Cotume

This is my costume for Ceres the Spirit. I really like my costume, even though the first time I saw it, I did panic a little! I like the glitter and the feathers and hopefully I will be able to move around the stage without ripping it. I think it needs a little more glitter in some places, but I really like it.

I think it adds to my character and makes it seem more magical and special. I feel very fairy-like when I wear it and it makes me feel like I am going to be able to convey my character effectively on stage.

Shakespeare in Love

I have watched this film multiple times, however watched it again as we are studying Shakespeare. This film really helps with my understanding of how men had to play women and that women were not supposed to be in the theatre. I think that it makes all their laws very clear and shows Shakespeare's process of writing and that he needed a muse.

Although I'm not sure how much of this film is factual, it helps me to understand the basic process of Shakespeare writing and performing a play. This video shows how important it was to not be seen as a woman on stage. It would damage her family's reputation and she would not be able to marry an eligible man.

Tempest Rehearsals

Here is a video of us practicing our first scene as the spirits. We spent a long time working on our physicality and relating our movement to our spirits. For example, because my spirit is the spirit of the Earth, I spend a lot of time on the floor, rolling around, crouched down etc.

Research on Dogs/Wolves

I did some research into dogs stalking their pray and how they act. I found some youtube videos which show perfectly how dogs stalk things. This gave me lots of inspiration on how to physically portray this element of stalking Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban to the audience.

I found this video. Which shows perfectly how still and silent a dog is while stalking it's prey. It also showed me how quickly they can change from predators into showing their softer, tennis-ball loving side. This will help me to develop how quickly the spirits can changed shape and form.

This video also helped me to see the comic side that Jack is trying to get us to portray at this point, but also still shows the danger of what could happen and shows how wolves move when they run to allow me to physicalize that movement myself

This video helped to show me how fast wolves can run and how quick they can be when they need to catch their prey. It also made me aware of the movements that they make when they run.

All of these findings will help me to physicalize my character and allow me to personify the different animalistic traits the spirits have.

Rehearsals

We had rehearsals today in Theatre Workshop where we finished blocking the rest of the script and started to run through the whole play again.

We did lots of character work and each person on stage had to really explore their character and become more emotionally connected to the scene. Jack is very good at going over things and making sure people know what they are saying, which will really add to the performance and make our individual portrayals of our characters much more believable.

We had to be the spirits becoming dog-like creatures which chase Trinculo and Stephano away from the cave. We had to be very animalistic, which was really hard to portray to the audience. Although I think it will be much easier with sound, lighting and our costumes, to portray these scary creatures, it was really difficult while in a rehearsal room.

We also did a scene where Prospero sets us free, which took us back to the basics of being spirits, moving around and looking at everything that Prospero does in awe. We then finished the script. This was good as we got to see the development of all the characters throughout the play and now we got to see them when they were all together. It was really good to watch to see how each of the characters interacted with each other and to see how they've changed on their journey through the island.

It's looking very good so far, but people need to learn their lines and remember where they have been staged for their blocking, to speed up the rehearsal process when doing a second run through, which will give us a lot more time to focus on our characters, which we've done on our blogs anyway, but also the different characters interactions with each other.

Research for Essay

I did some research to help me to write the Historical Context essay. I compared Shakespeare's costumes to modern day costumes.

Shakespeare Costumes vs Modern Day Costumes

It is clear that in our performance of “The Tempest” we are using very abstract, interesting and flamboyant costumes to represent the different characters; however this contrasts to the types of costumes that would have been worn in Shakespeare’s original performances of his plays.

The kinds of costumes that would have been worn in the Elizabethan era would have been very colourful, probably very heavy and quite expensive. They would have been contemporary to Shakespeare’s time. Even if Shakespeare was putting on a play set in Ancient Greece, such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” the costumes worn would be Elizabethan or Jacobean.

Our costumes are very flamboyant and edgy, as we’re setting “The Tempest” in an 80’s, punk, rock theme, they relate to Shakespeare’s costumes by being very colourful and visually interesting. The costumes that the people in the mainland have to wear are very rocky, such as leather jackets, big hair and lots of makeup. Some of the boys are going to be wearing heels and in drag, which relates to Shakespeare, as all of the women’s roles were played by men, who had to wear dresses, petticoats and wigs.

The costumes of the people on the island are very other-worldly. My costume is a leotard with lots of different colours and sparkles on it, which will give the effect that we are creatures of the island. We’re having lots of makeup and body paint and things twisted into our hair to further create this effect. In Shakespeare’s time, they would not have had costumes that actually represent where or who they are, as lots of the effect for the audience came from hearing the words read out, rather than seeing it in their costumes or their set.

Shakespeare would have had a very minimal set, with few props, which made it easy for quick scene changes, whereas we’re going to have a fixed, visually interesting set, which shows both the island and the mainland.

There are some similarities to our costumes, such as the colours, however they mainly differ because Shakespeare used costumes that were contemporary for the time and although we are using very modern costumes too, fashion and styles have changed dramatically over the years and we are able to explore different and interesting things with our costumes without any restrictions on getting types of fabric or colours, as they’re much easier to get hold of in the 21^st Century.

Ceres

Some images of Ceres which helped me to learn more about my character.

 This image shows Ceres changing the seasons from Winter to Spring.

This image relates her to nature and her being in charge of the Earth.

These images show her being the goddess of agriculture and harvest.