melodrama ˈmɛlə(ʊ)drɑːmə noun 1. a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.

Looking at melodrama in 2/9/14's lesson helped me develop a 

understanding about what type of theatre people would've been experiencing during Stanislavsky's (and Chekhov's) time. Melodramatic theatre's plots were coloured with dramatic and basic archetypal characters, for example; The Damsel in Distress, The Hero, The Mother, The Villain, The Henchman and The Prince. These characters are all quite basic and overplayed to a dramatic extent, this doesn't allow the plots to develop into anything further than an exaggerated story without much depth. Due to the fact the storylines were extremely similar in plot and characters, performances would often grow boring and repetitive - this was evidently something Stanislavsky wanted to see change.

A piece of melodrama has many factors that need to be considered when performing in order for it to be successful, for example; loud voices, confidence, constant expressive body language and characterisation always performed at a level 10. Using these aspects whilst developing our piece of melodrama meant I was able to experiment and push myself in ways I haven't been able to before. I've never really had the chance to go full on dramatic with characteristics, so this was a chance for me to push myself to performing as bold and to the best of my ability.