Rent Audition

Production role - Costume

Autumn colour dyes (browns oranges) - this is what we used to dye the boiler suits for the choruses
Peacock colours for royals - blue purple green


Chorus: We are going to be wearing disposable boiler suits which me and Livvie have dyed browns and oranges. This shows how they are the lowest in the hierarchy, with no power or say in decisions. They will also have dark material as a headscarf to hide all hair The fact they are all matching takes away any sort of identity in the individuals.

Royals: Peacock colours (blues/greens/purples). These are seen as royal colours, particularly purple. The colour green symbolises 'Victory' which would fit the context also.

We bought some blue curtain material to use for making sashes for some of the royal family including Creon and Haemon.

Antigone is wearing a white dress, which could symbolise the foreshadowing of her death as angels are usually depicted in white. This also distances herself from her royal family.

Me and Emily as the guards will wear army jackets with black leggings and shoes.

Shakespearean monologue evaluation

As I started on the podium, I felt much more confident in performing to the audience and felt more comfortable than I thought I would be. I started strong on my first liner which is what initially catches the audience's attention and already gives an insight into the feel of the monologue. My transition to the second section could have been practised more, as I just turned around and then begun my next monologue. I would have changed it by straight away stepping off the podium into the audience. However I am happy I improvised by choosing to go out into the audience for a closer, more personal performance. My 2nd part was actually from earlier in 'Much Ado About Nothing' to my 1st part, which I really should have performed first so it made more sense to the storyline. Overall I am happy with my performance which has given me more confidence to do this in random public places.

Linking to this, we also performed mini flash mobs in various locations such as a food shop, by busy market stalls and even on the bridge. This gives us a chance to experience different staging conditions and audiences, which was at first a challenge as we had to approach unexpecting people and remain in our characters the whole time.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303290909832426/permalink/561359667358881/

Interpretation of the Chorus

Chorus' purpose

In a Greek theatre, the chorus was a group of actors who would narrate and observe the events happening in the play, which would be performed with a song, dance and reciting what occurred. In Greek tragedies, the play would begin with a choral song of a large group of around 50 men, performing dithambrys, which were lyric hymns to praise Dionysus. This brings back to how Greek tragedies and, later in 487BC comedies  were performed annually in the Festival of Dionysus, held to honour the God.

The chorus represent the outside opinion on the events and characters of the play, the 'audience'. The voice of the thoughts of the observers. This includes them warning of dangers and evil, expressing grief and pain and rejoicing in happiness. Their role is to react to major scenes in the supposed way an audience would react, giving them a better understanding of each scene.

The chorus would often wear masks and look alike in their costumes as well, speaking in unison. The masks would all be identical as they represented the same character. In our interpretation of the play, the masks we used varied in emotion e.g happy/sad/angry. Doing this meant we could represent the variety of emotions throughout 'Antigone'. Although the happy emotion is not that clear, it could illustrate Antigone's happiness of now being in heaven with her brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, and mother, Jocasta.

The nature of the chorus links to the idea of 'Deindividuation', as their similarity and synchronised movement/verses shows their loss of identity in the group. This makes them one voice of opinion that slowly gets more powerful through the play.

How the Chorus change through 'Antigone'

In the beginning, the chorus start out with no power appearing weak and submissive, with no influential opinion of the characters. They are simply under an oppressive ruler, Creon. Antigone, who at the time was the only rebellion against the king stood alone, as the chorus don't get involved but instead remind her how she "defied the law", and "The King must rule according to the law". However as Creon unravels and realises he is not as superior as God and his rulings have been dangerously consequential, the behaviour and status of the chorus changes.  They end up finally getting into his mind and drive him insane, for example our choice of the whispering of "Eurydice" is a constant reminder of the damage he's caused (Antigone hanging herself, in result Haemonn killing himself and Eurydice, his wife killin herself). The ending lines from the chorus show them at the peak of their power, finishing with a moral conclusion, e.g "Don't wait for pain to give you wisdom".

Guard scenes

My role as the Guard was split in two between me and Emily. the guards serve King Creon, and report anything out of the ordinary. The first appearance of the Guards is in the beginning when we reveal that somebody has buried Polyneices body, but not who. This is Emily, the guard who hides the full truth. However my guard character although says nothing but follow the other a keep quiet, wants to tell especially when threatened by Creon.

As the guard originally is one person, we have interpreted by splitting the guard's ethics and integrity into two separate characters. Emily's guard was I feel the stronger and more dominant guard, who was initially covering themselves to avoid Creon punishing them for letting this slip through their fingers as they watched over the body. In the original version of 'Antigone'. However, after being threatened to find out who it is or be killed, my guard steps up and reveals all in fear, "begging for pardon from all punishment".
2 sides to guard

In my scene involving my monologue, I have sectioned bits of it in my script on my blocking decisions and where I should stand/walk and where my focus point should be. I've decided to speak out mostly to the audience and partly to the chorus as I retell my story. Particularly when I begin with "Suddenly, a vortex twisted..." I will look up overhead into the sky, as if my character is reliving that unexpected day, using gestures of raising my hand above. I feel this character gets lost in their monologue, stressing every detail to the point where sadness and anger switch throughout.

I need to remember my blocking for this and to make sure I say only important lines directly to Creon and Antigone, as my voice needs to carry outwards and project to the audience, who are the main listeners.

#Episode 4 - cave scene

I re-choreographed the Episode #4 which includes the 'cave', where we orginally curved over Antigone to formulate a cave-like structure. This wasn't effective enough and needed more movement as we were stationary there throughout this whole section
I will explain the use for some of the movement:

• Stand in semi circle around Antigone with backs facing the front: this was a much neater and our backs t Antigone reflected her loneliness and isolation in her cave

• Peel off in pairs on specific word in line, walk around the space behind Antigone and everytime you come into contact with your partner, you perform an action/gesture in relation to the word: For example, the word "drag" could be interpreted by leaning out with your partner as if you are being dragged to your "death", as Antigone says. I think this was a good concept as Antigone's powerful monologue of her accepting her fate is emphasised through the movements reflecting the key points e.g "drag...stand...tears...eye of fire... fate". The peel off also symbolises her life slowly disintegrating, diminishing, leaving just the shell of Antigone who remains in the front centre.

Shakespearean monologue

I chose 2 monologues from the play 'Much Ado About Nothing', both from the character Beatrice. I* decided on these two parts of the monologues as it shows a contrast between the two and a rise of tension. Also when acting, I feel my strong point in the type roles is the more powerful, hard headed characters. For example in 'Rent' I played Joanne, who was a very fierce and dominant character. Both Joanne and Beatrice have similar personalities; they're both argumentative and stubborn, but also very passionate people. I find it easier to get inside the disposition of characters like this.  

I began translating certain words and sentences so I could further understand their state of mind and if/how it changes. My first chosen monologue was:

Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?

Contempt, farewell, and maiden pride, adieu!

No glory lives behind the back of such.

And Benedick, love on; I will requite thee,

Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand.

If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee

To bind our loves up in a holy band.

For others say thou dost deserve, and I

Believe it better than reportingly.

This speech from Beatrice shows her shock to what she has just overheard, that people criticise her for being proud and contemptuous ("Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much?"). She also shows a change of heart towards Benedick, as she hears of his apparent love for her, even expressing the willingness to rid her old attitude she had for him ("If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee").

My 2nd monologue:
 What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and

make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard

is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than

a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and

he that is less than a man, I am not for him. Therefore I will

even take sixpence in earnest of the bearherd, and lead his

apes into hell.

This is when Beatrice is shunning away the idea of having a husband and insists she will stay an unmarried woman. This speech clearly depicts her complete rejection of this absurd proposition of becoming someone's wife, especially as she mocks the thought of a beardless man as her partner, referring one to being the equivalent of her lady servant. 

When getting feedback on how I was performing the monologue, I was advised to start with more emphasis on the first sentences. For the 1st monologue, the "Stand I condem'd..." line needed more power and prominence, to show the initial disbelief of these rumours, which quickly leads to the realisation of her dismissive ways. This monologue's mood I feel slightly simmers and calms thoughout as she descales in her normal temper to feeling rather flattered by Benedick's comments.

For the 2nd monologue, I feel my tone should stay up and strong as Beatrice is standing by her beliefs and exhibits stubborness. The frustration in this monologue shows in the 1st two lines as she answers her own question with another question. I think this is where the pace should be the highest and my movement should be fast, similar to 'storming off' in a mood. I should also incorporate gestures of splayed hands and open arms as I further support my annoyance. to the topic. The following section should be a slower pace and have a more condescending tone, as she continues on.

Rent Dance Evaluation

1. What character/s did you play?
The characters I played were Joanne, Pam (Life support member) and Mrs Jefferson

2. What movements did you perform to show your character?
For Joanne, in Tango Maureen I showed my character's frustrated and irritated disposition, as she is taunted b Mark who attempts to convince her that Maureen is just a user. When dancing in this scene, our use of fixed eye contact shows our competitiveness and equal strength/will power. As Pam, in La Vie Boheme I show a lively side to my initially sad and negative character, who's living with HIV. In this scene everyone just lets loose and unites as one, as they are the low class community who all have similar unfortunate backgrounds.

3.What was your contribution to creating movement for the show, did you create movement for certain scenes? Give a specific example from at least 2 different scenes
In Tango Maureen, I suggested we include a lift and we can break away for the start of the second chorus and then rejoin. Originally when we didn't know what version of the song we were going to use, I suggested we have multiple couples dancing behind us in the instrumental (as in the movie version, the instrumental is longer) to have a big performance and make it more exciting and distinct.
In La Vie Boheme, I came up with ideas for my duo movement with Kim, such as mirroring moves and using a lift that was seen in the scene in the movie (box split lift).

4.How did you use your physical skills throughout the show?
I had to make sure my posture was steady, my alignment was correct and my balance was good for my tango dancing, in order to respond well to my partner as he spun me round and we changed direction frequently. I had to ensure my strength was good as they were sturdy moves where my arms had to stay in the right position. I used coordination when remembering the step pattern on top of changing my direction and switching legs.

5. What interpretative skills did you use to communicate the theme/your character?
In La Vie Boheme, I used high energy and and projection to fully elaborate my wild movement, for example my repetitive clap patterns in unison with everyone had to be lively in order to communicate my characters' happy upbeat attitude, as well as the happy upbeat attitude of the scene where everyone, even uptight Joanne, is letting their hair down.
I used emphasis and rough dynamics in this scene as it was representing a crowd of people just having fun in a pub.
In Tango Maureen, I used my focus/eyeline as Joanne pays close attention to Mark's accussations of Maureen, and uses snappy, vigourous dynamics to reflect the intense atmosphere of the scene

6. What were your strengths and weaknesses?
In La Vie Boheme, my strengths were that I retained the joyful punchy dynamics and spirit which communicates the choreographic intent well. I ensured I used emphasis wherever possible in my moves, and I feel the group singing boosts the energy even more. A weakness would be that I could have used stronger facial expressions.
In Tango Maureen, my strengths were that I managed to sing much stronger whilst I was dancing than before. I also kept going even if I missed a step etc. Weaknesses were that I could of been even sharper in the movement and had a closer hold with Luke, so when we did spin around and perform our lift, it would be more structured and fluid into each move.

7. What do you need to improve in terms of your movement, and WHY?
I need to improve on performing to my best ability and not holding back, and practicing more on my weak points. From performing Tango Maureen, I need to improve on developing different styles outside commercial and contemporary. This will help use all my physical skills and improve them for each style of dance. For La Vie Boheme, I need to work on my expressions, which includes my facial expressions and musicality.