Last week, we began our new project on researching world theatre traditions. This is supposed to prepare us for the research presentation required by IB. Before beginning our investigation, we watched examples from past students and discussed them. I found it interesting to see the different traditions that they researched, along with their moments of theatre.
So far, I have looked into Chinese shadow puppets and Karagoz shadow puppetry because I was interested in crafting something for this project. The different styles of puppets were interesting to me, seeing how the art styles were presented in the puppets themselves. Overall, I enjoyed seeing the unique use of different artistic elements such as art and music used in the performances.
I also have researched other traditions such as Rakugo and Noh theatre, which are both based in Japan. From what I was able to see, I liked the acting conventions that were different from Comedy of manners. I also was interested in costumes and props, as they used simple props and traditional Japanese clothing.
I hope to continue researching more theatre traditions and finalize my decision by the next class.