Styles of Script

Different Styles of script

TV Drama - Easterners 30th Anniversary Script

This script of the 30th anniversary of Eastenders opens with a basic description of the action  taking place and a small amount saying how the characters are supposed to be feeling in the scene . The character names are in bold and underlined and followed by dialogue. In between the dialogue comes any stage directions for the actors which are very specific - for example (Lauren shakes her head). In a TV script the description for the location is quite basic as this is a show that has been running for a while so it doesn't need alot of detail of location as needs minimal detail because it is a standard set that is used lots in an episode and almost every day of the year. In comparison to a theatre they would only have one set and as for films there are specific location managers to find locations for films exactly what the directors want. There are no directions as to how the actors should deliver the lines which makes me think it could perhaps be down to people's own interpretation on how to deliver the line? Perhaps to make it more natural as a TV soap is supposed to be realistic.  Format of the text is to the right of the page, also down the right of the page are music ques. There are specifications of setting and lighting but as mentioned it is very basic.

Film Drama - The Duchess 

The format of the script is central to the page. There is extreme detail of what setting and further scenes. For example "A spring meadow with sheep". There are people with specific jobs to find perfect locations for films - location manager. Films are one off productions so they look for the perfect setting rather than having a fixed setting like a TV soap. The directions of how lines are spoken. There is a lot of detail as to what is expected of a scene, it outlines whether the scene is indoors (interior) or outdoors (exterior), the location and the time of day. 

Theatre/Musical Script - CATS

The title of a new song is in bold to signify the start of it. This could come in great use for a sound technician if the songs are being played with backing tracks, or even if there is a band playing the accompaniment this is also an indication for a new song. Characters names are stated with their name and a colon then the dialogue /lyrics afterwards like the dialogue that would be seen in a TV script, so in that sense TV scripts and theatre scripts are very similar. Cats being an all song and singing show there aren't any stage directions, however in a musical theatre show script there will be stage directions and also directions as to how a line should be said. They are normally quite detailed directions as to when characters enter and exit scenes and the directions of how the scenes should be directed as well as actors notes.

Social Political and Cultural themes of the plays

Social Political and Cultural themes of the plays

The main social themes that you see in Electra are; family issues and mental illness. In the play we see a broken family due to their father's death. Instead of resolving the problems the play sees extreme emotions and acts of revenge and we see a brother and sister murdering their own mother and stepfather. The social theme of mental illness is seen through Electra due to the events and horros she has been through. Her mental health issues are dealt with through kindness from the characters Orestes, Chorus and the Old Man. The harshness towards Electra's illness is shown from: Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Chrysothemis - who is Electra's sister and it is only on occasion that we see this from her. 

In today's day and age family issues are still very much around, like how a mother and daughter could argue which I can relate to my own experience that my mother and I argue and bicker at each other however it gets resolved pretty quickly and would never end in anything drastic. In only very  rare cases do you hear of stories and situations on the news or around of people that either would attempt to inflict pain on one another. Taking this into consideration this means a current audience would most likely find this shocking to see and watch whereas an original audience would find it quite normal.  Myths were very popular in Ancient Greece, which are often has quite a dark content to them. Mental illness is something which is becoming increasingly more aware to the public in modern day as there are helplines and Councillors you can speak to help meaning a current audience would find it hard watching the harsh characters lash at Electra as Mental health is being widely recognised and something that can't be helped and is something that we can understand. On the other hand, for an original audience, they would have had no knowledge or understanding of the illness and therefore almost accepts Clytemnestra's attitude and behavior towards her daughter.                                                                                                                                                                            
Social themes seen in Dr. Faustus is that he goes against society in his belief that religion is a myth. Another social idea within the play are figures of high importance and priority this being the voice of God through characters like the Old Man and the voice of a devil in Mephastophilis. For a modern audience, Dr. Faustus' ways would be supported by some; such as atheism which has become a more popular belief in today's society, meaning people no longer believe it to be that important to have a faith. Compared to people of an original audience where religion was what everyone followed in a society leading to people who were watching having a dislike towards Faustus because his belief would not be the same as theirs.

Cultural theme seen in Electra are mainly Orestes following tradition as in Ancient Greece it was the son's responsibility to seek revenge on the persons or people who were responsible for their father's death - the idea of an eye for an eye - explaining Orestes' actions at the end of the play. A modern audience could understand this by relating it to knowledge and understanding of older traditions and also today day and age we see news about people taking revenge as it is something that has been going on throughout history. In the same way the original audience would have understood Orestes' actions as again it is tradition to culture. The cultural theme in Faustus is his incredible intelligence and supposed magical powers. For both audiences of today and in the past his magic would have been exciting thing to watch and understand. 

Political themes seen in Electra are the way genders are shown and presented. Sexism is taken in the play as Electra is not allowed to carry out her mother's murder because she is a woman. Women were not allowed to avenge in Greek times and in many ways like most things women were not allowed to do right throughout history. From a modern audience perspective, I  think if Electra wanted to commit murder she should not rely on her brother to do it for her because nowadays we are all equal and she shouldn't rely on other people to carry out what she wants done especially for the fact that he is a man and she is a woman. A political theme in Faustus is the conflict between good and evil. In today's world it is based upon the ideas and the battle between head and heart and us making the right decision for ourselves. 

Electra Old Vic Review

Electra Old Vic Review

When we went to go and watch the performance of Electra, we had briefly had a look at college at the plot and themes, so my understanding wasn't that great of the play. However once we went to watch the play afterwards I totally understood what was going on as i visually had it in front of me going on and I was able to understand what was happening. Although I didn't always understand the language I had a good understanding of the gist and themes of what was going on.
I liked how they tried to keep to the original essence of in the round which is the same as how theaters would have been in the Greek times originally so i liked how they tried to keep to that.
The scenery was the same throughout so there were no set changes which I thought was good because the play didn't need set changes as it would have taken away the essence of the play and the whole time it was all set outside of the house anyways so there was no need for scene changes. Looking in Greek terms of theatre the door/entrance to the house was what would have been a skene (Although it was a more restricted amount of space).
There was soft sand on the floor which reflected natural surroundings of Greece, the stones which were also part of the set were also a capturing essence of neutral colours.
A tree was on stage and part of the set which was used for levels as Electra pinned a picture of her father up on the tree, she also sat higher up on the tree which then made the play have an interesting dimension. There was a tap on stage that poured actual water which i feel really showed the real desperation and survival of Electra. The way that Electra looked was that she was very ragged and dirty and had a look about her that seemed that she didn't go inside. It was good the way that the stage and the set was on stage because the set designer would have had to consider sight lines to make sure that everyone in the round in the seating would be able to see from where they are sitting enabling no pieces of set are blocking the audiences view.
The chorus members in the play created interest and an extra dimension to the play however I was surprised there was no use of dancing and singing as originally in the Greek era it was traditionally used.
A downfall possibly was that there was incidental comedy which sometimes could take away from the tragic essence of the Greek Tragedy.
When Electra was given the ashes of her brother I felt that she din't really have that alone moment with them to come to terms with it, it was all a bit rushed that section which is when the story is starting to get exciting and reveal the secret that Orestes is actually alive. I thought that Electra's relationship with her sister was believable and was a good bond, however I did think that the relationship between her and Orestes when he tells Electra who he is, it was more like he was a lover the way she was with him rather than siblings. 
Even though Kristen Scott- Thomas being older - around 50+ playing Electra she didn't look too bad against the rest of the cast as she is quite a petite lady however her voice was very mature sounding which gave her age away. It was a bit bizarre that Scott-Thomas is the same age as the lady that played the mother but I do feel she did very well. And in comparison to the person who played Orestes he looked like he had just come out of drama school and  Scott-Thomas looked more like a mother however due to her petite size and her costuming it wasn't too obvious. 
Costume wise the mum and sister where in regal and royal colours - red and blue which showed off their wealth. Electra was in dirty white and a baggy dress which was very dirty which gave a homeless look about her. The chorus were all in black and they were like the narrators of the story. 
The lighting throughout was natural all the lighting was high so 360 degrees lighting.
The play looked upon the idea of an eye for an eye in the sense that son was to seek revenge and kill the father.
When Clytemnestra died there was no visual happening of the death however you just saw the aftermath. They could have played on the death a bit more, however it can be difficult to show a death realistically, so they did do it in the correct way however the screams were a bit pathetic and could have been better and she could have sounded more scared that she was about to die. I felt that the play took a while to get going and Electra had way too many monologues and then when it came to the ending it went too fast, If i was the director I would have maximized the death and have made the play more pacy by cutting some monologues and getting to the plot quicker. 
Overall I did enjoy the play as it gave me a better understanding of the play when it came to us doing it and although I had my own criticisms for it everyone has their own personal opinions but after watching it i could definitely say i knew the plot and story much better after watching it live.

http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article9769261.ece/alternates/w620/Electra.jpg
[Accessed: 06/01.15]

Elizabethan Theatre Research In Comparison To Modern Day

Elizabethan Theatre

Elizabethan Theatre and Modern Theatre have some very different principles and over the years standards have changed. Below is a table showing the differences between the two.

Shakespeare fun facts. Jessica E. Mularski. Elizabethan Theatre. [Online] Available from: https://sites.google.com/site/shakespearefunfact/elizabethan-theater [Accessed: 06/01/15]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaellevi/5727519496/
[Accessed: 06/01/15]

What this table and information has shown me is that there are still some things in the past that are similar to theatre nowadays for example there are still matinee and afternoon performances nowadays like there were back in Elizabethan times. A big difference is that In the Elizabethan times people were expected to see a new play everyday that they went to the theatre. This therefore doesn't happen in the present day as shows run for months or years at a time In the same theatre or even do transfers of the same show to a different theatre meaning that there isn't as big of a demand on playwriters to write a new show everyday. A very big change in theatre over the years is now the fact that women and men now have an equal role in the theatre. Before only men were allowed to perform and men had to play the roles of women. Now leading ladies and female roles are extremely important in the theatre and there isn't a divide in gender as it is equal.

Electra Performance Evaluation

Electra Performance Evaluation

As my role was double cast the first 2 shows I was back stage in charge of the smoke machine. I was therefore back stage with the script making sure I knew when the start of the acts were to press the button for the smoke. Even though I wasn't able to watch the 2 performances of the show that I wasn't in I was still following the scirpt and could hear what was going on. The mistakes that happened on the first night was that Niamh cut out a page and a half of dialogue and cut of Magic's (Old man) big monologue. The girls who played the Chorus friends managed to think on their feet and jumped to their lines that followed the bit where Niamh jumped to and was able to carry on. As a cast we know what should have happened and that it was a big mistake however I spoke to an audience member and they could tell there was a bit of a silence and a pause however they didn't realize that a lot had been cut and that it all still made sense. They said that as it was in old language you they were able to get away with it easier than it would have been if it was in modern language as it is sometimes hard to follow old language. On a whole the first show apart from the miss hap in the middle wasn't too bad and in comparison to the last rehearsal before show week it was a big improvement.

The next show again I was backstage as Niamh was Clytemnestra again, she managed to remember more of her lines this time and I didn't notice many mistakes so from what I could hear the show went well.

The next performance it was then my time to play Clytemnestra. I feel that come show week I was extremely confident with my lines and knew how I wanted to portray the character. I feel I was able to tackle the language well after spending time to understand the meaning of the text so that when i said my lines in my performance I wasn't just saying the lines, I was saying them with a purpose and a meaning. I felt vocally I was quite strong and I managed to hold my character and my high status above other characters - especially Electra.
I felt I spoke clearly and with good projection. Movement wise I felt that I walked and had a strong held posture and stood with a powerful stance and status. What i felt went really well was the argument that Electra and myself had, it was very strong and powerful and I felt that we both really let ourselves go with it. After the show Rachel gave us notes and said that myself and Catrina could go even further in our argument and reach and either higher point so I ensure that I would do that for my final performance the next day.
Things that could have gone better is use more gestures and expression to make my performance more expressive.

The final performance I felt went really well. We had a large audience so that was great to have a lot of support and a large audience to perform to especially as we had audience members on the side of the stage so it was good to be able to have the chance of having more audience members to fill up the side seats to perform to. I felt mine and Catrina's argument was even stronger in this performance and that it went to a higher extreme of anger and emotions. I feel that my intentions of the character came though in my performance. My intentions being that I wanted to show that Clytemnestra was a very powerful woman with a high status, I also wanted her just by her presence enough that I had a high status. When I spoke I wanted to have a harsh tone to my voice which I feel I was able to hold throughout my scenes. I also wanted to show  my emotions that I had killed my husband as an act of revenge but was very fearful that Orestes would come back and take his revenge on me. I also wanted to show that I was genuinely upset he was dead as he was my child after all however I wanted to come across my different sides to me as i had quite a split personality and was starting to show these different thoughts and feelings all coming through. I believe I portrayed this through my performance as one minute I was shouting the next I had a MP face and manner speaking to the audience and then I was showing concern over Orestes so I wanted to show that my character was muddled up and had such a mixed up mind.

The way in which the play was staged and performed originally in comparison to our performance was that we had only 3 sides to the audience whereas in an original Greek theatre there would be people seated all around the stage. Another difference would be that in the Greek theatre they would have performed with masks as the theaters were so large facial expressions would have been lost so they used masks which we did not use although we did do a work shop with masks. Food would have been thrown in an original Greek theatre which as we know this didn't happen in our performance. Seen in both our performance and original Greek we both used music from our time to create more interest to our performance. Music and dance was seen in original Greek theatre. We didn't use dance as such but the chorus members - friends of Electra - did use some movement in a physical theatre style which is very modern and complies to our day and age of performance. In the Greek times going to the theatre and watching plays was a form of entertainment and you could watch performances for free, now you are charged for tickets and for merchandise and food and drinks so now it has become a business rather than something nice to just do. That then compares to our performance as we did charge money for tickets.
in conclusion although Greek theatre has similarities to modern day theatre the difference do out weigh the similarities because of the technology and special effects that there are now and also the people that are allowed to take part of in plays now as only men were allowed to perform and now in our day and age women are highly respected and recognised in the performance industry. 

Bibliography for Classical Unit

Sparknotes: Dr Faustus Plot Overview [Online] Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/summary.html  [Accessed: 08/10/14]  

Sparknotes. Dr Faustus Character list. [Online] Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/characters.html [Accessed: 08/10/14]

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[Accessed 11/10/14]

Wikipedia. Seven Deadly Sins. [Online]
Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins [Accessed: 12/10/14]

Shakespeare fun facts. Jessica E. Mularski. Elizabethan Theatre. [Online] Available from: https://sites.google.com/site/shakespearefunfact/elizabethan-theater [Accessed: 06/01/15]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaellevi/5727519496/
[Accessed: 06/01/15

http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/hdwyer/files/2012/08/3216862621_5e7d361ab3_z.jpg
[Accessed: 07/10/14]

Performing Arts Department, Worthing College Available at: http://worthingpateam.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=electra [Accessed 06/10/2014]

Justice, Online resources Available at: http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/creating/justice/pages/greektheatre.htm [Accessed 09/10/2014]

Image 1 http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/creating/justice/pages/greektheatre.htm [Accessed 09/10/2014]

Image 2 http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/creating/justice/pages/greektheatre.htm [Accessed 09/10/2014]

Image 3 http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/creating/justice/pages/greektheatre.htm [Accessed 09/10/2014]

Stage lighting guide. Available at: http://www.stagelightingguide.co.uk/ [Accessed 18/10/2014]

http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/article9769261.ece/alternates/w620/Electra.jpg
[Accessed: 06/01.15]

(http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/electra/canalysis.html) [Accessed 05/01/2015]


gradesaver. Electra by Sophocles. [Online] Accessed from: http://www.gradesaver.com/electra-by-sophocles/study-guide/character-list/ [Accessed: 06/10/14]


http://www.eliterarysociety.com/tag/delphic-oracle/
[Accessed 06/10/14]

Electra 20th Nov - last rehearsal before show week

The last rehearsal before show week

In all honesty this rehearsal was not great at all. Not everyone knew their lines and most lines had to be prompted which made it really hard and extremely tedious to do a run when hardly anyone knew their lines. There were a few people that knew their lines but a few odd ones were forgotten but there were a few people who didn't know large chunks on dialogue. I can admit that there was one small speech of my lines that i didn't know i was really struggling to get it into my head but other than that I knew all of my lines. I shared this rehearsal with Niamh being Clytemnestra as we are double cast which made it hard to get into the swing of the character and into the flow of they play but when people didn't know lines anyways it made it even harder to do a run where people had to be promoted a lot. I din't feel that in this rehearsal I could really get into the true essence of my character and really let it go and get on with it as I had no flow and anything to feed off so it was a very difficult session. But all the time that I wasn't on stage I was trying my hardest writing out my lines and trying my hardest to get the last small speech in my head. Everyone was very agitated by the end of the extremely long winded run so everyone's mood was very low and not very positive. From this lesson I knew exactly what I needed to do which was to learn the last little bit and that was the same for everyone. 

I know that when things start to flow better and people are absolutely certain with their lines that will help lift the play and give everyone a boost and for myself help me get into the flow of my character because Clytemnestra is quite a challenging roll to get into. What I need to do is know that last section of dialogue and hopefully our next run will be more successful.