First Lesson

In our first lesson of Theatre on 1984 we experimented with the themes of the play and applied what we'd learnt to scenes about the times and scenarios that the play are linked to.
We were given a picture of a women and a man in a kitchen with a suitcase on the table. Both their hands had joined together on top of the suitcase and were just touching. We were put into groups of three and we firstly had to create the 30 seconds before the still in the photo so we ended like the scene in the picture. Two people in the group were actors and the other person took on the role of the director. I was given the role of an actor alongside Toby with Fenton directing us. We imagined the scene as a goodbye between the two people; the man is going off to war and the women is trying to stop him. Realising it is no good they fill the silence with each others company whilst holding hands on top of the suitcase, realising what is in store for both of them.

To link this to 1984 we came up with the scenario that he was going to be placed in one of the governments fake wars. The women knows that the war is fake and is worried what will happen to him when he leaves. Even though she is doubtful about the war she can't say anything as they are always watched and to defy the government is to be a thought criminal. So her argument for him to stay has to be disguised by her words yet she hopes that he will understand her inner thoughts.

The first version of our scene had to have no words so it was very important that our movements, actions and eye contact conveyed our emotions. Eye contact was one of, if not the main element in this particular performance. As we couldn't talk as both actors and characters our eyes expressed a lot of our inner thoughts and emotions; our body could represent the story, but our eyes showed the emotion as a couple about to be separated, perhaps never to see each other again.

The second version of our scene was allowed to have words. It could be said that this made it easier to tell the story and convey the emotions, but if you worked the silence well you could hold the audiences attention and it made it more meaningful. However words can help add certain details to the performance that you can't show through your body.

The final version of our scene we had to put the director in as the child of the couple, but we couldn't rehearse, we just had to put them in and perform straight away. It wasn't too difficult because a child in that situation would either stay very quite or keep asking the mother and father questions. Either way it was quite easy to adapt to.

Fenton was a great director. He allowed us to suggest ideas and also suggested some himself. This created a good balance of giving and taking. This allowed us to do what we needed to do and also have a opinion of someone who was a substitute for an audience member. This allowed us to get an audience reaction before we actually performed. The fact that it was a friend meant that it didn't feel judgemental or mean, just honest and helpful.