Evaluation of a rehearsal

This rehearsal I felt like I was pushing myself to get into my role even more so. We were rehearsing the scenes after my character kills her daughter. This meant the emotional state of my character changes and develops. I was really getting into how she must feel and her logic behind her actions with me and Dennis. I felt like we were communicating a relationship across which we haven't done in previous scenes.

Overall it wasn't as successful as our previous rehearsal. The energy between scenes wasn't working, this is partly to do with the box. The energy betweens scenes is dropping, because of people not working around the fact that we don't have the box. It is a challenge and it is worrying not having the box. It means there is an element of the play which is outside our control. However, we need to ignore it for now and focus on building the pressure within scenes and raising the stakes.

There are still some scenes where is feels like people do not know the significance and true meaning of what they are saying. This is clear in some of the government scenes.  When discussing factually based content it is even more important to know what your saying and to 'see what you say'. If you can't fully visualise it for yourself then you can't expect the audience to.

I need to work on some scenes between me and Dennis. It is a really difficult issue we are dealing with and I don't think any of us have fully realised how twisted the home life situation had to be in order for my character to commit such an awful crime. I think we need to focus on the situation more and realise the severity of it, because the stakes aren't high enough for it to be believable. I don't feel like you can tell how much Sarah has to lose and how much Dennis loses. This is something we can research and learn about over the Christmas break. I hope when we all come back we will have realised given circumstances more. 

How to spot a liar

In 13 after my character kills her daughter she then lies about it to her husband, and to the police. We see her lying and pretending to not know where her daughter is. She is found out eventually, but we don't see how this happens. I have struggled with this scene where I am lying because I can't work out how she would be in that situation. Is she feeling guilt or remorse? Or is she just relishing in the fact that she has nearly gotten away with it? Or is she just petrified of being found out? I researched mothers who kill and made the decision that Sarah must have some sort of psychotic disorder. This means to me that she doesn't feel guilty straight away, she honestly believes she did the right thing. She is only upset because she has lost Dennis. Towards the end of the play when we have the split scene and everyone says a few lines, that's when she is feeling guilt. I see that as when she is in prison probably on medication and realising what she has done. So for a short section of the play she is lying. I decided to do some research into the science of lying. I found this video:

This was particularly useful because of the examples of guilty and innocent mothers. An actual women grieving and someone lying to save themselves. I have considered using this to inform my performance decisions. Maybe I am not as upset as I have been making myself in previous rehearsals, there should be more reservations in my character. The audience should see the performance and my behaviour and know that I'm guilty, even if my character wouldn't. I can't force any of this behaviour and I do not want to fall into a pattern of mimicking the guilty women I have seen videos of, but I want to try and develop my own version of guilt and lying that Sarah would portray as well as linking this to the research I have on mothers who kill and psychotic disorders.

Dream sequence

Today we developed the dream sequence in the play. This was based on the idea of using movement from our feet, elbows and hips. Then we developed onto the idea of our hand waking us up - or trying to. This was a good experience as an actor because apart from that brief movement description and some stimulus words we were given the freedom to explore this terrifying dream alone, through physical movement. This helped me to develop my character background and allowed me to understand her day to day frustration more. This was because the dream sequence leads directly into my beginning scene with Ruby, it also is what happens after the scene which I kill Ruby.

The dream is a significant part of the play which draws the 12 together. Without it the play was beginning to feel limp, and like it had no tangible theatricality to lift the words off the page. Having created this dream it now feels like our play had become a story. It has more depth to it and the characters are starting to make sense to me. The basis of the dream was simple but it allows us as actors to go with our instincts and work organically from whatever nightmeare our character has in its head. 

Discussions with my peers within the show after rehearsals lead me to feel like we are at a turning point within rehearsals. The skeleton of the play is there, with the dream sequence being the heart if that and it's now up to us to bring it alive. Now we need to realise how important it is to just know what we need to do and when, do it and do it well. Some of actors, including myself need to work on the projection and articulation of their speech. If we don't we will be lost when we enter the big theatre. I also feel that I have some more work to do on my character. There is still something missing and I think it's about the amount of pressure and unbalance in her mind that we can't see, that I need to portray through her voice and body. I also feel like this about some of the strong characters within the play that aren't been given enough energy or strength to the roles. Now we have the basic play in order and the dream it might be easier for people to go back over and re discover a character again.

Rehearsal evaluation

The main problem with our rehearsals so far is working out the box transitions. I think I haven't made enough notes on what the box transitions should be and what positions it should be in. For me this is because I have struggled to fuly visualise the box and how it will look onstage when it is fully built. However, I'm not actually required to move the box more than once, therefore more people need to be making notes of where the box should be in every scene and who needs to move it.

There are a few scenes where I know the lines but the line order is what I struggle with. This in particular is in the scene where Sarah kills Ruby. This is holding me back from really engaging in the scene and I think I need to spend more time re learning those lines. 

I think I have spent a lot of time researching my character which has helped inform my choices. However, I don't think I have applied enough to the character in order to create an interesting performance therefore I would say I'm currently working at a merit level of performance and rehearsal.

On Wednesday we had a rehearsal without our director. We had our stage managers there which helped us to stay organised. I think tensions were high and a lot of people weren't focused enough. It was tricky to make people give their full energy when it was just other students in the room. However, after running it did start to feel like a play people might want to watch. 

Psychologist Interview

As a part of my character research I decided to interview a psychologist about unstable women, in particular women who kill their children. She sat with me for over an hour discussing my character and some cases within the public domain and others which are private and confidential to her, without revealing names or any exact words of her patients.

She explained to be a concept called projection. This is where we take the parts of ourselves we don't like and push them onto someone else. The example she used was talent competitions on television. People can mock the clothes or the weight of a contestant, usually because its an insecurity of their own as opposed to what they really think about the person. Most people with a sane mind then separate themselves from this projection and realise that they are actually nice or worth giving a chance. However, often people with psychotic disorders can't separate themselves from this and this can lead them to do extreme things, even kill. When people project all the negative aspects of themselves onto someone else it can be seen as looking into a mirror and only seeing the bad parts of yourself. This can become very overwhelming when you can't separate yourself from it. She suggested that this could be part of what motivates my character to kill Ruby. If all your negative projections go onto your child this makes you feel very resentful towards them. She explained that Sarah might be doubting her own faith, which is what she built her life around. These doubts of her belief may be projected onto Ruby and that is shown through Ruby's exploration of atheism. This then sends Sarah into a frenzy, because of the nightmares she has, which I think are making her question her beliefs, this then could be what makes her decide to kill Ruby. Often unstable Mothers kill their children to save themselves.

Another reason psychotic Mothers kill or abuse their children to save the child. Many Women begin to have extraordinary views of the world and become convinced into believing an alternative reality. They then become fixated on the fact that their child is unsafe and do what they think is protecting them but in reality this could be extremely abusive and often result in the death of the child. A case study the psychologist gave me to read was about a women like this. She had become convinced that the community around her had a paedophile ring which were planning to abduct and sexually abuse her children. She decided the only way to save them was by killing them. She had the plan to kill them for a while then one day after taking them to school she came home and began to carry out this plan in detail. She prepared dinner mixing in medication to sedate them, she was also planning on killing herself.  She then built 3 nooses, one for her and for her 2 children. When the children came home she ended up drowning her eldest daughter in the bath tub, while the other child ran for help. After being arrested she was admitted to a secure unit. In her first therapy session she spoke about her guilt. But not for killing the child but not for succeeding in saving both. As her medication began to control her erratic thoughts she began to realise what she had done and felt incredible guilt for both killing the child and for the one still alive. She kept seeing the image of the bath water and her child dead. She could no longer take baths only showers. She did this because she had become convinced that her children were in danger. It was out of insanity and incredible love, not evil however she then went on to commit an evil crime.

This reminds me of Sarah in some way because she claims to do what she did because she believed her child was evil, and she wanted to save others. There is another case I was told about where a mother killed her son because she had become convinced that he was possessed by the devil. So in her mind she had no choice but to kill him. This relates to Sarah and Ruby. There is a definite psychotic element to what Sarah believes and does. The psychologist explained to me that religion can become like an obsession for many unstable women and can lead them to doing unthinkable things in the 'name of god'. The main conclusion I drew from this interview was that these women weren't evil, but extremely mentally ill. This can lead them to do evil things.

The issue with giving these women mental health care is that once they become well enough again they are then at high risk of becoming suicidal and many of them do.  I then asked her if we should giving these women mental health care when all will lead to is them being depressed when they re enter reality again. This was a difficult question as who can say what is right about the human mind? Sanity is a delicate line we tread every day and when someone falls over the edge it can end with horrible consequences. I think this relates this to Sarah. When Dennis first comes to see her in prison she is justifying what she has done. However her last line she says 'No I can't sleep how could I' and 'Of course I think about her all the time'. I think this shows her coming back to reality and beginning to absorb the guilt she feels.

American Accent Work

One of the technical challenges of my character is the Standard American accent. Since its only my character and 2 others with this accent we haven't spent time in class learning how to do it. I have found it useful to practice through some youtube tutorials. Through doing these every few days I am learning how important it is to do a full vocal warm up in order to get a full grasp on the accent. Without doing so I find myself swallowing words, slipping up on my accent and my mouth feels stiff and not like a useful tool. The tutorials aren't perfect as they cannot tell me when I get it right and push me in that way but they have been a good starting point and have taken me back to basics before building me back up again.

This video recommends you do the warm up video. I have done this many times but I have also found it useful to adapt the warm up to suit me and how I feel that day and to how my voice and body work.

My journey through the play

ACT ONE
Scene 1 -

Dream sequence (tbc)

Scene 2- 

Staging: Downstage, stay onstage after scene 1
Characters: Ruby, John and Dennis
Props: Mobile phone, bags
Costume: TBC, possibly suits and smart clothing
Location: outside the airport waiting for a taxi

Scene 3-not in

Scene 4- not in 

Scene 5- not in

Scene 6- not in 

Scene 7- not in 

Scene 8- not in

Scene 9- not in

Scene 10- not in

Scene 11- not in 

Scene 12- not in

Scene 13 - not in

Scene 14 - 

Staging: In the box, standing up chopping and Ruby sits

Characters: Ruby and Sarah

Props: Food, chicken, knifes

Costume: TBC

Location: Kitchen of the Americans home

Scene 15- not in

Scene 16- not in

Scene 17- not in

Scene 18-  Party scene, characters undecided

ACT 2

Scene 1 - The dream sequence

Scene 2 - not in

Scene 3- not in

Scene 4- Not in

Scene 5:

Staging: Stage right, sitting down

Characters: Dennis, Ruby and Sarah

Props: Food, tables, chairs, plates and cutlery

Costume: TBC

Location: Kitchen

Scene 6:

Staging: Sarah walks through the scene when John begins speaking

Characters: John, Liam, Holly,

Props: Phone (for Sarah), Box for John

Costume: TBC

Location: The park

Scene 7- not in

Scene 8- not in

Scene 9 - Edith plays the piano until the beginning of scene 10, I enter from the box door

Scene 10 -

Staging: Outside box

Characters: John and Sarah

Props: box, cigarettes

Costume: tbc

Location: Outside the Americans home

Scene 11 - not in

Scene 12- not in

Scene 13-

Staging:

Characters: Ruby and Sarah

Props: Kindle, knifes, vegetables

Costume:tbc

Location: Americans Kitchen

ACT 3

Scene 1- Dream sequence

Scene 2- Not in

Scene 3-

Staging: Sitting down, stage right

Characters: Dennis and Sarah

Props: Laptop, chairs, toaster, bread, butter, plate, mug, coffee pot

Costume: Dennis in a suit, Sarah in a dressing gown and PJ's

Location: Kitchen in Americans house

Scene 4- not in

Scene 5 - not in

Scene 6- not in

Scene 7-

Staging:Stage right

Characters: Dennis and Sarah

Props: Cigarettes

Costume: tbc 

Location:Kitchen table

Scene 8:

Staging:  same as 7, split scene with other characters emerging

Characters: Dennis, Sarah, Zia, Shannon, Holly and Edith, John, Mark, Alice, Stephen

Props:

Costume:tbc

Location:The park, downing street, the Americans home, lecture hall

Rehearsal 2

After warming up we picked up our texts and began unpicking Marks speech on page 95.  We marked out breath and objectives. I have been struggling with this concept of 'physical objectives'. I usually can work out why I am saying what i'm saying on stage and the meaning behind it, but having to action out objectives that can be demonstrated physically. However, using objectives and the given circumstances of the short monologue we worked on our articulation and conviction behind it. We then got into pairs. One partner would perform the speech with the script and the other would turn around and walk away if they began to feel disconnected from what the other was offering. This was a nice way of being pushed to give more to the text. Working one and one and having an honest response from your partner was really helpful in developing the text and my understanding of it. I need to work on my ability to find out what my physical objectives are as opposed to just my characters reasoning behind what they are doing.

We developed this partnered exercise into having 2 people in the middle of a circle. We played on the idea of using the speech as a way of stopping the other person talking. This helped both partners. As an actor onstage, even if you do not have any lines in a scene, your character will have an opinion about what is being said. Just because your character doesn't have a line written down, doesn't mean they don't have anything to say. So in Marks speech on page 95 he is having a big rant at all of women kind, and verbally attacking the women in front of him. Her character would definitely have something to say. In this exercise with the two people in the centre of circle, the person who wasn't speaking wanted to say the 'fucking rapist'. When someone wasn't giving enough and stopping the other person from speaking they would say 'fucking rapist'. This meant the other person wasn't playing their objective enough to stop the other person speaking. This exercise helped to develop both sides of the scene.

We then got into our scene groups and used the meisner repetition technique to rehearse our scenes. We ran through our breakfast table scene with Sarah, Dennis and Ruby. Three way repetition can help with idea of the person on stage who isn't speaking. Which in this scene is my character, Sarah, for the majority of the scene. However, through this exercise we managed to develop lots of family dynamic and the relationships between us. We didn't know the lines for this scene so using our scripts did hold us back slightly. After time we began to off script a bit. This developed onto us adding opinions like in the original form of the repetition technique. We got to enjoy exploring our characters with freedom but maintaining that grounding in truth and honesty. I feel like this really showed when we then went back to strictly using the text with the repetition. When we went back I didn't feel trapped in what I was doing or how I was saying a line. It felt natural to be speaking to these people who were my family. This is why I think it's so important to do this exercise with almost every scene in the play, especially those which rely on a relationship between characters and less so on visual or digital aids.

Meisner

Sanford Meisner was the son of Jewish immigrants who grew up in New York. He was born 31st August 1905 and died 2nd February 1997. He developed an acting method based on Stanislavskis method. This is known as the meisner technique. After his brothers death he became resentful of his parents and turned to playing the family piano. He went onto study at Damrosch Institute of Music now known as the Juilliard School. When the great depression hit, his father pulled him out of the school in order to help out in the workplace. He found that the only way he got through it was by remembering the classical piano tunes he learnt at school and playing them back to himself in his head. By doing this he became almost pitch perfect. Later on his life he would often close his eyes when assessing actors performance. He said he did this in order to feel when the true emotions were expressed during a performance or rehearsal.  


We did the Meisner 'repetition' exercise in our rehearsal today. I have used this method when directing and rehearsing scenes and I find it very useful. 


Repetition technique




Level 1: On chairs or standing, with a partner. Begin by stating only what you see about the other person. They must then accept this and repeat it back to you. 1 observation may go back and forth until one actor feels the instinct the change it, i.e they observe something else. For example: 'You have blonde hair' to which the other would respond 'I have blonde hair'. The key to this is to listen to the other actor, accept that they are observing what they see in that moment. Do not offer opinions. 

Level 2: Offer opinions. Start off the same as in level one but begin to allow opinions and deeper observations to come into play. Be aware that it is only what you see in that moment, not what you may or may not already know about the actor in front of you. Allow yourself to not be offended and just accept what they observe. 

Level 3: Begin to use the space around you. Stand up from the chairs, instinctively move around the space, but continue to communicate with the other actor. 

Level 4: Apply text. Using a scene between two people start to repeat the lines back to each other. Do not move on from a line until you feel the instinct to, and you have reached a connection with a line.

This technique allows actors to be honest and instinctive on stage. It forces you out of that cage of learning your lines and saying them the same way every time, despite what the other actor might be saying. In order for a relationship between to characters to develop onstage, the actors must be listening to each other onstage, and not just relying on the text to build it for them. This exercise helped me and the actor playing my daughter to develop our relationship dynamic within the scene. It allowed us to experiment with different ways of saying lines, and different moments of agreeing and conflicting. 

Rehearsal 1

We started of the session in partners doing a '1,2,3' exercise. We did this moving around the space. The idea of this was to get us used to working on three sides, without shutting off any of the audience. This is extremely challenging. It requires the actor to manipulate the shoulders, body and neck to work separately so the audience gets a good view of all your body. For example, if your head has to face stage left to speak to another character you need to alter your body to be facing the right, while turning your neck towards the left. This way every audience member should have an interesting and clear view of you. This exercise started off with everyone in the space. Then most of the class stood around the space along 3 sides like in the theatre and 2 people stayed in the middle and continued the exercise. We as an audience had to put our hand up whenever we weren't satisfied with the view we were getting onstage. I was part of the audience for this exercise. From observing the actors onstage it seemed to me they were really starting to understand how much of a challenge working on three sides successfully is. It required them to think about what their bodies were doing technically whilst at the same time trying to communicate with the other actor onstage. On top of that when it comes to applying the play text you will also have to focus on living freely as your character onstage at the same time.

We then developed this exercise on from the 1, 2, 3 to one partner saying 'tell me' and the other saying 'no'. This meant the audience saw more of a story develop between the characters and the actors onstage began to listen to each other. It was very clear to  me as an audience member when the person onstage had connected with the other person and was reacting of what they had said and how they had said it. It was an invisible connection which was easy to create when you really listened but just as easy to lose if an actor stopped listening.

We began rehearsing for our production of 13 today. At first I was struggling with my opening scene as I couldn't figure out the exact objectives of my character with her lines. After working this out some more and allowing myself to experiment onstage it became clearer and a more successful scene.

Over all the blocking process was too rushed. I think we needed to start with the dream sequence in scene 1 as opposed to skipping over it. The reason I feel this way is because the dream is such a big defining thing that happens to the main 12 characters, it seems odd too miss it out, when it is an important part of their character development throughout the play.

I think in order for future rehearsals to improve we need to be much more focused as a cast. It was much more productive when people came to rehearse their scenes having already learnt their lines. This allowed people to start speaking into the other person and passing energy between the characters onstage as opposed to just blocking it through with scripts.

This play is highly political and requires us to know a lot about middle eastern conflicts, and the issues in Iran. It also emphasis's the significance of America's involvement in the middle east and its influence on UK politics. In order for our audience to be able to understand this, we need to as well. To do this we need to research every issue that comes up from within our characters scenes. This way when we are speaking about them we can see what we say. When speaking about Iran and this world off stage, we need to be able to see it clearly in our minds, then the audience will also be able to. In terms of my character I need to develop an understanding of the christian faith, and unstable mothers. I also need to research what prison I would be likely to be sent to and what sentence I would be given.

Development of the character

As a part of my acting technique I began by making this table which highlights when my character has said something about herself or her situation or when another character has. I have then gone on to put the page reference down and whether or not it was a fact or an opinion.

My character is high class, and high status. However, her status is through her husband and not from herself. She has a set of traditional American 'home values'. Her time appears to be taken up by looking after her daughter and with moderate charitable work. We find this out from Sarah and her daughter on page 69. As the character developed we begin to see how unhinged she is within her mental state. Which leads her to commit and evil crime. It is seemingly more shocking for a woman to commit a crime like this than a man, it is even more heart wrenching when the crime is against a woman's own child. However, statistically speaking it is far more common than we think. Out of the 49 women on death row, 11 of them have killed children. A psychologist who studies women who kill children said 'We should detach from the idea of universal motherhood as natural and see it as a social response'. 

This quote feels relevant to my character as I feel she would have been brought up traditionally, with a housewife mother, and was brought up to do the same. However, she clearly wasn't meant for it. Although she is a seemingly capable mother she is in fact unable to cope with her own mental state and adapt to the differing opinions and values of her daughter.

The information I can find from my character from the script tells me about the conflicted and eventually tragic relationship I have with my daughter. It is important me and the actor playing my daughter develop this relationship to be truthful. We need to make sure our decisions we make with the scene come from listening and responding to one another. This way our scenes won't be boring and set in stone but they should be different each time.

I think my character would dress extremely conservatively. I see her wearing a pearl necklace and lots of high neck pastel cardigans and clothing. We were told we might have to costume ourselves in order to save money for a dynamic set. I have been looking for images online of what my character could look like.

This is a character from the show desperate housewives which resembles some of my character in the sense she holds extreme traditional home values. However, she is slightly unhinged and the relationship with her children is constantly strained and challenged. Also watching her speak has been helping me to develop my american accent. I think the way she dresses suits my character.




The film 'Carrie' which is a remake of a 1976 film, is soon to be released. The film shows a damaged daughter and a psychotically religious mother. I think it will help me to watch this film, to demonstrate an extreme mother daughter relationship. This may be able to feed in to the decisions made in rehearsals by my character and the character of my daughter.

My actors method

When reading my characters role in the play I saw it wasn't one of the bigger roles in terms of lines but it had more character development then other characters. My character in my view has turned psychotic  through her belief in Christianity. She creates one of the more dramatic strands of the story, by killing her daughter, violently. I feel inspired to develop this character as it is so different from myself. I want to research faith and what it gives people and what makes some people so obsessed with it. The only thing I can compare what she does to her daughter to is 'honour killings' which are known to happen sometimes within the Muslim faith when daughters disobey their faith. As a part of my process I intend to research this ritual and how parents can push themselves to that point.

As a part of technical development of my character I need to be able to do an american accent. This is with the two other cast members who play the part of my daughter and husband. I think the three of us need to make decisions about what particular accent we are going to learn and spending time working on it. I have friends from California who I can use as a source to practice lines. Making sure we work on our articulation and try our best to master it.

I tend to research the playwright of whatever production I am doing. This is so I can understand what inspired them to write the play and what message they are trying to get across. Going on from this to research the world of the play, so you can give a context to everything you and other characters are saying.

Trying to understand the objectives of this particular will be difficult. It is a role which travels to a dark place which I will have to get close to. This will require me to stretch my comfort zone. However, the content and subject matter she deals with is extremely disturbing so I will need to make myself emotionally available in rehearsals and commit fully but also make sure I can separate myself from it outside of rehearsals as to not damage my own peace of mind.

What is it going to take for us to be a good ensemble and create a successful production?

In order to create good ensemble work we are going to need to listen to each other's bodies, what are our physical and emotional limits are and making sure everybody feels safe. We need to develop a sense of trust between our cast. We need to have the ability to know what our comfort zone is but be able to expand it and push it as far as we can both physically and emotionally.

From the read through today, I could already tell who was thinking about what they were reading and who was just saying words from a page. It is really important as actors in this production and in any other that we listen to what our scene partner is saying and how they are saying. What offers are they giving us? A lot of scenes involving my character Sarah and her daughter are requiring me to react of what the daughter is saying. This is something I need to use in rehearsals and make sure I try react of what the other actor is doing and saying and make sure I don't get stuck in a habit of saying a line the same way each time.

To ensure we have productive rehearsals we need to have respect for our director and other cast members. This means being in on time and ready to work and not missing loads of rehearsals. If we all develop a sense of shared responsibility for the outcome of the production we will be more likely to do these things. In order to be ready to work we need to be able to leave the outside world at door and whatever people may have going on and make themselves emotionally available to work. This means engaging with your breath and opening your chest up. It is about making sure your body is ready for work, which requires you to fully stretch out before rehearsals.

When we begin to develop our characters it is important to have confidence in the choices we make but be open to constructive criticism from our cast or director, and be open to changing your ideas. I also think it's important to think carefully about how you critique the performance of others. Staying respectful and honest at the same time is often difficult but it is so important to do in order for everyone to feel safe and supported throughout the rehearsal process and performance.

Initial response to 13 by Mike Bartlett

After the first reading of the play with  the cast, I felt like it was extremely intelligently written. The play discusses subject matter which many members of the public and i'm sure members of our cast, may not fully understand. For example the middle east conflict, in particular Iran. This will be a challenge for all of us to research and try and understand. Its challenging because we are so far removed from Iran as a place but also from the Governments involvement within it and throughout the middle east. Personally, although I listen to the news and try to have a wider understanding of the world around me, i am still frequently challenged by the complexity of the issues involving our overseas conflicts. Another challenge behind this is finding reliable information. So many sources from the media are biased and not to be trusted. This means we must be careful when conducting research on the issue that facts are verified and that we can identify opinion from the facts.

I think the play also showed well rounded opinions and characters that you see surrounding the turmoil of war. We see inside the government, the radical 'do gooder' who wants a change but doesn't quite know how to achieve it, and the every day people who get affected by the issues. One of the most interesting moments of the play for me was the ending monologue from the perspective of the soldier. It allowed us to see into the reality of the war, where the fighting happens, as opposed to our often distant 'out of sight, out of mind' viewpoint we can often get in Britain because all our wars and combat currently are fought overseas. 

The play has left a lot open for both the director and the actors to interpret. There is space for ensemble work, and physical theatre but also for moments of silence. The set is also open, apart form the script states it must be performed with a circle. Before the read through today we talked through initial ideas behind the set, with our set designer for the production in the room. Here are some scribbles of possible stage ideas: