Comparison of Classical and Contemporary Theatre & Performances

The Greek arenas were built on hills to allow the sits to be curved in so that people could sit and hills increased the sitting capacity while making it possible for them to curve the stones. Modern theatres are built on flat ground mainly in towns because transport is more accessible and we no longer need the sound benefits of building our theatres on hills. Modern theatres also have a roof over them for better insulation and to allow the shows to be put up all year round because the weather can cause shows to be postponed even worse in this country where its just about always raining.

The masks were a huge part of the original performances because there was a large audience and the actors facial expressions would have not been enough. We did not use masks for our production however we did use them in the workshop for classical theatre.Athens capacity was 14000 which was also part of the genius architectural design they had going on where in our performance we had less than hundred people in the audience. For our performance we did not have food thrown at us by the audience which is something that would have been normal back in the ancient Greek theatre production.

The number of people attending the theatre has significantly dropped because people now have different ways to access entertainment for example the media plays a big part of how we receive our entertainment which is something they did not have access to back in the Greek days. People can use the internet or television to access entertainment or attend sporting events like football matches.

Women and working class people can now attend the theatre and can also act. this was something that was not accessible to the Greek society but society has now changed and the introduction of human rights means that the female and working class can enjoy theatre. This is another difference between our production and how it would have been originally performed as we had a mixture of audience and female actors.

The theatre productions were used as part of the entertainment in the celebration of the gods back in the Greek days. Religion played a big part in their society in contrast to the modern British society therefore the plays had a lot of religious influence which explains the trend of having the protagonist trying to restore the law of the gods in the dysfunctioning  family. Modern theatres don't tend to put up productions that have a huge religious influence because religion is dwindling in the United Kingdom therefore they would not get a big turn up to see the film which affects the sales and profit the theatre would make.

Another difference from the original performance of Electra back in Athens to our production is the comfort of the seats provided. Back in the Greek society people did not have to pay to enter the theatre whereas nowadays one has to pay to enter the theatre. The rise of the entry requirements to see theatre has enabled theatres to increase the comfort for their customers in contrast to the original performances where they had stone sits.

There are numerous differences between classical and modern theatres however there are some things we have kept from the Greek for example most theatre settings are semi circle shaped which helps improve the acoustics in the theatre.

Comparison between the Old Vic and the Sealight Productions + Electra Review

Our final performance was almost the opposite of how they performed it because we cut on having Electra as the one on the right by emphasising some of her mother's lines that showed her other side. My character of the old man changed a lot when I went to see it because after receiving the script I had the initial idea of having a literal old man however their old man wasn't the stereotypical old man that comes with wise words in most Greek plays and that is something I liked therefore I kept that which went well with the idea of making a modern interpretation of the play. The modern concept influenced the originality of our play because it affected most factors of the play but the language for example costume. My character was wearing smart casual which was a black shirt and black jeans with black shoes which is something an old man would have worn in his youth days but it is something our audience can relate to because most of them were college students. The modern context mad things easier because I could relate to the character more without having to worry about how one would have reacted to things back in the ancient Greek times therefore I had more confidence in playing the role. To add to that development I researched a modern version of the play to understand in more detail what was going on which help me a lot with my character development. As the confidence grew I started to come off my comfort zone and put on the classical stage accent which allowed me say the words better because they we written for that time period.  To help me understand the context of the play I scribbled out mini paragraphs for the main characters on how they are portrayed in the play and how I think they may feel as demonstrated earlier with both sides of the character of Clytemnestra. Another thing I added to my character was a slow pace to reflect his age and also to help the audience understand what I was saying because I rushed a bit during the Faustus performance and had noted that as something to improve on in the next classical performance.





Electra review :

After the play was explained to us in the workshop I felt I it went better than it would have because I don't think that if I had not known the background information I would have picked up a positive from the play. I thought that the play was too slow paced and too much attention was given to the character of Electra because in the opening of the play she too many things to say which dropped the tempo. if I was the director I would have cut her lines in the beginning and increased them as the play went on because that allows the audience to create a relationship with the character instead of them switching off because she has one too many things to say in one go. Another thing that I would have changed was the actor playing Electra because she looked older than her mother and I am not sure if that is down to the make up artist or if she was simply too old for the character. having said those negativities I was very impressed with the staging which summarised the current situation going on in this home and it worked well with the other scenes because it looked like the old man and Orestes were walking through a desert which maintaining a setting of someone's home. The tree was a main feature of the setting because it was symbolic and was used as a prop. Electra referred to her father as an oak and it so happened that they had an oak tree that was half cut down which foreshadowed restoration of order because unless you cut the roots off the tree will grow back up again which was a cool feature they had. The costumes for the main ladies in the play were super on point because there was a huge contrast between Electra and her mother which enforced that there was conflict in the house. The play went on forever therefore if I was directing it I would have chopped off some bits or add a bit of music or dance to pick it up a bit instead of the constant same levels shown in the performance we saw at the Old Vic. their lighting was pretty much a white wash which they maintained throughout which I respect because they kept it simple but for the modern generation I think that I would have played around with the lighting a bit more. overall there were pros and cons from watching the performance but it was a valuable experience which put the cast in a better position to perform the play.

 

 
 

Post Performance Analysis of Faustus

Classical theatre

For this assignment we were put in pairs we were put in pairs at random and I was paired with Sophie. After our piece feedback stated that we had good use of the space which was an improvement for us because in the first showing we struggled to move around therefore we wanted to pay attention to our spacial awareness. Good spacial awareness resulted in our performance not being static which allowed us to focus on other things. We had good clarity which made it easier for the audience to understand the Shakespearean english, this went well with us not being nervous because it allowed us to slow the piece down in contrast to other groups who rushed their performances making it harder for the audience to understand what they were saying.  


This was not a devised piece therefore the learning of lines was crucial however I didn't have all my lines learnt because I thought the assignment was being filmed a week later. Both myself and Sophie had not fully learnt the script therefore we decided we had to furthermore cut some lines from the script, this was challenging because we had to balance having less lines with not taking out too many lines that our final script made no sense. in the end we did come up with a shortened version of what we were originally going to perform and leaned those lines by heart in a small time frame , this falls under both our strength and weaknesses because on one side we did learn the lines and didn't freeze on the stage like other groups did, for example in one pair one of them didn't learn their lines which lead them to an awkward pause, in another group where the other member of the pair had to improvise because the other person had not learnt the lines.


Our performance went well but could have been better if we had learnt our lines earlier because that would have enabled us to focus on other factors of our performance.


In contrast to the other groups our characters did not clearly show who had more power because our interpretation was that a dealer and the one buying are both equally important in a drug deal scene because without the other the deal would not be possible. I think that our interpretation was good however we could have enforced the idea that they were both in power by playing around with levels for example when they first meet in the scene both of them would have been in the same level because it implies that they both need something the other one has.

Preparation for Dr Faustus

16-09-14

Faustus - for the preparation for the audition we got to choose one of the five options provided. I chose choice five (act 5 scene 1) for my audition because I didn't know anything about the storyline and I found choice five the easiest to picture in my head on how I would stage it. in the lesson we read through all five choices and did a bit of analysis which helped a lot because I was finding difficulties with some of the Shakespearian language. we also got to know more about the storyline which helped me get a better understanding of where my character would put emphases on the script which also gave me ideas how to stage it. my character doesn't have a name but it says 'old man' this helps me picture what he looks like ,how he would walk, tone of his voice. in classic plays old men have been known to be wise and give warnings to those in power for example Sophocles has a character of an old man who come to warn the king to change his ways in Antigone. Faustus is similar to 'Creon' because after gaining power he became arrogant and thought he was unstoppable and also went against the 'sweet saviour' mentioned by the old man. the key points that I learnt from this lesson was the story line. I found out that Faustus was an academic who sold his soul to the devil for a bit of pleasure and from the context this was in a time where people took religion very serious which is enforced by the character of the 'old man' by the use of word like 'celestial ;mercy ;grace and soul'

Electra Themes & Context

The issues that people faced in Shakespearean times and even in ancient Greek we still face them today which is why the themes are important in a play because that is the issue that the playwright in questioning society on therefore the game doesn't change because the players do.


Freedom is one of the themes that the author looks at in the play for example Electra is waiting for her freedom to be realised from the 'cage' which is her mother's ruling over her . Her freedom comes when her brother gets the revenge they have been seeking, and on the other hand her mother's freedom is to be fear free of the return of Orestes which comes with the news of Orestes death from the old man.  


Sophocles explores the theme of conflict by juxtapositioning the character of Electra with her mother who have different views of what is just. Electra hates her mother for killing her father which is understandable and I think we would all hate to be in that house and to make things worse her mother marries the man who does the dirty work for Electra's mother.


From Electra's point of view her Mother kills her Father so she can bring home another man however on the other side of the coin no one wants to be lonely.


Electra's first line is 'Ah me, ah me! ' which instantly get the attention of the audience then she says 'how often have ye heard the strains of my lament...' which instantly put the audience on her side. I think that the audience draws the quick conclusion that Electra's Mother is the antagonist, a trend we see in a lot of Sophocles tragedies. In her defence later in the script she says 'a mother may be wronged, but she never learns to hate her child.'


In another of Sophocles play's, Antigone we see an example of when a character seems to be in the wrong because of their actions, Creon decides that his brother should be left to perish because he fights at war against him. He may be in the wrong however he was next in line for the throne and I think if that was you in that situation your point of view of this character may differ because just maybe he took those actions not to look weak in front of the nation.


I disagreed with Creon not allowing his own bloodline to be buried however I am not sure how I would have felt if my friend had fought against me let alone my own blood because its that would be him betraying me. Having learnt not to be biased the mother of Electra doesn't look so bad because I don't know how I would react if the person I am married to sacrifices our child,  I cant think of any good reasons where that can be acceptable because everyone should the right to live.


Sophocles prefers to present an ambiguous question in may of his plays, which is interesting because the performance we watched in London was biased to Electra's side. The director had decided to emphasise how bad Electra is treated by her mother. The decision may have been for various reasons, for example it may have been because he had an actress in mind to play the part therefore he gave her a bigger part. Kristen Scott Thomas is well known in the industry therefore people would want to attend the performances of the play, which means they sell more which then benefits everyone in the production.


Where there is drama there has to be conflict and conflict drives this play whoever there are other themes explored in the play for example there is the theme of revenge and also honour shown in the play as Electra says she mourns in her father's honour and Orestes prays to finish his mission to restore honour and take his place in the house which adds pride to the picture and many other themes which the playwright explores thought the other characters.


The language proved to be a bit of a challenge therefore to help us tackle this we had a workshop on classical theatre and performed Faustus in the lead up to Electra. We learnt a bit of the background story of the play which gave me a rough idea on the characters then we went to see it performed at the Old Vic  which then put some ideas on how we were going to do it.

cats Review and research

 A few weeks before we were told about the audition we went in pairs and rehearsed to perform our interpretation of a dance piece called rush. For the research for Rush I looked at what choreography is and it all starts with a stimulus which can be auditory , textual or visual. To start my solo audition I used images as my stimulus because getting going was something I found very difficult. In lesson we were taught some jazz techniques some of which I kept and included in my solo after playing around with the speed from which we were taught to make sure my audition was unique just in case someone in the class used the same dance move as me in their choreography. During rehearsals I struggled a bit to focus and get on with my work because there were other students in the room and some seemed to have made a lot more progress than I had therefore that put me down a bit however I used most of that time doing research into street jazz which I thought was my strong point. For some time I had a solid 1 minute street jazz piece which I was proud of because I was playing to my strengths and not trying out new things. The images below are the ones that caught my attention during research.

Even though I had a minute worth of choreography I was a bit unhappy with my finished product because I didn't input enough of the research into my choreography. I remembered that you can have different types of stimulus therefore I decided to try out using the music from cats as my stimulus. After the improvisation I found myself creating still images that I had found in my research about cats. I then included some dynamics to link the still images that i created for example in the rush piece I used cartwheels to get from point at to b therefore i decided to build up on that because the rush workshops were the foundation of developing choreography.


REVIEW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr7Uxllaxwc

I think that the performance went well because I found myself struggling to come up with a start to the piece when we first started. In my choreography I explored a lot of choreographic devices to try and improve and extend the quality and quantity of my audition. To begin with I put together the movements I liked from the jazz lessons we had because the performance had to be jazz related. I then linked this project to my previous dance projects and went through the process of playing around with choreographic devices like reputation and fragmentation. I also played around with the pace at which I was performing and though of different levels because cats are always moving around and creating different freeze frames. This allowed me to have a minute and a half worth of material , I then decided to develop my piece focusing on street jazz because street dance is on my strengths in contrast to the cats dance style. adding in some street moves allowed me to have a full audition which I was happy about at first then I thought that I hadn't challenged myself enough therefore I started watching some clips from the musical. I enjoyed what I saw therefore I started to try out a few for example I practised the leaps which I showed to my friends. They liked what I was putting on display and one of them suggested that I do some floor work to contrast the leaps. I then played around with some floor work , some of it I was taught by the teacher in lesson and some of it I found in some videos related to the play. At this point my new piece was starting to come together therefore I decide to stay behind and use the dance studio after college. Listening to the music over and over again I started to improvise and ended up with some moves that we see in the final piece like the cartwheels which allowed me to travel from A to B which including concern for the space I had to perform. Trying out the new moves was paying off and I decided to include some street moves from the previous choreography because I didn't want to put all that effort to waste plus the street moves added to making my performance unique to the rest because we were all taught the same things in class and were likely to have similar final performances which is something I wanted to avoid.

wagwan

in todays lesson we discussed political issues that affect our lives and how we hear about them. the tree i picked were addiction , teenage pregnancy and increase in transport fees because they have affected my daily life. after the discussion we got to choose a character out of a policeman, celebrity , MP and baraster then create another character that has an opposing point of view to get us to write a persuasive piece.  i chose the celebrity and decided to adda reporter who was going to oppose the celebrity.