COLOUR CODES

CONTEXT/RESEARCH - BLUE
PROBLEM SOLVING/PRACTICAL SKILL - GREEN
PLANNING AND PRODUCTION - YELLOW
EVALUATION & REFLECTION - RED

10.6. Run of the 2nd half

Scene 7

Scene 8

Scene 9

Scene 10

Scene 11

Scene 13

Scene 14

And here is the feedback we got from Siou:

My feedback and how I am going to fix it:

• Bodyguard. I am a bodyguard in scenes 7, 10 and 11, and especially in scenes 10 and 11, there are many of us bodyguards in the scene. Siou suggested whether I should change my bodyguard character a little bit, to separate me from the more dominant ones. She suggested to make him more jittery, which is a good idea, except I feel like I already have two characters that have a similar restlessness about them, Ui and Flake. Ui, especially in the beginning is more nervous and restless because of it, where as Flake has very fast paced direct movements. I pointed this out to Siou, but I do still think she is right about separating the types of bodyguards to bring on some variety. Perhaps I could develop my character as Flake to become less jittery and even more direct or make him more relaxed so that then I can bring this new characteristic to my bodyguard character
• In scene 14 I went to sit back down too early. I realized this in the scene, but didn't feel that it would work for me to get back up again, so I didn't do so to fix it. This was really silly of me, since I should have looked up a part of the long speech when I go back to seat, but also the different ways I react to them. I have since then looked at the speech and decided that at the line " Deceive the Clarks and slay Dullfeet-" I will start walking away from the chair and on the line " The body of Ernesto Roma may be hid in earth" I will start walking back, reaching the chair at the line "Mark my words, Arturo"
•  I and everyone need to look at scene 7 and know the points when we need to clap exactly

Over all, I felt this run went okay. I personally need to look at my lines again, because the song is still a bit unfamiliar for me and I messed up in scene 13 a couple of times. I want us to do the tech first thing on Monday when we get to Pelham, because there is so much of them that make the show for us and enhance moments, but also most of the transitions are hard to run without them, so we need to get the tech done so after that we can just run the show over and over again to make it tight and smooth. 

9.6. Transitions

TARGETS:

• 3-4 Transition
• 5-6 transition

Today's focus was to finish working on our transitions, so that the next time we run the show, we can really try them all out and see if they work together with the show, creating a united and smooth show. We only had a couple of the transitions left, so we decided to also run some of the scenes around them, to make sure they fit the mood of the previous or next scene.

For the transition between scenes 3 and 4, we decided to go with the same theme of the transition before it, since both of the scenes are involving in the world of money and business. We would have the same music as well being the 'Gold diggers 1933 - We're in the money'. Instead of having the newspaper people get the remaining blocks off of the stage, we will have Sav, Robin and Liam, the last three people on stage, to go and get the blocks in a rushes, slapstick kind of style. Robin and Liam will run to stage, running past each other and blocks only to notice the blocks after Sav has taken one of them in a showgirl style.  This is a very good quick transition, since we do not always need to add entire dances in between scene. A good quick transition keeps the story going forward and not distract the audience, yet keeping them energetic and alive.

   We also did scene 3 again to freshen our mid about it, but also to try out the transitions before and after it. We noticed that the transition going into scene 3 didn't work entirely, since we did have a way to get the blocks on stage, but me , Chloe and Harry remain at the end of the thrust. Since the transition song is about money, and scene 2 ends with Dogsborough making a deal with the Cauliflower trust about buying the docks, we thought it would be a funny way of showing Dogsborougs greediness by having me and Chloe whip out fake money out of our pockets and fan around the money in front of his face, leading him off the stage. This way we get of the stage in a  natural way and I can them simply go back on with my newspaper and change of costume to become part of the chorus. 
   During the scene, Siou pointed out to us that it isn't very clear yet that we are at the bookie's office. We decided to add in a radio noise of a race of the time, which also gave us background characters something to do, listening to the race and reacting. Using Yo Ha Kuy learned from Yoshi Oida, we can really get the progression of the race believable and have our characters react accordingly. I am going to start by being overly confident, probably telling others how much I've bet on my horse and how I am going to be rich by the end of this, move on to higher tension, with hearing the other horse catching up and end up in utter rage and desperation since I have just lost a lot of money. I will need to find a way to show this all in silence, since we cannot take too much focus from Roma and Ui, who are talking on the foreground. 
   We also had a discussion of whether or not to have alcohol in this scene, and what kind of representation of alcohol it will be. Of course, at this time they in prohibition, which meant alcohol was illegal, but if the bookmakers was an underground one like speakeasies were, the characters could have alcohol present. I did a bit of research into this and found out that before the Great Depression, gambling had been deemed illegal, plummeting the popularity of horse racing. But since the falling economy and desperate ways for finding revenues, horse racing seemed like a good choice because of its previous popularity. So, bookmakers and betting on horses were legal, but the government put huge taxes on the revenues, which meant gambling was more expensive with lesser winnings than before.  This really answers our problem. This most likely wouldn't have been an illegal office, but rather a public building, meaning that we could not have alcohol present. 
   I think me, the other newspaper chorus and Ragg could have more interactions with each other, to create more of the bookies feeling, but also to show natural interactions between people. Our newspaper section is getting along quite well, but I really want to react better to the action between Ui and Roma, so that our snooping and reactions would enhance the plot and show the audience this is something they want to be listening to. 

   Next we worked on the transition from scene 5 to 6. This transition really needed some choreographing, since it a chance between me and Yunusa, Ui switching actors which we are trying to make clear to the audience, who is Ui. To start to create a base for it, Siou simply put the music we had all decided on having and we would all individually make our own dance or movement to it. The results were varying, but I think it help us to create a good transition. This transition follows Bowl's death, and so we wanted this transition really to be something contrasting to it, humorous even. Sophie and Greta liked very much how Robin was making every movement very cartoon like, clear and every movement being precisely done, and we decided to follow that on our chorus. Me and Yunusa started playing around with finger clicking and simply going down and up while swaying our arms with the music, Yunusa then suggested doing this foot game to bring in a bit more movement into our change. I thought this was a brilliant idea, and think that once we have done this a couple of times we could make it even faster and snappier. 

8.6. Filming Dance + Tickets

Today we had a day of self-directed study, and since what we really want to do to get our scenes forward is to show them for Siou and get her feedback on them, today we decided to work on our production roles, individual scenes and a video for the start of the show. We have talked about having a dance video play on loop when the audience is coming in to create that cabaret feeling and Greta had promised to create a dance for us. We could have used actual videos of that time, but it will make it more personal for us to make the dance ourselves.  So today, me Greta, Sophie and Jenny set on rehearsing the dance, tweaking it a little and filming it.
   Our costume was to wear simply white shirts, black leggings and our brogues. Of course, dresses would have been better creating a mood of showgirls, but since we already got the costume before actually coming up with this idea, it would have been too time consuming and too late for us to edit it. I am going to be editing it so that it look a bit older, making it black and white and hopefully adding some graining to it as well. The song with be played on tip of it as well. 

   Later on, me and Sophie set off to the library to get the program as finished as possible and create tickets for our show. Sophie has taken on finishing the program, where as I set to design the tickets. I wanted to stay in the same theme with the poster, but not simply just use the same base and add 'admit one' to it, but rather create an individual design. I used the same silhouette filled with cauliflowers as in the poster, but made it bigger on the ticket, so that you can only see down to the shoulders of the man.

5.6. Run of scenes 1-6

Today we ran the first part of the show, up to we are having the interval. Here are some of the notes that we got:

• Prologue
• Gests improving, we need go even further!
• When Ui's are introduced, the Gests feel sticky and so it needs to be changed to something more smoother. 
• Everyone doesn't seem to know the dance routine, so it needs running
• Lines need to be said snappier so that the poem becomes smoother and not as choppy
• Could Dogsborough catch his stick, since he won't have it during the dance? 
• Scene 1
• In the beginning when we are doing the Gests, we need to keep them up a lot longer and keep them alive, rather than just posing. We need to keep the energy up!
• Higher state of tension is needed, since the vegetable dealers are worrying about their businesses
• Some lines like "Dogsboroughs shoes" should be directed towards the audience and shown even more cheesy
• Briefcase for Sophia
• Sophia and Heta more closer together
• Scene 2
• Important that we see Dogsboroughs thought process, so Harry needs to keep his eyes up
• We also need to see Dogsborough is corrupt
• More interacting with the environment, use imagination to create house around you e.g. look out of windows
• Scene 3
• Sophia cannot be visibly drinking, since it is a public place
• Newspaper people need to be listening to the radio to create the scene at the bookie's office. 
• There is supposed to be fighting between Ragg and Ui, since Roma comes to separate them.
• Scene 4
• Ui needs to build up emotions, since he is basically acting like a child in this scene and then lead in to him threatening Dogsborough
• Harry needs to react as Dogsborough
• Scene 5
• Yunusa needs to remember hitting Max as bodyguard from time to time to get support. 
• Harry needs show that Dogsborough is scared 
• Needs a transitions of Ui's
• Scene 6
•  Great potential
• Ui's mimicking walk is too over the top, as if looking for laughs. This could be perhaps more stiff and turned down, since the scene doesn't need it to be too over the top.
• Bodyguards need react to the actor in the background

  Next we need to focus on transitions and really working them out, so that the whole show can be smoother. I also want to work on the beginning Gests, since mine weren't as strong as they could have been, but I could easily make them more clear and keep them up longer. As UiI really need to find a more toned down way of mimicking the walking.

During extra rehearsals some of us set out to identify which transitions still need work and what kind of transitions we want for each scene. We also worked out transitions for scene 3 and Ui's transition between scene 10 and 11.Coming from scene 2 to 3 we decided to have the newspaper people come in to the song 'We're in the money', put the blocks into place and set up the bookie's office by looking  at the nespapers ans pretend to pick out a horse and bet on it between them. Then, Ragg could come in to shoo us away from the counter we just created and start the scene. 

For Max's and Liam's transition we played around with mimicking and a game of call and response, having Max do movements and Liam following them. This would have Max put on Liam's mustache for him and exit the stage, showing the audience that Liam is the new Ui. 

4.6. Scene 13 + Make up

   Me and Sophie came in early today and decided to work on some of the transitions while we were waiting. We were missing a big transition between scene 12 and 13, going from Givola's flower shop into the funeral of Dullfeet. We wanted something very upbeat to contrast the threatening end of scene 12 and morbid setting of 13 and Sophie came up with the idea of creating a dance for it. We used the above song as our inspiration, since it had a good beat in it. Unfortunately we couldn't actually use this, since it is not a 193's song, nor near the era at all. It is an electronic swing song from 2009. So, we changed it into the second song shown. Me and Sophie came up with a dance with Givola starting to conduct the flowers and them starting to dance with him. As this is going on, I will rise to Ui on stage and we will have own little dance to switch the mustache . HERE are some of the ideas we had for the dance. This dance ended up fitting the second song quite well also, we just had to tweak some bits here and there since the beat of the song is a bit slower.

   Then we cracked on with scene 13, which historical context I have talked about HERE. After the dance, the people on the stage will leave to go behind the audience with a snapping movement and to get the coffin. I will be left on stage to put on my coat etc as the Voice of the pastor starts speaking at the same time. People will come carrying the coffin and place in the middle of the stage, gathering around it mourn and then leave soon. We set the scene so that Giri and Givola will remain behind the coffin when Ui and Betty will be set on either side of thee coffin representing their two different sides, but also to show that his husband is dead because of this business. Our Political opinion of scene is that Ui doesn't care about the funeral nor Dullfeets death, but is after Cicero and Betty's support. He is at the funeral to talk about this, because he sees this as a weak moment for Betty, thinking this would make it easier to convince her to join  Ui team.
   I really feel this is the scene that shows Ui's evil side properly and his confidence that has been rising with each scene. I've been wanting to show this side of him and I feel I can do it by taking my time saying the lines and talking even in a patronising way to Betty, as if he knows he has already won. Towards end, when Betty is not budging in with Ui, I want to have his agitation rise up and him lose his calm exterior and show his true colours as the scary and evil person he has become.
 

I also tried out the make up for the show properly this time at home. I have bought a black and white face paints that we can use for the show to create the make up. I don't feel it is necessary to use any other colours, since we do want to create the feel of a black and white movie. I talked about the make up before in THIS post. This time. I did the make up with putting a light white base and then adding black eyeliner to my eyes and re-drawing my eyebrows in a more thinner 30's style. Thin eyebrows were in fashion for women at that time, not so much for men, but I thought the thin eyebrows might bring on a more stylized look for the make up, even something that is almost clown like. I do not know yet if this is something we want to go for with our show, or create a more dark and serious make up. I do feel the make up shouldn't be as neat as I made it, and in some of the pictures when I have smudged the eyeliner, I felt the look got better. The make up could even evolve as the show goes on, getting smudgier and smudgier, as if we would have been rubbing our faces because of frustration.

Scene 15 & Epilogue

We actually worked on scene 15 in the duration of multiple days, but since it is a such a big and important scene, I wanted to dedicate a blog for it entirely. 
   I really wish we would have realised to film our discussion about this scene, but it sort of came about out of nowhere, without planning. We all just had ideas and the discussion came about naturally, but I will try my best to recreated it in text. The discussion surrounded a lot about what we want the audience to leave show thinking? What kind of mood and state of mind do we want them to be when watching this scene? What do we want to tell them? These are questions that we have had to think about each scene, but especially with this one, since it is the final blow before they leave the theatre to continue their journey where ever they are heading to. And that is exactly we wanted it to, a blow, a powerful end to our work. We talked a lot about how Hitler was corrupt, but more importantly how the whole world around him was corrupt and broken, and this is still a reality to some countries today. Leaders such as Putin, Kim Jong Un, Mugabe and Qaddafi are the Hitler's of today, whether or not their intentions are the same, but their reign and power has showed the similarities to Hitler. 
   A lot of the conversation was also not only about Hitler, but also the role of the Chicagoan's and Ciceronians and how we wanted to represent them. In the scene, they talk about how they have had to accommodate into Ui's demands, even though they did not necessarily want to. They are desperate for someone to stand up against Ui, but none of them want to do it, simply because it would endanger them. We discussed how, if all of them in the first place wouldn't have accommodated and risen against Ui, none of this would have happened, as it did with Hitler, who used the depression as a rising ground for him. We want people to leave the theatre, wanting to make change, but to do this we have to portray the citizens of Chicago and Cicero in a right way. So question was, do we want them to seem like the victims, with no choice but to bow down to Ui, or as ignorant and gullible people who are too lazy to do anything themselves and are waiting for that 'someone else' to save the day? Since this is a Brechtian play, we cannot really go with something that is in between these two views, as it wouldn't show a clear statement to the audience, and I wanted to go with the second option. This could have been even insulting to some, to say that it is ignorant for us people not do anything to make this better, but it would also provoke people to think and discuss between each other. This could also highlight the message that it wasn't only 'the evil in Hitler' that killed million, but also the society, culture and people of Germany that supported the Nazi party, but also the governments and leaders before that, giving Hitler and the Nazi the chance to grow. For me, it was hard to think otherwise than 'How is there NOT something wrong with the current human race when we need blame one ethnic group of people for our own misfortune?'. I wanted to show that to the audience that is a change is US that needs to be done, not just the governments and big political moguls. But there was also a discussion about how fear changes people and our priorities change when we fear for our lives. Greta pointed out, that even thought these people wanted change, they were more worried about the people close to them and what would happen to them. In the scene, a lot of the citizens are vegetable dealers, and so probably the providers for their family. If they would stand up to Ui and die because of it, it wouldn't only mean their life has ended, but possibly change the lives of their spouses, children and other relatives and friends. We want to show this fear in the citizens when Ui comes in, as they barely have the courage to even look at him. We can show this very well with Lecoq's different states of tension. In this discussion I was very adamant with my idea and my view of the scene, which made me feel very negatively about how others saw the scene, I feel that in the future I need to remind myself, that my view isn't always the best one and that I need to leave space for others to express themselves and their ideas as well. This way it will also ease my mind, since I do not always have to feel like I am in control and taking care of things, but rather encourage others to take on some responsibilities. 
   Our POLITICAL OPINION of this scene is to show Ui's way of manipulating people with not only fear, but also corrupt charm. We want to show the audience that the vegetable dealers could have made a difference in the beginning, but didn't because of the fear. We want the audience to know our point and the fact that we are still very much complacent!

   The epilogue is a small section that follows the last scene, and we didn't want this section to be too over powering over the last scene, but rather reinforce the message we want to give. Pretty much immediately we knew we wanted Sophie to say the last lines, since she delivers the first ones as the MP. This is a great way to bring the beginning and the end together. There is going to be a difference in the way she will be presenting the lines, in the prologue she has a very MP style, over the top and cheerful inspired by show girls from cabarets, but the epilogue should be a lot more turned down, so that the words themselves get their impact across.
THUS LEARN YOU HOW TO SEE, AND NOT JUST LOOK,
AND ACT INSTEAD OF TALKING ALL DAY LONG;
THE WORLD WAS ALMOST RULED BY SUCH A CROOK!
THOUGH PEOPLE OVERCAME HIM, YOU'D BE WRONG 
TO PAT YOUR BACKS AND THINK YOURSELVES SO CLEVER-
THE OOZE THAT SPAWNED HIM IS AS RICH AS EVER!
  This short poem is very much about people going out and making an active change, rather than just sitting in front of their televisions and watching what is happening in the world. When talking about Hitler and WWII, history books often emphasize how there has been a change and things a re better now, but is it really? There are still nations and people suffering, there are still corrupt politicians and leaders that put glory before their people. It is not time for us to tell what good job we have done yet, since there is so much more we can still do to make this world better. I feel that this poem is also saying  that the solution isn't simply erasing the problem, but also fixing the source of the problem. 
      We talked about where Sophie should be when presenting the epilogue there were idea about having her either on the stage or perhaps in the audience. We have one of the VIP tables reserved for us and lit, which I thought could be a nice and interesting ending for the show, with having a spot light on the table and her talking in a calm, all knowing way. The problem with this is, that all of the audience might not see her well, which would make being on the stage a better idea. But since we will be having the montage right after this epilogue, it could be a smoother ending if Sophie would in the table, point to the screen after her speech, light go down and the montage starts. This way, Sophie wouldn't have to move off the stage, away from the screen. We will definitely have to try this out more at Pelham and see which one makes the biggest impact. 


 

  A obstacle for us was our small numbers of people. The scene begins with the vegetable dealers rallying and talking about how things have changed for worse since Ui got the power over Chicago. Then, as the Ciceronians enter the stage we wanted to show the split between these two groups of people, but also towns. This showed to be difficult, since there isn't really that many of us on the stage. So, we came up with an idea to use the audience to support us, especially the Ciceronians, by having the actors talk to the audience before entering, telling them to agree with them. Sophie also came up with that we could have signs projected, telling the audience what to say. Not only would this create an illusion of an bigger group of people, but also show how big groups of people will follow instructions like sheep. Also, right at the beginning when the Chicagoans are rallying, we thought to play a game of socking, where the person who is saying their line will go in front of the group, whilst the other will be trying to be seen and heard behind them. This will create the image that there isn't a lot of space between a big crowd of people. I will also be making a cardboard cut out of a crowd of people to show as shadows for a part of the scene, before the Ciceronians enter, since we talked this could help us as well. The only problem is that we will also be having the projection of instructions for the audience, so having two different things happening on the screen during the scene might seem overpowering or messy.
   The Chicagoans and Ciceronian will be arguing with each other, first from each side of the stage, but them coming in together, almost fighting physically, until Givola, Giri and Ui come in. At this point, we want the group pf people to separate on each side of the floor/islands, to make way for Ui. We wanted to make this scene quite stylized, so we will be having Giri and Givola slide away from Ui's way, in a showgirl style, tying us back to the beginning and prologues showgirls.


 
We have known from the beginning, that for the last scene we wanted all of the Ui's to come together and make up something very stylized with all of the Ui's. I will start as Ui, since I have been him in the last two scenes and start his big chunk of text as well. But then as I take my place at the end of the thrust, Max will take over, then Yunusa and then Liam, us creating a diamond shape on the stage. After this we will all walk into the centre to create a bigger Ui, 'the monster'. I came up with us creating this being by keeping the diamond shape, but being very close together and be being on my knees to create levels. This is a part we will really need to rehearse well, since we planned out that all of our movements will be in unison. In our speech the lines will be split again, but we will also have lines and words said in unison to create a contrast to words like "peace" to make it seem more demonic and showing his true colours. The line "Today, we are one" will be said by everyone and the chorus will go down on their knees, representing all the dictators that are still existing today, but also when having the people of Chicago and Cicero go down really show the oppression they facing because of Ui. As the speech comes into talking about the different cities, each people will say one or two cities while coming up as showgirls and Ui thriving in his power. At this part, Siou pointed out to us that we need to say each city in their own way, to show their individual sparks, but also make the section a bit more interesting and not so predictable. At the end everyone will rise their hands up in a smooth manner to the Heil, and lights will go down. 
    I think this ending leaves a lot of room for acting and the emotions the different people are going through, but also to the message we are trying to say. A large and elaborate choreography might have distracted the audience, but with this kind of end we were still able to bring on elements from the prologue and our inspiration of showgirls into it, but in a more throughout and simple manner. It'll be a lot of work for me and the other Ui's to get our speech just right and we need to run trough the different gests over and over again, so that we are doing it all at the same time. To improve my own performance I want to work on Chekov's idea of rediating to pulse this evil energy to the audience, even if I am only on my knees at the end. 

   After the epilogue we wanted to have one last montage that would show the connection of these happening to today. We talked about showing the evolution of dictators from past to present, showing the audience how the problem was never truly solved, but these people are still getting power and recognition. After Greta showed us the above video of Russia's Eurovision contestant singing about peace, but clips from Ukraine and Russia added, we decided to change our focus from the dictators into the actually people suffering from this lack of change. I feel this a good change of directions, since we as people put too much focus on the criminals and dictator, giving them more attention that they want, instead of showing the suffering of the people and naming victims that deserve justice. This will still show our point well and urge our audience to make change and acting upon these things their priority. Max will be ahead of this montage, and he suggested using Loius Armstrong's song 'What a wonderful world' in this montage to contrast the happening in the videos. 

1.6. Scene 10 & Trailer & Program

   Since we have now finished acting for camera, we had today time to do some rehearsing. So we set on to block and rehearse scene 10. Our POLITICAL VIEW for this scene is that Ui is being thrown around and manipulated by all of his henchmen. Both Roma and Giri are talking to Ui, trying to get him against the other henchmen. Giri is black painting Roma, saying that he is plotting against Ui, but in reality Roma is only thinking what is best for Ui. 

   The death of Hindenburg. Junkers demand Rohm's removal. The occupation of Austria is planned. This is what our sign will be saying at the end of this scene, connecting to the real life happening following Hindenburgs death. Hitler had already agreed with the Cabinet to combine the positions of the Chancellor and the President of Germany to avoid a new election, but also to make him the man in power. Hindenburgs will would have told, that one of his last wishes was to restore the monarchy in Germany, but since Hitler never published the will, he managed to twist Hindenburgs words and make it seem like it was the old mans wish for Hitler to rise to power. This also convinced the public about this decition, and when a vote was held to determine, whether these changes would be held, Hitler won by 90%. 

   Hitler always saw Austria as part of Germany, or at least something that should eventually become a part of it once again. Because of the happenings during WWI and following it, mainly the because of the Treaty of Versailles, Austria and Germany were forbidden to create an union between them, to protect the small country of Austria. Italy had created a protecting relationship with Austria and after the Austrian chancellor Dollfuss died in 1934, Italy moved their troops into Austria, fearing that Germany might want to take the opportunity to occupy the country. But in 1936, Germany and Italy started to create a friendship between them and by the end of the year Mussolini, the leader of Italy, had withdrawn all support for Austria, giving Germany the opportunity to take over. Under pressure from Hitler, who was threatening Austria with bombing if they wouldn't follow his command, Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg resigned with the entirety of his cabinet, except  Seyss-Inquart who was a Austrian-Nazi. He followed this by inviting the German troops into Austria. Mussolini did nothing in response to this, where as France and England remained only verbal, which was something that Hitler had expected, not being afraid of conflict. And so, Austria became apart of German Greater Reich. 

  

   Something that is similar to this, that is happening right now is Putin going into Crimea and trying to transfuse it with Russia. Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union, and since it separated from Russian, Ukraine still has a high percentage of people of Russian ethnicity in it, especially in Crimea which is 50% Russian. This is something that Putin has been using as his reasoning for going into Ukraine and holding elections for combining Crimea with Russia, which have been allegedly rigged. In Putin's words he has been "'protecting the Russian people of Ukraine', even though this has resulted into more conflict and distress in many of the affected areas. 

   Coming from Finland who has stayed neutral so far with this issue, I have conflicting feeling about this all. I feel that a lot of countries do not want to get too much involved with the fights in Crimea, some because they could lose important gas resource import, since the great power oil line goes through this area(also a good reason for Russia to want to invade this area). For Finland, one of the reasons to decide to remain neutral is the protection of our own people. Finland is a neighboring country to Russia, and we were part of the Soviet Union before WWI. My country has always had a complicated relationship with Russia, since at the same time we want to remain as part f the western world and not be associated as one of Russia's allies,  but at the same time we are afraid of what would happen if we turned against them. I feel this is exactly what Brecht didn't want to happen, but rather have us actively try for change, meaning that neutral is the same as moving down people with bombs ourselves. I do not kno what to think about this, since everything isn't always that black and white.

   We do not have video of this video yet, but I will put one up as soon as we run the scene again. The blocking for this scene is pretty simple, it a scene with a lot of talking so we wanted to maintain a balance between what the characters are saying and the action on stage.The action blocking shouldn't be too complicated since most of the action comes from the characters and them plotting against each other. We set the scene mostly on the main stage and some of the island, similar to what it was in scene 6, since it is also located in the Mammoth hotel. The main bit of action we had to block was when Roma and his men threaten to shoot the others. When first trying out the scene there was a problem of having too many people blocking each other, since there are eight people on stage. Giri, Givola and their two bodyguards are being pointed with guns and we weren't able to see their reactions properly and it simply felt unnatural for them to just stand around with their hands up. It was suggested that we could have Roma's bodyguards quide the other to the wall, or in our case the screen, which would give a more organized look to the scene, but also give Giri and Givola the change to fight back. In this scene we also wanted to focus on the fact that Ui is tired and irritated, he doesn't really pay attention to what is happening until he starts to suspect his henchmen are plotting against him. 

   We went trough this scene in a hurry, meaning that we probably have over looked some things, and will need to tweak it later. I feel it is important for us see this scene done at Pelham with the staging, so that we know what the distances are and can try out the different levels to our advantage. It would have been extremely useful for us to film this scene, since there is so many of us in it, that we couldn't really get an outside view on the scene, with most of us in it. 

  We also wanted to film a short trailer for our show, to add to the website and Facebook page. We had a simple idea of having all of us who play Ui appear in it, so that the audience can see the transitions between us different actor's of Ui. We thought it would be cool to have one of us start behind the black curtains, which would then open and reveal Ui. Then, we would would one by one step forward, each of us actors changing with each step to the next one and ending with the actor of Ui who started. The video would simply end with one of us painting on our mustache, like we will be doing in the show. The mustache brings in an almost humorous taste to the video, as it does in the show as well, but it also shows the clear connection to Hitler and his rise with Nazi Germany before the Second World War.  We originally planned just to use this short video for our websites, but after some conversation, we thought it could a good way to show the audience the change of Ui in the show as well, using this video during the introduction of Ui in the prologue. In the past, we have had multiple actors playing a single character, and we have had some feedback from the audience before saying, that often the transition has been confusing to them. This time, we want to make very clear that Ui is played by multiple people and show right in the beginning who the actors are, but also that the mustache will be the defining factor of the character, to hopefully clear up any confusion. 

   After our lessons, me and Sophie set out to make, or at least start making, our program for the show. We felt that this would be a nice add to our last show, telling a bit about all of us, but also bring the performance to a more professional level. I already talked about creating the program a little in THIS post. We had a lot of ideas about what we could put in the program, for example summaries of each scene, but we decided to have a more simple program instead. The program will include:

1. Cover - Same as the poster
2. A synopsis of the play, introducing the our inspiration for style, Brech and Epic Theatre with a quote from Brecht on the page next to it. 
3. Headshots and introductions of each actor, also telling which characters they are playing - Everyone gets to write their own intro. We asked everyone in our class to write these by next Monday, so that we can finish the program next week and print it. 
4. a spread with pictures of our rehearsals and acknowledgements.
5. The last page will have our websites and any other links we want to include.

The style of the program follows the style of our poster, with the colours of black, white and yellow. We want it to be dark and simple, with all the pictures being black and white and the only colour being yellow to accent titles.