Monday 26th September - Antigone

We began today's lesson with an exercise in which we had to enter the rehearsal space as if we were professional actors getting ready for a rehearsal. In our first attempt, I entered in a group of three as if we were going over lines, but the next time we were forced to enter singularly and present a subtle character. I decided to present a character slightly nervous about their rehearsal and trying to put a brave face on as they mentally prepare for the character they are about to play whilst acknowledging those around them. I try to portray this by walking in moderately confident with half smiles to people around me then moving my feet agitatedly while biting my lip in a half-smile. In my first go entering on my own I realised I presented the emotions too fully and without the subtlety required so in the next attempt I tried to mask the emotions more.

After this, we linked this exercise with the rest of the lesson as we read through the first page of an English translation of a modern French interpretation of the Greek tragedy Antigone. This page presented a scene in which the Prologue talks the audience through the thought processes of the actress of Antigone as she focuses on her character while the other actors are chatting behind her and the Prologue tells the audience that the lead is going to die in one and a half hours.

As a group, we discussed the effect the Prologue might have on the audience. We came up with the idea that it will make the audience more aware of the tragedy the death may have as they go through the lead 's story knowing that they're going to die, with the fact the audience was made aware of the actors' processes actually making the story more real as this revealing scene humanises the characters.

Aware of these ideas, we were split into groups of 4/5 to have a go at the first scene. In our group, I played the Prologue and we thought we would set the stage with Antigone in the corner, separated from the rest of the actors who would be chatting as a group from which the Prologue would emerge.

To develop this scene, we were tasked with creating a transition from 'actors' to the 'characters' in an unsettling, ritual-like movement. I thought that that those playing characters other than Antigone should move together and separately to the lead and go into a line, then Antigone should move across the stage alone and opposite to her sister. Our group then developed this and had the Prologue moving the characters then guiding Antigone.

After we had got into line, we positioned ourselves with our heads down and hands behind our backs, then one of our groups led us in rising our heads up and our hands simultaneously up to the sky then to lower them again while staring at a point on the wall behind the audience. If we'd had more time, I think we could have created a move even more unsettling and creepy for the audience perhaps by doing even more outlandish or ancient movements.

Wednesday 14th September

The main focal point of this lesson was around the play ‘Blood Wedding’ translated from the Spanish, ‘Bodas de sangre’ by Federico García Lorca. However, the lesson began with an exercise in which we had a partner and had to touch foreheads and rise, fall and turn, all while remaining in contact with each other’s bodies. I believe that this exercise helped with my concentration and awareness, as I was constantly keeping track of how I was connecting to my partner. When we had to develop these simple moves into a sequence which displayed two people meeting and falling in love, we went through some movements in which we tried to display feeling through lingering glances, helping each other up and doing a little twirl. In hindsight and after being shown some other partners’ sequences, I think we should have included a few signals and movements to make a more creative sequence to show without a doubt that we were in love.

After this exercise, we were given the name of the play ‘Blood Wedding’ and had to discuss with our partners any ideas of the play we could garner from this name. This was followed by being shown table of objects as stimulus indicating some events of the play. These included a knife, a stained wedding dress and underneath it all, a red cloth. I inferred from these objects that the play included an unhappy marriage which may have led either the bride or the groom to commit murder, perhaps one another or there could have been another lover. Using these ideas, we were put into groups where we quickly came up with a three-image sequence presenting our ideas of the play.

After a discussion, one of our group members had decided that the name and stimulus could indicate a marriage of incest as she inferred the name ‘Blood Wedding’ to mean two people of the same blood getting married, and therefore society being disgusted by it and acting against it. Therefore, our group came up with a sequence using the first exercise’s movements to create an abstract storyline showing the couple in love with on-lookers disgusted who then pushed them down mirroring society trying to suppress their love, followed by one getting killed and being shown to the lover. I think that our sequence went very smoothly though it could have been improved by somehow portraying our story with more clarity as the circumstances weren’t really clear to the audience, as you could just assume that it was another Romeo and Juliet story from our first image.

After our performance of this, we were told the actual story, (oddly: not incest) after which we read a scene together which a scene with the bridegroom and his apparently unstable mother. From this scene we had to create the son’s entrance to show how he was reluctant to let his mum see he was leaving. My partner and I decided to take a bit of an exaggerated inference from this, but with hindsight, it may have been better to show his reluctance a little-more subtly, perhaps by just using recognisable signals such as trying to search for something without being noticed or by slipping in and out without being seen, with wary glances towards the mother.

Finally, we were set the task in larger groups to show the main events of the play with three clear images with movement in-between which is shown in this clip:

I think from this lesson I learnt the advantages of abstract movement, the advantages of taking risks and gained a greater understanding of ways you can move between frozen images in an interesting and meaningful way.