Performing Sketches in English or French
Senior 2 · Music
Performing Sketches in English or French
Lesson 2 of 4
25 min
The audience cannot read your script or your mind. Everything they understand comes through what they hear (your voice) and what they see (your body, your face and where you stand). A brilliant script performed with a quiet voice and a turned back is lost. This lesson gives you the four tools every performer uses: voice, body, facial expression and space.
Warm-up: breathe in for four counts and hiss out for eight. Then say these traditional tongue twisters, slowly first, then faster: "Red lorry, yellow lorry" and, in French, « Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches ? »
Your face shows feelings before your words do. Let the audience see the feeling first, then say the line. Make expressions a little bigger than in daily life, because the back row is far away. When you are not speaking, keep reacting: a listening face keeps the scene alive.
Directors divide the stage into nine areas. Upstage is the back, furthest from the audience; downstage is the front. The words come from old theatres whose stage floors sloped down towards the audience. Stage right and stage left are given from the actor's point of view when facing the audience, so stage right is on the audience's left.
Here is a short road-safety scene. Below it, the group has written how each technique will be used.
At the Zebra Crossing (theme: road safety), an excerpt
Characters: ISHIMWE, a student in a hurry; MUTESI, her friend.
(ISHIMWE walks fast from up left towards down right, eyes on her phone. MUTESI waits at the zebra crossing, down centre.)
MUTESI: Ishimwe! Stop!
ISHIMWE: (without looking up) I'm late for class!
(Offstage, the whole cast makes the sound of a moto: 'Vrrrooom!' ISHIMWE freezes one step from the road.)
MUTESI: (pulls her back by the bag) Look left, look right, look left again. Then cross.
ISHIMWE: (shaking, turning to the audience) I didn't even see it.
MUTESI: Phone in the bag. Eyes on the road.
BOTH: (to the audience) Gerayo amahoro: arrive safely!
| Moment | Technique |
|---|---|
| Mutesi: "Ishimwe! Stop!" | Voice: loud, sharp and high, projected across the whole stage. |
| Ishimwe on her phone | Body: head down, fast walk, thumbs moving. The audience sees the danger before anyone speaks. |
| The moto sound | Stillness and face: Ishimwe freezes; eyes wide, mouth open. |
| "Look left, look right, look left again." | Pace and pause: slowly, with a pause after each part; Mutesi turns her head each time. |
| "I didn't even see it." | Space: Ishimwe has reached down centre and cheats out, so everyone sees her shaking hands. |
| The last line | Voice and space: both actors side by side down centre, speaking together to the back row. |
Rwanda drives on the right, so traffic in the nearest lane comes from the left. That is why the rule starts with "look left".
Tip
Face, place, voice. Before every line, check three things: can the audience see my face? Am I standing in the right place? Will my voice reach the back row? If all three are yes, the line will land.
You and your partner stand side by side down centre, and she is on your right. How do you speak to her without turning your back on the audience?
Solution: cheat out. Turn your head and shoulders only part of the way towards her, keeping your body and face open to the audience.
An actor speaks fast and quietly because she is nervous. Give two pieces of advice.
Solution: breathe low and slowly before the line, and aim the voice at the back wall (projection). Slow down and use pauses, especially before important lines.
The director says, "Cross from up left to down right." Describe the move.
Solution: start at the back of the stage on your own left as you face the audience, and walk diagonally to the front on your own right. From the audience it looks like a move from the back right to the front left.
In a sketch, the main character finally admits a mistake. Where should she stand, and why?
Solution: down centre, the strongest position, facing the audience so they see her face and hear every word.
Remember
Sources and credits
The stage diagram, the road-safety excerpt At the Zebra Crossing, the performance notes and the practice were written by Ganzaa. The tongue twisters are traditional.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
