Rehearsal #3

Today we learnt how to waltz. This is going to be used in the piece when we waltz with the empty jackets of our husbands/sons etc. Stepping out to watch everyone else was interesting, as it visually looked very beautiful. At first it was hard to learn but with more practice we will all get better.

We then created a section of our performance using the sequences we had already learnt. We put the box sequence, with us looking through or dead partner/sons belongings, and the waltz together.

We added on another sequence after the box section. When we have finished looking through the belongings we all stand up with the boxes in our hand, then the idea is that someone will come on stage and hold the box with us, we will hold the coat around their shoulders then they will step out of the jacket, leaving us with an empty jacket. This is when we start to waltz.

When we finish waltzing, we all slowly come to a stop apart from Catherine. At different times we drop the coats and turn to look at Catherine waltzing. We then walk away one by one.

What we did today really worked and I think this performance is going to be extremely powerful and emotional.

Rehearsal #2

Today we created our own letter. We mixed together lines from all of the letters we found.

Immie starts it off with the line: “To my dearest Vienne”. Then in a random order we all say a name. I finish the introduction by saying “Mother”, then Moyo starts to read out her line and in an order we say the line from our letters that we found. We finish it the same way we started by all saying a name.

We then started to explore and improvise with the idea of having this box with our dead husband/son or whoevers belongings inside.

We started off with the coat, imagining it was the coat of our dead relative or partner. We explored the natural reaction we had to finding this coat. It was very emotional and I found myself on the verge of tears. Then we explored our natural reaction to another object we found in the box. My object was a ring and I found myself staring at it for ages, when I finally put it on I clenched my fist tight. Then we explored the letters. As we were looking through letters that we had sent this person we picked up the pace and got faster and more frantic in searching through all of our letters. We found a letter addressed to us that we had not been sent yet. This is the moment where we incorporated the letter sequence we mad earlier.

I feel like this sequence is a very emotional image. And as we work on it more I think it will become a key part of our section as it is has such a powerful message behind it.

After creating this piece we went over the other little sequences we had learned over the past few weeks, perfecting them.

Rehearsal

Today we learned another section of a duet’s performance. Molly and Georgia used a section in their duet where they mimed getting their husband ready to go out. This is the section we learned.

What we did was:

1. Walk forward four steps
2. Bring hands up to above your head
3. Trace the outline of a man with your hands
4. Hand movement section - see picture
5. Pick poppies out of apron and grasp in hand
6. Fix imaginary bow tie and tilt had to the right
7. Then let go of poppies

Hand movement section

This section shows the loss the women felt at home without having their husbands there. It shows the gap in their lives, which I feel is a very interesting thing to explore.

We talked about how we can use the box filled with our husband’s possessions (using Immie’s solo performance for inspiration). I think the idea of this box of possessions, and the movement we learned, will be really powerful and emotive images.

So far what we have learned and what we have talked about sounds like they will create an interesting, powerful and emotive performance.

Women during WW1

We started off the session by watching everyone’s duets/solos. After watching them we discussed parts/images/ideas of the performances that we might be able to use within our piece.

An image that I felt was really strong was the image of two women reaching out to hold each other’s hands, as it showed the support the women gave each other. We learned a part from a duet performed:

• We were in pairs, with one person in front and one behind. The one behind would hold onto their partner’s arms and the pair would lean forward then come back up and create the action of wringing out a cloth. This action would be repeated 6 times, getting faster and faster, and on the last lean forward they would stay in that position.

• Then the person that was behind would roll off their partner to the left and they would both drag their hands along the floor towards themselves. Then, from right to left, they would sweep their hands along the floor and with their right hand they would stamp on the floor. This created the image of women working in a factory.

All of us doing this sequence looked and felt very powerful.

Simon had the idea of war poems being read out whilst our performance was going on. This could be very effective and would create an extra dimension to the performance.