Notes from Session 4: October 19th
LAST WEEK:
- learned how to structure a play last week with “Buddy and Dave”
THIS WEEK:
- do the same thing, but related to our central themes. This will be difficult
- Looking for phrases that represent our theme, them writing scenes that contain these phrases as ideas.
- Theatre is “Life under Pressure”
What we are doing is “FRACTAL PLAYWRITING”
- looking for 5 character archetypes
- Context: getting progressively smaller and hotter
o Psychomachia – soul war, meaning all characters are aspects of one individual character, for example the author
o “The horror of being about to bubble over” is more exciting than the actual bubbling.
- There has to be some aspect of Oppression or Paranoia
- Five lines each play, coming up with Five elements each along the central theme.
5 Character archetypes that we came up with:
- Buddy - Always #2, inferiority complex, doesn’t fit in, although you can’t hurt him, he is very passive.
- Flawed Wise One – “Flawed” introduced to create an interesting dynamic
- Seeker – looking for something, like a student.
- Promised One – a little kid that people depend on
- Tyrant/”Savior”
Characters we didn’t use:
- Paranoid? Somebody highly unstable
- Manipulator of language – always speaking with undertones, e.g. “Your administrator said my calendar was like Bill Legett’s”, “We have to talk”, over-intellectualization.
The following was written:
Dustin – “Dust Village”, featuring Promised One and Flawed Wise One
Chris – “We need You”, featuring Tyrant (Mataji) and Promised One (Abdul) and making reference to a (Flawed?) Wise One (Mahatma).
Grace – “Photo”, featuring Flawed Wise One and Seeker
Adam – “In a safe”, featuring Buddy and Flawed Wise One (Holmes – Cliched Superhero)
Kelsey – “Plunder”, featuring Tyrant and Flawed Wise One
Caroline – “Do You”, __________________________
Sean – “In the Car”
With discussion, which took a long time, we put the plays in order, and found a through-character, Abdul, who starts out as a Promised One, moves to a Flawed Wise One, then a Tyrant, and then into something else. Also, there was another character I will refer to as “Buddita”, which wasn’t very well defined. I won’t editorialize this any more but I’ll just type out all the scripts in the order we put them. Do You was removed from the rest of the play, and cycled throughout later. I’ll put it at the end.
PLAY:
“We need You”
Mataji: Abdul! We have to talk to you about school!
Abdul: Leave me alone. You’re always in my face. The exams not till next week. I just needed to relax a little.
Mataji: So much has been hoped for; so much invested. What would Mahatma say? He believes in you. We all do.
Abdul: What do you mean? Not a village meeting? Believe in me or not, I can’t do more than I can do.
Mataji: We believe. We trust you. We need you…to succeed.
“Dust Village”
Buddita: Are you in health?
Abdul: What, my boy, are you doing waking me up at this hour.
Buddita: ‘Tis two in the afternoon. There is some dust rising from the pass, and people are scared. I think we need to do something.
Abdul: Ah. Your heart is the size of a whale’s. Dust from the pass eh? That could only mean one thing – something I haven’t seen since I was a boy.
Buddita: It there’s something we must do, then we have to go do it. Please get up and come with me. Everyone’s waiting.
“Safe”
Adbul: Ok…we have been in this safe for 2 hours now. There has been no response from anyone in the bank, thus we must assume that no one we knows we are locked in here. We will have to open the safe door ourselves. How much time did I say we have left to breath?
Buddita: 15 minutes. (Buddy has the look that he know Holmes has no idea how much air time was really left.)
Abdul: Good. Then let’s get started. By my observation, this steel is 4 inches thick… (observing the door, shows sign of feeling constricted, but still strong)
Buddita: (sighs) …I think every safe door should have a safety mechan – (interrupted)
Abdul: Shut up and let me think!…(long pause)…(Holmes then looks at Buddy, helpless but annoyed) Glad that you are sharing ideas (sarcastic)
“In the Car”
Buddita: (driving) I can’t find it. Listen to me, listen to me. Are you even paying attention?
Abdul: Just drive. We’ll get there when we arrive. What are you so worried about? Don’t you think I know how to read a map?
Buddita: I am the one who was been changing lanes and gears, and been cut off here. Of course you know where your going. I am just worried that we are going to run out of gas and that my nerves are finally going to crack. Can you please figure out the fastest way to get there?
Abdul: (Hums along to music) Yeah, yeah. ( hums along)
(Buddita turns up the volume, which makes Abdul hum even louder)
“Plunder”
Abdul: When are we this time?
Buddita: Isn’t it the same every time? Plunder and leave?
Abdul:…Their tactics change.
Buddita: The recipe of war…
Abdul: Mmm. The taste of victory gets sweeter every time.
Buddita: But will you always be able to taste it over the smell of defeat?
“Photo”
Abdul: Look, I am not the person you are looking for.
Mataji (mother?): (holding up a photo) But oh, yes you are! It is you in the picture. You are the one I need.
Abdul: No way. I have a lot of better things to do. (stop, thinks) Wait, I know who you’re looking for.
Mataji: (confused) I beg your pardon?
Abdul: (pointing at the photo) This man you’re looking for? He lives in a different time. You won’t find him here.
NOTES ON THE PLAY:
- we see that a Promised One can “progress” into either a Flawed Wise One or a Tyrant, or a combination.
- As for the Flawed Wise One, his wisdom can be projected onto him, and he can be either aware or unaware of how he looks to others.
- Mahatam is an interesting external character.
“Do You”
S: I don’t want to
FWO: That’s okay, I understand
S: No, really you have no clue.
FWO: Yes, I know what you mean
S: Do you?
NOTES ON “DO YOU”:
Initially this was #2 in the order of plays, but we removed it because it wasn’t coherent with the rest of the structure. We tried performing the play with people walking around, then coming together and performing one “dialogue” from the play. The “Do You” dialogue would be performed the rest of the time. Actors (who started out as Chris and Shawn) in Do You would change their tone to reflect what was going on in the rest of the scene. Note that there are an uneven number of lines, so roles will always switch in the scenes.
We then tried this where with each line a physical movement had to be made.
NOTES ON EVERYTHING:
Pressure Cookers: unknown timing of known cataclysm. (e.g. Global Warming, Malthus, Doomsday Clock, Mass Extinctions, End of Oil.
From Book: Northrop Frye “The Anatomy Of Criticism”
- defining central character’s (AKA hero’s) “ability to function” or understand within the society they are in.
Myth
Romance
Mimesis
Irony
Parody
- as society progresses, there are the types of stories that we tell. (e.g. Greek Myth to Comedy Show (such as Homer Simpson))
SO:
- Is the Abdul story a journey of a society, rather than an individual?
- “Dust Village” and “Safe”. Interesting that the relationship is nearly the same, but locations are as different as possible.
- “Where would an everyman go/do?” – Kelsey
- Myth = Idea = “Ideal” The progression is the bastardization of this ideal.
- Abdul is the oppressor as the anti-hero, whose story we are following.
- learned how to structure a play last week with “Buddy and Dave”
THIS WEEK:
- do the same thing, but related to our central themes. This will be difficult
- Looking for phrases that represent our theme, them writing scenes that contain these phrases as ideas.
- Theatre is “Life under Pressure”
What we are doing is “FRACTAL PLAYWRITING”
- looking for 5 character archetypes
- Context: getting progressively smaller and hotter
o Psychomachia – soul war, meaning all characters are aspects of one individual character, for example the author
o “The horror of being about to bubble over” is more exciting than the actual bubbling.
- There has to be some aspect of Oppression or Paranoia
- Five lines each play, coming up with Five elements each along the central theme.
5 Character archetypes that we came up with:
- Buddy - Always #2, inferiority complex, doesn’t fit in, although you can’t hurt him, he is very passive.
- Flawed Wise One – “Flawed” introduced to create an interesting dynamic
- Seeker – looking for something, like a student.
- Promised One – a little kid that people depend on
- Tyrant/”Savior”
Characters we didn’t use:
- Paranoid? Somebody highly unstable
- Manipulator of language – always speaking with undertones, e.g. “Your administrator said my calendar was like Bill Legett’s”, “We have to talk”, over-intellectualization.
The following was written:
Dustin – “Dust Village”, featuring Promised One and Flawed Wise One
Chris – “We need You”, featuring Tyrant (Mataji) and Promised One (Abdul) and making reference to a (Flawed?) Wise One (Mahatma).
Grace – “Photo”, featuring Flawed Wise One and Seeker
Adam – “In a safe”, featuring Buddy and Flawed Wise One (Holmes – Cliched Superhero)
Kelsey – “Plunder”, featuring Tyrant and Flawed Wise One
Caroline – “Do You”, __________________________
Sean – “In the Car”
With discussion, which took a long time, we put the plays in order, and found a through-character, Abdul, who starts out as a Promised One, moves to a Flawed Wise One, then a Tyrant, and then into something else. Also, there was another character I will refer to as “Buddita”, which wasn’t very well defined. I won’t editorialize this any more but I’ll just type out all the scripts in the order we put them. Do You was removed from the rest of the play, and cycled throughout later. I’ll put it at the end.
PLAY:
“We need You”
Mataji: Abdul! We have to talk to you about school!
Abdul: Leave me alone. You’re always in my face. The exams not till next week. I just needed to relax a little.
Mataji: So much has been hoped for; so much invested. What would Mahatma say? He believes in you. We all do.
Abdul: What do you mean? Not a village meeting? Believe in me or not, I can’t do more than I can do.
Mataji: We believe. We trust you. We need you…to succeed.
“Dust Village”
Buddita: Are you in health?
Abdul: What, my boy, are you doing waking me up at this hour.
Buddita: ‘Tis two in the afternoon. There is some dust rising from the pass, and people are scared. I think we need to do something.
Abdul: Ah. Your heart is the size of a whale’s. Dust from the pass eh? That could only mean one thing – something I haven’t seen since I was a boy.
Buddita: It there’s something we must do, then we have to go do it. Please get up and come with me. Everyone’s waiting.
“Safe”
Adbul: Ok…we have been in this safe for 2 hours now. There has been no response from anyone in the bank, thus we must assume that no one we knows we are locked in here. We will have to open the safe door ourselves. How much time did I say we have left to breath?
Buddita: 15 minutes. (Buddy has the look that he know Holmes has no idea how much air time was really left.)
Abdul: Good. Then let’s get started. By my observation, this steel is 4 inches thick… (observing the door, shows sign of feeling constricted, but still strong)
Buddita: (sighs) …I think every safe door should have a safety mechan – (interrupted)
Abdul: Shut up and let me think!…(long pause)…(Holmes then looks at Buddy, helpless but annoyed) Glad that you are sharing ideas (sarcastic)
“In the Car”
Buddita: (driving) I can’t find it. Listen to me, listen to me. Are you even paying attention?
Abdul: Just drive. We’ll get there when we arrive. What are you so worried about? Don’t you think I know how to read a map?
Buddita: I am the one who was been changing lanes and gears, and been cut off here. Of course you know where your going. I am just worried that we are going to run out of gas and that my nerves are finally going to crack. Can you please figure out the fastest way to get there?
Abdul: (Hums along to music) Yeah, yeah. ( hums along)
(Buddita turns up the volume, which makes Abdul hum even louder)
“Plunder”
Abdul: When are we this time?
Buddita: Isn’t it the same every time? Plunder and leave?
Abdul:…Their tactics change.
Buddita: The recipe of war…
Abdul: Mmm. The taste of victory gets sweeter every time.
Buddita: But will you always be able to taste it over the smell of defeat?
“Photo”
Abdul: Look, I am not the person you are looking for.
Mataji (mother?): (holding up a photo) But oh, yes you are! It is you in the picture. You are the one I need.
Abdul: No way. I have a lot of better things to do. (stop, thinks) Wait, I know who you’re looking for.
Mataji: (confused) I beg your pardon?
Abdul: (pointing at the photo) This man you’re looking for? He lives in a different time. You won’t find him here.
NOTES ON THE PLAY:
- we see that a Promised One can “progress” into either a Flawed Wise One or a Tyrant, or a combination.
- As for the Flawed Wise One, his wisdom can be projected onto him, and he can be either aware or unaware of how he looks to others.
- Mahatam is an interesting external character.
“Do You”
S: I don’t want to
FWO: That’s okay, I understand
S: No, really you have no clue.
FWO: Yes, I know what you mean
S: Do you?
NOTES ON “DO YOU”:
Initially this was #2 in the order of plays, but we removed it because it wasn’t coherent with the rest of the structure. We tried performing the play with people walking around, then coming together and performing one “dialogue” from the play. The “Do You” dialogue would be performed the rest of the time. Actors (who started out as Chris and Shawn) in Do You would change their tone to reflect what was going on in the rest of the scene. Note that there are an uneven number of lines, so roles will always switch in the scenes.
We then tried this where with each line a physical movement had to be made.
NOTES ON EVERYTHING:
Pressure Cookers: unknown timing of known cataclysm. (e.g. Global Warming, Malthus, Doomsday Clock, Mass Extinctions, End of Oil.
From Book: Northrop Frye “The Anatomy Of Criticism”
- defining central character’s (AKA hero’s) “ability to function” or understand within the society they are in.
Myth
Romance
Mimesis
Irony
Parody
- as society progresses, there are the types of stories that we tell. (e.g. Greek Myth to Comedy Show (such as Homer Simpson))
SO:
- Is the Abdul story a journey of a society, rather than an individual?
- “Dust Village” and “Safe”. Interesting that the relationship is nearly the same, but locations are as different as possible.
- “Where would an everyman go/do?” – Kelsey
- Myth = Idea = “Ideal” The progression is the bastardization of this ideal.
- Abdul is the oppressor as the anti-hero, whose story we are following.
posted by Dustin at 12:26 p.m.
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