Thursday 16th April - Lesson 6

Thursday 16th April

Today we recorded the moment of choral speaking and some breath. We did this so that we would be able to have a real sense of intimacy with the audience when performing our chorus section. This was because our voices would surround the audience in a fuzzy cocoon whilst they watch us perform below them, making them feel like a piece of the play but in a dream like way.

We also discussed how the pieces that we are creating are relevant for a contemporary audience.

My piece is relevant because it is supported with modern footage and events such as the London riots and the 2004 Japanese tsunami. We used modern footage to incorporate a timeless feeling to the play, and it was used to show the badness that lingered in the past but is still here today and bounds to be here in the future. It also helps to get the moral of our scene across (that being that if you do bad, then bad things are bound to happen to you) (In our scene Tiresias is warning Creon of the badness that is bound to surround him if he does not change his ways. He sees visions of what he should expect - this is where we introduced the footage).

The multimedia which we incorporated into the piece reflects the modernness which we tried to capture. The footage which we used shows modern pictures of riots and natural disasters which also matches what Tiresias the blind prophet (who could easily be portrayed as an old senile man today) was saying.

Our group didn't use any footage that we made ourselves however did create some footage of horrible things which we found online, this was supported by music and a laser which helped to get across this idea of an 'obscured vision' - type of dream' across to the audience.

We didn't need to plan much as a group. We gave individuals tasks to complete and just got on with it. One of my tasks was to find a couple of black masks which Natasha and myself would wear throughout our scene along with some ruby red lipstick. This however didn't manage to happen as the masks arrived late and came the day after the performance, and we both decided to give the lip stick a miss as it would have gone perfectly with the masks. This was a shame but didn't give us any disadvantage as we knew that delivery services were not something that we should necessarily rely on, and so we thought of the masks as something to experiment with once they had arrived rather than counting on them.

Some of the scenes from groups:

We then shared our scenes so far. Here are some of the notes:

1. This scene was very good. I really enjoyed it. I was slightly confused with what the guards were doing at first but throughout the scene it was very obvious that they were modern guards because of the language which they used. I loved the characterization! Jamie and Daniela both were completely different to the guards (both status wise and presence wise). Jamie and Daniela were very serious and probably showed the most emotion out of everyone, they really gave it their all whereas Gloria, Oliver and Conner on the other hand, also matched their passion and confidence however were more relaxed and intimate with the audience. I really liked the contrast though (it was almost like mixing cartoon stereo types with mature realistic and professional human beings).The split scene worked very well and I love how it wasn't the typical type of split scene where one part of the scene would freeze before the other begins, but instead continued at the same time (when Gloria, Oliver and Conner were performing, Jamie and Daniela were miming and visa versa). This made the scene more realistic and enjoyable to watch. The neatness needs to be developed as the scene get messy at times, but overall the piece was amazing, it was modern and the entertaining.

2. Tim and Antonia were funny but at places the jokes were a bit 'dead' and the play ran dry at times. This was hardly at all, but did occur a few times (this could easily be improved with practice along with a constant flow).The piece contained modernness (mobile phone use) and was also very funny. For example, the guards relationship which could easily be misjudged as abuse, the scene almost turned into a double act of idiots (which was very much what I believe they tried to capture with their characters personas - this worked very well).Tim and Antonia both broke the aspect of the 4th wall when they both addressed the audience.

3. I loved how a chorus was added into the piece. It meant that the scene could capture a modern audience but whilst keeping its authentic and traditional formation. To improve this scene I would encourage the group to share out the lines a bit more because Loyde said a lot in comparison to others (but that is only opinion, it looks fine the way that it is) but then that would most likely take away from the chorus like feeling which is what I like most about the piece. I loved the unison, cannon and physicality that the chorus used throughout the scene. It showed variety which was what many scenes lacked. This group did not use multimedia however I believe they made a video to contribute to the piece.


4. I liked the status in this group. Jake appeared bigger physically and spoke with the correct pronunciation whereas Beni sounded peasant like and held himself low to the ground, was very hunched over etc. I also loved how a modern and daily experience for most of us was added into the piece, this was the news. It mean that the piece was instantly modernized and was relative to the majority of the audience. I don't think the group need to improve particularly, apart from tightening up like the rest.

5. This scene was very slick and cool, it had all the top dogs looking their finest. The two guards had brilliant Russian accents but kept to the modern language. I really liked this about this group because it meant that they kept Antigone fairly the same however transported us form Greece to Russia.


6. This group created a torch lit scene where the point of interest was lit by mobile phone torches which were held by the chorus. The chorus were lacking a role in the piece, I think they needed more to do however the little they did was perfect.


7. My scene was okay. In my opinion it was lacking a lot and not many of us on stage knew what we were doing, we just kind of improvised however we did manage to do it and save ourselves the humiliation of not knowing what we were doing at all. We used footage as our multimedia but it was not shown in this run through. To improve we need to fix everything and practice a lot, there wasn't much that didn't need improvement which says a lot.