'13' Blog 2: Further Depth into '13'

Further Depth into ‘13’

Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd October 2014

     After last week’s introduction to our first production assignment, the play ‘13’, written by Mike Bartlett, it was now our chance to demonstrate how much contextual info we had received.  Coming together as a class we all shared what our thoughts were towards the background information within Mike Bartlett’s intriguing storytelling.

     Beginning individually, we were to take down notes as what we thought ‘13’ was truly about.  The notes I took down stated:

 

1.       A story about a group of people and their struggle in the real world.

2.       Every character is haunted by nightmarish visions of the future.

3.       and A dark overview of life told through various points of views.

 

     This is what I received after our introduction last week, through the read through of Act One, including when we began to break down the characters and how they fitted into the play.  But once we came together as a class we began to combine our thoughts about the play and structured a mind map of the four most particular areas which would later come in handy for our rehearsal process.   

     These four areas consisted of: the Context within the Script, the Themes within the play, the Author’s Influences, and how we could present this Production?

Context within the Script

·         Q: When is the play set?  A: 2011 – During the read through session we were also introduced to the ‘National Theatre’ website.  This was handy as we receive a little more information, such as the Mike Bartlett write the play in 2010, and it was performed in 2011.  Also the play has a strong reflection on modern society, so we agreed the play is set in the year 2011.

·         Q: What is the play about?  A: Young adults struggling in their dark society. – From our read through and discussions, we knew these characters had one thing in common, their nightmares.  But we agreed that it represents their fear and struggles socially and economically.  As the play shows all the characters struggles and how the protagonist can help to bring forth a good future.

·         Q: What is the purpose of the play?  And why?  A: To give multiple characters’ insights, and give audience members a different view on life. – The play follows many characters storylines and how they live in this fictional society.  So the purpose is to give our target audience, of further education students, the many views of this life and make they think about their own future in reality.

The Themes within the Play

·         War – This was our first agreement on the themes within ‘13’.  As we discovered that the play is centred on what would happen to society if a global war took place.  

·         Morals (choices and opinions) – Linking into the first theme of war within ‘13’, the play also centres on the characters and their decisions.  It shows the characters status within the storyline and how their input/opinion affects the harsh/dark decisions concerning the outcome of their society.

·         All the more I feel the themes back up the purpose of the play.  As it would show our target audience the importance of life and how everyone’s opinion matters towards theirs and others lives and future.

The Author’s Influences

·         The people’s view of Politics – Another reoccurring element that we discovered in our research was the fact that every character, in the play, has their personal views of the fictional politics.  Whether they agree or disagree with the fictional government’s decisions, and whether they should stand up for what they think is right or just wait for the outcome.

·         It’s Relevance to Society – Once again another key element that sticks with the play is the use of social media.  But what we extracted from our research and discussions was that the plays relevance to society is very modern and personal.  In this sense we see how the characters evolve, adapt, and struggle in this interpretation of a society.

·         Modern day Argumentative Debates – As the play shows the point of view of the political characters.  We, as audience members, see every perspective and look at all the options to see whether there could be a positive outcome for these characters.

·         and The ‘Bible’ – As we discovered, what we see as the biggest influence in Mike Bartlett’s storytelling for this particular play, is it character relations with the ‘Bible’.  Linking the thirteen lead characters to ‘Jesus’ and his ‘twelve disciples’, and the plots element such as all these characters standing up for what they think is right and ensure they get a better and decent future.

·         I personally thought these four influences are the most essential for us, as the performing class, to memorise as it can, and does, help us gain a better understanding of what this play is truly about.  Plus it could ensure that our target audience, further education students, receives all the moral messages and understand this unique, detailed and layered form of storytelling.  As it is relevant, personal, relatable, and, if we achieve a successful performance, entertaining.

How could we present this Production?

     As we are in the early stages of the production process, it was our lecturer that suggested that we should start to look into any performing strategies for when it comes to our rehearsal process and main performance.  So for this we began to look to what practical staging elements we could include, in order to increase the audience understanding of the plot details, character storylines and moral messages.

     These elements consisted of:

·         A Circular Stage Structure – I thought this was an excellent element to include.  Because I deduced that a circular formation can give off two outcomes.  First of all, it involves the audience and the characters can embrace around their audience and ensure that nobody misses any details within the story.  But secondly it demonstrates the plays timeline, as the plot is straight forward and to the point, hence it going around perfectly in a circle.  Unlike plays with twisted plotlines which make the storytelling go all over the place.  So I thought this would be a great element input for our main performance, especially for characters speeches, monologues and potential confrontations between characters.

·         Use of a ‘Greek Chorus’ – This element in particular has several cast members on stage representing a group of citizens reacting towards a character, or group of character’s, speech/speeches.  Through our first rehearsal session we looked at Act One, Scene Thirteen, where the character ‘Ruth’ has to make a political speech, and this is where we could begin the use of the ‘Greek Chorus’.  By us showing, using still images reflecting certain emotions whether positive or negative, we would represent a group of people reacting to this particular speech.  I decided to show a character giving off a positive reaction towards ‘Ruth’s’ speech.  Therefore I used my still image emotions to represent:

1.       Excitement, for the beginning of the speech.

2.       Interest, as to where the speech was going.

3.       Thinking, about the political decisions.

4.       Delight, as to think of the positives of these decisions.

5.       and Pride, in strongly agreeing with the speech.

But in the end we showed agreement and disagreement with the use of vocalisation of ‘cheers’ or ‘boos’ to show the citizens agreement or disagreement.

     All in all I think these two ideas would become extremely useful for the main performance and I look forward to the rehearsal process to see if we can expand upon any performing strategies and put them to good, if not, great use.

     But in summary of these sessions, I found them to be extremely helpful, as it expanded upon my early background information of the play.  Plus it gave me an early vision of what our rehearsal process would be like, and what new or old elements we could include for our main production of Mike Bartlett’s ‘13’.

     To look into more detail on our session exploring ‘Ancient Greek’ performing elements, here are two links to one of my blogs further expanding on elements such as the ‘Greek Chorus’, plus a short documentary exploring an introduction to ‘Greek Tragedy’.

Blog Entry: The Truth about Acting - http://sdcperformancefh.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/level-3-week-four-part-one-truth.html

Short Documentary: ‘An Introduction to Greek Tragedy’ - http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/an-introduction-to-greek-tragedy