If I’m
being perfectly honest, initially finding out I was cast as part of the Chorus
in our wonderful play Electra was
both exciting and daunting. The prospect was exciting as so often when I think
of Greek Tragedy’s I instantly picture the groupings of many people on stage in
floor-length robes (either white or black in colour) wearing those iconic Greek
masks that we all know so well. And for me, that iconic yet stylised version of
a Chorus is both beautiful and haunting and so based on aesthetics alone, my
interest was piqued instantly to know how our own Chorus would be developed and
demonstrated through costume, hair and make-up for our production.
What
I found daunting about the role of the Chorus was the aspect of being on stage
at all times, how the ensemble making up the Chorus would have the task of
tuning into one another as I imagined us to constantly be embodying one
singular moving organism (despite the fact there was seven of us) and the fact
that this was my first role in a play where I had no ‘character’ as per say to
embody, I felt quite nervous about beginning the rehearsal process!
On
hearing the costume team’s presentation I can gladly say my expectations were not
disappointed. I am so looking forward to the journey the costume team will take
in deciding how best to make our costumes. The earthy browns as a base mingled
with the ideas of seaweed to embody the sea alongside our hair being plaited
across our faces will create a naturalistic sub-plot to our characters by
incorporating the overall themes of the play while still remaining wholly
unrecognisable and abstract in relation to conventional Greek staging’s.
As
for the nerves prior to the rehearsals starting, I can also now safely say that
my worries have been quashed! I feel I will always go into those initial
rehearsals anxious, but once you tread the boards (or carpet in our case) I
instantly remember why I love being involved in theatre. Almost immediately I
discovered how necessary it would be to allow sameness yet difference contrast
and coincide together for the role of the Chorus to work. So instead of my imagined Chorus – where we
would all have to constantly move as one, our process so far has been easier
(but by no means easy) than expected. Being on stage at all times is still
something I think we won’t really get used to until we start running the play
fully, but for now knowing sections incur changes helps the stamina when
sitting or standing for long periods of time. And lastly as for the lack of
‘character’ I think I was quite ignorant to the fact of their complexity as I initially thought that being a Chorus member
entailed playing no detail of personality traits. Of course they do! Just as any
character does the Chorus but must be explored and determined by the actor taking on the
part in question. With help from our fantastic director even simple tasks such
as naming our unnamed characters really helped me grasp a better concept for
the person as well as age and attitudes.
 |
| The process of bringing the Chorus to life |
I
am thoroughly enjoying the process so far and am encouraged every time we
rehearse by the cast, directors and production team because of their
willingness to commit to this production with enthusiasm and passion. I think
our determination so far to make this version of Electra as good as it can be is helpful when trying to imagine the
finished project. With motivation from our favourite song (Pharrell's ‘Happy’) I look
forwards in the hopes that the rest of this journey will be as full of laughs
and fun as it has already and above all else will entail an end result which we
will all be proud of.
Georgina Ganly
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