Evaluation of our Duet

I was generally pleased with Ember and I' s performance, although it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. We had rehearsed really hard, and I feel like it could have gone better.

I was immersed into it from the start, and put my full effort and energy into it, and I was pleased with how the bits I contributed went. I felt disappointed with people laughing, during Embers 'gun section' when he was rolling on the floor, as I was sat with my back to him, writing a letter. It was frustrating because it wasn't taken seriously, for whatever reason, but I did feel like towards the end it improved, and was very emotional. During the section where 'Damien Rice, Delicate' played, I found myself getting very emotional, and thinking about all the research we'd done, and how a wife would feel if her husband was at war, and not knowing where he was or what he was doing, and the fear and anxiety she must have felt. I found myself imagining this, and how I would have felt, and how difficult it must have been.

One part of the piece I was particularly nervous about was when I was standing on a chair, and had to jump into Embers arm, and we did a lift, and I was thoroughly pleased with how that went, because there's always the fear of falling, and the piece losing the seriousness it deserves.

Overall I was happy with the performance, and the effort and hard work we had put into it, and the rehearsal process, but in the future I think I'd do a solo, because then I'd only have to rely on myself, and I feel like I should have had the confidence and belief in myself to be able to do that.

Songs included in the Duet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVM-tFAdADg

Above is the link to one of the songs playing at the beginning of our duet, it's by John McCormack, and it's called 'It's a long way to Tipperary'. This is perhaps one of the most famous World War 1 songs, and easily recognisable, even in modern day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6RnirpFaZk

This is another song we found called 'Oh it's a lovely war' by Courtland and Jeffries. This is also another very cheery happy song, and we plan to have this playing whilst I fix Embers suit, and make him look presentable as he is about to sign up for war, and at the time it was something that was very exciting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnL3NfhOsBM

This is a modern song, called 'Delicate' by Damien Rice, one of my all time favourite songs. It's a very beautiful song, and we plan to have this playing when we're back to back of one another, as I am writing him a letter, and doing mundane every day activities at home, for example, sewing or making dinner, and he is in the trenches, smoking, or playing cards with his friends.

Ideas for our duet!

Ember and I looked at lots of different poems, pictures and books to inspire us for our duet.

We decided we wanted to start our duet, with us eating dinner and having a 'normal' evening at home, to represent what life was like before Ember, (my husband) left for war.

We looked at lots of poems, including one of my favourites, Wilfred Owens 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' which is beautifully written, but ends with the lines 'Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori' which is Latin for 'It is sweet and right to die for your country'.
I love this poem, because it depicts the harrowing events and the harsh reality of how ugly and wrong war is, yet it ironically ends with the Latin, and leaves you thinking about how bitter that seems. It seems like the message in the poem is saying, although people lose limbs, children lose fathers, mothers lose sons, wives lose husbands, people are killed, it's fine because it's the noble, and right thing to do. I'm a pacifist, and I personally hate any form of violence, and don't think it has ever solved anything, and don't think it ever will, so I like the irony and bitterness in this poem.

We also read lots of love letters between wives and husbands during the War, which proved very interesting. This helped stimulate us and our ideas for our duet. We researched how long the letters would take to reach one another, and how a lot of the letters were 'censored' by officials, because the soldiers were writing what the war was truly like, and a lot of the propaganda back home was suggesting that war wouldn't be bad, not at all like the harsh reality of it. Letters were rifled through, and scanned for any obscenities, and most letters were censored.

Paper Exercise

We did an exercise where we had to get in to partners, and label ourselves A & B.
Tim put on some atmospheric music and we began.

In class, we spoke about how every individual leads their body in their own way and this will come from a different part of their body. For example, some people walk with their heads leading, and slightly forward, some people with their hips etc.
In physical theatre this can be even more important to look at, as things are enhanced to make everything more physical and less naturalistic. In partners A and B one partners would manipulate the others movement through a simple touch. Such as partner A taking the role of the leader and pushing gently B's left shoulder, this would create a fluid movement from partner B, allowing the push to move them into a different position without stopping. 

We then developed this exercise with the assistant of an object - paper. While all partner A's explored the space, partner B's would remain around the edge watching. B's were then given paper, which we were to tear up and place on certain parts of our partners, who were still walking around. We wanted the paper to balance, so I could bend a piece of paper without folding it and place in between my partners thumb and index finger, this should stay there without them adjusting.

 

I found that when I was walking around the middle, I had to fight against stopping at adjusting myself to assist them. For example, if my partner placed the paper in between my hand, my natural instinct was to grip hold of the paper but we had to let it naturally balance and not be focusing on the paper. We were told we had to almost be totally unaware of the paper, and our partner.  As partner B it was a good way to look at people's body language and their natural movement. You have to really assess how they move and what parts remain still enough for paper to balance. 

Exercises in the space

Another exercise we had to do involved being put in pairs, and we were told not to break eye contact as we walked towards each other in the space.

I was with Jonah and we begun by just walking around the room, which was very difficult, as you must trust your partner to not lead you into an obstacle around you. Also, it was difficult because with everyone unfocused at the beginning it was difficult to concentrate. Tim put on some music, which set the atmosphere and energy within the space, which kept everyone more engaged and focused on the exercise.

Within our partners we had to explore the entire space and our relationship with each other. This meant experimenting with levels and spacial awareness. Someone was always leading the other and sometimes we could be in physical contact, keeping our eye contact. It taught me how important your connection is with whoever you are performing with, whether that be another individual, several or even an object. It's important to know where they are in relation to you and how what they're doing affects you and visa versa. 
 

Leaders exercise

One of our first lessons was led by Sarah Niven and we were working around one specific exercise which entailed following a leader within the space. It starts with everyone around the edge of the room and one person walks into the space in any given direction with one movement, which could be clapping etc. Then another person would jump beside/behind the joining in with the movement until they reach an edge of the room. Then the other person would walk fluidly in another direction with another movement. More people would join in to create a clump and keep this going, ideally getting to a stage where the leader was unidentifiable.
 At first it felt too organised and the leader stood too far from the group; sometimes the leader would struggle to think of a movement and other times the group would stop at the edge of the room with everyone hesitating to become that leader.
 It ended up to be a really beneficial exercise and we all had to learn something as we went along. It taught us to be more disciplined because at first everyone was talking and we quickly established how hard and unfocused the exercise would be if this continued. It also opened a small window for us to begin devising, we were allowed to create movements which were performed in unison as a group, which could be incorporated into the final performance. We also began to experiment with how the exercise could in fact be in the final performance. So the movements began to be performed with military precision and went from child play into marching, then movements which reflected soldiers. It was really interesting to do this with spontaneity and see how people reacted to the stimulus. 

Initial Exercises/Lessons

After finding our more about what we would be doing for our Physical Theatre project, we had a few lectures on the First World War, led by Jack, Tim, and Simon. We were asked to make notes; it is vital to do research when it comes to a production or project like this, as they were real events, and have to be treated with utmost care and sensitivity.

 

Here are some key facts I learned, and researched further into:

• World War 1 began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918.
•  Differences in foreign policies were to blame, although the immediate cause was the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand.
• The two main sides were the Allies, which included France, Great Britain and Russia; and Germany and Austria-Hungary. In total, 30 countries were involved in the conflict. Italy, once part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, fought on the side of the Allies.
• Soldiers fought largely in trenches during the war, and thousands suffered from stress, known as shell-shock.  The British and French trenches were often squalid, whereas the German trenches were almost luxurious in comparison, with bunks and decent cooking facilities.
• By the end of WW1, over 9 million soldiers had been killed, and another 21 million wounded. Over a million soldiers were killed in the infamous Battle of the Somme alone, including about 30,000 in just one day.
• Around 11% of the population of France was killed or wounded during the war.
• About 116,000 Americans were killed, even though the US was only in the war for about 7 months.
• During World War 1, dogs were used to carry messages in capsules attached to their body.
• Dogs also carried and placed telegraph wires in important areas.
• Pigeons were also used during the war. About 500,000 pigeons were regularly dropped into enemy lines by parachute, and then sent back with messages.
• On Christmas Eve, 1914, both sides declared an unofficial truce and sung Christmas carols to each other. A football match was played in no-man’s land (the area between the German and British) trenches, and German and British soldiers exchanged food and souvenirs. The following Christmas, sentries on both sides had orders to shoot any soldier who did this.
• Cannons and artillery were often extremely loud. In 1917, the explosives used to destroy a bridge in France could be heard over 130 miles away in London.
• Many new weapons were invented or first used during World War 1. Big Bertha was one of the most famous; it was a 48 ton gun capable of firing a shell over 9 miles. It took 200 men several hours to assemble the gun.
• Tanks were so called because of early attempts to disguise them as water tanks. They were also known as male and female tanks; male tanks had cannons and female tanks had machine guns.
• More than 65 million men from 30 countries fought in WWI.
• During WW1, Spanish Flu caused 1/3 of solider military deaths.

 I found some of these facts incredibly interesting, and some stuck in my head for days. I thought it was particularly interesting how, the first Christmas of World War 1, (Christmas of 1914) all the soldiers made an unofficial truce and sung Christmas carols, and sent souvenirs and exchanged food, yet the following Christmas,  sentries on both sides told the soldiers they'd shoot anyone who did that again. It made me think about what had changed in that year, and how much more serious and hateful the war had grown.

Also, when one thinks about people in the war dying, we think about the soldiers being killed through weapons, yet it's interesting to know that 1/3 of military deaths were due to disease, especially the Spanish flu. This shows the conditions they were living in, and how ill they got due to lack of food, and the weather and living situation.

 

Initial inspiration/Thoughts

These are some of the pictures that my partner and I, Ember are looking at to gain some perspective and inspiration for our physical theatre piece. We're going to do a piece on how couples copes in the first world war, apart. We feel like this is a very difficult job, and has to be handled with utmost maturity and sensitivity and we have to research into what the women did while their husbands were at war, and Ember has to research more about the solider side of life, and life in the trenches, and the excitement, and fear of what a soldier was part of.

We are doing this piece, for the centenary of the First World War, and all of our individual solos and duets will eventually become part of a whole strand piece that will be performed in the new theatre for the public to come and watch.