Lesson 3, Multimedia Monday 16th March

Search online, a "Multimedia Theatre Production" and find a YouTube clip taken from the piece. Watch it and reflect on the following question:

"Within a Theatre production, how does the use of multimedia help in its communication to an audience? What does it add to the piece?"

The production I have decided to reflect on is a piece called "Selfie" which was performed at the National Theatre. The multimedia used was a variety of sound effects, music, lighting and a projector. The sound effects were used to help communicate to the audience as they  enhanced certain points of the play- for example a key scene where the protagonist gets into a very emotional, angry state, she starts to throw objects around the stage. The sound effects are used to enhance the crashing and smashing of these objects, which is effective as it allows the actors anger to be intensified for the audience through the loud, violent sound effects. The music used also help to communicate with the audience as it was used for transitions. As a scene was coming to an end, an actor on stage would start to sing, and then a backing track would come in and the lights would start to strobe, and then the next scene would quickly come into place. This would only happen when a 'party' scene was about to begin, so the use of music and lights combined helped to communicate to the audience that there was about to be a dramatic shift in scenes. The juxtaposition between the party scenes and the other scenes was demonstrated by the use of multimedia within the performance. Furthermore, throughout the play a projector was used to portray images that were suitable for certain scenes. At the start of the play, the character picked up her Ipad, and as she clicked on a photo of herself, the photo came up on the projector that was visible for the whole audience to see. What I thought was extremely clever was as the play went on, we see character development with the protagonist; at first she is a favorite, relatable character, but she eventually becomes an unlikable, spiteful character. As we see this happening, the image on the screen (that is ever-present throughout the play) starts off as a beautiful photo of the protagonist, but eventually ends up as a twisted, distorted image of the character by the end of the play. I loved the use of the projector as it communicated to the audience in a visual sense just how much the protagonist had changed and developed into something unlikable throughout the play. 

In total, I think that Multimedia adds to performances as it enhances important aspects, whilst allowing the audience to have their own interpretation of the piece as well. In ‘Selfie’ the Multimedia was fantastic to demonstrate juxtaposition, to enhance certain aspects of the play, and to show a visual representation of character development.

Additional work:

Find a review of a multimedia theatre production and see what Theatre critics have to say.  

In the holiday's I went to see the play The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. The play was rich in utilizing Multimedia, so i have decided to look at what a theatre critic has to say about it.  

"Simon Stephens has done an expert job of translating Haddon’s writing into absorbing theatre. Instead of slavishly reproducing the book’s detail, he captures its spirit with silvery fluency. And while the depiction of Asperges syndrome is sensitive, it’s not the whole story."

"The complexities and peculiarities of his worldview are expressed through Bunny Christie’s magical design. Evoking the strange algebra of Christopher’s thought processes, it allows us to see him as if from the inside. The walls are his personal storage cabinets, yet as the set is spattered with imagery it comes to resemble a genius’s laboratory.

Confronting the chaos of daily life, he is troubled by sounds, metaphors and unfriendly colors." - Henry Hitching's

Lesson 2, Exploring the text pt. 2

Antigone and Creon

In the lesson today we focused on exploring the relationship between Antigone and Creon. In the same way that we explored the relationship between Antigone and Ismene, we started off in pairs (my partner was Ella) and we then shared our work to the class. Watching different partners explore the relationship between Antigone and Creon was interesting as I noticed in various scenes that anyone that was playing Creon would start off with an aggressive and brazen assurance which would then spark the character Antigone to grow increasingly more angry towards the situation. Both characters within the scene are very stubborn and both hold beliefs that they won't go against. Whilst Creon tried to persuade Antigone to drop her idea of burying her brother and to respect the city's laws, Antigone does not try to persuade Creon to spare her life. She is aware of her consequences due to her actions and does not want to be demeaned by Creon. Regularly, Creon  addresses Antigone's gender and blames her behavior just because she is a woman; he does so to reinforce status between the two that Antigone actively refuses to acknowledge. 

The scene linked to the historical context we had discussed in the lesson as the scene reflects how women were treated within Greek theatre and the importance of the consequences of our actions. Antigone is aware of her consequences but remains stubborn, in despite of Creon. 

"I don't care. There's no greater glory than this for me....everyone here would cheer me, if fear didn't silence them." I feel that she's trying to assure herself of this, because she is afraid that Creon will make her see the error of her ways, and then all this rage and pain will be for nothing. 

Lesson 2, Exploring The Text

Ismene And Antigone

In the lesson we explored the scene between Antigone and Ismene. When exploring the scene out main focus was recognizing the relationship between Antigone and her sister Ismene. We explored the characters practically by getting into pairs and reading the script together. Often me and my partner (Alex) would switch roles to see which we worked best with individually. I ended up playing the part of Ismene. We then shared these to the class, which was interesting to see how different pairs had interpreted the relationship between the two sisters. Alex and I discussed the difference in status between Antigone and Ismene, which also helped us break down how we were going to play our scene. We agreed that Antigone was a brave, strong character that wouldn't allow her sister to disprove her morals. Whilst Ismene was generally less determined and passionate about her beliefs for the gods, she wasn't afraid to let Antigone know how she felt about her plan to go against the law. I think that Ismene cares deeply about her sister and wants to protect her, we can tell this by the phrases "Dear sister" and "My poor sweet Antigone" however I think that Antigone interprets Ismene's kindness as a weakness. In total, I believe that the relationship between the sisters is a situation where Ismene depends on Antigone more than Antigone depends on her sister Ismene. 

This scene links to the historical context that was shared throughout the lesson as  we learnt that play writers would create characters that would try and be morally just (to do the right thing) but would be faced with challenges and make mistakes. This is like our protagonist Antigone- she dismisses her sisters care as disloyalty whilst trying to earn respect from the Gods. 

Lesson 2, Women In Greek Theatre

"In Greek Theatre, women were sometimes seen... but definitely not heard" 

After watching the video on Women In Greek Theatre by the National Theatre, here are my notes and idea's about the topic. The video was highly informative and gave me a greater insight into how exactly Women were restricted within the society of the era. A few Greek Theatre plays touch up on issues like these, for example Antigone and Medea.

Women were not allowed to watch or perform in Greek Theatre plays, but Sophocles created strong female characters, although the plays were being performed to a society and a social hierarchy that treated women as an underclass. Plays such as Antigone, Electra and Medea show women with huge personalities, great strength and great intelligence that would fight back against the patriarchy. It is extraordinary how many of powerful women there are within the Theatre of Ancient Greece despite the highly common misogynistic beliefs that took place within Ancient Greece. Even though women did not necessarily have a political voice and were not often allowed out of the house, they would have been recognized as key roles for the city. They created children and were relied on for organizing the cities religious festivals. 

Within Greek Tragedy's, we see the tension between recognizing Women are important, and needing to control and subdue women. The play Women of Troy features strong intelligent women which deals with the issues of how women were treated in war and how women deal with the loss of their children and husbands. It is possible to argue that when the play was first performed, being a women wasn't the issue- it was more about people who were on the margins of society and people who didn't have a voice in the Government. For the Athenians, unless you were a white male over the age of 30 with a fair amount of money, you had no say in how things were run within the city. So, some could argue that the women in that play were just a representative for those who don't have a voice. Therefore, I believe that women within Greek theatre were constructed in a way that showed if women were to overcome the typical gender role then she could be aware of her capabilities and intelligence, dis-enabling a man's hold over a woman.

Lesson 2, Social Context of Antigone

What do we mean by the social context?

Social context is mainly about how the play relates to the world around it, for example what was happening politically at the time of the play, how society worked etc.I t relates to the world it was conceived in, and how it relates to an audience now. 

How did people live at the time Antigone was created?

War was common in Ancient Greece, especially between states, however many people had started to appreciate the arts, for example theatre and music. Also, a democracy within Greece had been introduced at the time that Antigone was created.

Who was the target audience for the piece?

Although men were the only ones allowed to watch Theatre, the fact that the protagonist was a Woman would not have appealed to men. In ancient Greece women were given very few rights, and were expected to stay at home and bear children, therefor having a woman as the strong leading role would be unheard of in Ancient Greece. In despite of this, the play would still appeal to the target audience as Sophocles touches on the themes of war within states, and most of the audience could relate to this as they were most probably soldiers.

What were the needs, values and beliefs of the target audience?

A typical job for a man in Greece at the time would be either a farmer, politician or a soldier. At least 25% of the population were slaves, and did most of the manual labour that added to the growing economy.

How did this influence the themes and characters of Antigone?

I think that Sophocles intended to defy the stereotypes of Women by creating the character such as Antigone- a strong woman who has her own morals that could not be changed by a man. Women in Ancient Greek would not posses this kind of ideology, so it would be a shock to the all- male audience.

What have you found out about the social context of Antigone? Think about what was going on at the time that Sophocles wrote the play. 

Greek Gods were highly important in Greek society, and many people were devout to their religion. Sometimes, religion would intervene with philosophy and law, just like  in Antigone. Socrates- a great philosopher, was killed because of his religious beliefs as they did not comply with society's rules which is similar to the situation between Antigone and Creon. 

Who went to the theatre?

Armies visited the theatre, and would sit together.Priests sat at the front of the auditorium (closest to the stage) along with the societal leaders, whilst the general public would sit in the seats furthest away from the pit, which was the equivalent of a stage.

What was the relationship between theatre, politics and religion? 

Greek Theatre would often be about the Gods as they were important to Greek society. Tragedy plays were often aimed to force the audience to make a choice- what would they do if they were in the characters position? Antigone, for example, questions weather to abide by religion and the gods, or to accept the law of the city and abide by this, no matter if it is against religion. Theatre was also a place to discuss society, which would be interesting due to the contrast in audience members (priests and politicians). If the audience were against the themes of the play, it would be labelled as inappropriate.

Lesson 2, Current Events

What was happening when Antigone was created?

Antigone was written in 441 BC.This was known as "The Golden Age".  The Golden Age of Pericles after the end of the Persian wars. The Golden Age is the term used to denote the historical period in Ancient Greece lasting roughly from the end of the Persian Wars in 448 BC to either the death of Pericles 429 BC or the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. 

Was its creation influenced by any specific historical events?

441 BC Antigone was written and Sophocles was made a general that would lead the attack on Samos, who had been revolting against Athens since 440 BC. The cities and the allies of the opponents sparked a feud that led to the Peloponnesian War, which could have reflected the war that Sophocles writes about in Thebes, which is responsible for the death of Antigone's brothers. Also, philosophy was becoming popular, and the new views clashed with religious beliefs, which can also be found in the play, in which Antigone's religious beliefs for the Gods cause her to go against the King.

 The "Golden Age" ^