Week 7

Evaluation of our Monday and Thursday rehearsals 

During Monday's rehearsal, we refined and recovered some of our material for the earlier scenes of the play which had lost a lot of detail and clarity over the half term. This mainly consisted of Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4 and Scene 5. I think that this rehearsal was very useful as a lot of the us had forgotten the detail and it needed to be refined much more. 

Overall, the general work ethic in the room was positive nevertheless I still observed that some groups drifted in and out of focus, perhaps because the idea of repeating work we had already done and improving it was more mundane as opposed to continuing through the play. However, I believe that this rehearsal was generally effective because it helped focus on the little details and I think that this attention to detail made everyone in the class to snap into a more focused and motivated mindset compared to our previous week. Without this rehearsal I think the quality of those scenes would have continued to deteriorate and therefore it was a rehearsal that was very needed but it was also helpful in trying to unify the group by us all having a motivated mindset, which helped contribute to the success of Thursday's rehearsal.

I thought that overall Thursday's rehearsal was a quite successful rehearsal because the energy in the room became so much more positive and it seemed that as a group the work that was created was highly valued by everyone and everyone offered something to the process of devising and developing the end of Scene 7 and Scene 8. Although I personally wasn't involved in the first half of the rehearsal, I became an observer, watching the devising of the safe house guards, maids and rest of the ensemble create a sequence which encapsulated the atmosphere of preparing for The Generallismo's arrival by dressing the Madames and following their commands. I noticed that a lot of people in this part were very energetic and there was a very alive atmosphere in the room because people were almost forced to commit to this exercise as it required a lot of physical commitment and attention to detail, like Monday's rehearsal. The numbers of performers on stage fluctuated, with certain performers such as the maids coming off stage at certain points and I think this also contributed to a more focused mood for everyone because it helped concentrate on less people, which improved the clarity of the piece. I think this would also have been helpful to the performers on stage with less people because it meant they didn't have to deal with anyone who wasn't focused and this made everyone feel more positive. 

 I personally felt like I developed my skill of being a constructive and positive group member while this went on because I tried not to have conversations with other people and rather be respectful by offering a positive and supporting energy to the performers on stage. I also used this hour to go over my lines and make sure I was secure on them, which helped support me more when I was doing my own scene with dialogue not long after. This sort of respectful and positive attitude I felt was embodied by everyone else off stage too, as well as the foley artists, which helped improve the atmosphere in the room.  

When it came to my own scene, I think that this similar type of atmosphere was also continued. A big majority of the group was lying on the floor in positions which they seemed to keep throughout our scene as we ran lines and this was very respectful, helping us just run the scene and play and experiment more so.  However, I did feel like because this particular scene involved a much smaller amount of people with the majority of soldiers or ensemble members on the floor, a lot of energy that was so abundant earlier was lost. This could have been partly due to the fact that a lot of the performers now on stage had been off stage for an hour, so they didn't have as much of the pre existing energy that the others had, nevertheless, it also reflected in the fact that some people were quite unsure of their lines. This delayed the flow of the lines and there was evidently gaps of silence throughout the whole scene which made the overall feeling and flow of the scene very monotonous. I think that this particular rehearsal could have been improved if more people on stage for this scene knew their lines. I personally feel like that I am quite confident on my lines apart from the cues and I think that when a large majority don't know their lines, it's harder for myself to hit cues and the whole group involved to make the lines flow and make the action flow because the audience would be able to instantly pick up when there is a gap in the scene and this would ruin the spontaneity.

This week we didn't get through as much of the play as we should have however I think it was important in establishing more focus throughout the group and also helping to clarify certain aspects. I think that the following things will make rehearsals next week more effective:

• People knowing their lines and cues
• People coming to rehearsals ready to work with energy and motivation
• People making detailed notes on their scripts of blocking/movement sequences at the end of each rehearsal so that they have a copy of chorus blocking for certain scenes
• A continued focused attitude 

Week 6 - Character Research: Madame

Madame

Approaching the script

1) Given circumstances

Madame is a character who is brought into the safe house as the mistress of the Generallismo. Bryony Lavery has portrayed her as a lover of shoes, which are almost like her safe haven, and very high status, with other characters being subordinate to her and carrying out her commands. She is incredibly materialistic, domineering and self righteous with no care for anyone else apart from herself or the Generallismo. Lapin seems to be her next in command, who assists her and looks after her but also comes across as quite patronising towards Madame. Madame doesn't seem to be affected by the environment of war around her and is very in love with the Generallismo, constantly asking for him and preparing for his arrival at the safe house anxiously. The Generallismo is the only person whom the Madame seems to care about and when Madame is on edge, Lapin is her next in line who will help validate her feelings by comforting her with thoughts of the Generallismo or presenting Madame with her own shoes. At the end of the play, Madame is raped and attacked by other characters and her shoes are also taken away by the shoemaker. It appears that at this point her facade of being perfect and unaffected by the war rubs away and she admits that she no longer loves the Generallismo, becoming vulnerable. She has a scene at the end of the play with the rest of the maids where they discuss the hope and reunification of Illyria and there is a sense of hope, Madame and the maids are united and she is empowered once again in a more down to earth sense, with the maids being her equals.

2) Who is Madame?

Madame is the mistress of The Generallismo, who is not in the play.

My own interpretation is that Madame has always been from a very rich family however was installed into the Generallismo's circle of ladies when she was a teenager and the military dictatorship was established. She has been indoctrinated by the Generallismo and the higher establishment by believing that the war does not exist. She was tempted and engrained into only valueing materialistic possessions and that's how she acquired her love and need for expensive shoes and clothing as it's almost like an object which helps make her feel safe in the midst of war and corruption (this is a bit like Imelda Marcos' shoe collection). Therefore, Madame has developed a facade of being self absorbed and completely unaware of the war around her, seeing everyone who is lower status as inferior and treating them that way. However, I think underneath it all, Madame is incredibly vulnerable and she is so damaged by the effects of being so brainwashed by the dictatorship that she is desensitised to all the effects of war: death, poverty, rape and emotion and her only way to survive in the world of Illyria is to conform to the dictatorship. 

Madame's Objectives and Needs

Madame's inner needs are attention, validation and materialism to be safe in the world that she is in and to keep up her facade of being self absorbed and not caring of everything.

Her super objective is to be safe which stems back to how she was groomed by the Generallismo and how she continues to be a 'hostage' like figure. She has acquiesced to the indoctrination that she has been put through all to be safe, however now, in the time of the play, has become so consumed in it she believes her real purpose is to to dominate everyone and live a superficial life with shoes and class status.  Therefore, throughout the play, she carries out the objectives of 'to control', 'to order', 'to intimidate', 'to show off', 'to dominate' etc to live up to these needs.

3) Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos was the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th President of the Philippines from 30 December 1965 – 25 February 1986.  She is one of the richest politicians in the world and has abundant collections of clothing, jewellery, artwork, jewellery and she also has offshore accounts. She owns more than three thousand pairs of shoes and she is often referred to as 'The Steel Butterfly'.

I believe that Imelda Marcos has some similarities compared to Madame because her and Madame both have a very similar love for shoes and have similar values, therefore I thought it would be interesting to get a real life context of people like Imelda Marcos who are in positions of powers and value materialism, to help give my portrayal of Madame a lot more depth and to be able to engage with her story a lot more when applied to real life context. 

Here are some of Imelda Marcos' famous quotes:

This is an article about Imelda Marcos' shoes.

Imelda Marcos's shoe collection gathers mould after years of neglect  - this article reminds me of how at the end of the play, a revolution occurs and everyone attacks Madame's shoes, leaving them neglected and almost left to rot - a metaphor for how Madame's sense of safety becomes violated and she is left alone and extremely vulnerable.

4) Ana Paula dos Santos

Ana Paulo dos Santos is a former fashion model and is the current wife of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. 

diplomat once described the president and first lady as "a handsome couple, elegantly and expensively dressed, looking for all the world as though they're living in southern California." 

She is very active in her support for victims of landmines. Despite this, her husband, Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been criticised as to having let countless atrocities occur under his watch, including torture and mass murders, occur under a 27 year civil war. 

5) Chantal Biya

Biya is a very social First Lady who is known as trendsetter and has met Michelle Obama, Paris Hilton and Pope Francis. She has been quoted expressing that her favourite designer brands are Chanel and Dior and many of her pieces in a wardrobe are custom made. 

Her husband has been in office for more than 30 years and in 2008, he removed restrictions on term limits so he could run for office indefinitely. His state security forces have been accused of executing protestors and using violence and oppression to eliminate political opponents. 

6) Ri Sol Ju 

Ri Sol-ju is the wife of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un's life is very secretive, however there has been many sightings of her stood next to him and the higher establishment has previously stated that she is his wife. There are many rumours suggesting that she had a very promiscuous lifestyle. 

7) Grace Mugabe

Grace Mugabe is the wife of the Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe and is known for her lavish and elaborate lifestyle. In 2003, she was reported to have spent £75,000 in a short shopping spree in Paris and in the years leading up to 2004, she retrieved over 5 million pounds from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe.
The President's opponents have branded her a 'Disgrace' for her spending habits but she refers to herself as 'the mother of a nation'.
Robert Mugabe has been accused of being extremely corrupt by vote rigging and setting up 'torture camps' for political opponents. c

Week 5

Rehearsal feedback for Scene Six

Overall, the rehearsal on Thursday was very unproductive as people were quite unfocused and kept on talking, therefore this delayed our rehearsal schedule and we weren't able to complete as much as we had hoped to. Some problems are as follows:

Problems -

• Lack of energy across the class and ensemble
• The curtain was too heavy to roll my character (Madame) as the 'moth', therefore we didn't successfully portray Madame with this illusion
• Groups of people talking and not listening to direction
• People breaking out of physical shapes when new direction was given
• People missing their line cues
• People not committing to their physical actions

Strategies -

• Having a warm up with an energy focused game which includes the whole class as this will encourage an ensemble attitude of working together and will also help to energise the cast. An example of this could be group singing, or alternatively improvisation as this gets people's creative juices flowing. This, along with a warm up which relaxes the muscles and vocal chords will put the entire cast in the same motivated mindset. 
• People learning their lines and working together to have a unified and energetic ensemble which amplifies the ongoing action occurring throughout the play.
• We need to find an alternative fabric or material which can be used to roll myself and Laila in as Madame before we enter the safe house. 

Alternative direction idea -

I think another source of the problem is that some people in the ensemble feel alienated from the main action going on in the scenes sometimes and therefore are less likely to want to commit to their physical actions and acting, and become disengaged from the direction and any participation opportunities they could have.
However, in Scene 6 in particular I don't see why this would happen because most of the cast are involved and have very strict and demanding sets of physical roles to fulfill constantly to support the Madames, Lapin and Conrad. Nevertheless, I think that the soldiers could be more involved however as I observed that throughout our previous rehearsal they stood at the back of the room and I think that they could use this opportunity in the background to add multi dimensional depth interpretations to what is going on in the scene and how various characters are feeling. 

With my alternative direction idea, I would initiate scene six with the same concept that we previously played with, where there is the 'scrum' who are then notified that the Madames are coming. In contrast to them running I would perhaps use this as an opportunity for different ensemble members to embody their characters thoughts and feelings through physicality, facial emotions and body language as this will help to communicate again, a multi dimensional depth and will communicate a more complex statement to the audience. For example, some characters may not be running, but instead could be hiding, for example more vulnerable, low status characters such as the maids could be finding refuge when Madame arrives as opposed to running around. I personally think that the lifts of me and Laila conducted were carried out quite effectively and I think the people who lifted me (Shenneil, Mia, Saffron, Ruby and Wildat) were able to do this swiftly and supportively, therefore I don't think anything to do with the lifts needs to be particularly changed, however I think the group carrying me and Laila's group need to consolidate the physical shapes we make to mirror eachother perfectly and therefore, the resulting physical shapes we make will be more defined and cleaner and we will be able to withhold them more effectively. The soldiers alternatively could be supporting the ensemble or creating a second shape around the Madames, nevertheless I would more likely have them upstage to fill the space and I think that this moment would be ideal for people playing their characters to just play as their characters in this moment and perform really understated actions which doesn't upstage the main characters but amplifies the mood and atmosphere being created.

For example, Violent's physical action may be to pace as we know from previously in the play he is really uncomfortable and haunted by the safe house, as well as this the presence of the Madames could possibly add to his anxiety and association of his low status and conformity to higher powers, which has put him in the paranoid and guilty mindset he is in now. Furthermore, Violent's psychological objective would be to stay unnoticed, as he wants to keep up the strict and authoritarian persona as a soldier but the audience may be able to read between the lines and see the vulnerability that is revealed when he is around the Madames at scenes with high tension such as scene six and this adds multidimensional depth to the play.

Obsceno's physical objective, on the other hand, could be to tease Violent, as we know from previously in the play that he enjoys taunting Violent. Ruby may do this by using tactics such as to follow, to touch, to taunt, to laugh, to dominate etc.

For the other characters like the maids, I think various objectives could be 'to avoid', 'to observe', 'to protect' however these should vary depending on individual characters because different maids will have different responses to the presence of the Madames.

Pre-show ideas

I think a pre show would be effective for our piece because it could communicate some of the ideas and themes of the piece which the audience can reflect on before the play has even started.

My main idea is to have a promenade pre show as the audience are travelling from the foyer to the Space (where the play is being performed). As we have already created internal monologues based on the theme of a nightmare, a group of people playing various characters, for example, one of the Madames, a couple of soldiers, the driver, the shoemaker and one of the maids could be scattered across the building and the outside of the foyers performing their internal monologues to the audience as they travel past on their way to the Space.

Alternatively, internal monologues might not even be necessary for everyone, for example, a soldier could be standing or sitting somewhere performing an action, for example trying to get blood off his/her hands, trying to scrub a spot off the ground (this is a reference to Scene 4 in the safe house) or soaking his/her hand into a cup of 'blood' which they then use to cover themselves with. Characters like Madame could lead with the audience from the foyer to the space and chuck petals and confetti in the path, which could represent how she as a character is often so dissociated from her surroundings that she sees the dictatorship and corrupt society around her as a fantasy, and she is at the centre of it. Or Maria could lead the audience: as a journalist, she is the one telling the story in the play and therefore it might make more sense if she led the audience.

The rest of the group who are not involved in the promenade show could lay in the pile of bodies which Scene 1 starts with as the audience arrive in their seats - ideally, I think it would be most effective and interesting if this group has coordinated movement, for example breathing audibly and rising together and then exhaling and collapsing. The  promenade group should stay outside The Space and only enter and join the pile of bodies once the lights have dimmed and the play is starting.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                -