As the dramarurge i took initiative to write a synopsis of the play, so that the actors had a deeper understanding of the events and characters in the play:
Act One:
The scene is a suburban pub bistro on a Friday night. Gordon, a self conscious bank worker in his mid thirties tries to get the attention of the waiter who seems to have no interest in him or any other character. In comes Dympie, an impatient and insensitive office worker in her mid thirties wearing plain attire and reserves a table for her ‘girl’s night out’. Following her arrives Paula, who could be considered the ‘stupid one’ but a loyal friend wearing a bright, colourful dress with a hood attached which she is wearing over her head. They quiver about where they should sit despite the table they already have, Paula wants to sit closer to the band but Dympie insists that they stay were they will be served dinner and where they can see the band, and says that she doesn’t want to be suffocated by cigarette smoke and overwhelmed by drunken men. After brushing off Paula’s argument she confronts her about the make up she wears. That she is trying to look half her age and that it is unnecessary. Paula insists that Dympie should wear more. And just when you thought Dympie had had enough criticizing she becomes angry at Paula for not getting the right pear of stockings and then refuses to take them then and there in the restaurant. Paula in reply to her reaction tells her that she should try a new colour and size as they bunch around her ankles and are old fashioned. Dympie brushes her off by agreeing to take them, which she had previously not wanted to do. Monika, a office worker in her mid thirties dealing with post death depression as her husband recently died, finally decides to arrive and justifies why she is late saying that she didn’t know what to wear, it took her a while to get ready, she couldn’t find the car keys, the street directories missing pages so she got lost, every excuse one could possibly think of reflecting her mind state. Once she has sat down she realizes that it has been a while since she has been out, that she was always driven by Martin, her deceased husband, realizing that she is alone. They have another little, unimportant woman fight about who will go to the bathroom first, the issue being that they can’t go together, it resolves when they realize that no one actually needs to go. Paula admits that she and Dympie have something to say, Dympie at this present moment doesn’t know what she is talking about and she confronts Monika that she is single and that the solution to this realization is their girls night out-every Friday night. Monika says she is dealing with it and she is going to poetry classes in order to help her express her feelings and thoughts. They then decide that they would like a bottle of wine and attempt to get the waiter’s attention who simply ignores them. Stephen, a typical sleaze (portrayed at the beginning of the play), mid thirties, joins Gordon who is till waiting at his table trying to get the waiters attention and introduces himself as they both have been invited by Brendon who is a mutual friend. We later gather that he doesn’t turn up. Gordon awkwardly makes conversation about watches and work and Stephen insists that they drink, maybe to break the ice, but Gordon admits that he is not a drinker. It is rather ironic but Stephen manages to peer pressure Gordon into drinking, this is a reflection on both Gordon and Stephen’s personalities. The women go on to decide what they will be eating, questioning most on the menu but canceling a lot of the suggestions out from past experiences and end up going with the norm. Monika makes a scene and becomes emotional whilst thinking about what to order imagining Martin looking in the fridge for dinner, but could not express her words rather her reaction was to hysterically cry. She continues talking about how Martin died, and says she must go to the toilet and exits. Gordon, sincerely worried about Monika asks the other women if she is alright. Dympie in an inhospitable manner says that everything is under control and Paula thanks him. Dympie then leaves Paula and Gordon whom have an awkward conversation. Then Paula leaves Dympie and Gordon to have a very much one sided conversation and Dympie has no interest in what Gordon has to say. Stephen returns with the drinks and decides to introduce himself to the women, he admits that that’s why he and Brendon invited Gordon, to set him up with a woman as Gordon has recently had a divorce. Gordon goes on to explain that after the divorce he isolated himself, he hasn’t been out for a while and finds it hard to like himself as his ex-wife gave him the impression that he was not worth anything. But Gordon’s sensitivity has made Stephen and the women in the table next to theirs believe that he is a homosexual. They then resolve the issue and Gordon goes to buy the second round of drinks whilst in the process he bumps into Monika who has only now , quite a while later, returned from the “toilets” she is carrying a glass of wine and wears no shoes, her make up is smudged and her hair is in disarray. She asks him to buy the women drinks. When Monika returns to the table the women ask her where she has been, she replies that she saw a rainbow which led her to a rock pool with fish and men around her, she admits that she has taken valium tablets. Something drops from her crumpled dress, it is a pool ball, but Monika claims a fish. We realize (as an audience) that Monika has been raped. She goes on to talk about her and her deceased husbands sexual relations.

Act two
Later that night, after dinner. Dympie, Monika and Gordon all wipe their mouths trying to get Paula’s attention to let her know she has cream from dessert on her face. Stephen goes to converse with the women Gordon sits at his table alone, again. Stephen says that the band they have been awaiting all night will start soon and Monika replies “in 3 hours”, he says he will see them on the dance floor. Gordon and Stephen have a man chat about sex and relationships and Stephen admits that all he has never not had a one night stand, and admits that he is ready for something that will last longer, maybe even forever. Gordon says that he always seemed to disappoint his wife in all aspects of life. When the bill comes, both the men and the women question and fight about it and its price, resolving it in instants, the women taking a little longer. Stephen offered to pay with his ATM card and Gordon says he would have gone well with his ex-wife as she always had flashy credit cards. The women quiver again as they can’t see and Paula blames Dympie about her table choice. And they have a little fight which consists of Paula claiming that Dympie always copies her and calls her a ‘copy cat’. The two tables join as the mens table is in a better position to see the band. Monika and Stephen dance, Paula talks about Gordon being a homosexual while he thinks she is talking about him having two left feet and dympie is alone at the table. She says things like “it must have been terrible for your wife” but they soon realize the mix up. They end up dancing, Paula asks Gordon to ask Dympie to dance so he does, but looks over her shoulder at Paula who is dancing wearing her hood. The events of the night conclude as the lights fade out.

The master class which was conducted in the Besen Performing Arts Centre was an insight into a real opperating theatre and concentrated on aspects such as: Light and sound, theatrical information, the BPAC itself and information regariding our play.

The Besen Performing Arts centre:
-the BPAC is run by a theatre company- theatre managment services
-it is a commercially opperating theatre
-the crew consists of a general manager, technical manager and two full-time technicians

General Theatrical Information:
-every production has a profit
-the company, namely the producer, must sell the product in order to gain income
-fast slide- cast a crew get together to watch the DVD on ‘fast slide’
-honorarium- production teams payment (professionals)- a minor sallary

Lighting and Sound:
-generally a musical performance will light both the actor and the set
-a solo performance will light only the actor
-a standard ran- colour wash: red, aqua, yellow and green. 1000 watts- BPAC, 64 watts-space
-franelle, PC’s- will light an entire area, has a soft edge control focuua. Gobo’s will break the picture up
-profile- will light a certain spot
-intelligent light- a combination of both lights. there are 12 in the BPAC. A chip that is attached to an actor will indicate the light to follow.
-Lx numbers -lighting
-Sx- sound
-colour chase- flash, colour wash
-Sound PA - in the space- $10,000-$20,000

Information regarding our play:
- we will need to rent power, labour, equipment and the space. but we have an advantage as we are part of MSMC.
-scrpits, costume and the rights for the play are things we must keep in mind whilst deciding ticket cost.
-the first thing we must decide is how many seats will there be? and how much will we charge to break even?
-the order of production and setting up- lighting, set, sound.

Dramaturge:
In the theatre, a dramaturge holds a position that gained its modern-day function through the innovations of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, a playwright and theatre practitioner who worked in Germany in the 18th century.
The dramaturge’s contribution was to categorize and discuss the various types and kinds of plays, their interconnectedness and their styles. Enhanced by a tradition of generous support for theatre as part of German cultural identity, which gave nearly every city a fully staffed theatre supported by public funds, the position of dramaturge includes the hiring of actors and the development of a season of plays with a sense of the connectedness between them, the assistance and editing of new plays by resident or guest playwrights, the creation of programs or accompanying educational services and even helping the director with rehearsals, serving as elucidator of history or spokesperson for absent (deceased) playwrights.
In the United Kingdom, dramaturges function similarly although they are more often, themselves, also playwrights. In the USA, where this position was until recently relatively unknown, it has enjoyed a recent growth particularly in cutting-edge theatres with an emphasis on developing new plays within the theatre.

Dramaturgy:
Dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Some dramatists combine writing and dramaturgy when creating a drama. Others work with a specialist, called a dramaturge, to adapt a work to the stage.
Dramaturgy can also be defined, more broadly, as shaping a story or like elements into a form that can be acted. Dramaturgy gives the work or the performance a structure. More than actual writing, a dramaturge’s work can often be defined as designing.
History of dramaturgy
In western canon the seminal work is Poetics by Aristotle (written around 350 BC). In this work Aristotle observes tragedy and comedy. He draws his conclusions by observing the Greek writers of his own time. Tragedy is his main concern, and he considers Oedipus Rex as the quintessential dramatic work.
Aristotle regards drama as a subsection of poetry, but he does analyze also the relations between character and action, speech, plot and the story. He gives examples of good plots and examines the reactions the plays awake in the audience. Many of his “rules” are often associated with “aristotelian drama”, where deus ex machina is a weakness and where the action is structured economically. Many key concepts of drama, such as anagnorisis and katharsis, are discussed in Poetica. Lately Aristotle has been applied in numerous tv- and filmwriting guides, and the courses of “basic dramaturgy” usually rely heavily on Aristotle’s thoughts.
In modern times, latter drama, especially absurdism and several avant-garde movements, have tried to break away from the aristotelian perspective. Aristotle’s teachings have often been oversimplified, but it is fair to say that Poetica is the first western work on drama theory. It is also one of the few “academic” works that many artist find still useful. Many directors and writers have since written about their own dramaturgical thinking, Grotowski and David Mamet among others, but Aristotle observes drama wholly from a scientist’s viewpoint.

Production dramaturgy:

Production dramaturgy most often involves two distinct phases: the period before rehearsals begin and the rehearsal period.

Before rehearsals begin:

• A dramaturg has the task of “preparing the text for performance”. This can mean different things for different productions. It may mean preparing a version of a classic play, making a transliteration from another language, adapting non-theatrical text(s) into a script, or assisting/supporting a playwright in the construction of a new script.
• A dramaturg in many cases will compile research on the production. This may involve obtaining background materials on the playwright, the playwright’s time and place, the play’s time and place, references to events and places in the play, or issues of the play. This material is gathered to help those involved in the production better understand the piece. This in not the relieve others of doing their own work to dig into the script, but to supplement and expand on this work. Many dramaturges build (or encourage the construction of bulletin boards, collages, or similar displays of “dramaturgical compost” for the production.
• A dramaturg should, above all, understand the play itself. S/he reads and studies it in such a way that s/he comes to the production process with an intimate knowledge of the script and its composition, organization and progression of action. This requires knowledge of the structures of drama and action, but what it “produces” may be different from one production to the next. Many dramaturges produce charts or graphs illustrating progression of the action, the activity of individual characters, the event of the play, or other elements of the action. This may be for personal study only, or shared with director, or possibly shown to the company.

During the rehearsal and performances:

• During the rehearsals the dramaturges task is often to help the production remain in line with the vision for the production. The dramaturg will draw his/her knowledge of the script and of the goals of this particular production. Especially in shows where the director has many technical details to consider, many directors find it helpful to have a dramaturg on board as the person who only keeps an eye on the story. The dramaturg is a representative for both: a. the script- (or its author) by encouraging a congruous presentation of it (NB: this does NOT mean “discouraging a nontraditional interpretation”) and b. the audience-by working to ensure that the presentation is putting across to them what it intends to. A dramaturg usually gives his/ her notes only to the director.
• If a new play is still “in development” during the rehearsal process (that is, changes are still being made to the script), the dramaturg facilitates the development process and is often an intermediary between the playwright and the director. S/he uses her/his knowledge of the dramatic structures and of the play at hand to promote the strongest possible realization of the vision for the project.
• A dramaturg often engages also in “audience dramaturgy” which can involve producing the program which will be handed out to the audience, and may include involvement in audience education events or other “community outreach”.

As the dramaturg I went through the script and took notes on what was relevant for the Actors in the play:
-Gordon: a Bank worker, mid thirties. Self consciously sitting, waiting for the waitor to acknowledge him. He is kind as he offers him assistance to the women sitting at the table next to him. He is recently divorced. After the divorce he isolated himslef and hasnt been our for a while he also doesnt like himself very much. He opens up about him ex-wife and their sexual relations to Stephen. Stephen warms up to gim and starts to admire him honesty. He too ends up sitting next to Paula, they both like eachother. He asks Dympie to dance as a favour to Paula and looks at Paula while dancing with Dympie.
-Dympie: is impatient, insensitive and unwilling to change to suit the situation. she is told by Paula that her peers at work call her ‘Dumpie Dympie’, this is a reality shock to Dympie who realises that she is rather sour and lonely.
-Paula: is a loyal friend and could be concidered the ’stupid one’. she is sensitive towards Monika and has an outburst about Dympie’s attitude. She ends up with Gordon after dinner.
-Monika: is dealing with deppression after her husband ‘Martin’ dies. Despite this she comes out to dinner to enjoy a night out with her present best friends. she dissapears to the bathroom after making an emotional scene in the restaurant and goes on an adventure including valium, men and is raped. she comes back and end up with Stephen.
-Stephen: percieved as a sleeze by those around him. He learns to like Gordon and admires his honesty. After a while he opens up and confesses that he in 36 and ready to settle down, to love someone. He ends up with Monika.

-Costume: Naomi presented her view on constume and decided to stick with the way it was written; choosing an 80’s theme. Gordon-dorky, checked suit. Stephen- Signature shirt. Paula- Boob tube, jewelry, over the top look. Monika- short skirt, cardigen. Dympie- Dorky, sholder pad jacket.
-Promotion: Kim presented the beginning of her logo production.
-Set: Kim presented the range of stages and we decided on a Thrust stage.
-Make up: Elise presented her make up vision which coincided with the 80’s theme.
All in all it was decided that the play would be set in the 1980’s.

Stage One- the first part of the process was to present the play which we thought would suit our group and that seemed to be the most interesting. The play’s presented were: Children of the black skirt, Emerald city, After dinner, Gary’s house, Secret bridemaids business, Fortune and Away.
Stage Two- We then short listed, as a group, 3 plays which stodd out to us all (and maybe because the presentations were persuasive). The list was: Secret bridesmaids business, Gary’s house and After dinner. Although we had some issues with sexual connotations and appropriateness.
Stage Three- Those who presented these three plays were assigned to read the scripts on the play they presented. A discussion then proceeded. We discussed the positives and negatives in general concerning the plays and in realtion to the class. This discussion resulted in a democratic vote and ‘after dinner’ was voted in.
Stage Four- We were then given production roles (that we chose) for the duration of Unit 3. I am officially the Dramaturg and an Actor.

Hello team! and welcome to my blog.
We had an intense first few lessons deciding the perfect play for our group, deciding our roles in the production process and deciding our vision: