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A Message from Elena Pnevmonidou Woyzeck: The Choreography of a Murder is a workshop performance of the students of a hybrid Germanic Studies/Theatre course, Performing German Drama. Beyond wanting to stage German theatre in its original language, I wanted to offer students an experiential learning environment in which they develop a dramaturgical concept for a play based on textual analysis and research of theatre, culture and performance history and stage a German-language performance at the end of the semester. I am immensely grateful to the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, the Theatre Department, the Dean of Humanities, the Dean and the Associate Dean of Fine Arts, the Phoenix Theatre, and the VP Academic and Provost for their generous support for a pilot project that essentially moves in uncharted pedagogical waters. When I approached them, I had my own vision, but I could not anticipate what pedagogical challenges I might face, what kind of students would enroll in the course, what skills and command of German they would have, and if is even possible to get a large and diverse group of students to collaborate on a project of this scale. Having said this, I must express my gratitude to the students of GERS 438A. They exceeded my expectations and simply blew me away with their commitment, creative energy, and collegiality. Our production of Woyzeck is unique. It was generated by a creative process that is truly collaborative. Production tasks normally performed by single individuals were the responsibility of inter-disciplinary student teams: four co-directors; respectively three set, props, costumes designers; four language coaches; five communications specialists; two sound specialists; and actors cast in multiple roles. This configuration required students to transform quickly from being learners into becoming teachers, co-producers, writers, leaders and they all rose to the occasion. As a consequence, we developed in a very short time an original dramaturgical concept and applied it so consistently and crisply throughout the play that light, sound, plot, and movement acquire an almost dance-like coherence. I hope youll enjoy our choreography!

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History

Georg Büchner A Life, a Play, a History

Georg Büchner, one of the foremost voices of German literature, was born on October 17th, 1813 in Goddelau, an unassuming village in the present day state of Hesse. At an early age, Büchner developed three main interests: science, poetry and politics. These three fields of study would continue to fascinate him for the rest of his life and would be similarly reflected as major reoccurring themes in his literary works. The Büchner family had a long tradition of practicing medicine. In the course of his long and varied medical career, Büchner´s father was the director of Hesses Medical College, a military surgeon, and a hospital surgeon at the Hofheim Insane Asylum. Büchners exposure to the medical sciences and the developing field of psychology at an early age had a big impact on his developing mind. As the result of his familys tradition, his fathers influence and his own natural talent for the sciences, Büchner began his medical studies and received a degree in medicine and philosophy from the University of Strasbourg in 1833. He published his dissertation and received his doctorate in 1836 and later secured a position at the University of Zurich whilst producing several pieces of literature. He additionally taught lecture course on the nervous system, greatly impressing the university faculty who promptly made an offer to hire Büchner as a faculty lecturer immediately. Remarkably, while working on his dissertation, Büchner also wrote his last stage play, Woyzeck, during a three-week period of intense creativity. While Büchner crafted several drafts of the play and stated in his correspondence that the play would be ready for submission to a bublisher, Büchner did not manage to complete Woyzeck. After only a few months at his new teaching post in Zürich, Büchner contracted typhoid and died at the age of 23 on February 19th, 1837, leaving Woyzeck in a fragmentary state. In addition to being a scientist and playwright, Georg Büchner was a dedicated and leading figure in the resistance movement, Junges Deutschland, which rebelled against the reactionary and authoritarian forces that were re-established in Germany in the post-Napoleonic era.. Büchner´s education at the Grand-Ducal Gymnasium, beginning in 1925, politically awakened and inspired him through the works of Shakespeare and Goethe. His dissatisfaction with the German Confederations curtailment of civil rights grew and, inspired by his study of the two French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830, Büchner established with a few peers from the Universiy of Giessen the Society of Human Rights in 1933. The secret society was a proto-Marxist establishment and the first of its kind of Germany. Shortly after the organizations creation, Büchner launched the politically explosive Hessische Landbote (Hessian Messenger). The pamphlet illumined the poor to various injustices imposed by the elites and incited the less fortunate to rebel against the oppressive rich. By 1835, the Society for Human Rights and the Hessische Landbote had gained enough notoriety to catch the attention of the authoritative Giessen government and Büchner was forced to return to Strasbourg in order to escape persecution. Over the next few years in exile, Büchner produced the majority of his literary works. The controversial nature of Büchners ideas was years ahead of its time as he challenged religion, conventional power relations and German society with radical politics and modern science. None of his plays were preformed in his lifetime, but Georg Büchner remains one of the fathers of the Junges Deutschland movement and one of the internationally most well-known German playwrights after Goethe. Although in his own time Büchner was known for his scientific and political achievements, it is his literary work that has stood the tests of time. His mother, Caroline, was largely responsible for his interest in poetry and literature as she encouraged him to read romantic poetry and music at a very young age. This early start at studying German literature and his later education at the Gymnasium and University gave Büchner the tools to craft a new visionary style of drama. Büchner created the open drama, a format which abandoned the rigid controls of the Aristotelian model, as he viewed it to be oppressive, in favour of a format that could be used as a political tool, rather than a purely aesthetical one. Büchner hoped that a different approach to drama would enable the characters actions to be concluded in each individual scene not through the entirety of the play. Additionally, this attribute made it possible for characters to have ambiguous motivations and allowed for each scene to have closure, while the individual scenes operated as a series of plays within a play. Compositionally, Woyzeck, along with Büchners other works (Dantons Death, Lenz, and Leonce and Lena) carries similar messages and thematic values to his personal beliefs. Büchners plays reject German idealism and instead offer a counter paradigm to historical idealist drama; he suggests that human history has not been working towards a bright future but in fact towards one that is, and always has been, meaningless. In Woyzeck, Büchner bankrupts meaning by stripping the metaphysical foundations of power and making reason absurd in a manner that seems to anticipate the Brechtian concept of the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect). This effect proved unquestionable moral truths to be false and Büchner applied this concept to several murders from the early 19th century. The sources used by Büchner to write the play, Woyzeck, came from several real-life events. Johann Christian Woyzeck, the original Woyzeck, was a former military officer who was dishonourably discharged from the army. He killed his beloved on June 21, 1821 as a result of the taunting voices inside his head that made him mad with jealousy. The news of Woyzecks trial rapidly disseminated across Germany because it was the first time the insanity plea had ever been used in a German court. Johanns defence was based on the fact that he killed his mistress at the suggestion of the voices inside his head, although the court ordered psychiatric evaluation refuted Woyzecks insanity. Inspiration for Woyzeck also came to Büchner from the story of Daniel Schmolling, who was fixated by the idea of murdering his lover from a random thought. He eventually followed-through by viciously stabbing her to death on September 25, 1817. With these two crimes as inspiration and a radical political, literary and scientific platform, Büchner crafted a play that would later inspire numerous artists to reinterpret his vision through a variety of mediums. Some of the most famous reproductions of Woyzeck include Alban Bergs opera Wozzeck, a musical written by Tom Waits and Robert Wilson, a 1979 film adaptation by Werner Herzog staring Klaus Kinski, and even a puppet theatre production from the South African Handspring Puppet Company. BibliographyAberg, Maria. Woyzeck: Resource Pack. Young Vic (2005). 1-11.Pnevmonidou, Elena. Büchner: His Life in the Political, Social, Moral Context of the 1830s. 2011 Germanic Studies 438A. Clearihue A211, University of Victoria: Saanich, BC. Sept. 12, 2011.Pnevmonidou, Elena. Büchners Plays and Early 19th century German Drama. 2011 Germanic Studies 438A. Clearihue A211, University of Victoria: Saanich, BC. Sept. 15, 2011.Pnevmonidou, Elena. Woyzeck. 2011 Germanic Studies 438A. Clearihue A211, University of Victoria: Saanich, BC. Sept. 19, 2011.
Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

Georg Büchner is widely recognized as a forerunner of modern drama, and Woyzeck in particular, his last and unfinished play, is celebrated for pioneering the open dramatic form, for expressing very modern themes and character configurations, and for anticipating 20th century existentialist and absurd theatre with its fusion of the tragic, the comedic, and the grotesque. Rather than attempting some realistic re-enactment of early 19th century social relations, our adaptation of Woyzeck highlights the dreamlike, absurdist qualities of the play and attempts to sustain the sense of an unresolved ambiguity about ultimate causes and motivations. To that end, in addition to Woyzecks obvious madness, we allow for a certain kind of madness to permeate the entire play as its basic mood. In the world of Woyzeck, things make sense, but only in the way they make sense in dreams where scenes do not achieve closure, but are only ended by changes in location and where the profound is coupled with the meaningless in a disturbing and at times ridiculous coexistence. We have dubbed our production The Choreography of a Murder for several reasons. For one, the contrast between social inclusion and marginalization is captured by the motif of dance, and the indisputable proof of Maries unfaithfulness occurs when Woyzeck sees her dancing with the Drum Major. But beyond that, we concluded that the idea of choreograpy is also an apt characterization of the very creative process that generated the play. The first scenes introduce the main characters Woyzeck, Marie, the Captain, the Doctor, Andres, the Drum Major in actions, relationships and thoughts that appear to have been ongoing and repeated for some time prior to the beginning of the play, but that now some change has occurred resulting in the familiar and repeated becoming skewed. Subtly and discreetly the play begins as an interrupted dance. The dance will resume of course but, as a consequence of the interruption, it will move in a new direction. The play begins with Woyzeck and Andres, as usual, going out into the open field to collect sticks for the Captain except this time Woyzeck hears voices and has visions of the Freemasons and the Apocalypse. As usual, the Drum Major parades his soldiers past Maries window for the daily drills except this time, he notices her. As on every day, Woyzeck shaves the Captain while listening to his moralizing rants and circular philosophical reflections about time, eternity, and the pace of life except this time, Woyzeck talks back. As usual these past three months, Woyzeck goes to the Doctor to deliver his urine sample and to be examined on the impact of an exclusive diet of only peas except this time, in addition to the predictable physiological symptoms, a most intriguing and unexpected aberratio partialis mentalis of the second degree begins to manifest. The usual rhythm of things is interrupted, the most immediate outcome being confusion of thoughts, motivations, and the direction of movements. The pace picks up again when Woyzeck, the quintessential disempowered underdog, begins motivating his own actions and choreographing his own dance with the plan to murder Marie
Main Actors

Ovidiu Ratiu - Woyzeck

Cassandra Lemoine - Marie

Luke Pennock - Tambourmajor

Q:Tell me about your character Woyzeck.OR: Well, it depends on which lenses you put on. One can say that Woyzeck is a victim, while others can say that he is merely a victim of his own actions. Woyzeck is a good-hearted person, and he wants to go through life by doing the right thing. I am still trying to figure out if his madness was natural or determined by an event, but I am sure that he loves Marie, and that the moment he found out about her infidelity changed the course of the play. Q:How do you mentally/physically prepared for a role?OR: I began reading the play during the summer in order to get an idea of it, without knowing that I would end up in the main role. Basically, now, I reserve some Woyzeck time, where I isolate myself and try to become Woyzeck. I try different face expressions in the mirror, and try to rehearse parts at random times in random places.Q:What scenes are you most excited to act?OR: I really love the first scene, because I believe that the suspense of the play is there from the beginning, but I am also really excited to act Scene 24, where woyzeck kills Marie. At that point, Woyzecks madness has reached its full potential and this scene will have a great impact on the audience. Q: What is your German background? OR: I am still working on grammar, but my verbal skills are good.
Q: Tell me a bit about your character. CL: I am playing Marie. She is with Woyzeck - not married but they have a child out of wedlock. It is a common law marriage and they live together. Shes just around.Q: How do you mentally/physically prepared for a role?CL: Im this is the biggest role Ive ever had. I dont consider myself an actor, I consider myself a singer. Ive had to interpret a lot of text but Ive never had to really follow through the whole process of a character. So, Im excited for that kind of challenge.Q: What scenes are you most excited to act?CL: The murder scene! Because it is probably going to be really challenging. Q:What kind of German background do you have?CL: Ive studied a lot of music in German so I have a really good ear for the sounds of German. The syntax is still a little tricky for me. There is a lot of colloquial language in the play that we have to figure out, so it is really good that I am familiar with the sound of the language because that is a good place to start.
Q: Tell me a bit about your character. LP: Well, my character is the Tambourmajor. He is sort of a bad guy, insofar that he has a complete disregard for the relationship between Woyzeck and Marie. He sees Marie, he likes her, and so hes going to get her. He doesnt consider about the long term effects that that might have and certainly not on Marie and Woyzeck. Q: How do you mentally/physically prepared for a role?LP: There is a lot of me in there! Its a matter of getting rid of my typical Canadian reservedness, to be more forthcoming about things and not hold back. My character definitely doesnt hold back in anyway. Q: What scenes are you most excited to act?LP: I like the one where I get to beat up Woyzeck. Its shows a side of the Tambourmajor - that hes not a cool customer. Hes downtrodden at a bar and he beats a guy up; hes not the cool guy that he appears to be at some other parts of the play. Q: What kind of German background do you have? do you have?LP: I have high school German and I also took a trip to Lübeck, Germany. I keep up with it. I watch a lot of German soccer, so I hear a lot more German than a lot of people would in a given week.
Actors 2

Bryan Gibbs: Captain & John Green: Doctor

Andres: Alina Wilson

Margreth: Nicole Steudel

Andres is a typical low-ranked soldier, a person much like Woyzeck before his madness began to develop. The previous friendly, trusting relationship between him and Woyzeck has begun to deteriorate with the increasing symptoms of Woyzeck's madness. Andres is made uneasy by Woyzeck's ranting, and tries to escape or ignore them, but he is also held back by concern for Woyzeck. Andres tries to put Woyzeck's madness in terms that fit his worldview, he suffers from a fever, and offers a solution that fits that understanding, alcohol. Andres unknowingly fuels Woyzeck's delusion with his songs and conversation and offers no aid by ignoring his pleas.
I am so excited to have the opportunity to play the role of Margreth in this production of Woyzeck. Margreth is a fascinating character, insofar that she gets to experience the actions of Woyzeck both as a participant and a viewer. Not only is she vital as the neighbour of Marie, but she is also provides the audience with the public perception of these actions and demonstrates the expected reactions. Through Margreths responses to the other characters Büchner is able to convey to the audience a sort of secondary language, a social language. It will be a very interesting to step in her shoes.
Q: Tell me a bit about your characters, the Captain and the Doctor?BG: We both play the two major authority figures in the play. I play the Captain. He seems to really want to have the world contained in an almost an obsessive-compulsive way. Whenever the world is in some ways acting in a way that doesnt seem to conform to what he believes it should be, he has this excessive need to correct it and change it and to write for himself. Focusing very much on concepts like morality and trying to maintain control though these concepts. JG: I play the doctor, who is kind of an academic doctor, as well as one that diagnoses people. He seems to be a catchall mountebank of supposed knowledge. Hes kind of a stereotype that represents the changing status of authority in society. And a really interesting thing is that his speech is not actually in High German, but Hesse dialect. So while he using this vocabulary of medicine and science he is also peppering it with this colloquial language. It is almost as though he is masquerading as this authority figure. Q: How do you mentally/physically prepared for a role?BG: I have to focus on the text itself and figuring out what does he give you and trying to justifying what do these things say about the character - for example, the Captain. I see him as clown-like in his role. I want to make sure I can express that humor or enjoyment playing him. JG: Being an aspiring playwright myself, I really like to start with the text. I look at everything as something to be studied. Q: What scenes are you most excited to act?BG: I personally like my scene with Woyzeck, because that is when my character is at his absolute worst. Eternity is eternity is well, eternity. You completely see how empty his worldview is but how unbelievably attached he is to it. JG: There are things to enjoy in all the scenes that I have. I feel like the doctor does the same things in every scene hes in. The play is one long scene for him; hes got the same agenda, the same motivation. Hes there to show concrete things about what Büchner thought about authority and his society at the time. Q: What kind of German background do you have?BG: My German background is entirely academic. I feel there are a lot of words that are at the back of my mind - words that I know when theyre on the page but dont have the meaning for at the tip of my tongue. The biggest thing is getting in touch again with the language and working on things like pronunciation. JG: I studied German a few years ago, before going to Berlin for 2 weeks with my family. Coming into this my vocabulary is pretty slim at the moment but things like pronunciation and grammar arent that out of reach as they would be if I came to this cold. I am grateful for the exposure that Ive had.
Actors 3

Dialect/Language Coaching and Script

The Grandmother: Kira Petri

Ausrufer / Professor: Max von Anderkas

Karl: Sara Sabo

Karl, although a supporting role, adds many dimensions to the world of Woyzeck and is seemingly more important than he appears. Similar to the role of the Grandmother, Karl personifies the qualities of his environment, the chaotic fairground. Karl demonstrates this relationship through his speech which is nonsensical, as his motivations changes several times in a sentence. Moreover, his actions lack direction as he has no destination and whenever he appears on stage he fails aimlessly. As such, his abrupt nature mirrors the reversals of Woyzecks world, rendering it as an utterly meaningless place.
Woyzeck as a text, originally written in 1837 and published posthumously in a fragmentary state, provides many challenges to a translator of the play. One of the main obstacles was to synthesize the German and English versions into a format that enabled some of the non-German speaking actors to understand the themes of the play and their characters motivations. Additionally, everyone involved in a production relies on the script as it dictates the playwrights ideas, and as a translator, ensuring that these ideas are communicated as precisely as possible was a difficult but exciting task. In assisting with dialect coaching, aiding the actors to utilize a certain dialect that is a marking characteristic of their role is important as it helps authenticate Woyzeck as a German language play
In Woyzeck, I feel the role of the Grandmother is key. Her character foreshadows the death of Marie. The traditional figure of the Grandmother is often seen as knowledgeable, and this makes the story she tells the children much more than merely a story. In the play, she portrays the loneliness and alienation that Woyzeck feels. This sensation of emptiness is critical to what motivates Woyzecks character and his eventual need to kill Marie.
The Ausrufer and the Professor both play a major role in establishing the carnivalesque atmosphere of the play. The portrayal of these characters works together to emphasize the absurd and ruthless nature of human social order. This criticism of societys structure was an outstanding leitmotif of George Büchner's work. For myself as a Geography major, these two roles have provided me with a welcome creative challenge in an otherwise prerequisite-laden semester.
Directors

Co-Directors: Jethro Herring, Fiona Mortimer, Molly Noonan, Dan Scowcroft.

What type of research have you done for this play? JH: I relied heavily on the history Elena gave us in class. This project is kind of her baby, and she knows the context and history so well. It's kind of like having a living manual with you. She knew exactly what kind of context and history was relevant to performing the play, not just analyzing it. FM: I have read the play in English and German and have watched different films and theatre productions that have performed Woyzeck before. MN: One of the main things I've focused on is researching madness, particularly as it might have been seen in the early 20th century. Additionally, I have spent some time looking at more modern ideas of mental illness, in an attempt to see if Woyzeck's actions today would be considered products of mental instability, or malice. DS: I have read Woyzeck a number of times, as well as watched a few film versions. Elena provided us with a lot of helpful information. I like to learn as the production evolves, and I will be running back and forth from the library during the entire process.What is your vision for the play?FM: I want everyone to envision what Woyzeck must have been thinking, or what Büchner intended people to realize after reading it. I want it to be successfully understoodMN: The madness of Woyzeck is one of my main focuses, and I want the play to reflect that. The play is so disjointed and episodic, it seems only natural that it is portraying what goes on inside the head of someone slowly losing his grip on reality. JH: My vision for the play is fairly simple. There's a lot of mechanics to the play that support the story and I think we've tried to incorporate those mechanics into how we stage the play. The set needs to remain simple, to allow movement and quick scene changes, and costume needs to give us time, place, and character. We're always trying to keep in mind 2 things: 1 - that a large part of our audience may not understand German, and therefore the staging needs to be clear enough so those audience members can understand what's going on. And 2 - some of our audience will understand German, so we need make sure we don't overplay it.DS: I dont know if I have a specific vision for the play. I know there are a lot of things I want to see in it, though. I want to experiment with the concept of dreams and the dream-state - I think it will help make sense to the flow of Woyzeck.How do you coach your actors to see your vision?MN: Generally, I don't like to give speeches to actors about the entire vision of the play, because it is too much to give them all at once. There's no point in an actor trying to encompass the entire vision of a play while they're trying to rehearse with their scene partner - it's overwhelming. While directing the individual scenes I will be giving some information about the vision of the play, and with these hints an actor almost always has an epiphany about the vision in its entirety. JH: Working in theatre is always a collective experience, or at least it has been for me. So its much less about me trying to get the actors to fit a form that I've contrived, as it is the directors making sure they are supporting the text and that the text is being used in such a way that it supports them. When the show opens, the director is no longer in the picture, but its their work that goes in front of the audience.FM: I will guide the actors to feel the emotion that is sewn into this story. I don't want them to read words aloud from a page and act out what they think is stereotypically appropriate. They need to think about the time period, setting, conflict, and the mood. DS: Talk to them. If conversations about what is happening on stage and the underlying motivations occur frequently, everyone will be on the same page. That helps the vision remain cohesive and grow because everyone can contribute.How difficult is it for you to direct a play that is in German?JH: Difficult, but not.FM: Having studied in Germany I find directing the play in German not hard, but powerful and rewarding. German is a strong language and it is vital to have good pronunciation and speaking. MN: I was definitely nervous about this part, but it's proving to be less of a challenge then I thought it would be. Yes, it's much harder to stay ultimately true to the text while I'm directing, but text work becomes a process removed from rehearsal. Because it's in a language I don't understand, the rehearsal process becomes all about action and relationships; it's quickly becoming clear, however, that these are really the main things needed to understand a scene.DS: I find it extremely difficult. I cant hide the fact that it is daunting and challenging - but everyone loves a challenge, right?How is this production unique?FM: We are a group of University students with varying levels of German proficiency, from high to next to none. Some of us have experience in theatre and others no experience. It will be overwhelmingly different from all other Woyzeck productions because of this. We are not guaranteed success, because we ARE a group of mismatched students all trying to succeed at one thing. But it is with cooperation, communication and faith that this production can and will be successful. We are not professionals but even the smallest and most amateur people can (and do!) produce bigger and better things than most professionals do. Creativity here is key. JH: Each production of a play is always going to be different than those before it. You have different people, in a different culture, with different ideas and backgrounds, and different resources. We're working to make the best play we can within the world of opportunities the university is able to accommodate us. As a class, we're playing to our strengths and trying to be innovative with ways to approach the parts we're not as sure about.MN: While all theatre is collaborative in nature, I feel that this version of Woyzeck will be a fascinating exercise in combining the creative energy of an entire class of University students, not all of whom have backgrounds in theatre. This is a chance for voice to be given to ideas never expressed before and for students to see those ideas translated onto a stage. Our version of Woyzeck is a unique experience of theatrical collaboration. DS: It is different because we are students from so many different faculties and we all have to work together. It is going to add a lot to the production because of the variety of backgrounds and knowledge present in the room during the process.
Behind the scenes

Communications

Set

Props

For the set we have decided to take a minimalist approach incorporating displayed light projections, wooden block levels to adjust the height of the set, and a range of small abstract and mobile set pieces. We will attempt to express major themes of the play through the fluidity of our set design. There will be three movable walls on wheels that will help to portray the instability of the constantly changing world the play is set in. Our light projections will highlight the philosophical views of various characters. And by using different levels, we hope to emphasize the social status of characters within the static hierarchical structure of the play. In conclusion, our simple set will encourage and manipulate the audience to focus on these themes of the play.
We are responsible for promoting the production to various interest groups throughout the community. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible through social networking and other different outlets of the media. We hope to encourage not only Victoria's German-speaking community, but also friends and family, UVic students, staff and alumni, and theatre-lovers in general to come out for this exciting event - UVic'sfirst German theatre production!
Props play a vital role in a theatre production. They help the audience comprehend the actions of the scenes and also create depth and interest. In a German language production with, most probably, a wide non-German speaking audience, the props allow the audience to make crucial connections in the plot. In Woyzeck there are a few props that play a major role for example, these four main props: the knife, the mirror, the cat, and the earrings. Despite their small size, each of these functions as a plot turning object. These objects will emphasize the important subtleties which may be overlooked by a language-disadvantaged audience member.
Behind the Scenes 2

Costume

Sound and Projections

Stage Manager

The idea of taking costumes in the direction of Steampunk was originally a joke, but when we examined the concept more closely we saw that it would bring a lot to the development of the play. Steampunk is a term that comes from science fiction and emphasizes anachronstic technology, often with a Victorian vibe. As for the fashion of this concept, it follows traditional Victorian styles of dress, with futuristic metal additions. A lot of the costumery is primarily made up of basic and tame colours, and we intend to contrast these tamer colours against bold colours in order to highlight specific characters and character aspects. We do not intend to produce a fully Steampunk set of costumes, to avoid unnecessary distractions from the main cast and story, rather we decided to embrace the hybrid concept of Steampunk, which has influences from technological advancements and science, Victorian-style fashion, and accentuated military-styles of dress. This spirit of Steampunk is perfect to properly show off the potential of this play while still adding some of our own flair.
Projections and sound will be primarily used to create changes in mood and accentuate symbolism in the play, rather than serve a strictly narrative role.The soundscape accompanying the play will be composed using combination of avant-garde electronic music (a la Stockhausens early electronic music), excerpts from Alban Bergs Wozzeck (particularly the interlude after Maries death), and 19th century German romantic music (Beethovens Symphony No. 6 to evoke the pastoral and portray Woyzecks romanticism). Projections will be used to embellish sets: images of 19th century anatomical diagrams during the scenes with the Doctor; scrolling enlightenment treatises during scenes with the Captain; images of nature in the Open Field scenes; and more. The complex layering effect of these background additions will serve to enrich the experience.
Stage-managing a show can be very hard. It is all about organization and communication. You have to be a planner - especially on this show. Working with around 30 people, all with different expertise is difficult. But, I believe it will be quite rewarding. Knowing myself very little German is also a challenge, but luckily we have excellent German speakers that help out a lot. Having half of the class come from a German background and the other half of the class, myself included, come from a theatre background is also an enriching but difficult experience. I'm putting lots of hard work into this and I'm sure it will turn out to be a great show and experience.
Photos