In today's lesson we carried on from where we left off.
At the top of page 33, when Hope says as Telescreen that "The Two Minutes Hate will begin in ten seconds", we all stand up and move to three lines facing front but looking up (at a projection of Hope). At this point we are all representing supporters of Big Brother. During Goldstein's line, he appears on the projection - at this point we all start shouting at the projection of him speaking. We decided to have Ollie recorded and appear on the projection to show the audience what we are watching and then the projection would represent the telescreen. Also, by having Ollie recorded it meant that we could turn the volume of his voice up to ensure he is still heard over our shouting. Our first thought was to shout any insults or angry phrases as the projection, but then we decided to shout the three Party slogans in random orders. Kat and James suggested that front line could keep repeating one phrase, the second line another phrase, and the back line another phrase. However, although this would ensure that the audience could hear everything clearly, it didn't create a chaotic enough atmosphere, so we decided to all shout all the slogans in any orders.
When Winston begins speaking, everyone continues with the angry body language, but instead of actually shouting, we shall mime. This is so Rob can be heard and also to emphasise the fact that Winston is in his own little bubble of thought. However, when Rob says "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" four times, we begin shouting the slogans again on the second time he says his line but completely stop on the fourth time. The reason the shouting stops is because the Party supporters watch the shooting of a Thoughtcriminal. Once the Thoughtcriminal is shot, we all raise our hands in the air with our hands clenched into fists, and our wrists crossed to form an "X". This idea of the crossed arms was influenced by a short video clip of this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zYlOU7Fpk). We found this video as we wanted to see how they performed this "Two Minutes Hate" section, as we weren't sure on what it all was before. When the "klaxon sounds", the canteen scene is formed (by the characters in this scene moving their chairs and sitting in the same positions as the previous canteen scene), whilst the rest of us exit to the sides behind the curtains.
Charlie did a little bit of research into "Victory gin!" as we were not sure whilst the character of Martin kept repeating this. Charlie found out that "Victory" is a brand made by the Big Brother Party (and was not actually them celebrating with a drink) - as well as gin, the company also produced cigarettes. Although we are still not sure why Martin says this, at least we understand what "Victory gin" actually is.
On page 37, Julia's voice "seems to echo" according to the stage directions. Instead of recording Rhiannon's voice and trying to edit this, we decided to have the all of us girls say the line at the same time. This increases tension and forebodes that the relationship won't last and something terrible will happen. Having all of us girls saying this line symbolises the fact that Julia has gone through a similar fling with many other Party members - she is secretive.
On page 42, Julia leaves and as Winston turns around to see where she has just left, Charrington is standing in this spot. This is similar to how Charrington entered earlier when the child left. This makes the transition smooth and confuses the audience as they realise that the location has just changed again. Charlie and Robert will perform this scene exactly the same as how they performed the scene earlier in the play to show continuity and to give the audience a sense of Deja Vu.
On page 46, Mother seems to randomly appear and then disappears again. We had a discussion as to why we thought this was. We all agreed that Winston is just reminiscing of the time his mother used to sing to him, but we questioned as to why this was. We decided that as this happens between scenes with Julia, that Julia reminds Winston of his mother (as Julia sang to him in the previous scene, hence triggering the memory of his mother singing to him). I did not know what this song was, so I typed the lyrics into Google and just found it was a George Orwell quote. I then found a link to YouTube called "I an ipril dye" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=650wHSwip3U). I watched this video and found the tune to the lyrics in the script (starting at 0:58). Whilst trying to discover the meaning of this song, I found out that this is a song that Winston hears "a prole lady" sing while he waits for Julia at the antique shop. The phrase "a hopeless fancy" is used, perhaps suggesting that the idea of Winston and Julia loving and trusting each other won't last.
