Drama Tips

Hola!

It's been a while since this site has been running. So I thought I'll start off something, hopefully the ball keeps rolling :) Don't forget, this site belongs to you too, so post away!

The other day I was helping the Varsity Camp 2008 committee to prepare for a skit for the Point of Difference Camp that's coming up end of this month. And there were 2 things that I was focusing on and I thought I would share them with you so that you could learn too.

Falling
Falling? Yes in the literal sense. This is one of the hardest things to do coz there's a high risk of injuring yourself. This needs a lot of practice, may I suggest you practice falling on your bed first :) Now if you want to fall, try to fall side ways instead of backwards/forward. It's safer and easier to "break the fall". Don't throw your entire weight completely as though flinging your body to the ground BUT do it in stages. Stages? Yes. Two stages I would say:

1. From a standing up position, come down to a 'side-sitting position'. Meaning one side of your thigh is resting flat on the floor and the other leg is semi stretched out.

2. You must support your upper body with both hands but you have to bend the elbows as you reach the ground. It's like the concept of physics when you jump from a high place, upon reaching the ground, you bend your knees. It's a way of absorbing the shock.

I hope that's clear, if you don't understand, ask me when you see me, I'll demostrate :)


Character Playing
A lot of people have difficulty in making a skit/drama look good because the character that they try to exude is not strong enough. You need to study the character well and find out how the person would think, act, say, behave, etc. After knowing the characters character, you have to channel that into your body language, that includes your facial expression, body posture, mannerisms, body actions, and your lines (dialogue).

One way in channeling the characters character into the physical body is to think of lines in your head. For example, you're a shoppaholic, there's a mega sale going on, you just entered the mall and you're excited. So to play her part, you need to know how a shoppaholic thinks:

- I need to buy things
- I need to splurge
- Everything is so cheap
- I need to get this and that before anyone else gets it
- Things never look this good (eyes sparkle in delight)
- It's all mine! All mine!!

So once we've established that, play those lines in your head as you act. So if I'm entering TopShop and I see this fabulous blouse, which is going off at 50% and there's a swamp of girls over there, what do you do?

You're playing this line in your head:
I need to buy that blouse, it's cheap, it looks fabulous, and I need to get it before they do1

Naturally your action would be:
Rush over and jam between all the girls and get what you came to get! You'll have that excited and frantic expression. You'll be slightly violent coz there's a crowd and you're forcing your way through to get the blouse, etc...


That's it. So next time when you're acting, throw lines in your head, it helps A LOT!