Compare how the plays you have studied use the development of tension to take

their audience on a particular journey.

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Consider: the various ways in which artistic, social, cultural, political and
personal are reflected in differing dramatic contexts.
- Your understanding of how different Australian theatre practitioners use
dramatic forms, performance stlyes, techniques, traditions and
conventions to convey ideas.
- How Australian practitioners influence the ways in which audiences
understand and respond to ideas and images represented in theatre.
- The directors concept for realisation on stage, with specific reference to at
least two scenes.
Picture, examples, quotations, evidence from the chosen text, practical
experiences.

The tension element of drama has the possibility to be one of the most
powerful, moving and dynamic of all the elements, if employed and
manipulated proficiently. Both Jane Harrisons play Stolen, written in
1998, and Lally Katzs Neighbourhood Watch, first performed in 2011,
use the development of tension to take the audience on journeys that the
challenge their values, and force them to reconsider their existing
ideologies. Gone are the days of where the audiences purpose is to
simply be entertained, with a more purposeful, thought-provoking theatre
style gradually replacing the 4-walled European theatre. Encompassed
within Stolen is the exploration of 5 different experiences of the stolen
generation, experiences the audience connects and engages with,
consequently taking them on an emotional journey. Additionally, the
subversion of the traditional concept of childhood, replaced by a corrupted
youth and subsequent damaged adulthood, builds tension within the
audience, and exposes them to the horrors indigenous children faced.
Comparably, within Neighbourhood Watch, tension is built through
consistent rejections in the wake of asking for help, and through the
telling of horrific experiences the protagonist faced in her earlier life.
Within Stolen, a multi-faceted indigenous play exploring the horrors of the
Stolen generation, tension is built through many innovative and
contemporary dramatic conventions. One of the key thematic concerns
within Stolen is the concept of innocence, or rather, the loss of innocence.
Throughout the play, Harrison employs conventions such as the use of
song and child-like rhetoric, paired with content such as the exploration of
sexual and physical abuse, in order to alienate the audience and create a
sombre and tense mood. During an in-class practical improvisation of the
unspoken abuse scene, all of the actors on stage, including me, assumed
child-like body language and moved around the stage as if children
playing. We then began chanting dialogue such as What did he give ya,
and What did he do to ya in unison, followed by a contrasting reply from
Hannah, playing Ruby, with dialogue such as I promised not to tell. In
another class workshop of Stolen, this time working with a soundscape
rather than realistic performance, we further built on the idea of a
corrupted childhood. During the workshop, my group created the
soundscape of the childrens home. We used a box in the drama studio to

create the sound of children playing, which was then interrupted by the
stomping of the matron, creating tension and an anxious atmosphere
within the audience. In both scenarios, the audience was invited to share
the happiness of the children, and then alienated and challenged when
such innocence was stripped from them.
Comparable to such conventions and concepts employed within Stolen,
Neighbourhood Watch explores ideas such as a loss of community, and a
culture of fear and distrust. After being instructed to formulate a mock
directorial concept of NW, my partner Nina and I ensured we adhered to
the epic theatre style of the play, using minimal props and conventions
such as character and prop transformations. We separated the stage into
two zones, one being Mary Street, and the other being any other setting
within the play. During Anas (the protagonist) story telling scenes, we
thought of bringing the characters forward, into the second zone, in order
to be in closer proximity to the audience, and further include them in the
action unfolding on stage. Another class exercise we did after just being
introduced to the play worked with the idea of a culture of fear and
distrust, one of the main tensions explored within the play. All of the class
members walked around the stage, introducing themselves to each other.
We then went on to reject one another. After being rejected, you felt
vulnerable, much like the audience does following the numerous
rejections within the play.
Moreover, during a class exercise where we chronologically explored Anas
life through tableaus, Nina and I used levels and body language to
personify Ana struggle. In a scene where Ana was in a refugee camp, we
had Ana, played by Nina, reclining on the ground in a defensive stance, as
if about to be attacked. In contrast, I was standing over her in a powerful
and assertive manner. This created tension and a threatening
atmosphere, whilst portraying the mistreatment of refugees and women.
In both contemporary Australian plays, the practitioners intention is for
the audience to be taken on the journey of the characters on stage. In
order for this to be successfully achieved, dramatic conventions and the
elements of drama must be employed and manipulated, breaking the 4 th
wall and involving the audience in the performance. After all, a plays
success can only be measured by the impact it has on the audience, and
the journey they are taken on.