My concept: enforcing a sex banned to prevent absent fathers

Aim: Applying Stanislavski's techniques to create a naturalistic performance

My interpretation of lysistrata ● I chose to base my concept around absent fathers as I feel this topic is extremely

relevant in today’s society. I also felt that it had some relevance to the play as well.

● Just as it is in the play, the women are able to gain power over the men by enforcing a sex ban. I wanted to take away the whole stereotypical idea of men being leaders and in control. The whole idea was to bring about equality and to show that women should be able to state their opinion on something they're passionate about.

● Through my research I found that the new law allows mothers to have full custody of their child even when separated or divorced. However if the man and women are married they both have equal rights to their child, whereas if they weren’t the child automatically goes to the mother.

Reason for teenage pregnancy increasing Nevertheless teenage pregnancy has increased massively over the last ten years and there are many reasons for this:

● Education ● Tax system● Broken families

Characters in my concept Lysistrata - Rachel announces her idea of a sex ban. Bold and passionate, middle aged (in her thirties)

Myrhinne - Lucy reluctant to support her friend’s idea at first. Much younger than lysistrata. In her early twenties. Vulnerable, submissive. Content in her relationship however agrees to the sex ban.

Cinesias - Daniel is quite an arrogant character, sees women as inferior. Completely against the sex ban. Has multiple partners.

MusicI will only use music for key moments in the play. For instance in the scene where Myrhinne pursues cinesias. As my concept is based in today’s society I would decide to go for modern songs such as

● Beyonce - dance for you. That will set the scene and allow the audience to feel somewhat uncomfortable. It may also create humour for the audience,

bearing in mind that the setting will be naturalistic as Stanislavski’s idea is always based on naturalistic surroundings.

● Opening scene - actors will come up one by one to introduce their characters

● Lysistrata will come on first as she’s the main character - Run the world by Beyonce will be played in the background as it relates a lot to her character. The audience will get a gist of the play before it’s begun.

● Closing scene - love train

CostumeAs Lysistrata is the main character she would wear a trumpiet dress to stand out from the other characters.

All the men in my concept will wear tracksuit bottoms and black t- shirts to portray that their under the women’s power. By demonstrating them like tramps suggests that they have very little authority which I’m trying to demonstrate in my concept.

They’re under the women’s authority/ power

As Myrhinne is a lot younger than Lysistrata in my concept she will wear a fitted dress to present her character who is not very educated and doesn’t agree with the sex ban, however she wants to support Lysistrata

LightingI will use ordinary lights throughout most of the play however key scenes I will either use red or blue to create an atmosphere. For instance

● Myrhinne pursuing Cinesias (Red)

● Closing scene (Blue)● Opening scene (ordinary lights)● Men giving in to the women and deciding to make peace (blue)

Stage design If I were to perform my concept of the play I would go for the classic proscenium arch stage where the curtains would open at the start of the show and close at the end where the audience would clap. I would include a balcony at the top so the audience at the back can feel just as involved as the people in the front. At the beginning of the play where Lysistrata announces her idea, she will go and ask a few members from the audience what their views are. This will enable the audience to feel very much involved. At the end of the play a few members from the audience will come up and join in as everyone makes peace with each other.

There will also be jolly music in the background and confetti to create a nice

atmosphere. What worked well?

Everyone was willing to participate which then made it a lot easier for me as a director. All my lessons were authentic and well thought through. I was creative by making up my own scenarios for each lesson that was well understood by my peers. I gave real life situations such as a young couple having a baby together and all the consequences that came with it, for example; the father not being able to cope which then leads to the couple separating. Through my rehearsals I learnt how to be a director which requires a lot of patience. I also had to learn how to manage my time, making sure all my lessons were long enough and everyone had a role to play at all times.

What would I improve?

If I could carry out my three workshops again I would make sure that I base my last lesson on the lines that are in the script rather than making the class adapt their own lines. I would also make sure that I manage my time a bit more so that I don’t run out of time before the lesson’s over. Overall I found my workshops were fairly relevant to my aim where I wanted the

class to interpret Stanislavski’s method through their rehearsals. I think they were partially able to do that, especially in my second lesson that I carried out where I gave them real life scenarios. They were able to adapt my ideas really well and gave a naturalistic performance.

How effective would it be to perform lysistrata under the influence of Stanislavsky?

I think it would be really effective performing the play based around Stanislavsky’s techniques. The overall message of the play itself is realistic. In addition to this I think it would be a very educational message to put across to the audience. I still believe that certain parts can be exaggerated for example at the end when they all come together to make peace. Stanislavsky’s aim is to get the actors to think about their character and what their role is before putting themselves in the position of that character. In Lysistrata there are quite a few contrasting characters and using Stanislavsky’s method I personally feel that this will produce

a great naturalistic performance and the message will be in black and white whereas in Lysistrata I feel the message is taken away slightly due to it being comical.

I chose to deliver these three workshops as I felt that I could adapt a lot of my own knowledge to base my lessons on. I also thought that my lessons would be somewhat effective and my peers would be able to take away something from them. My main aims were for my class to have a thorough understanding of my concept after carrying out my three lessons. I believe my class managed to gain a full knowledge of my concept and they showed a good understanding in my lessons.

Applying Stanislavsky's techniques into a performance/improvisation

Jeremy kyle show (class can gain a better understanding of my concept

Everyone mentions one thing they learnt from the lesson

Build on characterisation Perform scenarios given in comedy/ tragedy

peer evaluation

Creating a performance based on my concept

Five scenes relating to my concept

What went well? what i could've improved? (feedback from the class)

How can you as actors Performing lysistrata in dance Self evaluation. what did you

My lesson plan

interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of interpret this context of do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do do well? what didn't you do

Peer feedback

Overall my peers said my performance was really good, however I could’ve developed on characterisation a bit more so they could get into the role a bit more. They also understood my concept which was my main aim. Another aspect I need to work on is directing my actors more, ensuring that everyone knows what their doing.

.

Thank you for listening !