'13' - Week 2

Introduction to Week 2

To start this week off, we looked at one of the three styles in Greek Theatre, Tragedy. We looked at this so we could use different features in our own postmodern play '13'. 

Brief History of Greek Theatre

Greek Festival of Dionysus.
Showing the audience, orchestra and the skene. 

In Ancient Greece, Theatre was at its dawn. The Theatre flourished between 550 BC and 220 BC. There were 3 different styles in Greek Theatre, Satyr, Comedy and Tragedy. Tragedy theatre is the one I am studying, in order to add certain aspects of it into '13'. 

From research I did in class, I have learnt that Greek Tragedy was about confronting problems, and how it was very political. I also picked up on how Greek Theatre has an impact on today, for example The Olivier Theatre is in the same structure as a Greek Theatre would have been in. Many of the Greek plays are still relevant, as they have been described as how "the basic themes still speak to us today". This quote I agree with, as many of the themes in Greek Theatre such as love and difficult decisions are still around today, and these topics can be shown through the Chorus. 

The Chorus' Impact

A typical Greek Chorus.

In Greek Tragedy, a Chorus was used. The Chorus were a group of people. I believe the Chorus represents society, reacting to the actors on stage, this also helps the audience to form their own views on what is happening between the actors. 

The Chorus stay visible to the audience throughout the whole production, I think this is good because it shows how someone always has an opinion on what's happening. However the Chorus were never on for the Prologue. As a class, we decided to use the Chorus in many parts of '13', including Ruth's Speech. In Ruth's speech, she is saying how she deserves praise, so I would show a reaction of empowerment. To do the action of empowerment I was kneeling on the floor with my arms out straight, I did this to show how I was under the power of Ruth as it showed my status and I was on a very low level and Ruth was high up speaking to the people below her. Another part of Ruth's speech says "we have moved on from the days of Thatcher". I may show a reaction of hate, because I have conservative attitudes. These movements or reactions are very stylised as the Chorus would react in a melodramatic way.  I suggested that the Chorus could be used in the Alpha Group, as the people without dialogue in this scene could be reacting to the group but in a more naturalistic way as the audiences focus would be in a confined space. 

Running of Act 1

From the previous week, I had learnt my lines for Act 1 so I would be prepared for the running of the act. To start off we had the 12 lying down in bed. After a beat, we would all rise up and start panting loudly, as if we had a bad nightmare. I found this fun to do, as I used Stanislavski's system of affective memory to show how the dream had affected me. Affective memory is an element of Stanislavski's system and 'requires actors to call on the memory of details from a similar situation'.(Wikipedia.org. 2014. Affective Memory. Retrieved October 14, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affective_memory). I used this to relay a bad dream I had some months ago, I find affective memory difficult to use, as I feel I forget emotions and how I react to them. I also find it difficult recalling certain emotions. This helped me to get into character, and feel like I had just had a bad dream. In the scene after this, set in an airport, I put myself forward to be a member of the chorus, however this time it was more naturalistic, from looking for the next taxi to going on my phone, this I found quite challenging. I felt I wasn't naturalistic as I found it difficult to relay an emotion. Despite this I think I found a solution, as I imagined I was texting my friend, I soon became the character of a businessman , arriving off a plane. In another scene in Act 1, we see a protest and a policeman trying to keep the rioters back. For this scene, I pretended I was filming the protest on my phone, this gave a naturalistic style to the scene and also gave it the link of social media which we see from John later on in '13'. The next scene I was in was my speech, I felt I had projected this speech well, and that my movement was good, but could be improved. At one point in the scene, I come off the box I am standing on, to address the chorus in a more intimate fashion. I was getting off the box quickly, and nearly stumbled, I noticed this and thought 'would Stephen do this?'. After consulting this issue, I noticed how by maintaining my composure, I would make a bigger impact to the audience, and the chorus while still staying in character. I am happy I resolved this problem as it has developed my character further.

Out of Class Exploration

Proteus Theatre's Stephen.

After developing my character to a minimal degree this week, I felt I needed to find out more about Stephen, and so I did some research. I wanted to find out what others interpreted Stephen as, and so I searched the Internet for inspiration. I found a video of '13' done by a theatre group named Proteus. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fZSCULj1xw    Link to video) In this we see how the actor has decided to dress Stephen very formally, I agree with this actors interpretation as I believe Stephen is high class. This interpretation also shows how Stephen has long hair, however I interpreted Stephen as having shorter hair to show his formality. I think this exploration was good because it gave me the chance to be influenced by others who have played Stephen and then develop my own character.

Overview and Aims

I believe this week my work on my character and the play was good, I feel I have learnt something new that can be added to '13' to make it better. I also am pleased with my character development, however I still feel it needs work and this will be my main focus for next week. My other focus is to get a more in depth understanding of Stephen's condition and the context of the play.