This is the Seventy-Nineth article in a semipermanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American. The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
Over the next few weeks, this column will focus on preparing local volunteers for the 2nd Annual Stroud Arts Medieval Faire. The first step a volunteer must take to create a character that fits into the setting of 1000 A.D. is; learning about the physical environment, customs, politics, economy and folklore being reenacted.
The next CAST MEETING for the SAF will be on Saturday, July 31, from 1pm to 3pm at The Stroud Arts Building, 214 West Main Street.
The Stroud Arts: Arts & Sciences Medieval Faire
The SAF was introduced in 2019 at Foster Park in the City of Stroud. Its debut showcased 9 Games, 8 Street Characters, 4 Activities, 2 Performance Groups and 2 Merchants, with over 100 Guests Attending. With the 2020 event being cancelled due to Covid-19, the 2021 Faire looks forward to increasing our Street Performer Cast and Activities for the public to participate with.
Performance Dates for the 2021 event are: September 4, from 10am to 2pm.
As a cast member of the SAF, you are a representative of Stroud Arts and we ask you to be polite, friendly and gracious in your interactions with your fellow cast members and our guests. Your actions will enhance the experience for everyone… including yourself, so make it a great, fun time for all!
After all, no single performer is more important than any other single performer.
Commedia Dell’arte
Commedia Dell’arte was a popular form of comedy using improvised dialogue and masked characters. The art form may have originated in the Middle to Late Roman Empire and it continues, in an altered form, to this day through professional Improv Troupes.
Like a Commedia performer, the Faire performer will:
Adapt to any playing field.
Become well acquainted with your other actors and their characters so that you will know how the other will react and trust each other when improvising.
Have a developed character that strikes a familiar chord with the audience.
Know your character well enough to react naturally to any scenario.
Have your own comic bit to fall back on.
Know when to end.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a popular form of entertainment in the late 1890’s through the 1940’s. It consisted of a variety of performance acts including; magicians, singers, comedians, acrobats, dancers and sketchcomedians.
Two important roles from Vaudeville that easily transfer to the Faire are the Straight Man and the Top Banana. These two work together with the Straight Man setting up the Joke and the Top Banana delivering the punch line. The Straight Man may turn the tables and deliver the punch line at the end of the scene.
Like a Vaudeville performer, the Faire performer will:
Know when to deliver a punch line and when to play Straight Man.
Choose to develop a performance skill such as singing, dancing, juggling, magic, musicianship.
Know when to end.
Stage Acting
In a stage play, actors tell a story with a specific time and place by portraying well-defined characters on a stage that is “set” with structures and decoration that create the illusion of the time and place of the story.
Although the character’s words are written in advance in a script, each actor will use their skills to bring a personal interpretation to the role.
The Actor, through interpretation of the script, determines their character’s super-objective. The super-objective is what drives the character forward through the play. It is what the character wants most.
Next the actor will research the character’s time period, social status, age, physical attributes and/or difficulties. Taking all this information into account, the actor will use their imagination to create a past for the character. The actor will then draw upon this fabricated past to create a consistent physical as well as psychological characterization.
Like a stage actor, the Faire performer will: Develop a Character.
Create a background for the character.
Find a super-objective for the character.
Learn to use your voice effectively and in a healthy way. Project.
If you would like to be involved then please come to the Cast Meeting this Saturday and follow Stroud Arts on Facebook and look for more information in next week’s column!
Let’s Make Art Happen!