Metamorphosis - Research

18/10/12

Steven Berkoff summarised.

Steven Berkoff is one of the most significant british theatre artists ever. He established a style which derives from a mixture of other styles which include; Punch and Judy, Artaud, Leqoq, Music Hall Melodrama and many more.
  • Music Hall and Melodrama both have a story which is very stereotyped. The emotions come through very exaggerated and this is very cliche.How do we see this in Berkoff's style? Berkoff's style is very exaggerated and the plot, of the main bread winner being male and the doting mother and innocent sister typifies that stereotypical story.
  • Jacques Leqoq - French mime artist whose influence can be seen through the physical representations of the dung beetle in metamorphosis also the physical representations of emotion.
  • Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty - Artuad believed that theatre's purpose was to destroy civilisation and connect to a deep core emotion. He believed that dialogue was not enough. He believed that it should be used "economically".How do Artaud's Aims link to Berkoff? Berkoff uses very little dialogue and what he does use is merely to get the point across.


  • Write up of relaxation and warm up techniques: There are many relaxation techniques. One such technique is when you lay down and control your breathing. This has the effect of relaxing your muscles which means that because of the body being relaxed, which means when you move afterwards, your actions are exaggerated more.Why is it important? This is important as you are calm and relaxed and your muscles are not tight, which means you can move more.

    Character profile
    Expand character profile with quotations and examples
    Write up of masks Lesson - The mask lesson was very interesting. the masks helped us focus on our body language which means that to express our emotions, we needed to over exaggerate our body language. This was very effective for me as it allowed me to forget about how weird my facial expressions looked, and helped me gain some confidence in being Gregor.Give some specific examples of what you did (link to text) and say how this improved the impact of your performance

    Write up of NVC Lesson - The Non Verbal Communication lesson was based on communication without saying anything and just focusing on getting the message of the scene across using JUST body language and facial expression. This was a very effective thing to learn because if you're forced to not speak at all, then you are automatically forced to over do the acting to try and show the emotion. More detail with examples of what you did - e.g.  moments in the assessment piece where you used NVC and the impact

    Write up of Aural, Visual, Spatial Lesson - In this lesson, we were told to think about how we were using Aural, Visual and Spacial aspects in order to make our piece better. In order to do this, we needed to choose three moments in the scene where we could do one of the things. For the Aural aspect, we chose when Mr Samsa (Mandi) says "Our son? not that THING in there", after she says this, I (Gregor) let out a very loud screech to show the pain than I feel because of this neglect from my own father. We chose to put the visual aspect in the same place, Alice (Mrs Samsa) and Gurminder (Greta) both made Bug claw shapes in front of themselves. For the Spatial element we chose to do this at the bit where?????
    How does AVS link to Total Theatre 

    Where did Berkoff get the idea for 'Metamorphosis' From (Kafka)?
    Berkoff go the idea of Metamorphosis from an Austrian writer named Franz Kafka (1883-1924). Kafka wrote the original named Die Verwandlung which was published in 1915. In the novella, Gregor Samsa wakes to find himself as a "ungeheuren Ungeziefer", literally translates to "monstrous vermin". Berkoff took the book and turned it into a play.More detail?  Theatre of the impossible.  Why was this an autobiographical piece?

    What was happening at the time Berkoff wrote the play (1960's)
    During the time that Berkoff was writting this novel, the entertainment side of things were flourishing. Bands like the Beetles and The Rolling Stones were emerging and Hippie culture was rife. However the state of the country was poor, the upper classes were well off, but the middle and lower classes were not so well off.
    What type of theatre?  What was Berkoff reacting to, when he wrote'met'?  How was it relevent to it's time
    Why is the play still relevant today?
    The play is still relevant today because of the current state the country is in. There are plans of reducing and getting rid of many benefits which means that the working and lower classes may suffer.  What might be the impact of this and why is it relevent to the play?




    what is Total theatre?

    As Berkoff describes it, Total Theatre is a "pre-requisite in the making of the drama", He also states that there should be 'economy of dialogue', which means that words should be straight to the point because the body language speaks louder than words. These are very important in a play like Metamorphosis. Total Theatre, in my opinion is a form of theatre in which physical theatre and the use of the human body is used more than dialogue to express what is happening and how the characters feel (actions speak louder than words). The theatre should ensnare the senses and provoke an immediate emotional connection in the audience. Add some more quotes from berkoff and explain them

    We used total theatre in our piece through the use of mine always happening on the stage, this gave the audience a sense of time that would not otherwise be accomplished by just words alone. Although it was used throughout our performance, a specific moment could be when Alice, Mandi and Gurminder were eating dinner in a robotic and stylised way in time and in chorus Links to waht berkoff says in the opening about the family also representing a beetle.  Why?. We also had each character walking in performing an action e.g?  which links to the character. This is useful as it means that the audience don't need to much explanation on who the characters are as they've seen what the characters as like. 
    I think my group's performance was ok, we made a few errors like leaving out the actual beetle which is essential to create an eerie atmosphere. However, I liked how we used actions to compliment the words that were being used.

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