Supporting written evidence

Our stimulus was the play ‘Not the end of the world’ written by Geraldine Mccaughrean and adapted by Simon Reade. It was first performed at The Bristol Old Vic in 2006.

As a group we researched into the historical context of the play, and where the writer found her inspiration. We looked through the Bible and found the original story of Noah and the Ark. After this we read the foreword in the play, written by the playwright. We found this of great interest as it begins to explain her thoughts and feelings towards the traditional Bible story and how it is always shown as beautiful and happy time, where God helped to save the people from a flood. By reading this foreword and the original story it helped us to confirm our own opinions about the traditional story of Noah and the Ark. It made us question what it would have really been like to have been aboard a wooden boat, filled with two animals from every species, whilst there was a natural disaster. We wanted to communicate this message to the audience.

After reading through the play and our initial research we decided to create a piece that would help question the traditional Bible story and alter the view of the audience. The play itself deals with the issues the people would have faced on board the ark, had the story been true. It focuses on the character Shem, a hubristic religious fanatic, who interprets God’s word to suit his needs. As a group we agreed that the scenes which contained humans would remain naturalistic and the animal scenes would be kept highly symbolic and un-naturalistic, in order to juxtapose the tragedy in a satirical way.

During the devising process I made the decision to do my own research, in an aim to find out what other people’s view of the Ark was. This was of particular interest as it meant I was able to find out more about some people’s fanatical views of the Bible. It also made me question whether I thought the story was real or not. I found a particularly interesting website where it claimed that the size of the average animal was about the size of a sheep. This research proved to me that people will conjure up crazy and fanatical ideas in order to try and make their religion make sense.

Family tree

In our piece we made the decision to eliminate four of the characters; Ham, Sarai, Japheth and Zillah. We decided this would be best as we felt that the two strongest and most fanatical male figures were Noah and Shem, and we wanted to highlight the inequality and sexism on the ship. We chose to keep Bashemath, Timna and Ama as they seemed to be the weaker women; Bashemath is controlled by her husband, Ama does as Noah says, and Timna is alone in her thoughts.

Louise Ansell

Noah Ama

TimnaJaphethHamShem

ZillahSaraiBashemath

I played the character of Bashemath; a woman who is very anxious of her husband Shem as he regularly beats her. When characterising Bashemath, I considered proxemics in relationship to Shem. I ensured that Bashemath kept her distance from Shem, to convey that their relationship was crumbling. To show Bashemath’s nervous disposition, I made sure that I was constantly moving, for example shuffling on the spot, or wringing my hands. To convey this anxiety further, whenever there was a loud noise, or someone shouted, I made sure that I jumped or looked frightened. This helped to show the audience that Bashemath had been scarred and traumatised by Shem, as any sudden movement or noise reminded her that Shem may be near.Whilst devising we decided to participate in a warm up that involved using the seven tension levels as proposed by the Theatre de Complicite. By doing this warm up, we found we could use the tension levels to characterise ourselves. By using a higher tension level it enabled me to characterise Bashemath as insecure and anxious. I also used non-verbal communication throughout the piece to create my character. I made sure that I kept eye contact with Shem to prove that Bashemath was watching his every move, and was prepared for the next beating. This eye contact also helps to communicate that Bashemath was waiting for Shem’s guidance or orders.I used facial expression throughout to communicate how Bashemath was feeling. When with Shem, I made sure that I had a forced smile on my face, to show that Bashemath was covering up her true feelings. However, when with Timna or Ama, I made sure that my smile, or laugh was true, to portray that I felt safer around them. This is shown in the line ‘Yes I’m sure the lions will love that’ which I said jokingly, to convey that Bashemath felt comfortable and is friendly with Ama and Timna. I changed the tone of my voice when Shem entered and Bashemath said the line ‘Did you hear our pact Shem’ I delivered this line with a shaky voice and stumbled over my words. This is juxtaposes the mood when Bashemath is around friends and proves how frightened she really is. When delivering lines such as ‘God gave your father mastery over you, and so far he’s stopped short of killing you.’ I say this is in a sarcastic tone to communicate that I am mocking what Shem has said. This shows how Bashemath doesn’t share the same fanatical views as Shem. However when she is around him, she agrees with him to avoid getting beaten. When speaking to Shem I increased the pace at which I spoke to convey that Bashemath was scared to talk in front of Shem and was worried about expressing her views or opinions. I changed my vocals in order to characterise Bashemath as an anxious woman. I made sure my voice was quiet when speaking round Shem and a normal volume when talking around the women. When performing Bashemath’s monologue I wanted to release her emotions and generate a catharsis of her inner feelings. At the end of the monologue Bashemath is cleaning the deck of the Ark whilst Shem stands over her and watches. This use of levels helps to communicate and reinforce Shem’s views that men are better than women. By looking at the ground and obverting eye contact it showed that Bashemath was fed up of being treated this way, and didn’t wish to look at Shem.

I also play the Rabbit in the scene ‘Day of the Rabbit’.I made the decision to characterise the Rabbit as an evil dictator in order to exaggerate and mimic the fanatical and fundamentalist views of Shem.I decided to use a German accent as I believed that using a stereotype would remind the audience of familiar situations where fanatical beliefs have taken over. I also think that this accent has a harsh tone, and sounds authoritarian, which is how I wanted the audience to view the Rabbit. By lowering the intonation and slowing the pace during most sentences it helped to characterise the Rabbit as an evil and dark animal. However, on the line ‘ In the time it takes a lion to litter once, thirty thousand rabbits will be watching like a sea over the pasture lands’ I quickened my pace, and used a rising intonation to show that the rabbit was excited by this prospect. When characterising the rabbit I made sure that I was constantly on a higher level than the other rabbits, this helped to prove that the rabbit was of a higher status, in control and older than the other rabbits.

Louise Ansell

During this monologue the other members of the cast were chorus members, acting as my Rabbit children or followers. They each had their own personality which was portrayed through their use of voice; they also mimicked the accent that the leader had. Whilst I performed they reacted to what was being said. The chorus looked at me whilst I spoke, and agreed with what I said, and then turned to the audience to show a different response, usually disagreement. We did this as we wanted to show how many people follow religions, when they may not necessarily agree with them, or are forced to join.I experimented with using pre-recorded music during the scene, by using the music ‘O fortuna’ it created a highly tense scene with the climax of the music matching the climax of the monologue. However, after experimenting with it, we found that the music detracted too much for the performance, and may have made it hard for the audience to focus on the action unfolding.

In one lesson we used the technique of ‘character modelling’ in order to create the role of Wildebeest. We placed Izzie on the floor in the centre of the proxemics; we ensured that she was curled tightly into a ball, clutching her stomach in order to convey that she was pregnant. By putting her on the floor, the use of levels helped to communicate that the Wildebeest is of less importance.Include picture?

One of our main influences when devising was Kneehigh. Kneehigh are a Theatre Company from Cornwall who formed in 1980 and tour internationally. They use fairytales and myths in order to create their productions. They transform these tales into surreal, mythical and often nightmare like productions that contrast the ideas of a traditional plays. Taking inspiration from Kneehigh’s’ techniques, in our piece we wanted to alter the traditional perceptions of the Bible in order to show the audience that the story may not be true. We took inspiration from the way in which Kneehigh characterise their chorus, which helped us to create the ‘doves’. We experimented with different accents as we wanted to show how the doves were free to migrate.

We also used the element of music; again, taking inspiration from Kneehigh, we feet that the music would remind the audience that this is a story and help to create a piece of meta-theatre. As I was playing the piano, I chose to play ‘Le Onde’ by Ludovico Einaudi, which translates to ‘the waves’. I played this as I felt it helped to create a calming atmosphere that juxtaposed the madness of the flood.

When directing the fire scene aboard the Ark, we used Stanislavski’s technique of emotion memory, whereby we had to use our own memories in order to express emotion. We found that in some way or another, we had all had a fire experience, by remembering these experiences it allowed us to create a highly tense and frantic scene. By having the doves sat on the rostra they were able to create a critical overview of the action on board, and comment and react to it, for example, screeching and squawking when the fire reached its climax.

We also employed some of the features of Brecht’s ‘Epic Theatre’. We chose to break the fourth wall, as well as this we used the chorus- the doves, as narrators to create, help, comment and explain the action on-stage. Throughout the performance, the doves who sat on the rostra were eating popcorn, and slurping on fizzy drinks. We made the decision to include this as we wanted to create a piece of meta-theatre. It would also help to remind the audience that the doves were watching the action unfolding, and were treating it like a show. We wanted the audience to know that our production was a story, a representation of reality and not reality itself. Brecht believed that by breaking the fourth wall it put the audience in a position of self-reflection and force them to provide a critical view of what is going on on-stage. We did this in an aim to encourage the audience to critically reflect on the traditional Bible story, and recognise that it may not be true.

When devising, we debated having a shower before our performance in order to physically show the flood’s effects on the people. We felt that looking cold, dirty and bedraggled would help us gain empathy from the audience and would put them in a critical position. Although we felt this was good idea, we decided against it, as we thought that the cold and the wet may

Louise Ansell

detract from our performance, as well as this we may slip on stage due to the water dripping from our costume. When constructing our stage we took Edward Gordon Craig’s vision of stage unity into account. Craig believed in a single directors visions, believing that all elements should be equal and actors and text were not the most vital or dominant thing. Our aim was to create a simple set that helped to mimic the Ark and symbolise the simplicity of the traditional Bible story.

We experimented with using gauze when Bashemath was performing her monologue. We used our bodies to create shadows behind it, representing Bashemath’s inner thoughts and memories. Creating a shadowy representation of her husband beating her whilst she was talking about being beaten, helped to create a surreal tone within the scene. The gauze helped to create a blurry and vivid view of Bashemath’s memory, helping to symbolise the thoughts that lie deep in her mind. When using the gauze, we experimented with the pace at which the action happened, for example speeding up the pace to convey how frenzied and emotional Bashemath’s memories were. However, we found that using gauze detracted the viewers’ attention away from Bashemath, and that the words and emotions within the monologue were powerful enough. By removing the gauze and the action behind it, it created a scene where Bashemath was totally alone, and the audience were finally able to see what her thoughts and feelings were.

By experimenting with lighting throughout the play it allowed us to see how the lighting would affect the meaning in the scene. We tried using different coloured filters to symbolise different times of the day during our piece. When doing a run through to an audience they suggested that a general cover would be ample, and that our other lighting wasn’t needed. We took this into account; however we felt that a different kind of lighting was needed for the two scenes that involved fire. We found it very difficult to show there was a fire, without using lighting. We placed a light under the examiners table, and aimed it upwards, whilst using an orange/red filter; this helped to create the sense of warmth during the fire scene, and made it more realistic.

Evaluation

Louise Ansell

Wooden rostra to mimic the material the Ark was made from

Multiple levels used to show the deck and lower decks of the Ark

Piano placed for easy access, and wood blends in with the rest of the

Higher levels so the doves got good view and therefore allowed them to comment on the action

The black curtain at the back was used so symbolise the endless abyss surrounding the Ark and the uncertainty that the characters felt