Rehearsal blog

My group- Ellis, Nina, Tim

Starting of today my group didn't really talk about what we want to do but throughout the lesson we've pieced together a scene that represents a murder case being examined. 
We've thought about lines and we are going to set it out, we've chosen characters and thought about emotions used 

This lesson we tried out some lines and picked out what fit together, We thought about humour and discussed if we could use multimedia effectively or would it take away from that piece, we decided it might so we would only do a short scene and not fit to much multimedia in because it would become overcrowded and the piece would get to long. 

Through rehearsal we have been adding onto it and making notes on how to make it better which makes us work as a team much better, although we don't agree on everything most of the time we enjoyed working on our piece because it was short and enjoyable. 

We performed our pieces to the year 11's i felt proud and quite happy because they enjoyed it and found it entertaining, they laughed at most points which what we wanted from the audience.  

Exploring the text

Exploring the text

Antigone and Ismene 

What did we focus on when exploring this scene?

We focused on the different sides of the two characters, Antigone the strong character that believes in family and peace and ismene who doesn't want to go against the laws and follows the kings orders. 

How did you explore the characters practically? 

We looked at he scene between Antigone and Ismene and read them, changing tone and posture to suit how we interpreted the scene and characters. 

What did you discover about the relationship between the sisters? 

I discovered the two sisters had an unbalanced relationship as you can clearly see they have very different characteristics and beliefs we can tell who is 'the bossy/demanding sister' and who doesn't break the rules. 

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

Antigone and Creon

What did we focus on when exploring this scene?

We focused on two different versions and how we interpret each of them also the differences and how the language has changed over time. We also looked at power and the anger shown in each character. 

How did you explore the characters practically? 

We got into pairs and each half of the class got given a different version of the scene we then went and read it , carrying on we started putting in emotions that we thought fitted best and any movement. After this some people performed each version and we compared the two.  

What did you discover about the relationship between the characters? 

-In version 1 i discovered the two characters both had there ideas on what is right set in there head, yet Creon seemed as he needed to be persuaded and told what Antigone thought was right. i also discovered that Creon ruled over Antigone in a certain way meaning he could look down on her. 

- In version 2 i could see Antigone's anger come out through the use of language and the words she used towards Creon showed fury, i could tell Creon didn't have much to say about his decision because his replies were weak. 

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

This linked to the historical context that we looked at because we learnt how in those times women were accepted they were frowned upon and looked at as useless, this is linked to there relationship because some would say this how Antigone is treated, as someone who has no right to talk over higher power or dictate what is to be done. 

Women in Greek theatre

Women in greek theatre 

How were women viewed in Greek Theatre? 

Greek women were restricted to living within a patriarchal society. Although some plays presented women as mere housewives, others put them in the position of political leaders, heroines, and murderers. The purpose of the female being staged in socially unconventional ways is to reinforce what will be defined as the 'ideal image'. A perfect wife, including having a good, social life, being cultural and fulfilling a lawful role. They were thought as inferior compared to men, they had no power as men felt they could do a better job. 

Misogyny is a recurring theme in Ancient Greece, and women were not only thought of as inferior and having a dangerous intention. They were expected to obey their husbands at all times ,however, in classical greek drama, there are instances where women would challenge men, society and politics.

Cultural context

Cultural context

• What were the performance conventions in Sophocles’ time? 

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

Social context of Antigone

Social Context 

• What do we mean by the social context?

People with a similar social context tend to experience what is called "social solidarity." They are more inclined to trust and help one another. The environment that makes up a social context is defined as a natural resource that enriches the life of an individual. 

• How did people live at the time Antigone was created?

At this time, 75,000 people lived in the city of Athens and around 225,000 lived in the surrounding countryside called Attica. The city had an area of about 0.7 square miles. In Athens, society was male-dominated - only men could be citizens and only upper-class males enjoyed a formal education. Women had few political rights and were expected to remain in the home and bear children. Fully one quarter of the population was made up of slaves. These slaves provided much of the manpower that boosted the economy, working in shipyards, quarries, mines, and as domestic servants. Most homes were simple, windowless and wrapped around a courtyard. Furniture was rare. People spent the majority of the day out of doors enjoying the mild Mediterranean climate. The Greek diet was also plain, based largely on wine and bread. A typical day would start with bread dipped in wine, the same for lunch and a dinner of wine, fruits, vegetables and fish. Consumption of meat was reserved for special occasions such as religious holidays. Who was the target audience for the piece? Only men were allowed as actors. The chorus were men, as were the actors and the audience.They had to be citizens of Athens, which only applied to free-born men plus a few special cases. The actors wore masks, so that the people would know which character the actor played. What were the needs, values and beliefs of the target audience? Men watching believed they were superior therefore they got to enjoy life luxuries, they valued performance and entertainment. It was also a democratic system in which adult male citizens voted. Men needed to be dined and waited on, they drank a lot of wine and partied throughout the night. They valued riches and wealth.  How did this influence the themes and characters of Antigone? This influenced the themes and characters because the audience were all males they needed to be effected in many different ways such as they included a lot of death so the audience would be on there feet and the atmosphere would be tense. They included small tabs where dancers would come on and joke around this was because it was quite intense and they needed something to lighten the mood occasionally. In Antigone, her father is the king which is influenced by the dominant roles in the democratic system.  What have you found out about the social context of Antigone?  Who went to the theatre? Only men went to the theatre because women weren't thought as important in that time.  What was the relationship between theatre, politics and religion?  Theatre- The beginning of theatre started because of greek gods such as Dionysus, a god of fertility and wine. In keeping with the god's special interests, exciting occasions. His female accompanies in particular, would dance themselves into a state of frenzy. Carrying long phallic symbols, known as thyrsoi, they tear to pieces and devour the raw flesh of sacrificial animals.  But the Dionysians also develop a more structured form of drama. They dance and sing, in choral form, the stories of Greek myth. Politics-  Politics is linked with theatre because in this time politics only included men and women had know say, they made the decisions and fought each other. It was very democratic and opinionated. This also tied into the performances as it was a way for de-stressing and being entertained. Religion-  Religion ties in with greek theatre purely because of the greek gods, they believed they had to please the gods and honour them they also followed what the gods believed was right, this is relevant to today as religion is important to many people as they worship and follow the God that they believe in much like Grecians worshipped Greek gods.

Current events

What was happening when Antigone was created? 

Was its creation influenced by any specific historical events?

I couldn't find much on what was going on but i found this text from a website about Sophocles i learnt about power and how wealth was important i also found out in the time this time there was a lot of competition, men fought others to gain respect- 


His father, Sophilus, a man of wealth he gave him the benefit of all the literary accomplishment of the age. His powers were developed and refined by a careful instruction in the arts of music and poetry. That he was a comely and agile youth is shown by his selection, at the age of sixteen, to lead with dance and lyre the chorus which celebrated his country's triumph at Salamis.

 His dramatic career was marked by a victory in competition with Aeschylus, under exceptional circumstances. The remains of the hero Theseus were being removed by Cimon from the isle of Scyros to Athens, at the time of a tragic contest which had excited unusual interest on account of the fame of the older and the popularity of the younger candidate. Instead of choosing judges by lot, the archon administered the oath to Cimon and his colleagues, asking them to decide between the rival tragedians. The first prize was awarded to Sophocles, greatly to the disgust of the veteran dramatist, who soon afterward departed for Sicily. For more than sixty years after this event Sophocles continued to compose and exhibit tragedies and satyric dramas. 

Communication

"Within a Theatre production, how does the use of multimedia help in its communication to an audience? What does it add to the piece?"

19th March 

This lesson we looked at a few clips that told us the meaning and background of multimedia. I found out quite a few things. 

Here are some of : 

- A lot of different angles are used to film
- many of the actors play different parts and help out with moving things and setting props 
-they look at sections of plays and convert paragraphs into lines and see what they can do with them 
- they structure and storyboard before trying it out 
- 80% of the visual images were structured by the actors