Antigone Evaluation

Our final piece contained all of the elements that we hoped it would express. And after endless rehearsals with missing members of our group, we finally managed to compile our entire scene. We were able to display the political message of ‘inequality between sexes’ with the use of juxtaposition through levels and movement. This was done with the minimal movement of Antigone. I managed to maintain this by imagining a small box in which I was able to exist in, compared to the two Creons that were able to roam where they pleased. This was followed through by our physical piece at the beginning in which the two Creons push me down and were able to forcefully do as they wanted. The physical section contained the use of ‘gestus’ because it demonstrated the social comment of status and hierarchy. Despite Antigone being inferior to Creon, it was important that Antigone was presented in a powerful way that was confrontational and not scared. Inequality of sexes would still be displayed if Antigone was presented as a weak character however it would have completely gone against the rest of the text and my character development of Antigone. I know that I managed to present my character In this way because at the end of the show when we spoke to the audience, I was asked ‘isn’t it weird to have a strong lead female role in an old piece of text?’. This response confirmed the fact that Antigone was shown as a fiery and powerful woman that stuck up for her rights and beliefs rather than gave up.

The use off split and multirolling made is easier to follow Brechtian techniques and allowed us to stop the audience from developing feelings of sympathy towards Antigone. The use of creating a montage effect also meant that the audience were able to stick to the key issue at hand without allowing them to get lost within the scene and disregaurd the political message. Unlike most of the other groups we didn’t make up our own scene, but instead stuck to the text; because although we could have created something based around our own response, we didn’t want to create a new story. This was mainly because the new story would have the same political issues which would intrigue the audience but would go against Brecht’s technique of distancing the audience. One of the things we did consider was modernising the text so that it was more appealng and relevent to our audience but we chose to ignore that idea because we thought that being able to display the fact that the same issues from Ancient Greece are still around today was powerful in itself. Our use of the V effect meant that we were able to deliver what we wanted the audience to have without them getting too lost within the play itself.

We as a whole cast (including the other groups) performed in simple white lighting which although was not necessarily a discussed choice, it did emit Brechtian vibes as Brecht believed that white lighting ‘illuminates the truth’. Alongside this, my group used minimal costume and props. I got into my costume on stage to demonstrate that I am an actor and not Antigone herself which was something that Brecht did in his own performances a lot in order to create the V effect. And instead of using props, we used three different people (Jacob, Connor and Joe) to create an abstract podium for Antigone to hang herself on. The podium was formed as I delivered my last confrontational speech. As I did my speech, the two Creons got on their hands and knees (side to side) forming a chair, and once I’d finished, I sat on their backs. Connor was behind me at this point and I grabbed his hands, tightening them around my neck to symbolise a noose. Connor then yanks my head back and I collapsed. Jacob and Joe both gently lowered their bodies with me on top to the ground and a white sheet was placed over my body. The use of physicality to imitate another object allowed the V effect to be put in place but also allowed our physical object to become the symbolic prop within the performance along with the white sheet. The white sheet was symbolic because it was first placed over Antigone’s dead brothers body, then her own. Therefore the sheet acted as a symbol of closere and purity. 

I think the entire show went amazing (especially compared to the previous run throughs). During our final performance, Angelica forgot her first couple of lines and so I had to try and get her back on track. Together we managed to do this and I don’t even think the audience were aware of the mishap. I was only able to containue because Angelica reacted professionally and tried to give me a respondse to continue with. After the first section, everything ran smoothly and everyone was really taking on their characters mindsets. The two Creons were vicious and frightening and I took on board my directors feedback of ‘getting angryer earlier’. I felt a real connection with the two Creons and was able to let each of their words infuriate me and so I was much more snappy as a character. My temper was shortened by getting louder and talking faster and I heightened my confidence by taking my time to deliver certain lines. The two Creons were my source of energy and we bounced off one another. In fact, I'd say our only weakness was the fact that we lacked group rehearsals. I believe that we would have felt so much more prepared and confident in ourselves if everyone had turned up to the rehearsals that were put in place. There was only one rehearsal that we had had as a whole group in which we ran our scene which left us very unprepared. In fact, finishing the show and knowing how much of a success it was, was such a great relief after the panic of how the scene would unfold.

Someone that really shone during the performance for me was Milo. His groups performance was about ‘Taxes’ and was probably the most confusing for me and the audience (one of the audience members I was talking to found this group the most intriguing but was unsure of the political issue). However, Milo caught my attention because I didn’t previously notice his character hugely but during the performance he caught the corner of my eye and made me have to force myself to contain my internal laughter. He really picked up on his characterisation and when pretending to type on a computer his expression was priceless. I imagined his character to be a really friendly and helpful person (almost like a mum). I loved the contrast between the theme of taxes and the workers expressions because no one is ever happy or remotely willing to engage positively during a conversation about taxes. However, to develop his character further he could have worked more on the sections where he was supposed to be really frustrated. This is because he has quite a monotone voice and so he could also work on expression and emphasis on certain words. 

However, the entire show went well and watching the process that we'd all gone through was great. During the political term process I have learnt what a political play and monologue have to contain in order to be classed as political. I have also learnt how to use the techniques from Brecht in order to make my own work better and different. Although the process has been long and draining, I would be more than interested in another political play as it has widened my understanding of certain issues. I really loved how easy it was to convey an issue in a way that didn’t feel patronising or forceful to the audience.

Extra Rehearsal - Wednesday 30th November 2016

We create the chair by getting Joe and Jacob to kneel on their hands and knees directly behind one another and then I (playing Antigone) sit on their backs and place Connor’s hands around my neck to symbolize the rope. Connor then yanks me back and I collapse on Joe and Jacob –who slowly lower my limp body to the floor. We then plan on having a suicide note read aloud by Angelica which will include:

 - The fact that Antigone is a girl
- That she's alone in the World
- That it is the Gods that should be in control
- That Antigone is glad that such stupid laws have been lifted now

The suicide note will end the entire performance

Lesson 5 - Tuesday 29th November 2016

Thankfully Angelica was in today and so the rest of us (apart from Leane) showed her what we were doing and gave her a role. We managed to devise a section of our performance. We added freeze frames of Antigone looking over her two dead brother’s bodies in distress whilst Antigone and Creon do the status section that we devised last week.

We then went onto casting the roles for everyone:

Connor – A God, Guard, dead brother

Joe – Creon, dead brother

Angelica – Antigone, a type writer

Jacob - Creon

Leane - Antigone

Harmony – Antigone

Although Brecht liked to have females playing males and vice versa, our group came to the conclusion that Antigone should only be played by females due to the importance of the message being portrayed. That in itself being that the play contains a lead female role.

We then had to perform what we’d done so far to the class. Our general feedback was good and the way in which we displayed status seemed to be the outlined strong point however many of the audience were unsure of what was going on due to lack of context. Because of this, when we rehearsed later we added in text from earlier scenes including a conversation between Antigone and Ismene (her sister) about burying her brother and the law. Hopefully this will outline one of the themes being the state’s law.

I really like Izzie’s group when they performed because it was obvious that the group had really thought about what they wanted to deliver and had rehearsed in a sufficient way. The level of professionalism for our first sharing was very high and everyone knew what they were doing without hesitation. The group were very synchronised and used brechtian techniques (such as having an actor play a tree and also tell the audience that they are a tree whilst they’re doing it. This broke the forth wall and meant that objects were played by people).

We then finished reading through the play and decided that a nice way to end the piece could be to add in a suicide note written by Antigone but created on our own behalf. Angelica decided that she would be happy to write and perform the suicide note after I’d hung myself. I’m going to help her think of some things to put into the suicide note also.

(Strength: Use of Brechtian technique to demonstrate status is very effecting. Weakness: Lack of context confuses audience and makes performance contain no relevence)

Our aim for our next rehearsal is to figure out an effective way in which we can represent Antigone hanging herself.

Lesson 4 - Tuesday 22nd November 2016

After the protest the class got into their next political protest groups. My group contains Connor, Jacob, Jo, Leane, Angelica and myself. We will be performing ‘Antigone’ -a Greek tragedy.

We have been commissioned to:

- include some or all of the words within the play

- Read the scene

- Research the play

- Research the playwright

- Identify the political themes

- Identify the social issues

- Include Brechtian techniques

- Know why the piece has been chosen

- Know why the piece is being performed at this current time

Only Jacob, Jo, Connor and I were in and so we experimented key issues that were raised in the play rather than casting the roles without everyone present. One of the issues we focused on was status, we did this by using Jacob to play the role of the king (Creon) and myself playing his niece (Antigone). In the duration of the section that we have chosen to base the piece on, Creon thinks Antigone is a traitor and wants her dead. We decided to have Antigone standing and Creon kneeling but as Creon steps forwards, Antigone steps backwards whilst there is a gradual change in level so that Creon ends up towering over Antigone whilst she’s protecting herself with outstretched arms on the floor. This is meant to show the power that Creon has over Antigone despite her being a strong and independent lead female role.

From these positions Jo goes back to back with Jacob and they both shout ‘ORDER!’, turn mechanically and swap roles to create the idea of ‘multi-rolling’. This kept in keeping with our use of Brechtian techniques, although it soon became clear that physicality would have to be exaggerated to the fullest in order for these dramatic moments to work well.

We also had the idea of perhaps making our performance look like an actual court  case (like the Houses of Parliament) in which Antigone’s trial would be played out. We then went on to develop this idea and concluded that it could be effective if we were able to somehow pull off the same illusion but make the audience feel as though they were the Gods (rather than politicians). We had this idea because there is a strong theme of religion and beliefs within the play –in which the Gods are the law makers. This would allow us to break the forth wall and include the theme of religion.

Why the piece has been chosen:

So that we can show the audience that although there has been a gradual change throughout the years, the same issues are still currently around that were previously restricting us. Sometimes we don't realize these things and so performing a play that was written so long ago is an easy way of comparing past issues to the same current issues.

Why the piece is being performed now:

I think the play is being performed now because there is still an inequality among men and women. Men still do much better than a lot of females, and women are constantly linked to inferior, weak people that need to be protected. The play ‘Antigone’ goes against these ideas in such a controversial way that really challenges the way that women have always been seen throughout the years. This is especially odd seen as the play was written in 441 B.C –a time when women were at an even greater disadvantage to what they are at today.

For instance, here is some information on Women in ancient Greek plays that I did when I previously studied Antigone:

Women weren't viewed as very much more than pests in society, they are merely 'there', with no real importance although were obviously needed to cook, clean, produce babies etc. However, I do find it fascinating how woman somehow always played a strong willed characters in plays, however the lessons that the plays taught society and the messages that they portrayed were never usually picked up upon; in daily life. I also find it weird how there are both Goddesses and Gods but still women are thought of as less; even though they are given the same title. Women have always been brought up as delicate little flowers that should dress pretty, do their hair nicely, present themselves in a gentle and friendly, polite manner. Maybe what we should have been taught was to get our hands dirty and to go and work alongside the males. This in itself has completely messed up society, we have repeated history thousands of times and so this shouldn't come as a shock to us anymore but for some reason it still does.  Only now have we started to grasp a sense of real equality in genders, however even now, in this time of acceptance, when religious matters play a part in the world and its gender equality issues. Women always seem to be in an underdog manor. Women have always carried a disadvantage in society and that was certainly the case in Ancient Greece. In fact, perhaps we could say that theatre was not the only thing that we continued to work on, we also carried this discrimination of equality for thousands of years later.

(strength: understanding of Antigone and eagerness to approach text. Weakness: lack of group members in and understanding of Antigone for those who hadn't studied the text before)

Political Protest Performance - Tuesday 22nd November 2016

The day of ‘The Protest’ finally arrived, sadly Leane was still ill and Angelica failed to turn up so we were two women down.  Needless to say, this didn’t stop us from rearranging ourselves and continuing as normal. Despite our positive attitude to continue, our group was faced with some difficult decisions to make due to weather conditions. For example, it was such a windy day that all of the posters that we pegged to the washing line kept flying away. This meant that we were unable to display the letters that spelt out ‘CHEMICAL WARFARE’ and so instead before we performed each section, I stood in neutral and delivered the words (we did however manage to attach bloodied rags to the washing line which was ‘symbolic’ and represented the pain and death that had occurred during the use of chemical weapons). This didn’t prove less effective but obviously didn’t allow us to display the performance that we had in mind. This also meant that we were unable to display the facts that we printed off which in our opinion was the most important part of the protest. To counteract for this, we instead used ‘direct address’ by handing out gloves and face masks to our audience for protection and explained the effects of the chemicals. This would happen in between performances and I feel as though it really benefitted the performance because we were able to include audience participation. Although this also meant that our performance lacked the Brechtian technique of using ‘playing cards’. This worked both against and for the piece because the use of playing cards went more with the Brechtian technique because it meant that there was a ‘minimal use of set and props’ but it also meant that our wide range of facts that would be deliver was decreased.

Overall, I think the performance was a success. Handing out gloves and masks was actually extremely effective because it meant that the passers-by engaged with what was going on and wanted to know why they were being given gloves and a mask. As well as the use of paint which showed the chemicals spreading across the body -highlighting the harm caused by chemical warfare. This was interesting to the audience because most people were unsure of what chemical warfare was and were amazed that something that wasn’t a literal weapon could cause so much harm (sometimes without leaving behind any visible signs).  Also the ripping of bloodied sheets which was mainly done to symbolise death also allowed the scene to gradually build up. I really like this because it meant that as the repetition of the protest went on over time, the better the scene looked. And despite our initial panic, our piece flowed well and delivered a message to its audience in an interesting way. The only thing that I would change would have to be 

Antigone Research

Antigone is a lead strong female that sticks up for what she believes in. She is part of the royal family in Thebes but all of her immediate family have died apart from her sister (Ismene). Her brother (Polynieces) has been called a traitor and has been denied the right to be buried by the King (Creon -Antigone's Uncle). Antigone loves her brother strongly and believes that he should be buried and so goes against the kings wishes and buries her brother so that his soul can belong to the Gods and not remain trapped on earth. However, Antigone gets caught and as a result is told she should be put to death for going against the King's wishes. Needlesstosay, Antigone proudly admits what she did and stands up for her beliefs. She is willing to accept death and risks her life in order to do the right thing. Antigone shows an incredible amount of courage and at such a young and age (most likely somewhere between 12-15 yrs old).

Similarily, one of Brecht's own plays 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle' contains another lead female role. 'Grusha' is a good, loyal, sacrificing, loving and unselfish character that chooses to save a baby's life and in the process puts her own life on the line in order to protect the baby. She has no reason to save the baby apart from her own morals and knows that taking the child will only cause her more problems but still she continues to follow her heart and do the right thing. She is also a young character and comes from the lower class -working as a maid. The child is from the royal family but despite their differences she chooses to do the right thing and eventually becomes just as maternal as his mother.

Rosa Parks is also a real life version of someone that fought for equal rights. She wanted to abolish the segregation between whiles and blacks in America and so became a Civil Rights Activist. She was a respected woman in the NAACP organisation and chose to be a part of the bus boycotts. On December 1st 1955 she refused to give up her seat to a white woman which was against the law. Despite the abuse she was given, she continued to stay on the bus until she was removed by a policeman and as a result went to prison. This is very similar to what happened to Antigone,  they both did what they believed in and were then locked away as a result.

A more recent example would be 'Emma Watson' who does a lot of work surrounding woman rights. She promotes a lot of education for girls and became the UN Woman Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014. She has also led a 'HeForShe' Campaign and is a proud Feminist. Watson is still fighting change at the young age of 26 yrs old in the hopes of achieving a more equal world. She aims to spread knowledge and empower more young girls to fight back and not put up with a patriarchal society.

All of the women above stood/stand up for what they believe in even if that caused them consequences such as imprisionment, shame, harm or even death. Each of the women are strong, independent and willing to do whatever they have to do in order to achieve what they believe in. When I perform Antigone, I hope to inspire my audience to stand up for what they believe in and not be taken for granted.


About the Playwright:

Sophocles is the playwright of Antigone. He was born in Colonus (near Athens) and lived between 496 BC - 406 BC. He was one of three famous playwrights that excelled in the genre of tragedy during Ancient Greek times. Aeschylust was the oldest, then Sophocles, followed by Euripides.

Sophocles was educated, goodooking and active within his community during his lifetime. Because he was alive so long ago, it is quite difficult to research him and his work. In fact, lots of his work was lost or hasn't survived over the years.

And only 7 tragedies survived out of his collection, including:
- Philoctetes
- Oedipus at Colonus
- Ajex
- Antigone
- Women of Trachis
- Oedipus Rex
- Trackers

Lesson 6 - Tuesday 6th December 2016

Today we only spent 40 minutes in class rehearsing. During this time, my group changed the physical status manipulation section. The change included both the Creons surrounding Antigone and then pushing her to the floor rather than having Antigone and step backwards as Creon stepped forwards. This strengthened the piece because it meant that there was no confusion of where the second Creon had sprung from. Instead the audience can clearly see that both of the Creons were the same character because of the mirroring and speaking in unison.

We then did a run through of the entire show and finished ordering the scenes before moving onto the ensemble introduction. We created the introduction using some of the group ideas that we had come up with. Our groups opening was chosen and consisted of improvising getting dressed. A couple of other groups created boxing matches and so we used that idea to create a series of moves to demonstrate a fight. This then concluded with us all marching to one end of the room where we mimicked riots in which we were all trying to get past one another. Facial expressions and exaggerated movements was key for this part of the introduction  because otherwise the whole thing just looked really messy. But we all managed to create chaos in a controlled manor. Our only weakness was that we had a habit of breaking off into two different clumps instead of sticking together in one clump which made the entire thing look less effective and professional. The introduction also included us raising our fists in cannon and singing to the audience. Then everyone falls to the ground and stand as the delver a line before taking their starting positions.

In todays lesson I created and was part of a strong ensemble but something I need to work on would be not smiling during the introduction because it is meant to be a serious section. However, it was our first run through and so I'm sure I'll be able to sort this out with more discipline.