Evaluation

The importance of this piece didn’t quite hit me until I watched the women waltzing. The loss represented by the army jackets and the delicate music capturing the delicateness of the heart. It was truly beautiful. It made me see how brutal the events of world war one were, the blood bath that it really was. That was the intention of the piece in my opinion, to educate people and show how truly horrific it was and remember the bravery and suffering of everyone effected. This was achieved in a number of ways. The breakdown of sections united at the end captured the separate worlds that interlinked through trenches across europe. The reaction we had from the audience wasn’t expected. We made people think. 

I feel like telling this story from the perspective of young people in the 21st century was part of it being so effective. The moment Tuwaine stepped forward and spoke the words ‘When I think of world war one..’ immediately connected everyone in the room to how we remember it. This mixed in with the recordings of veterans left everyone listening very carefully and there was a peaceful atmosphere. It set a rhythm to the piece which I found was really important. Furthermore this ran through the whole piece the use of sound added so much, especially in Cameron and Jordans duet. The sound of the marching and panting was raw and the changing in rhythm of the marching espcially as it speeded up created tension. There movement was so powerful. The way they only five words ‘I don’t like war anymore.‘ were repeated and bounced between one another as they used each others bodies to move almost like they were in trenches, it was honest but simple, thats what made it so successful. 

In terms of my own performance I feel like I was focused the whole way through, its easy to become caught up in someone else’s work when your onstage and watching. It was tricky times to remember you onstage however I don’t feel like this effected my performance too much. Me and Jack played with the dynamics of our duet in each performance and tried to tell a story because we both felt this was really important. One section I loved watching each time was the Letter reading. I feel like this is where the message of the piece hit the audience and performers the most, the women's voices carried pain and angst, with real peoples words. However the role of women in the whole piece was something that I was disappointed with. In my opinion women were depicted as victims, left hopeless without men. I feel like the work section wasn't representative of the amazing work women did in the war. This is something that could have been improved through using stimulus from female nurses that worked on the front line and in arms factories. really brave women. However  this would be my only criticism of the piece. 

Moving on the set was in my opinion more than suitable. The hanging pictures were slightly sinister but looked so interesting, the lighting was cold and impersonal, furthermore the use of lighting as the soldiers dropped was harsh yet perfect. I feel like the combination of movement, poetry, real stories and visual effects created an honest piece of theatre that communicated the lack of knowledge in our society  of such a prominent part of our history. In the words of Phoebe Wagner  ‘We will never forget, But why on earth should we remember?’ 

Elysian Fields

We have been put into groups according to the context of the duet we created. We are a group comprised of 7 couples. Not all the duets were created from stimuli focusing on lovers leaving but i think that this is what it will now be and the duets will be adapted. 

We began by warming up walking around the space, exploring every area of the foot. Keeping our body still. We then did an exercise which involved the use of paper. 

The Paper Resting exercise:

• In pairs, one person walks around the space. The other watches. The person watching has a few pieces of paper. The person walking is walking slowly using every part of the foot to travel. 
• The person watching begins to take the paper a piece at a time and place on there partner. Finding interesting places to put it. Sometimes the paper simply glided off. The person walking has carry on walking with no regard of the paper. 
• I found it hard to adjust so that the paper would stay in the same place. However when it fell off it wasnt the end of the world and actually from watching others it had quite a pretty floaty effect. 

How will this add to our piece?

I think that this exercise will evolve into something else. The paper could possibly represent the letters to and from lovers during the war. When watching other people perform it has quite a sinister feel. Like a searching almost. 

Duets:

Not everyones duet had the context of lovers behind it. For example Jesse and Alex used the idea of brothers. However this isn’t a problem because once you change the story behind the movement certain dynamics begin to appear. Which then tells a completely different story. A section of there piece I really liked is when jesse walks behind Alex and holds him. The movement I believe was taken from a piece of stimulus that looked partly at shell shock. The way Alex moves is shaky and unsteady as Jesse walks with him in some ways supporting him. When Jack and I looked back t our duet. We decided that we wanted it to flow more because we were looking at idea of moving in a bed trying to get comfortable, almost like not wanting to let go. We took out a move that we used where I move over jacks back and we replaced it with a lift. This made it much more fluid.  

The duets will appear at the end of the piece, like a reconciliation after death. I like this idea because its a thread which connects the groups together. It unites men and women in a real way. 

The Double Bed:

We all really like the idea of the double bed and searching for each other when sleeping. We all asemble in a sleeping position with pour couple. Separate and come back together after searching through everyone else. Having a moment to connect then move away. Its a contact improvisation. We move over each other as a group of 10. I feel like this is something different which will be interesting to the audience because it contrasts to the violent connotations that come with the idea of war. Its sad but its real. It captures the longing and search for comfort.  

Chance Meetings:

Below is a brainstorm on the creation of our duets taking from the stimulus of the words Chance meetings. We had to think a lot about how people would have met in 1914 and i feel like it allowed all of us to build on our journeys as couples because we are pieceing together this story.  It further adds a pre war context which adds another dimension to the piece as it will highlight a change more. 

Presenting our Work to other groups

Below are my notes on the sharing we did. I think we now know what we need to work on after christmas in terms of linking the piece together and making is all connect. The sharing was really nice and beneficial not only to the directors but to us because we now know the impact we can make. 

Changes made post sharing:

• No paper or speaking during elysian fields. (letters cut) 
• Walk to the back after chance meetings. Making way for the singing up section From Jacks group. 
• Spread out when improvising on the floor. ‘Writhing’ use more levels. 

Journey through the piece:

• First meeting
• Melt into each other on floor
• Come apart from hold
• Explore floor for other half
• Find each other and rise together and part
• Woman walk round searching for man – touching men (for them it’s the effects of war)
• Woman get desperate and give up – walk emotionless in elision fields.
• Men walk behind woman saying letter and trying to balance the letters on them
• Men stop and fall to floor then come up again in position of start of duet
• Woman do mundane everyday routines – life becomes too much- fall to floor then get up and rejoin man in duet position
• Duets start
• Stop and watch the final veterans duet come together

This is a breakdown of my journey through the piece it is interjected with the boys sections which represent breaking apart, a united marching and female heartache. I feel like my character goes on a journey and we all just need to begin to play that in the piece. 

Working in the Theatre:

This was quite daunting as we had a tech in the theatre and It was a but all over the place because no one was definite about there choices. I could remember the order from last term. However performing in the theatre meant we had to adapt some movement. For example we need to use way more space we performing the writhing section because it looks strange being in a clump. Moreover people need to think about there entrances and exits. Everyone is onstage for 90% of the performance. I think we have all realised how much work we have to do for this. Everyone seems to talk through everything that happens and its quite frustrating. However it will come together. 

Tech and Dress:

Our costume is anything black white or grey. This looks really nice when everyone is together because its not period costume but it has an almost miserable feeling about it. We had a tech and dress which we had to get through before the show this evening. We have to really concentrate on why we are doing this and make it great because its a something we are honouring in a strange way. A constant reminder of the blood bath that world war one was hangs above us and that stage resembles a gallery alost as pictures of the war hang above us. I think this adds so much because not only does it look effective the pictures remind the audience that this is a real thing.

The dress rehearsal went suprinsingly well and it felt like the first time we performed and everyone was focused and performing. This lifted the whole piece as everyone had this energy which I hope carries through each performance.This has made me feel much better about the performances.