17.12.2020 - Historical Context of Performance - Mrs Williams

 Today I presented my concept for the play Waiting For Godot.

Here was my presentation:

07.12.2020 - Historical Context of Performance - Mrs Williams

 In this rehearsal, we split up into two groups of two and a group of three.  In each group, we had one director and the actor had to perform Lucky's monologue from Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett.  The three groups were, Hugo (director) & Tristan (actor), James (actor) & Louis (director), Amelie (director), Silvana (actor) & Emma (actor).

HUGO & TRISTAN

Hugo and Tristan placed their scene in a bar or pub.  Tristan played Lucky as a very intelligent but drunk man, telling Hugo all of the knowledge in his head.  In this performance, we interpreted it as if Godot was a drink or a bartender who they were waiting for.  This made it very contemporary and the themes of alcoholism and existentialism link, as a lot of people believe they find answers and happiness and the bottom of a bottle. 

JAMES & LOUIS

Louis directed James to play Lucky as an old professor.  This was very effective and the audience interpreted it as if he was giving a lecture.  Even the stuttering that is in Lucky's monologue was done so effortlessly in the way a lecturer would do it.  Half way through the play, Louis put on some church music with organs.  This immediately made James look like he's a preacher.  It brought the theme of religion in, which is very relevant as well as being a considerable amount of peoples interpretation of Waiting for Godot, with Godot being God.  

AMELIE, SILVANA & EMMA

Amelie directed Silvana and I.  Before we started, she showed us this video: (1h55)

After we watched that, she explained that she wanted us to be like two different parts of Lucky's brain.  A more intelligent side and a crazier, more obnoxious side.  In order to do this, we split up the lines to ones that were more intelligent and ones that were waffle.  I took the crazy side and Silvana took the intelligent side.  We had a hairband on our wrist which attached Silvana and I together.  Amelie directed us so we looked as if we had purpose to what we were saying even though it didn't originally make sense.

07.12.2020 - Historical Context of Performance - Mrs Williams

 ESTRAGON - CHARACTER ANALYSIS 

Estragon and Vladimir talk about being together for about 60 years.  It doesn't state how old these two characters are but I would assume they're possibly 70.  

PERSONALITY

Estragon represents the impulsive, yet simplistic side of the two main characters.  It contrasts Vladimir's careful intellectualism and verbosity.  He doesn't care about appearances and is mainly concerned with eating and sleeping.  He has a pessimistic outlook on life and therefore has abandoned all hope of any alleviation of their suffering.  He thinks that Godot is suspicious.  Out of Estragon and Vladimir, Estragon suffers the most physically.  He has difficulties with his boots, he gets kicked by Lucky, he falls a numerous amount of times and he is beaten by thugs every night.  His boots don't fit and cause him pain in the first act so by the end of the first act, he leaves them on the side of the road.  In the second act, he finds them in the same place, but now they mysteriously fit him.  Estragon has a misanthropic view of humanity.  He considers people to be "ignorant apes" and seems to want them to leave him alone, despite being very attached to Vladimir.  He wants and needs protection and Vladimir provides it, even if that comes with the occasional bickering.  Estragon is often seen as the child to Vladimir's adult, and looks for parental security in him. 

APPEARANCE

Estragon doesn't get a lot of description in the play.  The only thing we get, is that he is described as wearing "rags", walking with a limp (which eventually wears off) and being lighter than Vladimir.  As he does have a rather gluttonous nature, he is often played as being short and fat, in contrast with tall and lanky Vladimir.  His clothes are dirtier than Vladimir's and seems to be in worse condition, due to his lack of inhibitions, like diving for food and sleeping in ditches.  

03.12.2020 - Historical Context of Performance - Mrs Williams

Today, we got into 3 groups, Amelie & Silvana, Tristan, Hugo & Louis, and James & I.  We each took turns to direct a piece of theatre from the Waiting for Godot script, using the practitioners we wanted.

AMELIE & SILVANA

Amelie & Silvana decided to direct the hat scene, using Frantic Assembly as their practitioner.  They picked Tristan and I to be the actors.  Tristan was Vladimir and I was Estragon.  They used round, by, through as their movements for the changing of hats.  

TRISTAN, HUGO & LOUIS

Tristan, Hugo and Louis decided to direct the scene where the boy comes to talk to Vladimir, using Berkoff as their practitioner.  They cast James as the Boy and Amelie as Vladimir.  They used exaggerated and literal movements according to the lines. 

JAMES & EMMA

James and I decided the direct the scene where Pozzo & Lucky first join the play, using Dario Fo as our practitioner.  We cast Tristan as Lucky, Louis as Pozzo, Hugo as Vladimir and Silvana as Estragon.  We tried to make the timing and the movements that Lucky did comedic.  

30.10.2020 - Historical Context of Performance - Mrs Williams

 Today, two groups, Tristan and Hugo and Silvana and James, performed their interpretation of the first few pages of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.  Each group contextualised the play and made it relevant for contemporary youth.

Tristan and Hugo

Tristan and Hugo experimented with accents and stuck to the Russian accent at the end.  This portrayed a sense of comradeship and I interpreted it as two brothers in the army together.  There were specific lines that stuck out which anchored this, such as, "crawling around in the mud".  This is relevant to today as there are wars going on in the world.

Silvana and James

Silvana and James were initially looking at doing the play in the style of Steven Berkoff but eventually went to the style of Stanislavski but they kept the East London accent which they were using with Berkoff.  This made the piece appear to be set in the cobbled streets of London outside a bar or pub.  I interpreted that Godot was the bar owner who they were waiting for.  This also lead to the idea of poverty and homelessness which is more relevant than ever right now due to the high unemployment rate from the global pandemic.