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)