04d+Sample+SAC+Answers


 * Here are 4 different sample answers to the same question, which refers to you ability to show your knowledge about how actors use their expressive skills and stagecraft to portray characters in performance.**
 * Question:**
 * Discuss the way in which one character was represented through the use of expressive skills and stagecraft elements.**
 * Any questions on character portrayal are asking you to explain the purpose and motivation of the character in terms of who or what theme or idea they represent in the plot, describe specific examples of how the actor used a range of skills )voice, facial expression, movement, gesture etc) and what these choices communicated to the audience. This question also asks for a description and explanation of how stagecraft elements were used to help portray aspects of the character – this could include how costume was used, props, set, mask, music, lighting etc.

Try adapting one of these sample answers to explain a character from the performance 'War Crimes'.
 * S****ample Answer 1**

//The Drover’s Wife was presented by Jane to be a victim of adversity. Jane portrayed her with hunched shoulders and a dwarfish stature. She also spoke in a voice that was varying in emotion, either sad like when she recalled the past events of her husband leaving home or anxious like when she talks about the snake and the stranger in the house. Jane does this to highlight the Drover’s Wife’s vulnerability. She changes the emotion on her face from being sad and regretful (like when she remembered the flood and fire) to being amused (when she pokes her eyes with her fingers through her hanky) As she told the story, she used large arm gestures and energetic movement to act out the events as they happened. She wore a long, plain, wrap-around skirt of a very dull color in the style of what was worn by women in early Australian settlement, and began her story carrying a wicker washing basket, talking as she mimed folding the washing. This helped set the period and her role as a domestic woman. She used a gum tree branch as a protective stick, which symbolised the bush setting and her isolation as a woman on her own in the bush. The stick was used to create sound and rhythm to build tension as she tells the story about how she killed the snake.//


 * Sample Answer 2**

//The Black Skirt purpose in Children of the Black Skirt was to represent the role of power and authority in government institutions and to show the abuse of government power. Her motivation to abuse this power was her emotionless Victorian upbringing and the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. Jodie Le Vesconte used her expressive skills very effectively to portray a stern, cold governess of the orphanage. She had a straight spine and kept her upper body still, using a gliding motion to move around. This created a ghost like effect, making her distant and untouchable. She did not speak, communicating only through direct, sharp arm gestures, such as pointing or claps to command authority. Her facial expression was fixed, stern and she maintained her eye focus on a fixed point, never making eye contact with the children or audience. This was particularly effective in creating a fearful character.//

//Stagecraft elements such as costume and props helped emphasize the power and status of this character. A Victorian style Black hooped skirt and fitted bodice enhanced her austere gothic presence. Over sized scissors added to this larger than life horror figure, which she used to snip aggressively towards the children. She carried a set of keys which were often heard jangling before she entered the space, heralding her arrival as a warning to the children, adding tension as they and the audience anticipated her arrival.//


 * Sample Answer 3**

//The actress who played the Black Skirt used her expressive skills effectively to convey 2 different characters.//

//The Black Skirt Mr Horrocks//

//Still upper body hunched shoulders// //Stern expression Pantalone stance// //High level of tension loose and floppy arm gestures// //Did not speak spoke in a leery, raspy voice// //Sharp claps to communicate// //orders gestured,using a wlaking stick like a weapon// //Head held still, tilted slightly// //to one side chin slightly up, trying to appear important//

//facial expression fixed, blank// //eyes focussed on one point rat-like facial expression, pursed lips, mouth guard to create buck teeth and a speech impediment//


 * Sample Answer 4**

//The actor’s choices in expressive skills worked to distance her from being human.// //She did not communicate through speaking, only arm gestures and claps and moved// //in a slow and consistant gliding motion which looked like she was floating.// //Costume was a main stagecraft element used to establish each character and was linked to the choice of expressive skills. Costume helped transformation of character, for example at the start when all 3 actors are little children trying on clothes. The Black skirt was immediately established when the actor zipped up the bodice of the costume. As the zip snapped up, the actor snapped into the posture and expression of the character. It was a powerful moment. The black costume contrasted with the lighter colors of the set and other costumes,//