Performance

Performance

We arrived at room 413 at 4:20pm the latest. Our first performance started at 5:00pm so we had to arrive 40 minutes early in order to have time to warm up and get into costume. As soon as we got to the spare room for unnecessary items, we got changed into costume straight away and headed to the big theatre room to start our warm ups. Ms Lee took charge of our warm ups. We included vocal warm ups and physical warm ups. One was an exercise where we had to lie still on our backs in neutral on the floor, we had to project our voices to the ceiling saying "ahh". This was not an exercise to see who can shout the loudest or a game. It was a exercise to help warm up our voices and to practice our projection before we went and performed. By doing theatre, you need to understand that you have to project your voice. It's no good being an actor on stage and not being able to project. Your audience needs to be able to hear you! This was a great exercise to do because it helped us with projection. This vocal exercise is definitely my favourite vocal one because its so calming and peaceful. It's similar to meditation and it helps me to just focus on my voice and posture instead of thinking about my other acting techniques, for example; facial expressions, body language, gestures and the tone of my voice. I just have to focus on projection and my breathing and I love this.

Another warm up we did was a physical one which helped us wake up our bodies that had just been sitting in a chair in our previous lesson. We rolled our bodies down to the floor, starting with our heads then all the way so our arms dangled down and our hands touched our feet. We then rolled our spine up until we were standing tall and straight again in neutral. This is my favourite physical stretch because yet again it is very calming and relaxing and it helps stretch every inch of my back/ body so we are ready, relaxed for performing.

After our warm ups we got into positions ready for our audience who were waiting in the Foyer. I was really nervous to start but i was so excited at the same time. We were scene five, so we had while until they came upstairs to our scene. We were looking out the window to see when our audience left scene four which was out at the big tree near the main entrance. Once we saw through the small window in one of the theatre rooms that our audience had left scene 4, we walked quickly over to the scenes taking place in the room next to ours (scenes 6,7,8 and 9) and told them to be quiet now as our audience are downstairs. Then we quickly moved into our opening positions ready to perform our scene.

Multimedia used in the performance
1.     Live feed
2.     TV, pre-recorded videos
3.     garage band (voice recordings)
4.     mobile phones

How did multimedia enhance the overall performance? 
Multimedia help us to perform our show in  a unique and more interesting way. It helped show a different side of theatre and created tension in the audience at some points, for example; when one group used live feed it could have made the audience feel tension as they didn't know where to look so they had a choice on where to focus their attention on. either the live acting or the live feed. It gave our audience the choice to look at different sides of our performance which enhanced our overall piece as a company.

What impact do you think it had on the audience and why?
I think it had different effects on different people. From the information I gathered from various parents afterwards the feeling differed. mainly it was a good opinion of our show which was great
! people loved how we incorporated multimedia in our play and thought it was interesting and a different way to approach theatre, a way the had never experienced before. They also agreed that they like how we set our show in promenade. They thought it was exciting to keep on moving around the school to see different scenes of Antigone. however I think that some people would have preferred to be seated and thought that the piece was quite confusing and didn't really understand the story-line. However overall I think the use of multimedia opened up people's views on theatre because it was something unique.

Would the performance have been as effective without the multimedia?
Perhaps if we didn't have the play as a promenade it may have been as effective, however because it was, I don't think it would have been as effective without the multimedia because i think it could have became boring.

Which moment of multimedia was most effective and why?
I really enjoyed the live feed used in our performance. this was because it was more effective for the audience to watch because they had a choice of what they could focus on.

Scenes from Antigone:	Multimedia used and locations	How did the multimedia in each scene enhance the performance?
1. Creon announces that Eteocles will be honoured and Polynices will be shamed and left un-buried.	Video to be shown on screen in reception.	Showed the Audience a different side of creon through a tv screen instead of live acting.
2. Antigone goes to Ismene to persuade her to assist the burial of their brother. Ismene refuses.	By the tree - video shown of the thoughts of the characters.	Showed the audience the inner thoughts of the characters instead of us using direct address and coming out of our characters to talk to the audience.
3. Antigone goes to bury her brother.	Round of wooden stumps.	Set the scene well of where Polyneices was buried looked realistic
4. Creon looks for the support of the chorus of Theban Elders in his  decision to leave Polynices unburied.	Creon announces from fire escape door of 415 - chorus round the tree looking up. Audience looking up also.	Using the speaker enhanced our use of levels and was more captivating for the audience to watch
5. A Sentry reports the burial of Polynices. Creon insists that the Sentry finds out who or face death.	Filmed footage of event is shown on screen top of stairs. Sentry talking to Creon.	Gave the audience the opportunity to witness what happened previously opened their minds to the world of theatre.
6. Chorus sing about honouring gods.	From the yard up to windows of 413 Recorded chorus played.	Pre-recorded voice recording. Shocked the audience because they wasn’t expecting a recording to be played, they were expecting the actors to shout from the courtyard
7. Sentry returns with the Culprit: Antigone. Creon confronts her.	Burst into 413 - audience turn to see. Lighting used.	Lighting used helped create effect and tension
8. Creon confronts Ismene. Ismene tries to confess but Antigone won't allow it. And in the end, the two sisters are imprisoned.	Still in 413 but Creon live speaks to a projected Ismene. Antigone is walked out the room and joins the real Ismene - escorted off. Lighting used	Lighting used helped create effect and tension
9. Haemon both pledges allegiance to his father, Creon, and asks that Antigone be spared. After the discussion deteriorate, Haemon storms out vowing never to speak to him again.	Traverse in 413 - iphone lights as the two talk. Throughout confrontation, lights go out, one by one.	The iphone lights gave a different effect instead of lighting used from the stage, instead we incorporated our everyday technology. This was unique for the audience to watch
10. Creon chooses to spare Ismene, and to bury Antigone alive. As she is dragged out, the chorus express their Sorrow.	One light left on Creon's face. Sound of s body being dragged...etc. Projection and video used	Video clip was used which enhanced our performance as it lifted the scene and made it even more interesting as it was a different approach to tell the story.
11. Tiresias attempts to advise Creon that what he is doing is wrong and that the Gods are angry. The prophecy of a dead son is mentioned.	Tiresias never moves his mouth but what he says coupled with weird underscore is played through speakers of 415. Projected video played	Video clip was used which enhanced our performance as it lifted the scene
12. The chorus, terrified, begs him to take Tiresias' advice. Shaken, Creon agrees to release Antigone and bury Polynices.	As many chorus as possible fill cavities of 415 and urge Creon. Three doors and side grated window thing.	As a company we made the play enhance further by creating tension by gathering in one room and making it cramped to the audience therefore they thought they were involved in the show. Use of promenade theatre.
13. Chorus deliver a choral ode to the god Dionysus.
14. Messenger informs Eurydice of Haemon and Antigone's death.	Filmed footage on repeat of Haemon stabbing himself and Antigone hanging, swinging from a branch.	Repetition gave the thought to the audience that what happened in this Greek Tragedy was terrible and it was really quite sad. Enhanced tension
15. Carrying the body of his dead son Haemon, Creon is then met by a 2nd messenger informing him of Eurydice's death.	Audience back outside looking at tree. Creon walking through the courtyard, holding Creon, confronted by messenger at the tree. Chorus look down from 415.	Gave the moral: Treat people how you would like to be treated because the pain you caused others could come back around to you

Thursday 30th April 2015

Today is the day of the performance. Today's three hours of theatre was our dress rehearsal and last preparation time for our show this evening. The tickets have been sold out for both performances.

We did our warm ups like normal and we got into costume straight away for our dress rehearsal. In my scene I am a Guard for Creon and a News reporter so I wore a white dress shirt, a black tie, black ray-bands, black leggings, black socks and black shoes. Underneath I wore a black t-shirt for our chorus parts, therefore when we went to do our chorus scene I could easily just take off my dress shirt and tie and have my black t-shirt underneath ready to perform. Everyone put our bags in a spare theatre room and Miss locked it shut so we could leave everything we didn't need in that room, so that the dress rehearsal was as similar to what it will be later in the afternoon for our performance.

We all got into position and ran our scene over and over again to try and get it to perfection. After we done this, we ran over our chorus scenes again until we got them to a perfection as well. We needed to make this performance just as good as our previous two, if not even better! Afterward once we were confident what we were doing and made sure we made some chorus agreements, we got into position to perform it to the Year 11's.

After we performed this to the Year 11's we talked to each other what to do to improve. It was good to have the Year 11's as our practice audience because we got to perform to an actual audience, which let us experience how it would be later. Performing to an audience also gave us the opportunity to see if the multimedia work ed and to see if their was any technical difficulties we needed to fix also to see what our audience thought of our show.

Once the Year 11's had left our teachers gave us feedback on what they thought worked well, what they enjoyed and what they thought perhaps didn't, and what they thought needed to be improved. We were very grateful for this chance to perform in front of an audience because it gave us a chance to know what to expect and to receive some feedback.

Monday 27th April 2015

This lesson Roseby came back from Spain! we were so happy because this was the deadline of filming. We needed to film today.

After our usual warm ups, which helped us to relax, focus and calm our minds and bodies, we immediately got into costume and went outside to film our multimedia section we will be including in our scene. We decided to film our piece near the smoking area, at the stumps on the grass. This was because the grass was patchy and looked old, which would relate well with the Greek era our play is set in. We got some stones and spread them on the floor. We got mud from the ground and spread it on Roseby's skin (because she was Polynieces dead on the floor) and we used some red lipstick to spread on her skin as well to make it look like blood. we smudged it in so it looked more realistic. It didn't matter if it didn't look completely real because the video is going to be in black and white and also Roseby won't be up close to the camera, so therefore, from far away it will look realistic. Roseby laid on the grass wearing all black and I played Antigone and wore all black with a red cardigan (all Antigone's had to wear something red which will show the audience that they are Antigone). Benji was the camera man and Jake was the props man, designer and director of the scene. We recorded Antigone finding Polynieces dead body on the hard ground, and we recorded her burying him and covering him with the gravel and a white sheet. It also showed her praying and mourning over his dead body. It was a silent video. We had decided to make the video looik as if it was CCTV footage of the 'criminal' burying Polynieces. Benji offered to edit the video at home ready for the performance day on Thursday.

Later on in the lesson we ran over the chorus sections to make sure we knew what we were doing. But still we didn't even know our chorus lines! We had to run over the lines again and Miss helped us. This time we spent learning lines by repeating it over and over again really helped us because it was useful to just spend some time learning lines we didn't know. Repeating it many times helped it to stick into my brain. After we had the lines set in our brains we ran over the movement, which we seemed to remember, thank goodness! As actors we have to be able to learn our lines!

This lesson was very productive, we managed to film our multimedia section as well as the rest of the class. I'm starting to get really excited for our performance it's only in 3 day now.

Thursday 23rd April 2015

This lesson we focused on script learning and walked through what we will be doing next Thursday.

To start off the lesson we began by warming up our voices and bodies. One warm up we included today was chewing toffee where we opened and stretched our mouths and faces as much as we possibly could. This is a good exercise because it helps us to awaken ourselves and our faces so we are ready to use our facial expressions when acting. This is also good because it helps to release tension in your face. We walked around the room saying lines from the chorus section. As a group we had to speak as a whole and start moving and stop moving as a whole. This started off as difficult because there was so many people in the room with so many different minds and at first we found it hard to start talking together and we also found it hard to start moving together. However as the time went on and we kept getting better and better. We realized that not only one person was to try and take charge and be the leader, but we all had to work together and move in sync without waiting for someone to move first, or perhaps moving first yourself because you thought you had the power to move everyone. This was a great exercise to do because it helped us to connect as a group and it helped us to bring each other closer as it was more of a mind connection instead of acting.

After we took part in these warm ups, we split into our small groups and we talked through what we were doing in our scene. My group, Benji Jake and I (only us three because Roseby was away) talked through how we can improve our acting. So we told each other what we thought they could do better to help each other. This was a good thing for me because it helped me to see what other people thought of my acting and i found out what they thought was good and how I can improve. It helped me to see what the audience think of my character, therefore I could improve and make my acting better. After our group talked through this we decided, to look at Jake's big speech because her had a lot to say and didn't know what some of it meant. So us three sat down in our rehearsal space and looked at our scripts together, and help Jake understand his dialogue more. Later, once we had finished studying Jake's monologue, we ran our scene through a couple of times until it was time to go back into class.

When we went back into class, Miss Lee informed us that we will be doing a walk through on our performance. We all got up and headed to where the first scene took place. The foyer. It was Amaia, Louie, Matilda and Aaron's scene. They talked us through what was happening in the scene and what it was about, they also showed us staging and how they were incorporating multimedia. We then moved onto scene two, they talked us through their staging and multimedia. We went to scene 3,4,5 (my scene), 6 etc and learnt about our peers' work and how they had set their pieces. This was a good opportunity to see everybody's work and give them feedback as well as understanding how our play looked and how it was set out.

This lesson was great, I really enjoyed looking at everyone's pieces and what creative things they had created and decided to use in their scene.

Monday 20th April 2015

This lesson we started off by doing our usual warm ups (which included voice warm ups as well as physical warm ups; such as walking around the room and speaking as a group) to get us ready for the active lesson we had set in front of us. It's always good to warm up before we start theatre because it helps us to become focused, calmed, disciplined, young actors.

After we finished our warm ups we practiced our small group scenes. (Benji, Jake Roseby and I). This lesson our group focused on learning our lines and shortening part of the script as it was quite long. Our group was a bit smaller this lesson and will be on Thursday as well because Roseby is enjoying a lovely time in Spain with her Spanish exchange student. However without Roseby, we seemed to add to our piece even further and enhanced our characters as well to make it more interesting to the audience so the scene didn't become boring. We also incorporated our background props into our scene to create levels. We used a cabinet, a desk and two chairs. One chair and desk for Jake, and one chair for Roseby, I had the cabinet. I decided to use the cabinet to sit on to include more levels to make the scene look more different and abnormal. Using the locker makes the wall above me look like a t.v screen so it makes me and Roseby look as if we are inside the television, this was a good adaptation to our piece because we are now using and taking advantage of all the area we have allocated. We ran over our scene a for the rest of the time we had. This addition to our piece made our scene more interesting and captivating to the audience. It made the set more dynamic.

After we improved and ran over our small scenes in our groups we went over the chorus work we set.We noticed that some parts we set we could not remember. Therefore we had to go over it again to remember what we had set already. We worked on working in a chorus which is a good way to develop our acting skills. This is because we will be able to trust each other and will work on trying to be in sync with other actors, to do this we need to have a feeling between us where we can connect and know when to speak and move as a whole.

We briefly talked over our multimedia side of the performance and how we will use garage band to edit our speaking for the chorus part out in the courtyard. As mentioned before in a previous blog we have already recorded a dialogue as a group in one of the theatre rooms, which will be edited and played through speakers during the chorus outside. We also discussed when we would film our pieces we needed to film for our small group scenes. As Roseby was away we had to wait until next week to film our piece. We were excited to use multimedia in our lesson because it was something new and different that we hadn't been introduced to before.

This lesson was productive because it helped us not only finish staging our show but it also helped us to develop our acting skills even further to make us even better at acting, which is what we have come to the BRIT School to study.

Monday 13th April 2015

Multimedia lesson

This lesson we started off the lesson by doing our usual warm ups (which included voice warm ups as well as physical warm ups; such as walking around the room and speaking as a group) to get us ready for the active lesson we had set in front of us. It's always good to warm up before we start theatre because it helps us to become focused, calmed, disciplined, young actors.

Later in this lesson we focused on the Chorus work of our play. Later on in the lesson we joined all together in room 413 and Mr Crowthe introduced us to a chorus piece we will all be performing together. Mr Crowthe had already prepared our actions for the Chorus text and he taught us what to do. We worked as a whole class which helped us to develop communication skills and helped us to become disciplined and connected as a class. This was interesting to work as a whole company as we had to move at the same time which was quite hard but I learnt that you have to make sure you are aware of the whole classes movements not just your own or one other persons. In groups we had to create our own repetitive piece which was relevant to our line we were given. My group's line had the words "wild animals" in and so we decided to create a piece around animals. This was a good chance to let out our creativity and create a section of our own. It helped us develop communication, listening and group skills.

We kept the actions subtle to the text so the we are not likely to forget our movements and so that there is not too much going on for the audience to take in. We were informed that we would be having the recording of the script coming from the speakers outside as our chorus piece will be performed outside. We wouldn't have to talk as a whole whilst doing our group actions, instead we took a voice recording  of the text and Ms Goodall will edit it on garage band so it can be played loudly outside.

Later on- after the break- we were given another section of chorus work from our script. Ms Ballam helped us with setting this. We were spilt into three groups in the class. I was group two. However we were mixed together so a part of every group was scattered around the room. We were given lines to say in our group and as a whole and actions as well. This further improved our group work and visual/social awareness. In one section of the chorus work, we have to connect by any body part to another person in the class. This helped us to become more comfortable with different members of the class.

We practised this chorus parts for a while to try and perfect them however, we are not quite there yet. Next lesson, we will be looking at how to improve working and moving as a group.

Women in Greek Theatre

Notes I took on the video of Women in Greek Theatre:

• Women were seen but not heard. They didn't have their own voice to speak with. hey had to stay quiet and obey what they were told to do.
• Women were not involved in Greek theatre it was written by men, performed by men and watched by men who were in a higher class of society who viewed and treated women poorly.
• There were powerful women characters in plays but they would always be played b a man.
• Women were viewed as annoying and weak however they were important o society as they would produce children and organised the religious city events

Thursday 26th March 2015

Thursday 26th March 2015

In this lesson we were put into groups of 7 and we were given a scene between Creon and Antigone to develop. My group was Connor, Logan, Eric, Harmony, Will and Max. our scene was where Antigone is confessing to Creon that she was the one who buried her brother and is willing to take her punishment for it. We made the scene more modern to make it more understandable for our target audience. The accent we used was more of an East End accent.

We done this to help us to get an understanding on how we can interpret a modern version of a scene from Antigone. This was useful since we will be doing this for our show of Antigone. This exercise was a way of communicating with others in the other class which helped us to bond and connect which will help us to feel more comfortable with working with new people.

When we read the script together we learnt that the style of writing was quite different to how we speak today. There was no slang or words that were shortened. Reading the play and looking at the text helped us to think about how our characters talked and what era and community they were in.

The language we decided however, was to make it as modern as possible and this made the characters more humorous, because they said words such as; "mint", "blud", "man", "bloodclart" and "fuck". It made the audience laugh because there was bad language included in the piece. Although it made the scene more understandable and easier for the audience to understand, it kind of took away the purpose of the play. It made the characters less formal and more informal and made them seem modern.

Our scene was different from the other peoples. We decided not to incorporate multimedia however some groups decided to which was a lovely idea. This was Antonia's group. The group had some amazing ideas that were put together. They incorporated the idea of social media in it to make the scene even more modern. This was a good idea because they thought outside the box and challenged themselves to experiment the type of work we will be doing shortly.


Notes I made on other groups:
Group 1: Jamie, Susana, Connor, Jedd, Taffie and Oriana: - It started with some teenage girls gossiping about what they had heard. This was good because it made the piece more modern by incorporating girls at a sleepover gossiping.
-It was quite comedic which didn't make the piece too sad or depressing.
- They portrayed Antigone as rude and sarcastic which showed us hat Antigone was confident but could also come across rude in her speaking.
-It was set in a school which was interesting because they incorporated youths in the piece.

Group 2: Benji, Nina, Antonia, Rory, Michelle, Daniel: -It was very, very good, definitely my favourite performance.
- They excellently include technology within their piece by using mobile phones. They included social media as well. And they were talking about how Antigone buried Polynieces and what they thought about her over a social media chat. This was great as it was made modern so that the audience could relate a lot more to the scene.

Group 3: Matteo, Sarah, Ellis Sherene, Pheobe: - It was very modern but to improve maybe they could have not over-used the swearing in their piece an it did become a bit too much of bad mouthing each other. Although it was very funny, all of he swearing took away the importance of the scene and made everyone laugh because of the amount of swearing in the piece.

Group 4: Anya, Nansi, Louie, Cameron, Alex, Poppy: - It had a big brother theme
- To improve I think that they could have made the piece shorter as it did drag on for quite a bit.

Group 5: Jake, Frankie, Roseby, Thiago, Gloria, Zac: - They projected their voices very well
- It was interesting and a good use of technology as well as it being converted into modern life.

Group 6: Tim, Amaia, Matilda, Daniella, Llyod :- It was very funny
- They used multimedia well in their scene
- They made the piece modern so it was easy for he audience to understand. They had changed the language so it was easier to interpret.

Group 7: Clement, Natasha, Stacey, Alabama, Oliver, Chris: - It was set in a pub and this made it realistic for the audience as most things are set in a pub as pubs are a popular place to go for over 18's in England.

This lesson was good because we got to try out how to make our scene as modern as we could. We changed the language and got to experiment with the play.

Thursday 16th April 2015

Today we recorded the moment of the choral speaking and some breathing. This will be used to play for the people who will be watching scenes outside. We will be using garage band to edit our recording. This idea was really great because it will give the audience a chance of listening to not only the actors but to a recording which was previously recorded.

We discussed as a whole how each scene was relevant to a modern audience. Our scene (Roseby, Jake, Benji and I) is relevant and interesting to a modern audience because it shows them that people still commit crime and it will make them look at how life is today and compare it to how it was back in the time of Sophocles. Also it is interesting how we have co-operated the idea of a news report in our scene. We are using a t.v screen in our piece and this will be good for the audience because it will show them what happened previously in the play. It will give them an interesting option to either look at the acting or to look at the t.v screen. Recording part of our scene was good because it can help us to show two sides of the story. In the recording we show the side of Antigone burying Polynieces however on the day we will be acting and showing Creon's bad temper tantrum.

Before we recorded the scene, we had to plan what we were going to act in the clip. So this lesson, we prepared and got ready to record our video so we didn't have to repeat the recording loads of times on the day we recorded it.We decided on costumes. Antigone's wore a red item of clothing and Polynieces wore all black and he had red lipstick smudged on himself to make it look like he was bleeding and had been lying there for a long time. We also smothered dirt on Roseby's skin to make it look like Polynieces had been there for a while. We decided to record it near the posts at the smoking area this was because it had good levels. The camera man (Benji) would stand on a post and record the scene looking down on Polynieces (Roseby) who was laying down on the grass below. Jake was the props man and I was Antigone. We used a white sheet as something to cover Polynieces with and some stones plotted around the grass.

Later on in the lesson we performed our scenes. We performed our part of our scene that we will show live to the audience on the performance night. This was a scene between Creon and his guard. Our scene was successful because we included a new report into our scene and it captivated the audience because there was two places on the stage. Roseby and I were news reporters however Jake and Benji were inside Creon's palace. To develop our scene we need to learn our lines. We need to learn it before the rehresal so that we can run it through smoothly.

Exploring The Text

In class we looked at two scenes from Antigone. A scene between Antigone and Ismeme and a scene between Antigone and Creon.

Antigone and Ismene:
We focused on finding out the relationship between Antigone and Ismene and the different characteristics they have and how they disagree.
We explored the characters practically by getting into pairs and exploring how Antigone and Ismene differ and we thought about the characters emotions as well as how that scene would be set and what it would lead to.
We discovered that the two sisters had a lot of trust before this talk happened. Because Antigone went to Ismene for help it shows she trusts Ismene with important things which shows that the are close. However we also fid out that they both have different view on Creon's rules'. Antigone ants to go against them, but Ismene doesn't want to disobey him. Therefore this lead to the to sisters in arguments.
This linked to the Historical context because it had shown that women were lower class and didn't have a voice therefore Ismene is a perfect example in this.

Antigone and Creon:
We focused on finding the relationship between these two characters. We discovered that Antigone had the lower status and Creon had a lot more power than Antigone. We learnt that Antigone was strong minded and was true to her heart.
We explored the characters practically be acting out a scene between them two when Antigone asked Creon if she could bery her brother. My partner was Eric.
We discovered hat Antigone and Creon didn't have a great relationship (even though Creon was Antigone's uncle). This helped us to understand how the character felt to one another so we could stretch our acting even further. Creon had the higher status over Antigone, however Antigone wanted to prove her point to Creon and stood up to him. This portrayed Antigone as stubborn.
This linked to historical context because it proves that women had the lower status even Creon says "I will not have no sort of woman telling me what to do".
 

Current Events

Question 1:
What was happening when Antigone was created? - Very bad things were happening and people were having wars fights, arguments, family affairs and dictating others' lives.

Question 2:
Was is creation influenced by any specific historical events?-

Social Context of Antigone

Question 1: What do we mean by the social context?- Social context means using social media. For example: mobile phones, facebook, snapchat, whatsapp, instagram

Question 2: How did people live at the time of Antigone?-They lived very religious, rules had to be obeyed and people had to be respectful and loyal to their religion. Men were higher class and women were looked as lower class citizens who were not allowed to vote and were seen as weak.

Question 3: Who was the target audience for the piece?- This is a mature and serious piece of theatre and was made for the community of Greece. It was religious for Greeks to go to the theatre.

Question 4: What were the needs values and beliefs of the target audience?- People believed it was okay for women to be treated incorrectly. People were told that you had to obey the king and his rules. It was a very religious place and people had to respect the rules in Greece. There was a lot of fighting that went on as well.

Question 5: How did this influence the themes and characters of Antigone?- This gave Sophocles an idea of including gender into the play (women were seen lower than men- men were more important) also the idea of war was included into the play.

Question 6; What have you found out about the social context of Antigone? Think about what was going on at the time that Sophocles wrote the play. I have found out that the play was very heartbreaking and wasn't just a silly comedic theatre show that was put together it was a serious story that has actually been based on things that had happened in Greece in the time of Sophocles.

Question 7: Who went to the theatre?- Everybody who wanted to to, it was seen as religious.

Question 8; What was the relationship between theatre, politics and religion? Theatre was seen as religious. Theatre was a way of showing people how the community was and also a way to show them what was serious in Greece at that time.

This is useful information for our class as it has taught us how people acted in Greece and therefore we could develop it into our acting so we can relate and understand the place and community our character came from.

Thursday19th March 2015

Thursday 19^th March 2015

Today in class, we focused on the historical context of Greek theatre. We watched three videos in class and two of them were about performances of Greek tragedy from long ago in history. I took many notes in during the video, which helped me to understand even more about Greek theatre, and the way it was performed and also the effect it had on the audience. This was useful videos to watch as it helped us to understand the concept of Greek theatre and what it meant to Greek people.

Here are the notes I made during the first video:

• ·         The plot of the performance was realistic and was very emotional and quite traumatic for the audience. However they were excellent plays and can relate to people and are very effective.
• ·         It had universal themes which meat that it was suitable for anywhere in the world and that people could relate to the story. For example, fighting is something that occurs everywhere.
• ·         Often the good heroes in Greek theatre do not always do the right thing, this shows that nobody is perfect and everyone can make mistakes even good people, which can also reflect on life today.
• ·         Most likely, in all Greek tragedies, someone dies during the play. When they were going to die they would usually say something to do with the sun because to the Greeks the sun was an important thing when you were about to die.
• ·         The chorus is a group of people that start the play and would often come onto the stage to interrupt the acting to explain briefly to the audience what is happening or what is going to happen next.
• ·         The story told through Greek theatre is always set in the life of one day.
• ·         The Greek tragedies were mostly about loss, love, war death, fighting, sadness, affairs, inappropriate sex between relatives.

Notes I made on the second video:- The Greatest show on Earth BBC

•      Although the performances were very tragic violent and sad for the audience to watch, there was also comedy involved in the show. This was used to break up the sadness of the play and make the audience feel less sad and traumatised. They would do this by usually having a half human half goat man come onto stage and act out comedy which would make the audience laugh.
• ·         The Greek performances were created by taking real life scenarios from things that had happened in Athens, Greece.
• ·         Athens invented drama and invented the idea of actors and performance.
• ·         There were usually 3-4 actors and a chorus which included roughly 5 people. The chorus people would dance sing and act to explain to the audience what is happening in the play, they were similar to a narrator.
• ·         The plays opposed serious questions to the audience.
• ·         Theatre was seen as religious and people would go to the theatre not only to watch performances but to socialise and discuss important matters for democracy and democratic action.
• ·         Actors always wore masks; they said this would make them a total different person.

Watching these videos really helped me to understand Greek performances more and it made it easier to understand why the tragedies were made so horrific and violent. It was definitely useful for the class and will definitely help us to make our performance a lot better as we k=now know a lot more about Greek tragedy and Greek theatre and what it meant to the Greek community. These videos were very important to watch as they helped us widen our minds and opinions and we certainly got to think outside the box.

Cultural Context

Question 1:

• What were the performance conventions in Sophocles’ time? Having three actors, describing the scenery and immediate locale and announcing entrances and exits. And the deus ex machina.

         Question 2:

• What were the trends or fashions within the performing arts? It was common for actors to wear masks to cover up their faces to create a new character instead of the actor. Therefore performers always wore masks. It was fashionable to wear costumes and have minor scenery within the show. 

Monday23rd March 2015

Monday 23^rd March 2015

During this lesson we discussed further on the use of multimedia used in theatre. We talked about this for a while and this was useful because it made us more aware on how and why you can use multimedia in theatre. I learnt that it can show different views of the scene for example if there was a screen showing the birds eyed view as well as behind view and left and right side views. After this discussion, we all took part in a small activity in groups of 3-4. My group was included Jamie, Amaia and myself. The task we were set was to make a mini performance of 7 lines from the script and incorporate our phones as our device of multimedia in the performance. We decided to use our torches on our phones to include multimedia. Our short performance went really well. Using the torches made the piece look effective and eerie. Because we were given this task of using our phones as a way of multimedia gave us the chance to experience using multimedia in theatre and was a way of helping us think of ideas on how to use multimedia. It opened our minds and we really had to think outside the box.

After our break we separated in half and one group stayed in 413 and talked to Mr Crowthe and the other half went with Miss Baalam to another room. We talked about use of multimedia. Firstly with Mr Crowthe he showed us how to use live feed in a theatre production. I learnt new ways to incorporate this into theatre. For example I thought it was really interesting when Tim stood in front of the screen whilst Jamie was at the back of the room and when she walked closer toward the camera it would look as if she was walking behind up to Tim. Talking to Mr Crowthe about the use of live feed helped us to understand how to use live feed and how it can be effective. For example, it gives the audience to ways to look at the performance they could look at it being filmed or they could look on the screen.

In the room with Miss Baalam, we talked about the use of sound. We were told about the use of Garage Band and how that was helpful to us. It was useful to use because instead of having a video clip with acting and sound we were informed that we could make a voice recording and have it played over the top of our live performance and this to me was very interesting and I think it will look & sound great! Also Miss Ballam showed us how to use Garage band so it was useful for us because we were shown how we can use it and how we can use it in a show. We were given the app so we could experiment at home and also it made me remember that we didn’t just have to use voice recorders on our phones we could use special apps to make the sound more clear and louder.

Later on in the lesson, we were put into groups. My group included Roseby, Jake and Benji. There were 4-5 groups. We were each given a slip that had a scene from Antigone on it. My group had the scene where Creon was told by the Guard that someone had buried Polynieses. We were told that we had to think of ideas how we could use multimedia in the scene we had. My group came up with many ideas such as: we could video record some things and make it look as if it was a CCTV camera in the show and this would be shown on a t.v around school. Another idea we had was to use a clip that we filmed previous to the show and show it as if we were acting outside and then run onto stage through an entrance to make it look as if we were somewhere before but we were actually hiding behind stage. This was useful for our learning because it gave us the opportunity to think of how we can use multimedia in Antigone- the show we will be performing. Therefore this was a good exercise because we then we were able to brainstorm our ideas on how to use technology in the show.

Thursday16th March 2015

Monday 16^th March 2015

QUESTION:  “Within a Theatre production, how does the use of multimedia help in its communication to an audience? What does it add to the piece?"

Multimedia helps to communicate better with the audience in the theatre because it can show them what happens outside of the stage which would be effective and it involves the audience in the piece. Multimedia is used to make theatre more interesting and exciting to watch. If there was for example a voice over to portray someone’s thoughts, it would look great because the person on stage isn’t actually speaking and this will excite the audience. Multimedia adds effect by using the media. It is a different way to approach acting.The National Theatre uses a lot of Multimedia in their performances. Here is a video I watched on projection in travelling light.

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/video-projection-in-travelling-light

Additional work:

Find a review of a multimedia theatre production and see what Theatre critics have to say.  

I saw on a website (shown below) some views on multimedia used in theatre. I read that some people believe multimedia is a way of being lazy- for example when the actors were changing scenes a black-and-white clip would be shown to cover it up. Also it said “Film footage offered a cheap way of getting crowds on stage”. This shows us that not everybody like theatre that includes multimedia. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2008/dec/15/theatre-multimedia-rupertgoold-katiemitchell

How we will perform our show:
We were told that we are going to perform our play as a Promenade piece, which means that the performance won't be located in one theatre. Instead, we will perform different scenes around the school. 

Monday16th March 2015

Monday 16^th March 2015- Multimedia lesson

This lesson we looked at the use of multimedia used in theatre. We worked as a whole theatre company with a class of 55. We had many group discussions and talked to each other about ideas and thoughts we had. We also looked at three videos that were about multimedia being used in performances at the Nation Theatre. This was a good opportunity to become more comfortable working with the other class as before when we have worked on previous performances we work as two separate classes.

We discussed multimedia what we could use in our performance. We came up with ideas such as phones, the internet, voice audio, video recorder, camera, art, computers, projectors and a few other ideas. We included this exercise today to help us become aware of multimedia we could incorporate in our performance and get to understand how they would be used effectively in a play especially our show Antigone. As a class we discussed different ways the multimedia could be used in our show Antigone we are going to perform. We had ideas such as; voice overs, previous video recordings that could appear outside of school for example running. We could show on a projector a video of somebody running which would show something they done previously. This would be a good idea for use of multimedia and I have seen it used in plays I have watched before and it has always been performed great. We talked this topic through as a group so we all could get an understanding of what ‘using multimedia in a play’ actually meant and to make sure that everyone was at the same level of understanding. Also this was a good discussion because we got to learn and explore different ways in which we could use multimedia in the play Antigone.

In between our group discussions we got to do some small practical work such as Grandmas footsteps and focus exercises. These little activities were very important for us as actors because it is an important way for us to all connect as a company and be disciplined well so that we can work together as mature adults. These activities for our class were extremely useful and helpful for us all as actors. When we done the exercise where we had to look at something far out of the window, then at something not so far away, and then at look at our hands, it was a good way to understand the environment full of young actors you are in. This exercise was used to get us focussed and relaxed. During this activity the silence was amazing and the class worked excellent together to make it so successful.

Later on in the lesson, we got into groups of 4 and discussed further on how to use multimedia in a performance, especially Antigone. The people in my group were: Jake, Gloria and Cameron. After we discussed our ideas we were allowed half an hour to go and explore the building for places we could use multimedia for our show Antigone. We came up with many places that were quiet such as: near Mrs Nelson’s classroom, near the History and sociology rooms, near some of the science rooms, perhaps in a dance room or a theatre. Also another place we discovered that would be good to record in is the Musical Theatre department, it was relatively quiet and there was no one around apart from some of the students singing in the background. Some outdoor spaces seemed quiet as well for example outside the small canteen.

At the end of the lesson we watched three videos about the National Theatre using multimedia in some of their performances, such as a performance called ‘Waves’. learnt a lot of new things from them videos such as how using multimedia can bring a whole different atmosphere to the piece and make it become so much more realistic for the audience as well as for the actors. Also the video told me that using multimedia is a chance to include more creativity into the piece and it gives the audience a chance to capture life not just on the stage for the characters but outside of the theatre. We watched these videos to understand more on the use of multimedia in shows and why it is effective.

This lesson we very productive and it helped me understand a lot more on multimedia used in theatre then I knew before. I now have some ideas planted in my head to share with the class for next lesson in what we can use for our Greek play, Antigone.

Monday 23rd February 2015

TASK 2A- Greek Theatre Research

When were ancient Greek plays performed?
Between 600 and 200 BC

How many years ago was this?
This was approximately 2615 years ago.

What different types of plays were performed?
The three genres of Greek drama were: satyr plays, comedy, and most importantly, tragedy.

What is a traditional Greek Theatre called?
A Greek Theatre was called a ‘theatron’.
What shape was the theatre?
It was open-air and usually in a bowl-shaped arena on a hillside. Some theatres were very big with room for more than 15,000 people in the audience.
Find a picture of a traditional Greek Theatre for your blog.

　
　Why were the theatres built this way?
So that everyone had a good view on the stage and the noise was echoed so everyone was able to hear.
What different scenic elements are there?
When the Greeks performed their early plays; such as the tragedies　there was normally no scenery. The audience relied on their imaginations to create scenery. Around the middle of the fifth century B.C, the skene began to be introduced into Greek theatre. This hut, or "scene house," was located just behind the playing area and stored props, used as a changing room and gave actors the opportunity to enter or exit through multiple entrances.　The first traditional scenery appeared in ancient Greece around the time of Sophocles, a playwright who lived from 496 to 406 B.C. Images were painted on the exterior walls of the skene, which led to painted scenic panels called pinakes, which were like modern scenic flats. This then eventually led to the creation of the periatoki, a three-sided pivoting triangle with a different scene painted on each side. The periatoki was only one of the scenic gadgets used in ancient Greek theatre. The deus ex machina, known as the "god out of the machine," was a crane used to lower an actor into the scene. Later productions introduced the eccyclema, wheeled platforms that carted furniture or even "dead" bodies onto the stage.

Who sat on the seats at the front?
Priests sat at the front of the arena.

Could women take part in, or attend the plays?
Women could not take part in these plays only men and boys.

Name some of the Greek playwrights and their plays. Choerilus　(~524 BC)
Aeschylus　(c. 525–456 BC):
The Persians　(472 BC)
Seven Against Thebes　(467 BC)
The Suppliants　(463 BC)
What did the audience throw at the actors who performed badly?
They would throw rotten vegetables, however if it was good they would throw money- they also stomped their feet to applaud actors instead of clapping their hands.

What did the actors wear?
Greek actors wore masks, made from stiffened linen, with holes for eyes and mouth. Actors also wore wigs. They wore thick-soled shoes too, to make them look taller, and padded costumes to make them look fatter or stronger. The masks showed the audience what kind of character an actor was playing (sad, angry or funny). Some masks had two sides, so the actor could turn them round to suit the mood for each scene.

How did the audience sat at the back of the large theatre hear anything?
Because the theatre was shaped like a bowl, the actors’ voice could be projected and echoed to the back of the theatre so everybody could hear.

Who is Dionysus?　
He is the God of wine and theatre.

Why is he important to Greek Theatre?
He is the God of Greek theatre.

What is a Greek chorus?
The chorus of an Ancient Greek tragedy was traditionally made up of twelve people who would dance, sing and act in unison. Ancient Greeks used the chorus like modern directors use lighting, sound and set design.

What purpose to the Chorus has in the performance?　
The chorus is to help shape the play and give the audience more information about the play.

How and why were masks used?
Masks were an important part of how ancient theatre was produced and looked. Working with masks changes how actors’ move and speak and can create powerful theatrical effects, even on the modern stage.
What were the masks made of?　
Usually the masks were made of linen, wood, or leather. A marble or stone face was used as a mould for the mask. Human or animal hair was also used. The eyes were fully drawn but in the place of the pupil of the eye was a small hole so that the actor could see.
TASK 3- How can we use multimedia effectively in performances?
The phrase ‘multimedia’ in performance means when you use multimedia in your performance. For example; using sound, mobiles, projectors, video cameras and live feed. We are going to incorporate multimedia in our show Antigone and this is going to be a different approach to theatre, I have never used multimedia in a performance before, I have only seen War Horse in the theatre and their use of multimedia was excellent! They used a pre-recorded video clip of a scene in the war.

　

TYPE OF MEDIA	EXAMPLE OF USE IN PERFORMANCE	POSITIVES OF USING IT…	NEGATIVES OF USING IT…
Video camera	To record part of the performance	It can be re-taken if a mistake occurs	It could easily get deleted from the camera or the camera could get lost
Camera	To take pictures	It is a quick and simple way of capturing parts of the piece	The camera could not have good footage
Webcam	To perform things live for an audience however they see it through a computer screen and you perform it in front of a camera	If you don’t like being around a lot of people it’ll be easier for you to act	They audience may not be able to pick up information as quick if the sound is cut out for a period of time
Text	To allow the audience to read what is happening	If you don’t want to act a certain part then you can use text	It isn’t as enjoyable as watching
Audio	Use voice overs	You can experiment with different voices	It can be confusing to add the audio clips at the right place
Art	Art can be used to express emotions	It is an interesting way of producing theatre.	It could be messy to work with and difficult to show
Online	You tube	People can watch it live online if they can’t watch it live	If it’s live people may miss the beginning and someone may mess up in the clip.

　

When I watched War Horse in the theatre, they used multimedia in their performance. They had a screen of a video clip of the war and the characters on stage where acting as if they were in the clip. It was really great and it enhanced their performance because it made the acting look more effective and interesting. Also it was the first performance I had seen with multimedia so it really introduced me multimedia in theatre.

　


TASK 4- Antigone


　

　

　

　

　

　Synopsis of Antigone

　

Outside the city gates, Antigone tells Ismene that Creon has ordered that Eteocles, who died defending the city, is to be buried with full honors, while the body of Polynices, the invader, is left to rot. Furthermore, Creon has declared that anyone attempting to bury Polynices shall be publicly stoned to death. Outraged, Antigone reveals to Ismene a plan to bury Polynices in secret, despite Creon's order. When Ismene timidly refuses to defy the king, Antigone angrily rejects her and goes off alone to bury her brother.

Creon discovers that someone has attempted to offer a ritual burial to Polynices and demands that the guilty one be found and brought before him. When he discovers that Antigone, his niece, has defied his order, Creon is furious. Antigone makes an impassioned argument, declaring Creon's order to be against the laws of the gods themselves. Enraged by Antigone's refusal to submit to his authority, Creon declares that she and her sister will be put to death.

Haemon, Creon's son who was to marry Antigone, advises his father to reconsider his decision. The father and son argue, Haemon accusing Creon of arrogance, and Creon accusing Haemon of unmanly weakness in siding with a woman. Haemon leaves in anger, swearing never to return. Without admitting that Haemon may be right, Creon amends his pronouncement on the sisters: Ismene shall live, and Antigone will be sealed in a tomb to die of starvation, rather than stoned to death by the city.

The blind prophet Tiresias warns Creon that the gods disapprove of his leaving Polynices unburied and will punish the king's impiety with the death of his own son. After rejecting Tiresias angrily, Creon reconsiders and decides to bury Polynices and free Antigone.

But Creon's change of heart comes too late. Antigone has hanged herself and Haemon, in desperate agony, kills himself as well. On hearing the news of her son's death, Eurydice, the queen, also kills herself, cursing Creon.

Alone, in despair, Creon accepts responsibility for all the tragedy and prays for a quick death. The play ends with a somber warning from the chorus that pride will be punished by the blows of fate.

　
Question 1: What do you think of this story?
I think this story is very interesting. It is good that we are studying a Greek play because Greek is where theatre first evolved from, so with us studying this piece and putting on this show is good because it was one of the first pieces of theatre performed. I think the storyline is quite disturbing in the fact of all the deaths; however it does have a good plot, so it makes the storyline interesting and I am excited to start setting this piece and shaping it into a good performance.
Question 2: Why do you think　Sophocles　wrote this play?

I think Sophocles wrote this play to show people that you shouldn’t be too arrogant because you could end up losing something that you care about. You shouldn’t always think about yourself and the people around you because that is selfish and selfishness never ends well. I think Sophocles had the moral for this play as: ‘selfishness doesn’t end well and you shouldn’t only think about yourself’.

Question 3: Why do you think the Greek　audiences might have wanted to see this play?
Because it would have been interesting and an exciting approach to theatre with a good plot and storyline also it is related to their Gods which makes the play interesting.
　

Scene 1 from Antigone

Question 1: What information does Antigone give to Ismene at the beginning of this scene?

Antigone tells Ismene about the King’s laws that you are not allowed to bury you friends and family who have been apart in fighting the Kingdom of Thebes.

Question 2: What has just happened in the sisters’ family?

What has just happened is that Antigone’s and Ismene’s brother (Polynesis) had just died during their fight against the Kingdom of Thebes.

Question 3: What does Antigone plan to do? Why?
Antigone plans to go behind the King’s (Creon) back and bury her brother anyway. But she did say she needed her sister’s (Ismene) help. However Ismene is not brave enough to go behind the King’s back and betray him and end up getting killed for it. So instead, Antigone says she will do it alone without her sister’s help. She does this because she feels as if it is disrespectful and horrible to not be able to bury your loved ones once they have died- she thinks the law is disgusting and ridiculous.
Question 4: Does Ismene plan to join her? Why or why not?

Ismene is not brave enough to go behind the King’s back and help Antigone because she doesn’t want to betray the King and end up getting killed for it.

Question 5: What story does the chorus tell us about?
The chorus tells us a brief summary of the whole play right from when Antigone’s brother dies to the end where the two loves kill themselves. However it does not explain the whole of the story because otherwise that would ruin the play, it just gives a rough outline, so the audience knows what the plot is about and doesn’t get too confused during the play.