Solipsus

Most of you would wonder what the hell my title is suggesting, and believe me when I say: the way I am feeling, I would want the opposite ;) Moving swiftly on though, I feel that my absence from the internet world needs an explanation.

As part of my A2 Theatre Studies qualification, I have to ’sit’ a performance exam where with a group we put on a 30 minute production of a script. I must admit, when it comes down to it, my Theatre Studies class is one of the most dirtiest classes going; constantly making sex jokes, innuendoes and basically our lives revolving around sex! We are your stereotypical teenagers/adults. Having said this, it was only right that we performed ‘Lysistrata; The Sex Strike.’

Taken from Wikipedia:

“Led by the title character, Lysistrata, the story’s female characters barricade the public funds building and withhold sex from their husbands to end the Peloponnesian War and secure peace. In doing so, Lysistrata engages the support of women from Sparta, Boeotia, and Corinth. All of the other women are first against Lysistrata’s suggestion to withhold sex. Finally, they agree to swearing an oath of allegiance by drinking wine from a shield. This action is ironic and therefore comical, because Greek men believed women had no self-restraint, a lack displayed in their alleged fondness for wine as well as for sex.“

As a group we had 6 weeks to turn the script into a 30 minute performance (only showing the first 3 scenes) consisting of 7 actors and my friend decided to create the set design. The performance was on the 19th March and it went suprisingly well! We found out the marks the following day to find that we had all achieved A’s. (Based on the grade boundaries for the past 3 years, subject to change).

[gloats] I achieved 50/50 for performance. I knew I was good at playing a woman ;) Overall, I got 88/100. [/gloats]

Here you can see some of the pictures taken during our final rehearsal (I will try and get the full video and put it on youtube)

This is Megan (left) and I (right) playing 2 society woman. Very cheeky and nosey characters. My character, Kalike, idolises Megan’s (Myrhine) hence my low stature and looking up at her.

Part of the set design and show that it is a bath house (where the play is set). A fountain made to look like a penis. A lot of our Overall Production Concept was the use of innuendo and phallic symbols.

Ben