Antigone Presentations

Why is the piece still relevant to the world today?- Our piece is still relevant to today because the way we have used multi media. We have used a video and sound effects. Also in Antigone she strikes against the King because he does something she disagrees with, nowadays people are always going on strike because they disagree with something that someone has done to them, so people may be able to relate to him.

  

  How might modern directors and/or performance companies adapt the work to make it more suitable or relevant for a modern audience? - They might use multi media, for example videos, music ext. They could also change the language and story line to make the audience understand more. 

    

The setting of the piece-  Set in a castle.

 the plot and characters- The plot is off how a women is sent to death because of going against the King for something she believed in. 

    the staging-  At the beginning Creon is in the middle of his two helpers who are slightly behind him. This shows how Creon is more important and of a higher status than his helpers. Then when Antigone and Ismene are dragged in they are tied up one each side of Creon, this lets the audience see the whole cast more clearly and again show the lower and higher statuses. By having people at different heights its a lot more interesting to watch by the audience.

    design elements of the piece- there are two sheets hanging from the ceiling, they will be used to handcuff Ismene and Antigone but also when we project are video it will project onto them as well.

Rehearsal Log for Antigone

In today's lesson we learnt about Garage Band. We learnt about what it is and how to use it. Garage Band is basically this app where you can play lots of different instruments like the Piano or the Guitar. We are going to use Garage Band in our performance, by editing the chorus voice over we made as a class. I think Garage Band will be good to use because it can make any boring piece of music or voice over a lot more exciting and original. We can also use it to give any kind of atmosphere, from a happy to a scary vibe.

We have developed the character Creons scary side and enhanced it. For our scene we really want to make it as creepy as we can, because we think it will be really interesting for the audience to watch and also not many of the other scenes are really scary so it will be a good change that will keep the audience on their feet. 

We have looked at different ways of using multimedia. One of them being where we film someones face which is then projected onto a screen, and they are talking to someone who is in the room but not facing them directly. This gives the affect of showing how these two people are in different places, or you could show it as someones thoughts and feelings, which my group are attempting to do a similar thing. We are projecting Creons face onto the cave walls ( were creating the cave out of grey sheets hung onto the ceiling) when Antigone is in the cave, its going to be as though Creon is always watching her and all her fears are all around her as Creon. 

In our scene we are using multimedia, we are projecting onto sheets, videos of Creon shouting Antigone's name and Antigone being dragged to the cave in which shes going to be buried alive in.  Were also using music in the background, which will create a tense scene that will keep the audience guessing. Were using the multimedia to develop the work we have created. We will do this by showing different peoples consciences, and from their prospective. We will also show what happens to Antigone without showing the audience live, which gives me the chance as Antigone to get off stage while the audience are watching the video and then run back on for the rest of our scene. 

  By using multimedia in our performance were able to show the audience what happens to Antigone when being taken to the cave. As that part is very violent it would of been harder to show live, so by filming it before and editing it we can make it a lot more scary and thrilling watch but mostly look more realistic and better than it would have done live. We are also telling the audience about how Antigone puts up this front and comes across as this brave, fearless character, when actually she is terrified. In our scene we have used multimedia to show how scared she is and also her fear of Creon.

 I want the audience to see a different side to Antigone, which is the fearful side to Antigone. I also  want the audience to be really scared when their watching it, and actually feel like there in the cave with Antigone. I want them after to feel relived to be out of there but amazed at what they just saw. I also want them to grow a fear of Creon so when they watch the other scenes they feel a lot anxious about him, and hopefully will make the show even more exciting for them to watch.

Multimedia Monday 16th March

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

I watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLcnj0pJMA0 which a multi media production in Hong Kong. It helped to communicate to the audience not by the actors speaking, but the music and the imagery they used in the background. It shows that multi media can over come the language barrier and can communicate to anyone from any different country.

 I really liked the simplicity of this piece, it showed how you can tell a story through music and basic images projected onto a sheet behind the actors. In this particular production they had white sheets placed all around the stage, which meant they could project everywhere on the stage. This was really effective, it was very interesting to watch and gave a sense of anxiousness as you dont know what or where the next image will be. 


I really like the music they used because it matched the physical theatre the actors used and the images that were projected. This has now made me think a lot about the music we will use in our piece, as we need to find the right contrast so there isnt too much going on or there isnt enough impact. The music also needs to relate to what we are performing and showing, so the piece makes sense to the audience.

I am definitely going to use some of the ideas from this in my piece. We were already going to use two sheets and project things onto it but also use it as a cave. But I really like the idea of having sheets on the floor as well, so I need to talk to my group and see if there is a way we can use that, as there are other groups that perform before us.



review of a multimedia theatre production 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2006/dec/04/wavessetsahighwatermarkfo

This review of the play Waves by Katie Mitchell shows that multi media if used right can be a amazing, spectacular show, which is really interesting for audiences to watch. It shows how people watching can connect to the piece on a different level than a non multi media production. It also shows how the audience can understand to a bigger depth about the characters and their emotions, and also the story of the play. 


Mobile Phones

We use our mobile phones in the chorus during some of the lines. At different points of the chorus some people will raise up their phone and when we have them all up it looks really effective. By using this multi-media it allows the audience to take in the beautiful figure we have all created with our bodies, like the view of Greece. The phones have the torch on, and in a dark room it looks really effective when we there are some lights shining from different areas and angles of the portrait we have created.


Live Feed
In one of the performances they used live feed. This is a really good use of multi- media, as it shows the audience a closer more interment way of using mulit - media. The audience get to see one conversation in two areas of a room. By having the person being filmed in the live feed in the room, the audience get to see kind of like a behind the scenes of what is happening and i think thats really interesting. Also using the live feed gives the actors a new challenge as they have to talk to a projection of someone instead of the live real thing.  

Context Homework - 26th March 2015

Which scene did you work on? - I worked on the traditional scene

What did you think of the style of the writing?- I really liked the language that was used in the piece, I think it creates a more dramatic and interesting atmosphere.

How was this scene different to the other script used in the lesson? - This is scene used the idea of Creon not caring at all for Antigone and the scene was always very tense with lots of drama and big paragraphs of Antigone and Creon arguing with each other. However the other one is a lot more layed back and has less dramatic moments. In this scene Creon acts like he is actually quite upset about having to kill Antigone and tries to find solutions to resolve the situation. This scene is more for kids then the other one as its easier to understand and also is a bit comical in parts.

Did the laugauge make the characters change?- It showed Creon as a more caring character in version 1, because the language he used towards Antigone was not as harsh or cruel as the language he used towards Antigone in version 2. 

version of Antigone focusing on setting it in a specific context

What did your group create? - We decided to make our version of Antigone set in the 1930s. We based the characters and theme around Alcapone. We thought that it would be interesting to see how we could combine the two eras. 

What was the setting? The setting was in America 1930s in a Italian Restaurant. We chose an Italian Restaurant because in the movies that we had all watched the Mafia gangs always had an Italian Restaurant, it was a stereo-typical mafia setting which we thought would add a comedic extra to our scene.

What characters were developed?- We developed the character Antigone, we kept her as a women and made her stand up to the boss who was our adaption of Creon. We made her a confident character as thats what we see her as in the play. In our scene she goes against what the other people in the gang say and stands up to the boss. Those characters we saw as Ismene as they all were against her going against the boss. 

How did you use language? We all put on typical 1930 american gangster accents, I think this worked really well and was a nice touch to the piece which also made the audience understand more of what era we were portraying. We used modern language which was very simple as we didnt think that in the 1930 Mafia they would use very big, intelligent words.

Notes from the other Versions

Group 1:

Exploring the text

Antigone and Ismene 

What did we focus on when exploring this scene? - We focused on how the character Antigone is a very strong, confident women who isnt afraid to stand up to the king, also known as her Uncle. We then explored how Ismene is more scared of going against the law, but also death. Whereas Antigone feels that as if she buries her brother she does not care of the consequences, but Ismene seems to be petrified at the thought of death. 

How did you explore the characters practically? When performing Antigone I performed her standing tall with her head up and her voice loud but punctuated. I portrayed her as a confident person who always felt that what she had to say was far more important than what anyone else had to say. 

When I performed Ismene I made her quite quiet, but as if she wanted to say something important but couldn't quite get the words out. I made her body language tense and timid like she was scared of Antigone. When she disagreed with Antigone she would make her voice louder but Antigone would overpower her.

What did you discover about the relationship between the sisters? There quite close as Antigone trusts Ismene enough to tell her of her plan to bury their brother. They seem like theyve grown closer and closer as they have lost people in their family, and now only have eachother. Although they have different personalities, Ismene being more of the quiet one, they seem to get along and Antigone comes over as the more protecting sister who looks after Ismene.  

How did this scene link to some of the information you discovered in the session about the historical context?It showed how Men had no sympathy towards women not ever their family.

Antigone and Creon

What did we focus on when exploring this scene? - The relationship between Creon and Antigone. How Creon felt towards Antigone and how seriously he took his job. Also how strongly Antigone felt about having her brother buried and what a strong character she is that she isn't afraid of Creon.
How did you explore the characters practically?- I made Antigones body language very tall and confident as she is a really outgoing person and is not afraid of anyone.
What did you discover about the relationship between the characters?- Creon seems like he deep down cares about Antigone but cannot show weakness and let off Antigone as he needs to show the kingdom that he is a worthy powerful king. Antigone seems to not like Creon at all but I think she is surprised that Creon sends her to be buried alive as he is her Uncle and shes marrying his son and he doesnt even think twice about killing her.
How did this scene link to some of the information you discovered in the session about the historical context?- It showed how religion was very important back then and how the Gods were seen as extremely important to everyone and they were a massive part of their lives.