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.
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.
This one is with Harriet as Creon for comparison.
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