Theatre 101 with Jess Wood
When Amelia and Saraid started looking for a director to join the Stomach team they found, in their words, 'the perfect fit' in Jessica Wood. Jessica is a writer, actress, director and a graduate of the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts. You might have seen her on TV in The Brokenwood Mysteries, Shortland Street, or Super City, and in 2012 she appeared on the big screen in Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business. Jessica drew on her experience as a director (Looking at Stuff in Clouds, Tiki Tour) and as a writer (Ponsonby Problems, JAFA, Rapunzel, Hannah & Rory, The Big Picture) to breathe life into the characters and story of Stomach.
Jessica took the time to create a cheat sheet to give some insight into the elements of the story, acting techniques, and theatre conventions used in Stomach. |
Elements of the story
Roles: The actresses play the characters of Amy and Sara, they also play Amy and Sara’s alter-ego’s Kadun and Montreal, the characters they play on YouTube.
Time: The play is set in the present, in a non-descript year – this year, last year – recently. The girls are studying University.
Place: The play is set in Auckland, but we have changed it in the past for the Wellington season. We only need a few tweaks to change it, so it can be set anywhere really.
Situation: The play is told backwards, but the story (in normal order) is that the girls are fans of each other’s YouTube characters, they coincidentally meet in a library, on a day that has been rough for both of them. They immediately hit it off and their friendship blossoms. However they are both dealing with their own issues, so the relationship turns sour.
Action: The overall plot and each scene is kept going by the revelations in each scene and the relationship of the women. While they are dedicated to each other, they both have secrets, and the play explores what we tell each other and what we keep secret.
Tension: Both women are at a crossroads in their life. Amy doesn’t feel like her life is going anywhere, or that she’s good enough for anything she wants to try, she is wrapped up in the past, and afraid of getting too close to people in case she gets hurt. Sara is struggling with an eating disorder and the loss of control that she has around that. She is spiralling out of control and doesn’t know how to stop.
Mood: The play goes from a lot of dramatic tension and from feeling quite dark and gets more positive throughout the play. As we go from the end of their relationship and end at the beginning. It’s like a reverse break up story, so we end the play feeling happy, even though the we know their friendship ends.
Contrast: Both characters are drawn to each other for both the things they have in common – TLC, YouTube, humour – and their differences. Amy is more reserved and admires Sara’s wit. Sara is more controlled and admires the freedom that Amy has.
Focus: The most interesting thing about this play, which holds the audience's focus, is the friendship between the two women. The way they can be truthful and engaged with each other, and the freedom the give each other. Another element is the secrets that the girls keep from each other, and how they deal with that in their friendship.
Symbol: The shrine is symbolic in the play as it represents the girls friendship – at it’s peak when they do the dance and then slowly unravelling as their friendship ends. YouTube and their online presence is also symbolic of the different levels of truth we tell ourselves and the world around us.
Time: The play is set in the present, in a non-descript year – this year, last year – recently. The girls are studying University.
Place: The play is set in Auckland, but we have changed it in the past for the Wellington season. We only need a few tweaks to change it, so it can be set anywhere really.
Situation: The play is told backwards, but the story (in normal order) is that the girls are fans of each other’s YouTube characters, they coincidentally meet in a library, on a day that has been rough for both of them. They immediately hit it off and their friendship blossoms. However they are both dealing with their own issues, so the relationship turns sour.
Action: The overall plot and each scene is kept going by the revelations in each scene and the relationship of the women. While they are dedicated to each other, they both have secrets, and the play explores what we tell each other and what we keep secret.
Tension: Both women are at a crossroads in their life. Amy doesn’t feel like her life is going anywhere, or that she’s good enough for anything she wants to try, she is wrapped up in the past, and afraid of getting too close to people in case she gets hurt. Sara is struggling with an eating disorder and the loss of control that she has around that. She is spiralling out of control and doesn’t know how to stop.
Mood: The play goes from a lot of dramatic tension and from feeling quite dark and gets more positive throughout the play. As we go from the end of their relationship and end at the beginning. It’s like a reverse break up story, so we end the play feeling happy, even though the we know their friendship ends.
Contrast: Both characters are drawn to each other for both the things they have in common – TLC, YouTube, humour – and their differences. Amy is more reserved and admires Sara’s wit. Sara is more controlled and admires the freedom that Amy has.
Focus: The most interesting thing about this play, which holds the audience's focus, is the friendship between the two women. The way they can be truthful and engaged with each other, and the freedom the give each other. Another element is the secrets that the girls keep from each other, and how they deal with that in their friendship.
Symbol: The shrine is symbolic in the play as it represents the girls friendship – at it’s peak when they do the dance and then slowly unravelling as their friendship ends. YouTube and their online presence is also symbolic of the different levels of truth we tell ourselves and the world around us.
Acting techniques
Voice: Each actress has a different rhythm when they speak. They have their own language, as most good friendships do, but Sara is more quick-witted, always ready with a joke and a unique perspective on life, while Amy struggles to articulate her thoughts, resulting in lovely babbling speeches.
Body: Each actor uses their body differently to echo the state that their character is in. The play requires a lot physically, as the characters go from being shy and timid around each other, to being super intimate to performing as their alter-egos, so the actresses must convey this through their body language.
Movement: When/why does the actor move? The actresses move to express thoughts and feelings of their characters. Their bodies tell us a story just like their words and the tone of their voices do.
Space: How does the actor use the set and building? We’ve tried really hard to make the set an extension of the characters. The set can be anything that the actresses imbue it with. From a library book to a chair to a shrine, as long as they see it, and believe it, we as the audience will see it too.
Body: Each actor uses their body differently to echo the state that their character is in. The play requires a lot physically, as the characters go from being shy and timid around each other, to being super intimate to performing as their alter-egos, so the actresses must convey this through their body language.
Movement: When/why does the actor move? The actresses move to express thoughts and feelings of their characters. Their bodies tell us a story just like their words and the tone of their voices do.
Space: How does the actor use the set and building? We’ve tried really hard to make the set an extension of the characters. The set can be anything that the actresses imbue it with. From a library book to a chair to a shrine, as long as they see it, and believe it, we as the audience will see it too.
Theatre conventions
Aside: When a character pauses the scene to speak out to the audience before continuing the scene from where they left off.
Entrances and Exits: When characters enter and exit the stage.
Flashback and Flash-forward: A jump through time, backward or forward from the present moment the play is set in
Narration: A comment on the story
Slow motion: A stylized version of time happening in slow motion in order to create tension or gravity
Soundscape: Any sound that is constant rather than a sound effect.
Split Focus: When two different pieces of action are happening on stage at the same time.
Split scene: When the stage is split into two different locations to help keep the pace and show contrast.
Spoken Thoughts: Basically thinking out loud.
Stage directions: These are the text in the script which define the blocking and other tech elements.
Still Image: A frozen picture, which has significance behind it.
Entrances and Exits: When characters enter and exit the stage.
Flashback and Flash-forward: A jump through time, backward or forward from the present moment the play is set in
Narration: A comment on the story
Slow motion: A stylized version of time happening in slow motion in order to create tension or gravity
Soundscape: Any sound that is constant rather than a sound effect.
Split Focus: When two different pieces of action are happening on stage at the same time.
Split scene: When the stage is split into two different locations to help keep the pace and show contrast.
Spoken Thoughts: Basically thinking out loud.
Stage directions: These are the text in the script which define the blocking and other tech elements.
Still Image: A frozen picture, which has significance behind it.