Continuing on from a post a few days ago, this is live blogging (Part 2) of a Year 9 Drama class performing 2-minute satirical scenes of well-known celebrities. Today, students will exaggerate voice, movement, facial expressions and gesture in order to satirise the celebrities. Update coming soon…
Update:
- Justin Bieber – slapstick evident, goofiness of Bieber (due to his youth?) now evident, Bieber started to look like a teenager trying so hard to be a ‘man’, mannerisms and gestures were all exaggerated
- Britney Spears – in parody, Britney’s blonde wig in performance is now deliberately off centre, her lipstick smudged over her cheeks, gestures and arm movements over the top, head jiggling around bobbing left to right while speaking, hair flicking now very obvious (subtle in previous version of performance), voice emphasising key words
Update:
- Jamie Oliver – automatically twice as loud in this performance, the cutting knife in previous version of performance is now a toy sword(!) – love the oversized prop used in order to parody the celebrity, Jamie’s excitement over his own cooking is almost out of control, arm gestures many times bigger now
- David Attenborough – Attenborough’s uncontrollable enthusiasm for the whale shark in his TV documentary now has the class in quiet fits of laughter, voice and gestures in particular are overblown, extra loud, yet focused – hilarious performance – an accurate parody of the celebrity
Update:
- Oprah Winfrey – this student decided to satirise Oprah in this performance partly by exaggerating her costume/outift – cushions were placed down Oprah’s jumper/sweater and she now possessed a very large booty, so Oprah’s body shape changed wildly from version 1 performance two days ago to today. Oprah’s voice was VERY loud, her gestures big and her excitement with her audience WAY over the top! Very, very funny.
- Lindsay Lohan – this celebrity’s troubled nature now evident through her gestures and movements, topic of conversation was court case after court case, Lohan’s apparent IQ also clear through dialogue, gestures over the top
- Michael Jackson – now being parodied, performer emphasised Jackson’s voice (high pitched squeals) and facial expressions (freaky stares to audience when talking about young children), the ‘performer’ in Jackson was evident for the first time
Update:
- Miley Cyrus – the self-centred public perception of this celeberity now evident, her teenage ego out of control, confident beyond her years – shown through dialogue and exaggerated gestures and movements
- Eddie McGuire – (Australian TV personality and football club president) now being parodied, the performer exaggerates the celebrity’s hand movements at a media press conference and through voice, certain words are emphasised for effect
- Britney Spears – in parody Britney arrives on stage with a toy baby over her shoulder(!), character costume on the skanky side in order to over-emphasise the public’s perception of this celebrity in recent years, Britney accidentally kicks her baby offstage – again deliberate
Update:
- Christina Aguilera – satirised via exaggerated facial expressions, over the top emotions, lots of hair flicking, but little comedy – the audience is the indicator – very few laughs – perhaps because the audience couldn’t recognise aspects of this performance as uniquely belonging to Christina Aguilera
- Steve Irwin – More could have been done with Steve Irwin being parodied – as with the Oprah Winfrey and Jamie Oliver character performances earlier, Steve Irwin’s enthusiasm is the perfect avenue in which to explore the satire – but no evidence of over-exaggeration fighting with crocodiles, no excitement about how much he loved his job etc
Ran out of time. A few performances left to be performed next lesson. These students have only had five lessons in their comedy course and two of these have been performance classes, so this is a great beginning for them. This was also their first time in high school that a solo character performance was introduced in one of their Drama courses. Their understanding of the complexities and challenges involved in pulling off comedy successfully are only just being explored…