In this lesson we split into two groups to make a prologue each for the opening of "1984". I was in a group with Hope, Charlie, Lewis and Oliver. We discussed technology and the potential it has to take over our lives. We then spoke about the idea of this "Big Brother" figure and how controlling he is. Charlie and I then mentioned the musical "We Will Rock You" (as we have been in a version of this together) and likened the Proles in "1984" to the "Ga-Ga Kids". The "Ga-Ga Kids" are pretty much clones and do the exact same things, have the exact same opinions and listen to the exact same music. We then thought of having four of us waking up and doing the exact same things, whilst one of us played the Big Brother who looked over us all. Hope took on the role of Big Brother, whilst the rest of us were Proles. We decided that Hope could wear a mask to make her more mysterious and show that she is not a person but is instead a concept. The idea of masks then made Charlie think of the hacking group "Anonymous". Therefore, we decided to use one of their videos that introduces who they are for our piece.
We put four chairs adjacent to each other with a gap in between. We put another chair opposite our own chairs to form a bed each. We performed a series of movements in unison to show that we are uniformed and move as one - under the organisation, we are clones. Charlie and I then broke the pattern by running forwards as if we are going to make a change. However, I was then pulled back by Oliver and "cured" by a simple stare, whilst Charlie was "visited" by Big Brother. Charlie was then lifted by Oliver, Lewis and I to show the power of Big Brother. Whilst he was in the air, Hope walked beneath him and put a mask on him (but the audience could not see this). Therefore, when he was put down and spun round to face the front, the mask was a bit of a surprise to the audience.
Both groups then performed to each other. The other group kept the same music from the prologue we made as a group, and had fairly similar ideas to our group. The majority of their movements were in unison and there was one person (James) who tried to escape but was "cured" by the end of their piece. I liked their piece as it was more dynamic and aggressive with their movements. Next lesson, we shall work on trying to put the two prologues together to create one big prologue involving everybody.
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Contemporary Theatre (10) (Research)
The play "1984" is an adaption of the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell. The novel was published on 8th June 1949. The genres are dystopian, political fiction and social science fiction.The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain) and is about everything being controlled by the "Inner Party" (that make up 2% of the population) who have banned individualism and classed individual thinking as a "thoughtcrime". The "Inner Party" work for Big Brother, the leader who may or may not even exist, who enjoys this extreme cult of personality. Telescreens and secret microphones are in every building so the "thought police" can identify anyone who goes against the Party's regulations.
Winston (the protagonist in the novel) works for the "Ministry of Truth", who alter history records and photographs to fit with what Big Brother wants. Winston hates the organisation and becomes obsessed with finding out the actual truth. He begins writing a journal against Big Brother - if the "thought police" find out then Winston will be punished with certain death. He then falls in love with Julia (who also works for the ministry), a woman he had previously loathed until he found out she shares his hatred for Big Brother and passion to find out the truth.
Winston and Julia are approached by O'Brien (a member of the "Inner Party" who they believe is part of an underground secret service who intend on destroying the party "Brotherhood"). Winston and Julia swear allegiance to this group. Later, O'Brien sends Winston "The Book" which explains the meaning of perpetual war and the true meaning of the following slogans: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. "The Book" also explain how the party can be overthrown.
The "thought police" later arrive at their flat and send Winston and Julia to be interrogated. They are tortured and sent to Room 101 to be cured. They are later released and meet each other in a park. They reveal that they betrayed each other. Oceania celebrates its "decisive victory" over Eurasian armies in Africa. The novel ends with Winston looking in admiration at a portrait of Big Brother.
Contemporary Theatre (9) (Scene)
In this lesson we were split into groups again and were given another section of the script. This time, the four of us girls formed one group. Our scene was the "morning song" that the women of Troy sing. We kept to the same characters as we have so far (Kat played Polyxena, Rhiannon played Andromache, Hope played Cassandra and I played Hecuba). We read through the script first to understand what the song was about. We realised that this song leads into the section of script that we did before in our group of four. We decided that we would perform this scene in an abstract style as we couldn't see how we could do this naturally.
We decided we would have three chairs adjacent to each other on stage to begin with, however, the middle chair would face the back. When Hope brought on her chair when her character enters, she put her chair to face the back as well. Rhiannon and Kat's chairs faced the audience as their characters were relatable, whilst mine and Hope's chairs faced the back to show that they are not mentally sound (as Hecuba constantly speaks of her dreams and Cassandra states that "he is always here"). We started away from our chairs and walked to them and sat down on our first lines. Whenever Polyxena and Cassandra had dialogue between them we would lean forwards or back to allow them to talk across me.
As well as using our heads and leaning, we created levels by standing on the chairs when appropriate. For example, when I said "the temple steps are 91" I stood on my chair and remained standing when my character speaks about the view, and then I sat down.
The feedback we got after performing this piece was that the class liked it when we stood on the chairs. They thought that the section when Andromache speaks about being pushed in the water was clever. For this section, Rhiannon stood on her chair and on the word "push" I leaned back and Kat leaned forwards (so we both leaned towards the audience) and Rhiannon then jumped off the chair.
After watching the other group perform, we discussed what we thought about "After Troy". Although we liked our prologue and liked little sections of the script that we performed, we thought that the play itself didn't really work for us and thought it was a little bit boring (as some of us find the language difficult to understand) and we can't really connect to it). Therefore, we began discussing other plays as a group and our teacher came up with "1984". None of us had ever heard of it before so we watched two trailers for it and instantly liked it. We could connect to it as it involved technology and we all liked the atmosphere created by the trailers. We found out that the play is about "big brother" always watching you and that personal thoughts are not allowed. We shall do some research on this play and see what we all think of it.
We decided we would have three chairs adjacent to each other on stage to begin with, however, the middle chair would face the back. When Hope brought on her chair when her character enters, she put her chair to face the back as well. Rhiannon and Kat's chairs faced the audience as their characters were relatable, whilst mine and Hope's chairs faced the back to show that they are not mentally sound (as Hecuba constantly speaks of her dreams and Cassandra states that "he is always here"). We started away from our chairs and walked to them and sat down on our first lines. Whenever Polyxena and Cassandra had dialogue between them we would lean forwards or back to allow them to talk across me.
As well as using our heads and leaning, we created levels by standing on the chairs when appropriate. For example, when I said "the temple steps are 91" I stood on my chair and remained standing when my character speaks about the view, and then I sat down.
The feedback we got after performing this piece was that the class liked it when we stood on the chairs. They thought that the section when Andromache speaks about being pushed in the water was clever. For this section, Rhiannon stood on her chair and on the word "push" I leaned back and Kat leaned forwards (so we both leaned towards the audience) and Rhiannon then jumped off the chair.
After watching the other group perform, we discussed what we thought about "After Troy". Although we liked our prologue and liked little sections of the script that we performed, we thought that the play itself didn't really work for us and thought it was a little bit boring (as some of us find the language difficult to understand) and we can't really connect to it). Therefore, we began discussing other plays as a group and our teacher came up with "1984". None of us had ever heard of it before so we watched two trailers for it and instantly liked it. We could connect to it as it involved technology and we all liked the atmosphere created by the trailers. We found out that the play is about "big brother" always watching you and that personal thoughts are not allowed. We shall do some research on this play and see what we all think of it.
Wednesday, 4 May 2016
The Healthy Performer (9) (Leaflet - "What's in the body?")
On my leaflet, I decided to break the information down into three sections: joints, muscles and bones. I decided to do this as they are the three main structures that primarily allow the body to move.
On my joint page, I gave a general point about joints (the importance of them) and three examples of joints that I think are most important to dancers (hips, ankles and shoulders). I also decided to write about when people crack their joints, as many people argue over whether you should or not. I found this section quite interesting as I click my own joints and often get told by my mum that I shouldn't as it will cause arthritis.
On my muscles page I wrote about the dancers core, arms, legs, and hips & gluteal muscles. I put the information and diagram of the core at the top of the page as it is extremely important to dancers. I then put the information on arms and the information on legs next to each other as they are both limbs. I then put the hips and gluteal muscles at the bottom as they are the foundation of turnout .
At the top of my bones page, I wrote a general paragraph describing what the bones do. I did this because not many people know that the bones are used as storage as well, and they may find this quite interesting. I then wrote about the spine and the pelvis as these two structures are very important in dance, as well as everyday living. At the bottom I wrote a small section on the general health of dancers, and the effect that malnourishment can have on the bones.
Monday, 2 May 2016
"Dr Faustus" - Marlowe (5) (Script - first look)
In this lesson, we received our script. It is an adapted version by Cristin McAuley and Kyle Anderson. The cast list was then revealed (in order of appearance):
as Faustus and Mephistopheles).
After reading through the script in its entirety, we discussed what we thought about it. I really like the script and am looking forward to getting to work with it. I think the physical theatre approach to it will be really interesting and effective. We aim to have everyone on stage the whole time (where possible), and would like the chorus to be watching the action at all times.
We discussed having the chorus in all black - but I think instead of black joggers and a black top, we should add layers of black drapes of material (for example, I could wear a black leotard, black tights, black jazz shoes, a black lop-sided skirt, a black flowy cardigan and black material tied into my hair hanging down). I think by having the chorus in all black, we would be showing unity and would not distract the audience. Also, by having the costumes quite baggy and untidy we could represent confusion and lost souls. Ollie suggested that the chorus could hold electronic tea-lights that they turn on and whenever they speak. This could create a sinister feel and foreshadow the events to come.
Next lesson, we will hopefully adapt the script where we need to (to enable this piece to work for us) so we can begin working on it!
- CHORUS = anyone who's not a named character at this point
- FAUSTUS = Oliver Kelly
- MURDOCK = James Borg-Clancy
- GOOD ANGEL = Lorna Clark
- EVIL ANGEL = Charlie Sanderson
- VALDES = Lewis Fisher
- CORNELIUS = Robert Andrew
- MEPHISTOPHELES = Rhiannon David
- LUCIFER = Lewis Fisher
- SCHOLAR = Charlie Sanderson
as Faustus and Mephistopheles).
After reading through the script in its entirety, we discussed what we thought about it. I really like the script and am looking forward to getting to work with it. I think the physical theatre approach to it will be really interesting and effective. We aim to have everyone on stage the whole time (where possible), and would like the chorus to be watching the action at all times.
Next lesson, we will hopefully adapt the script where we need to (to enable this piece to work for us) so we can begin working on it!
Contemporary Theatre (8) (Prologue)
At the beginning of this lesson we all agreed on where and when we were going to set our version of "After Troy". We decided we wanted to set our piece in modern day in an abandoned underground station. We liked the idea of having our piece set in modern day as it makes the audience feel slightly more connected (rather than having the whole piece set in ancient Greece). However, so the audience understands where our piece was supposed to be set (to make the characters names make sense), we will have Greek graffiti on our set. The abandoned underground setting causes an uncomfortable and eerie atmosphere.
Once we made these decisions, we thought we would create our own physical theatre prologue. The idea of this was to help the audience understand what has happened prior to the beginning of the play (to give them a bit of background knowledge) as well as to show the contrast between men and women at this time, and to create atmosphere. To make our prologue modern and to create the right atmosphere, we decided to us "Nightmare" by "Avenged Sevenfold". We liked the contrast between the eerie introduction and the aggressive song itself.
On the introduction, we decided to have Hope, Kat and I walk on holding our babies (rolled up sheet). This showed the women as caring and supportive. However, the fact that there was just three of us and the music foreshadows something bad is going to happen to the women and children, the introduction suggests that the women are very vulnerable.
When the drums come in, the boys enter. On the first drum fill, two of the boys run over to Kat, pull the sheet out of her arms and open it. Kat then drops to her knees reaching towards the sheet. The purpose of this section is to show that the women had to watch their children be murdered in front of them. This section happens twice more - first to me (on the second drum fill) and then to Hope (on the third drum fill).
Afterwards, the three of us run in to the sheet and try to get through it, but are forced back. The idea of this was to show that the women have no way of escaping and have now been captured. We then have different lifts in these small groups to show that the women were man-handled and were given no respect. It also showed how strong and powerful the men were. Charlie then brings Rhiannon on by her hair. He goes to offer her a drink (as he feels bad for her), but is scowled at by another officer and then drinks the drink in front of her (as he is under pressure). The purpose of this was to show that regardless of how the men may have actually felt, they were given orders to follow.
All the while, Lewis and James have broken off to the back and are destroying the set (tearing paper of the wall, moving blocks by throwing them to the floor, etc.) to show the destruction and violence at the time. We are then left with three sets of partners: Ollie and Kat, Oliver and Hope, Robert and I. In these pairs, we show the three different types of abuse that women received: mental (Ollie and Kat), physical (Oliver and Hope) and sexual (Robert and I). We show this through short movement pieces. We decided not to perform these at the same time, because otherwise the audience would not know where to look and thus would not understand our intentions. Therefore, we performed these sections one at a time and ended our section on a freeze frame that made it clear what the abuse was (purely by looking at the freeze frame itself).
Next lesson, we shall continue developing our prologue, and add Rhiannon into it (as she wasn't in this lesson).
Once we made these decisions, we thought we would create our own physical theatre prologue. The idea of this was to help the audience understand what has happened prior to the beginning of the play (to give them a bit of background knowledge) as well as to show the contrast between men and women at this time, and to create atmosphere. To make our prologue modern and to create the right atmosphere, we decided to us "Nightmare" by "Avenged Sevenfold". We liked the contrast between the eerie introduction and the aggressive song itself.
On the introduction, we decided to have Hope, Kat and I walk on holding our babies (rolled up sheet). This showed the women as caring and supportive. However, the fact that there was just three of us and the music foreshadows something bad is going to happen to the women and children, the introduction suggests that the women are very vulnerable.
When the drums come in, the boys enter. On the first drum fill, two of the boys run over to Kat, pull the sheet out of her arms and open it. Kat then drops to her knees reaching towards the sheet. The purpose of this section is to show that the women had to watch their children be murdered in front of them. This section happens twice more - first to me (on the second drum fill) and then to Hope (on the third drum fill).
Afterwards, the three of us run in to the sheet and try to get through it, but are forced back. The idea of this was to show that the women have no way of escaping and have now been captured. We then have different lifts in these small groups to show that the women were man-handled and were given no respect. It also showed how strong and powerful the men were. Charlie then brings Rhiannon on by her hair. He goes to offer her a drink (as he feels bad for her), but is scowled at by another officer and then drinks the drink in front of her (as he is under pressure). The purpose of this was to show that regardless of how the men may have actually felt, they were given orders to follow.
All the while, Lewis and James have broken off to the back and are destroying the set (tearing paper of the wall, moving blocks by throwing them to the floor, etc.) to show the destruction and violence at the time. We are then left with three sets of partners: Ollie and Kat, Oliver and Hope, Robert and I. In these pairs, we show the three different types of abuse that women received: mental (Ollie and Kat), physical (Oliver and Hope) and sexual (Robert and I). We show this through short movement pieces. We decided not to perform these at the same time, because otherwise the audience would not know where to look and thus would not understand our intentions. Therefore, we performed these sections one at a time and ended our section on a freeze frame that made it clear what the abuse was (purely by looking at the freeze frame itself).
Next lesson, we shall continue developing our prologue, and add Rhiannon into it (as she wasn't in this lesson).
Sunday, 1 May 2016
Contemporary Theatre (7) (Pictures for inspiration)
In this lesson, we decided to find some pictures to inspire us and to help us make decisions on where and when we will set our version of "After Troy". We couldn't really continue with our piece until we've made these decisions, otherwise we wouldn't how to stage our piece.
- An Abandoned underground station. We thought this was an interesting idea for staging (instead of a cave in the script) as it makes the piece modern, whilst keeping to the unsettling atmosphere.
- "Game of Thrones" costumes. If we decided to set our piece in the past but not in Greece, then we could have worn this style of costume.
- Decayed London. We could set our piece in the future, or in a decayed city.
- "We Will Rock You" musical. Obviously "After Troy" is not a musical, but I liked the idea of a bohemian setting and bohemian costumes.
- World War 2. Lewis came up with images of World War Two to give ideas of costume for the men.
- Ancient Greece. We could have kept the piece in its original setting of Ancient Greece.
- "Love Never Dies". Another musical, but an example of old-fashioned costumes for men, women and children, as well as an idea for home living.
- Ancient Greece.
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