Greek Week 3

On Monday the first task Karen asked us to do was draw pictures of 5 scenes that come to mind whilst she played some music, I drew;

• The killing at the beginning of the play
• The knife with blood dripping 
• I drew Orestes with the baby in his arms standing at the edge of the cliff
• I drew the grave 
• I drew the slave holding the baby 

Karen then shared some sad true stories all about killing for honor, that made me realize a lot of things, one is what it actually was, because i never really understood it. It is the act of homicide committed by a member of family or social group and this due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor or shame upon the family or community.

'Victims of honor killings are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, having a poor academic standing, dressing in ways which are deemed inappropriate, or engaging in homosexual relations.'

This horrifying act happens within many cultures, and brought me to understand a deeper meaning of the play. I now understand some of the reasons between the killings that happen in the play, as a lot of violent happens. For example when Orestes jumps to his death with baby hermione in his arms, Electra and Orestes feel, because their father Agamemnon killed their little sister, in honor of Menelaous safe journey to troy, it is necessary and a sort of a feel of justice, which is also one of the stronger themes which comes across in the play.

Keeping to the theme of honor we were asked to do a number of activities in groups. One example of what we did was create tableaux that represented the end scene. I was with Shelby and Alicia, and we staged ourselves as if me and Shelby were both journalists, and were responding in a freeze frame in which showed the greed of journalism. I stood with a shocked expression but also I didn't look like I was going to stop Alicia 'playing Orestes' from falling to their death, I was more interested on the headline I was about to write. I think this activity brought some ideas about my chorus character, although I am also playing the slave I need to think about my chorus role to. So I feel after doing this I want my character to be greedy for the best story. I think my character in the chorus should be a non-sympathetic, patronizing and powerful character. One of the reasons I say the words 'powerful' is because I think the media has a very powerful role in today's society and can either bring you up or bring you down, and so I think when performing in the chorus I'm going to focus on these particular words to help get myself in role. The second reason I chose 'powerful' and the other words actually was because I think it's a strong contrast between what the 'slave's' characteristics are. The slave is more of a genuine, non powerful and innocent character, and so it shows a big difference between the two.

Creative ideas this week:
I came up with personal ideas for my role in the chorus, I want my chorus role to show a strong difference between my 'Slave' role. As above.

Development:
In movement with Kirsty, we, as a whole group developed more on the scene of Agamemnon death. We added levels and we also added contact with each other. I contributed to this piece by choreographing a paired move with Imogene. The movements represented Electra's description of Agamemnon death, and so the movements we created put emphasis on the words 'They netted him'. I still like the movements we were asked to choreograph on the lead up to this project, when we started looking at this piece of text in movement. We split off into groups and were given a piece of the text each and were asked to put moves with it. A particular line we got was 'twitching stopped and blood lapped the sides of the bath with a steady, slowing rhythm. My father.' We used a literal pulsing move like a heart pulsing whilst everyone bundle on each other, it sounds a bit hectic but it looked really effective, and the other creative move we did was by using the word 'lapped' and using repetition in our movements to enhance that word. In movement we also worked on travelling from each corner, and also devised a travelling routine that had the idea that it was a bit of a chase. These got me thinking of the idea of what different dynamics my chorus role could use in the performance, it got me thinking of the way I should walk, maybe with a little more pace, or maybe even a little skip in my step to show excitement of a new story.

Devising:
I mostly looked at chorus work, in particular a scene in which I am present with Paige, Alicia and Yasmin. This scene is where Orestes has just decided he must murder his mother Clytemnestra, and the chorus is playing around and teasing Orestes. We were sent to go and work on this scene and experiment with different ideas in mind. The first way we devised the piece was with the idea of being serious but we preferred the idea of patronizing, naughty, twisted little pixie girls who would giggle and cause a nuisance and act sweet and innocent in a way, but it gave the scene quite a entertaining thrill, as some of the feedback we got from presenting this was that it looked quite scary. I like the idea of making the audience a bit edgy and scared because it means we are getting a good response, and I personally want the audience to feel intimidated by these girls (journalists) and also (in the nicest way possible) I think it will give the play a good kind of tension. We also had the idea of using Orestes as a puppet, as if he is in a deep sleep and he is sleep walking, but we are controlling him. The idea is that we are twisting, and playing with his thoughts and emotions, we are edging him on to do it. I have the idea the chorus want him to do it to get yet another big headline.

In groups of about five, we were asked to look at yet another piece of text and add movement to it, as our aim was to make it physical. We had some difficulty with creating this scene at first as we were stuck on what to do, but we over came this by deciding to think of levels, dynamics, and the use of repetition. So we then decided to take a line each and perform in in how we feel it should be said, and once we decided on what we were going to do, we then managed to add layering, and so by breaking a piece of text up and doing little by little, it helps to actually create an engaging piece that works. We managed to show levels because the boys were standing behind me and Alicia which also showed status and, we finished by me and Alicia saying the last line together which created tension.

Research findings:
I looked at the documentary on the sdcstream, to get a bit more into the insight of the play. This made me realize how much politics went on in Ancient Greece, and the documentary also explained how much drama was connected to democracy. This helps me to understand how some characters lived by the rules of the God's and some lived by the law.

Further development and Aims: I hope to be able to start some of the slaves speech. I aim to start researching some lullabies or songs which are relevant to her character as she sings a few times throughout the play. I hope to be able to get more understanding of whats going around me in the chorus as well as being aware of my own character, for example to help other people by reviewing, and giving feedback to help improve. I hope to get this from others too.

Follow up to week 1 greek.

We did many workshops to follow up our devising into our Greek tragedy theme. The first thing we did was sat down and read through the script together taking it in turns to read different characters. At first I found the script hard to comprehend and it took me a while to understand it, but it got easier as we went along and did different activities.

To put on a show, first we needed to cast the characters. I personally didn't mind if I was just chorus but if i had to pick a certain character to play, I would have chosen the slave. As it happens I did get picked to be the slave. I am quite excited to start characterizing my character as I think she shows a bit of significance to the play as does everyone but to me I have a interest in the topic I can form her from (slavery). To get to the casting process though we needed to read through certain parts with certain people, I first read for the chorus with Charlotte and worked with Elle reading for Electra. We took certain parts of the script and devised small movements and dynamics to see what we liked and what we didn't like. I also read for the slave alongside Elle and Reece, and for Clytemnestra along side Reece.

We then did some workshops with Kirsty in movement by taking certain parts of the script and choreographing movements that we thought went well with particular words. We were split up into small groups and given a certain fragment of script to focus on.

Forced entertainment and Frantic Assembly

Forced Entertainment: 'Loaded with charm and integrity... At the sharp end of the nation's cultural self expression.' 

Forced entertainment was formed a good 10 years before Frantic assembly as Forced entertainment was formed in 1984 and Frantic Assembly was formed in 1994. Frantic Assembly was formed by their artistic director Scott Graham and helped by Steven Hoggett and Vicki Middleton.  They are both touring companies, but Forced Entertainment being based in Sheffield and performed or have been seen at various venues for example; Theaters, gallery installations, site-specific pieces, books, photographic collaborations, videos a mischievous guided bus tour. Frantic Assembly however have collaborated with some of today’s inspiring artists for example Abi Morgan, who is a British playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the films Brick Lane, The Iron Lady, and Shame. 

Below is Abi Morgan:

 Below a picture from a Frantic Assembly piece:

 Below a picture of a Forced Entertainment piece:

Some examples of work by Forced entertainment are:

The Thrill of it all

'It's bright under the lights, and hot, and frightening. Nine performers in grubby tuxedos and tarnished sequins play out a comical and disconcerting vaudeville to the strains of Japanese 
lounge music.' 'After the minimalism of Spectacular and the animated graphic novel of Void Story, internationally renowned innovators Forced Entertainment return with a large cast on a big stage, filled with ragged dances and distorted voices.' This particular piece of work shows some of Forced Entertainments style. For example in this piece they have incorporated music and voice into it, which is part of their style.

Void Story

'Void Story follows a beleaguered pair of protagonists on a rollercoaster ride through the decimated remains of contemporary culture.'

Spectacular

'Spectacular is about the now of the performance moment, the trembling edge of laughter, possibility and invention. It's about death and playing dead, about the strange contact between two performers on-stage and an audience caught between what they are watching and what they're being told.'

Some examples of work by Frantic Assembly are:

Stockholm: written by Bryony Lavery

After being successful, Sydney Theatre Company invited Frantic Assembly to remount their production of Stockholm with an Australian cast. The production then went on to tour to Brisbane and Parramatta.

‘ Originally produced by Frantic Assembly and the Drum Theatre, Plymouth.’

Underworld: written by Nicola McCartney

‘A ghost story for the 21st century with a breathtaking mix of touching realism and bruising physicality.’ ‘

 Underworld was an electrifying study into the realm of fear. When in shock, how do you make the distinction between the paranormal and paranoia? When four notions of truth collide, four women face the question, is someone messing with their heads or is something taking over their lives?’

Under world is an example of how Frantic Assembly uses their dynamics and how they use physical theatre into their pieces of work. Underworld is for a modern audience and uses dynamics like ‘Hard and fast’ to give it the atmosphere this ghostly tale needs.

Lovesong: written by Abi Morgan

‘Lovesong intertwines a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness. All relationships have their ups and downs; the optimism of youth becomes the wisdom of experience.’

 Frantic assembly usually focus on contemporary themes for their stimulus when devising. This sort of theme would fit nicely with a more current audience, this is shown in a quote from their website  ‘The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture’. Whereas Forced assembly have no rules when devising and get their stimulus from many different things for example a fragment of text, a certain object, a piece of music, a certain costume or even a scene from a particular film. 'Loaded with charm and integrity... At the sharp end of the nation's cultural self expression.' this quote shows how the company's performance work is intelligent and relevant now and that its work reflects modern day society's culture in an expressive way which is thought provoking.

Both Frantic and Forced are funded by the Arts council England, especially Frantic Assembly as it is part of their national portfolio organisation. A quote from their website is ‘In the financial year 2012/13 we will receive £196,096 in funding from them, which represents just over 30% of the income needed to deliver our planned activities in theaters, found spaces, classrooms and community settings across the UK and beyond.’  This quote shows how they are always in need of rehearsal space, can’t continue without funding and how some of its funding comes from successful ticket sales. Forced Entertainment says ‘Income comes from touring activity, particularly internationally, performance fees and commissions from abroad’. 

Forced Entertainment record their rehearsals to keep track of progress and to see what works well and what doesn't. This shows commitment and passion to keep work as professional as they can. By recording their rehearsal they can decide what they like and what they don't like, and whatever that is they can either discard it or develop it to improve it.  Forced Entertainment also play games to either get the actors energy going or simply to get the minds thinking when coming up with a new and creative idea. An example of a game they play is Quizoola which consists of people asking and answering each others questions.

Greek tragedy week 2

On Monday we went straight back to working on our Greek project after a week off after half term. In the half term I managed to get some research done about some factors I can add to my character profile, and managed to finished my blog entries for our first project.

Monday:
-We looked at contextualizing contemporary
-Did vocal warm ups and work
-Played stuck in the mud
- Movement with Kirsty, we developed something which we started in the follow up to this project before half term.

Wednesday:
-Had Alex working with us in the morning
-Dynamics in the voice
-Looked at certain parts of the script as a group
-Brought in props
-Brought in a book
-Looked at different types of staging in which was new to me.
-Looked at key themes in the play
-Activity to show these themes

Thursday:
-Continued developing our play with Electra
-Showed Karen our work we did with Kirsty
-Choreography
-Watched a scene between Elle, Zac and Joe. (  this is the scene I come in later)




Creative Ideas:
The first idea I liked was the pose I created on Thursday. It was the my pose I did in the scene with Abi, where we were devising some chorus movement around her. I liked it because it showed how I was doing something different when Karen said to show how we are offering Electra more. I decided to move outwards to enhance to the audience instead of everyone going in to her.

The second creative idea I had this week was during movement with Kirsty and it was how I walked across in a certain way mirroring Reece. We were all asked to get in a sort of journalistic pose or show that we are taking notes on the incident happening with the murder in the bath, committed by Clytemnestra. I thought it would be a good idea to walk in front of the two lovers as me and Reece were the only ones that did this but it gave it a nice detail. Whilst we both walked in front of them we put a hand to our face to imply we were whispering about them.

There were a lot of creative moments this week coming from everyone.

Development:
We developed a chorus part, where we all witness Clytemnestra kill her husband (Electra's father). This was during movement with Kirsty. We started this the week before half term in the follow up to our Greek project. We added a journalistic pose or action (as described above) and we also got up to the point of witnessing the murder and all bunching together as a group and leaning over one another to watch the murder. I quite like this idea as it brings all the focus to the murder and higlights one of the key themes in the play (murder).


Devising: We started devising a scene where Electra is played by abi. In this scene we started working with the chorus and thinking about placement. We all start by walking into drum beats which I quite like because it brings a really nice idea of tension that fits brilliantly with the scene. We all end up round the bath as if it is representing a grave which will be used for more than one scene, with Joe lying as the body for a long time. The chorus is there in disguise as if we are pretending to pay our respects but really we are just nosy journalist looking for a new scoop and headline. I think now we are putting together the piece, Karen's journalist theme is really starting to look effective, and I can see every one is enjoying the characteristics of these roles.

Continuing research findings: 

I have found some interesting facts about slaves during the Grecian times. For example I found out that the majority of citizens in Athens owned at least one slave. In those times they considered slavery natural and necessary.

A quote from Wikipedia said '. Thucydides recalls that 7,000 inhabitants of Hyccara in Sicily were taken prisoner by Nicias and sold for 120 talents in the neighboring village of Catania. Likewise in 348 BC the population of Olynthus was reduced to slavery, as was that of Thebes in 335 BC by Alexander the Great and that of Mantineia by the Achaean League.' 
This could help me decided where my slave originated from and how/why she became to be a slave.


Input into the scene: I have put in some creative ideas for example the ideas I wrote about in my creative ideas section. Although I have also put in input to other group activities this week for example, on Wednesday we were asked to do an activity in groups of five or six, and asked to read out words with different dynamics. The dynamics we used were whispering and shouting, and putting different energies into different words leading to a different outcome every time. I quite liked the use of stamping whilst words were being said, I believed it to be dramatic and simply brilliant. So I thought of using this into our activity and it worked really well.

Strengths and weaknesses: I always find the week after half term hard to focus, on the other hand, I get more excited about doing it because I haven't been doing it for a week. I am really enjoying being in the chorus at the moment because I love the characteristics and energy of the journalists, I think they can be nosy annoying and full of energy and I just love playing out that energy. I think it is a strength when you are enjoying something as when you enjoy it, you seem to put more effort in to it and it looks believable in the scene.

A weakness this week is that the buses have been a little bit slow and I haven't been on time every day which lead to me missing the first few minutes of class. Another weakness this week was that I hadn't handed in an essay that I had done, but felt it wasn't at any standard to hand in. After talking to Karen I now understand that some work is better than no work.


Teamwork: Teamwork was used a lot for our activities and workshops during our lessons. We were put into groups a lot and were asked to experiment with certain types of staging, certain pieces from the script, to start thinking of devising a certain movement for a scene in our play, or to work together as chorus and to use each other to bring our characters alive. I like how we all feel comfortable with each other now, and this leads to better acting when it comes to working with each other.

Problems and solutions:
A problem this week was how I hadn't handed in my essay, though the solution was that Karen was kind enough to give me an extension, so I could improve on the things I wasn't comfortable with. Work is better than no work. Another problem was how the buses were being a pain this week, but a solution is how I am getting up earlier next week to get in on time.

New learning and self-reflection: This week I learnt about staging that I didn't have a clue about, I learnt some new names of different stagings, for example the thrust, the proscenium arch, the round, and the traverse. All in which we explored during some activities. I also learnt some more interesting things about others in voice this week with Karen for example of how some of us don't actually like our voices, or what techniques we can do to improve the things we dislike about them. I think I am quite nasally, but it could be due to the fact I had a clod this week, but Karen suggested a technique to help loosen the nasal cavity.

Aims for the week:
To try and hand work in on time.
If I have an idea put it across.
If i'm worried about something just talk to someone.
To be on time

Week One 'Greek Tragedy'

GREEK TRAGEDY!

This week we started workshops for our next piece of drama, which fits under the theme 'Greek tragedy'. First we were all asked to stand in our groups in which we thought we interrelated to. I thought I would be with Electra and Orestes 4 who I have a scene with, but I was quite rightly corrected in the sense that actually I was on my own. I was on my own for a number of reasons, but an example was that I was not a local I was from somewhere different. The play doesn't actually tell me where she is from but after research I have decided to work on the fact that she was found by Helen on her journey to Troy and was taken back with her to work for her. At least I will work with that for now. I will include this in my character profile project. We were then being put into groups that went together in the play. For example I was cast as the slave who looks after Helen's and Menelaos' baby, and so I was put with the people who were playing these parts as well as a chorus member (journalist). We were asked to put each other into statue like poses which we thought would represent our character.

My poses were a lot less status than most characters as I am playing someone with no importance to the time, and so I tried showing this with levels.

The first picture shows me looking down with little grace as I wanted to show how I was the slave and was below most of the characters. So I put my head down and seemed like I had no place and was not confident. My character is not confident in a way as she is far away from her home, and her family.

 The second pose shows a sense of curiosity. I wanted to try and show curiosity as my character seems to be un important but is always there and is always seeing things. So though she may not supposed to be curious or looking around. I think it shows how she see's everything goes on between the lines.

I thought this character would be made of tin, as it isn't a valuable or elegant metal but holds just the right strength a slave needs.

An interesting part of this first week that I enjoyed most was the activity we did with chairs called chair objectives. We were put into groups again which related to our characters. I was with Helen and Menelaos, and we got asked to do an interesting activity with the chairs that I had never done before. We were asked to think of a theme each. Mine was guidance, Helen's was Seduce and Menelaos' was deny. We did a routine which showed how Menelaos was going to take Helen back from troy to sentence her to her death, but couldn't go through with it as he fell in love with her again. We fitted the character of the slave into this movement by using the idea of guidance towards Helen as if I was advising her or sticking with her while she was trying to seduce Menelaos.

Here is a picture of what other peoples themes were:

We started to look at some movement within the chorus with Kirsty. We were put into groups and given some specific lines to look at (choreography wise). We also started looking at blocking a scene with Electra and Tyndareus who is the main journalist and so has the trust of the chorus who are (journalists). I play the chorus when I am not my given character as does everyone so we all got involved and put our points across. I didn't really give a lot across this time as I was quite interested with how others were explaining there own ideas. Karen said something that really got my attention when she said how 'If you sense it, do it, because that's what the audience wants you to do, but if you don't it will look forced'. I feel this little bit of advise might help a lot with the blocking of the script.

Blog Two additions

Blog Two additions:

Includes what I had specifically contributed to the work this week:

During this week the actual groups energy was becoming a little bit more positive and exciting as we were coming up with more unique and creative ideas, and also ideas to develop what we already had. Although I must be honest and was still a bit hesitant of putting ideas forward I contributed to the idea of the dream as I choreographed a smooth and mellow energy dance to a piece of music composed by Zac. This helped bring the dream theme to life as it was very angelic and peaceful to the audience and contrasted with some of the more serious but important scenes for example the puppets, which looked brilliant but the atmosphere was tense, though it was definitely supposed to be at this point. I also sparked some ideas towards the group like the use of 'bread' which I was inspired by from the painting, but that idea didn't really go anywhere, as we couldn't really come up with an idea to include this. I also contributed the idea of changing the name from Christina to Anna as I thought personally it should be different from the other group, but also Anna is her first name in real life, the painting was based on her middle name. 
Since I wasn't here when they first created 'The Puppet Scene' and 'The Chair Scene' I was always needed to check for timing, focus and facial expression. By making the same focus point for everyone in the chair scene it looked a lot better and effective in the scene it looked slick towards the audience. The timing had always been quite tricky in the chair scene so our idea was to put in a drum beat to keep it in time. This also helped develop the piece and so I did this until we thought it was slick enough. We were not going to actually put the drum in it was just to help get timing right but we did a team vote as some of us did not want the drum in although the majority of us did. I started with four beats to count in everyone. No one could see me so it was all about concentration from everyone, and we all needed to be aware in the final performance.

This was not only my idea, and I don't wan't to take all the credit, but I did contribute in developing someones original idea of using boxes, in the dance scene between Paige and Zac. We had the idea of banging on the boxes to create a tense atmosphere but also because it looked and sounded effective with four of us (Me, Charlotte, Abbi and Elle) doing it together  We experimented with different ideas for example, tapping, knocking, thumping. Each sounding a little different. The first sound we did was a banging sound which sounded like a heart beat and so added a lot of feeling to the piece. I certainly felt by hearing the heart beat like noise whilst watching the dance, it made me feel like it was my own heart, and so I thought this was a strong piece of drama to put across. The second noise had to go with the idea of dead weight which we used to represent with a more delayed bang, which could make you feel a bit sympathetic towards Anna. The last was more gentle and relaxed and so we used a small tapping of the fingers which gradually got faster and faster. We came to the decision to use these by trying out different methods and picking the ones we felt were more appropriate.

The picture below shows Reece and Joe during 'Duality' they mirror each other whilst one is good and one is evil. Anna is based in the middle and E and G are either side this show a  similarity to the picture below which shows an angel and a devil. It often shows right and wrong or like they are named 'Good' and 'Evil'. This seemed effective as they both have their own characters and I thought it would be good if everyone had their own characters so the following week we decided to make sure this was the case.

Blog one additions

Blog One additions:
Includes more strengths and weaknesses:

During the first week, it took me a little while to get to grips with the task as I had come in, right at the very last chance. A weakness to or group was no ones fault, but I was apprehensive of putting my ideas across since I didn't want to interfere with something I hadn't fully understood yet. A strength however was that I was lucky enough to have lovely people in my group who would help explain what they had already done 'The Chair Scene' 'The Puppets' and try and show why they have put specific things in. At this point it was quite fresh and hadn't been developed and so a lot of work needed to be done to it. My group explained how they wanted to bring to life her emotions some how and by using puppets it shows bodily restrictions. The energy in the group at this point was a little bit mellow and maybe was lacking ideas.

 I think it may have been a bit challenging to create ideas at first but the more we took it apart the more ideas we came up with. I liked the idea of having the exhaustion energy as it is quite powerful but we left this for a while. We then re visited this idea and used it to develop 'The Finish Line' This energy helped show the struggle in Anna's emotions, and everyone around her looked exhausted and also sounded exhausted. We did this by creating dead weight movements and using our bodies to look heavy and tired. The sounds we made to represent this emotion was created by using different dynamics in our breathing, for example, some of us were breathing loud, or quick, or even gasping for air to show not only exhaustion but a real fight. Another piece of this emotion came after the struggle where everything slowed right down, as normally after a fight against something, causes exhaustion. 

A strength in the second week (my first week) would be how it was still quite a fresh topic and everyone was eager to get on with it so a lot more effort was being put in than it was during the middle of the project. I have to be honest I found it harder in the middle than I did any other time. I felt the most relaxed and happy with our project during the end as it seemed to piece together nicely with the lights, I had contributed a lot more by this time and I was more comfortable with expressing my thoughts to the rest of the group.