Scene Objectives

Act 1 Scene 2
During this scene Claudio is to be walked through the streets in his gyves so hat the public can see what happens when you disobey the law.
My scene objective is: To humiliate Claudio
However, I would say that my psychological objective would be the opposite of this. Perhaps: To help.
This is because despite being a member of the law, the Provost actually sympathises Claudio's situation as there's never been such a serious sentence for such a miniscule crime before.
In this scene, the Provost has the highest power and so is in control throughout.
Setting: streets

Act 2 Scene 2
During this scene the Provost tries to persuade Angelo from confirming Claudio's execution without directly stating it.
Scene Objective: To persuade
The Provost is sly in this scene but has to be respectful and careful because despite having to obey Angelo, they don't know him as well as they know the Duke. Angelo's 'rash' decisions could be put on the Provost if they intervene too much.
Setting: Office

Act 2 Scene 3
This scene shows the Provost meeting the undercover Duke.
My scene objective is: To state because the Provost is unaware that the person they're talking to is someone that has a greater status then themselves. There is also a quality of to inform when the Provost explains the mishap of Claudio to him.
Setting: streets

Act 3 Scene 1
During this scene, Claudio and the undercover Duke discuss his dilemma while the Provost sort of guards Claudio in the prison.
Scene objective: To watch Claudio and to invite Isabella when she come to visit him later on in the scene.
Setting: The prison

Act 3 Scene 2
During this scene we carry on Mistress Overdone whom we've arrested.
Scene Objective: To restrain Mistress Overdone and To help Esculus when she asks for it.
Setting: A street

Scene 4 Act 2
This scene includes the Provost telling Pompey that he needs to help the executioner because they're short of staff. However Pompey is against this idea at first and so the Provost's scene objective is: to persuade until she gets fed up and changes it to make him do as she says. In order to do this, there are many other objectives among the text such as to blackmail.
Later in the scene, Claudio enters and the warrant for his death is revealed and so the objective changes to sympathise for his inevitable demise.
Further on in the scene the disguised Duke enters and objectives such as to answer and to inform arise when the discussion of Barnadine arises
Setting: A room in the prison

Act 4 Scene 3
During this scene the Provost invests more of themselves into helping The disguised Duke come up with a plan to preserve Claudio's life. The Provost is kind hearted and so they don't fine it hard to help and to assist him. However when the possibility of the Provost's life being put on the line the Provost begins to question, to doubt and to enquire.
Setting:Another room in the prison

Act 5 Scene 1
This is the scene in which the truth is revealed and the Provost plays a key role in unravelling the ending. But when spoken to the Provost is told that they have let the law down and so lose their jobs but manage to persuade the revealed Duke to not fire them as they hadn't done anything wrong. This is where it was revealed that the Provosts had kept Claudio alive and instead killed a pirate that was already dead which of course the revealed Duke knew that the unrevealed Duke (himself) knew.
Setting: The city gate

Choreography

We've been doing rigorous warm ups and stretches in order to prepare our bodies for the loose movements that formed the dance style of 89. Our choreographer is called Ben and he's shown us a series of moves such as the running man, in order for us to embody the youth during the second summer of love.

I found this side of the production really fun and Ben told me I was a very fluid dancer with good rhythm. This came as a complete surprise to me as dance has never really been something I've been good at. However this feedback definitely gave me confidence and allowed me to really jump into the dancing world of the play's setting.

The enthusiasm and passion that went into this rehearsal was really strong and worked well however I have a slight worry for next lesson when Ben isn't in, incase the energy lacks or choreography is forgotten.

Another thing that Ben helped us with was transitions between scenes. For example, during some transitions there are rave sections which includes a crowd of ravers that surrounds and carries on the actors for the next scene and takes away the actors from the prior scene. This transition is really smart and almost mimics a special effect in the sense that people disappear and then reappear as if by magic in front of the audiences eyes.

Another transition would be from the first set of choreography to the first scene in which we all go from dancing, to dancing in slow motion which really accentuates the idea and look of being completely in our own world. There's a real feel of everyone being on ecstasy and dancing till the end of time. This then goes back into real time dancing before Escalus and Angelo are seen from each side of the stage and everyone runs off stage as though they are dodging the police. This automatically set the scene for the audience because it becomes obvious that Angelo and Esculus are of higher importance and feared by the young ravers.

Laban Efforts

In today's lesson we focused on Laban efforts. This technique was created by a theorist names Rudolf Laban and was originally created to cater for dancers but in the 80s it began to be applies in theatre too.

The Laban system can be applies to both speech and movement as one usually influences the other anyway.

For example, a harsh and tough Eastenders character might use the effort of punch or if they're younger perhaps slash to emphasise their confident, strong and not to be messed with persona. This would be juxtaposed by say a princess or fairy that might embody the effort of float or glide depending on the mentality, age and current mood of the character.

Trying out each Laban effort was interesting and whilst doing some it was obvious what stereotypical characters could come out of some of the efforts. It was also difficult at times when the efforts weren't too dissimilar to one another with only one quality among the four changing.

Laban efforts really helped with my character development despite my character not being as extreme as another characters embodiments (e.g Barnadine or Pompey).

I would say that my version of the Provost most often takes up the embodiment of 'glide' because she is sustained in time, she has no need to rush because she is in charge and in control. Her weight is light because she is a woman that isn't fazed by what's going on around her. Her feet are firm on the floor but she has a weightless, graceful look to her. Spatially she is direct because she always knows where she is going and is never lost. She had places to be and people to boss around. Give her attitude and she'll give you professional and fashionable sass. And her flow is free because she has empowerment. She is equal to men and not bound to the floor by society or the weight of the world because she simply doesn't care. The Provost wants justice for her people and never loses a case she wants to win.

Taken from http://keywordsuggest.org/gallery/1281332.html

Translating

By translating the script into modern english I was able to grasp a better understanding of the text. Sadly it wasn't as easy to source translations as Sparknotes didn't have any information of 'Measure For Measure' as the problem play is once of Shakespeare's less common plays compared to say Hamlet or Macbeth.

Because of this I had to go through each of my lines separately and then collectively to grasp a better understanding of the text which allowed me to understand my character better. At first I thought this was going to be an impossible task bet it was a lot easier that I thought it would be but putting that short amount of time to the side to go over translations really allowed me to understand the play in more depth.

Because the language is old there are a few words that are less commonly used in today's modern world such as the word 'gyves'. This is in one of the Provost's passages of speech and I quickly learnt that they were basically the equivalent of shackles.

Image taken from: http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/gyves.html

Script Analysis

This website really helped me to identify themes and gain a better understanding of the play:
http://www.shmoop.com/measure-for-measure/themes.html


Here are some examples of the script analysis that I've done throughout my script:

Translations

Staging and translations