Exam Question

(a) Outline for your performers two ways that might indicate the relationships between Lysistrata and Calonice at the start of this extract.

The name Lysistrata indicates "releaser of armies", and as the director, I wish to show this by expressing Lysistrata as a strong and independent women, who's loyalty towards women stretches all over the world. Calenice represents "fine victory", and I want to highlight this by expressing her as someone who is forever faithful and loyal to her friends, but also has her fiery temper that allows her opinion to be put across. I will need to the actors playing them to have a natural chemistry both on and off stage, because the characters friendship needs to look natural, and effortless. 

To get the actors completely comfortable, I would give them a small extract from the play (only a page or so long), and get them to reenact this section multiple times in different styles with different objectives. I want the actors to come out of their comfort zones to make each other feel relaxed. Different themes I will get them to interpret would be for Calenice to emphasise her feminism and sexuality, and to highlight Lysistrata's control and dominance. However, I would put a twist on these themes and put them in difficult situations such as a non-vocal performance, a one-tone vocal performance, a futuristic performance based on them waiting for a bus, an animal interpretation and so on. All these experiments will be spontaneous, making the actors think on their toes and outside the box, which will make them work well together.  

I am setting the play during WW2 (1939-1945),  Lysistrata and Calenice are two original women who have grown up in the village that has given out homes to evacuees. To really emphasise their friendship, a rehearsal technique I would get the actors to take part in would be mirroring. Mirroring involves one person taking the lead, and performing actions for one or multiple people to follow, and try their best to stay in time. I would start the two actors off facing each other, then choosing one to take the lead, and one to follow. This is a physical warm up that allows the actors to get an idea of different movements and positions that will allow their characters to flow well together. Because I would have preciously done the spontaneous exercise of them following an extract and doing different interpretations, by now the actors would feel more comfortable around each other. Normal everyday actions and activities are what I will get the actors to start off with, then gradually get them to exaggerate their actions more, becoming more and more abstract. The object is for them to stay in sync, and for the leader to think clearly about the actions they will produce, and to come up with easy ways to make it easy for the other person to follow. The other person will also have to concentrate fully to follow the leader with clear actions that flow together. I will then get them to take turns in being the leader, and ask them to create actions that show them greeting someone for the first time, and greeting someone they have known all their life. I want the actors to distinguish a style for familiarity, and alienation, as this will be important when representing their friendship.

I feel these two exercises will allow the actors to bond well, and become comfortable and relaxed around each other, which will be highlighted towards the audience, and allow their friendship to become clear.