When we started devised practical work we were shown different resources to aid us when we started preparing our performances. We were shown firstly aiding videos linking to Prezi and how to use multimedia in a performance. Both of these resources were useful because they showed me the basics of the knowledge I would be developing throughout the term. One the most useful sources was watching the film of 1984. This gave us ideas to include in our own performances and gave us a visual and creative example of the characters, props and settings. This allowed us to take ideas and then make them our own, adapting them for our own take on the scenes we'd seen in the film.
We were asked to create a piece of multimedia theatre based on the story of 1984. According to the Assignment Brief my task was made up of four sections: to take part in multimedia workshops, rehearse our performance, perform our play and research to create our blog. All of these elements where key to creating a good performance and without one of them the rest didn't work or weren't as effective.
The topics, themes and issues we wanted to show in our performance of 1984 was the robotic state of the citizens of Airstrip One and their loyalty to Big Brother. We showed this through the characters in our room. Every single person was completely loyal to Big Brother and when the revolution came around none of them turned to the rebel side, they all remained as supporters of Big Brother. Plus when O'Brien made his speeches, they applauded and congratulated him whereas the audience were more timid and weren't enthusiastic in offering their congratulations. This shows that we were undoubtedly committed to the Big Brother regime. Also when the audience walked around the room to watch the workers researching peoples profiles they could clearly see that the work we were doing was in support of Big Brother.
The performance of O'Brien and the brainwashed citizens in the film version of 1984 influenced our piece greatly because it gave us the basic grounding for us to create our characters and the atmosphere that we wanted to create, by both using the characters created and the props and setting according to the themes we had identified. They gave us an idea of what, where and who our characters associated themselves with and we then developed that to fit into our own performance. We included some of the props that were used in the film including the wine bottles in O'Brien's office and the posters all around Airstrip One. Also the dull clothing of the citizens compared to the more classy attire of O'Brien created an interesting performance route for my group to investigate.
We are asked to think about many things when preparing our piece. We had to take in consideration other groups creative pathways, our own, the audience, the space we had and the story and message we wanted to convey through what we were doing. When creating a piece of immersive theatre, communication is key. You need to discuss with other groups their event timetables as your paths are sure to cross at some point during the course of the rehearsals and the performance itself. Therefore when planning our own schedule we needed to have an awareness of others also. Our space was key because depending on where you were put, there were different opportunities when planning your piece. Finally a story and message are key to any performance and therefore all of the elements I have just discussed needed to fit in with the story and message we wanted to create.
The difficult aspect of the performance was creating a complicated and detailed piece with as simple ideas as were possible. When creating a piece of multimedia for example you needed short cuts to perform the task needed without copious amounts of work and technical elements. When you start overcomplicating a performance, problems start occurring and when you don't have any spare time to waste, you need to have as little issues as possible and therefore simplicity was key.
My role was communicated by two main things: my personality and attitude, towards others and towards the audience and the costume I was wearing. My personality was very robotic, like what I was saying was a script that had already been written in my head by the government to say whatever they wanted me to. So when speaking to the audience I was calm and confident, with a friendly tone as I wanted to seem welcoming in a world was the opposite to that, something that I think put the audience on edge even more. However when talking to the other workers my tone showed that I thought that I was in some way superior to them and my sharp tone conveyed this. However when talking to O'Brien I was friendly, but without being disrespectful. My costume reinforced the idea that I thought I was above other citizens because like O'Brien I was wearing a suit which made me stand out from the crowd as a inner party member with some element of importance.
We staged our work around our props. As I had three rooms to prepare, we had a different structure to each. In the main room we had a seating area for the audience where they could watch the speeches. We had a row of computers and then as the main feature of the room, a podium on a raised platform. We had two doors entering the first back room and this let a flow of audience be constant. All the props in the first back room were pushed to the side which meant the audience walked through the middle and the second back room was mainly closed of to the audience, especially when there were people in there as it was O'Brien's office. This meant they just watched from the doorway and then exited when necessary. This layout allowed a constant flow of audience which made it easier for us as actors to perform.
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