Transformational acting is a another technique our group choose to utilize as it shows the characters current feelings and raw selves in order to transform who they are and their emotional ranges into that of the characters they portray. In doing so, they function, take action and live the reality and lifestyle of these characters, without having to use the past or imagining the future. Amir, as narrator moves in and out time and instigates the time changes and actor transformations.
An example of this is in scene two; Amir begins to tell the story of how he and his family came to be in Australia and in doing so creates the shift in time and enterers/ becomes the character he is telling the story about. He starts the scene off by making the audience believe he is about to narrate the story when all sudden he starts grabbing characters, Stephanie becomes Penny Boulton and Brendan becomes James Boulton and the story goes on to take a and intriguing turn. This is an effective technique as it really engages the audience by keeping them intrigued in the play as it draws them into the story and is an interesting way of acting out the story rather then just narrating it. This was an important technique we choose to utilize as it was throughout the play as a means of telling the story.
There where also various techniques in A Beautiful Life that we choose not to utilize. The symbol of the rose being one of them. This was mainly due to the fact that we could not adequately explore and develop this idea of freedom through the use of roses given the amount of time that we have. A Beautiful Life follows the Brechtian, theatre of cruelty and contemporary theatre performance conventions in order to challenge assumptions rethink beliefs or reaffirm certainties.
The Brechtian idea of retelling a story or events to assist the audiences understanding is used in our performance. The ideas of justice, abuse of power and prejudice are important issues the combined story of the protest and the refugee explore to communicate to an Australian audience as means of provoking social change as Brecht’ conventions indented it to be. An example of this is the way our performance positions the audience to see the Iranians in a sympthetic way. We show cruel, harsh and unfair imprisonment and its conditions forcing the audience to become discussed with what they’ve seen and call for social change.
Theatre of cruelty is the attack on the scenses and aims at challenging audience’s pre conceived idea’s and innocent conceptions to create new awareness so as the audience can actively take this movement and change the cause and reasons for this such extortionary theatre, using a minimalist stage, lighting and minimalist costumes. Contemporary Australian Drama is the means in which a story is developed in new ways to assist audiences interpret the ideas and images presented in the theatre. In A Beautiful Life and our play some of the unique techniques used to convey the issues of modern theatre are used, these being: transformational acting, narrator, and non-English language, to convey modern Australian issues of multiculturalism.
Our play uses the techniques, conventions, background and the ideas presented in A Beautiful Life to create a small scale version of the combined histories of the refugee musician and the Iranian Embassy protest. We have conveyed the ideas of modern Australian issues regarding multiculturalism, prejudice, injustice and brutality to through an array dramatic forms and techniques. We have accurately conveyed a reflection on the ways in which our Performance reflects the performance style, dramatic techniques and conventions, conveys ideas and develops a response from the audience, and reflects the historical and social background A Beautiful Life presents.
