In January 2024, I signed up for Monday Show School’s Weekend Drama classes and attended classes until completion in December 2024. Huge thanks to Monday Show School and Dominic Lucien Luk for the Weekend Drama School experience in 2024.
Attending Weekend Drama School from January to December is a lot to write in this single post. So this post will only cover my biggest takeaway I’ve learnt as an actor thanks to these classes.
Improv game leading to a reflection of my amateur mistake
One class we played an improv game where two players are on stage for a scene, and as the scene progresses, students offstage have to find a moment to shout “Freeze!”, causing the two actors to freeze in that moment of the story. The shouter then gets to tap any of the frozen actors to switch in with them, while the tapped joins the rest offstage. The new player then starts off a new scene with the untapped player.
My turn and I chose to play a character that had to exert a lot of physical energy with my scene partner. Obviously, this choice was high in energy, but I also did it in a loud way. As the scene progressed, someone shouted “Freeze!”, and my scene partner was tapped out to be replaced. In this next scene, my new scene partner chose to be a dying character. To “Yes, and”, I went for a wailing character mourning for their slow death. My interpretation was high energy, but again, loud.
Later after the game we had a group reflection, and one of the things mentioned is that even though the audience got two very different scenes, it felt like they were watching the same character when it came to me. This was when I realised; I lacked versatility and nuance. Versatility would have led me to go for a low energy character. Nuance would have allowed me to stay high energy, but execute it differently to offer a new character portrayal to the audience.
My biggest takeaway from Monday Show School’s Weekend Drama School in 2024
There is a difference between being high energy and looking high energy. That class, I did both things in the two scenes consecutively. Being aware of my state of being showcases versatility, and how I make that state of being come across showcases nuance.
Let’s use the example mentioned earlier for my wailing mourning character. (A) Versatility could have led me to be in a state of shock, a state of being low energy. Consequently, it would have also made me look low energy. (B) Nuance could have led me to mourn quietly, but intensely. This is a state of high energy, but I would have looked low energy. In both instances, I would have given my audience a contrasting character experience, especially since my previous scene was me both being and looking high energy.
If my versatility strengthened, I could open possibilities into the unknown and make fresh bold choices. If my nuance masterful, I could stay high energy internally as a character but portray outward varying levels of energy.
*Note: ‘Small Stage’ is a series of shows being staged at the end of every term.
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Credits
Written by Danniel Iskandar
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