The first scene that we attempted was the scene in which Eddy goes and defeats the Sphinx by solving her riddle. We wanted the Sphinx to include four people because it allows for bigger and more exaggerated movements which enhanced the Berkovian style. We found the Sphinx lines quite repetitive so have had to cut out sections of her speech in order to reduce the amount of time our piece lasts for.
One of the first issues that was raised was that Marlon, a male, was included within the Sphinx. The Sphinx in the myth of Oedipus Rex was a female. This allowed us to play with the idea of femininity and make the Sphinx be more sassy to suggest that Marlon was playing a gay man who has a more feminine side. The issue that then stemmed from this was that Marlon's characterisation stood out more than mine, Maya's or Izzy's which suggested that we had decided on different characterisation which wasn't what we were trying to convey. From this feedback, I decided to be slinky and predator-like toward Eddy to show that I was more feminine than any other character I play within the piece.
We also have an issue with where Kathryn is stood at the start of the piece. Initially,we had the Sphinx facing Kathryn which meant that her back was faced towards the audience, hiding her facial expressions. Because of this, we then decided to move the Sphinx round so that she was talking through the audience so was then stood facing the audience allowing facial masks and therefore greater externalisation to be seen.
I suggested that we change the accent of the Sphinx to one that is posher. This is because Eddy and his family speak in a Cockney accent. So not only will this show a variation in our voices, but it will also suggest that the Sphinx is smarter than the other characters. This can be proved as the Sphinx has a riddle that no one has ever answered until Eddy eventually answers it.
We spend most of the Sphinx scene thus far in a line facing the audience. I feel that of the sections we have done so far, we do too much of standing in a line meaning that we're not always using the entirety of the space, neglecting the use of Total Theatre.
We begin the scene Marlon saying "Who are you little man?". All the people playing the Sphinx say the bolded word as it allows for greater emphasis and shows more intimidation. At this point we point our hands forward, gesturing out to the audience and towards eddy, breaking the fourth wall again showing a Berkovian technique. The next line is "Pip squeak scum!" which is said by Maya. At this point I don't do any movement I simply stare out into the audience. I think I would need to use a facial mask in this section that differs from what I used in the previous line to show more externalisation, allowing the audience to understand the Sphinx's intentions. The following line is my first line within the Sphinx section and is "Drip off the prick!". Here, the Sphinx is suggesting that Eddy was a mistake (the bolded words are the words which I have chosen to emphasise). At the word "drip" I push Izzy forward as she's in front of me. At the word "prick" I hold my hands out, as shown in the following video:
The emphasised words are emphasised both by the tone of my voice and by the movement described above. The next line spoken by Izzy "Mistake in the middle of the night" is the concluding sentence of the Sphinx's insult about how Eddy was mistakenly conceived. At the bolded word, I gesture to my crotch area to image what Izzy is doing in front of me.
The next line is said by Marlon: "You've come to answer my riddle?". The emphasis here is put on the my because I think the Sphinx would be quite proud that no one has ever managed to solve the riddle - What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? (correctly answered by Oedipus as Man).
We then moved around in a large and threatening shape whilst clicking and making whooshing sounds. In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sometimes has the wings of a bird, so this sound effect signifies the bird clicking its beak and attempting to fly. Our arms are also outstretched to show the wings - we are also on different levels showing a use of proxemics. I am on the floor between Izzy and Marlon's legs - I think I need a better way of getting through them because I currently seem to wiggle through without any allusion to defined movement. Perhaps I could try two defined pulls through legs, but this would need to be done when we have access to the performance space.
The next line of "Fuck off you maggot" is said in canon, starting with myself on the floor and flowing up through Izzy. The variation in speech allows the audience to maintain interest in the piece. The words bolded are again the words that are emphasised but simply by voice and not by movement - by me at least as I can't see what other people are doing in this movement. The next line is part of the same sequence: "Before I tear your head offffff". The off at the end of this section lasts for longer showing variation in tone and is something that we do throughout the piece. This also demonstrates an element of creepiness to the Sphinx as well as further intimidation.
The following video shows the first demonstration of a section of the piece:
The first line that I say in the video is one that I have trouble remembering - the line in the script is actually "Rip your eyes out of your head and roast your tongue". This is because this line is between two sections that we worked on so I feel that the movement is also a little off on my part. I think I could say this line a bit differently to how I said it in this. I think that the line should be said quicker because the speech in this scene up to now has been slow. This would allow for more definition between sections and improve the pacing. The 'scream' at the end of the sentence is reminiscent of Australian rugby's Hakka which is used to terrify their opponent - I suggested this to add to the piece which would make the Sphinx seem more terrifying to Eddy. It shows that the Sphinx is more of a gruesome creature.
"You nothing, you man?" is said with an element of confusion because Eddy is played by Kathryn who is clearly a woman. The ideological approach is that the Sphinx is questioning Eddy's masculinity, something which is damaging to the character of a tragic hero - Oedipus is the traditional tragic hero.
The slow lean forward and sharp pull back on "Go now before I lose my cool" definitely shows some element of definition. I personally don't like this movement because I feel that its too fluid for Berkoff. However, Berkoff does allow for elements of fluidity as long as it is in a defined section which this move is to some extent. I think that the movement should be more threatening because the Sphinx is supposed to be a large body that everyone is afraid to combat.
Something which is not as visible on the video is that Kathryn moves to the back of the stage during this section. We keep having issues with Kathryn's blocking but we should be sure to rectify this in future rehearsals. As seen, Kathryn comes through the middle of the Sphinx, effectively splitting her up into her counterparts, potentially making her less powerful without her being intact. The hissing that we do is inaccurate because we seem to be constantly getting the Sphinx confused with Medusa which is something that we will again need to rectify. The grotesque faces we pull at the back of the stage show greater externalisation through the use of facial masks, however, I do think that we maintain this stance and facial expression for much longer than needed.
We then all stalk toward Kathryn like a predator. An adaptation that I suggested which has since been cut was to walk fast in a straight line towards the front with neutral expressions before quickly turning and grabbing Kathryn. However, as shown in the video we stalk towards her losing the definition that I had suggested before.
After this moves in this video was shown we continued to devise movements for this section. When Kathryn says "Because you can't love, loveless" me and Izzy at the front throw her back where she is caught by Marlon and Maya. This shows that the Sphinx is violent but may also have been affected by man in the past which is something I think we'll develop later in the rehearsal process. Kathryn's line of "Who could even kiss that mouth of yours?" is enhanced by the creation of an image of a mouth, encompassed by a sound which I think is one of the most impressive sections of the piece so far due to how defined it is. This can be enhanced further by externalisation of bearing teeth emanating the larger image we created.
At the line "Hong-Kong whorehouse" me and Izzy on the floor become the women in the brothel and Maya and Marlon become the customers. We vary our tone of a 'scream' so mine would be more feminine. This is vulgar but is just the kind of thing Berkoff would like to see from one of his pieces, especially the language is something that allows for the large movements which should tell the story more than the words (partially due to how complicated they are for the audience).
The line "You make me laugh you fool man" is emphasised by us stalking around Kathryn. The laugh that we used initially was harsher and we didn't time it together, showing less definition. I think that the laugh should be much more condescending and be in time with each other which would show the ultimate power of the Sphinx. Something that is much more condescending is Maya's line of "You should know about brothels" where we do a slight lift of her over Kathryn.
The final line that we have choreographed for this section thus far is for "Men need killing offff before they kill offfff the world". Again, these words are elongated to show that the Sphinx is predator like and more condescending.
In the next sections with the Sphinx, we should definitely block out the movements before going over what we have already done so that we don't run out of time in blocking and to give us enough time to perfect the scene.
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