24.03.2014

Starting To Work On The Scenes

1st Scene

   The first scene of the play shows Lucy and Mina discussing the arrival of Minas future husband, Jonathan, and gives the first impressions of these sisters and the differences between them. Lucy is very much the young and naive girl, being stuck in the role of a little girl since her mothers death, making Mina, on the other hand, take on the role of a mother. During the scene, Mina is obviously caring of Lucy, and treats her with silk gloves, even if Lucy's teasing would be considered improper. In the novel, Lucy and Mina were originally cousins, but in the discussion we had during class, we figured out that they were turned into sister to highlight the fact that taboos and desires were thicker and more hidden in the higher classes during the Victorian era. This very much connects with Artaud's ideas and how we suppress our desires. This is also a very big symbol within this scene, and it is shown with the relationship between the two women. Lucy is much more free with her thoughts and isn't afraid to express her desire to be married(maybe for love, perhaps for something else) and she teases her sister by saying that she would delay getting ready for Jonathan to surprise her in the undergarments. She also suggests that Mina give Jonathan something to remember Mina by, referring to sex, but Mina is quick to suppress these kind of thoughts. She is the image of a proper Victorian woman, holding on to the Victorian values.
    We started the blocking by having Lucy come on stage alone, skipping and humming a song. She picks up a flower to finish the song and then look at herself in the mirror, showing her vanity and self-love. We decided that instead of using an actual mirror, we could use Lucy W to work as Izzys mirror image, using the mirroring methods we have learned in movement. After this, Mina joins Lucy in their garden to do the rest of scene. Rest of the blocking was very much improvised, and I think we, especially Izzy and Sophia, should work on how they move on stage, so that there won't be any awkward standing, but that it would actually seem they are two sisters in their garden.
   Later, after working on the second scene in Bedlam, we decided to have everyone observing the scene with the sisters as their crazy personalities, only turned down a bit. This way, we all have something to do on stage, and it adds on to the scene, showing us snickering troughout the scene, reacting to the things the women say. It also shows the influence Dracula already has, the sisters are watched over and are not alone, even if they would think so.

2nd Scene
 
    The next scene consist of the introduction of two major characters as well, Renfield and Dr. Seward. Renfield is obviously the main focus here, since it is in Bedlam, the insane asylum. With this particular scene, we started working on it with an exercise. The class was divided into three groups of five, and our task was to create a symbol moving symbol, like we have done before, about insanity. But instead of trying to portray insaty and crazy of today, it was supposed to be something like craziness would have been in the Victorian era, to help us create an image of Bedlam. My group, which was Sophie, Liam, Yunusa, Jenny and I, started of with the idea that insanity was like music, there are different types of it, each person being an individual. But also, we felt that usually insanity is seen as something distorted and non-paced, but we felt that there is some rhythm in insanity and patterns in their actions. Our moving symbol showed the different kind of craziness, starting slowly with me creating the rhythm by doing  a sound with my finger flipping my lips, showing a childlike insanity. After this, Liam would join me with his laughing crazy, following with Harry and Sophie rocking on the ground and Jenny going to ask help frantically from each of us. This was an excellent exercise, since we would all be patient or nurses in Bedlam. After the first scene, we would all release our insanity and scatter around the stage, leaving Sophie as Renfield at the top being help down by Yunusa and Harry. Bella would position herself at the bottom steps as Dr. Goldman and Seward would be up the first stairs on the stage. The rest of us would be in groups of insane people and some nurses(probably just as crazy), working as amplifiers to Renfields message. We looked up on some words in Renfield lines that everyone is going to say, to bring more focus to them. Words like Bedlam, Screw Lucy, Master and Bad Machines will be repeated since they important for the play and the scene. When Renfield mentiones Bedlam, all the 'patients' will start repeating the word, going out of control, since Bedlam is where they are, but it is also hell to live in. Repeating the phrase screw Lucy shows the influence Dracula has on Renfield, but also on Lucy. Renfield has never met Lucy and doesn't know who she is, but he does have subconscious idea of this person, got from Dracula. The word master is also repeated, referring to Dracula, but as whispers, so it won't be so obvious and shows the fear the insane people of Bedlam have towards this menacing creature. Bad machines is not repeated by everyone, but rather reacted by, for shock therapy was not the most pleasant experience, showing the fright the insane have towards it. At the end of the scene, when Seward leaves to meet with Jonathan, we decided that all the insane would let loose, and start laughing manically, as the main doctor has left and there is no reason to hide the crazy.
   This scene works as a direct contrast to the previous one; Lucy and Mina are suppressing their tempations and dark thoughts, when Renfield and the other insane let it loose without any control. It also starts to show the control Dracula has on them and how he is already involved with the people in England, even if he himself has never actually been present.

3rd Scene
 
   During the scene in Bedlam, Seward spots Jonathan Harker, his old friend from school, in the yard taking pictures. This scene then is the discussion they have in Seward's office, catching up on their lives and Jonathan persuading  Seward to join him on his holiday in Whitby. We wanted the scene to be more closed of than the two before, because the discussion between these two men was held in privacy. What we did to do this effect, was to have everyone stand in three lines to form a wall, separating Harker and Seward from the rest of the stage. Everyone in the line would be facing away from the two men to create more of the sense of privacy. Everyone would be laughing, until Jonathan and Seward make contact by shaking hands and hugging.
   During this scene, my character Jonathan talks a lot about how great his life is and even mentioning the short comings of Seward, a man in his thirties who is not married and works in an asylum, is probably not what Jonathan would call an ideal life. This might be because during their school days, Seward was in control, making sure that Jonathan knew his place, as Sewards 'slave'. Even though there sin't any obvious hatred between the men, I do think there was always some rivalry, especially on Jonathan's part, since he seems so eager to tell about how wonderful his life is. There is also a class difference between Jonathan and Seward, which is shown in the play by calling Seward a "scholarship boy", which adds to their relationship. I believe that Seward used to have much higher status, but as time has gone by, Jonathan has taken the upper hand, realizing his position in class, having a good respectful career and soon to being married to heiress. Jonathan pities Seward, and so decides to help Seward by inviting him to Whitby.
   During the scene, we anted 'the walls' to have something to react to, and so again we chose some words where the chorus would turn their heads to show they are still watching. Words like Miss Westerman and Dracula are reacted like so, but also at the end of the when Jonathan mentiones temptaion, the walls would start to turn in cannon, and as I say "But Arthur, if all I've heard about, nurse is true, then..." the chorus would start slowly turning back to the insane at Bedlam, muffling out the end of the line and creating a smooth transition from Sewards office back to Bedlam.
   I still need to do more work on Jonathan and his character, using Stanislavki's methods to do so. I also feel that me and Liam need to block our scene together, since now it is a lot of awkward standing. Since it is Sewards office, I feel that Liam as Seward should be more relaxed, serving drinks and cigars to his guest. There could also be variation in sitting down and standing and more movement in the space.