Theatre RI

[H.944]

Well, you see, my theatre teachers pretty much have no idea what they are doing and this is the first year that our school has had this class. So far we have been told to choose our topic and start researching. We did a practice RI for our midterm and they messed it all up but never explained how to actually complete the paper sucessfully. So I've chosen to research Japanese Noh theatre, and I've started finding some sources. Now I know we need to read a play from that practice, but can someone who has done this, or knows what they are doing explain to me how the paper is structured/ what to write about in the paper??? Thanks so much!

[pigsonthewing]

As I have already helped (well, hope I have anyhow ) someone who was having somewhat of the same difficulty with their RI, I will say some (just a few) of the things I said to them in hope that it'll help you out as well.

I would firstly advise you to scan through the sources you have and get familiar with the theatre practice, if you have a general short book about Noh, that would be enough to start with.

Then, when you have a basic knowledge of several important traditional aspects of the practice of Noh theatre, choose one aspect you are most interested in (this is incredibly important given that at the end of the day your research must be focused and as a result, effective) Ask yourself this: would I rather look at the technical aspects? (that is lighting, stage, costume...) or on how the actor would play a specific role in performance? or perhaps on how a director would direct the piece?

From there you will find out which member taking part in the production (whether it is the actor/technical director/ stage/costume/make-up designer..etc.) might find the information you display as most useful. After you have chosen that aspect.

Make sure you have enough sources and information available.

Read the script of your chosen Noh play and try to find a DVD of the perfromance. When you do, I would suggest that the first couple of times you read/view the play that you look at the performance piece as a whole so that you can familiarize yourself with the plot line and the characters.

Your next readings/viewings should be narrowed down in the search of the manifestation of the particular aspect (stage, make up, acting) in your chosen perfomance piece.

Edited May 16, 2011 by pigsonthewing