Category: Communication

In my opinion we used our space very well, we used most of the stage at many points and faced the audience for most of it, (besides me having to bend down to help Achilles ankle, but I was not needed to be seen by the audience at that time) The space was used well as we moved around our very limited space very well. But we could have done some things in different areas. When speaking I think i went around the given room reasonable, not too much and not too little.

For the whole performance I got to use almost all of the stage in the play and moved around frequently and planned. I did not ever walk around for no reason as that would confuse the audience and even annoy some.

We spread out the characters reasonably around the stage too, we all had good space between us. Not too close for it to seem forced, and not too far for us to seem uncomfortable. Overall the use of space was good and we did not run into many problems for space.

For my costume I had, my own clothes, 1 blanket and 2 scarves. I wrapped the blanket around myself and one scarf under my armpits and over my neck. And the other scarf around my waist. I had to dress like a female not too rich not to poor.  (looked poor as i made it..)    I also put layers and cardboard under the blanket to show that I am pregnant.

I think it was a good cover up for a boy acting a girl as there was no way I would do the performance in female clothing. It seemed obvious that I was a female because of the use of the scarves, looked like an average dress with multiple badly put together parts.

My character was Briseis.

Briseis lived in Troy till Achilles came and killed her family and took her as a trophy. In Greek mythology, Briseis, a daughter of Briseis, was a princess of Lyrnessus. Briseis was said to have had golden long hair, blue eyes, and fair skin and she was considered to be very beautiful and clever. According to Book 1 of the Iliad, when Agamemnon was compelled by Apollo to give up his own woman,  Chryseis, he demanded Briseis as compensation. Achilles is angry at Agamemnon, and seethes with rage in his tent: made furious by the thought of Agamemnon sleeping with Briseis.

To play this character, I need to act quite emotionally and confused as there are many things happening at once. My character is in the middle of a very tricky and risky situation and has almost no control of what can happen to her or anyone else involved.

I need to be able to act appropriately to each situation and be able to switch personalities at any time of the play. Multiple times something shocking for the character happens and I need to react believably to give the audience the full impact. My character is with people and alone at the same time so my personality is quite deep and mysterious at some points.

To understand the character I read up about Briseis and put myself in her position to see how I would have reacted to the situation, and from then I would see how it go and if it would fit in with the rest of the dialogue. It was a very tricky character to get used to and understand but in my opinion it went all right and I was able to portray my character the way it was intended to be

I chose my scene because it is the last scene and is very important scene, in my scene there are multiple genres making it very interesting to act and to spectate.

Many things happen in my scene making it even more fun to act out, it also includes Achilles’ death, something very important to know. Another reason I chose my scene is because the text all makes perfect sense and is worded correctly, in some scenes the grammar is different, The scene included 4 characters so that is another reason. I liked playing as Brisies as she has an interesting role in the piece which makes her choose between 2 very important things for her.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict i also find interesting and thought it had meaning in my scene. I also chose my character because I wanted to play as a female to see how differently I would have to act, for example, not much movement and not a masculine form.

The text in most scenes have very different genres and ways to be performed, my scene and character role is very tricky and varies how it is acted by different people, when playing Brisies I did not want to sound too weak but I did not want to sound weak so I was in the middle with a few up and down jumps.

The scenes have multiple ways of being seen, and multiple ways of being played, the genre varies between, action, drama, and in other scenes other genres. You cant act the whole piece with one style, every scene is different and surprising in its own way.

The piece is mostly very short sentences but occasionally has some soliloquy’s with multiple emotions. My scene did not include a soliloquy.

For my costume I had,  One blanket, 2 scarves, and my own clothes. I wore my own clothes and wrapped the blanket around me like a dress, i tied the first scarf under my armpits and over my neck and the second one around my waist.

“The flesh is mine” is a very powerful piece, a piece that can be seen from multiple perspectives about multiple things. The play has its roots in “the Ilyad” and is very similar having the same structure and even character names, but is essentially exploring the contemporary experiences of people living under states of siege in the Middle East and those in the UK who are affected by events in the Middle East.

The play is a modernized but keeps the same meaning and view, to keep it unique from “iliyad” he based it off of the corruption in Israel and Palestine. The structure of the story was written 2700+ years ago by a Greek poet named Homer, it was a story which those who travelled sang.

The story evolves around one of the most known warriors in Greek history (if he is not a myth), Achilles, the powerful, the brave, the unstoppable. According to some his mother dipped him into a magical pot/cauldron making his skin impenetrable giving him a huge advantage with his battles. Most people know of something known as “Achilles heel” when Achilles mother dipped him she left his ankles untouched resulting in his weakness and easily damaged part. This is seen where Achilles and Hecuba have a short scuffle and Achilles injures his ankle.

The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict starts after World War One in which Palestine had been administered by the United Kingdom under a Mandate received in 1922 from the league of nations. Israel has been stealing Palestinian land for a long time resulting in many confrontations and retaliations. The Trojans are the Israelis and the Greeks are the Palestinians.

Daniel Zibaee