ELECTRA Pre-Production Programme

In our lesson today we chose roles that suited our skills. So i chose to do marketting alongside my peer Elsie. In the beginning of the lesson we ran through the script by reading it through from start to finish this gave us a feel for how long the production would take. Each act took roughly 20-25 minutes each making Electra a 1 hour and 15 minute play aprox. It also allowed us as a group to change and alter anything regarding the script. Alterations such as the friends lines were combined and changed around. In this lesson we also chose the songs we are going to use in Electra, the songs will be sung by the chorus. and it has been pencilled in that the songs wont be sung they will be whispered making it seem more effective and erie.  After this we then went off to start on either line learning, blocking actions or to start our pre-production work. Elsie and I decided to start on pre-production as it was a chance when we could both work together and have access to photoshop. I didnt know yet creatively how i was going to conduct the programme and poster. So we split the roles and Elsie worked on the poster whilst i got on with the programme. The colour themes in the play are dark burned colours so i wanted to remain with this theme in the programme and Elsie also decided to do the same for the poster. As it is an erie twist on an accient greek play i wanted to make it traditional but with a modern twist. I began by looking at what images are suitable for the front cover of the programme and how to combine modern and old. I originally thought about having the old greek theatre masks for the front and came up with an image which was of the old greek masks but modernising them by  making them animated. So after creating the animated masks in the colour scheme of burnt out colours i then went to look for font for the front cover which would portray the title of the programme. Again with this i wanted it to look authentic so used the traditional Greek stylised font. I used a grungy distressed version of the greek font just to add character to the programme.

I then discussed with Elsie what i could add to the front cover to enhance it, and she then said what she was doing with her poster and how she was going to having spooky looking trees on the poster as a tree was a main prop on stage in the London show of Electra we saw. So i then used this idea to also include a tree in the programme front cover.

When designing programmes and posters for shows and productions you have to bare in mind printing costs, which i discussed with my teacher. I originally would have made a black background for the programme/poster however, with past experience of using a lot of colour last year i thought it would be better by making it simple in background colours but how to still make it look effective.

Below is what the programme looks like so far, its not completed and still have a way to go, but staying on top now means we can focus on getting all the acting perfectionised.

This is the front and back of the programme and i have begun the theme within the programme which will remain the same throughout. I wanted the programme to look as professional as i can make it. On the inside of the programme we will have black and white headshots of our class as individuals. This allows the audience to see each of the actors/actresses in our production of Electra, it also gives them an insight into what they are like, as each actor will write a few lines about themselves and maybe past productions they have been in. In the programme there will also be a breif overview on what Electra is about and a bit of background information into greek theatre.

This year for pre-production in marketting it is now a requirement to have a sponsership in the programme, getting this sorted and talking to buiness' about this gives us an oppourtunity to work with buisnesses and how this should be conducted properly. It also makes us learn more now in education about the buisness side of things. The money for the sponsership given to us will also cover our printing costs, previously last year we were making a loss with programmes but we didn't want that this year so this is why we have incorporated it this year and will be carried out in years to come.

There are certain aspects that need to be covered when designing posters and programmes for productions. You have to include a logo, for us it will be our college logo so it is correctly copyrighted, but if you were a theatre company you would use your theatre company logo. Other things to consider is a thank you page, so all the front of house crew and backstage crew get recognision as a play cannot come together without these vital parts. If you got funding for your production this is also where it would be mentioned.

Below is the final print out of the front and back pages of the programme:

After this i went on to create the casting list, this is something me and Elsie has had to organise as we needed to take individual head shots of everyone in Electra. Below is a template i created as our outline for where the cast list and photos will be. This will be the 3rd and 4th page of the programme and as shown i have kept the theme of the programme the same throughout. I then went on to do the Introduction for the programme as i had already done quite a bit of research on Electra so this was straight forward. I then wanted a full cast photo from our electra workshops this shows some of the process we went through to achieve and allow our production to come together. On this page there will also be our sponsership and this will be the first 2 pages. 

Fairytale Workshop

In todays lesson we were introduced to a fairy-tale workshop. The main target from this lesson was to help guide the chorus when we perform Electra, the reasoning for this is because when you are acting as chorus it can be hard to keep up the atmosphere and energy going throughout the play. To keep the energy going we were taught several ways to keep it interesting, one way we learnt was the shoal of fish where a group of people would stay compact together and one person would lead the group just like a shoal of fish, the directions will change frequently so you need to stay alert to keep up with the direction changes. This exercise allowed movement to continue through the show keeping it lively and active.


Another exercise we did was where we were put into groups of 4 and one at a time a person would change a part of movement of 1 one person who was acting almost like a moveable statue. This created a dramatic effect and the puppet effect of it allowed it to portray intense emotions.


The last exercise we did in this workshop was where you had to guide one person who has their eyes shut. This was a scary feeling if you were the one with their eyes shut but it meant you had to put your trust into the person who was guiding you. All these exercises allows to break up a piece of acting, it brings in movement which can be portrayed in a dance way allowing the piece to come alive.


At the end of this exercise we had to then put this into context which was a fairy tale of our choice, our group decided to chose a fairy tale we all knew well which ended up being Cinderella. We used the exercises above and said a line of the fairy tale each until the play was completed. The exercises made the acting more interesting and quite comical at places.


Below is the video of this performance of our fairy tale:
Fairy Tale Performance 


I believe my performance went well, we were in time with each other and remember the story lines and said our lines clearly and with emotion. This allowed us to interact more with the audience if I could have done it again I would have changed a few movements and I would have connected more with the audience, maybe by actually involving them would have been a great way to bring the atmosphere of the play up.

Electra Workshop

We did a Greek workshop specialising in the play. Electra, is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Its date is not known. Electra is set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan war, it is based around the character of Electra, and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.

For our workshop we entered the room and on the floor was a scattering of masks. These masks portrays facial expressions which shows emotions. We all had to walk around the room and get into nearest groups of two, we then had to say to each other things we really like about the other person. This is an exercise which is done a lot in American theatre as warm-ups. We then had to reverse roles and get into a new pair and say something you genuinely mean about what you like about yourself and inform the other person. I found both of these exercises a challenge i found it easier to find positive things about someone else rather than myself, but knowing your strengths and weakness' in theatre is something good to know, so you can work on your weaknesses and excel on your strengths.

We then had to wonder round the room again and when we stopped the nearest mask to us we had to use. Mine was a mixed emotion face as half of the face was happy and half of the face was sad. We had to build up a character for this person and share it in a pair with someone else. I said that my mask was confused and felt he hid his emotions, i then suggested that my mask could have bipolar disorder this would clearly be represented in the mask as half the time he's happy and half the time he's sad. We then walked around with the masks on and had to walk in a fashion that that character would walk. I walked slowly as my character is cautious with the outside world, my character found it hard to trust others so i also crossed my arms and made my body movements scared and shy. 


Furthermore, we went off in pairs and had to perform a section from Electra without the mask, with the mask and then with the masks but just in mime. This was almost an improvisation activity which was found challenging with masks when miming, because when miming we usually rely on facial expressions to get across a storyline but when this element is taken away from us it proves difficult so you have to rely less on your facial expressions and more on your body movements. 

However, even with the restrictions masks give in mime i felt it was easier to portray any character as you can hide behind a mask and the identity of yourself isn't revealed to an audience.


Below is the videos of this workshop and the auditions.
Electra Workshop 1
Electra Workshop 2
Electra Workshop 3

Into the Woods Introduction/Bakers Costume Design

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987. Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason).

The musical has been produced many times, with a 1988 US national tour, a 1990 West End production, a 1991 television production, a 1997 tenth anniversary concert, a 2002 Broadway revival, a 2010 London revival and in 2012 as part of New York City's outdoor Shakespeare in the Park series. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by an original story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a Witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.

My first reaction to the play was great i loved the story line and the combination of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and i instantly was thinking what we could do with the play and how we would portray the set and the characters. The songs are upbeat and happy and i am excited to start 'Into the Woods'. I researched into the play and looked at what others had done and how they portrayed the set design, characters, costumes etc. 

We have been given an assignment to design a main characters costumes. I have chosen the Baker. For this in preparation to this i was given a costume design to design for an eccentric chef and within this i made an over the top children's theatres hat. I made the hat myself and thought this could tie in nicely with the baker in Into The Woods. I looked at other theatre productions of Into the Woods to see how they stylised the Bakers outfit and most of them did intact have a chef hat incorporated in the costume. On the right  is a image of the hat i made from scratch. It is oversized which will capture children's eyes. Usually in children's theatre costumes are brightly coloured and bold however i wanted to stick with the originality of a white chefs hat and may be striking against the set or colours used in other characters costumes. 
The hat is constructed with white card, white material and plastic. 

The Baker should also wear a white apron this reflects his occupation of a Baker as it protects his clothing from cooking i think this should be slightly worn with some stains on to show its not brand new and portrays further his job. The Baker in the script wears a scarf i thought the scarf could be the centre piece for colour in his outfit i thought this scarf could be yellow as its a colour that isn't linked to other characters for example i wouldn't put the scarf as red as little red riding hoods outfit will be red and then this colour could over power the stage. For his shirt i think it could be a pale colour because i didn't want a bright shirt to detract away from who he is. 

Into the Woods Character Analysis

In todays lesson we were introduced to the script Into the Woods and within this we were to look at main features about each character whether that regarded the costume of personality.

STEPMOTHER, FLORINDA, LUCINDA

'Black of heart'

'Beautiful of face'

Costumes that reflect their social status, they are middle class they wouldn't be exceptionally poor nor rich.

BAKERS WIFE

The bakers wife wants a child, so has a motherly vibe about her and is caring and sweet.

BAKER

The baker wears a scarf. He is a loving character who seems down to earth and genuine.

JACKS MOTHER

Not beautiful
Worries about money problems and the state of her house and her.
Poor.
Jacks mothers clothes need to reflect her age and social status. So dull drags that might not fit her probably and the unfitting costume will reflect that she cant afford new clothes. I believe the clothes shall be distressed and her hair and makeup should be untidy and dirty.

JACK

Jack will be wearing plain clothes which are dirty, as they would not be able to afford cleaning them and buying new clothes so will appear distressed and worn just like his mothers clothes. I would suggest for Jack to have at least one item of clothing that is bright and colourful to reflect his age of being a young child.
Jack has a strong friendship with his cow who his mother makes him sell as they need the money and the cow hasn't provided milk for them for a week. They cannot afford to keep it.

WITCH

Evil, lonely and demanding.

RED RIDING HOOD

I believe red riding hood should stick to the normality of the traditional red riding hood costume, so she should be in a little cute red dress to reflect her innocence but also a flowing dress so she can skip in as the stage directions state her 'skipping'.

CINDERELLA

Cinderella doesn't have a mum and her mum is a state of her imagination.
Cinderella will wear her traditional costumes, she will start in her drags that she wears in Cinderella but she will transform into her iconic blue dress.

WOLF

Sly, manipulative, authoritative, confident

RAPUNZEL

Rapunzel is shy but as she grows older she stands up more to the witch that locked her in the tower. For her costume i think she should have long blonde hair made by string but should be artificial. I think she should wear a beautiful dress in possible royal colours like purple. Purple is also the contrasting colour of blonde so will fit in with the colour spectrum.

Comparing A Greek Audience To A Modern Audience

From my previous blog posts I have explained the Greek theatre and how they used to be built and portrayed so that they felt they had one of the best designs for theatres. In the Greek times I would agree I would think the layout of the Greek theatre is good, especially for outside. It is shaped in a horse-shoe shape making the audience around the stage in a 180 degree way. The seating was built up making it if you were in 'the gods' you would be far away from the stage, this is why the theatre was built upwards in a semi-circle, this allowed the audience to hear to actors. 'The Gods' means the people who sat furthest away from the stage, this term came from the Greek times and is still used now-a-days.


The audience are sometimes in this way for a modern theatre. For example most west end theatres are still in this horse-shoe effect. However, more modern built theatres are designed in a Brecht style meaning that the audience would be straight on, facing the stage. The idea behind this setting was to alienate the audience so they don't become attached to the storyline. However, this is usually assisted with the style of play and acting performed on stage, because it doesn't completely alienate the audience.


In the Greek times if the actors got something wrong, or the character was not approved by the audience (antagonist) they would show this by throwing rotten foods at them; often tomatoes. The red from the tomato when thrown was seen as similar to blood so connotes 'killing the character' from the perspective of the audience.


This would never happen in a modern theatre because of health and safety. Furthermore, a modern audience are usually quiet in theatre, this is because its a rule of courtesy in theatres. It would be regarded as rude and unacceptable if you started throwing rotten vegetables at the actors. Furthermore, this would class as common assault, which wouldn't be classified as common assault in the ancient Greek times.


In modern theatres, there is an interval for the actors and the audience to break and get refreshments. This wouldn't occur in the Greek times as lighting was natural light and by elongating the performance this could effect the timing of the show, suggesting that they savoured the light times, and they couldn't perform in the evenings. On the other hand, modern audiences can view performances any time around the clock as lighting is ambient and theatres don't rely on natural light.

Theatre Artistic Policies

National Theatre's Artistic Policies

National Theatres Artistic Policy


The National Theatre is central to the creative life of the country. In its three theatres on the South Bank London, its presents an eclectric mix of new plays and classics, which seven or eight production s in repertory at any one time. It re-energises the great traditions of the British stage and expands the horizons of audiences and artists alike. It aspires to reflects in the repoertoire the diversity of UK culture, and through touring, the national shares it work with audiences in the UK and around the world.

National Theatre at the moment are producing works such as War Horse which is based on a novel by Michael Murpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford. The First World War is the backdrop for this tale of bravery, loyalty, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse. This production is 2 hours and 35 minutes long.

Another production they are doing at the moment is The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett. As much about theatre as it is about the poetry of Auden and the music of Benjamin Britten. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art. (2 hours 40 mins.)

National Theatre is both a touring theatre company and a based theatre company. Which allows to get there content to more people so they can really widen their audience members.

DV8 Artistic Policy

DV8 Physical Theatres work is about taking risks, aesthetically and physical, about breaking down the barriers between dance and theatre and, above all, communicating ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to be a radical yet accessible, and to take its work to as wide an audience as possible.

Dv8 is motivated by artistic inspiration and creative need rather than financial, organisational and touring demands dictate the creation of new works.
Great emphasis is placed on the process by which new work is created. The company has fought successfully for funding to cover lengthy research and development periods in order to maintain rigorous artistic integrity and quality in each new project. The focus of the creative approach is on reinvesting dance with meaning, particularly where this has been lost through formalised techniques. 
Dv8's strong commitment is to film and video and there name stands for Dance and Video 8. This reflects its ongoing interest in how two primarily visual media can enhance one another and reach a cross audience from within both forms. 

The company's reputation relies on pushing its own boundaries and on the constant re-examination of the roles and relationships of men and women in our society. Its policy insists on the importance of challenging our preconceptions of what dance can and should address.

The National Theatre's target audience is usually broad as they want to attract a wide audience. They attract mainly the younger generation though as they encourage youth actors and often look to educational sources who can put on some of there own productions on, as it is a production house. However, they also equip for an older audience as they do put on some more well known productions which attract all age groups, mostly.

Greenwich Theatre, London - Artistic Policy

Some companies use Greenwich Theatre as a home, using the office, rehearsal space, performance space; some companies use us as an artistic sounding board and an outside eye in rehearsal; some use us as an industry mentor, taking guidance on everything from prop-buying to touring strategy. All are enhanced by their relationship with Greenwich Theatre.

That ethos runs throughout their work, whether it means casting exceptional graduate performers in their Christmas shows, creating showcase moments for young companies as part of the Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival, running an annual Emerging Artists festival or ensuring that the seasonal programme on stage features a number of high profile performances by emerging companies.

Children's Theatre

Theatre for young audiences is a huge part of their work at Greenwich Theatre. In 2008 with support from Royal Greenwich and the Docklands Light Railway they launched the Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival with 10 performances across 2 venues. In 2012 the festival included 60 performances across 8 venues.

With ten companies currently working with the theatre as associate, supported or developing companies, no less than four are working to create new theatre for young audiences. Their Inspiring Spaces programme focuses on creating accessible family theatre in non-theatrical space.

Greenwich Theatre on Tour

Greenwich Theatre is one of London finest off-West End theatres, but the company is far more than the building. Their beliefs in pursuing excellence in theatre and supporting emerging work transcends the bricks and mortar of our building, so whether they are offering mentoring support to a new company, creating a new piece of theatre on a boat or curating a borough-wide festival, their ethos is the same. This has now developed further with the launch of Greenwich Theatre On Tour, a programme of work which has seen them work with emerging companies to co-produce theatre at a range of national and international venues, with performances in London, Brighton, Edinburgh, Dublin, Madrid and New York in the last two years.

Ultimately, theatre holds something for everyone, and Greenwich Theatre is promotes equality of opportunity across all aspects of its operation. This applies to audiences, performers, practitioners, young participants and staff alike. In education, they strive to use theatre to tackle the barriers which prevent young people from accessing education, employment or training. For theatre makers they strive to offer developmental opportunities unavailable elsewhere. In programming, they offer a broad, diverse selection of productions to satisfy a wide audience. For staff greenwich theatre encourages training and personal development, both inside and outside of the industry.