Megan ring: Unit 12 Classical Theatre Performance and Unit 4 Historical Context of Performance.”

DISTINCTION 2 comprehensively explain how performance material is contextualised for contemporary use

medea review


 for  my part of medea , I had to imagine what it was like to be heartbroken and full of hate i hade to change my body language to that of a mature woman a mother whos life has been ripped apart by the man she has sacrifiesd everything for i also have to remeber that she is a woman with no right or status and has very little to go on other than her sexuality . medea has two sons in acient greece this would be a privlige and the sons would have had more rights than medea . medea who is a goddess must find the lack of her right and privileges hard to live by  due to her husband leaving and marrying the daughter of king argeus daughter she finds her self in desperation  . Because of this, I made the character very stong but continously on edge close to wild . When she  comes on stage, she waits a while planning how best to deal with what has happened to her she has just had a row with jason her husban and comes across ageus . at this point medea is desperate and is clawing at any straws she can catch and not far from begging.

medea is a very strong woman who gets what she wants and devious and sees men still as easy prey . When Medea asks  ageus if she can  come to Athens to escape Creon and Corinth, medea knows that  Aegeus sees it as a chance to fornicate  with another woman and pertentioally give him children my charecter never intends to sleep with him but likes the idea of escaping and playing him along its the hope of freedom that pushes her to make these plans . wemon back then were only seen as objects ot vessles to make children and to give them pleasure.

my charecters moods change really quickly from dispair to flirtation to hope to planning to hurt and heartache with the death of her children so i felt it was important that i showed the journey medeas mood take i did this by showing her humerous side with medea and using a light fluffy voice and an open flirtatious body language i also had to rember that medea disliked ebing touched my ageus so i had to show the digust in my facial expressions and then when medea is talking to the nurses my body language is big and open im planning i see a route to small and closed my voice also goes quiter when discussing the killing my children. 

medea is the centre point of the whole play and in the end holds everyones lives in her own hands. 

Ii could see a modern version of medea working as a ceo of a large company with men working beneath her or like the research story of susan.

thursday 28th 

what went well :

of the performance and feed back : My mates LOVED the show - in particular, they picked out Megan Ring as their favourite Medea, 

-

wednesday the 27th and  

show time
what went well with the performance : i remembered all my lines correctly and and i felt more comfortable with ben i felt the lines were coming more natural and not forced
what i need to improve on in my next performance : i need to let go i can do this by  thinking of somthing negative and staying focused i will also reherse the comedy scene tomroro.


reviews of the perrformace  and feedback : i need to work on my comedy timing with ben monolouge was better just go for it more.

25th

Tomorrow (Tuesday)
11 - 6 - ALL CAST - Technical Rehearsal / Dress rehearsal (oh yeah - and we should probably block the murder too!)

Soooo... Rehearsal calls next week:

Tuesday 19th 
- Sam's Lesson - ALL - Intro Sequence - Dance Studio

- Adrian's Lesson - ALL - Various calls - Dance Studio

- After College - 4:30 - 4:50 - Beth Cave (if poss.) Abi Powell, Sarah Anjuli Hoy - Messenger bit
- 4:50 - 5:30 - Ben Williams, Megan Ring

WEDNESDAY 20th NOVEMBER
- 10:00 - 4:00 - ALL - Rehearsals, costume and make-up practice / sorting out - FULL RUN THROUGH with props, costumes and some Make-Up - Dance Studio (no access to Theatre)
We are NOT in the Theatre for ANY OF THESE which means that in order to get some time in there before our Technical Rehearsals we will also come in for the following...

THURSDAY 21st NOVEMBER
- 11:00 - 1:10 - ALL - FULL RUN THROUGH - Sealight Theatre

I would really like us all to be able to leave it at that BUT:
Extra rehearsals on Friday, Saturday and Monday WILL be called if we don't get everyone we need for rehearsals this week.
As Lena says - if necessary, get yourself carried to college on a stretche

Susan Smith

It was a mild October night in Union. Susan had been driving around for the last hour, trying to calm herself. She drove along Highway 49 and followed the signs to John D. Long Lake. Before driving to the lake on this evening, she had never before been there. Susan preferred to take her sons to the pond at Foster Park, which was closer to her home. At Foster Park, Susan and her sons would feed breadcrumbs to the ducks. Once she arrived at the shore of John D. Long Lake, Susan drove across a portion of the seventy-five-foot boat ramp and parked in the middle of the ramp. The ramp was unpaved and consisted of gravel and stones. Susan sat quietly behind the wheel of her 1990 burgundy Mazda Prot�g�, listening to the sounds of her two young sons sleeping. Michael, her oldest son had celebrated his third birthday two weeks earlier and Alex was fourteen months old. Susan was twenty-three, with long, sandy blond hair that she tied in a ponytail. She wore wire-rimmed glasses and was in the best physical shape she had been in since before becoming pregnant with Michael. Susan Smith (AP) Susan shifted the Mazda into neutral and felt the car slowly begin to roll down the remaining length of the boat ramp. The car only traveled a few yards before Susan stepped on the brake. With a shift tug, Susan pulled the emergency hand brake, stopping the car from further rolling forward. She opened her door and stepped out of the car. Susan stood outside of her car, on the boat ramp, on the banks of John D. Long Lake and thought about suicide. Susan looked around and saw only black. The lake was not illuminated and she stood alone thinking about her life. The darkness and loneliness of the deserted lake mirrored how Susan felt. Susan wanted relief from her loneliness and the problems in her life. Susan and her husband, David, were in the middle of a divorce and her boyfriend, Tom Findlay, had just rejected her the week before. She wanted to commit suicide, but she did not want her sons to suffer. Susan believed if she killed her sons first and then committed suicide, that her sons would suffer less, rather than if she committed suicide and left them on their own. Yet, something was stopping her from surrendering to her depression and loneliness. She did not want to commit suicide, what she wanted was relief from all the stresses and burdens that overwhelmed her. She felt that her life was filled with loss and rejection, and that the responsibilities of being a single mother were overwhelming. Susans next decision will never be forgotten. Attempts to explain it will always fall short and continue to leave the question why? open to further speculation. Susan Smith released the emergency brake and softly closed the drivers side door. Michael and Alex were asleep in the back seat, strapped into their car seats. As the car drifted into John D. Long Lake, the headlights were on. The car entered the water slowly and did not submerge immediately. Instead, it remained on the surface, bobbing peacefully, while slowly filling with water. Susan watched the car submerge into the lake. She turned away from the sinking car and began to run toward a small house. The story that Susan would tell would capture the nations sympathy. Susans story would also raise doubts in some and cause a community to question some of its own citizens, based solely on the race of those citizens. After the truth was revealed, many would try to imagine the thoughts running through Susan Smiths head the night of October 25, 1994, when she took the lives of her children. To this day, the question still asked is how could she do it? Susan Smith committed the most unthinkable act when she broke humanitys most sacred trust, the love of a mother for her children. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/smith/susan_3.html how does this research relate to medea : when i read this article the first thing i thought back to how simila it was in acient greek where men could pick and choose and ruin females and how little rights  wemon  had and i looked a this and aw the connection. the two children being murdered for  love is the same as in medea the act of betrayel the charecter and this person susan was feeling to do these crimes were simila. how will this research help my charechter in medea : this would be a modern twist on killing someone as back in those days cars were not around so it puts it more into perspective of current times however i feel sorry for medea but i canr feel sympathy for susan.

henry the fifth
we saw a child version of the play Henry the fith all the actors were very child like and endearing with the way the spoke for example the use of tantrums and the factor that kissing was still disgusting related to the child humor they also did this with toilet humor. the use of bright colour and the sand pit made out to be the castle in france was a fun way to get the point across. instead of having solderers they used balloons to signify the each death they would be popped this if fun as children like noises weras in the original play there would have been actor stage fighting and females would not have been on stage as seen in this production.

how an audience would react :
an audience of this time would not have understood the modern language or the use of humor and would have found strange.

Medea

today we went to the rose theater to a re contextualized adaptation of Medea. i really enjoyed the performance i thought the use of Arial acrobatic brought a new approach to it the material and ropes in red suggested  blood and also gave Medea the chance to actually look like a goddess as she could move this couldn't have been done in traditional Greek thearter as there wouldn't have been a structure to carry it of the use of the back wall which they described as they wanted it to look alive was really good it was like the wall between life and death. the fact that the show was indoor was also different to Greek theartre as there theartres were outside. also women wouldn't have been able to play the role as theartre was for men  and  the script had been shortened and modernized .  i liked how the edema we saw portrayed Medea she was fierce and strong and the use of her pitch and tones of her voice from low to high really made me look into how i could improve my own character i also liked how she played it raw she was a woman not a goddess or a girl she was a woman and she did this with maturity,
when i played Medea i tried to include some of this .
how an audience would react :
i think if the production had been shown in ancient Greece the audience would be shocked and would not have supported the fact women were doing something men were suppose to be doing. 

resistance and running

14th November masks workshops

today we made our dresses from using red silky material picture to be seen -
in this workshop we had to make a dress with no pins we split three bits of material 150 cm each section and wrapped then around our body we have decided to go with our dresses to use white  face and body paint we are looking at red eye contacts to go with the dress

we then did an exercise called copy the mask we had to copy what the face did within the body these masks will be used in our piece for a four min short piece this will really help medea with her body movements if she cant use her face even tho we have decided to not have masks for Medea and our makeup will be our masks.

we then did an excersise called lazzy

rules of wearing the mask
you must always face the back or keep the mask hidden before a scene
u must always create a internal monologue

Do not take the mask off in front of the audience, ever. You need to turn fully around then take it off.

• Never turn your head so the mask is not 'end on' (Facing the audience fully) not even profile (facing perpendicular to the audience)

• Never touch your mask while it's on your face.

• Never talk in the mask

• Don't put the mask on the floor.

what this will help with my charecter

i have taken the rules of having to face the front of the audince like if i was wearing masks also the fact to never have back to an audince unless the beggining of the scene.

medeas mask ideas

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 for hair for our charecter medea   this would be a pretty version idea it would be cool if we could mix a couple of ideas

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12th november

Medea research - infanticide

Modern America

"In 1966, the United States had 10,920 murders, and one out of every twenty-two was a child killed by a parent."

Despite our predilection for considering modern civilization "advanced," the crime of infanticide has continued to pervade most contemporary cultures. The major difference between the nature of infanticide in the twentieth century, when compared to the rest of recorded history, however, is due to the impact of one modern medical advancement: the widespread availability of safe, and legal, means of abortion. The ability to easily terminate a pregnancy, and thereby eliminate an unwanted child before it is born, has had a profound effect on the prevalence of infanticide. The human species has killed almost 10% - 15% of all children born. The majority of these murders have been associated with reasons of necessity at least in the minds of the infanticide parent - or with untoward reactions against an unwanted birth. With little ability to abort an unwanted pregnancy safely, troubled parents have had little choice but to wait until full-term delivery before disposing of the conception.

Of approximately 6.4 million pregnancies in the United States in 1988, 3.6 million were unintended and therefore subject to dangerous consequences. 1.6 million of those unwanted pregnancies resulted in abortion. In Britain, more than 160,000 legal abortions, or terminations of pregnancy, were carried out each year during this same period of time. The Family Planning Association in Russia says that there are more than 3 million abortions performed each year, more than double the number of births. In France, there are almost one million abortions each year, equal to the number of births. This means that over five million pregnancies were aborted in the Western world alone each year, and if the births of those children would not have been prevented, it is very likely that many of those infants would have been victims of infanticidal rage.

Morally right or wrong - a case of murder or manifestation of a woman's right to choose - the fact remains that the frequent use of abortion has eased the necessity for killing an infant after its birth.

http://www.infanticide.org/history.htm

Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants. Neonaticide, killing within 24 hours of a child's birth, is most commonly done by the mother whereas infanticide of a child more than one day old is slightly more likely to be committed by the father.^[1]

In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible. In some countries, female infanticide is more common than the killing of male offspring, due to sex-selective infanticide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide

 

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12th  November

today we went over the opening sequence to medea the nurse scene it is important to have his polished as we have to work in unison. i have made notes on my script to help my in future- sam has also said i need to watch what i do with my hands they need to relax.

  7th november social, cultural and historical research into the position of women in Ancient Greek society and how Medea fits into this.

• "Ownership" of women - who owned them? Did they not own themselves?
• Could a woman inherit property? If not, why not?
• What were the rights of a mother with regard to bringing up her children?
• What were the rights of a wife to get divorced?
• How does this information help you to understand Medea's behaviour in the play?

Write a paragraph each on the a day in the life of two women in Ancient Greece - one from a poorer family and one from a "royal" family. 

• What did they know? 
• What were they allowed / not allowed to do? 
• What big, civic events (political debates, play competitions, sporting events) would they go to?

Looking at the female roles in Medea - Nurse / Medea / Chorus.

• How could the actors playing them use this research to help their characterisation (voice, posture, movement)?
• How does this information reflect the characterisation of the male characters?

wemon in actient greek times were owned  by there husbands and fathers and zero right

• "Their father controlled them before they were married
• Their spouse controlled them once they were married"Once a woman was married her husband controlled all property. Any property that she might have inherited would go directly to her husband. She had no rights to wander about the town, without a just cause. Any respectable woman would not be seen in public. Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at all stages of their lives. Since men spent most of their time away from their houses, women dominated Greek home life. The wife was in charge of raising the children and making the families clothes. She supervised the daily running of the household. In a totally slave based economy plentiful numbers of female slaves were available to cook, clean and carry water from the fountain. Only in the poorest homes was the wife expected to do these duties by herself. Custom dictated that women should limit her time outside the home. Visiting with a female neighbor was really the only appropriate time for the woman to leave her indoor duties.To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door- this indicated a female baby. An olive branch indicated a boy had been born. Families did not always keep their new child. After a woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex (female for example), or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took the responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements. If the baby were accepted, there would be a celebration- given a name, and presented to the gods and goddesses. It was difficult for a woman to divorce her husband. Most divorces in ancient Greece were by the husband. If he chose to divorce her he would reject her in front of witnesses or merely send her back to her family home. Upon the divorce, the dowry would be returned and the children (if any) would remain with the father. Women would lose all rights to their children. If however, the woman had committed adultery the husband did not have to return the dowry. For a woman to divorce her husband she would have to endeavor to find an archon (and Athenian official) and provide good reasons for a divorce to be granted. A man, however, could put a stop to all this by simply confining the woman to the home. Athenian fathers had all rights to end the marriage, until the woman produced a child. Before that, he could brake up the marriage so that the woman could return home, or marry another man.
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• What did girls do?
  • They learnt to read- in school or at home
  • They learnt important household skills-spinning, weaving, sewing, cooking and other household jobs
  • Learnt simple facts on mythology, religion and occasionally musical instruments
  • Spent most of their time in her household with other women- only leaving the house to perform religious duties
  
  
• http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/ancientchix/ by
•  re hh

 by reading this information in how little rights women have it gives me a deep understanding of hard and frustrating it must have been for Medea character i can understand why she has no respect for men in the play from what i have read bout wemon having no rights i can understand how she wants to get revenge secondly the fact that wemon are not ment to have any rights to her children and they would go to jason anyay makes her killing her children not to strange for the times in acient greece  and in a way i no its a horrible concept i can understand how she would need to go to this extremes to stay with her children. this helped me see another point of view of how medea should be played her charecter is very sensitive.

2) Looking at the female roles in Medea - Nurse / Medea / Chorus - a) How could the actors playing them use this research to help their characterisation (voice, posture, movement)? b) How does this information reflect the characterisation of the male characters?
 medea usualy as a woman in acient  would be humble however  medea is a goddess and would be proud with how she moves her voice would be louud and hse wold stand tall howver a nurse who is a  sevant to medea would be quite low in the pile considering she is unmarried she would have no rights and i think her body language wouldd be humble like she is begging closed body language yet the fact she has the respect of medea means she has more room to be more confident and her body language would be more upright.

men would be powerful and stong in comparison to wemona and vocals would be stong and powerful with a casual open body language specially jason who would be cocky.,







 

5th and 7th november

today we did  walk slow stop the exercise intends for us to work as a group (chorus) we all started of walking at a normal pace then changing speed 1 the slows 5 the fasted once we were moving as one we had to the all together change our speeds in silence as a unison .we then did a activity called school of fish where one person instead of a whole group takes the lead . the person at the from leads and when they change direction the person then in front autonomously takes the lead.

what have i learnt from this - i have learnt that u have to be focused an quite for this excersie to work i also discovered the first exercises easier as i find letting someone else take control difficult. for my part of medea it well help me lead ad i am a goddess  i need to be assertive and in control.

 

comparison table

	The tempest (Elizabeth theartre )	Modern Shakespear Productions including ours	Medea (5th century BC Greece)	Modern greek theartre Including ours
stageing	See picture of the globe in blog the space was open other than were the rich sat wich was under shelter	We will be in a modern  theartre	See picture and info bellow	See picture
Audience	Variety middle class	Variety of  classes	Mainly men came to see the performance as wemon were expected to look after the children	College friends and arrange of the public  wemaon can come see the performance
Social Significance	Wemon were not aloud to perform and men played wemon	We are allowing wemon to play the wemon for example we have changed a king ot a female ceo as now in our time wemon have equal rights and have the same level of athority and power as men did back in shakespear times.	See blog	See blog
Cultural significance	Yes other playes simila in that time were by William shakespear aka Macbeth	the lion king wich is based on hamlet has been modernised into a animation film telling the story to children and new generation	See blog	See blog
Political significance	The conflict of power  and acceptance and calaban  is shown as a black person to show slavery	othello adrian leister	See blog	See blog

medea 22nd of october 

• size, shape and layout of Greek Theatres (feel free to annotate the diagram provided, but make sure you mention that you got it from the lesson. Also make sure your annotations are your own words)
• audience size and behaviour
• special rules about who goes where
• the biography of the character you are representing (What would their life have been like? You will cover this in more depth over Half Term when you will construct a more detailed character profile, but it would be good to get an overview of life for your character in Ancient Greece.)

-from worthing performing arts blog 

 the history of Greek threatres 

During the Hellenistic period, Lysimachus, king of Ephesus who was  one of the successors of Alexander the Great ,  who  is believed to have constructed the original theater in the early stages of the third B.C. this was also when , the first permanent skene or scene building was built . The theater was expanded, during the Roman period, by the early emperors Claudius, Nero, and Trajan.  it has been sed that The Apostle Paul  delivered a sermon here. The Theater of Ephesus was used until the 5th century A.D where unfortunately  it was damaged by an earthquake. - own words

the Theatron

the audience area of a Greek theater is called the theatron, wich is very simila to the word theatre this is the word originated from. the design allows all crowds to see the performers. Greek theatres are well known for there acoustics- the word audience referes to the property of hearing. not only this an average theartre was enormous  At one time the Dionysian theater held up to 14,000 people other big theartres could hold 15,000 viewers. - my own writing 

 it was known  If the people disliked what was being presented to them they might interrupt it by mocking the actors, yelling, or throwing food.  The spectators might also beat the wooden benches they were sitting on with their hands.  With this embarrassing possibility in mind, many playwrights tried to win over their audience through flattery and the distribution of small gifts. Although it was difficult to gain audience support at times, it may have been an easier task than gaining the people's attention.  The large crowds were extremely loud and probably did not notice when an actor stepped up on stage.  In order to get the spectators quieted down and ready for a performance, the actors had to do something interesting and outrageous.  For example, a comedic performer might tell jokes or tease people in the audience.  If there was more than one performer they might get the audience's attention through horseplay (ie. yelling, fake fighting, etc.).  Before a dramatic performance a prologue might be given by the playwright that explained the legend he was depicting.  The style of the opening depended largely upon the type of the play to be performed.

http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/architec/ancientarchitectural/greekarchitecture/greekbuilding/theater.htm

What the Audience Sat on

the first  performances probably had the audience  sat on the grass or stood on the hillside to watch the plays it soon evolved in to wooden benches . as time went on , the audience sat on benches cut from the rock of the hillside or some even  made of stone. Some prestigious benches towards the bottom might be covered with marble or otherwise enhanced but these were  for priests and officials aka there was a hierarchy . -These front rows seat are sometimes called proedria the prefered seating  and—front row center—to the high priest of Dionysus Thereabouts  including elaborate carving and a clearly marked inscription. - own words 

 . The prestige seat  were a few rows up, but they came a lot later on .here was also a special block of seats reserved for members of the boulê, the 500-member Executive Council of the Assembly. Ordinary citizens might have been assigned seats on the basis of the ten Attic tribes; theater tickets were often stamped with a Greek letter that apparently referred to a specific wedge of seats. The price of theater attendance was apparently two obols, equal to the wages an unskilled man might earn for a day's work. Athens had established a special fund, the Theoric Fund, to which any male citizen enrolled in a deme might apply to obtain the money for a theater ticket—a clear indication that attendance at the theatrical performances in the City Dionysia was considered a civic duty. Simon Goldhill describes how the seating in the Theater of Dionysus reflected the nature of Athenian society:http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tragedy_theater.html

Viewing the Performances

Seats were arranged in curving (polygonal) tiers, as you can see from the photo, so that the people in the rows above could see the action in the orchestra and on stage without their vision being obscured by the people beneath them. The curve followed the shape of the orchestra, so where the orchestra was rectangular, as the first may have been, the seats facing the front would be rectilinear as well, with curves to the side. (Thorikos, Ikaria, and Rhamnus may have had rectangular orchestras.) This isn't too different from the seating in a modern auditorium -- except for being outside. - own words 

Reaching the Upper Tiers

To get to the upper seats, there were stairs at regular intervals. This provided the wedge formation of the seats that is visible in ancient theaters.

the tempest

the history of theartre 

Theatre time - line

534 BC - Drama AS competition

550-630 BC - Greek Theatre

900-1500 - Mystery plays and morality plays

1500-1700 - Comedia dell'arte/Satire/Slapstick

1550-1642 - Revenge tragedy and Elizabethan theatre

1642-1660 - Puritans ban theatre

1660-1800 - Restoration comedy

1800-1880 - Melodrama

1880-1940 - Realism/Naturalism

1952-1965 - Theatre of the absurd

1976 - National theatre opens

review of the tempest

today we had our performance of the tempest where it was to be filmed in the rehearsal before hand i was told my character movement was Strong and physical and my projection was good.

what went well with the show - i kept focus and i felt my energy was strong for example when i jumped of the stage i landed wrong and id did actually really hurt myself  but as i was in character i did not show this in future if i was to do it again i would slow down my speech giving me more time to prepare for the jump properly, also i felt my character was even more clear than in my rehearsals and i reacted to having the camera on me i came alive my character was bigger and i felt more relaxed and more like arial for example  i added more arm movements and more giggling. as a group  i think we gave a energized performance and did well with the only short amount of time we had.

what i could improve in future - i think i could improve my timing of speech i could do this by slowing down and adding a few more pauses i will continue to add epthisis on different words.

the tempest 

we have have modernized the tempest by using guns instead of swords and our outfits match a futeristic eara  we have also changes the kinds charecter to a co firstly as we have a small amount of guys but because in our time wemon are now treated as equels and have the same level of power and authority.

spaces of the mind - rehersal diary 1st and the 3rd of octobre

in todays lesson we looked at ceicly berry and the spaces of the mind  we started of the lesson by standing in a circle and each picking a line from our scripts not only did this help me actually learn one of my lines as ariel it also helpwed me find the emthisis by doing actions and the speed we had to use when going round the circle helped me forget what i was saying enough for it tro role of the toungue we then had to walk around the room ans everytime we met a punctuation mark we had to change direction or sit down this really helped my find the flow of my  speech however i do feel my charecter wouldnt talk like every other person as she is a spirit creature i can imagine it being sing songy. at home i have another ceicly berry book wich really helped me to understand my text.

who is  cecley berry research 

Cicely Frances Berry CBE (born May 17, 1926) is the voice director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and is world-renowned in her work as a voice and text coach, having spent many years as an instructor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. She has conducted workshops all over the globe, including Korea, Russia, and Asia. Her work has also extended to prisons, using Shakespeare as a vessel to find confidence in speaking and response to imagery. One of her earliest teachers was Barbara Bunch. She stated her thoughts about her own work in New Theatre Quarterly saying that, “I see my job as intrinsically to do the following: (i) through exercises to open out the voice itself so that the actor finds her/his true potential – after all, do not singers train? (ii) by working on text – hearing and listening – to give the actor choice, and power over that choice” (1997, 48). She talks about being able to find pleasure in being articulate through Shakespeare and poetry. It puts actors in touch with their imagination, and therefore, can lead them to their own greater self-awareness. Cicely Berry’s exercises tend to be based on resistance and rougher, physical work. One of her favorite quotes is from Thomas Kyd’s play The Spanish Tragedy: “Where words prevail not, violence prevails.”
In addition to her extensive voice and text work in the theatre, she has also done significant work in film. Including serving as "dialogue coach" on The Last Emperor (1987); "dialogue coach" on Stealing Beauty (1996); and as "voice specialist" on Julie Taymor's 1999 film, Titus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicely_Berry

more lesson reviewing 

we then spent the rest of the lesson blocking the scnene "" with joe who played ferdinand and lindsy who played miranda (see picture of script) im playing arial 1.  scnenes starting to come together

what went well with this scene - we worked well as a group Adrian has suggested that i make my character more giggly i enjoyed my blocking and suggested to Adrian that i make my character seductive but still creepy i do this by dragging joe by the colla this also shows that im in charge and a higher power status, joeys character doesn't actually no im there and acts unaware of my actions.

the 24th and the 26th september

today we got used to the script the tempest  and read throught the scenes and we decided how we were going to contextualize it - we have decided to set it in the future we are using guns instead of swords and we are making the royals gangsters there costumes will be suit and tie  and they will use guns as swords now adays are not used and for  my character arial 1 will be dressed in a floaty dress similar to water. we tidied scene one the boat scene and started scene 2 after reading my character i new i wanted to base my character on the wiches from macbeth and make her quite creepy and for her to use a great deal of physical theartre.

what i need to improve on -
i need to work on my lines and understanding of the language and the meaning 

how i will do this
 i will do this by researching and re reading the text

what went well
i think my pysicallaiasion was really storng and im loving the blocking of my charecter . for example i start on the stage blocks staring down at prospero i like this because i felt that my charecter at this point believes she is in charge then  arial jumps from the stage blocks onto the floor centre stage laiughing histerically at first i was quite nervous about doing this but the more i rehersed it and saw how well it worked and how well it add to the maddness of my charecter i new i had to do it .

 

 

the globe theartre

  the poor people would be held in the open area in the center with no ceiling for protection from weather whereas the rich would have box seats with a ceiling above them. 

opening of the tempest our first full lesson

today we looked at the meeting scene were we have both ariels and prosperos entering discussing the plans ahead of them with the use of the music by skrillex the beat created a perfect opportunity to make it dance and helped with the timing of our characters. at first we started of with the ariels sperate and the prosperos we then decided to have the proseperos and the arials pair me with ben and beth with amber we decided to have the two plotting. the character playing prospero then takes over and controls us with hand movements that follows with our heads.
the movement in the circle we walked in  reminded me of making a spell/potion .

notes to do -
i need to be more eirie and creepy ill do this by getting lower to the ground and having a blank expression. when ben controls me.

19th septemeber

shakespeare contextualised for contemporary audiencesThen a sub-heading: Three examples of how Shakespeare plays have been adapted to suit modern audiences

hamlet 

has been modernized into lion king a child's adaptation with animals portraying the characters the colors are bright and colorful this is to entice a new audience still telling the story of shakespear.

its set in Africa its almost like a dream state utopia and the music sound score is light and fun creates emotions.

research of hamlet modernised 

, in mid-1994, Walt Disney Pictures released what could arguably be the best animated feature of all time in The Lion King.   with a closer inspection of the characters themselves do we see just how apparent these similarities are.

In The Lion King, the role of the young prince whose father is murdered is played by a cub named Simba, whose naivete procures him more than his fair share of hardships and troubles. By the acts in the story alone, one can see that Simba is a direct representation of Shakespeare's Hamlet Jr., but not only that, each of them shares similar actions in the play. Interpretations if Simba's actions are as profound as Hamlet's, particularly of why Hamlet delayed in exacting vengeance for his father's death (Harrison 236). Both Simba and Hamlet Jr. "delay" their action of retribution for their respective father's deaths. The loss of their paternal companion leaves Hamlet incredibly melancholy, and Simba without a royal teacher and father during his tender years. Each of them runs from their responsibility, although inside themselves they know what must be done: Hamlet attempts to validate his suspicions while Simba hides from his past. However, some have attempted to theorize that Hamlet's delay is due to his mental instability, his madness over the death of his father. Eliot refutes this, calling the characterization "a simple ruse, and to the end, we may assume, understood as a ruse to the audience" (62). Simba exhibits this same behavior, venting his feelings in mournful retaliation against responsibility, most notably when his childhood friend Nala attempts to persuade his to return to the Pride Lands. This delay between our characters adds a more haunting effect between the two works. It's surprising that today's audiences can be so moved by themes that were first implemented in literature almost four hundred years before.

Similarly, the characters of Hamlet Sr. and Mufasa bear a striking resemblance to one another, not only in their actions, but their meanings as well. Hamlet Sr., the once king of Denmark, ruled his kingdom in peace and prosperity, evident in the conversations in Act I, Scene I between Marcellus and Horatio about the creations of implements of war in Denmark under the new king, Claudius. Mufasa, too, ruled peacefully over the Pride Lands, only worrying about his son and his responsibilities. But, after their deaths, they each become more than the kings they once were. They become the heralds for thir sons, compelling them to avenge their deaths and take responsibility for what their uncles have done. Each deceased king approaches his son in the same way: via an apparition that gives a direct, if not opaque, monologue driving their princes to action, and each ghost leaves the interpretation of their messages open to their sons. Neither Hamlet Sr. or Mufasa tell their respective sons directly to destroy their murderers, although Hamlet Sr. does name the perpetrator directly, it is Hamlet that decides that action must be taken. It is this direct allusion of one major character with an integral part in advancing the work to another that helps solidify Shakespeare's influence as a writer of great literature.

But it isn't just the protagonists that allude to one another; the villians in both The Lion King and Hamlet can be directly and similarly compared to one another. Both Scar, from TLK and Claudius, from Hamlet, are brothers of the king, murder their sibling to ursurp the throne, and take their brother's wife as their queen (There is no direct proof of this conjecture for Scar, but since Scar calls upon Sarabi, the former mate of King Mufasa, in The Lion King to report on the status of the Pride Lands, it stands to reason that she is Queen of Pride Rock.). It is not so much the characterizations of the characters in this instance than the actions that provide proof of how Shakespearean literature invokes writers today. Claudius, at first, appears satisfied by his deeds, enjoying the life of a king, parading around to view his belongings, wedding his own brother's wife, and holding banquets in his own honor, all the while preparing for war with a neighboring Scandinavian country. Scar revels in his ill-gotten spoils as well, allowing his hyannic henchmen to hunt the Pride Lands to practical defoliation while he reclines in the pride's cave, tormenting his majordomo Zazu and eating more than his fair share of the kills. Scar, like Claudius, grossly exploits his new-found power and drives his kingdom into war. But here is were the similarity begins to diverge. In Hamlet, we see Claudius repenting for his sins against his brother, repealing the fact that he comitted that heinous deed and begging forgiveness from his Lord. Scar, on the other hand, never once doubts his actions, and goes with them to their final conclusion. Scar even goes as far as to taunt the prince, Simba, has he hangs of the precipice of Pride Rock: "And now here's my little secret. I killed Mufasa!" One could argue that the act of confessing to the crimes is an additional parallel between the characters, but their motives for doing so are not alike. Claudius is making an attempt to repent for the sin cast upon his soul, while Scar is bawdily declaring his cleverness over his kind-hearted yet naieve brother.

With the major characters in both works aside, the similarties between secondary characters in The Lion King and Hamlet are still quite striking. The insight of one work in another is so deep that The Lion King goes as far to allude Hamlet's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with Timon and Pumbaa. A comparison here, if not the greatest comparison, is the fact that both pairs of characters in both works are provided as relief from the main focus of the stories. Timon and Pumbaa provide a welcome resort from his responisbilities and hauntings of his past by introducing him to the carefree life of "Hakuna Matata", while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern allow the audience to know that Prince Hamlet does enjoy a life outside of the royal house, mingling with fellow scholars-to-be and friends. However, Hamlet's friends are charged by his nemesis, Claudius, to bring Hamlet before the King on numerous occasions. There is no direct evidence that Timon and Pumbaa are in the employment of Scar, nevertheless, the sidekick pair in TLK provide a very similar function, whether they realize it or not. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a constant reminder to Hamlet about the revenge that must be exacted upon Claudius by being messengers to the mournful prince whenever Claudius needs them to be. By locating Hamlet and announcing that the king wishes to have court with him, they play an important role in the foreward progress of the play, and the downward spiral of Hamlet's sadness. Timon and Pumbaa, similarly, at one time attempt to procure their leonine friend's past from his memory. Simba falters, at first, his carefree life shattered by the memories of what brought him to the jungle in the first place. But when he finally gives in and tells them when his own father entrusted him too, Timon and Pumbaa laugh uproariously, disbelieving what they hear. But it is this jogging of Simba's memory at the prodding of Timon and Pumbaa that moves the story onward, and brings Simba's melancholy back to him. And when the past finally becomes fully clear to Timon and Pumbaa with the arrival of the lioness Nala, they not only attempt to bring Simba to his senses in their own blunt, of not comical, way, they attempt to confront him and make him face his past. They fail in this, but they still bring to Simba's mind the events in his childhood, and the pain that it brought to him. Although Timon and Pumbaa had no intention of doing so, they performed the same act of reminding the main character of their responsibility to their father, and to their kingdoms that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern did to Hamlet Jr.

Another secondary character to the protagonist and antagonist are the respeactive queens of each work, Sarabi from The Lion King and Gertrude from Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. Each of them are nearly complete mirror images of one another, each having the same place in the social hierarchy, equal amounts of power over their kingdoms, and emotional ties to the main protagonists of the stories. Sarabi is the Queen of Pride Rock, leader of the lionesses since the reign of King Mufasa. Although sheis not the reason Scar usurped the throne from his brother, it is a near certainty that she has stayed on as Queen because she is quite adept at her duties. Gertrude, likewise, is adept at her duties as well, although they take on a quite different task than Sarabi. She is mainly for show, for Claudius to own and adorn with his newly gotten wealth. Both Sarabi and Gertrude are Queens, but both show little or now power over their subjects. Sarabi is nearly killed by Scar when she dares to question one of his decisions, which shows the place of the lionesses in the pride: pawns in Scar's quest for power. Any deviation from being simple huntresses results in pain, and perhaps death at the paws of Scar and his multitude of hyenas. Gertrude, too, never appears to order anyone, although she certainly has the capacity to do so. She, instead plays the weakened queen, doing as her husband bids her and plaintively bending to Claudius's will. But even though these similarities are surprisingly close for non-primary characters, it is their emotional connection to their sons that spurns the stories along. Gertrude's marriage to Claudius enrages Hamlet to no end, driving him more and more out of his delay to act upon his father's death. It is her willing forgetfulness of her former husband that pushes Hamlet to the brink, their emotional bond that pains them both to ends that he must act on, and she tries deeply to hide. Sarabi, too, has such an effect on her son Simba. When Nala finds Simba, and realizes that he is not dead, as Scar had said, she is enthralled and wonders aloud about the feelings of his mother. This has a noticable affect on Simba. He recoils, the responsibility that he believes is his is once again thrust upon him, and the thought of his mother's feelings towards his past deeds sends him further into sadness, furthering the story. And when Simba does return to Pride Rock, he is enraged when he sees how Scar is treating his mother, just as Hamlet is enraged at how Claudius treats his mother as well. In a way, it is the queen in eack work that adds to the deep melancholy of the main characters and drives them to action.

Although much of modern entertainment may look like new entertainment on the surface, if we probe deeply enough, we can find connections to some of the greatest literature of all time. Shakespeare is probably one of the most influential writers of all time, if not all time, and his greatest works, not limited to Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, are the basis of many stories written today. His plays are continuously redone and reperformed, his sonnets quoted in many a song and story, his histories the basis of many school lessons, and his influences are more than profound in many cases, and in the case of The Lion King, those influences are the basis of the story, not only of the main protagonist and antagonist, but of secondary characters as well. Modern entertainment may have lost much of its roots, but comparisons such as these may well prove the old axiom: "There is no new literature being written, only old literature, redone."

http://www.lionking.org/text/Hamlet-TM.html

macbeth the estate 

'Macbeth On The Estate' is a contemporary version of a Shakespeare play this version   is set on a Council Estate in Birmingham.in this version it is so relevant to what is happening in peoples lives at the moment .  the 'great battle' that Macbeth is fighting in  the opening scene  is very similar to a 'gang war' of course the original Macbeth would not have been able to use guns . i like the idea that  they murder they're enemy, in the opening scene in a car and  chucking petrol over him basically they burn him alive  this is something  that is very common in this modern day and age and not to much of a surprise when including gangs . They chose  this form of death because its so barbaric and fore is more acceptable now a days and this message is more likely to get through to an audience . this versions choice of costume is very different to what would have been seen in the original for example the use of steryotypes in  'Macbeth on the Estate' the characters are quite 'chavvy' and look scruffy  a stereotype of a "gang" the director backs this up by using the tower block on the council estate it reinforces what society id like today . i feel  the directer did this so its more acceptable to a modern day audience as council estates are familiar.

the characters are shown to be violent and not very acceptable to change and other people  instead of the use of the swords they use baseball bats . the reason of this is for a modern audience it makes the story line more realistic as swords are never seen these days other than in a museum or a period film or drama . and audience may not understand all the dialogue but will be able to understand though the actors physical actions . there is also actors of different ethnicity this would not have been seen in the original production i believe this is done to show that now as a community we should be more acceptable to different ethnicity .