Ghetto: Reflections

What one thing (technique, idea, element…) did you find most useful as an actor/director, when developing your role/rehearsing your actors?

I think that the one thing that stuck with me throughout the whole rehearsal process was the idea that although we are performing about a very sensitive topic, as actors we must remember that being onstage means not acting introverted. It was very easy to slip into the genre of realism with this play and although we needed to convey truth and believability in our performance, emotions and actions still needed to be articulated to the audience. Having everybody visibly reacting to what was occurring onstage meant that as actors we were always engaged and we were also putting on a piece of theatre that the audience could understand – sometimes within the genre of realism an audience may question what is performance and what is just a ‘dead body.’

Detail any revelations or epiphanies you had as you negotiated the rehearsal process and final performances.

Throughout the rehearsal process and in the final performances I finally grasped a hold of the concept of ‘pace.’ Before Ghetto I had honestly thought that teachers were just being picky when they stated that a scene needed to pick up its pace however it wasn’t until the opening night of Ghetto that I truly thought ‘Act 1 needs to pick up its pace.’ I don’t know why it clicked or how but all of a sudden I recognized that the whole play needed two step up a beat or two and that if we as a company lifted the energy this would happen. As a result Act 2 suddenly felt quicker, more alive and definitely faster paced. I hope that I can use this new found understanding in future productions because it is extremely beneficial for the enjoyment of the audience.

How effectively did you communicate your role to the audience, or fulfil your role as the Associate Director or Stage Manager?

I believe that I communicated my role to the audience relatively well as my ‘Actor Judge’ sparked a bit of laughter despite the rather unsettling context of ‘the insulin play.’ I found it an initially very hard role to portray because the actors and I working on the scene weren’t sure how melodramatic to make our performance without being offensive. We knew that for the audience to understand the ‘play within a play’ concept and even the satirical message behind the ‘dealing insulin to dying patients’ topic, there would have to be an element of melodrama- but how much was the question? I believe we found the right balance between humour and sensitivity and it was actually one of the most enjoyable roles I have had in terms of getting to play a strong and slightly comedic character.  

What evidence is there that your judgement is correct?

Firstly, I thought that people would never really understand the message behind the insulin play however they surprisingly did! When I asked my mother if she actually understood it she said she did which really took me by surprise. I guess this means that the comedic and melodramatic spin we put on the play did not mask the issue that it was hinting at. I had people approach me at school who said that they found my character very amusing and that my physicality was good, which were huge compliments.

Comment on another actor’s performance that you thought was successful.  Explain why this might be so.

I could write about anybody in the cast because I was truly honoured to be working onstage with all my fellow classmates however the one person who shone to me was Sam. I personally believe that he has grown the most as an actor throughout the Ghetto process and the carelessness and disdainfulness that he brought to Weiskopf were very impressing. I am not sure why this process in particular saw Sam blossom but I assume it was something personal and unpinpointable. I personally believe that he was able to really connect with his character and although he was someone the whole of the Ghetto hated, Sam must have found some admirable qualities inside of Weiskopf, in order to portray him as he did.

Discuss the pleasure of new challenges you faced during this unit of work, as an actor or director or stage manager.

I found the concept of having to portray a real-life story extremely challenging and very daunting. It wasn’t until Mr Darrow’s lecture that it hit me, that real people had gone through what we were portraying onstage. This was a feeling unlike anything else I have ever experienced before, as the closest thing I have acted-in to reality, was Jesus Christ Superstar! I think the reason that the production had to go downhill in the nights before we performed was that everyone was having trouble connecting with the material. It was easy to forget why we were putting on Ghetto and who we were doing it for, but after we hit rock bottom, as actors we seemed to suddenly note the importance of ‘doing it right.’ Overall Ghetto was as much of a challenge as it was a pleasure; however it is undoubtedly something that I will never be able to forget when I look back on my years at Kristin. 

Ghetto: The Performances

It is crazy to think that Ghetto is finally over and last night on the dove stage was a very humbling and rewarding experience. Being the last performance for us all in that particular theatre, we were all very focussed on working together and appreciating every last moment on the stage. We worked very hard to keep the pace and energy up in all the scenes and it was very evident on the second night when this truly came together. For me, I have two special Ghetto moments that will always stay with me. The first being during the 'Swanee' dance, with Kittel destroying each couple and throwing me to the floor. This scene allowed me to feel real fear and pain and a true sense of empathy was felt. I also found intriguing the scene in which we all face the wall and turn around with Kittel laughing at our fear. This to me epitomised his sadistic attitude and was a very moving scene to act in. The audience response has been wonderful with people recognizing the extremely difficult process we went through as a cast to put on this play.  Even scenes of confusion to us as actors such as the insulin play were largely understood by the audience which is a great relief. Today, though extremely tired I am able to look back over the last week as a huge growing experience. From our disastrous technical run through to our amazingly potent closing night, the physical maturing of us as actors and the show as a whole has been enormous. I suppose it was a huge risk to let 17 year olds tell a tale that many cannot really comprehend and often, choose not to. Thankfully it appears that not only did we honour the Kristin Performing Arts tradition, but we honoured those who lived through the tragedy as well.

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 7

This week has seen the whole show come together - albeit quite roughly. Yesterday we had an awful Act Two run through and I think that it was partly because the whole cast was quite tired and the show was getting quite tedious. Today however, when we put on our costumes and makeup for the cue to cue, seemed to run slightly smoother possibly because working with props, lighting and costume etc has brought upon another layer for us and has brought back some excitement that we felt in the early days of blocking. This week is a particularly stressful week with regard to tests and internal assessment hand-ins and having Ghetto after-school every night is something that has dampened a lot of the cast's spirits and has made this weekend's rehearsals difficult. It has been hard to maintain a constant focus when there are so many deadlines looming and I for example have KFS and the Prefect Quiz Night to also worry about, though I have tried my best. I think that the show is missing quite a bit of emotional connection in the final scene but I think this is because we have been constantly told to 'work through the mechanics.' Once we, tomorrow, finally establish what we do in the execution it will be so much more real and impactful. I have faith that everything will come together on the night but I am still worried about the Insulin scene which had a complete tonal change when I was absent on Friday. Tomorrow's final dress rehearsal will for this reason be very important for me as I have never acted in the scene with the changes made and I haven't had a chance to receive any feedback on the portrayal of my 'Judge' character. 

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 6

This week has seen the show really come together - it is also getting easier to understand the events of the play as they unfold because we are able to view scenes amongst the main characters which link everything. This week we spent many hours working on the Hitler and dummy scene. To me it bore a striking resemblance to the Herod scene from Jesus Christ Superstar which I danced in last year - except with far more sinister undertones. I think the way that our bodies are lifelessly dragged around and flung about represents how evil and powerful the Nazi's were and how much control they had over the Jewish people's lives. The ending scene is so potent for me especially as the Jewish bodies lie in a clump at the bottom of the steps while the Nazi officers salute Hitler - he is given respect for his massacres. The almost satirical awarding of Stars of David and the Swastika illustrates how ill fated genetics left one race murdering another. By picking and choosing a group to play one and a group to play another this concept of fate is menacingly conveyed. 

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 5

Having missed a week of rehearsals because of camp the pressure is really mounting to finish blocking all the scenes from Ghetto. We had a historical lecture about the Holocaust this week and it was very informative, but it also made the show we are about to perform, very real. I think the reading of the excerpt about the Jews going to their deaths was quite horrifying and it makes me feel that if we don't do Ghetto justice, we will be almost insensitive. At this stage it is hard to connect emotionally with the script because we are only blocking, but in learning more about what we are attempting to portray, the emotions are given a historical background and we can only attempt to try and understand the feelings of the people we are hearing about. We also began work on the execution scene this week which I at first thought would be quite 'cool' but I surprisingly found it very difficult. When we turn to face the wall on Kittel's request, every single member of the company is squeezing each-others hand/shoulder etc extremely tightly and I know that I actually became very nervous when looking away. I think that the final scene is going to be portrayed very tastefully. If it had been too symbolic, the scene would have made a very real story - an abstract art-form. If it had been too gory and realistic I don't think any of us would have coped, or would have been able to take the scene seriously. The current vision for the scene has a good balance between both, and although it is taxing on the actors, it is not making an overdramatized mockery of a very traumatic event.   

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 3

This week has been extremely full on in terms of the emotionally draining scenes tacked. The insulin play was blocked and it is still proving to be quite confusing as to the extent to which the 'actors' are 'acting.' The character I play is a judge and I show that I am this through using strong body language, my chin tilted up, and a sort of hoity toity yet very morally superior attitude. On Wednesday when we tried to do a run through of the scenes we had already blocked, it became apparent how much work we are yet to do. Scenes feel jarred and weird because we are trying to combine a deeply emotional and gut retching story with script holding and trying to remember lines. The show is slowly progressing but it is quite a tiring process. On Thursday we blocked the children's selection scene which was one of the first scenes to hit me with sadness. I feel that the stylistic devise used at the end of this scene with the four 'actors' surrounding Gens and taking off their costumes in protest, is very powerful and effective. It shows how Gens is treated in the Ghetto but follows Kruik's narration about his innocence.

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 2

This week has been very interesting for me as I have come to understand a great deal more about my character in the 'Insulin Play.' At first we were unsure whether the characters involved were being melodramatic or making a mockery out of the play. Now we understand that it is satirical and very symbolic of everybody's lives in the Ghetto. Knowing this has helped so much as I rehearse my lines because I can truly understand the meaning behind them. This week also was very interesting as we blocked the Swanee dance. This was a very perplexing scene as the characters are dancing yet they look physically and mentally exhausted. They appear to be dancing out of utter fear of Kittel yet they are almost too scared to put any effort into their steps. The fact that the girls are dancing with girls I think is so effective and for some reason it makes the scene even more sickening. I'm not quite sure why but there is something presented that it clearly uncomfortable for the audience and unnatural as understandably you would expect partner dancing to occur between a man and a woman.

Ghetto Rehearsals Week 1

This week we held our first four Ghetto rehearsals. After initially reading the play I don’t think trauma which we are attempting to portray quite hit me as these were just words on paper. After the first rehearsal it did. Mr Brown’s analogy of the little fish living in a shark tank really struck a chord with me and I think it is because I have visited the aquarium and wondered that very thing many a time. I think only when we get into costume and feel a true sense of division and separation between the Jews and the Nazis will us, as the “Jewish population” feel truly intimidated and inferior. But the little fish and shark analogy was a brilliant introduction to the fact that in time we will hopefully begin to get a glimpse of what it was like to live life with death always knocking and no escape in sight. That I suppose, is why the members started performing.  Finding my character of the Judge will be challenging because I only feature in one scene where I am performing a satirical insulin play. I am really playing a Jewish citizen who pretends to be a judge and this double layer will need to be evident in my work. I think the judge says what she says when ‘acting’ in the play because she wants everyone to see what is ethically right – that is why she speaks of the nonsense it is to condemn people to death simply because they are diabetic. Ironically I am extremely and totally opposed to the death penalty however I find my character stating “Do we ever have the right to sentence people to death? Answer: We do.” Friends within the class who know me well immediately picked up on this and it will only be another personal hill to climb, having to directly state that I am for something that in reality I oppose drastically.  

 Term 1, 2012

Gender Inequality: 'The Double Standard' Reflection...

My understanding of the convention of Verfremdungseffekt is that it is ‘making strange’ and distancing one’s self from the piece of theatre. It involves presenting an idea objectively and critically rather than using, for example realistic acting to do so. Brecht once said when speaking of the Verfremdungseffekt that it, “Prevents the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer."I believe it definitely has the ability to affect an audience as they are being included in the performance (actors are encouraged to break the fourth wall) and they witness the portrayal of an idea like no other. Because of the nature of Brechtian theatre audience members are invited to get involved in the piece (both literally and metaphorically) and it is the hope that this type of theatre will prompt political change or at least provide a lingering thought.

Although there are many differences between Dramatic and Epic Theatre, I believe that the fundamental difference is the audience of a piece of Dramatic Theatre are sharing in the moment with the actors. For example in a realistic portrayal of a character the hope is that the audience may feel empathetic/sympathetic because they are caught up in the characters emotions. With Epic Theatre however, the audience are separate to the narrative onstage and thus less attention is placed on realistic acting, but instead the use of gestus. I found some of the most effective elements of Brechtian Theatre were the inclusion of a narrator. This most definitely created distance between the actors and the issue which they were presenting. I also found the inclusion of song to be very impactful as it usually came from nowhere, giving the audience a complete surprise and finishing with them very shocked and slightly intrigued.

During the devising process our group struggled a lot because we did not feel as though the issue that the class was presenting was clearly showing through in our work. We also hit many ‘mental blocks’ because we were unsure as to which direction our piece should take. In the end Mr Brown was extremely helpful and offered the suggestion of letting the audience decide what ending they would feel most comfortable with. This in the end became one of our favourite parts of our scene because it really included the audience but also had a slight element of risk as we were breaking the fourth wall with an unknown and unpredictable audience. When we finally overcame our mental block and showed our scene to a person removed from it we made a lot of progress as we were so connected to it that we lost sight of its ability to affect outsiders. We also found it fun and impactful to have both Hannah and I playing the typical blonde American bimbos while Angus and Sian were very kiwi ‘skuxxes.’ This use of gestus was very strange but also strangely identifiable with, for the audience.

As a group our intention to prompt change within our audience was questionable because of the lack lustre response they gave us. This could have been for a multitude of reasons especially the fact that we were invading their personal space and were really quite intimidating. I think that as a class we chose a very difficult topic to have as our umbrella for our scenes and this meant that coming up with something potent and original was challenging. My other group members really disliked our scene from the beginning and stated that if we were beginning again they would do a completely different scene. I however see some merits of our devised piece and I was determined to make it work during rehearsals. Overall, it was very interesting and a good learning curve for all of us as we had never performed to such an unresponsive and 'closed' audience. This is a horrible thing to experience, but definitely something that all good actors will come across in their lifetime. 

Gender Inequality: 'The Double Standard' Performance...

Yesterday we spent the double finalizing our Brechtian piece. Mr Brown suggested we use pieces of paper with the audience so that they feel as though they have a say in the outcome of the piece. Therefore we gave out numbers 1,2 and 3 on small bit of paper and at the end asked the audience about which scenario they felt most comfortable with. Mr Brown also suggested that we create gestus by having Hannah and I put on stereotypical blonde American bimbo accents/attitude. The performance today went well as we were working in a classroom and so we had to work around the small 'stage space.' We also chose to sit through the year eleven's entry to class and the first performance in character which meant that Hannah and I were constantly conversing in our accents. We saved seats by sitting in them to begin with and from there we mingled with the students and probably intimidated them a lot!

Gender Inequality: 'The Double Standard' Rehearsals...

Today we began working on our piece again after being away from school for two weeks with exams.We did however, reach a point in our piece where we hit a brick wall and had no clue how to end the piece of political theatre. Mr Brown helped so much offering the suggestion that we give the audience three different scenarios and let them decide which would be the most probable path travelled. We have selected three alternate endings which we will show the year 11's; one dire, one a best-case scenario, and one in which nothing much happens and the teasing never stops (sadly the most likely to occur.) This way, we are involving the audience and also creating an inner debate as we ask them what might happen and they in turn ask themselves.We have the double period to work on the scene tomorrow and then we are performing in class on Thursday. Hopefully we are all going to wear blacks with a 'character' element of clothing for stylistic symbolism as well as making it easy to identify us for the audience. 

Gender Inequality: 'The Double Standard' Beginning To Block...

Yesterday during the double we sat down and talked about the logistics of our ideas. We decided to change our idea and make a bigger deal of the 'facebook' element. We want the scene to start at the party with photos being taken and commented upon. When the photo of the boys caught in a bad position is seen, it receives a lot of hurtful comments. The scene then moves to the classroom the next day with the children talking about the photo and criticizing it. The scene then moves to the boys room as he is looking at the photo, the audience then finding out that he drank too much as a result. We have been using Brechtian techniques such as narrator, scene titles, gestus, montage and are hoping to include the use of music at the beginning.

Gender Inequality: 'The Double Standard' Initial Planning...

Yesterday with Mr Brown absent we, as a class brainstormed ideas for our Brechtian Theatre piece. After deciding upon gender inequality; 'the double standard' we split into our groups and spoke about how we wanted to devise our performance which is to be shown inside a health class. Angus, Sian, Hannah and I have talked about setting the piece in an actual classroom: having a dean walk in, to talk to their students about a very serious issue. Here we are thinking that the dean would take on the role of the narrator. We are thinking that a boy was seen hugging another boy and this was taken out of context; calling him gay. The boy is severely harassed but we are unsure as to what will happen to him (possibly he commits suicide.) We hope to be able to develop our idea, rehearse it and apply all of the Brechtian techniques tomorrow during the double period. 

Invisible Theatre...

On Thursday we were treated to some invisible theatre by the year 13 students Madison, Michael and Hamish. They tricked us into believing that they were having a real fight with Mr. Brown, looking into the influence of the 'drama classroom' and 'drama teacher/student relationship.' This was the most emotionally involved I have ever felt when watching a piece of theatre, probably because we thought that it was real and I (along with other classmates) was in a state of shock for the rest of the day. I would love to perform something like this next year and I am so thankful that we got to experience it; although at the time I felt like it was one of the most horribly awkward things that I had ever witnessed. 

How Tempo Rhythm Affects Others...

You may think that Tempo Rhythm is solely for the actor using it but we have found that if you want to be a convincing actor you need to respond to others. For example your tempo rhythm will increase if someone tells you some exciting news and they are excited also. They are influencing you and your tempo rhythm.

Here are two exercises that demonstrate this.

First exercise:

One person will be taken out of the group and given a scenario and tempo rhythm. The rest of the group will not know anything apart from where they are.

For the group: You are at a school.

Second exercise:

All of the group will be given a scenario and tempo rhythm apart from one person who will be asked to come in after the group has been filled in.

For the one person: You are at an Airport.

Follow up questions:

Why do you think we have chosen this exercise?

Can you apply it to your scene?

What did you find helpful?

What wasn’t helpful?

Do you have any questions for us?

Reflection...

As an actor I found Stanislavski’s system very useful when exploring and developing my role as Carol in Oleanna. Before Joel and I started blocking our scene we sat down for a fair few hours and went through all of the system, annotating it on our scripts. I found the tempo rhythm aspect very helpful when first beginning to block as it helped me to establish the pace at which my character was mentally and physically travelling. I also found emotion memory useful, especially in the final scene where I had to be hurt by Joel. I used inner monologue throughout the piece in order to remain engaged both facially and mentally in the scene when John was speaking to Carol. I also found that the clashes with Super and Unit objectives were easier to comprehend and show, once I had annotated them in my script. 

I think that the Stanislavskian system made the fight scene far more truthful for Joel and I because once he had pushed me down (which caused me a lot of bruising!) I was able to use the technique of emotion memory to remember a time when I had been hurt and was in complete shock. I also found that the use of inner monologue made my character’s cattiness and her abilities to aggravate John, even greater. I know this because so many people have told me that they hated my character because she drove them crazy with her taunting and will to have the last word. I have also been told that our fight scene was extremely believable which is good because it means that the system was working for us. 

I think I communicated my role to the audience reasonably well and I am happy that I managed to rectify a situation which could have ruined the scene; the paper that Joel through off the stage was only meant to land in front of his desk and when he told me to leave I would bend down to pick it up. That is when he would grab me and attack me. When the paper flew off the stage I knew that I had better find a reason to get onto my knees on the floor and so I walked forward and accidentally dropped my piece of paper, bent down to get it and was then ready to be attacked. It was extremely hard to be planning this entire solution out in my head whilst trying to keep acting to the system, but I was told by the audience members that they thought that I was supposed to drop the paper so thankfully it didn’t look stupid.  

I believe that the scene by Sara, Rebecca and Anna was excellent because it really showed the system and it was like we were watching two teenagers fight. All of Rebecca’s mannerisms were very realistic and you could clearly see Sara’s inner monologue bubbling away inside her head. Their scene was extremely natural and it was clear that all of the character’s tempo rhythms were rising towards the end of the scene. There was a very real connection between Rebecca and Sara / Sara and Anna which I enjoyed watching and I believe that this is especially important for such a scene. 

New challenges I faced as an actor included having to switch plays and roles and ultimately finding myself playing a character I would not think that I could ever portray. I have never played an antagonistic character; always the moaning or ditsy damsel in distress. I found the fight scene especially challenging as I had to mentally prepare myself to get hurt – a natural reaction to any sort of threat being to protect ones self – but I couldn’t show this preparation on my face or in my body. I found the role quite emotionally challenging and to be honest it did scare me that I was about to be shoved to the floor (I still, 5 days later have blue bruises on my knees and scratches on my hand to prove it!) It gave me a real insight into the world of stage combat but also realistic acting which involves the victim having to feel the pain of the fight, in order to portray it realistically. Overall, playing Carol was a very interesting experience and I learned a lot about myself as an actor and a person whilst performing this role. 

Directorial Concept...

Style	Design needs	Costume	Proxemics
Our piece hopes to follow the Stanislavskian system within the ‘Theatre of Realism’. This means that we ideally want there to be clear evidence of the system being used within our performance in order for us to make it believable to the audience.	Our piece is designed so that the focus of the stage is John’s desk, scatter with papers and pens etc. Behind it is his simple chair and on stage right is Carol’s chair. This does give the impression of being in a n office however it is only a minimalistic set because of the time constraints that we are under	Because John is a professor he will be wearing a shirt, trousers, black shoes, tie and glasses. He needs to look smart yet slightly dishevelled due to all of the stress he is under. Carol will be wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers with her hair in a ponytail. We hope that the red will insight feelings of aggression and will subtly symbolise her power in the scene.	Because of the tension that we want to create in our scene we will have John and Carol seated away from each other however in the heat of their argument and as their tempo rhythms rise; we will be brought close together.

Research: What's In A Name...

There is no character called Oleanna in Oleanna, nor is the name ever mentioned. There are only two people in Mamet’s play: John, an American college professor, and Carol, his student. The title is in fact a remarkably obscure allusion to a nineteenth-century Utopian community in Pennsylvania called Oleana (one ‘n’), after its Norwegian founder, Ole Bull (1810-80), a famous violinist, and his mother Anna (Ole + Anna = Oleana). Bull’s fiefdom had four main settlements: Oleana, New Bergen, New Norway and New Valhalla. Pioneers flooded in, attracted by the prospect of free land, but it soon became clear that most of the 11,000 acres, located in a narrow valley between thickly forested hills, were the debacle inspired a satirical folk-song called ‘Oleanna’, originally composed in Norwegian and later recorded in a translation by Pete Seeger, it is as follows:

Oh to be in Oleanna,

That's where I'd like to be

Than to be in Norway

And bear the chains of slavery.

Little roasted piggies

Rush around the city streets

Inquiring so politely

If a slice of ham you'd like to eat.

Beer as sweet as Muncheners

Springs from the ground and flows away

The cows all like to milk themselves

And the hens lay eggs ten times a day.

Mamet included the first verse of this song as the epigraph to the printed version of his play. The most immediate connection is to do with land. In Oleanna John spends much of the time on the phone to his wife or his lawyer talking about the purchase of a new house, while Carol, mute and waiting, listens. Both John and Ole Bull’s plans are eventually blighted by legal restrictions on the purchase of land. But John’s failure to negotiate the sale of land and Ole Bull’s failure to pioneer a new Utopia, are paralleled, in the play, by another failure: the failure of the Utopian project of university education. John admits to Carol in a careless moment that he regards the whole university system as flawed and worthless, and that he is willing to break the rules and give her an ‘A’ grade, even though her work has been poor. He has the power to do it, and so why not? ‘We won’t tell anybody,’ he says. Carol is shocked, puzzled, and finally outraged at the failure of the university system to supply what she has a right to expect: legitimate instruction, value for money. 

She berates John rather as a Norwegian colonist might have addressed Ole Bull — she has no ‘security’; as in the song, she is a ‘slave’: CAROL...But to the aspirations of your students. Of hardworking students, who come here, who slave to come here — you have no idea what it cost me to come to this school — you mock us. [...] CAROL...But we worked to get to this school [...] to gain admittance here. To pursue that same degree of security you pursue. One might bear in mind that Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamet’s play of 1984, is about real estate agents who swindle members of the public by selling worthless parcels of land, and Mamet himself worked briefly for a real estate company in the 1960s. Oleanna, it seems, picks up where Glengarry Glen Ross left off, exploring the inability of capitalism to ensure ethical social behaviour and the ever-present danger of getting royally ripped off. In both Oleanna and Glengarry Glen Ross there are dangerous people willing to bend the rules for their own ends. This is the meaning of Oleanna as a title: in the USA of David Mamet, the dream of security and social mobility through education and hard work is just another fantasy exploited by the unscrupulous to trap the gullible. 

Oleanane, a sub name from Oleanna, is the name given to chemicals produced by many flowering plants, which have a suppressing effect on some insect pest organisms. This name itself along with the title has meaning to the story, as Carol could be seen as a dangerous chemical hell bent on destroying Johns career. John, possibly portrayed as the ‘pest’ has been suppressed by Carol’s accusations to the Tenure council, and in turn Carol, at first seen in the play as a flower, has become the chemical that has caused this suppression upon the teacher. 


Compiled by the Oleanna group

Final Rehearsals...

For the past two classes we have really focussed on making sure that the system is visible in our workings and we have also blocked the fight scene. Hannah arrived back today and having someone who knows the play quite well, but who hasn’t seen the scene before was actually very helpful as she was able to give us feedback as to what an audience would feel/think/see/criticize/believe. It is different for our other director Sian who has been working on the scene for a week and had seen the blocking evolve. The fight scene has been very troubling for us as we don’t want it to look rehearse and we are mentally preparing ourselves for something that needs to appear as though it was not a conscious decision. On Friday we Joel and I had a go at pushing each other around and from that we were able to see what would naturally happen if we were shoved a certain way etc. We hope that this is going to be helpful tomorrow however it is slightly worrying that so much of our blocking was changed today, and we perform tomorrow. This is defiantly something that as a professional actor I will have to learn to cope with as accidents can go wrong on stage/cast members can fall ill etc and aspects of the play may need to be changed for a certain performance. It will be a test of both Joel and my drama ability to be able to remember all of the new blocking and portray the system tomorrow.