Antigone

Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles and is the third play in the Oedipus Cycle. In the play, Antigone goes against the orders of her uncle Creon, King of Thebes, by burying her brother Polynices. The character Antigone is interpreted differently depending on the adaptation. She is often a political figure, standing up to the government. She can be a philosophical figure, inciting debates such as conscience versus law. Antigone often embodies familial ties. She is a feminist as she does not conform to the gender norms of the time. She can be seen as strong-willed and selfish. There is no single correct interpretation of Antigone. She is all of these things, or none of them.

In ancient Greece, women were expected to be subservient to men; hence, the ancient Greek audience would have viewed Antigone’s violation of gender roles as a clear transgression. The 1956 theatrical rendition casts Antigone far more favourably as a brave heroine who, like Joan of Arc and Boudicca, stands up against an authoritarian regime. Antigone came to symbolize democracy and resonated with Greece’s war of independence against the Ottoman Empire, as well as America’s struggle against communist Soviet Russia during the Cold War.
Antigone is a traditional Greek tragedy. The original audience would've have come to see Antigone already knowing the narrative. Sophocles, however, significantly altered the story and introduced new emphases. An original dispute between Athens (or Argos) and Thebes over the corpses of the Seven is turned into an internal family dispute between Creon and Antigone. The characters of Haemon and Ismene are both introduced in a new and significant way, as foils to Creon and Antigone respectively. The role of the gods and the introduction of divine disapproval of Creon for failing in his familial duties seems also to be a Sophoclean innovation. The prologues, set out the topic of the tragedy. Gender is, highely important to the play: issues of limits of male authority, the power of masculine speech, and the possibility of female autonomy simmer throughout the tragedy.
 Sophocles’ language is ‘the most flexible and richly varied’. The variations and his style shifts to convey character. The reserved and cautious Ismene speaks in measured sentences with embellished language; Antigone, in her passion, speaks more impetuously, with short sentences and bold claims in imperatives or the future tense. Later, Creon’s imperious nature is shown with how he addresses the sisters in the third person even when they are present.

Witch Gestural Movement

Audition

Guard Antigone Monologue
The Guard, Jonas, with his two companions, keeps watch over the dead body of Polynices to prevent its burial. Somehow, Antigone slips through and sprinkles dust on the body. When the Guard reports to Creon, Creon threatens him with death if this should occur again. He wants the perpetrator caught and brought to him.

MacBeth Witches

Throughout the play, the language used by the Witches helps to mark them out as mysterious and other-worldly. They speak in verse, but it is a form of verse that is very different from that which is used by most of Shakespeare’s characters. Many of the lines in this passage are in rhyming couplets, in contrast to the unrhymed verse used elsewhere in the play. Rather than speaking in an iambic metre, with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables, the Witches speak in a trochaic metre, with stressed syllables followed by unstressed. These heavy stresses give the Witches’ speech a sense of foreboding that emphasises their malevolence and unearthliness. In the First Witch’s lines, they make her vendetta against the sailor seem relentless. At the end of this passage, when the Witches chant in unison, they bring a sense of eeriness.
To play one of the witches, I had to develop a voice and it was a lot of characterisation and interaction. It took a while for me to develop a voice for my witch that I could use throughout as at first it kept coming and going and it was difficult and I did struggle at first. The movement part was the easiest I found. We had to move quite weirdly with a low centre of gravity and it was fun exploring different movement. During rehearsal, we tried making each witch move differently but it just disconnected us. We also choreographed some gestural movements for different parts of the play. For example, we had set movement for our first two scenes and we all did the same gestural movement when we said "Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble." Me, Lois and Harry worked quite well together and interacted well between us making sure me and Harry followed Lois - as she was the first witch. Our interaction with other characters was completely different. We kept a bit of a distance between us and others, we always watched them round , other stage, always keeping them in our sights. We were quite mysterious, weird and creepy, trying to send Macbeth crazy and freak out the other characters. At first it was hard to stay focused in rehearsal and get into the character but after practicing and running lines together - and once I had completely learnt my lines - it became so much easier to stay in character, focus and be more confident. If I were to improve this, I would've put something in the cauldron to make it more eerie. For example, dry ice would created a good effect of fog coming out of it. Also, to add to the atmosphere a smoke machine creating a layer of fog along the floor. Another idea is that the witches should be able to vanish. At the BOAT theatre we don't really have the ability to do this but if we performed it on a larger scale it would add a great illusion and effect to the witches.
To portray the right effect and atmosphere when speaking I had to look up text analysis to understand what they mean and what they were trying to say. When Macbeth was written, witchcraft interest bordered on hysteria and people believed they caused illness, death and disaster. They also believed they appeared in front of them as a grey cat (Graymalkin) and as a toad (Paddock), mentioned by the Witches in Act 1, Scene 1. The witches language throughout helped portray them as mysterious and other worldly. Speaking in verse was quite difficult sometimes, its a different kind of verse from the other characters but proved quite difficult at times. Most of my lines and the other witches lines were in rhyming couplets. The number three is significant for the witches aswell (there being thre witches). Throughout  their dialogue, words are repeated three times e.g. "I'll do, I'll do and I'll do." Also, "the sailor’s wife ‘mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd’". Bad luck is frequently thought to come in threes. Macbeth is hailed by three titles (Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King hereafter) and is later given three prophecies. When the Witches concoct their famous spell in Act 4, Scene 1, they begin with two references to the number three; "Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd." and "Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whin'd".
After the final performance, I think I did well, I kind of messed up one line but I kept going and just swapped it round abit so it fit with the language and still fit with its rhyming couplet. My movement was good and I kept focused and in character the whole time. I believe I communicated my intentions across to the audience as weird, creepy and mysterious. By moving in weird ways around the stage and with my facial expression. I also committed my time to this by making my own costume and I helped with make up on the day. On the day, rehearsing in the space in full costume made it a lot easier to get into character, we also had to make sure we covered all facings and it just helped having a run first and making sure we spoke loud enough and that our movement was big enough. Throughout the show I kept my head down slightly so my hair would fall in front of my face but I kept my eyeline up to look weird and creepy

https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/english/macbeth/language/revision/3/
https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth

Dance evaluation

Peer feedback;

• Good musicality
• Strong movement
• Good extension

During this piece I kept my hands splayed and hit the opening positions with good musicality. Throughout I had good extension in my arms making the movement big and exaggerated and also had good technique in my pirouettes, leaps and kicks. At one point in the dance I arrived at a position early so I held it as the next motif matched a certain  part of the music. Even in some parts that I missed a step or movement I carried on and didn't panic. I kept my eyeline up and my focus was good a well thought about as I kept looking out and smiling but in some movements, where I needed to, Id look down my arm or up to match the movement.

Dance Show evaluation

During the dance show I was in two piece - Rooster and Mein Herr. The piece Mein Herr was based on cabaret and Fosse jazz style. His key style was shown during the movie 'Cabaret' - the film our piece was based on. This dance was originally a solo that I created and that as a group we adapted to a quintet. Throughout the piece we used a number of choreographic devices, such as canon and repetition. Our musicality was good and well rehearsed as certain movements matched the music like in one part when we do a little shoulder shimmy it matches the piano scale, and we also drop when the music does. And one section when we line the chairs up down the middle we step out from them in time matching our steps with each note. However, when the music got faster the movement got abit sloppy. We could've used more rehearsal on that part to make sure the movement was sharp and in good unison. My extension in my arms and legs was quite good and I made the movements big and extended. In the beginning our unison was good but as I said with the increase in pace we became slightly less in time.

Greek Theatre

• Most Greek cities had a theatre. It was in the open air, and was usually a bowl-shaped arena on a hillside. Some theatres were very big, with room for more than 15,000 people in the audience.
• Greek actors wore masks, made from stiffened linen, with holes for eyes and mouth. Actors also wore wigs. They wore thick-soled shoes too, to make them look taller, and padded costumes to make them look fatter or stronger.
• The masks showed the audience what kind of character an actor was playing (sad, angry or funny). Some masks had two sides, so the actor could turn them round to suit the mood for each scene.
• The Greek theatre history began with festivals honoring their gods. A god, Dionysus, was honored with a festival called by "City Dionysia".
• Athens Drama Festival originated from the Great Dionysia, a festival where people would take part in performances that explored great issues in their society.
• At the early Greek festivals, the actors, directors, and dramatists were all the same person. After some time, only three actors were allowed to perform in each play. Later few non-speaking roles were allowed to perform on-stage. Due to limited number of actors allowed on-stage, the chorus evolved into a very active part of Greek theatre. Music was often played during the chorus' delivery of its lines.
• Greek theatre has provided inspiration for most playwrights around the world and led to the evolution of the genre .Through the different types of Greek Drama, the ancient Greeks ensured that every aspect of human life is investigated.

Tragedy

• The earliest tragedy that survives, is Aeschylus Persai, dates from 472.
• Thespis is considered to be the first actor and originator of tragedy.- which means 'goat song', perhaps referring to the sacrifice of goats to the god Dionysia. 
• Aristotle argued that tragedy cleansed the heart through pity and terror, purging us of our petty concerns and worries by making us aware that there can be nobility in suffering. He called this experience 'catharsis'.

Comedy

• The first comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness.
• The first master of comedy was the playwright Aristophanes. Much later Menander wrote comedies about ordinary people and made his plays more like sit-coms.
• Aristophanes is considered as the master of producing Comedy plays and his works like “Clouds”, “Birds”, “Frogs”, etc. deal with contemporary problems on a satirical note.

Satyr

• These short plays were performed between the acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy's characters.
• The satyrs were mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in these plays wore large phalluses for comic effect
• Few examples of these plays survive. They are classified by some authors as tragicomic, or comedy dramas.

All Sophocles’ tragedies were written for and first performed at the Great Dionysia, a series of celebrations lasting several days in honour of Dionysus, god of wine, theatre, and transgression. Each year, three playwrights were chosen to write three plays (plus a Satyr play) for the competitive spectacle. The cost for each set of plays was born by a wealthy citizen (the choregos), who was obliged by the city to undertake such liturgies as a kind of taxation on the wealthy, In turn, the choregos and the playwright stood to gain a great deal of prestige from a successful production. A panel of judges was chosen by lot to adjudicate the competition, and Sophocles’ popularity is demonstrated by the claim of ancient authorities that he won first prize twenty-four times, and his plays were never given third place.
The Great Dionysia’s civic processions, priestly actions, and political ceremonials provide an inescapable backdrop to the plays themselves. At the beginning of the competition, the ten strategoi poured libations to the gods, opening the ceremony in front of the assembled citizen body in the theatre. The tribute paid to Athens by its allies was laid out in the theatre, the sons of those who had lost their lives fighting for Athens were paraded, and those who had done conspicuous service to Athens were named and honoured. It was a celebration of the power and civic identity of democratic Athens, in front of both its citizens assembled as the polis as well as visitors from across the Greek world.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/322578-set-text-guide-sophocles-antigone-handbook.pdf