In today's lesson we ran from the beginning of the play itself (so not the prologue) up to page 51. As the performance date is looming, we are desperately trying to run through as much of the script as we can each lesson. We are trying to do full runs in lessons, and spend time outside of lessons to go over sections that only involve a few people - this is to ensure we are spending our time wisely and will achieve everything in plenty of time. Whilst going through the play, we stopped at whenever we were unsure of why certain characters said certain things, and also to go over any parts of the blocking we were unsure on.
On page 23, we discussed why Charrington called "The Diary" a "Keepsake album". We decided this was because it is less illegal to keep a "Keepsake album" than an actual diary. We stopped again on page 24 as the section when Winston faints didn't look very realistic. The problem with this section was that everyone was waiting for the previous person to finish their line before they began theirs. This would not happen in a real life situation - everyone would end up talking over each other because they would be panicking and/or rushing. Therefore we decided to run this a couple of times overlapping the lines more each time.
On page 29, when we all go back to Book Club (apart from Winston and O'Brien), we shall all sit down and then freeze. Winston and O'Brien are the only characters that are not frozen at this point. O'Brien can move freely about the Book Club people and can even look at them if he chooses (almost as if we frozen Book Club people are people that O'Brien has interrogated and are becoming unpersoned).
On page 40, when Rhiannon says "We're not dead yet", Rhiannon and Robert kneel on the floor facing each other. Rhiannon takes Rob's hand and places it on her hand, neck, head, leg then cheek (as she tries to reassure him that she is real). The purpose of this was to make this scene more intimate. Rhiannon is now acting this section in a more hopeful manner, as opposed to her previous sarcastic style. We needed to make it clear that Winston and Julia are in a relationship so the play makes sense later on. We also decided on page 42, that when Julia says "We are the dead" it is her equivalent of saying "I love you" - as she has basically said that their relationship is worth dying for.
On page 44, when Rob has his break down, he will end on the floor to show that he has completely lost the plot, and this lower level makes him look more vulnerable. On page 45, Rob is taken aback by Julia's comment "[my grandfather] was unpersoned when I was eight". This is because Winston's job is to unperson people.
On page 50, Syme is not in the canteen scene, assumedly because he has been unpersoned. Kat and James go into slow motion on James' line "I mean, there is a war on". This is to show that for Winston time has slowed down as everything has become confused in his mind. Also, this ensures that the audience will be focussing on the action between Winston and O'Brien.
On page 51, when characters move their chairs from the canteen to the Book Club, Lewis will come in and pick up what was his chair, and he shall look at Robert as he looks at him. This would show that Syme is still alive in Winston's mind and still exists.
Next lesson, we shall film all of the parts that need to go on the projection, and record any voice overs.
