CHARACTER WORK: 1940's women and male relationships

The play focuses a lot on the power balance of male and female relationships. I thought to research the behaviour of male's and female's in the period that we have decided to set the play in. I found that women were encouraged to Wed at a very young age and promiscuity was still strongly frowned upon with religion still being a strong force of control in this time.

But also at this time in america, due to the second world war women were becoming more aware of the likely hood that their men may not return from the war. Relationship style began to change with men and women making public statements of their relationships by the males trading an item of their clothing with the woman who would wear them and reflect their current relationship status. This was called "going steady". I saw this in my research and draw a conclusion that it was very similar to the men in "LLL" giving the women "favours" to wear, as a sign of their romantic intent and possible emotional commitment
. This allowed me to rationalise what the favours would've meant in the time that we had transposed the play into and then react to them not only following the script but the time and intention.

Here was a video I found regarding dating in the 40's, It was really interesting to see a lot of the awkwardness that we feel today as girls and boys was present in the 40's, but the video also highlights a a difference in perceived dating etiquette, with one of the girls behaving in a coy and understated way. I believe the way she behaved is the way the princess of France would behave, so I will take it into my character. But the Princess is also assertive like the other girl in the video, so I will also incorporate that into my portrayal of the princess.

CHARACTER WORK: WHO IS THE PRINCESS

The Princess of Aquataine

 Character profile: 

(1940's Black Hairstyles)

Hopefully for the performance day I could Have my hair like this, so I can look the part specifically.

Who is she?

- The Princess is of university and marrying age

- She has 3 best friends who are her ladies in waiting

- She seems very quick witted but also very strong`to control situations when she believes the joke has gone too far.

- She is the daughter of an ailing king who is dying.

- She has been sent to him to secure a wedding match (as suggested by Boyet saying "remember why we came here" to The Princess before Navarre entered)

STATUS

- She is the most important of the women in the play, with the highest status, she is  high born woman with probably a reputation 

Relationships

Boyet and The Princess

These two get on like a house on fire, they are both smart and Boyet honours his role to the Princess by getting her all the information she craves about the King and his dalliances.

- Boyet is quick witted and also sometimes sexually cheeky with the women in waiting but the boundaries are always clear.

Me and Grace, have begun to bond more over this time doing the performance to truly show a real relationship between our two characters, there's a lot of reliance on Boyet as a go between the female and male characters due to the society the play is set in.

The Princess and her girls

The relationship between The princess and the women in waiting is strong but not too strong, they know each other but there's an element of formality between them and the princess that prevents them from becoming fully involved in the princess's feelings. The only thing that contrasts this is when The princess takes her lead from Rosaline on the plot against the men when they are coming back, otherwise The Princess controls most of the situation and exchange between the women. They are bawdy and reflect the men's slight obsession with them.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT W5: SHAKESPEARE TODAY

Analyse contemporary Shakespeare productions with reference to live performances you may have seen or clips or footage available online. You should comment on what you notice about them and how they differ from what you know about the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s work? (Don’t be afraid to point out the obvious).
Consider how these productions are employing all the techniques, technology and resources of modern theatrE


One modern Shakespeare production I have seen was done by Frantic Assembly at the lyrics Hammersmith. This version of Othello was transposed into an early 2000's bar where there was gang violence and racial tension instead of war in the original Shakespeare text. Another difference in this production in comparison to what I know from studying the actual play text is the costumes worn by the company were extremely modern and current such as track suites and trainers being worn on stage instead of the extravagant hand me downs of the gentry that would be worn by the actors in the 16th Century. Another difference is women actually played women, instead of women roles being played by adolescent males or old comedians. Frantic being a physical theatre company put a heavy emphasise on physical sequences and physicality in their performances and in a sense like Shakespearian theatre with its difficult and challenging intense dance sequences , Frantics Othello had extraneous and complex physical sections that were awe evoking. Here is a clip


The clip also exhibits many other differences this piece had from 16th century theatre. The set for example was important in the overall story it became a living moving part if some sections of importance like when Casio gets drunk or Othello begins to spiral into negativity. The walls undulate and open up into a parking lot setting. They really took advantage of all the modern technology they had to their disposal. Also in this performance you couldn't see the entrances and exits of actors so the illusion stayed quite strong.
This was staged at The Lyric Hammersmith which is an indoor theatre again differing from the globe. Though indoor theatres had the use of artificial lights this production used many different lights and gels and other more modern lighting advances to create different moods for the audience to experience.
Another difference was that this performance had no problem competing with the audience on the case of volume, as they were completely silent and barely any were drinking.