Sophocles was born in 495 BC in Colonus, a
village a mile north of Athens. His father was a man of wealth and stature and
was, accordingly, able to provide his son with the benefit of a rounded and
far-reaching education. That education included instruction in poetry, music,
and dance. Sophocles’ education produced immediate results; at the age of
sixteen, he was chosen to lead the chorus that celebrated the Greek victory at
Salamis. Then, at twenty-eight, in his first competition, his play took first
prize, defeating even the renowned dramatist Aeschylus, who was thirty years
his senior. This victory marked the commencement of a dramatic career that
produced 180 plays, of which unfortunately only 7 have survived intact.
Sophocles proved himself one of the great
innovators of theatre, adding to the improvements that Aeschylus had already
made in the field of tragedy. He introduced a third actor to the stage,
abbreviated the choral components of Greek drama, and more fully developed the
tragedy's moments of dialogue. Importantly, Sophocles was the first to abandon
the trilogy form. Other dramatists, such as Aeschylus, had previously used
three tragedies to tell a single story. Sophocles, however, chose to make each
tragedy its own entity. As a result, he had to pack the complete action of a
story into a compressed form, which afforded new and uncharted dramatic
possibilities.
Sophocles’ language, though sometimes
characterized by harsh words or complicated syntax, was for the most part grand
and elaborate. He was careful to avoid both the immensely complex wording that
typified the work of Aeschylus and the ordinary diction of Euripides. He paid
unprecedented attention to the spectacular effects of the play, insisting upon
including meticulously painted scenery that was to be properly and purposefully
placed. Sophocles was also of a profoundly religious temperament, with a deep
reverence for his gods, but without any strains of crude superstition. In many
of his plays, he grapples with his country's sacred myths, examining them from
the point of view of the diligent artist and pondering their relation to the
struggles of humanity.
Electra
is widely considered to be Sophocles’ best character drama due to the
thoroughness of its examination of the morals and motives of Electra herself.
After Electra's father, King Agamemnon, returns from the Trojan War, his wife,
Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, murder him. Sophocles’ play deals with
Electra's intense desire for revenge in the years following her father's
murder.
Sophocles’ version of the Electra story was
written around 410 BCE, and it is difficult not to see the resemblance to
Euripides' Electra and the middle portion of Aeschylus's trilogy, the Oresteia,
which recounts the same events. When Aeschylus told the story, he did so with
an eye to the ethical issues associated with a blood feud. Sophocles, however,
addresses the problem of character. Namely, he questions what kind of woman
would want so keenly to kill her mother. Euripides similarly focuses on the
issue of character, but Euripides's Electra is ultimately destroyed by her
situation, whereas Sophocles’ Electra prevails and triumphs, rendering his play
both a highly satisfactory revenge drama to a contemporary audience and an
interesting study of the psychology of Electra herself for all. The play is
considered one of Sophocles' most successful dramas.
Sophocles devoted his life not exclusively to
drama. He was, in addition, one of ten generals responsible for waging the
country's war against Samos. He was an ordained priest in the service of Alcon
and Ascelpius, God of medicine. He was for a time the director of the Treasury,
responsible for the funds of a group of states known as the Delian Confederacy,
and he served of the Board of Generals in administration of the civil and
military affairs of Athens. He died in 405 BCE, at the age of 90.
A Number is an original work published in 2002 in association
with the Royal Court Theatre of London. It addresses the subject of human
cloning and identity, in particular nature versus nurture; as the play was
written during a time of public debate over the ethics of cloning. The cloning
of Dolly the sheep, the creation of human embryos at Advanced Cell Technology,
and the cloning of a kitten gave rise to controversy concerning possible human
cloning.
The play debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in
London on 23 September 2002. The production was directed by Stephen Daldry and
designed by Ian MacNeil and featured Michael Gambon as Salter and Daniel Craig
as his sons. Lighting was designed by Rick Fisher and Ian Dickinson was the
sound designer. The play won the 2002 Evening Standard Award for Best Play.
A Number received its American premiere at New York Theatre
Workshop in December 2004, directed by James Macdonald, with Sam Shepard as
Salter and Dallas Roberts as his sons.
It was revived in the UK at the Sheffield Crucible in October 2006,
directed by Jonathan Munby and starring real-life father and son, Timothy and
Samuel West. This production later played at The Menier Chocolate Factory,
London, in 2010 and at the Fugard Theatre, Cape Town in 2011.
A television movie adaptation by the BBC and HBO Films starring Tom
Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans was first broadcast in September 2008.
Rough notes-
- Known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non-naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes. - Her early work developed Bertolt Brecht's modernist dramatic and theatrical techniques thereof - Agenda is ALWAYS social and political issues. - Wants the audience to come away from a play questioning and discussing its themes. - Frustration due to lack of punctuation, fragmented sentences, enjambement - Chose to ensure the audience hate the characters to alienate them, and ensure there is no connection to them
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful,
middle-class, glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon: England. Shakespeare attended
grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he
married Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his
family to travel to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and
critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most
popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theatre. His career spanned
the reigns of Elizabeth I (who ruled 1558–1603) and James I (who ruled
1603–1625), and he was a favourite of both monarchs. James I granted
Shakespeare’s company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing its members
the title of ‘King’s Men’. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to
Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of 52. At the time of Shakespeare’s
death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless,
which has proved an accurate assumption. Both his legacy and quantity of work
are immense, with 37 plays and 154 sonnets to his name. A number of Shakespeare’s
plays seem to have transcended even the category of classics they have fallen
into, becoming so greatly influential as to profoundly affect the course of
Western literature and culture with permanence.
Written in the mid-1590s, presumably shortly before
Shakespeare turned to Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one
of his strangest plays, and it marks a departure from his earlier works and
from others of the English Renaissance that were typically realistic. The range
of references in the play is among its most extraordinary attributes:
Shakespeare draws on sources as various as Greek mythology (Theseus, for
instance, is loosely based on the Greek hero of the same name, and the play is littered
with references to Greek Gods and Goddesses); English folk lore (the character
of Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, was a popular figure in sixteenth-century
stories); and the theatrical practices of Shakespearian London (the craftsmen’s
play refers to and parodies many conventions of English Renaissance theatre,
such as men playing the roles of women).
Monday, 2 January 2017
Original performance conditions:
Original actors-
(The actors are adults, but play the children.)
Donald- Colin Jeavons
Peter- Michael Elphick
Willie- Colin Welland
John- Robin Ellis
Raymond- John Bird
Angela- Helen Mirren
Audrey- Janine Duvitski
Narrator- Dennis Potter
It was shown on BBC’s ‘play for today’ series. It was
directed by Brian Gibson, and produced by Kenith Trodd. It was originally
broadcasted on January the 30th, 1979.
Socio-historic context-
Gender:
You could argue that the representation of gender in the
play is quite stereotypical. There are only two girls, and we are introduced to
both during a game called ‘house’. This involves them playing a wife and a
nurse and taking care of the “dad”: a boy called Donald. During this, they also
play with a doll and pram. This is a conventionally “girly” game, and their
choice of roles and what they entail also impacts on this. The fact that when
they could pretend to be anything they selected a wife and nurse (not even a
doctor), implies they feel limited; also, the wife role is played as having to
dote on the husband.
Age:
Age is a prominent theme to the play. The characters are
children of around seven, played by actors who are adults. This could suggest a
number of things. Firstly, it could convey the microcosmic nature of the play:
the acts the children do are generalizable to all ages. It could also suggest
the effect war has on children; it is as if they have to grow up earlier than
they would otherwise have to. On the other hand, it could be conveying the
idiosyncrasies of children more melodramatically; the age difference means they
are greatly emphasized, to the point of it being humorous.
Mental illness:
Mental illness is referred to quite derogatorily in the
play. Willy’s dad is deemed weak and useless by Peter as he is not fighting in
the war (WW2). As Peter hasn’t been aware of any physical disability, nor are
we told if he is a conscientious objector (which it is safe to assume he would
be aware of as it was often the case that conscientious objectors were
arrested), it is highly likely that Willy’s father suffers from a mental
illness.
Expectations within society:
As previously mentioned, the play appears to be a
microcosmic representation of society. So the expectations society has for
those within it are clearly demonstrated. Willy and Peter are shown enacting
the roles of their relatives in the army at the start of the play. Willy is an
RAF piolet in a spitfire, and Peter is a parachutist. This is suggestive of the
expectation that men should contribute to the war effort. Also mentioned prior
to this, is the clear expectation for women to be wives and have occupations
such as nursing.
Themes in Far Away such as the imposed fear from the government
a clearly linked to the socio-political context in which Caryl Churchill wrote
it within. After the struggles many faced in the 80s under the prime ministerial
reign of Margret Thatcher, the 90s (in which we can assume the play was
written, due to it being published in 2000) was an era of highly politically
minded, socially conscious people, thereby giving Thatcher’s resignation and
the election of Tony Blair more prominence. Blair attained early public
popularity, (the great controversy of his choice to aid the invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq only occurring in 2001, and 2003 respectively) and this combined with
the truce made with the IRA and the concluding of the recession into a time of
rapid economic growth and sharp drop in unemployment rates, made the 90s an
uneventful decade. However, it was not without its issues both from a militant
and social standpoint. From 1990 to 1991 was the Gulf War, in which the UK was
the largest contingent of any European state that participated in the war’s
combat operations, by the end of which there were a total of 47 deaths out of
the 341 coalition deaths. This clearly relates to Far Away due to the war time
scenario.
The 90s was also a time of great technological advancement,
with a notable increase in personal computer ownership; and scientific
development, with progressions in cloning with the famous Dolly the sheep, and
genetically modified crops becoming available for commercial use. These
advancements combined with natural disasters such as hurricane Andrew, and the
Midwestern heatwave in America; the Hanshin earthquake in Japan, the eruption of
Mount Pinatubo after 600 years of inactivity in the Philippines, and the
Chernobyl disaster; seem to have influenced Churchill as to the weaponisation
of nature as part of Far Away, as she notes the dangers of genetic engineering
(as in A Number) in creating an unstable world.
Far Away also seems to draw upon the horrific discrimination
of World War 2, specifically the Holocaust, as a parade of people are lead to
their assumed deaths. This may have been relevant to Churchill’s situation as,
whilst society progressed with third-wave feminism and the World Health
Organisation removing homosexuality from its list of illnesses (the DSMR), it
was recognised that social institutions, most notably the police, were guilty
of institutionalised racism. For instance, in 1998 the chief constable of the
Greater Manchester Police confessed as such, saying that ‘they have
acknowledged their problems and they are going to move forward’. So Churchill
may have been commenting on this and reminding people of its dangers if not
prevented by referring to such an extreme and tragic example.
Sunday, 1 January 2017
Our Set:
Our set consists of four, two tiered rostrum, with the wooden tops on both layers. We made this decision as, whilst it is typical of total theatre to have minimal props, there are certain props we found necessary to change costume (see below). Also in relation to costume, we have a white sheet over the rostrum. This is also used to make the table look like a surgery table which plays into the storyline and the original use of the table. We decided on the table itself after we were first introduced to the script with the surgery table preparation scene (see scene five, picture one). We decided that in order to obtain the robotic interpretation of the ambassadors we wanted we needed a uniform set, so a rostrum to a person seemed most appropriate, and this only furthered the more we developed our ambassador scenes and experimented with synchronised, repetitive and exaggerated movements.
Scene One:
This scene we wanted to be create an impact on the audience, it being our first scene, so we decided to make it one of our most dynamic scenes and direct the majority of the lines at the audience (or at least say the lines out to the audience. We extended the first line in order to achieve this, as it meant that we could introduce the clear hierarchy between the ambassadors by having Jasmine give orders to the others; who reply with sharp, quick movements, with Chloe's nervous disposition around Jasmine showing. We ensured there was a movement per line and complemented this energetic start with certain lines, that particularly convey collective beliefs/ attitudes, said in unison. This is representative of the group mentality we thought was so prominent in the ambassadors (with the exceptions of Hannah and Chloe).
Scene Two:
We originally struggled with this scene as, having begun with the scenes with the ambassadors, we found transitioning between them, and their lines which are so very enabling of the total theatre style; and the birthday people, who we interpreted to be much more natural and disjointed, quite difficult. We wanted to find a way to convey this opinion of the characteristics of the birthday people whilst upholding our elected style. In order to progress we decided to look at more practical approach, by deciding on lighting. As we decided on our set based on the ambassadors, we wanted the lighting to be set for the birthday people in its own right. We decided to use the lights to demonstrate the changing relationships and opinions of the birthday people and to convey the fact they are all locked in. We intend to have a spotlight each, from which we can't move out of, and these spotlights will decrease per scene change forcing us to group with others based on whether they sided with Alexis or Silas or were still undecided. This made choreographing movement much easier as we had limited our movement and given ourselves boundaries. Also, as the lights were communicative on the main themes of the scenes with the birthday people in general, we were able to focus on introducing the characters and find ways to initiate the relationships between the characters. This consisted of more or less direct communication with others (as opposed to speaking out to the audience despite being in conversation with someone) and whether or not our characters participated in the synchronised movements. We decided to begin with simply turning our heads and saying certain (more panicked) lines in unison, excluding Silas as they are the only one of the birthday people to be outspokenly against the situation from the very beginning. We have yet to devise around the middle section (pictures 3-5 and half of 6). By the end we decided to make the movements and vocals more exaggerated implying the group have been effected in some way (either in excitement or nervousness) by Jasmine's visit. In particular when Silas says 'What will they do? Stitch my mouth closed?', we do violent actions and follow the line with Alexis saying 'Yeah stop. Don't ruin the operation.' and all of us finishing her line but saying the sentences in a different order in order to make what we viewed as a "mantra" of sorts more frantic and encourage a discomfort in the audience at the apparent "brainwashing" to comply with these enforced societal values and conventions.
Scene Three:
This scene was the only development we had in Hannah's story, however we wanted the audience to become quite invested in her character to make her ambiguous ending more frustrating, as we felt this was an important part of the play's intentions. We believed it left the play open to discussion as whilst the events surrounding the birthday people were complete and Jasmine's mentality made no room for compromise, Hannah's character is a loose end and therefore allows the audience to discuss what should have happened to her, and what they think would have happened. In order for this to take most effect we ensured that, whilst Hannah was sat at the front speaking out to the audience in a natural manner, the others are very exaggerated and surreal.
Scene Five:
This scene (the first picture) was the first scene we saw of the play and the first time any of us had experimented with total theatre techniques. We took inspiration from Panic! at the Disco's 'This is Gospel' music video, in that we wanted swift hand gestures and a well co-ordinated looking effect.
We then had to transition into a small duologue between Jasmine and Paloma. We decided to have the conversation's key moments marked by Hannah and Chloe's pauses in their repetitive movements. The last line is said by everyone in order to emphasize just how important looking perfect is to these involved.
Transitions:
Our transitions were inspired by the 'Doll on a Music Box' scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We wanted to use the mechanical movements total theatre uses in a more literal manner, and after discussing how we felt the ambassadors to be encouraging an emotionless, "porcelain doll"-type effect on others, we decided to replicate the staccato movements with the questions seen above directed at the audience in a more sinister illustration on the impact the Beauty Manifesto has on their society.
Costume Changes:
In a play I saw rather recently: Richard the Third, adapted by Crude Apache, the use of torches prompted discussion in our devised lesson. However, whilst we found no use for them in relation to our devised, we became enthused by the idea of using a torch to create shadows in our scripted piece.
We intent to use the sheet on the table, and pick it up and hold it at the front of the stage. The torch will then be switched on and costume will be changed in a stylised manner, with those changing swapping position with those holding the sheet once finished. This should create a version of the above effect.
Costume Choice:
Our costume consists of all four of us (regardless of gender) wearing a skirt and blouse, and then changing into heels and lab coats when we become ambassadors. We decided on this as we wanted something highly feminine and reasonably mobile that was still up for alteration depending on character, but that was also somewhat uniform. We use lab coats and occasionally gloves to maintain the professionalism and authority of the ambassadors, and the high heels to convey the extra step further they go than the birthday people in their strive for perfection.
