Month: September 2015

Context of the actual play: The play was clearly set to resemble a period of time that involved war, betraying and gods: the Trojan War. The play would go on to keep the name of the characters the same as the Gods, but would keep the plot quite similar as to what had occurred in the Trojan War including the Greek gods. The Trojan War was actually started by Zeus, with the purpose of reducing the increasing population of the Earth at that point in time. The war was fought between the defenders of the city of Troy and Greeks, based in Anatolia. The Trojan War, was fuelled by the abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. The abduction was carried out by Paris, the Trojan prince, who had later refused to return her when Menelaus had demanded this. The war was sparked when Menelaus convinced his brother, Agamemnon, to start a battle against the city of Troy.                                                                   Agamemnon plays a massive role in ‘The Flesh Is Mine’. During the play it seems that his pride and arrogance declined as the war and his situation with Achilles were both getting worse and worse. The story displayed different messages focusing on different characters. As the reader, we recognise that Agamemnon had taken his power for granted and used it to steal Achilles partner. We know his problems got worse, as for example, Act 2 Scene 5, showed that when Achilles had quit the war, he automatically knew that they would not be able to take over the city of Troy, because Achilles was his best soldier.

Understanding of Character

In the play, Agamemnon is seen as a person of higher status. Because of this, he is normally arrogant, starts unnecessary feuds (like the one with Agamemnon) and doesn’t take into consideration what could happen in the future. This backfires as Achilles quits from the army and drives Agamemnon into a state of absolute anger and fury. The scene that I acted out (Act 2 Scene 5) was a result of this and it caused Achilles to avert his anger towards the first person he saw, the guard. Portraying Agamemnon was quite a difficult role, because I had to understand why he would get so angry and towards the guard.

Choice of Clothing

As you can see in the picture, I decided to wear smart clothing, to indicate that I was of a higher status in the scene. Although I wore smart clothing, I did not wear the clothing smartly. In some areas, I would tuck in my clothes and leave other places untucked. This would show that my character wouldn’t care about appearance because I was stressed and angry at the current situation. I would also keep my tie lose and make is visible so that it could add onto the effect I tried to implement into the scene. Another feature I tried to make clear in my final performance was the use of sweat patches (not in the picture above). Just before my final performance, I would use water to make it look like I had sweat patches, showing a feeling of stress and a hot environment around myself.

Props

The only really meaningful props I used was the bunch of papers that I had in my hand partly throughout the scene. The papers symbolised a meaning of stress and things I need to do, which added onto the idea I wanted to represent. I also used the blocks instead of school chairs, so that the area around me looked less like a school. Although the blocks aren’t entirely ‘office-themed’, it gave the audience the chance to ‘imagine’ what they could be, which was much better than having school chairs, as the performance would be less believable if so.

Use of space

From the beginning to the conclusion of the scene, I would use the whole stage to indicate how angry I was at the current situation. Although this was the case, I found myself stranded in different positions that I should not have been in.

Magic If

Working with the ‘Magic If’ technique was incredibly helpful as it helped me to separate myself from the character Agamemnon. Originally I thought it was pointless towards the performance, but I recognised how much I acted as myself in the performance, compared to the actual way I should have acted.