Shout off (Creon Antigone scene end) 28.02.17

This scene was troublesome from the first time we blocked it, we wanted to show that Antigone was now holding power over Creon and we also wanted to show the fact that they were at the end of their tether. However, this ended up having too much cat and mouse around the stage so today we spent two hours on trying to make it work better. To begin with, much less moving and pacing, basically grounding Antigone while she does her mad movements. I must say that I love what both Caitlin and Emily do with their movements for Antigone's speeches: successfully creepy.

We also decided to make some of the lines harsher such as when she says "I love a Haemon" instead saying " I want to fuck a Haemon who..." Which is harsher, and although making her seem maybe too much the villain in this scene, I think it manages to portray the shocking side of Antigone, and her new power over Creon. With this line changing, we decided to change a couple others to match the same intensity. Furthermore, there were a few words in Jean Anouilh script which felt a bit too old for our audience for whom some of the words could just fly over their heads so we took out words such as "scullion" replacing them with "fucking cook" which also works better with completely riling him up at the climax of the scene.

Another point coming up was the shouting match. With us both losing it at this point, it was suitable for us to try and out shout the other and also necessary to ensure there were no gaps between cues and lines so we began shouting over each others' lines to really show our anger at the other. This meant having to be very quick in responding which on my part took quite a bit of concentration especially as my brain just seemed to keep switching off. I also found that sometimes the shouts stemmed a bit forced which could hopefully be fixed by working on getting Creon's ride in anger more adequate, also found this with some of the sudden movement looking too staged, so I'll work on making the transition from stationary to motion more spontaneous than staged.

Now, Antigone's awesome speeches are all very well and good, but something I really need to work on and make convincing and effective is my reactions whilst she's talking. Although I am acting all the way through, perhaps I don't react enough to certain lines, or sometimes I'm a stuck record with a bit of a "smell the fart" look on my face. I don't think I should move much but something like the way my hands sit, and my stance can display the rising anger as well as my face. Furthermore, I find my mind struggles with responding quickly to cues from Antigone which is vital for the effectiveness of the scene! I'm fine with big monologues, but cues are my downfall.

At the climax of the scene we tried to portray the fact that Creon had lost all sense of formality and decency due to Antigone's goading. The previous week we came up with the drop and strangle at the end of the scene which was suitable but when we performed it, it looked way too staged, not capturing the ferocity and spontaneity needed for the strangle. We decided on something similar but with me leading and dragging her by the throat while she holds on and leaning over her as I strangle. After a while there comes a moment of realisation over Creon who isn't really a bad person. Last week we stood back as Ismene entered but I thought Creon's feeling of loss, hopelessness and shock at actions would be best demonstrated through him collapsing on the ground and sitting watching the next bit unfold.

In the clip below, I came forward for the climax too early so we decided to storm forward a little later, and also take out the line about people in the anteroom because we've set it outside and because telling her to be quiet because they'll hear after having yelled at each other quite a bit seems a bit daft. This makes the sudden storm forward and strangle much less awkward as it did feel one line too long. The clip below the one with me has this edit at the end which I personally think will work much better.

First Video

Sadly this cuts off before the last bit, and the corpse was when I was looking for a cue that no-one gave me, but yeah, my mistake.

Second Video

This one is with Harriet as Creon for comparison.

General Scenes - Wednesday 15.02.17

Blocked the guard scene, (friggin love the guard's part) in which I get angry and impatient and stuff. Points I definitely think I need to work on are appearing intimidating, doing my intimidating step and remembering the points I raise my hand for silence because that was a bit tenuous. One major point I kept getting wrong for one of these gestures was a fist to display my anger and frustration: Mr Chipp had just done an example very convincingly then I had a go, thought, yeah I've got some guns (ish) I can pull this off. Complete fail, looked like some weakling and completely awkward therefore not quite grasping the whole intimidating, powerful, assured figure I was going for, so I've decided I might just play it safe and do a hand gesture for silence (got pretty good at that with a younger brother). Generally, not just in this scene but in all of them, I really need to think harder about my reactions and ensure I'm not just frozen in one position or facial expression the whole time. 

Me and fellow Creon, (Harriet) went and blocked the scene with the page and Creon.Quite a simple task, but whilst blocking it, we brought up the problem of our feminine walks and stances, some points neither of us had noticed till t'other pointed it out. This is a point I've been trying to work out for a while, I mean it's pretty difficult as a seventeen year old girl to walk and talk like a fifty-ish "Vigorous, old man", how can we look convincing? 

Definition of vigorous: strong, healthy, and full of energy.

The classic method of portraying elderly people is a bit stooped and stiff, but is I'm meant to be full of energy as well as convincingly walking like an old man, how am I supposed to achieve it?  Furthermore, Harriet often struts and I either do my cheeky pickpocket swagger (after having just performed Oliver Twist) or my weird-not-really-certain-what-I'm-going-for walk. Definitely something to think about. 

Following this, Harriet and I went through our lines and discussed intonation through which we discovered we had some different ideas for the character at certain points. In some parts I preferred Harriet's way, for example, the start of the first monologue where for some reason I'd shouted the fist line which in hindsight had felt quite awkward and now it's more of a disbelieving laugh and frustration at Antigone and her family. However, other parts I think I'll stick to my guns. 

The whole class then came back together and we did a ragged run-through as far as we could before we ran out of time. Didn't end up getting to my big scene, but we did do the chorus sections, some of which went well and others I think we need to spend a lot more time on to make them seem smooth and effortless. 

Ismene Choreography and Ragged Run-Through 08.02.17

Extending the scene from what we created on Monday, we incorporated the Machetes into the movement. We failed at the start as a large group to create something effective, but splitting into seperate groups we were able to come up with more effective movements. My partner and I used a series of four movements trying to create a threatening position in crossing our Machetes over Ismene's head then following through dragging the blade across the shoulders down the sides, forcefully grabbing Ismene's arm then cutting her knee (creating height differences) then cutting her throat. This was apparently quite an effective sequence according to the response as we used it in the final choreography, here is the example:

Following this, we ran the full scene including the lifts from Monday and bits from other group's blade sequences. A little bit ropy as we were just cramming it together for the first time, but with rehearsal, I think it will look quite good as it incorporates the 'thousand hands' and the threatening image of the blades running over Ismene's body.

We went on for the following hour to run through already blocked scenes separately. Harriet (fellow Creon) and myself went to a room to run lines and movements in the massive scene between us and Antigone. It was definitely useful to go through it together as we got each other's opinions on different passages and the way we move/ say them. 

Then came the massive botch run-through of all the scenes we had gone through so far. The chorus section at the beginning went extremely well, perhaps because I was able to hear Chipp's voice over the movements being a but louder than Sarah, but it meant that I got all my cues spot on for the first time though that was partly due to the fact I felt much more relaxed in my role than ever before. 

My scene with Antigone went really well, I was almost completely off-book with little prompting and I felt pretty relaxed on stage though I still feel a little awkward with my hands. I think I did quite a good job and was pretty pleased with my performance though I decided to change how I started my first monologue on the spot, though I feel like it worked better as I did it. Furthermore, I'm sometimes a little lost with where to direct my eyes and whether to look towards the audience or Antigone, mainly reverting to staring at Antigone. But all in all, it was a good confidence booster being able to perform the massive scene with little prompting and a lot of time to improve.

Ismene Scene - 06.02.17

Making use of the chorus sitting around the stage, we began to choreograph a sequence around Ismene's speech in her scene with Antigone. We were using the passage in which Ismene describes what the city will do to them if they bury their brother Polynices. Chipp decided this would be best to present through a series of lifts reflecting the hands grabbing her and controlling her. Seperating into groups we came up with seperate sequences, our group used a pin lift, to saddle lift, to supported above our heads lift, spinning, back down into a saddle lift then dropped. We decided to combine it with the other group by doing the first half of our sequence and the second half of theirs which was a drop and flip. It looked pretty cool and was a very good experience for learning how to choreograph effective movements to represent a story and the different lifts available to us to do it, I've always been bad at remembering sequences but with drama I feel I'm becoming increasingly better at remembering choreography etc.

Creon-Antigone Scene 25.01.17

An exhausting night: we had four hours rehearsing the chunk in the middle of the scene between Antigone and Creon. Almost learnt all of the lines in this section thank god as it was hanging over my head having a daunting amount of lines to learn. Obviously still struggling remembering when I move where but only needed a bit of prompting when going over the section we had already blocked the week before.

Loved the part where Antigone and Creon shouted at each other for a solid hour whilst trying to work out the choreography of the final bit of this section where Antigone and Creon are really going at each other. I think it's especially strong as it's the section where Antigone really holds power over Creon who is losing all of the advantage he had gained through the one word "happiness". We definitely still need to work on the choreography because it turned into a bit of aimlessly following around and not really having a purpose of direction. It needs to be more uncontrolled but controlled... more jagged, strong movements from both parties, Creon in an attempt to regain power and Antigone to maintain it.

Performing the 40-minute scene through was absolutely exhausting. Towards the end I began stumbling over the words just because my eyes were going a blurry and I was feeling a little hot and faint, but we got through it in the end. It didn't actually feel like 40 minutes. but it explained why I felt so tired by the end of it. It was a very useful experience going through it fully, and pretty pleased with how it went considering it was the first run-through. There is definitely an enormous amount of work left to do on the lines and action. I've especially found movement and positioning of the hands the main problem and occasionally not really known where to direct the eyes (which can be unfortunate in making me look a but lost or blind) but all in all, feel like we've made some really good progress in terms of the character and rehearsing.

Chorus 23.01.17

Having not rehearsed my role as Creon in the Chorus opening scene for a couple of weeks, I was sadly a bit ropy with my movement and cues, forgetting the cue to move forward and everyone else stop. I felt a bit rushed trying to remember everything I have to do in the opening bit and desperately listening for the cues over the sound of everyone else moving whilst working on what I was doing at the time. ugh... I've found a way to over-come this: I've recorded myself saying the chorus monologue at the start and am rehearsing my movements whilst listening to this. Also find it hard to hear the cue for the fighting section then going into the mass of dead bodies, sure we'll get it in the end though.

N2C Interview Preperation

First Impressions:

• First rehearsal Jermaine told us he wanted my character to be a 'gender non-binary' character who is a 'Stanivlaski ball of emotion'.
• First read through: noticed my character's passifying techniques and the relationship with the Singer as we often finish each others' thoughts and act together to passify.
• First Blocking: felt comfortable with the entrance which brought a lot of energy to the scene and contributed to the light energy my character brought to the scene.
• The lines offered me a blank canvas to work off as there weren't many lines and certainly not enough to have a certain character.

My Character's Function in the Play

• My character acted as a bit of light relief to the tension-filled scene before hand.
• They're a physical and emotional pacifier: tries to calm argument and gets in between the drummer and the boy.

Development:

• I struggled with the material and opportunity of direction to create a really memorable character but tried to create someone who wasn't just a classic binary character. 
• Realised my character was pretty oblivious with comments such as "We're getting quite good" whilst everyone else goes on about how terrible they are.
• He helps the boy but more out of selfish reasons than care as he just wants to play and never check if the boy is ok after he was attacked by the drummer.
• Obviously has a strong relationship with the Singer.
• Think he gets frustrated at the boy.
• Headlock bit: problematic but the last rehearsal decided to use improv which really helped with the confidence.