Directing Antigone

It seems that in my absence on blogger, a little drama has erupted.... and not the drama we apprecieate... (haha a little pun on our class name and "fighting" drama).. whew... tough crowd.
Before I actually start my blog, I just want to do a prolouge. (ha wow, thats funny, im a poet and didnt even know it). I have read everything on here, and pretty much all the comments. I am swiss on this one, (neutral). I know a few people in this class from 1st term acting, but there are some I have never met. When I went to see this play, I was actually nervous about giving my opionion on it, because of the people actually in the play, are in our class, that Ive never met. I actually expressed my concern to someone (cant remember who), and finally decided that I will yes, give my opionion, but not say anything that may cause further.... frustrations. If, what I have to say, does cause offense, please remember that as a critique, and a student, I am not trying to attack anyone, and I really do understand how hard it is to be involved in a play, and I ask that you understand that I understand that.

When walking into Antigone, I was eager to see what Zimmer (the director) did for the play. As many of you know, in 1st term acting, we preformed dialouges from this exact play, so I am quite familiar with it and with Zimmer. I was first and foremost shocked at the layout. The arena seating, with 4 sides, I didnt like at first, but before I prejudged I gave it a chance. During the play, I have to say that I still didnt enjoy it. I thought that with the 2 benches the blocking was designed to fill up the whole stage. I almost felt like there was too much movement. I felt like the characters had to keep moving, because they had to entertain 4 sides. I sat there imagining what the blocking would have been like with say 3 sides. It was an interesting director choice, with the stage layout which I felt affected the blocking.

Another thing I was very shocked by was the music. From reading the other blogs I noticed that it was mentioned that it was the original score, but I have to say I wasnt a fan. I feel like the actors did not fit the music. *please remember my prolouge, im not attacking the actors* I feel like maybe the tempo and the acting did not fit the music, it was like they started playing it and then turned it off and then it started again. I did not get the feeling that it was planned and helped the dialouge. I think that maybe it was a director choice to put in the music to break up the monotony of the lengthy monolouges, but I didnt feel like it helped.

I thought the cast was surprising. Different from what I imagined, because as I mentioned before I have read this play before, so naturally I invisioned my own characters in my head. I thought that as far as choosing a hardworking cast, the director did a good job. The time spent on rehearsal and research was evident.

Im excited for the next play!!! :)

Alex Ashton