Rehearsal log for Antigone

Thursday 10^th April

During this lesson we started off with a group warm up. This warm up included breathing exercises and vocal warm ups in order to ensure that our voices were ready to perform. Another exercise that we all individually took part in included working independently to picture ourselves as certain characters from the play Antigone, while our teacher gave us different scenarios. One of these included being Antigone and having to go out during the night to bury Polyneices in secret, while still making sure we were not caught. I believe this exercise helped me personally because as I am Antigone in my scene currently, it enabled me to picture my same character just in a different scenario. This developed my character understanding as I was able to see how strong willed my character was and how she wasn’t ready to let anyone step in the way of what she believed in.

We then later moved on to getting together with our groups. During this time we were able to clarify what our plan was for people in our group that were absent before, during this time and we talked in more depth about how we were planning on cooperating multimedia with our piece. We decided that for our multimedia (video clip), we would have Antigone switch the TV on just before Creon is about to perform his speech and after he has explained that he will not give Polyneices a proper burial, the reporter will then ask him 4 – 5 questions based on his decisions and why he has made them. We decided to have Creon pre record his speech while having the reporter ask him questions live in order to engage the audience more as we believed that having one of the two live, will give the audience more of a sensation that they too are also there currently in the moment with the characters. Once the reporter finishes his questions, we thought of having Creon walk off to the right of the screen in the video but then proceeds walking as him himself live coming around the corner as he walks through the audience and the reporter flashes lights while asking for  pictures of Creon.

I believe this piece of multimedia will help tell the story as it has been modernised for the audience to understand. By choosing to change some of the vocabulary to a more modernised version, it will help engage the audience more as they will feel more comfortable in the aspect that the language is very familiar to them. I think that if we decided to keep the language the same as it is in the script, the audience would be more confused and would find it harder to engage, as the language isn’t the same to what they use now making it seem un familiar.  This multimedia will affect the audience in a way that will also make them curios because even though some theatres do, not the majority of theatres perform using multimedia in the way we have chosen to. By using videos pre recorded and mixing that with live feed, it gives the audience a chance to view theatre through a different perspective that they might not have before. I believe that the use of multimedia will build a type of curiosity within the audience and make them see things through a different analytical perspective.

Set Design

 

 

·         Theatre set in park

·         Set in the nature to represent that no matter what period of time, nature  one of the only things we all recognise that still almost always look similar

·         Theatre surrounded with props such as birds and trees to make theatre seem more alive

·         Seats for audience made with three trunks

·         Black stage to representing the darkness of tragedy within the play

·         Ceiling set in the sky with stars

·         Stage positioned as an arena stage; round theatre for all audience to see

·         Scenes of Antigone recorded around the play so that audience s can still be reminded of the original play set in Greek times

Multimedia

Monday 1^st April

During this lesson we got into our groups and thought of ways in which we could each create our scenes and bring them to life with the use of multi media. My scene is the opening and begins with Creon announcing that Polyneices will not be buried and Antigone being furious, instantly goes to warn her sister on his plans.

One of the first problems we first faced when being given this scene, was that we had 4 people in our group but only three in our scene (Creon,Ismene and Antigone). After discussing ways in which we could include the whole group, we decided to have one member of our group as one of the reporters at the scene when Creon is announcing that Polyneices will not be buried.

In terms of how we have roughly decided to plan out our scene we have based the whole scene in the reception where the audience will be first waiting for the play to start...

P L A N

·         Antigone runs out from the library shouting and calling for Ismene

·         Ismene squeezes through the crowd to meet Antigone at the staircase

·         Both sisters discuss for a while but the audience have no idea what they are talking about

·         Multimedia is introduced when both sisters go towards the tv and turn it on

·         The reporter will be to the side of the audience looking towards the tv to Creon as if they are both on the scene but really only Creon is

·         Creons speech will be pre- recorded on the TV and reporters’ questions will be asked live

·         After speech is finished Antigone turns tv off and tells Ismene she has a plan and they lead on to the next scene

Context Homework - 26th March 2015

Which scene did you work on?

During this lesson my group and I chose to work on the scene which included Creon finding out Antigone was to bury her brother once he had already refused.

What did you think of the style of the writing?

The style of the writing within the scene was very direct and the two characters of Antigone and Creon were not scared to confront the other about their views and how they felt towards this situation. They didn’t sugar coat their vocabulary to in order for it to be taken in a more polite manner.

These are two examples...  

 

How was this scene different to the other script used in the lesson?

This scene I personally believe was different in the aspect that there was a lot more of a response between the two characters. In the other script I believe that there is more dialogue between each character when speaking so not as many responses are made.

Did the language make the characters change?

I believe that the language of this particular scene made the characters seem very strong minded in a way that they weren’t afraid of the consequences no matter what they said. For example even though Antigone was a woman and she was speaking to a strong male leader, she still wasn’t in the slightest afraid to say what was on her mind exactly the way she felt without trying to be respectful. I believe this technique made the characters seem as if they had a lot more power than they might have in the actual play.

In groups you then created a version of Antigone focusing on setting it in a specific context. By doing this you had to focus on the use of the language in the piece.

What did your group create? /What characters were developed?

What was the setting?/How did you use language?

In my group when recreating the scene with Creon and Antigone, we decided to create the scene by having Atigone meeting with her sister Ismene and then explaining that they together should go to bury their brother Polynieces but Ismene denies. After two people overhear the conversation, they report it straight to Creon and Creon instantly sends for Antigone. By creating the scene in this way, it enabled us to add more characters rather than just the two characters of Antigone and Creon.

The scene was set in a cafeteria and then was moved into Creon’s palace/castle. In terms of language we decided to set the scene with the characters all coming from a very high class. This affected the way in which they spoke as their pronunciations were a lot more clear and precise. This also affected the language drastically because it meant that the characters had to speak in a more respectful way whereas in the script we used, the characters use of language was straight to the point.

 

two people in the scene realising Atigone is telling Ismene about her plan for the burial of her brother

Notes on other group performances...

Jamie’s group –

·         Set in school

·         Included synchronised speech

·         Very expressive characters physically

Michelle’s group-

·         Used multimedia e.g phones

·         Very creative

·         Expressed speech within a facebook group chat

Sherene’s group-

·         Language was a majority of slang vocabulary

·         Humourus

Cameron’s group-

·         Set in big brother house (tv series)

·         Effective as they expressed a narrative as the charcter of big brother

·         Characters went to big brother for advice

Thiago’s group-

·         Set in an American restaurant

·         Language very aggressive and direct (explicit)

Eric’s group-

·         Set in Milkshake bar

·         Boss (Creon) blames everything on Antigone

·         Humorous

 

 

 

 

Women in Greek Theatre

 

Q.  How were woman viewed in Greek Theatre?

• • Women seen but were not heard
  • Weren’t seen as that high of importance
  • Performances written by men, seen by men and performed by men
  • Women were an “underclass”
  • However In the stories such as Antigone women would have extreme power
  • Important in the sense that they created children
  • For Athenian unless you were white and over 30 or were of high class then you didn’t have a voice. This was the same way in how women were always perceived.
  • Theatre made men think about what they were doing to women by treating them as if they didn’t hold the equal qualities as everybody else

  Source

Cultural Context

·    What were the performance conventions in Sophocles' time?

The performance conventions in Sophocles' time included stages that didn't have much technology at all as society hadn't been as developed. However one of the only type of technology they did mange do add into their performances included cranes. These were used in performances so that performers were able to float up from the stage especially when they were rein-acting the character of one of their Gods.
 

·   What were the trends or fashions within the performing arts?

In terms of fashion trends within the performing arts, performers would usually wear wooden shoes that didn’t indicate left or right. These shoes would also usually have quite high platforms so that the audience were able to see them from a far distance. Another thing performers also wore in terms on costumes include...

· chiton (robe or tunic)

· chlaina (overgarment)

· chlamys (short cloak)

· himation (overgarment)

· peplos (cloak).

Exploring the text

 

We explored two scenes:

Antigone and Ismene

· What did we focus on when exploring this scene?

We focused on the scene when Antigone and Ismene were debating the case of burying their brother Polynieces.

· How did you explore the characters practically?

We looked at the dialogue practically by getting into partners and each running through the script as either Antigone or Ismene.

· What did you discover about the relationship between the sisters?

We noticed that in the relationship between Ismene and Antigone, they are both very strong minded people and whatever they say they will stick to. By this I mean that Esmene is a person to think more with her head and follow the law whereas Antigone is a person to think with her heart and do what she thinks is right.

· How did this scene link to some of the information you discovered in the session about the historical context?

It linked to the information of historical context because the scene demonstrates how important the law was to some people. For example Ismene was still certain that see would not go against their leader Creon, even if it meant not paying that respect to her own brother by burying him correctly.

Antigone and Creon

· What did we focus on when exploring this scene?

In this scene we looked at the moment when Creon is extremely angry with Antigone as he finds out she is planning on burying her brother.

· How did you explore the characters practically?

We explored the characters practically, by getting into partners (preferably boy & girl) and each playing the part of either Antigone or Creon.

· What did you discover about the relationship between the characters?

I noticed that Creon very much looked down on Antigone because she was 1.Going against his rules 2. a woman and 3.not of the hierarchy. I believe the fact that as a woman she was standing up against a strong man leader, shocked him most and disgusted him even more because no one had ever really dared to against his character let alone a woman

· How did this scene link to some of the information you discovered in the session about the historical context?

This linked to the lesson on historical context because I was able to understand more in depth that in terms of Antigone’s character, in society she was doing what a woman was meant to do. Other than the fact that she was going against Creon’s rules, Athians strongly believed that it was important for women to make sure their family members were buried correctly to pay respect for the dead and that is exactly what her character did.