sonya's notes on my presentation for Lysistrata and A Midsummer Nights Dream

Positive notes /things I don't need to change -

• I showed that i had put "consideration and creativity into my presentation from the outset"
• By arranging the seats in the form of a greek theater and using the audience to "make references to the rules and hierarchy of people in greek society" showed I had reseached seating plans and made the information I got my own. 
• She said that this was a good link to the social class of ancient Greek theatre. and that it was "important for your classical text and roles with appropriate links, and in a very easily accessible way that held your audiences interest."
• it was good that i didnt just rely on the content of your power point slides.
• I offered good explanations about magic as a background to 'A midsummers nights dream'. 

What I need to be carefull about when it comes to the facts -

• when discussing your monologue and Lysistrata as a text - the monologue is not called 'a chorus of women' it has no individual title, but was wrutten to be performed by 'a chorus of women', but siad she understood what I was trying to say and i needed to make it clearer.

      changes - I changed what i was going to say to introduce the monologue too -
"I will be performing a monologue from a Greek play called 'Lysistrata' this is normaly performed by a chorus of women but I will be performing it alone because I think it has much more power in the words spoken if it is performed by one person".

• "This would lead you into discussing the use of chorus in performances and your information anout influances of Thespis the development on performance styles."
• I need to make more links to different acting roles in greek plays and have historical, cultiral and religious backgrand. E.G playwritgh festivals and compatitions.
• doing this will give a clear link to greek god and their influences on classical texts. 
• "dont rely on my note cards so much and complacated words like "Diazomata" dirupted the flow of your presentation" this was because i couldn't most of the complacated words.
• Mention more the political side to greece and especialy the link between wars and 'Lysistrata' as this is a central theme of the text.
• I need to make sure the presentation doesn't go on for to long.
• The midsummer nights dream didnt show the same level of insight into the background of the text. 
• I need to say what was going on in england culturally, politically, historically, religiously and economically during the 1500's to the same level of the information i resurched for greek history.
• Even though I explained the magical scenes very well but i need to explain further.
• I have to think about how different classes would relate to the different characters. For example the dukes of the play in midsummer nights dream would relate to the uper class and 'bottom' would relate to the groundlings (the lower class people of england).

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Because Sakespeare was lucky enough to be born in a middle-class status in Stratford-upon-Avon he went to a grammar school this ment he could have the education to do what he was best known for writing playwrights and sonnets in the 1500's most people couldnt go to school and it was very rear if they made it past childhood. in A Middsummer Nights Dream he uses Greek mythology a character called Theseus is one of the more important characters he's a welthy character and Shakespear loosely based him on the Greek hero of the same name, and the play is filled with references to Greek gods and goddesses.

Theseus the greek hero was more know to be the slayer of the Minotaur he was the son of the king of Athens and his mother Aethra kept this information from him and told him that his farther was a greek god. when Theseus was sixteen his mother told him the truth about his farther and said that in order to find his farther Theseus most first do a challenge. his mother took him into a forest where there was a balder he had to lift the bolder up like his farther once did and underneath it Theseus would find his farthers name in a pease of paper.

london in the 1500 (everyday life)

The upper class and middle class had a better standard of living. As England grew more and more prosperous the homes of the well off became more comfortable. However the lowest section of society, became worse off. In the 14th century a large part of the population died of the plague. As a result there was a shortage of labour so wages went up. but during this time there was inflation, especially in the mid-century, and prices rose steeply. They reached their lowest point in 1594-97there was famine and In Cumbria, a poor and isolated part of England people starved to death.

Tudor society was divided into four broad groups. At the top were the nobility who owned huge amounts of land. Below them were the gentry and rich merchants. Gentlemen owned large amounts of land and they were usually educated and had a family coat of arms. Most important gentlemen never did any manual work, that was beneath their dignity. Below the gentry were yeomen and craftsmen. Yeomen owned their own land. They could be as wealthy as gentlemen but they worked alongside their men. Yeomen and craftsmen were often able to read and write. Below the yeomen were the tenant farmers who leased their land from the rich. There were also wage labourers. They were often illiterate and very poor.

Some Tudor women worked spinning cloth. Women were also tailoresses, milliners, dyers, shoemakers and embroiderers. There were also washerwomen. Some women worked in food preparation such as brewers, bakers or confectioners. However most Tudor women were housewives and they were kept very busy. Most men could not run a farm or a business without their wife's help.

- I FOUND THIS INFORMATION AT THIS WEBSITE -->  http://www.localhistories.org/tudor.html

A Midsummer Night’s Dream plot

group scene – ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A midsummer night’s dream starts with Theseus, duke of Athens preparing to get married to Hippolyta the queen of the Amazons. A character called Egeus,who is a nobleman of Athens wants his daughter, Hermia, to marry Demetrius but she refuses because she loves Lysander. Because she refused Egeus wants the law to intervene and make her do what he wants, so Hermia and Lysander decide to run away.

presentation ideas

Artemis is known as:

·The goddess of the night,

·The huntress,

·The goddess of fruitfulness,

·The goddess of childbirth,

·Lady of the Beasts,

·The woodland goddess,

·The bull goddess,

·The personification of the moon,

·The eternal virgin 

Artemis sent a scorpion to sting the ‘Orions’ heel, and by doing so killing him. But when Orion was subsequently changed into a constellation, Artemis made sure the scorpion received the same honour.

presentation ideas and reserch

1)

I will be performing the monologue ‘Chorus of women’ this monologue came from a Greek play called ‘Lysistrata’ it is about the city Athens when the men were at war. The women of Athens were not happy about this so they try and stop the men from fighting and in this find the confidence to stand up for their rights as women. They do the one thing they have the power to do and that is to deny the men of sexual intercourse.

 ‘Lysistrata’ was written by Aristophanes the play was written over two-thousand years ago he was a Greek comic playwright and most of his work was lost but we know he was well thought of by the people of Greece his playwrights include sex and comedy

2)

The word theatre comes from the Greek word theatron, which means - ‘The place where people listen’.

The Greeks would build the theatres on hill sides. If the surface was rocky semicircles were cut out, layer above layer, but if the hill side was soft an excavation was made in the hillside and lined with rows of stone benches and steps leading up the rows were often lined with marble. The auditorium was divided by broad concentric belts, named diazomata, which served as lobbies. The auditorium was divided into several parts by your rank members of the council had the nearest rows to the orchestra then the young men sat together and the general public were given most of the space that could make their own choice of seats. 

3)

All actors were male and they wore masks these masks were used for amplephying their voices. A poet called ‘Thespis’ was the first person to use actors in ancient Greece they were called hypocrites. The city state of Athens had the political and military power in Greece during what is known as the golden age of Greece and was the epicentre of entertainment in ancient Greece. This is because of Pericles ruler of Athens at the time he believed in promoting the arts and literature this was why Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural city they are. Women were not allowed to be in the plays if there was I women part a small boy that hasn’t hit puberty yet would play the part, they used to wear wooden plat formed shoes and stuff their chest so it looked bigger.

4)

Life for Women in Greece-

Even though the Greeks worshipped goddesses as well as god’s women were thought as less than men, they often had to stay in the house at the back or upper part of the house to be kept away from men they weren’t related to. Women were married at the age of 14 to an older man and there job was to bear a son. (this goes with the poster up there  ^  about Artemis)

Lysistrata monologue ideas

while I'm saying my monologue I'm going to have pictures of women though out the years so the audience can see how the statuse of women has changed my monologue intends to chalenge the state. In the monologue 'Chorus Of Women' she says "what matters that i was born a woman, if I can cure your misfortunes?"

At the begining she says "Nay, never play the brave man." I thought I'd put up different ways to say the word NO and then when I start put the pictures of the wonem on the screen.

monologue of Lysistrata / Artemis - (independant study)

Artemis is a goddess and is known as a fierce hunter as well as a protector and is also known as:

·        The goddess of the night,

·        The huntress,

·        The goddess of fruitfulness,

·        The goddess of childbirth,

·        Lady of the Beasts,

·        The woodland goddess,

·        The bull goddess,

·        The personification of the moon,

·        The eternal virgin

The goddess had a ruthless side to her, she killed a hunter called ‘Orion’ for either defying the goddess, trying to seduce one of her companions, the virgin Opis, or attempting to personally ravish her. Artemis sent a scorpion to sting his heel, and by doing so killing him. But when Orion was subsequently changed into a constellation, Artemis made sure the scorpion received the same honour.

Artemis, is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She is the supposed twin sister of Apollo in most accounts. However, in more ancient traditions it was recounted that Artemis was the mid-wife for the birth of Apollo and his twin sister. Artemis is one of the prominent goddesses, and the lore that surrounds her is as colorful as she was proclaimed to be.

Artemis

Shakespearian Language and Develop Appropriate Vocal Skills

what I need to know to succeed in clasical theatre (Shakespearian Language)

• To remember elements of language relating to Renaissance scripts. 

• To appropriately physically and vocally interpret a Shakespearian scene through performance  

• To justify an interpretation of a Shakespearian monologue through performance choices and skills

Advice from my tutor:

The majority of people don’t feel that they understand the language that Shakespeare and other classical playwrights use; but don’t panic.

In order to investigate Shakespearian language and be able to interpret the intentions and meaning behind it, we need to begin by looking at language itself and how the language of Shakespeare’s day is different to the language that we use now.

practical exercise

To look at a peom by Lewis Carrol and complete a questionair we did this to prover even though most of the words were made up and uses some old english we could still under stand what the peom was trying to tell us and if we could interpet this peom where half the words are made up we could just as easily read a clasical / Shakespearian play.

JABBERWOCKY

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
    The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
    The frumious Bandersnatch!“

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
    Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree.
    And stood awhile in thought.

by Lewis Carrol

1. What did the slithy toves do in the wade?

*Gyre and gimble

2. How were the borogoves?

*All mimsy

3. Which three things should you beware of, or stay away from?

*The Jabberwock, The Jubjub bird and the Bandersnatch

4. Describe the Bandersnatch in one word…

*Frumious

5. What kind of sword did ‘he’ have?

*Vorpal

6. What kind of enemy did ‘he’ seek?

*Manxome

Independent Study on Ancient Greese

The word theatre comes from the Greek word theatron, which means - ‘The place where people listen’.

The Greeks would build the theatres on hill sides. If the surface was rocky semicircles were cut out, layer above layer, but if the hill side was soft an excavation was made in the hillside and lined with rows of stone benches and steps leading up the rows were often lined with marble. The auditorium was divided by broad concentric belts, named diazomata, which served as lobbies.

Even though the Greeks worshipped goddesses as well as god’s women were thought as less than men, they often had to stay in the house at the back or upper part of the house to be kept away from men they weren’t related to. Women were married at the age of 14 to an older man and there job was to bear a son.

the renaissance

The word renaissance is a French word meaning rebirth and started in the 1500, before and during the time of theatre People used to go to hangings for entertainment and go bear baiting (terrorising a bear) on a Thursday theatres were closed so people went bear bating instead of the theatre. The renaissance ended around the 1600 and Theatre stoped completely when the puritans got into power, after england got the monarchi back into power the Victorians Made england prim and proper making theatre a more respected form of art. Like theatre today the wrighters of the day wrote about what was happening at that time. In the that time The 'church of England' was formed, we were exploring other country's and invading them and getting invaded by other country's, the black plage started (and the people at the time were not very hygienic). The people at that time believed in Myths and magic and thought that fairies, goblins and witches and thought that they would punish the innocent at night many people were accused of being a witch. In these times they were very religious and everyone believed in god but they were getting more independence and writers wrote more challenging play wrights, exploring issues no one dared to speak about before the church of England was formed. * Play writers - Shakespeare's work - their is at least 2 of his plays that have been lost but 38 survive and he had a company called 'Chamberlains man'. -Ben Jonson. -Christopher Marlowe. -James Burbage who built the first purpose theatre.  -Richard Burbage. Most theatres were built out side of the city as they would have more freedom to wright about risky things. Two examples of theatres are 'The Rose 1587' and 'The swan 1595'. renaissance started because the culture was changing and people wanted to learn more about it.