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Within the context of the literary works there was plenty of controversy through theatre. Being the primary form of public expression at the time, before films, or radio. There were plenty of people expressing their views on controversial topics that most people of the era would not be comfortable talking about in the context of a conversation but instead could be analysed through a play often motivating/ forcing these important conversations to happen. Some of the primary themes throughout this era were those of romanticism, power and nature, last of which could often branch into human nature creating all sorts of issues. The key point of this however is that these themes at the time often rejected naturalism. Expressing instead, forms of actions that would play out the words instead, a technique developed from the era of loud crowds in a theatre. Another key element to address however was the levels of nationalism and pride throughout Sweden that noted it to preserve its culture in t...

Within the 1800's there was a time of great political upheaval, not only in Sweden but across the world as well, with an expanded British empire and the Americans giving up slavery there was all sorts of economic upheaval from across the world that affected Sweden. Considering how also they were in a transitional period in the way of their government as well it can be seen that there was a lot for Strindberg to draw upon which he seemingly didn't acknowledge as much in his play. With the what was essentially Sweden's equivalent of the Magna Carta restricting the monarchy power, a strenghtened Government was formed off a parliamentary basis, much like Britain's own Government. This in turn created an interestinf form in regards to the aristocrascy of the country. With a show off resilience against the upper classes this meant animosity throughout the class divide was greatly increased in itself. Many people also emigrated out of the country itself because they needed to ...

The first part of information that I recieved from the presentation, revolved around the social factors of the time. This covered a great deal of the social norms of the time of Strindberg's life and of him writing the play, In my opinion this gave me a great deal of insight into his motivations and also of how he developed the views he did regarding gender and class. A key issue throughout the 1800's in Sweden was focused primarily around the class divide, to perform any kind of class transitioning was seen as almost imposssible. This may only be the first fact recieved from the presentations but it already gives some insight that this was the justifiable cause of reason behind Strindberg's choice to select a relationship regarding a woman known as being in the upper class, and of course the footman of the estate. Of course this meant in the era gossip was frivolous and scandal was often awry which is hinted at in the beginning of the play itself as Kristen and Jean discus...

These are just some simple graphs that I used for navigation of development in my writing, important in itself, these helped me lay out my performance in a way that I could interpret properly for my final performance.

Character: Jean Scene: pages 49 - 52 Brief summary: Within this scene it draws to the beginning of morning, the count has arrived and Miss Julie has to choose her fate. Who am I?: A valet of the estate, also appears to a variety of work depending on who demands it. When am I here?: Mid-Summer night, through out all of the night into the morning Why am I here?: For the Mid-Summer celebrations What do I want?: To resume his normal life, and ending Miss Julie's Where am I going?: To fill out the count's orders Where have I come from?: Talking with Kristen, and scaring them both by ending the life of Miss Julie's pet. Scene objective: At this point the scene objective revolves around convincing Miss Julie to commit suicide. Super objective: To find a sense of security in his life and work, by destabilising Miss Julie's mental state securing his position in the estate and his relationship with the count. Units: U1: Trivialising Miss Julie...

Character evaluation: In my opinion I feel like I portrayed my character well whilst thinking of the important elements learnt about Stanislavsky's method. Throughout the process leading up to the show I had employed line learning techniques that I feel really did help me in regards to my performance creating a cohearant balance between the implied meaning of what Jean says and also of his actions. However this being said I do feel like I could have gone further with the character possibly if there was more time, as we had only worked on these scenes for a few weeks I feel that I had brought the standard up to the furthest that I could over a period of only a couple of weeks. If I had more time I would've tried to work out some possibe habits of Jean possibly distancing the physical appearance and status even more from my own. The key thing that I felt was that embodiement of the character could have been pushed further on my part,especially because I was given a scene with...

Within this part of the theatre workshop we talk about how imperative the elements of objectives were. The primary exercise used was the exercise where we moved around the room, trying to keep in a good distance with someone, of course the exercise started getting hectic with people starting to speed up to reach their target and avoid other certain people as well. This was a useful practical analogy for the concept of conflicting objectives. That is so clearly present within the context of Miss Julie. This essentially made me think about how to deal with being in a scene with 2-3 people and how it would work in regards to the conflicting objectives. What the exercise had pointed out is that the reason why the group became hectic with people running around and moving is because there was a lack of communication, something which is an essential tool when running scene work with another actor. This in turn laid out the base work for an understanding of objectives and super-objectives. Thi...

In regards to people's personal opinions regarding Miss Julie, most people appeared to not understand or enjoy the play itself. Which prompted people to re-read the play. After a re-read many of the themes within the play become a lot clearer in itself, the themes that largely became a lot clearer in the structure of the play was mostly focused regarding the plays implied meaning. One such example of this was in regards to the final line in the whole of the play. After being handed the razor, "Miss Julie walks out determined", This in itself gives implied context that the audience have to figure out for themselves. Due to Strindberg's writing constraints of only two weeks this does appear to be a deliberate device that was implemented to save time diseregarding certain structural points of writing. A key thing that was looked into with this lesson was an elaboration and the first demonstration of Stanislavski's given circumstances technique that was mentioned in...

Response to the Stanislavsky system and exercises From the fourth section of the book it can be seen that the Stanislavsky system appears to be the bread and butter of acting technique. The base exercises in themselves remind me of really simple relaxation techniques that I was taught even when I first started acting when I was young, specifically the muscle tensing exercise. This in itself although not essential does help in preparation for a larger exercise and drawing someone to the zone of where they should be to start developing a role and drawing focus to the task. The first aspect of Stanislavsky’s system was working with given circumstances, this includes various types of theatres, including: (but not limited to) proscenium, in-the-round, and street theatre. It is important when developing a role to take into regards the different factors that will have an impact on the performance, that might take away from the emotional integration. Stanislavsky’s system helps in this re...

The aspect that I will be talking about will be regarding Strindberg’s very early life within the first twenty years of his life in Sweden. One of the key historical events that happened within Sweden at that time was in 1851 two years after Strindberg’s birth. This was the formation of the society for religious freedom that helped in regards to societal acceptance of people of different cultures. The further allowance of this helped in setting the governmental viewpoint of alternate religions. This assisted to a level of tolerance accepted in Swedish society. Even later some women were also allowed to be in local elections setting the motions for the organisation that decades later would become the National association for Women’s suffrage. Other key historical elements focused around the aspects of military defence against the powers of the Russian empire. In 1855 Sweden signed the November Treaty with England and France, guaranteeing Swedish-Norwegian territories against Ru...