Remaining Questions and Answers

What would you say were the best things about working with the particular classical script you performed?

The script adaptation by David Feldshuh which is hours shorter than the original because it only contains the bare necessities and the main plot points enabled us as actors to understand the core script and made it easier for us to create our own adaptations of the characters/plot.

Particularly, the main story involved traditional conventions which would still apply to current situations in the 20th century such as father/mother and son relationships, women's rights and being accepted in society/a social group.

Performing the adapted copy of the Antigone script also allowed each main actor a balance of lines/stage time. The chorus also was adapted to allow for shorter breaks between episodes but long enough for a relief before the post episode.

I think performing through an adapted copy of the traditional script made the movement sequences of the description in the script easier to visually understand.

What were the themes in your script and how did you practically explore them?

The themes, conventions and issues addressed in Antigone are the core moral foundations of the story, here are the themes:

• Free will and Fate
• Civil Disobedience
• Rules and order
• Women's rights
• Morality

We first explored how we could visually portray this themes through the use of the chorus breaks, through the use of movement, sound and proximity, positing and spacing. One way we used this effectively was during the chorus interactions with Creon we bowed down to him, representing the lack of free will and status between the poor and rich, issues which even today can be addressed as problems as well as the rules and order theme. Other interactions such as with Antigone were effective too to show her status amongst the situations she had faced, the use of creating the tomb Creon locks her in out of masked chorus symbolism the restriction women have in the women, with the masks of different personalities showing the many different types of people in the world and how they would feel over the lack of women equality.

Describe the importance of a few characters in the piece and how your production interpreted them for a contemporary audience?

The royals were interpreted for a contemporary modern audience by fitting them with a consistent colour scheme, blue and a flag icon of a Peacock. The colour blue was picked to correspond with the steam punk atmosphere we wanted to create, engaging this with the contrasting dull colours of the chorus this established a clear difference between the groups, a clear difference in the higher and lower status and an enhanced visual impact when both groups are on the stage at once.

The chorus group wore similar clothing to represent a wide range of the population instead of unique characters who would stand out, this was important to ensure the attention was on seeing the chorus as the audiences gateway into the story, the chorus's interruption of the story, hopefully ending with the audience feeling more involved and engaged with the scenes.

What did you contribute to the process? Provide clear examples and reasons for your choices? How were they different or influenced by the originals?

My production role involved me to create the programme, as part of the publicity team, something I aspired to be involved in before the production electing process began. I used the title box over the eyes of Antigone to create enigma and a foreshadowing of the messages and values addressed in the story.

Each in groups we had an episode to devise a structure of movements to portray the lines whilst they're being read, we had to work on Exodus, where Jessica, Olivia and I had to round by through Eurydice in response to the words by Creon. We did this by keeping the movements very literal to words being said.

For example 'They twist my joy to pain' we moved Kim (Eurydice) into a twisted position. Another example is 'But I have learnt to suffer' we moved her arm to her heart, symbolising the lines.