Reflection and RI

Reflection and RI 

Reflection of Set Design:
At first i thought the set design work was going to be very easy and i would have different ideas about what i could use. We decided t do a set design on the play 'Mother Courage' by Bertolt Brecht. I thought it was going to be hard to do a set design for this play because Brecht's key aspects he wanted to show in his production is the alienation of the audience - i had this in the back of my mind for  the whole process. 
We started reading the play fist and making initial notes on it, did research and we then went off and did our own set designs. The first thing that came into my head for my set design was projections because this is another key aspect of Brecht's ideas and was what he used a lot in his plays. 
During the process of this project i realized i had to understand Mother Courage herself and by understanding her i would be able to understand the whole piece.  I had to think of the scene i wanted to portray and at first i decided on doing a scene with a lot of props and scenery in it but i decided against that because it would match Brecht's aim of alienating the audience. So i decided on the first scene because its meaningful to the piece and has a significance to it. The significance of the first scene is showing that Mother Courage is on an journey that does not change she remains the same person from the start until the finish. So by choosing the first scene shows her entering the circle of her unchangeable journey. 
In reflection i thought it was really interesting and different to do such a hands on project and enjoyed it because it showed everyone's ideas and helped with our theater in the making.


RI: 
Ancient Greek Theater 
- Tragedy Plays 
- Comedy Plays 
- Satires
- Chorus  
- Acting 
- Costumes and Make-up 

An ancient Greek play consisted of three major parts. The play began with a prologue, a simple speech. Then, there was the entrance of the chorus. Finally, there were major episodes, scenes or acts, of the play.
Plays were important because they were originally performed to honor Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of harvest and wine. 
Understanding a Greek play is only possible if the symbolic significance of the actions, actors and stage is revealed. 


Tragedy Plays: 
A tragedy received its name from how it was performed. A tragedy had actors who wore goatskins and danced like goats.
Tragedies were invented first. In tragedies  one or more major characters always suffered a disastrous end.  

Comedy Plays: 
Comedy plays were derived from imitation and were invented after the tragedies. The plays always had a happy end.  

Satire:
Satires were plays that made fun of mortal legends and of real people. Satires in ancient Greece were often political in nature, and could affect people's opinions and current events. 

The Chorus:
In Greek Theater the chorus or the singers would tell the story. 

Acting:
Actors used gestures and masks to act out their parts. Actors also changed roles by changing theirs masks. 
The actors were all amateurs and all male- gestures use dot have to be very over the top so the whole audience could see and hear the story.

Costumes and Masks:
The actors needed exaggerated costumes and masks so that the audience would be able to hear and see.  
Masks were made out of linen and cork. 
Masks use din tragedies had very sad expressions and comedies had very happy expressions.  Masks were able to amplify the actors voice making it easier for the audience to hear. 

Costumes were colorful and reflected the gender and wealth of each character.