Monday 13th (ooooh) March

In the lesson, we went back to the mass-guard scene with the whole chorus, getting timing spot on etc. my part of turning my back on the action as Creon was quite easy I admit readily, as we decided that to make the fact that some chorus members don't get involved less odd, they should be evidently completely separate from the action. Playing the guard however, less easy. I hadn't done it for a while so was a bit rusty with what I was meant to specifically do, but one of the biggest difficulties was maintaining the energy of the scene through ensuring everyone was maintaining the same level as noise with no drops, though if one loud voice drops, others can get unsure and it becomes a vortex of failure. In the end I realised that even if just made inaudible shouts it would spur others to maintain the noise. Another problem I found (thanks to Harriet volunteering every ad lib line) was the timing and volume of "I can see your tits in that love!" (my character is a lovely man). The timing we sorted with having three whooshes of the sword, slap on the bum, slap on the bum, three whooshes then "Tits!" so I knew when to say it now and everyone was ready for it, however, with everyone shouting, it's quite hard to get a line heard over it all (apparently especially if you have lungs like mine) but eventually I seemed to be getting the hang of it.

With no lessons in the afternoon, myself and my fellow Creon, miss Harriet Mellor, decided to stay in the rehearsal space to go over little Creon sections. Perhaps not as productive as I had hoped, but thoroughly useful and very fun. It was also this afternoon we were introduced to the coats we would be wearing though Chipp went through about a dozen coats before one "fitted" me, though I still think I looked like a drowned puppy in it, but there were none smaller. Not really sure why Chipp didn't start from small up... apparently I am "Deceptively petite" (and I'm not really sure how to take that) but it is true, I have an oddly proportioned body which I have long ago accepted and am now proud of - it's my odd feature I'm allowed to complain about. Anyway, we rehearsed all the bits and pieces then had a small discussion about Creon, which I wasn't very prepared for (as you might tell).

Discussion about Creon:

Video Link

Videos of our (very productive) afternoon:

Brother Section (sorry about the noise)

Sorry about the breaks, just recording our rehearsal process

In the evening we had a rehearsal with the cast for Harriet's Creon but I went along to play the page and get the hang of my part in that. It was a pretty simple rehearsal for me, though useful as I wasn't completely certain of all the parts in which the page comes in with Creon etc. One of the things we added in the rehearsal was adding Chorus participation in the scene with the nurse and Antigone, e.g. urging Antigone to put a grape in the Nurse's mouth at the beginning. I like this direction as it really adds to the atmosphere and gives Nurse a real opportunity to play up lines and work with the chorus to make it funnier.