Agenda:

Absences this week are: 

Daisy - Monday (trip) 

Me - Tuesday and Wednsday (hospital)

Elsa - Wednsday (trip)

Mandi - Wednesday (trip) 

Becs - Tuesday 

So we are planning the most effective way to arrange our meeting and pitch. 

Thursday - day of the pitch is and we shall arrange our rehearsal for the pitch at the lunch time. 

Wednsday and Friday the group are devising for our Shakespeare. 

Today's Objective

Timeline writing!

We've got a long scroll of paper, and we're highlighting and picking out key parts of our scripts. 

(We have books of Much Ado and will use them to help us familiarise ourselves with the text)

This is to help us form an idea of how our play will be set out and differentiate each scene and how it will transpose into our Auschwitz story. 

We will match up each scene with their corresponding story. 

Today's objective:

Theme of music:

Seeing as we only had an hour today to start devising and planning things, we've decided to focus on the theme of music and how that creates atmosphere. 

We looked at using Becs' use of violin - playing our song "Ah Poor Bird" and collaborating with piano and/or guitar. 

This could be used well during the scene of the Jew's being sent into the showers, creating atmosphere of irony and using music as a juxtaposing device against what is happening in the scene.

Natalie's notes (STOLEN!)

Agenda

Rehearsals

Text

Presentation

Cast list / characters

Rehearsals: 

Tuesday Presentation 

Wednesday lesson text

Wednesday afternoon presentation

Thursday lesson text

Friday lesson characters and casting

Text - if not got, need to buy and then look at text, take something from it and create an exercise (but 3 books off amazon)

Presentation carry on with individual things and bring everything in on Wednesday

Characters

Benedick - Franz

Beatrice - Helena

Claudio - Claudia

Hero - Sister 

Don Pedro - Pedra

Don Jon - Sonderkommando 

Margaret - Margo

(Transferring the much ado characters to the more suited era from which we are working) 

List of Characters

Below is a list of characters and character personality traits. Also there is a roughy draft and final draft. If you can't read it, I shall write it up. 

Workshop Plans (originally posted on the 13th)

My idea: 

- Being pairs, looking after the other person, working together. James being the commandant. 

- audience participation, confine them in groups. 

Becs' idea: 

- like chickens in a pen - representing confined space of the barracks 

- told to do certain jobs. 

Mandi's idea: 

- log rolling over someone 

- looking after someone else's physical well being 

- trust exercise 

Plan for rehearsals / Idea!

Rehearsals every Wednesday - some people cannot make first week rehearsals

Other times will be arranged soon. 

- April 10th rehearsal one 

- April 17th rehearsal two 

- May 18th the rehearsal

- May 19th / 20th / 21st / 22nd production week - dates yet to be picked. 

We are arranging times every Monday to plan out aims and objectives for each lesson and writing them out. Then we put them to work every Wednesday rehearsal. We will workshop both ideas of Auschwitz and Witchcraft. 

MY IDEA! 

Coming from an angle where we can interview the characters and then go into a scene, example: 

Interviewing Helena in the black out pod with a spot light on her (used as a gas chamber - using an isolated spot to concentrate on her story) about how she felt during the war, dressing her in the prisoners clothes and talking about how she lives and who she loves. Then jump into a scene, travelling to another room to  show the story of what she has just told. 

More accurate ideas of play:

- Possibly set in WW2 (Auschwitz concentration camp) 

- Claudio and Hero represent the hate and denial in the war. 

- The power of what love can overcome in any situation (represents Claudio's love) 

Films to watch / base idea: 

- Freedom Writers 

- Schindlers List 

- Bent 

- Boy In Striped Pyjamas 

Using the intensity of how love can transform someone's ideals and perspective. Keeping the idea of pressurised conformity. How we could mould that around the 'absurd' relationship of Nazi's and Jews. 

Another idea: 

- Adultery 

- Jealousy 

- Feminism 

- Stereotypes 

A woman being accused of cheating on a man is the worst crime ever, worse than a man doing it, because that is what men do. 

Films / plays 

- Brief Encounter 

- Knee High 

- Great Gatsby 

Another Idea: 

- 1920's 

- women's movement (suffragettes) 

- role reversal 

- sexual revolution 

Exploring Ideas:

During our lesson today we were asked to brainstorm possible ideas for us to explore and play around with in the coming weeks to help navigate in which direction we want the play to be set. 

We came up with the following ideas: 

- feminism 

- mistrust of females in that era 

- persecution 

- gothic / supernatural twist 

- 30's / 40's music 

- live juxtaposing music 

- audience participation 

- homosexuality 

- prejudice 

- gender bending roles 

- narration use 

We also liked the idea that James came up with, which was to use a real life story that happened in during WW2 set in Auschwitch. This story was very similar to the relationship between Claudio and Hero and included the forbidden love and twisted ending, loss of relationship but freedom of persecution and prejudice.