29.4. Prologue & Scene 1

   Yesterday I was at an audition and in the meanwhile the rest of the class worked on scene 1 and we continued to work on it today. But first we went trough the prologue to show Siou what we got so far. The biggest note we got from her was to work on our rhythm during the prologue and so we did a couple of exercises to find a common beat. Even though we had divided the poem into sections, we decided it would be good to do it all together first, to get the rhythm right. I also swapped my first line with Harry, since before he was starting the rhythmic part, but Siou felt someone else should do it. Luckily it is only a couple of lines more for me to learn, so I should be memorized in no time. 

   The problem with us not rhyming was because the prologue is written in poem form, and even tho it doesn't need to be  read like a traditional poem, we still need to show the style Brecht was aiming for and draw the audiences attention while still being clear about our message. Before, we weren't working together to create the same rhythm, but rather each followed our own rhythms, which made the start look a bit sloppy, even though we want it to be sharp. We also tried clicking to make it easier, which helped a little. We had tried clicking our fingers before, but then people got too confused about the rhythm, so this time we made the beat a bit slower and easier to follow. We also added a little choreography to the part were we are all in a clump by having people popping up their heads when they are saying their lines.

   For scene one we started of by just going through it so that we could all see where we are at. After seeing it I felt like the idea with the boxes was good, but needed a bit more order to make sure that the people who are talking won't be blocked by the other people and that the stage stays in balance. Balancing the stage was something we really wanted to work on the B part of this scene as well. We have Jade and Sophia clocking each other from either side of the blocks, keeping a distance from each other, but also balancing the stage. This kind of reminds me of cowboys ready to draw their guns out, which is kind of the intensity we want to create.

   We also looked a little into the entrance of Ui and his henchmen on the background, Thinking that they could simply walk upstage, clock the two vegetable dealers for a little and then walk off. It would give the idea of how Ui and his men are watching and pressuring the vegetable dealers to take their deal. It could also work if we would use shadows to just show the silhouettes of these men, giving a more mysterious feeling to the scene. 

 

• Did I achieve my last goal? What could I improve on?
• I did learn my previous lines, but since some of the lines were switched around, I need to re-learn them. Still, this shouldn't take too long since I already have a good grasp on how the prologue goes. I can improve on my Gest more. I tried it out a couple of times, but it seemed that all of us Ui's had a different idea, how to portray him. 
• What did I learn during this lesson? How can I use it?
• Developing scenes is an on going process. At the moment the schedule we have written up basically has one or two lessons for each scene, but in reality we need to take in consideration that views might change or scenes simply need improving on as we notice more thing to polish and work on. We should have lessons every now and then where we look back on the scenes we have already created, to see if something needs to be changed. 
• What is my goal for the next lesson? What do I need to do to achieve this? What information do I need?
• I still need to discuss the Gest with the other Ui's, to decide how we want to portray him in the beginning, middle and end of the play, but especially in the beginning so that we can finish working on the Prologue bit where Ui is introduced. I also want to learn my new lines so that next time we run the prologue I will be off-book. 

27.4. ACTING FOR CAMERA

   We filmed Sophie's and Greta's scene today.  I wasn't actually there for most of the lesson, since I was first rehearsing with Jenny on our scene and then I was needed by Ashlie to show a scene from Loukussa, our Fringe show to the Level 2's. But the little time I did spend watching the process of filming, I took some pictures.
   We were working in the old spaces of interior decor, full of small rooms. This meant there wasn't a lot of room to film or the equipment, and so Harry for example had to reach the mic from another room. We also had Chloe filming from the door for a good shot to create some more space for the girls to act and move. We didn't need extra lights, since the rooms had large windows. The only bit where we needed a bit more help was when we were filming Greta's closeups, Andy took a big piece of white cardboard material and put it below Greta to reflect some more light to her face.
 

24.4. Prologue & Gest

   In RRAU, and many other Brecht plays, Prologue is the part of the play that tells the audience what is going to happen and introduce the characters. It is also the opening of the show and sets the style for the rest of the performance. These were all things we had to take in consideration when starting to create the prologue for our play. We started off by dividing into two groups to discuss different ideas for the scene. A lot of had the idea about boxing rings and the prologue having that kind of mood. It was also suggested that people could go into the audience to do parts of the prologue, or start from sitting in with the audience and then stand up to say their parts. For now, these were hard ideas to agree on, since we weren't sure how the staging was going to be or whether we would have tables for the audience, in cabaret style, or just just chairs as there are usually. Sophie had suggested everyone coming in in a V formation, like a flock of birds. From that the rest of prologue just kind of created itself.

     Here is a video of the start of the prologue. We decided on a cabaret/showgirl beginning, since that was something Brecht enjoyed and wanted theatre to be more like.It doesn't fool the audience into an illusion of reality, but still keeps it entertaining. This also created an exiting and upbeat start for the show. The dance came actually from our morning warm up, Siou lead us a short afro-jazz inspired warm up and the steps really inspired us all to use some dance in the prologue. We were planning to use 1930's dance in the show anyways, so why not start with it? You can's see in the video that we actually come in to the arrow formation in the same jumpy showgirl-manner as we do when we turn around or go into the flock near the end of the video. The song we use for this dance bit is by Louis Armstrong and his hot five 'Fireworks(1928)'. After we get into the flock, the announcers lines were split between everyone and we do some flocking. and then move on to two lines each side of the stage to introduce the individual characters. Then we skip back to the flock to reveal the four Arturo Ui's who are in a row behind the flock. The prologue will end with everyone one by one turning towards the audience with their arm straight, like the Natzi Hail. Fade into black out and hearing gunshots with Gershwin rhapsody in blue(1927) playing in the background. This will add to the gangster effect, showing that this showgirl opening won't last for long, and that there is a darker side to this all. 
   We showed this to Siou and got some notes to work on. We should have the first songs beginning be on a loop when we come on, something that we were planning to do anyways. During Standing in two lines on the sides we should be doing a slow click. We had tried it, but changed it simply because people couldn't keep up with the rhythm, but if we do it slowly and add swaying to it it should work after some practice. For the characters, everyone should have their Gest when their character is introduced, as well as communicate with audience, almost cartoon like and very stylized to give them a clear image of the character and what we think of them. Ui's actions also need to be more clear, but she liked the fact that we were all pretty awkward with our gesture, showing who Arturo Ui is in the beginning. 
   To make this scene even better, we really need to just keep running it and we did discuss doing the prologue as a warm up beginning of most lessons. This way we can get the dance moves sharp and work in unison to look even more like showgirls in a professional cabaret or burlesque. I think this will also keep our energies up and get us exited at the start of each lesson, since everyone seemed to really enjoy it! We also set a goal that on Tuesday everyone would me memorized for this scene and those whose characters are introduced, would have their gest, or at least the beginnings of it. We also need to figure out some hand movements and gestures for the flocking part, to make it a bit more showy.

   For the next lesson, I really want to have my Gest(or Gests) figured out. I have been wathcing some videos of Hitlers speeches to give me inspiration, but also to study the way he holds himself. During his speeches he uses his hands a lot to express and empower what he is saying. Some gestures I picked up on especially were:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

   I like the first picture, because this gesture can be interpreted and used in different ways. It was look very passionate and as if he is holding something very close to his, showing compassion, but it could also be done in a way that seems defensive and frightened. Since I am playing Arturo Ui before and after his transformation after being trained by the actor, I need to find different Gests for each parts, but this I could use in both, just use it different ways. 2 is very defensive as well, something I can use in scene six, or just in general to show he is hiding something. In the picture, he is crossing his arms, but not in the traditional way, but rather looking like he is holding himself. Again, it looks like he is protecting himself from something, which is the case before scene seven; he is still trying to get his reputation back and feels like a failure because he hasn't been able to keep his status high. 

   I would like to use 3 and 4 together. 3rd picture has Hitler holding his hands open, showing openness and so winning peoples trust, but 4th  picture shows greed and obsessiveness, to me at least, revealing his true nature. These would fit scene thirteen perfectly, since he is trying to get Mrs. Dullfeet on his side, but she can see past his act. These gestures also show power, which in this point Arturo Ui is rapidly gaining. 

   The last picture and gesture could be used as a way to show Ui's manipulative character and power. He wants to control people and this gesture is often connected with parents telling their children theiy have done something wrong, lecturing them. In the play, even though he is sometimes manipulated by his henchmen, Arturo Ui thinks he is smarter than others and on top of them. This could be done in different ways as well, at first timidly and as if he is afraid to correct people, but then as Ui gains confidence he isn't afraid to show people he is right. 

   At the moment I feel all of these are quite good gests, but I still want to show them to some people and discuss with them, how they see the these gestures representing the character, since the idea is to convey my and our idea to the audience. The final decision is mine, but I feel a second opinion is important. For scene six, I want to show how Ui can transform from an timid and low-self-esteemed man into the start of the frightening man he will become. In scene thirteen, I really want people to see how he has become even cocky with his success, radiating confidence. But just like Adolf Hitler once he got too much power, Arturo Ui becomes more and more close to losing his mind and I want that to be conveyed in scene thirteen. He is not absolutely crazy, yet, but the power is getting in to his head.

   I have also finally come up with some self-reflective questions I can ask myself when writing each blog. I will talk about them in detail in the post, but also give short summary at the end of each blog, just remind myself and identify what I need to do to better myself. 

• Did I achieve my last goal? What could I improve on?
• My last goal was to find out about 1930's music and dance. I did look up some songs and get a general image of what the music was like. I still need to look into it more and study it further, perhaps making a blog post about ideas they give for different scenes.
• What did I learn during this lesson? How can I use it?
• We all set the style for the play, which will help me and all of us really when thinking about the rest of our scenes and planning them.
• What is my goal for the next lesson? What do I need to do to achieve this? What information do I need?
• My goal is to learn my lines for prologue and practice the physicality of Arturo Ui with the Gests I have talked about in this post. I should also ask someone to film them for me. Analyzing Arturo Ui's  objectives during the scenes will also help to determine which Gest fits best. 

HISTORY

I really wanted to have a post including all the research I have done so far on the scene's and the different characters and how they connect to history, so that in the future it will be easier for me to refer to this post when we are devising scenes and need context. For some characters(for example Hitler and his Three Angels), I have done more detailed posts, so I won't be talking about them in this blog post.

• Arturo Ui → Adolf Hitler
• Giri → Hermann Göring
• Roma → Ernst Röhm
• Givola → Joseph Goebbels
• Dogsborough → Paul von Hindenburg
• Hindenburg served as the second president of Germany(1925-34), but before that he was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman and a politician. He became known during WW1 with the victory of the battle of Tannenberg, which boosted Germany's confidence. He was a huge advocate for ethnic cleansing to Germanize the Russian, Polish and Ukrainian territories. He retired in 1919 only to come back in 1925 to be elected as President. As president he appointed the Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. He personally didn't like Hitler, but Hitler had repeatedly and forcefully pressured Hindenburg to appoint him as chancellor. But, due to the continually weakening and politically unstable Weimar Republic, he appointed Hitler chancellor in January 1933, after breaking up the parliament twice. After the Reichstag Fire he issued the Reichstag fire decree that took away a lot of the civil liberties of German people(including the freedom from torture) and soon signed the Enabling act that gave Hitler legislative powers. The following year Hinderburg died and Hitler appointed himself the head of state.
• Dullfeet → Engelbert Dollfuß 
• Dollfuss was the Chancellor and later the dictator of Austria, before being assassinated in a failed coup done by the Nazi agents in 1934. When Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, Dollfuss became alarmingly worried about the rise of Nazi party in Austria and because of the rising influence of Soviet Union in Europe, Dollfuss banned communism in May 1933 and then the Austrian Nazi party. Under the banner of Christian Social party he then declared to be the dictator of Austria, largely modeled after fascism in Italy.  
• Caulifower Trust → Prussian Junkers
• Landed nobility in Prussia who supported many German landowners. Their great estates were often maintained by peasant, who only had few right, which made them cheap. They made an important impact on the German military, political and diplomatic leadership by extending their political influence trough the Weimar Republic. Hindenburg was often connected with the Junkers who were urging him to appoint Hitler as German chancellor.
• Clark → Franz von Papen
• A German nobleman, General staff officer and politician. Served as the chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as a vice-chancellor under Hitler in 1933-34. Before Hindenburg's death, Franz von Papen worked as one of Hindenburg's closest advisers. He deeply believed that Hitler could be easily controlled once he was in the government and so was the one to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. Papen and his allies were however soon segregated by Hitler and he left the government after the Night of the Long Knives. 
• Vegetable dealers → Petty bourgeoisie
•  Bourgeoisie is a French term that originally meant "those who live in the borough" a.k.a. people who lived in the city, usually including merchants and craftsmen. Karl Marx used this term to define the stage of the bourgeoisie that was made out of small-scale capitalists such as shopkeepers and workers who manage the production, distribution and exchange of commodities owned by their employers. This is probably what Brecht was also going for with the vegetable dealers in RRAU, since he was an extreme Marxist. 
• Gangsters → Fascists
• Ideology originated from Italy, fascism was an opposition to liberalism, Marxism and traditional conservatism. They didn't see violence as something that is automatically negative, but a means of national rebirth by political violence, war, and imperialism. Their goal was a government ruler by a dictator and one single party with a martial government, since this would have been the only way the nation to be prepared for armed conflict. 
• Fish → Marinus van der Lubbe 
• the Danish Communist convicted of burning down the Reichstag. He claimed to have set the Reichtag on fire to rally the German workers to fight against the fascist rule, he had fled to Germany in 1933 to take part in the local communist underground. He had a previous criminal record for arson, but also had been part of leading strikes , whilst still living in Leiden where he learned some German. 
• In the play, Brech has made Fish to look like completely innocent man, but the research I have done has indicated that he might have had a part in the fire. It is arguable, since in 2007, after multiple re openings of the case, the sentence was nullified. The case of the Reichstag fire still remains a topic of discussion, whether it was as van der Lubbe testified or simply ordered by the Nazis. 

• Chicago → Germany
• Cicero → Austria
• Dock Aid scandal → Eastern Aid scandal
•  In the 1930's, after WW1, many countries in Europe were in deep depression. Many of the Prussian estates were going bankrupt. The Eastern Aid, also known as the Osthilfe was Germany giving a part of the Government funds to the bankrupt estates in Prussia. They did this to maintain the support of the Prussian Junkers. But it became a scandal since many of the Junkers had wasted the money on luxury items, such as cars and vacations, rather than maintain the estates functional. As they looked into the scandal more, it was reviled that the President of the Republic, Hindenburg had a connection to the scandal having estates to himself that were in deep debt. This weakened Hindenburg's position and then appointed Hitler as chancellor under the pressure of the industrialist.
• the Warehouse → the Reichstag
• Building that housed the parliament of Germany until 1918. The building was burned down in Fenbruary of 1933. Marius van der Lubbe was arrested and sentenced for the crime after being caught at the scene of the crime. The Nazis used this as evidence that the communists were planning against the German government and this has been seen as a important point in establishing the Nazi Germany. Hitler had been appointed Chancellor just four weeks before, rushed to have Hindenburg to pass an emergency degree to suspend civil liberties to fight against the communist attacks. After the degree was passed, the government ordered a mass arrest of communists, including all of the Communist parliamentary advocates. 

22.4.

- rest of the discussion about the play + schedul + ideas for prologue

   Today we finished talking about what happens in the play and in the scenes specifically. I think the main thing I have and some of the others have gained from this is clarification what is going on with the vegetable dealers loan and Dogsboroughs relation ship with that. We discussed this last time as well, but now as we go trough the play more in detail, we have really got how Dogsborough has actually fooled the dealers by giving a loan to a business he already owned. Here are some ideas we came up or the scenes:

• We talked about scene 5 and how to create a city hall mood for the scene. We talked a little how being organized, separating reporters with the speech men or example putting Dogsborough and others higher on the stage, perhaps in an organized lines, and let the reporters be a little more frantic lower. 
• Scene six is set in a hotel room. We could show this with either change o sets, Max suggested making furniture out of cardboard. Another way would be receiving room service to the room, for example. 
• To make scene seven look like an office, we thought we could use filing cabinets and perhaps a door with a glass window saying 'office' on it. The audience could also be a part of the crown in a way, having actors be in the audience or in front of it. There is also a part that has a bodyguard singing a song, not specified, but something about home and homeland. Siou used "Tomorrow belongs to me" from Sound of Music as an example. I thought o the song "This is my song", which is the English version of the song Finlandia.  I have sung this before for choir and as a solo and I found two versions of this song that I have put videos of here. The song was originally written in Finnish by Jean Sibelius in 1899. The version by Lloyd Stone was written in the preriod between WW1 and WW2, which would perfectly fit with our plays time period(if we decide to set it in the 1930's). I sung the song originally in Finnish ans the 'We would be one', but this version of Stone's its better with the scene and what the play is about. The song mentions home and ''my country", talking about how wonderful our nation is. This is the kind of song that the Natzis could have used to get people on their side, by telling how they are nationalistic and protecting their beautiful culture from 'the evil' aka Jewish people. 
• Scene eight is the warehouse fire trial, and since it has multiple sections, it should be very ast paced and even choreographed, like dance. This would bring a stylistic feature to the scene, making it more fun to watch and flow better
• Scene nine is mixed in two parts, a having a blood splattered woman lame Ui or shooting her and her husband, who is still in the burning car and asking or help. Part b is Dogsborough writing his last confession in a letter. I thought it could be clever and look good to have these two scenes intertwined, both happening at the same time, but in separate locations. 

I kind of missed out on the discussion o the other scenes, since I started to work on the detailed rehearsal schedule with Sophie. We got both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons as extra for us, which will be helpful, and so we took them into consideration as well. Here are pictures of the schedule.

I've finally looked into some 1930's music we could possibly use in our show, as an inspiration or actually in the show. I have noticed that a lot o the music was fast paced, energetic and happy. I have in the past looked into 1930's movies, and how the movie industry blew up during that time, probably because off the depression. People were unhappy and needed an escape from their real lives, so they went to watch movies or listen to music, so they were made happy to keep the people happy as well. This is why jazz, especially swing jazz became extremely popular. 

I also found this simple but fun song by Parov Stelar , who remixed old songs. This could a twist to the play, giving it a modern touch with the music. 

Next class, on Friday, we will start working on the Prologue, and I want to brainstorm some ideas here before the class. I will aim to do this before every rehearsal, to aid me with self reflective writing, this way I can view my ideas and after each lesson and talk about which ones worked and which ones didn't, and why. 

Ideas for Prologue

• Everyone works as the Announcer together. As an organized crowd everyone could either say the announcement in unison or separately.
• We could include some dance or movement into, it could be interesting to have each off the characters to stand out from the crowd in neutral by starting to dance or move in the way the character would, showing their gets for example. 
• The whole prologue is like a song, people in organized lines each come forward to sing the announcing song, when introducing characters they would do their gest.
• The announcers would be cabaret girls, fancy clothes and dancing, having the opening monologue as a performance.

Adolf Hitler + Characterization of Arturo Ui

"In Germany, the person in power at this time was Adolf Hitler. He was born in 1889 on the Austria-German border. He has been described to have been a hard working and popular student, until secondary school, where he lost his willingness to work and affection of other students. But he became very loyal to Germany from early on, as did many Austrian Germans, since they were taught extreme nationalism at school. At fifteen Hitler failed his exams, but rather than repeating the year he decided to drop out to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. This was also motivated by his fathers death, which gave him the freedom and money to live a bohemian life. At 18 he tried multiple times to get into an art school in Vienna, but was declined the place every time. At the outbreak of WWI, Adolf Hitler enlisted to the German army, but was wounded soon. After this he joined the German Workers' Party(DAP), where he proposed many extreme ideas to Germany's post-war problem, often blaming them on Jews and Bolsheviks. By 1921 he was the leader of National Socialist German Workers' Party or the Nazi party. After imprisonment, because of an unsuccessful armed uprising in Munich, Hitler used new techniques of mass communication and violence to grow the Nazi party bigger, and in the 1932 elections became the biggest party in the German parliament. Following being selected as the chancellor, Hitler soon declared dictatorship over German and started to reinforce anti-Jew laws, German militarization and plan for territorial expansion. "

   This is some the research I have done on Adolf Hitler so far. I have read about his life and how he rose to power in the Nazi party and in Germany, but in this post I wan't to analyze him as a person more and how I can use this all in my adaptation of Arturo Ui. 

As Hitler had dropped out of school, and didn't have any formal qualifications, Hitler didn't actually first accept a leadership place in the NSDAP, because lack of confidence. Even though he did have good demagogic skills, meaning that he was able to appeal to large audiences by "appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than using rational arguments", Hitler felt that his uneducated past and lack of social status made him hesitant to accept a leadership role. Part of the reason why he became so popular with the crowd were his speeches blaming the communists, Jews, capitalists and social democrats for the outcome and following depression of WWI. Even though obviously some of these were inspired by his political party and people like Goebbels who encouraged his rage about these groups of people, I feel that some of the hatred might have come from Hitlers failed career as an artist. Austria was a very multicultural country at the time, very much having Jews be the upper-middle class, something that many wanted to achieve. Failure in this country might have lit a fire of grudge in Hitler towards the ethnic group and fuel his future actions. 
   What perhaps made Hitler such a good speaker, was that deep down he was very charming man and was often described as extremely kind man by maids that worked for him before and during WWII. I am very interested about this juxtaposition in his persona and I want to include it in my characterization with Arturo Ui. On the other hand, Hitler is known because of being the main person creating Holocaust and making the decision to murder millions of innocent people, but he was also loved by many and seen as a kind man from people who have had first hand experience with him. He was even named the person of the year by the TIME magazine! There are some sources that talk about Hitler having uncontrollable fits of rage when things do not go his way, having him hit things and even chew on carpet. This wasn't only with major issues, but also the smallest details not going as he had visioned them, such as having his tea in the wrong cup, would trigger this extreme response. Yet, many of his close associates decline these rumors. 
   There is also a stark contrast with Hitler's military career and his background as an bohemian artist. He did originally try to get into art school and lived this life of a struggling artist for a few years, before joining the army and becoming a political figure. What drove him to this was probably the constant rejection, but also his unwillingness to serve the Austrian army, as he was grown to believe in German nationalism. He didn't completely abandon his artist soul when entering the military life, or even when he became the Führer, but often during his late night he would be watching movies, listening to music or reading. He also had a fascination with film stars and would often have them as guests and stay up conversing with them. Hitler's artist soul was also shown in his procrastination and unwillingness to stay in long meetings, but rather have personal conversations and then report back to the group about his decision. 
   

I also found something about Hitler's sleeping habits. He was a known insomniac, staying up as late as four or five o'clock in the morning before finally getting into bed. He would then wake up around noon to start his work. To aid his sleeping problems Hitler used medical enemas, even though, according to some sources, he was otherwise very much against 'poisoning his body' with alcohol, drugs or cigarettes.  Hitler was even a vegetarian and believed that vegetarianism was the new future for Germany, as it was "bridging the spiritual divide". We have discussed this a little with everyone in the class and we want to bring this health enthusiastic element into Arturo Ui, him being one of the only people in the show that won't be seen drinking mischievously or smoking. I have also deeply thought about how to bring the insomnia into Ui's character. Ways that I could do it is by making my version of Ui physically fidgety and even jumpy, in the way that he doesn't always exactly know where to put his focus on, being a bit absent minded. There is parts in the play where Ui seems to see less than the other characters do, for example he doesn't notice Giri changing his hats until Givola tells Ui about it, nor does he always have the energy to come in to the conversation his henchmen are having. There are some articles about Hitler where he has been described as someone who would have just left the meeting room without a word because he was bored or get distracted extremely easy, which brings on this almost childlike quality to him. I have seen in some adaptation of The resistible rise of Arturo Ui, where at times Arturo Ui has been shown as a very childish character, especially in the beginning scenes. I want to do to an extent, having moments of rage or a childlike fit when he is misunderstood or when Ui feels like he has been challenged. This would also bring in Hitler uncontrollable rage fits into Arturo Ui. But I do not plan to only use it when Ui is in bad mood, but also in scene 6 I can use a childlike curiosity with the Actor, Ui admiring and following carefully the Actors movements and direction. 

   As I started to look more into Hitler's health, I came over some very contrasting articles about his eating habits. Some told that he was perfect image of health, not drinking or smoking and being a vegetarian, where as some would describe Hitler having a sweet tooth, often eating chocolates and cakes, never practicing exercise other than walking. Pictures of him in his later life do show that he gained quite a lot of weight. He was also rarely seen showing his teeth when smiling, which might tell something about his dental health. It would be fun to bring this into Arturo Ui, for example by having him suck on a lollipop in some scenes, where the other's would be usually smoking. I will have to discuss this with others, since it might also give a wring idea about the character we want to show and the story we want to focus on. I could also be seen as a distraction to the Gest. 

   I want to show Arturo Ui's development as a person, since I am playing him in scene 6 and 13. IN both of these scenes he is a very different man. In scene 6, he still hasn't grown as popular as he wants, but people are very skeptical about him and cannot trust him because of his vanishing reputation as a gangster. People have rather made fun of him, but in the last seen, where Bowl is found dead, Ui is seen as the killer. In scene 6, he has realized that he needs to appeal to the vegetable dealers good side, rather than threaten them, if he wants any recognition. So he hires an actor to help seen more appealing and approachable for the dealers, but also to get more respect. In scene 13 A lot of things have happened; Dogsboroug has died as well as Dullfeet and we are at his funeral. This scene really shows what Ui has become; an evil man who only cares about his rise to success. I want to show him as calm but threatening, he has lost his past restlessness and is very confident that he will get what he wants from Mrs Dullfeet. Still, when the woman is not budging to his wishes, we can a glimpse of the past Ui who was quick tempered and childlike. He isn't trying to be charming anymore, but uses his power to bring fear on people, who cannot do anything anymore to change the course of action. In the next scene, scene 14, we see Roma come and tell ui's deepest fears of people turning against him and realizing what he has been doing to manipulate them all along. Instead leading him to correct his mistakes, Ui goes on to use more fear as a weapon to gain support in scene 15. Scene 15 Ui is almost this scarily happy and calm person; he knows he has won and he knows no one will rise against him anymore. 

SOURCES:

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_01.shtml
2. http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.588082
3. http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-profile-03-03.html
4. http://hitlershealth.greyfalcon.us/
5. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/medicating-a-madman-a-sober-look-at-hitler-s-health-a-675991.html

20.4. ACTING FOR CAMERA

Lights pointed to the ceiling to reflect light to actors faces in a natural way.

   Sophia's and Sav's scene was from 'Girl, Interrupted', which is about a young woman who is put into a treatment center for mentally ill, in the 60's. The scene is located in cellar/storage room, so the old canteen at the college was perfect for this shoot. It was full old furniture, pieces of wood and other debris creating a disorganized look. This also created challenges for the scene, since we had to work around filming these objects and film in thigh areas. It meant, that we had to take many shots; shots that were often just small parts of the entire scene. So, we were asked to answer this question on our blogs: What challenges a scene that has many shots, and is bitty, brings to the actor?
   Acting for camera is different from acting on stage, and it isn't only because of the style of acting, place or audience where the difference lies. On the stage, the actor does the scenes in order, not having to interrupt the acting process or being in character. This is different in film acting. You are taking shots from different angles, multiple times. Sometimes you only pick up to a certain part or do a shot that only need a short section of the conversation to be recorded. This means the actor has to know exactly what the emotions and actions in that particular part is, since there is no build up to it, as there would in an ongoing scene. This requires a huge amount of focus, but also knowing your lines and actions perfectly, to be able to pick up at any point, staying consistent to the other shots. The actor also has to take inconsideration how the place of the camera changes between shots, because you still need to cheat to the camera, but do it in a believable way so that it fools the audience to think you were doing the exact same thing in the same exact position as before.

Shooting in a tight place between two shelves. 

    What was special about this shoot for us, was that it was done handheld, meaning the camera was actually held by the cameraman(in this case, Chloe, who did an amazing job) instead of an tripod. We did this simply because we needed a moving shot of Sav coming in, and since one shot handheld all of them had to be so to stay consistent.

17.4.15

   We started to day by talking about the staging and location for our play. We had two options that we are considering, the One Church or Pelham. Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages. The One Church is a great space and it is known by people, so it will attract audience, which is a huge advantage. It also has its own feel to it, but it lacks in the technical side. It is harder to arrange different kind off lights and projections in that space, but also a complete black out is not possible because of the large windows. The space echoes, so using music and talking at the same time would me almost impossible to do. Pelham is easier with the technical side, since we know the space and are able to use the lights, music and sound cues more to our advantage. Here we also have the freedom to use the space as we wish, having a more creative set even, since it feels more like an empty plate for us to play on. It was also pointed out, that Pelham has a nostalgic side to it, this being our last show at City College, it would play as a tribute to our two years on this course. But, it also isn't a very known venue, which won't help with bringing more audience. I think more people are towards using Pelham as our space, which I agree with. It would give us more potential to make the space and the performance ours and make a clearer point with the show. We also talked a little about how would we then stage the show. Greta suggested we would use tables to create the cabaret feel, but they could also be a place for the actors to hang out when they are not in the scenes. This would be Brechtian, because the audience could see them all the time, and see us change, but also help to create the mood for the show. I suggested for the actual stage, to have so that from the main stage there would be stairs from the the whole width off it coming down to the floor. The problem with this is that it needs more panels to build it, since we would need some or the audience as well, but we could use some money to rent out more. Something we still need to decide is if we are doing the lighting like it should be in Brechtian style, a very bright light for example the houselights on to keep the audience awake, or decide on something else. I would personally like to use the lights to our advantage to create a cabaret like feeling, dim lights throughout, but perhaps also using lights to make it appear as if we were in a black-and-white movie.
  We then started talking about the scenes

• Prologue opens the show with introducing the play and characters. Siou really wants this scene to be done all of us playing the announcer, using chorus speech as our method of speaking the monologue. Spotlights were suggested to be used to point out individual characters or people speaking, as well as using music during it came up. We could have a certain movement we would all be doing with the music, creating a cabaret dance feel to it. People could also be coming from the audience and one person standing out at a time by coming in major, having more movement or just drawing the attention towards them by using energy and speech. Also, it was pointed that when introducing Arturo Ui, all of the Ui's should step out, to show that there will be multiple people playing him. 
• Scene one should be very fast paced with an intense atmosphere, since the vegetable dealers are worried, but also because it is placed in the Financial District, which is a busy place of people selling and buying. To show this to the audience we can make sign of dollar signs and saying 'buy' or 'sell'. 
• In scene three we could use people cheering and betting on things to show the bookie's office

15.4. Commedia dell'arte 2

   During today's lesson about Commedia dell'Arte, we begun by examining status, more importantly the relationship between a master and a servant. We started with an exercise where, in partners, we had to pretend to either be a dog or its owner. The would then have different mission, either being obedient or difficult to their master. We could also explore what kind of a dog we were and how old. This really connected with Brecht's Gest, since we had to be thinking about certain aesthetics that dogs have, for example waving of their tail or panting. This was an interesting way to explore the master/servant relationship, since dogs can be very obedient, but also not realize necessarily what their owner wants. In Commedia, servants are often seen stupider than their masters and even thought they want to serve as well as they can, they make mistakes purely because they have misunderstood the situation. I think this is something we could play with the bodyguard characters in our play. They do not play a huge part in the play or the scenes, but could possibly add some humour to scenes with a lot of dry dialogue.

   We also learned about Grammelot, which is a style of speaking, a made up language in a away. It is often used in Commedia dell'Arte, but also in satirical theatre and mimicry. It is believed to have given the performers safety from censorship, but also appeal to audiences from different dialects and languages.
   To explore this in partners we had to tell a secret to our partners in Grammelot. It was funny how, even though your partner didn't know exactly what you were saying, often because of your way using gestures it was easy interpret a similar story and know the gist of what was going on. Then, as a group we pretended to have police officer speaking to their team about a crime and what they were going to do to solve it, it was interesting to see how different stories merged from different people. A simple signing of taking a swig off of a bottle told everyone that this policeman had been drinking and had an alcohol problem.
   We could use grammelot in the beginning stages of our devising to explore how we naturally would try to show the emotions of our characters and their Gests. This way, we wouldn't have the books in our hands on our way.

   Commedia is very useful for us to keep in mind during creating characters and devising our scenes. In each scene all of the characters have their purposes and objectives, and we can explore them in different and interesting ways, since we can apply the stock characters from Commedia.