Chapter 12

Solo Perfomance Mode

Solo Performance Mode is a performance that is performed by a single person on stage,

whether it is a monologue, stand-up comedy, a dance such as ballet, or a poem recital. It can be
adapted or interpreted from someone elses work, or something the performer wrote.

Lecture Recital
- it is the public recital of a series of literary selections unified and programmed around a
single unifying theme. And it culls selections from narrative prose, poetry and selected scenes
from plays. In short, it is a narration performance.

Choosing selections for a Lecture Recital

It must have unity of source and unity of theme

It must be worthy of the listeners attention and time

It must combine tragic and comic

The characters must be real ones that can be identified with existing persons.

It must have a dominant character type

Characters must be limited to only two to three

The performers ability and personality must suit the character he is portraying.

The material for a public recital must fit the time prescribed.

Mechanics of Lecture Recital

INTRODUCTION Give an introduction in order to get acquainted with your audience.

a. Writer Give a few sentences about the author, his philosophy, career and other
outstanding works to stimulate the audience in the selection that will follow.
b. Characters In the case of narrative prose or selected scenes from a play, give a
concise statement about the main or the dominant character.
c. Setting Description of the setting is omitted, but if given at all, a brief general
impression expressed in short phrase will do.
d. Unifying theme In reading a series of poems give the unifying theme or the
dominant philosophy of life that binds the poems together.

TRANSITIONS Transitions in the form of short narratives by the speaker are

necessary to smoothen out the breaks in continuity. Connecting sentences or paragraphs
between the retained portions are given so that the listeners can looks back and forge
ahead.

Dramatic Monologue
- It is an interpretative oral performance of poetry and prose in which the interpreter plays
the role of one individual speaking to an imaginary listener, revealing in his dialogue his inmost
thoughts, his very private feelings about a subject of highest importance to him.
Mechanics of a Dramatic Monologue
1. Understand the selected poem or prose well.
2. Use imagination and recall past experiences & observations to put life to the character
of speaker.
3. As you speak, imagine a second listener, someone you are talking to who is
represented by the answer you yourself give to an apparent question.
4. The length of performance is suggested not to exceed an hour, preferably twentyminutes for a series of poems.
5. Choose the material carefully and if needed, cut it to a proper length.

Choreographed Interpretation
-

The art of composing movements, steps, and patterns for a dance, piece of music or show.

1. Poetry in motion Poetry is an expression, an act and a gesture of a meaning, a feeling

or mood. Dance is a representation of an emotion, a message or a story. In this highly
expressive and artistic aural and visual presentation, the voice remains the basic medium
of expression and poetry, the only stimulus for action. Dance is subordinated to this
medium and stimulus, acting in a secondary role. Its movements follow the voice
accurately in conveying the message.
2. Dance movements The poem may be danced entirely or the reader may simply
highlight selected passages with choreographic interpretations.
3. Choreographic poetry In choreographing a poem, action must be sincere and natural,
the body must be an expression of grace and very relevant to the poem.
a. Musical Accompaniment a choreographed interpretation may be danced to
music or it may be a silent dance.
b. Dancer Interpreter a solo interpreter may read and dance at the same time
or another or a group of dancers may provide the choreography.

Readers Theater

Another ensemble technique that consists of group interpretation of a short story, novel or
a dramatic poem with the participation of several readers. It is also known by such term
as concert reading , interpreters theatre , and staged reading. In this ensemble mode, the
presence or absence of a narrator establishes the locus of the story.

Locus in this context, refers to the relationship between reader and poem, and between
reader and audience.

The Theatre of the Mind

Readers theater appeals more to the ear than to the eye, the auditory senses responding
more. In the performance, the reader tries not to look like the character he is interpreting;
instead he feels and projects the thoughts, mood, and feelings of the character he is
speaking. He embodies the character not only through the passages he is speaking but
also through his voice and body. He speaks with appropriate voice quality, varying pitch
levels and degrees of loudness and softness, adjusting his rate of speaking as he performs.

He also uses pauses, clear and accurate pronunciation and enunciation, appropriate body
movements, so that the audience will create the scene and actions in their minds. This is
the reason Readers Theatre is also called the theatre of the mind. During the
performance, the imagination of the readers and the audience is closely interlocked,
actively engaged in the giving and receiving of ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Mechanics of Readers Theater

Choice of readers

The requirements for a solo interpreter are the same as the interpreter for Readers theatre
except for a slight consideration. Dual characters assigned to a single reader may be possible
especially if a selection requires many readers, but a reader cannot assume too many character,
say three or four, without lessening his skills and decreasing his effectiveness.

Visual Focus for Offstage Effects

Establishing an offstage effect may be done by readers in several ways. They may sit
beside each other on the platform and talk out to the audience sharing something imaginary that
both see out there. They may also speak to each other even while they look at the audience
most of the time. The reader may also look freely at the character he is speaking to, but looks
away at the audience when he is speaking to still another character. The choice of technique is
flexible and the readers are free to select which one suits the scene in progress.

Scenes

Very often, the story performed suggests or emphasizes something to be seen but is not
heard, that is, the readers lines do not clearly tell what happens. In this connection, Readers
theatre is required to put that scene on stage in the form of a very quick and brief movement of
characters onstage and offstage. This scene must only complement, enhance or heighten what is
being heard at that precise moment.

Ingress and Egress

Movements in Readers Theatre onstage and offstage are rather suggestive. For example, if
the readers are seated on revolving chairs, they may make half-turn to enter or leave the
platform, likewise , if a character has to fade out of the scene but has to remain facing the
audience, he may close his book or lower his eyes to make his character disappear.

Books-in-Hand

Readers in this ensemble mode use books or scripts but these are part of the performance
itself. A book must not be held simply as a prop or a gimmick with blank spaces, it must not also
be seen as a crutch that the reader depends on when he forgets a line or a passage. Books must be
handled with ease and with spontaneous action so that they also serve as a stimulus as suggested
by the interpreters line.

Theatrical Effects

Restraint, simplicity and prudence mark the use of theatrical effects in Readers Theatre. At
the outset, it has been discussed that these would be used only to enhance what is being heard.
Besides, an overwhelming use of theatrical sets identified with a fully-staged drama of which
readers theatre is not. Makeup, costumes, lights, music, scenery and props compose other
aspects of theatrical techniques. Makeup may be used only to make it easier for the audience to
identify the character speaking; as with the use of scenes, it must not distract and overshadow the
auditory stimuli. Readers may use uniform costumes to contribute to the total effect of the
performance. The same style of dress; color or non-color (all-black or all-white attire), and
clothing material, identify the readers as an ensemble unit; in addition, sameness in attire
strengthens the emotional and psychological impact of the character speaking.

Time Limit

As with other ensemble performances. Readers Theatre has limitations with regards to the
duration of a single performance. Because of the strong mental, emotional, and highly
imaginative participation of the audience, Readers Theatre must be relatively short. A 45-minute
to one-and-a-half hour performance with intermission may be reasonable enough. With regards
to the venue, the setting is flexible. The whole ensemble may perform in the faculty or student
lounge, the library or in a theater, but whatever the choice may be the place must be cozy enough
and easy for the readers and the audience to establish a close relationship and a strong
imaginative participation.

Chamber Theatre
Characteristics of Chamber Theatre

A method of interpreting narrative fiction for group interpretation is chamber theatre. It is

an auditory and visual strategy that dramatizes the point of view in a short story or a
novel.

Chamber Theatre keeps the original narrative, including the narrator, who plays his usual
role of observing events, reporting action, describing, explaining and analyzing as if to a
silent listener, and uses the past tense which is characteristic of the literary genre.

Actors Dialogue, Eye Movements

Each character in the novel or short story is performed by a separate actor with
appropriate but minimal stage sets and theatrical effects so as not for Chamber Theatre to
appear like a fully-staged play. The dialogues of the performers are for the most part
composed of narration (indirect discourse) spoken aloud as direct statements in varying
movements on stage. When the interpreter speaks the narrators role and says the indirect
discourse as direct statements, he looks at the audience as if conversing to them, but
when he shifts to a character in a scene he looks freely at the character he is speaking to.
In this smooth shift of roles or character, the players interact with the audience as they
say the indirect statements.

The Narrator: Point of View

Chamber Theatres most outstanding quality is the very significant role it assigns to the
narrator. Through him, the point of view of the story is maintained and controlled as he
variously shifts from a third person to a first person character in a scene. The narrators
point of view provides the physical and psychological situation and the degree of
involvement which he takes in relation to the action and the plot. The varying degrees of
involvement the narrator assumes controls and guides the listeners responses as they
follow the action through their thoughts, feelings, and expectations.

Theatrical Effects

Visual stimuli in the form of theatrical effects are used in Chamber Theatre costumes,
makeup, scenery, and stage sets. Lighting must be used in varying degrees of spot or area
focus. The use of music and scenery is the same as in Readers Theatre, the presence of
which serves only to suggest what is being heard, and to heighten the emotional and
psychological response of the audience. Scenery must not overshadow the total effect of
the ensemble performance and must not compete with the players presence and action,
else it might appear like a fully-staged drama.

Scripts-in-Hand

Holding a book will depend on the script and the action the players would wish to
project. The general practice is for Chamber Theatre players not to carry books especially
if the characters are in a scene because with books in their hands, they would seem to be
rehearsing.

Time Limit

Chamber Theatre presents prose fiction as written by its author in its original form but
considering the length of most prose novels, cutting may be necessary to let the
performance fit into a prescribed time, one-and-a-half hours at the most, with
intermission. Considerable cutting may be needed in making the novel, short story,
biography or autobiography appropriate for a single oral presentation because the
audience may find it quite difficult to follow a very lengthy performance.

Interpretation

The act or result of explaining or interpreting something

The way something is explained or understood
A particular way of performing something

Interpretative Reading

One of the oldest forms of speech is the oral interpretation of literature. This performance
is variously called oral reading, reading aloud or interpretative reading.

It is generally known as the reading aloud of written materials such as radio or television
commercials, expository papers, news items, and announcements, but traditionally it is
associated with oral reading of literature.

The concept of Oral communication

Interpretation is the study of literature through the oral performance of a speaker who
creates and recreates the meaning and mood of the selection. In this manner,
interpretation becomes a performing art because the interpreter realizes and actualizes
the literary work he is reciting.

The process of Oral Interpretation

Original author

Printed poem

Decode

Prose

Oral Interpreter

Listening Audience

REMEMBER :

Performance

Encode

Reading aloud is not expressing the printed selection in a booming voice, a sudden
outburst or in an overly distinct voice. It is the process of reading orally an audience,
using the elements of voice and diction in order to convey the meaning and mood of the
selection accurately.

The mechanics of Interpreting Poetry

A. UNDERSTAND THE SELECTION
1. Reading the selection silently knowing and understanding the meaning of each word and
sentence
2. Considering the attitude, feelings, emotion or temperament of the person who wrote the
selection.
3. Identify words and ideas you need to emphasize.
4. Recalling your own experiences to help you in understanding the authors mood and to guide
you in recreating the authors feelings.

B. EXPRESS THE SELECTION

1. Emphasize the meaning
2. Emphasize the mood
3. Watch for the time limit