Certainly AS/A2 literature pupils will find the below links useful, and as we approach November, these sites are timely reminders for us all.....
We are organising a trip to Ypres and the Somme for February for years 9-13 and a pre-meeting will take place on this on 3rd Oct at 7pm.
Year 12 and 13 are off to the theatre to see Journey's End this afternoon - so watch this space for comments!
AE HOUSMAN - THEIR SHOULDERS HELD THE SKY SUSPENDED http://movehimintothesun.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/epitaph-on-an-army-of-mercenaries-a-e-housman/Owen - He stumbles, guttering, choking - Dulce et... http://youtu.be/Qts3K3KznN4
Diary of an Unknown Soldier - https://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/bodleian+library/a+month+at+the+front/4212284/
Pope - http://youtu.be/EQgURNvZt_o
Hardy - http://youtu.be/cwtRj990s8k
Haig's donkeys www.johndclare.net/wwi2_HaigQ3.ppt - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/pdf/g4cs3all.pdf
OWALW - http://youtu.be/CIEwKyxr2bU
Sassoon - I fell into the bottomless mud. So I lost the light - http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/sassoon.html
Sassoon - Rememberance http://youtu.be/e4CIHL1chyA - http://youtu.be/H3_1SS1P92c
Regeneration - Owen and Sassoon meet at Craiglockhart http://youtu.be/FuzRR3jVgS0 Sassoon http://youtu.be/qazHQZAdPdE
footage at Passchendeale http://youtu.be/TGVmOS9yM6M
Rosenberg - Break of Day in the Trenches http://youtu.be/cfxKFNf-sDA
Rupert Brooke - the soldier http://youtu.be/S6wPAp3Gy1E
Alan Seegar - I have a rendezvous with death http://youtu.be/Y11RGjmZRDcJohn McRae - In Flanders Fields http://youtu.be/K6BlOkpdkg8
Journey's End http://youtu.be/x-x2_CExhJo
/Blackadder
http://youtu.be/xHJDyAnL9RQ
http://youtu.be/IglUmgYGxLM
The production at MK theatre of Journey's End was a dramatic rendition of the play.
ReplyDeleteThe actors took the view of the stress and violence impacting on their nerves in a highly vocal way. This was a lively production, leaving nothing to interpretation.
The set and costumes were detailed and of the period and the ending showed the scale of the loss, not just in this part of the line in Flanders, but of the war as a whole.
Of particular note is the scene between Stanhope and Hibbert where Stanhope accuses Hibbert of cowardice and threatens to shoot him. - see link...
youtu.be/3TyBA7iUQjg
Where exactly s the line between cowardice and valour in the face of such inevitable slaughter?
Journey's end was a dramatic piece with great acting and fantastic set design.
ReplyDeleteThe characters felt very genuine with unique personalities keeping your interest throughout.
I especially liked the way that they used sound effects of exploding shells to catch the audiences attention and catch them of guard, especially seeing as when it was first used we were unaware that it was going to be a constant theme, how I stayed in my seat I will never know.
The lighting was extremely effective when it came to candles being used in the bunkers, giving a very eerie feel to the setting, and also the light shining in from the bunker entrance telling the audience whether it was night or day and letting imaginations run wild with the thought of what it all looked like out there.
Also a metaphor which I believe I picked up on is when Stanhope says that he can see through everything and uses the wall (where the audience are sitting) and talks about the mud, the stone and the worms. Were we the worms watching this chaos unfold from our safe enclosed spaces?
The Milton Keynes Theatre adaptation of Journey's End, was, in my opinion, a very well put together production.
ReplyDeleteThe actors definitely helped the visual learners of the audience as the characters could have easily be mistaken as actual soldiers as the play progressed. Another visual feature that helped bring realism was the fact that the stage only had one main backdrop which was the officers bunk-out. This built up tension as we knew that whatever problems that were happening here, were nothing compared to what was beyond them.
I especially liked the ending when the stage produced the enormous list of deaths in each regiment, contrasting against the small figures standing before the audience, making the war a beastly ordeal.
However, there were some scenes that I did not like, such the slow death of one of the characters. Even though his dreadful convulsions were meant to shock/sadden us, at times, it did seem too much, along with various other scenes that involved shouted arguments. I also thought the ending where the sound of dropping bombs spread all over the audience, was very disturbing, which I suppose showed how the soldiers felt when they were faced with it in the war.
However, I think that the play was very engaging and educational by using all these features, as it definitely made me, as an audience member, understand how horrific the war truly was.
Oh what a lovely war was an amazing production. One of the main things that stood out for me was when the images at the intro were being shown because they included more modern day photos of current war related affairs and then worked their way backwards until they got to the WW1 imagery. This showed me straight away that this play is not just a satirical look on WW1 but also a look at war in general and the suffering it causes. Along with the shocking photographs was also comic imagery to show both how stupid war is and that the play is a speech against war and a comedy. The acting was amazing and incredibly humorous in the voices used and their body language. The set was a basic design but this was important as the audience had to imagine the events that are going on which means that the actors have to be able to create the scene themselves and the actors did so very well. I found this play to be highly entertaining, thought provoking and great at showing the hardship that these soldiers suffered.
ReplyDeleteSo "Pack up your trouble in an old kit bag and smile, smile, smile." as you reminisce about this great production.