Research presentation progress
I have decided to speak about the theatre form: Punch and Judy, and the specific convention I would like to focus on is the changing of voice.
May 17 2018, Lesson 1:
In this lesson I watched a few videos of the voice of Punch as it is the most complex voice to embody without a swazzle, the professor suggested that beginners learning the voice began by reciting the alphabet and alternating between a normal voice and Punch's voice, so I tried that out for myself. I focused on making my voice more gravelly through the usage of a higher pitch. I also realized that as I was doing the voice I tended to life my face in order to get the voice out, so in following sessions the incorporation of face warmups may help me reach my goal:
I considered trying to make a swazzle from scratch in order to demonstrate my understanding of the convention, so I searched up a method to do this, hopefully I will be able to get it done for my final research presentation.
Videos and resources used:
May 17 2018, Lesson 1:
In this lesson I watched a few videos of the voice of Punch as it is the most complex voice to embody without a swazzle, the professor suggested that beginners learning the voice began by reciting the alphabet and alternating between a normal voice and Punch's voice, so I tried that out for myself. I focused on making my voice more gravelly through the usage of a higher pitch. I also realized that as I was doing the voice I tended to life my face in order to get the voice out, so in following sessions the incorporation of face warmups may help me reach my goal:
I considered trying to make a swazzle from scratch in order to demonstrate my understanding of the convention, so I searched up a method to do this, hopefully I will be able to get it done for my final research presentation.
Videos and resources used:
http://www.spyrock.com/nadafarm/html/punch-swaz.html
May 24 2018, Lesson 2:
In this lesson I began to workout how I would like to create the puppet of Punch as well as another character to show the distinction between the voices. I had found a puppet of a bird with a large nose, similar to Punch, so I thought i could work off that puppet to make it resemble Punch. I had also found a crocodile puppet, although this puppet only needed a few changes to resemble the crocodile in punch and Judy, such as the addition of teeth. I also searched for a few supplies that may help me in constructing the puppets, and luckily I had found many materials that can help me do so. In this lesson I began with stitching the beak of the bird together into one large nose, to replicate the large nose of Punch and I began on transforming the face of the puppet to look more like Punch.
May 31 2018, Workshop to peers Lesson 3:
In this lesson I conducted a 20 minute worksop on Punch and Judy to my classmates as well as a group of year 9 students. Before starting workshop itself I introduced the theatre tradition of Punch and Judy and presented a few videos to them. I had memorized a script for this introduction which mentioned:
Punch and Judy are a popular puppet duo from England that has been performed for more than 350 years. Even though Punch and Judy are mainly English, it actually originated in Italy, by Italian puppeteers who made the puppet character Punchinella. This character was based on a character from the well known form of Italian comedy, Commedia Dell'Arte. Punchinella was initially a marionette. When Italians started migrating around 1660 due to poor government and war, Punchinella (who later was called Punch because of pronouncing inabilities) began showing up in theatres all around England. Although Punch was the initial character created, the creation of his wife, Judy, The Baby, The Constable, Joey the Clown, The Crocodile, The Skeleton, and The Doctor were introduced. Punch and Judy shows are known for their exaggerated humor, including lots of violence (slapstick), tasteless jokes, lying, stealing and cheating.
I then introduced the convention that I was focusing on for the research presentation, in which I said:
After introducing my chosen convention I started the physical section of the workshop, I first warmed them up with a facial muscle exercise, where they would lift their face whilst using a high pitched voice, in order to get used to the requirements of recreating Punch's voice, as when individuals first begin to learn his voice they tend to lift their face whilst attempting to do the voice, so this exercise gave them a strong starting point. I also had them revert to their normal faces whilst doing a deeper voice, this will teach them to quickly alternate between 2 distinct voices. They completed this task through going through the alphabet.
I then got them to switch out the high pitched voice with an attempt at Punch's distinct voice, I showed them a clip demonstrating how it sounds. "A→ regular, B→ punch’s voice, C→ regular, D→ punch’s voice, etc."
The final activity before attempting at a short performance was to use the well-known slogan "That's the way to do it" in Punch's voice whilst using a puppet concurrently.
Finally, I had the students go into pairs to devise a short scene, where one of them is Punch and the other is Judy, whilst utilizing the puppets, and I gave them 2 minutes to do so. After they completed the devising process I had each group perform their pieces behind block (mimicking the booth of P and J).
May 24 2018, Lesson 2:
In this lesson I began to workout how I would like to create the puppet of Punch as well as another character to show the distinction between the voices. I had found a puppet of a bird with a large nose, similar to Punch, so I thought i could work off that puppet to make it resemble Punch. I had also found a crocodile puppet, although this puppet only needed a few changes to resemble the crocodile in punch and Judy, such as the addition of teeth. I also searched for a few supplies that may help me in constructing the puppets, and luckily I had found many materials that can help me do so. In this lesson I began with stitching the beak of the bird together into one large nose, to replicate the large nose of Punch and I began on transforming the face of the puppet to look more like Punch.May 31 2018, Workshop to peers Lesson 3:
In this lesson I conducted a 20 minute worksop on Punch and Judy to my classmates as well as a group of year 9 students. Before starting workshop itself I introduced the theatre tradition of Punch and Judy and presented a few videos to them. I had memorized a script for this introduction which mentioned:
"History:
Punch and Judy are a popular puppet duo from England that has been performed for more than 350 years. Even though Punch and Judy are mainly English, it actually originated in Italy, by Italian puppeteers who made the puppet character Punchinella. This character was based on a character from the well known form of Italian comedy, Commedia Dell'Arte. Punchinella was initially a marionette. When Italians started migrating around 1660 due to poor government and war, Punchinella (who later was called Punch because of pronouncing inabilities) began showing up in theatres all around England. Although Punch was the initial character created, the creation of his wife, Judy, The Baby, The Constable, Joey the Clown, The Crocodile, The Skeleton, and The Doctor were introduced. Punch and Judy shows are known for their exaggerated humor, including lots of violence (slapstick), tasteless jokes, lying, stealing and cheating.
Conventions:
- It was only after 1825 when Punch transformed from a marionette to a hand puppet, also known as a glove puppet. The puppets arms and sometimes head are controlled by the puppeteers hand.
- Small mobile booth --> performance space, easy to travel with
- Red and white style on the box immediately suggests Punch and Judy
- The performance was first found in the seaside, difficult to perform on streets due to traffic
- Punch normally wear red and white stripes, red face, red crooked nose, and has a hunchback, has a stick called the ‘slapstick’
- Aimed at children although it is for families because of some adult targeted jokes
- 'That's the way to do it", classic opening line, always said in Punch and Judy performances
- Audience interaction, breaking the 4th wall, Song to get audience involved
- Lots of arguing between Punch and Judy
- Mr. Punch uses a Swazzle in his mouth → squeaky, kazoo-like tone "
I then introduced the convention that I was focusing on for the research presentation, in which I said:
"My chosen convention from Punch and Judy is focusing on the changing of voice, and ensuring that the voices of separate characters are distinct, I will be mainly focusing on the gravelly, high-pitched voice of Punch."
The final activity before attempting at a short performance was to use the well-known slogan "That's the way to do it" in Punch's voice whilst using a puppet concurrently.
Finally, I had the students go into pairs to devise a short scene, where one of them is Punch and the other is Judy, whilst utilizing the puppets, and I gave them 2 minutes to do so. After they completed the devising process I had each group perform their pieces behind block (mimicking the booth of P and J).
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