Greek Tragedy Chorus Blog

Day 1: 

Today we were given a choral piece to work on for a new physical theatre assignment. We are focusing on the vocal delivery and physical aspects/movement of a Greek chorus and applying it to ourselves to a script that we will be given. We will have to learn the skills and history of the style in order to fully incorporate them into a piece of our own or a piece to adapt.

Today to start off with we were given a piece of text as a group and had to read through it in a variety of ways. We started with each person saying one line of the page at a time, then having a person read until they got to the end of a sentence, then have a person read until any punctuation mark. This was interesting because it helped us to see that the variety of ways the text can be delivered can affect how it comes across. It can seem to add more of a specific intention to something. It helped to convey a certain atmosphere and this seemed to change depending on the structure. Although most of us were just making up the tones as we went along it still showed that doing it as a collective or in any suitable way could potentially be sinister or something along these lines.

We then had to have one person reading the text and then the group repeat certain words that seem significant or needed emphasising. For example (Antigone) in the line "But now in the beautiful morning of victory" some/all member of it may choose to repeat "Victory" in a proud manner and embody it with an action or stance, So both the chosen word and their delivery are important to effectively convey a mass/general feeling.

The exercise we did afterwards was where we had to take sides of an argument of two people leading an argument. I was part of the crowd and had to pick certain words to say in a certain tone. This was to simulate a crowd of people reacting to a big event similar to a showing the public reacting to a political debate. This was an example of showing a worried or distressed crowd or divided community.  As I mentioned one of the main points of a chorus is to show a variation of emotions from several people. At least that's the main one I'm aware of as of now so I will have to research if they have any other noticeable uses.

Day 2:

Today we mainly experimented more with some movement and timing of said movements. We were given a set of opposite emotions and then told to transition between them in a set number of drum beats. For example we had to do a pose on a chair for receiving good news and one for bad news and then have to change between them but showing a journey of getting there not just a quick switch. So it would have to look as if we have been given good news but then subsequently given bad news. We had to focus on smoothly transitioning but also do it with in the time limit we had. Karen would bang on a drum for a certain amount of time and we'd have to get into the opposite positions as it finishes.  We also did this with Forgiveness and punishment and then with fear and empowerment.

After this we developed it a little by having these emotions but this time standing up and having two people argue and then choose a side of the argument to follow and how we should act against the opposite side. So we could go from side to side and change our point of view. For example we could be on one side looking down at the other in anger and then go to the other side (If we're swayed) to being more forgiving. We can also emphasise certain  words still if we wish to to show what is important to the point of view of the chorus or who they're representing. This is an interesting dynamic that can be shown. It has a story within itself and can show many peoples journeys simultaneously or help to create a feeling or indecisiveness or uneasiness.

Day 3:

Today we got given the scripts that we will have to start rehearsing and make our own piece out of. The script we were given was a choral segment from the Greek tragedy "The libation bearers" which is from the "Oresteia" trilogy by Aeschylus. I was put in a small group with Chloe S, Katrina and Rhys. With the limited time we had we went through the section of the script we had in a variety of ways and tones, Today was admittedly not a very productive session although it did give me and the others in my group a chance to play around with the script and see how it could be read or interpreted. We read through a few times getting better as we went along and trying ways of reading but we never had the chance to make a decision on what to stick with for the moment.

Initial response to text:

I must admit when I first read the text I had no idea what to make of it. When it comes to reading older texts I can never grasp what they really mean so I went back over it and tried getting more context and unfortunately I can't really get a grasp of the actual story although the themes present throughout and the images it puts in my head are quite intriguing. With the limited knowledge I have of a chorus it made me think of a crowd of conspirators plotting and the chaos that they cause from their plotting. The setting I have in my head is admittedly a cliched one, like a 15th century city with a church as the focus. The theme of murder and revenge is something I think can have a lot of potential for interesting movement and vocal delivery. I will have to more study the chorus to see what they can do but just from coming off of a physical theatre devising piece I am starting to form Some ideas in my head although none of them a re very clear due to the fact I need more clarity on the chorus in general. Although the ideas from the last session about crowds going between opposite emotions and sides of an argument I think could fit in but at what bit I'm not sure. I'm seeing potential but nothing crystal clear as of now.

Functions of a chorus/Research:

- Can be used to show a response to an event in the play either by representing a collective of individuals with a mass opinion or a collective that shows a range of opinions.

- Can be used to add a sense of fun to the piece possibly a very primitive version of "Comic relief characters" in a modern play but the intention was more to be just entertaining instead of funny.

- Can be used to show the passing of time/to deliver exposition for transitions between time periods.

- Can be used to control the levels of intended tension whether it be a low or high amount or whether it is needed to fluctuate.

- Can be used to add context to a scene through exposition or even make events clearer to [people who might not understand without it.

- Can be used to show a characters motivations or any implied thoughts and feelings of a character such as a group of conspirators plotting or what the protagonist is struggling with through out his story.

- Can be used to provide narration through out the piece.

- Can be used to set a mood/tone and transition between them



Links:

http://krishaamer.com/function-chorus-greek-drama/

Day 4:

Today I was put in a new group. I was put with Chloe S, Jack A, Georgia and Max. We were told that we must take the 3rd section of the script and apply it to a modern context. we came up with some ideas and tried one of them out.

Ideas for settings:

It took a while to come up with some ideas for settings. At first we came up with the idea of a church due to the text speaking of prayers. Because of that alone it was a decent idea for a setting and did give a couple of ideas for staging such as being in line and echoing certain words, for example "We prey" in symmetrical ways. When asked for a more modern and relatable setting, I suggested children playing video games since they're a very big part of media today and could have some good ideas for staging. The one I suggested was for 3 of us to be sat in a triangle and then two of us could act out the physical part and repeat words while they are sat and lead the chorus but still have movement. Max suggested an idea about a dating website call "Ashley Madison" and even added some context of who the characters could be. It was actually a neat idea in my opinion and had potential but we didn't get to try it out.

Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

The group were quite cooperative and excepting of other peoples ideas despite the limited time. We even got some good ideas going in terms of staging and potential delivery. we also got some starting ideas for physicality and stances which seemed cool when planning them out even though we didn't get to explore them.

Weaknesses:

A weakness for today was that while we came up with some interesting ideas we didn't actually get much done at all in terms of staging or even get a setting decided. We did have some interesting ideas but nothing was given a real chance to be explored, especially Max's idea which while we didn't know exactly how to stage, could've had some interesting results.

Problems and solutions:

Even though I thought that the church setting was an interesting idea in terms of staging because we we did seem to have ideas right away, the setting itself was probably a little bland and it did not fit in with a modern setting since a church location itself hasn't exactly changed too much over the centuries and isn't something someone would necessarily think of when thinking of modern times. This meant that it had to be abandoned if another setting was thought of and their have been more so that issue seems to have been fixed by replacing it unless we can hopefully think of another setting and stick with it. Another problem was that we cannot go with a video game theme since the group doing section 4 are doing it and they seem to be keen and we don't really want to go with the same theme so we're most likely going to let them have it and we'll choose something original.

Day 5:

Ideas/Input:

We tried thinking of some more ideas for setting or context. I had a few ideas in mind such as having follow people in the modern army since that and the story revolve around a serious conflict. That Idea was quickly dismissed and I then suggested a prison since it had talk of justice and revenge which seemed to match and could have some potential for interesting staging or characterisation. Also it's something that is popular in modern entertainment. Films and TV shows such as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Prison Break" have a lot of the same themes and are considered brilliant dramatic pieces of art. I suggested the idea that as a starting point it should be the guards standing in front of the prisoners and that we should have our hands cuffed while they have their arms out. This image alone would show the difference in status between the characters and make it more impactful when it changes. We have blocked a fair bit of the piece. An idea from the group was that we chant/repeat "No words" from the script when behind jack to show the side of people saying he should back off and then we walk over to max and say "To grip his sword" to show the encouragement side of the other inmates. Also the body language and facial expressions changing as we cross may suggest the idea of people being swayed which I think could be quite interesting to see.

Strengths and weaknesses:

A strength of today was that the choreography we came up with looked very good if a little unpolished and a decent focus on symmetry throughout most of it. Whether or not this is how Greek tragedies would have been staged I'm not so sure but what we came up with still looked quite good in my opinion. We now have an interesting setting for the reasons I said earlier. It's relevant to the themes presented in the piece, it does fit with modern times and the violent subject matter would also fit with it due to what a horrible place prison is.

A weakness of the session is that we didn't get all that much done for basic ideas. We now have the template for the first third or so of the piece of script we were given. While I do like the stuff we've done, I think we could've done. We are finding it to be a challenge to find movements, emotions and even aspects of adapting the setting to fit thematically with the text. One thing we keep doing is losing track of the characters in the script and we need to block it properly so I think I'm going to try top get to grips with the plot of "The Libation Bearers". Also that we didn't really give any of the other setting more of a thought was a bit disappointing even I think they may due to the time we have but still it's a bit disappointing.

Research: 

The Oresteia, The Libation Bearers.

I didn't really understand the text so I looked up the plot summary of "The Libation Bearers" to see if any context could be given. I found this page (http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/oresteia_summary.htm) and it helped me understand the plot.

Now I know that it's about a man (Orestes) who has returned to the city he was banished from so that he could get revenge on his mother (Clytemnestra) and her lover (Aegisthus)  who had killed his father (Agamemnon). He kills the lover and kills his mother after some hesitation. So the context is that he wants to avenge his father and punish those who are responsible. This added context now helps a bit with understanding how we may block it. It could help to keep track of who everyone is or 

A detail about the chorus that hasn't really been discussed in class rehearsals surprisingly is the fact that choruses do sing and dance or at least can do, after all they did originate from god worshipping rituals and grew from there where dialogue was incorporated so it's weird to me that that aspect hasn't got much focus overall although I can see why the singing may be omitted but the dancing I thought may have been talked about more and used. Since I know this I hope that I can suggest it to my group at some point if I feel it may fit or just see more promise in it. Although there is one thing I must mention which is to do with the dancing, since the dancing/movement evolved over time it became less about actually dancing and conveying something through a dance like movement so it's essentially the root of physical theatre in general. One detail I noticed was that a choruses movements are often synchronised and at times symmetrical. I have seen a couple videos showing this off including one on devising choreography which shows off a lot of sequence based movement in which they had to find moves and repeat them. This seemed very similar to the style of Steven Berkoff who often uses a technique called "Clockwork movement" in his work (And even the group doing the first section have a focus on that during moments of their piece)

Steven Berkoff is a physical theatre practitioner that has formed his own style and way of moving in his pieces. As I said a big feature of his work is clockwork movement. This mean that the actor have a number of moves to repeat in a certain order. This can be used effectively to show the mundane such as working in an office or any aspects of a daily routine.It is a brilliant way to make the mundane look beautiful if done correctly. I have done workshops about his style and it's very nice when in motion because it can also give off the sense that time is passing quickly and look mesmerising rather than being boring. It also experiments with both over exaggerated movement, articulation and projection. You can vary these aspects to help suit a status for example in the opening scene of "The Trial" in which the two men accusing the protagonist have much more controlled yet over the top movement and louder, elongated voices and speech patterns which showed their mastery over the scene. This is something my group haven't really utilised but one thing we have definitely been trying to do is keep a somewhat symmetrical layout for most of the the scenes. Berkoff does use a chorus in some of his pieces such as "The trial" and "Oedipus". They generally had a few instances where they would be evenly distributed on-stage as much as possible. So that has helped us in terms of keeping it neat on stage for most it other wise it would look uneven and messy.

Links:

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/modern-interpretations-of-greek-chorus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKd9ERhV5SI#t=623.599292 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMKQqtzPzO0

http://theatreanddance.britishcouncil.org/artists-and-companies/profiles/east-productions-steven-berkoff/

Day 6:

Today me and my group went into another room and tried to get as much blocked as possible. We decided that an opening to the scene would be necessary to establish the setting more efficiently. We also blocked The actual murder and some points further on up to a realisation.

Ideas/input:

The whole idea for the opening was that it should somehow introduce the setting and the characteristics of everyone by walking around and interacting. I suggested that it be a prison break time so it means we could interact and establish brief history and relationships quickly. this means I an show my rapist character through my lustful looks that I can give the guards. Another great idea from the group was for the prisoners to join together and crawl and appear to struggle or be in pain, this looks very good and I even suggested that we echo the word "Nothing" out of the few words we have to imply a theme of regret or pointlessness to what's happened, as if saying nothing would've been the better option since the line is "Say nothing, do nothing". Another great idea that we had was that when we say the line " Aegisthus is dead, Aegisthus is dead." We all lay down and get up repeating it over and over again. Georgia said that we should have a journey when saying it. So we go from questioning it all the way to painful fear and realisation of the fact that they're dead. It builds and builds to us shouting and then stops. It seems really good from what we showed today.

Problems and solutions:

One issue that we seemed to have was with actually making the bug like creature from the prisoners. When we tried it we wanted to simply link arms and crawl forwards but our coordination with each other was really bad and it looked very messy. This in turn though made us realise that that could work if we changed it a little so we changed out position to Jack A and Max's heads under my arm and then we crawl but look as though we are struggling and mangled together so it would be a bit more disturbing and even possibly symbolic of the gruesome murder during the scene. So by recognising that we managed to turn it into something more effective instead of just going with it and looking awful.

Photo of the end result of bug like amalgamation:

Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

We all were suggesting ideas and very focused and even had a lot of energy for the movements we were performing. It was actually a very fun and funny session even though we kept focused on what we were doing so it was overall a productive and enjoyable session.

Weaknesses:

Today there weren't any weaknesses I can mention/remember. We all did very well in my opinion and it was a productive day although you could say that the fact I did not suggest much today as a whole, then that is probably the worst thing about today even though I suggested quite a few details and some bigger ideas but let the others do it as well.

Research:

The origins and history of drama and Greek tragedy:

The art of drama as we know it started off as a series of rituals to worship Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and wine. the rituals themselves were considered to be a special occasion where women would have to dance while holding phallic symbols and sometimes bite into the raw flesh of a sacrificed animal such as a goat. the rituals then evolved as people began to sing as well more specifically hymns about the god they were worshipping. Then a priest named Thespis decided that during these ceremonies he would put on masks and act as the people who the hymns were being sung about. So Thespis is often considered to be the first ever actor and that's where the term "Thespian" comes from and why so many actors in western society like to be called that. 

Thespis was also the first person to ever win a theatrical award which he won in 534 BC in Athens for a tragedy he had made. These kinds of contests became more and more popular and they were done once a year to honour Dionysus. it would be held over 4 days and 4 "authors" as they were called then would have to write 4 plays each. 3 tragedies and 1 satyr, which was a farce play that was based on satyrs, which were lustful, drunken gods. They did to give the audience some comic relief while watching this other wise the overall tone would be to depressing. these plays would take place in a circular space with some scenery behind the actors to suggest a location. This would usually happen on a slanted hill in front of a huge audience and at the end a winner is selected. 

Then in around 490 BC or so a man named Aeschylus introduced a second actor into his plays so this could make portraying a dramatic situation easier. he wrote 8 plays but only seven of them has survived and there is still debate about him actually writing one or if he was given credit for someone elses work. he won his first award in 484 BC. He then wrote the three tragedies that were performed into a single piece or as a trilogy and his play "Oresteia" is an example of this and is generally considered a masterpiece which celebrated the introduction of law into society or at least in Athens. This is the piece of text that we are performing and have been looking at. This was the era when set design started to get more complicated such as having more of a specific backdrop or using more props. He was someone who got the idea of a chorus moving more to take off and allow them to be more expressive.

Then a man named Sophocles introduced a third actor into his plays. Since having multiple actors made it easier to portray drama Sophocles managed to make his plays more personal to the audience instead of dealing with much larger themes like Aeschylus did. Plots got more complicated, characterisation could be done subtly because it wasn't just one actor having to make all the characters drastically different. Sophocles allegedly wrote 120 play but only 7 survived including "Oedipus the king" which is also considered to be a masterpiece. Then a man named Euripides decided to try telling his stories of Greek myths from different view points such as trying to make mythical people more relatable and human and trying to focus on the fragile side of their emotions. These 4 men are very important because they are the ones who more or less started and developed theatre into what we know it as. they started to turn it into a varied mix of serious, comedic, complex, and flowing stories and adding more elements such as more actors to make the illusion of what they were trying to portray more powerful and believable and since then it's evolved further from other people like this but this is where it started. 

Choruses were put into the pieces to help convey a public, community opinion or to help show a certain perspective or several perspectives. They were often had very varied ways of delivering their plentiful scenes and were apparently considered a highlight of all of the pieces. I recently noticed that choruses are still being used today, It's influence is still visible. I went to see "Chicago" a few days a go and realised that during the courtroom scene they had a row of people standing that would emphasise certain words in a more dramatic or exaggerated way that suggests a certain tone, in this case it made the courtroom seem more imposing even though they were somewhat upbeat. This seemed very similar and reminded me very strongly of a Greek chorus considering their purpose and staging.

Links:

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=cui

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/antigone-the-ancient-greek-chorus

Day 7:

Today had a focus on doing segments of the opening. We've blocked the first scene with everyone but today the class got split up into a boy group and a girl group. We were given a section of script and a theme to work with and left to make a piece with those two things. Our theme was insects/bugs and we came up with something that from response was very good and quite creepy.

Workshop:

To start off day we did a workshop to do with movements that we can use in our opening or pieces if we wanted to. We were told to make a few stances with some exaggerated facial expressions. One of them was as if we are trying to sell something so I positioned my arms as if I'm presenting the person who was next to me at the time but with an extremely happy face. We also had to do a stance like we're plastic or a mannequin or something along these lines so that if we moved everything would look artificial or possibly unnerving. We also had to do another one still as if we were still trying to sell something but with a air or trickery or deceit as if there's something evil behind your intentions. This was quite interesting and after I thought about it a little bit I thought that sticking with the plastic mannequin would be the most interesting one for me. That combined with the spider web we use seems intriguing to me because the setting of the web and the later insect theme contrast to suggest something sinister in a more subtle manner. The overly happy face seems playful yet almost too good to be true as if I'm hiding something and I think that should be quite unnerving if done correctly.

Strengths and weaknesses: 

Strengths:

We have had some pretty neat ideas today and I think that we dealt with our theme or insects very well, especially with the creepy movement and somewhat evil vocal delivery. It was apparently unnerving and that is definitely a good thing. We all took on most of the ideas suggested very well and the result I think is actually pretty good but will need some smoothing out. Also must give credit to James as he was the reason the group had any focus at all and he was the one suggesting ideas for the most part.

Weaknesses:

The group as a whole seemed a bit unfocused even though we got stuff done. I think we would've had more done in the time we had such as smoothing some things out or sometimes getting a few more things across to the whole group such as my idea of engulfing James which didn't seem to stick with everyone for long.

Input/creative ideas:

I myself only suggested a couple of minute details today and one big one that wasn't used, . I suggested that when we me, Pau and Brad get up, we run our hands up our legs and bodies like spiders to keep with the inset theme also it looks a little creepy when done properly in unison. I also suggested that on the line "Takes a little snooze" we should all wrap around James as he is lowered to the ground from sitting on brads shoulders. This seemed really cool and fitted with the moment earlier with killing James so it fed into that and looked pretty good, however after the first run it was scrapped due to everyone forgetting it. It fit thematically since it would have been a repeating pattern and it's something that can show the intentions of the other insects which is something that choruses do just to show an extra layer to the community that we have set up but also keeping a sense of unity between most of them consistently. Another idea I had feeds back into the fact that there doesn't seem to be any focus on singing or dancing elements which a Greek chorus would do (I'm not saying they should be the focus, just a potential inclusion) so I thought of an idea that involves us singing lightly in our creepy raspy voices to add to the creepiness. I spoke about this with James and I was disappointed that neither of us could really think of a way to incorporate it with out making it seem out of place. We cam to the conclusion that the lines are better spoken instead although if we'd have had more time we might have come up with something. We even briefly thought about some dancing but the reason we didn't go with this was due to our theme. We wouldn't really want bug like creatures to dance because we feared it may look funny rather than unnerving which is how everything else in it seems to come across. However if we think that having some faster synchronised movement between the bugs we'll try our best to fit it in. Other ideas that I think are very good and visually interesting are the opening, where we scurry in like insects to the middle as if we are eating something (Which was quite creepy apparently), the forming a goblet and then shattering which seamlessly transitions to the next scene because of where we kill James for the first time, dragging him down and supposedly eating him. 

Problems and solutions:

One thing we couldn't get right today was our use of levels at the moment we say "Reverence has drained into the soil". We are supposed to be at different levels and we fluctuate in height to look visually interesting and it fits in with a theme of rivalry and leadership that seams to be hinted at throughout. We need to practise this part so that it looks more flowing and we need to assign timings to go to go to a certain height. For example, I could go slowly up on "Reverence" and go down on "Soil" and keep that going for the echoing that follows. This may or may not be hard to do but hopefully it'll work. Another problem is that we are mostly still on script which we shouldn't be so I'm going to go home and practise as much as I can to hopefully get these lines down.

Contemporising and research:

Our task is to modernise this text. This means we can take the text and the uses of a chorus and apply them to a modern context and style, so we might not use any Greek theatre traditions such as the use of singing and spoken dialogue mixing or dance sequences interspersed but we can incorporate modern styles of physical theatre to it. So researching modern practitioners is key for this.

One technique we liked to use was that of frantic assembly which I found when researching their devising process, not there building blocks but something they like to do when using text. They like to read the text and try out whatever movements they can visualise just from reading it. Not necessarily moves that could fit the subtext but can be literal or the first things we think of when reading it. An example of this was when we all say "This days end will bring us either". The first thing that was suggested was for all of us to fall in to the middle and then address the audience, this had no real context at the time but still made for an interesting moment due to its symmetry and echoing. Another moment was where when I was with the guys I said about the goblet shattering literally but using the guys to show it. Once we applied the context the ideas became a bit more fitting but then we still had surreal or wired examples such as what we initially wanted the 3 prisoner mesh up to look like and act.

As I stated before I suggested the setting of a prison due to it's themes of justice and revenge. Even it's talks of prayers and religion references fit due to how many people have found god in prison so even that seemed to thematically match. A lot of people are imprisoned because of acts of revenge and often believe that the fact they are locked up is an act of injustice. Also the fact that prison is very popular in media today is a factor, the setting alone is ideal for drama since you have so many people with potentially different and interesting back stories and motivations that the interactions or clashes alone could be great to show. This could hopefully make the dynamic and the plot elements more relatable to modern times and with the intended audience of secondary school kids it does work too. Teenagers do watch shows that aren't intended for their age, such as "The walking dead"'s entire 3rd season takes place in a prison and I know countless people who watched it and just loved the setting. Also if we set it here and show the horrors and grotesqueness of a place like that it may put them off.

My voice in the chorus:  

In this project there is a heavy focus on how we must deliver the text vocally and this I'm going to explain about my personal delivery in this:

What characteristics might hinder me for this choral piece?

The characteristics of my voice that might affect me in a bad way in this project I initially thought would be that I can't sing or at least not well. I don 't have too much range or strength when it comes to that. It doesn't seem that we'll be using singing in our piece so the flaws with my voice that might affect it are that that if there come any times where I have to do my lines naturalistically with or without an emotion I feel it does come off wooden sometimes such as when I say "To level the blade, to set the point". So I'm gonna have to see what I can do in the mean time and try to keep practising these moments and try to get them to stand out and not sound so stilted.

What challenges or opportunities does the style present in terms of vocal demand?

This will require us to project a lot since these were meant to be played out in arenas and this could get us to experiment with a variety of tones that we would have to get used to projecting. It will require us (Either a small or large amount) to deliver lines in unison so this mean our timing is essential to get right other wise it will sound very awkward or messy. An example of this was during a moment in the prison piece. We all say "This day's end will bring us either" and often during rehearsals the moment would start and sound out of time since some of us didn't know when to. It still sounds a bit like someone is speaking for a millisecond more than the rest to cue us to speak.

What vocal exercises will improve your technique for you chosen genre?

"Why fly so high?" could help since it does open up the resonators and makes it a bit easier to access a wider variety of tones when experimenting with the voice. It can also make it potentially easier to transition through tones quickly For example when we have to go from saying "Aegisthus" slowly and cowardly to then go to a more aggressive yet violently passionate "Grip his sword" it helps for them to be more open and not be so strained by the transitions.

"In for 4, hold for 6, out for 4" will help to temporarily increase breath capacity so that you have more air to project with and even warm up your diaphragm which should help to actually keep the tones yet be very audible. This may also require stage whispering so to make those as loud as possible helps too but the focus for this is with projection so being more able to is a definite benefit. 

"What a to do" and "Line with finger in mouth exercise" can help with articulation. They warm up the muscles in your mouth and your tongue in order to get sounds such as "T", "H" and "D" so there s not as much confusion with the delivery of certain words. It will give a greater sense of clarity to it and could even help with implying a sense of scope since if you're poorly articulating but loud it can sound ridiculous or that the inexperience could come across and suck you out of it. However if you articulate well and have the right volume it can greater imply the scope or importance of something and keep you invested. 

What targets will you set to address the problems faced in Greek chorus?

- I will try to do the listed exercises (Also the other ones in my voice portfolio) before every session possible. If I do this I can hopefully achieve the vocal clarity that I feel is needed to portray the themes and vocal functions with the degree of seriousness and impact that is required for the pieces, for example trying to be creepy or unnerving in the bug section by experimenting with tone and voice type. I do want to try my best to keep the sense of dignity that the chorus can have as much as possible. 

- I will get my group to practise the timing on our pieces as much as possible especially with certain moments so that the moments flow naturally and don't seem awkward so this means we may have to go over certain bits several times.

- As well as experiment with the tone and voice type I must try each one with the amount of projection mixed with it in order to get the best result. As of now I'm going with the raspy, gravely, evil sounding voice that seems to fit thematically with the creatures we're playing and is as far as I can tell, the creepiest and most unnerving voice I can get with the volume I need. 

Links:

http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/media/media/downloads/Frantic_Assembly_Resource_Pack_2012.pdf

http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Prisoners-Who-Claim-to-have-Found-Jesus-or-God

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/vocal-warm-up-2-resonance

http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/media/media/downloads/Frantic_Assembly_Resource_Pack_2012.pdf

https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=2011:the-reasons-for-agamemnons-murder

Day 8:

Today we actually finished blocking our section of the text. My group with Chloe now have a complete piece with some pretty interesting movements in it. I'm honestly happy with what we've come up with.

Ideas/input: 

The main idea that I suggested today was that when max stabs into the four of us he should twist it and we sway in the direction that he twist his hand.this looks very smooth and with the painful expressions on our face will hopefully create something that itself looks painful or uncomfortable. I thought this fits since the chorus is meant to create a mood/feel through movement and voice so I thought showing that using those techniques would be effective (If done correctly) and would make sense with the style. Other ideas suggested by the group were that we have Chloe and Georgia be a mouth or body for a couple of reasons. So that me and Jack A can be seen reacting to the pain as well as Chloe and Georgia. Also so that me and Jack can flop out and act as if we're guts, blood or entrails coming out of a wound to have a somewhat grotesque image that fits with the events being described

Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

When with the group with Chloe, we were all very focused and were completely on board with any ideas that were suggested. We were actually up for everything suggested even though some minor things we didn't go with that were quickly suggested. We have a strong piece in my eyes with some very varied characters, themes, emotions and images throughout. Also we managed to fit mike and Logan into the insect scene

Weaknesses:

I didn't really suggest much today despite a couple of small yet interesting details. I may have suggested some others that were briefly dismissed as I often do but I don't remember them and the others were suggesting ideas at such a quick rate that were actually very good and interesting that I wanted to experiment with them a little so I wasn't too focused on thinking of separate ideas just ways to tweak the ones said. Although |I must admit that's still a flaw. Also we during the session where we had to fit Mike and Logan into the boys insect scene everyone seemed quite unfocused except for me and James although thankfully towards the end we did focus and fit them in properly.

                                                

Day 9:

Today was the last day for rehearsing this piece. We were given time to smooth out our segments as much as possible and then we would perform it to the second years.

Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

There were quite a few strengths for today. The reception of the piece from the second years was quite positive overall. They said that our themes and settings were well communicated through the movement and the music used. The small touches we had added such as the small openings to our scenes helped a fair bit but also the characterisation of my groups criminals made it feel more varied and understandable.

Weaknesses:

One thing I noticed was that when I performed my move on Chloe, I noticed that a couple of the audience members laughed and I can't figure out why. A thought maybe that the move is to fast but I cannot slow it down because it will get in the way of Max's following move. It may just be because they know us and that it's weird to see us doing that but I thought it was worth mentioning since it may be distracting. I will talk with the group about how/if it can be resolved.

Research:

In retrospect I regret our group never really trying out the use of masks since they were often used for a Greek chorus. The masks could have been used for the prisoners and guards personalities due to their fixed over exaggerated expressions that could be used to imply them, it would also be easier to make out instead of just real faces which I think ended up being too subtle. And even if we had had it where just the prisoners or just the guards where them it could have created a more distinct separation between the two but kept the sense of unity between the 2 groups that they often had in Greek chorus. They could have a sense of being together in the community the represented which I think the masks may have helped with, especially putting them on the prisoners since the angry expressions would have suggested a tense but forced relationship which may have been interesting to try out.

Example of a Greek chorus masks:

Links:

https://greektheatre.wordpress.com/home/