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.