECTIVE?

• Is the production interesting to watch?  As directors, we don’t have to move people around to create interesting visual pictures.  Is it multi-dimensional?  Are people standing, sitting, front and back of the stage?  Are the things they are doing natural to the characters?  Centre Stage is the Hot Spot, Stage Left is Cold, and Stage Right is Warm. 

IS THE PRODUCTION WELL-PACED?

• One of the fundamental downfalls is poor pacing.  Pacing and rhythm are extremely important.  The variety in the pacing and rhythm has to be appropriate to what is being said.

DO THE TECHNICAL ELEMENTS SUPPORT THE OVERALL PRODUCTION?

• We don’t need a complex set if it does not enhance the overall action or enhance the production of the play.  We need to create the environment with a less is more attitude and do it well.  Use the visual elements in a more imaginative way.  Fewer box sets and more suggestive staging is often an appropriate choice.

HOW EFFECTIVE WAS THE TOTAL IMPACT?

• There may be a number of individual elements within a production that work extremely well, but they may not necessarily contribute to the overall impact of the production.  How entertained are we, did the overall impact of the production give us a great experience, even if some of the individual elements may not have worked as well in isolation.

Public adjudications should be more focused on enlightening the audience.