Reflection
I played Achilles.
I believe the final performance my group delivered featured our main goals for the scene. There were certain parts that we planned out before that we didn’t do. Some of these unplanned features still supported our interpretation of the scene and didn’t change the conclusion we want to reach by the end of the scene.
We started with a slow motion walk around the stage to the centre, where Ajax would look disappointed at Achilles and Achilles stubborn at Ajax. The execution of the walk wasn’t perfect. Achilles and Ajax weren’t in sink when walking. We planned to be at the centre by the end of the music, but this doesn’t affect the scene. We planned to start like this to make the transition into the scene easier because we would be given time to think about how our characters are feeling. I believe that more time should have been used staring each other in the eyes because now it seems a bit rushed, this caused the build up in tension becoming lost in the audience. In the time that I did have, I was thinking about the time when my mother died and how in some instances I would have to stop myself from breaking down because I was trying to be brave. The build up in anger and grief would sometimes erupt a I would lash out on those nearest to me, but of course I could never really hurt anyone I loved.
We planned that as soon as Ajax started to speak to Achilles, Achilles would stand up and address Ajax. We did this well and this showed how Achilles is trying to mask his true feelings. If he waited to long it would show to the audience that he is really hurt by the death of Patroclus, but with him standing quickly it suggests that he doesn’t really mind that his best friend is dead. This is supported by the lines Achilles says ‘Where is my armour?’ We can imply that Achilles is trying to cover up his emotions. I believe those were the intentions of the playwright.
Throughout the beginning of the scene, Phoenix looks tired. He did just come back from a battle, however I believe that he is more tired of witnessing the cycle of death and revenge repeated. He has seen all of this before and is Achilles’ voice of reason in a way. He knows that war just leads to death after death and he tries to stop Achilles from avenging Patroclus, but Achilles is too stubborn. In the scene Phoenix successfully presented the idea that he is tired of witnessing war consume victim after victim, he is calm throughout the play, which is in contrast to the other characters. When Ajax starts to get closer, almost pass the divide in the stage, Phoenix stops him. Phoenix then tries to make Achilles realise that he will die. That fact is seen as irrelevant to Achilles.
We didn’t plan our scene to have any literal time setting, we decided to focus more on the emotions created in the scene. The lack of information on the time of the scene seems not to have affected the story. I believe it enhanced the story because my focus was directed to the symbolism and how the characters were reacting to each other. The use of symbolism in the t-shirts was effective in my opinion. At the end of the scene, before the darkness, we planned for Achilles to take off his grey top to reveal the white top underneath. This was to symbolise that Achilles had finally understood, by the end of the scene, that the only way for him to escape the cycle of war and death is to die. We kept the use of tops as symbolism with all the characters. The rest of my costume did not have any deeper meaning. In the final performance I did not take off the top at the end before the lights turned off which is my fault. This did however give me a different interpretation. The idea of Achilles being held back by the death of Patroclus and that the others had moved on is shown in the final performance where the others throw their clothes onto the body and step in front of it. Until Achilles kills Hector, he will not be able to move on with his life. That is why he keeps his top on and stands behind the body.
The fact that the cross was white and the cloth covering Patroclus was black was decided by me to make the cross more defined. I also chose for ‘the Last Post’ to be played at the beginning and the end. This was to create the atmosphere of sacrifice and death. Everyone should have a basic understanding of what the piece of music means. The effect was what we wanted, however if we were to do this again I would play the piece until Achilles and Ajax were at the middle.
