Today, we had a full day rehearsal...in the soil! This morning all the soil was loaded into the stage, and we finally got to practice in it. Below are some pictures from today that show the stage as is will be in the performance and some prop placement that I must remember.
Pictured above is two compartments that are on stage left, with prop placement.
This is some feedback that we received in our full day rehearsal. Today was mostly about working out the last few kinks in our run-throughs and was our final chance to change anything that needed major work.
Monday, 20 March 2017
Apologies if this video is a bit (or a lot) waffled.
Here is a watermelon I chopped up with the machete. You may notice it is cut into all shapes and sizes...I got better at cutting it as I went along, however, it took me awhile. I've learnt that when chopping a watermelon you should mark the middle first with your blade before swinging back. Also, bending your knees seems to help. I've been told that I chop the watermelon too much like a ninja, so I need to be a bit more calm and collected...the Chorus would probably chop this in a calm and collected manner, as if she had done this before. As I said in the video, the whole purpose of me cutting the watermelon is to make the audience believe that all of the machetes are sharp, when in reality, this machete is the only one that was sharp in any sense.
This is a close up of the compartment stage left, that in this picture holds the sharp machete. In the play I will open this compartment and take out the sharp machete to cut the watermelon, so, I just need to make sure these props are placed here.
Today we also had our technical rehearsal, where we ran the play start to finish -stopping at each of the cues for the lights and SFX, and skipping out the parts of the play that didn't require these additions. Although, this rehearsal could be considered slightly mundane, it's completely necessary. I think that without the addition of lights and SFX, the staging and play would loose it's completed vibe. It would seem less professional.
Also, some of the lighting cues have become my cues. For example, I must remove a chair at the end of the Antigone and Ismene scene during the red light and when a white spotlight comes up in the corner of stage left, I start my second chorus speech.
This scene shows a frantic and desperate Antigone, who perhaps believes that it is her time to die at this very point. She goes a bit mental as the mob of guards surrounds her and the scene commences. Below are some videos that I made about this scene and tell some feedback that I received whilst working on it.
Since this week is mid-term, we had a full day rehearsal this Monday that I thought was incredibly productive and will be very helpful in the long run. We got here at 9:00 in the morning and didn't leave until 4:00 in the afternoon. Made a lot of progress today, so I'm feeling more confident about the performances coming up in a few weeks.
As I've mentioned before, there are three casts for Antigone -meaning there are three girls cast as Antigone herself, the heroine of our play. Whilst this is excellent because we can see how the different actresses react to their casting as Antigone, it also makes the rehearsal process kind of difficult.
As an Antigone chorus member, as well as being the main chorus, I have many little jobs and things to do throughout the play. I've kept some video blogs over the past few months to remember all of these things. In the Ismene/Tumbril Sequence, there is a lot for me to remember to do, even though it only takes a few minute to complete.
The point of this Tumbril Sequence is to physically show Ismene's fear of the mob and humiliation of death; this sequence also gives the audience a representation of what is destined to happen to Antigone. The effect that this Tumbril Sequence will have is increased sensitivity to Ismene's fear and an awareness of this mob mentality.
Here are all the video responses I made to the Ismene/Tumbril sequence:
These are all the videos that I made over the course of this unit to learn my second Chorus speech. The videos track my feelings and thoughts surrounding this part of my role and gives some suggestions about how I can improve and mentions the direction that I received whilst learning this monologue. There's some other videos in other blog posts that talk about some more feedback I received on this speech but these ones were dedicated to the second speech.
When I say regurgitating in this video I actually mean reiterating, was slightly distracted -apologies:
Here is the picture I was talking about in the above video:
Also here are all the notes I took on this speech over the course of this unit:
Overall I found this speech quite satisfying to learn, and after preforming it to an audience, I found it even easier to preform -it was entertaining. I tried my best to be nonchalant and to laugh in a not so fake way...I think laughing was my biggest fear (that people would judge me) but I had to get past that and remember that that is what acting is all about- getting out of your comfort zone.
Here's a teacher's resource guide that I found online that is pretty helpful and talks about the main themes(tragedy, meta theatre, and destiny) in Antigone:
It also suggests that childhood is a main theme of Antigone, but in our version of Antigone it doesn't seem like as much as a theme as predestination or destiny. We've put a lot of emphasis on destiny.
Hopefully the video response above makes sense, I've just been trying to work some things out for myself because my role as the chorus has everything to do with meta theatre and destiny because I cause the cast list to be drawn and the play to start -basically start the domino effect of destiny to happen.
These are all the video blogs I have made over the months, discussing the Prologue or the Chorus Speech at the very beginning of Antigone. The blogs have been made over the course of me studying Antigone to track my progress and my thoughts regarding this particular speech. They are arranged in order from the first blog I made to the last blog I made.
