Johnny Balbuziente s Troll
Troll, written and directed by Johnny Balbuziente and performed by the Shake Stir
Theatre Company, utilises dramatic language to facilitate dramatic action and
meaning. With the intention to instruct , Troll is a contemporary, three actor
production that employs Brechtian and Political theatre styles and conventions to
communicate multiple didactic statements (Student Resource Pack, 2018).
Specifically, the performance delivers its didactic message to Generation Z: actions
have consequences there are dangers inherent within cybertechnologies. This is
conveyed through an engaging, and sometimes comical, theatreproduction. The play
addresses powerful themes and messages regarding social awareness, such as
consequences of actions, peer pressure,... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The Alienation effect, commonly referred to as the A effect , encourages the
audience to question [a topic s] ... preconceptions and look at the familiar in a new
and different way[s] (Unwin and Jones, 2014) detaching and estranging the audience
so they [can] remain objective and learn from the message being portrayed (Student
Resource Pack, 2018). Conventions of Epic Theatre that are evident in the
production, Troll, includes: directly addressing the audience/breaking the fourth wall,
actors performing as multiple characters, and incongruent humour. As a school
performance, the actors introduced themselves prior to the performance, introducing
the audience to the first alienating epic theatre convention: breaking the fourth wall.
By breaking this fundamental wall , the audience endures a discomfort that is not
seen in Stanislavski s method of acting, realism, alienating the audience, crush[ing]
traditional realistic/naturalistic conventions (Thedramateacher.com, 2018). This
technique is utilised when Nicole freezes the scene and directly speaks to the
audience, narrating, giving context to the scene or to her character s relationship with
the other character. There are numerous instances of actors throughout the
performance dropping and adopting characters, each with a new gestus. This
convention further alienates the audience if the transformation between characters is
done on stage, before the audience s eyes. An instance of this Epic convention
occurring in the performance has the character, Nicole, with a gestus of a
stereotypical teenage girl. During the transition to the next scene, the actor strips off
her skirt, undoes her hair, to then tuck under a flat cap, adopting a new gestus: a
cocky jock, all before the audience. This effect reinforces the audience of the idea
that this performance is being made by the actors in front of them, a concept inherent