The Rape Of Lucrece Chekhov

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A couple of years ago, I was flipping through The Shakespeare Book when I came across The Rape of Lucrece. This was the first Shakespearean non-sonnet poem I had encountered, and the brief descriptions left me curious for deeper understanding. As the solo piece project rolled around, having already chosen Michael Chekhov as my theorist, I began searching for an acting piece. Most of my ideas for a theatrical piece were coming from William Shakespeare’s works, when I remembered this poem that I had never further researched. After reading through a quick summary, I decided that I would read through the entire poem and begin selecting snippets to stitch together, as this was the piece I would be performing. The main reason I decided to go with …show more content…

For my solo piece, I decided that the best onstage factors to use in order to convey the atmosphere were lighting, costume, hair, makeup, and props.. The lighting would be the largest factor, outside of receiving and radiation, to enhance the atmosphere onstage. I chose to keep everything plain, including the lighting as a basic light shining in the general center stage area where the performance would take place, leaving the rest of the stage in darkness. To showcase the state of Lucrece following the rape, but also not to place the piece in a set time, I decided on wearing a plain white nightgown and remaining barefoot with my hair (loosely braided or down and ruffled?). As for makeup, I based my look off of Cosette from the Les Misérables 2012 movie. The decisions in appearance were made to be realistic and connect back to the tragic stillness of the atmosphere. Finally, the onstage set was to be kept simple and match the darkness of the stage and shadows with a simple two (boxes/chair?) as a bed and a plain white sheet lying on …show more content…

Spending time with the script, reviewing and rehearsing, eventually led to realizations of where the script and character seemed to be receiving or radiating more than the other. The majority of the selection is receiving, as Lucrece pulls in from the circumstances and atmosphere in order to outwardly convey her emotions. There are more pauses surrounding receiving sections, during which the atmosphere is in control, urging the actor, me, to react naturally and freshly with each performance. These sections have been marked by a blue highlighter. Orange highlighter indicates sections of radiation, where the emotion precedes and follows physical movements. Radiation happens more often with stronger emotions such as anger. Whenever I jolt or disturb the atmosphere is when I am radiating, but the atmosphere always pulls me back into its tragic air, thus

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