Secret detention centers-
340 secret detention centers worked throughout Argentina between 1976 and 1983. They created a separate and unofficial prison system that secretly functioned alongside the legal structure. Their intentions were to put the thousands of people who disappeared in Argentina on the direct orders of the military dictatorship. The military government filled its secret detention centers with dissidents, trade unionists, social reformers, human rights, activists, nuns, priests, pacifists, psychologists, journalists, students, pupils, teachers, lawyers, actors, workers, housewives, spouses, parents, friends, neighbors and tens of thousands of people who allegedly threatened fixedness by conspiring to undermine the "Western Christian way of life."

Allegedly threatened- Many people mainly known as young adults and adolescents, fell into the sinister, ghostly category of the Desaparecidos. The silence was the only reply given to all the habeas corpus writs, an ominous silence that immersed them. It shows that no kidnapper was ever arrested, not even a detention center was located for these dangerous people. There was no news on anyone committing a crime to ever have anything bad happen to them, not even being punished. It was shown that the whole of Argentine society had the feeling of vulnerability, having the thought that anyone no matter how innocent they could be, could still become a victim of the never-ending witch-hunt.

Falklands War-
The Falkland War is a group of islands in the south Atlantic. The main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland are 300 miles east of the Argentina coast. There are around 200 smaller islands which form a total land area of around 4,700 square smiles. The only town in Stanley is the capital. 

Chronicle of the Falkland islands-

Circa 1600
The Dutchman Sebald de Weerdt makes the first undisputed sighting of the islands.

1690
John Strong who is the English Captian made the first recorded landing in the Falklands. The British claim the islands for the crown and named the sound for both main islands after Viscount Falkland, a British naval officer. It was then applied to the whole island group later on.

1764
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville found the islands' first permanent settlement, on East Falkland. Bougainville is a French navigator. 

1765
The British are the first to settle in West Falkland island.

1767
It's known that the Spanish buy out the French settlement which is known as Port Louis in the East Falkland island. This implies a French recognition of the Spanish rights to the island. 

1770
A Spanish flotilla arrives at the islands asking the British to leave. When first asked to leave, the British officer in charge of the garrison. The Spanish revisited with a stronger force, trying to convince the British garrison to leave on the 14th of July 1770.

1771
The British outpost on West Falkland is finally restored after the threat of war.

1774
The British then step away from the island due to economic reasons, but Spain maintains the settlement on East Falkland which is known to be called Soledad Island until 1811, just when it looks like Spain is about to lose control of its colonies in America.

1816
Independent Argentina first appears on the historical scene.

The Victims-

The victims lost all rights from the moment of their abduction. They had been stolen of all communication with the outside world, held abducted in unknown places, subjected to barbaric tortures, kept ignorant of their immediate fate, they were at risk of being thrown into the river and sea, weighted down with blocks of cement, or burned to ashes. They weren't classed as objects, although they were possessed at all human attributes. They could still feel pain, they could remember a mother, child, or spouse, the main factor was they felt sudden shame when being raped in public. 

Tortured:

Carlos Hugo Basso-

Carlos is one of many victims of being tortured. The journey Carlos went on is spoken from himself such as,

 "They opened a door which, from the noise it made, was probably metal. One of those talking me warned me that I was shortly to meet the `Priest', who would be in charge of `taking my confession.' This person they called `Priest' must have been quite big since as soon as I went in he grabbed me by the sides and lifted me in the air. Afterward, they beat with sticks and a hammer which they used to smash my fingers whenever my hands were on the floor. They undressed me and tied my hands and feet to a bed frame they called a `grill.' For what must have been about an hour they applied electric current to the most sensitive parts of my body: genitals, hips, knees, neck, gums. ... For the neck and gums, they used a tiny instrument with several points, directly connected to the mains supply of 220 volts. I could see under my blindfold, that every time a discharge was produced, the light of a small bulb over the `grill' dimmed. During this time I heard one of the torturers being addressed as `Gringo.' Afterwards somebody applied a stethoscope to my chest and they untied me. I found I couldn't walk, but they dragged me 20 or 30 meters to a mattress in a large room, against a wall, where I remained until the following day." 

Carlos Hugo Basso tells the memorable journey that he went through as a victim of being tortured which personally makes me feel sympathetic to him with the things he has had to face.

Delia Barrera-

Delia Barrera talks about her experience as being a survivor of torture. She talks about how this made her feel, what she lost and how terrified she was at not having anyone she knew around her, and the trauma she went through. She talks about how she feels even eighteen years later whilst her kidnapper walks around unpunished.

"I was a desaparecida for 92 days. My place was the Club Atletico, where I lost many things: my name and surname, replaced by a number and a letter; the view, hidden by a curtain; my silent pace, by chains around my feet; the ability to communicate, as I wasn't allowed to talk; I lost my husband, a vocal activist; I lived through this and with the fear, with the uncertainty of not knowing, with the impotence of not being and the strength to resist; I lived with hundreds of companions, in similar condition, denied life and condemned to resist; I lived with the repressors, I lived through Julian the Turk and his recordings of Hitler's speeches, his beatings, his shoutings, with all this brutality which I relive once again now, eighteen years later, when I see him, totally unpunished, cynically telling the world of his deeds, with irony, without a trace of repentance and with the unabashed arrogance of saying "I would do it all again". And I ask myself why? What gives him the right to bring terror back into my life; what right has he got to enter my house, to enter everybody's house; what gives him the right to frighten, through a screen, those who did not get to know him personally ... with what right? With all the right given him by the impunity we are experiencing; with the right of the law that leaves him free and today to speak of his crimes; with the right given him by people unable to shout ENOUGH, a right given by a government that allows him to live in freedom among us, his victims, in this society, among a people who declared NEVER AGAIN, a NEVER AGAIN that remains unspoken, and which does not exist.

Dr. Candeloro-

Dr. Candeloro is another survivor of the torture she went through. Again she speaks about her experience and how her husband was tortured and murdered by these people in front of her for simply saying that he loved her and he was sorry they 'brought' her into this.

"The last time I heard my husband's voice was on 28 June. They always took him off first (to the torture chamber) and then me This time they did the opposite. In the middle of my interrogation they brought in my husband, telling him that if he wouldn't talk, they would kill me. They began to apply the electric shocks to me so that he could hear my cries, and he called out to me: 'My love, I love you. I never dreamt they would bring you into this.' These words enraged them. The last phrase was cut short as they were applying the electric prod to him. They untied me and threw me into my cell. They were driven wild by him, his interrogation was unending. All at once, there was a single piercing, heart-rending shriek. It still resounds in my ears. I will never be able to forget it. It was his last cry, and then suddenly there was silence. My husband died on 28 June, a victim of their tortures."

Miguel D'Agostino-

Miguel D'Agostino talks about living through torture even after he got away, this shows the effect it has left on her and how traumatizing it was for people. This also shows the different experiences each person faced.

"If when I was set free someone had asked me: did they torture you a lot? I would have replied: Yes, for the whole of the three months... If I were asked the same question today, I would say that I've now lived through seven years of torture."

Nelson Eduardo Dean-

Nelson goes into detail about the experience he faced, talking from the most painful side to the least, knowing that nothing he could've done would've made a difference. He spoke about the things he did to feel less pain endured him to receive more pain because the people didn't like the fact he was trying to survive.

"Once there, we were put in various rooms. With my wrists handcuffed behind my back, eyes blindfolded, and bleeding profusely, a new wave of blows began. After half an hour I was taken to a room on the top floor. There they stripped off all my clothes, handcuffed my wrists behind my back again, and began to throw buckets of water over me. Next, they put wires around my waist, thorax and ankles. They tied a rope or chain to the handcuffs and pulled my arms up as high as they could without dislocating them. I was in that position, literally hanging at a distance of about 30 centimeters from the floor, for a period of time which is not possible to determine in hours, only in terms of pain. Because of the great suffering induced by this form of torture, one loses all track of formal time.

Later the torturers slackened the rope some 20 centimeters, enough to enable me to touch the ground with some difficulty and rest my arms a little - actually, any notion of rest was illusory, since when I tried to touch the floor and succeeded, I received electric shocks. It's really very difficult to express in words all the agony these shocks produce. I think it's only possible to offer a tragic caricature of what it was like. Two things might be useful as examples and give some idea; some actual physical events and some sensations. As to physical effects, I feel there are two which will show you the extent of the torture:
(a) After torture, the soles of the feet were burnt and layers of hard skin would form, which peeled off later. Obviously, the skin was burnt from the electric shocks.
(b) During the application of electricity, one would lose all control over one's senses, such torture provoking permanent vomiting, almost constant defecation, etc.

As for sensations, electricity begins to rise up in the body. All the parts with wires attached to them feel as though they are being torn from the body. Thus, at first, it's the feet that feel as though they are being torn off, then the legs, testicles, thorax, etc.

These torture sessions went on for a period of five days, increasing in intensity. During the last few days, they repeated all the above methods and, in addition, inserted wires into my anus, testicles, and penis. These practices were carried out in a diabolical setting; the torturers, some drinking, others laughing, hitting and insulting, tried to extract from me the names of Uruguayans living in Argentina who opposed the current regime governing my country.

I noticed that officers of the Uruguayan Army participated directly in these interrogation and torture sessions. Some said they belonged to a group called OCOA (Anti-subversive Operation Coordinating Organization). "

Teresa Celia Meschiati-

Teresa talks about her experience more personally and how this had made her feel and the lengths she went to, to feel no more pain. This is shown through her talking about her trying to kill herself, which failed but made her feel more pain. She talks about her experience and how there were five of the kidnappers who tortured her endlessly.

"Immediately after my arrival at La Perla, I was taken to the torture room or `intense therapy' room. They stripped me and tied my feet and hands with ropes to the bars of a bed so that I was hanging from them. They attached a wire to one of the toes of my right foot. Torture was applied gradually, by means of electric prods of two different intensities; one of 125 volts which caused involuntary muscle movements and pain all over my body. They applied this to my face, eyes, mouth, arms, vagina, and anus; and another of 220 volts called la margarita (the daisy), which left deep ulcerations which I still have and which caused a violent contraction, as if all my limbs were being torn off at once, especially in the kidneys, legs, groin, and sides of the body. They also put a wet rag on my chest to increase the intensity of the shock.

I tried to kill myself by drinking the foul water in the tub which was meant for another kind of torture called submarino, but I did not succeed.

The gradually increasing intensity of the electric prod was matched by the sadism of my torturers. There were five of them, whose names were: Guillermo Barreiro, Luis Manzanelli, Jose Lopez, Jorge Romero, and Fermin de los Santos."

Teresita Hazurun-

Teresita goes into depth on her abduction. She talks about all the important details of who she was before getting kidnapped and when she got kidnapped. She speaks about the abuse she faced and the dates and time it happened. She talks about being buried with no food or drink until people decided they wanted to speak out, once they did that they were then removed from the underground. Other prisoners spoke about their experience and said about their torturer was the captain of the Rural Infantry. They also had an instrument of torture known as the 'telephone.'

Dr. Teresita Hazurun, a lawyer by profession was abducted at 11 am on Saturday 20 November 1976. She was taken by the Chief of Police himself, making no attempt to resist, believing that she was required professionally for a detainee.

Dr. Hazurun was subjected to the usual tortures (beatings and the electric prod) as well as other new procedures which she saw applied to others, such as the 'burial' she described in her account. She was taken to the offices of the State Intelligence Services in Calle Belgrano in the town of Frias, Santiago del Estero province.

On the 22nd (Monday) at 8 pm., two people came and took her to a room behind the offices. They began punching her in the stomach and face. She was interrogated by Musa Assar (whom she recognized by his voice.)

They asked her about her ex-boyfriend Hugo Libaak, what he was doing, whom he met. Unable to get any reply, they laid her down on a bed, where they applied the electric prod to various parts of her body.

When people arrived at the offices they would be taken to pits which had been dug in the ground; they were buried there up to the neck, sometimes for four days or more, until they asked to be taken out, having decided to talk. They were kept without food or water, in the sun and rain. When they were dug out (they were buried naked) they would be infested with sores from insects and bites. From there they would be taken to the torture chamber (next door there was a room where the torturers lived.)

Prisoners there said that the torturer was the captain of the Rural Infantry. They had an instrument of torture known as the `telephone' (an electric prod applied simultaneously to the ears and the teeth.)

Vanished:

Alberto Santiago Burnichon, Villa Rivera Indarte, and Cordoba vanished in March 1976.
Gabriel Braunstein, Rio Cuarto, Cordoba vanished in June 1976.
Hugo Alberto Scutari, Buenos Aires vanished in August 1997.
Juan de Dios Gomez, Tucuman vanished in August 1976.
Luciano Ramon Perez's Brother, Temperley, Buenos Aires vanished in November 1976.
Eduardo "Dito" Priotti. La Plata vanished in November 1976.
Samuel Leonardo Slutzky. La Plata vanished in June 1977

Whole families that vanished-

Children & Adolescents-

Murdered-

The responsible-

The saddest part of all these abductors, murderers, and tortures have been let go lightly. Very few of them have been brought to the court of law and some have even been let go without any punishment. The ones that have been put away have been let out of prison before their time was over, due to military pressure. There are known to be many petty officers who live among them, living like nothing ever happened.

The responsible-

Junta Members, top officers, Ministers-

Alias, Chief of the Intelligence Task Force Navy unit who is responsible, with his colleagues for 5000 kidnap and murder cases, which many of them were thrown out alive into the Atlantic ocean from Navy planes.

The boss of Alfredo Astiz. Acosta is also responsible for giving the orders to kill the Swedish teenage girl Dagmar Hagelin, the French nuns of Church Santa Cruz, Leonie Daquet, and Alice Domon. Acosta was a psychopath. Acosta would go between liking the people he decided to torture by kissing them and the next turning on the electric shock machine and it's known his face was 'contorted with concentration.'

Agosti, Orlando Ramon who is a member of the leading triumvirate seized power in Argentina on March 24th, 1976 after democracy was restored. Agosti was then sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail for his part in the repression era. He was then let go by President Carlos Menem before serving his full sentence due to military pressure.

Anaya, Jorge I. is the commander of the Navy after Lambruschini in the third Junta. She was also the main planner of the Falklands-wae invasion.


Repressors, abductors, and torturers-

Ricardo Colombres
Rene Favarolo
Hilario Fernandez Long
Carlos T. Gattinoni
Gregorio Klimovsky
Marshall T. Meyer
Jaime F. de Nevares
Eduardo Rabossi
Magdelena Ruiz Guinazú
Ernesto Sabato

These were the people who have tortured and abducted many people, within the document on the website there are different things included such as:

Some of the names have been duplicated due to there being cases where militaries or police officers served in different places or in different roles within the repression.

Repressors cited in Italian Court case-

Human rights activists and prosecutors in Italy are trying to attempt to bring 37 Argentine repressors to an Italian court. They are being accused of involvement in the disappearance and torture of Italian citizens in Argentina during the repression years. (1996)

Name 
Pedro Alberto Duran Saenz
Mariano Acosta
Samuel Miara
Juan Antonio Del Cerro
Hector Julio Simon
Guillermo Oreste Minicucci
Hector Antonio Febres
Alfredo Ignacio Astiz
Jorge Eduardo Acosta
Jorge Raul Vildoza
11.Salomon Isaac Miranda
12.Hector Acuna
13.Jose Ruben Lo Fiego
Oscar Gomez
Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro
Jose Carlos Gonzales
Jorge Ezequiel Acosta
Luis Manzanelli
Antonio Domingo Bussi
Juan Carlos Gerardi
Hector Omar Maldonado
Roberto Julio Rossin
Alejandro Puertas
Jose Luis Porchetto
Luis Abelardo Patti
Rodolfo Dieguez
Juan Spataro
Carlos Guillermo Suarez Mason
Juan Bautista Sasiain
Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone
Rene Antonio Picart
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri
Luciano Benjamin Menendez
Santiago Omar Riveros
Jorge Rafael Videla
Emilio Eduardo Massera
Orlando Ramon Agosti

Military Uprisings-

The Military political scene has many times been marred by instabilities and violence. In 1930 the first military coup took place by General Jose Uriburu. This took place against the democratically elected government of Hipolito Yrigoyen which is a non-democratic dictatorship that rules the country.

After the dirty war had ended they then decided to bring those guilty and responsible for the tortures to a court of law which then began. But the process didn't get far.

When the legal proceedings were taking place, many military pressures were building upon the democratic government. The real politics brought the Alfonsin government to weigh the benefits of the process. 

In December 1986 the highest officers of the military were convicted and sentenced to various terms in prison. Not long after a new law was set out and improved called "El Punto Final" This law was to get out that all those in the military or the police that were not yet charged would be left out of the judiciary process. 

The trials and imprisonment of the top military officers hurt the deterioration of army prestige. They all barricaded themselves in the military bases demanding that they stopped the trials that were not included in the Punto Final Law. 

Aldo Rico- He was known as a broken-nosed "Dirty War" officer and a Falklands War veteran. Rico leads a series of barrack uprisings of extreme military groups that go against the democratic government. (1987 and 1988)

CONADEP (The National Commission on the Disappeared-

CONADEP was formed after democracy was restored in Argentina in 1983. It was created to investigate the thousands of people who went missing during the junta rule.

The National executive resolved that the commission to be comprised of individuals who enjoyed national and international prestige. They would also represent walks of life. 

Human Rights Organizations-

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo is a group of women who became a symbol of human rights activism and courage. They were dressed in black. They have also been demonstrating for many years at 3:30pm every Thursday. This is a meeting to find out what happened to their loved ones. They used to walk around with imprinted names of sons and daughters that have gone missing to try and spread awareness and help to find them.

It's known that the Mother's are a sign of courage, leading the struggles they face to justice. They then decided to start their demonstrations while the Junta were still in power. 

Acknowledgements-

The Vanished Gallery wouldn't of been possible without the help of the thousands of people who did. They contributed by giving information of those missing, photographs, sources, corrections, translations, encouragements, advice, and conveyed messages without net access.

Delia Barrera is one to thank more due to giving the repressors data. 

Juan Manuel Suárez for giving all the photographs that actually helped TVG that helped to make it more realistic.

Karen Slawner for her acknowledge and non-virtual visit.

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/victims.html

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/responsible.html

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/conadep.html

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/madres.html

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/announce.html

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/acknowledgments.html

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-military-junta

https://listverse.com/2016/10/01/10-left-wing-terrorist-organizations-from-around-the-world/ 

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The scene we chose to do was “The river of death” this was because it allowed us to really show our talent in being Ghosts. I chose to be ghost 2, the way we started to do this scene was by practicing how to stay connected throughout the whole scene and making sure that we still stayed connected in different ways. For example, instead of staying connected by the feet the whole time we decided to change it up by touching different parts of each other's bodies. This was successful due to adding in movements for each line we said. When saying the line “Over the rocks and through the rapids” we decided to make a movement with our heads where we brought our heads to one side and went over to the other side, this was because we decided to show the representation of the word ‘Rock.’ Each movement we made related back to the lines we were saying. When I said the line “battered and broken” we decided to go back to show the effect of it being broken. The ending of the scene was effective due to the way we responded to the last line “her husband” we rested on one another's shoulders and looked deadly in front of the audience to give the audience that tension of who we were talking about. 

When rehearsing I found that it was a success, this was because we had already chosen the ghost we wanted to audition for and the scene which left us with 20 minutes of rehearsing. The movements we chose all related back and we also stayed connected throughout the audition, which was important to do. We were the only group to audition for a different scene, which made it more effective to see different scenes being played by the ghost and everything we chose showed that it came from our dedicated hard work at ensuring that we related the movements back to the lines we were speaking. 

When auditioning, I found that we had done a good job at making sure we showed no facial expressions due to the ghosts being the deadly spirits, so it is important that there were no facial expressions and just natural. I felt like we have done a good job at always staying connected with the movements we chose to do, for example, we decided to show our flexibility by leaning forward and backward still staying always connected. I was impressed at how we managed to memorize some of the lines which helped us to be able to focus more on staying connected.  

If I was able to do this again, I would make sure I didn’t giggle when leaning backward as it was difficult to say the line, I was supposed to say being backward, so I would’ve changed the movement so that we didn’t break character. Another thing I would’ve changed is ensuring that I was slower when speaking due to having to make sure that it was clear we were ghosts and ghosts don’t speak fast, so next time I will make sure I rehearse my lines more speaking as a ghost would. 

Dolores is known to be a moody character. Although she is moody there are some lines such as “Better six feet under than flopping on top” where she comes across as funny, she tries to show that she is a funny and witty character by trying to make the other fishwives laugh. Although, she does become very serious when talking about Constantia and Ramon which shows when she says “That is easier said than done, Catalina. How can she mourn her husband without a body. At least you know that Roberto is in his grave. All she knows is that Ramon went out one day and has not returned.”  

When auditioning for Dolores, I felt like I portrayed her character well due to her being calm and moody throughout the whole scene. This helped to understand the different characters that there are, and it became clear that Dolores isn’t the type of character to have much sarcasm. I felt like I did a good job with the body language as it shows that she is a clumsy and stubborn character due to the way I was standing, I also felt like I did a good job at portraying the line “I can’t complain. My backaches. My knees are swollen, and my neck is stiff but apart from that and being married to Jose- I am fine.” When speaking this line, I feel like the body language used for this showed that she is struggling with her body and that she is achy.  

I could’ve worked harder at making myself sound moodier and more sympathetic towards Constantia. For example, when saying “He was a good man her Ramon. He always spoke his mind. He stood for what is right. But he should have been more careful. Now his family is left without a father and Constantia is without a husband.” I wished I had used an empathetic tone when explaining to the rest of the fishwives my opinion on the situation with the family.  

The gossip is known to be terrible for people who find a way to gossip about everything going on in the village. When doing different scenarios in this audition process, I have done a scenario of a girl who was going on a late-night walk and got stabbed along the way. This helped to allow my group to elaborate on this by saying things such as who it was, that they have also seen the same thing happen and it carried out a massive gossip with one another and then the situation changed every time and flowed nicely. 

I felt like I had done a good job at making up fake scenarios in my head and delivering them clear enough for my group members to react to it. When doing mine, I felt I showed how to be a gossip well with the facial expressions I was given after each person spoke. Although we didn’t have much time to rehearse it helped us to be able to understand what gossips are and how they portray their character. I also felt like I had done a good job at acting out different movements with a lot of emotion which is what was asked of us in the audition process. 

I feel like I could’ve done better at being more dramatic in the movements I performed for my group, this is because we got told to overdo it and I feel like I could’ve given more effort to be able to show my full potential. Although this isn’t compulsory, I wanted to make sure I gave it my all to show the talent I have. I feel like I could’ve also given more body language when reacting to the gossip being passed around, I could have shown more tension when things were being said. Next time I will make sure I show the character I played to be more involved and react to things bigger. 

When receiving feedback, I was told to get angrier as the conversation goes on and towards the end when the conversation gets heated to be harsher. I felt like I took the feedback straight away and developed the personality of my character. To make sure the improvements I was given were made I noted down in my script the things I needed to add more of to make sure that when I do this scene again all the improvements given have been added. Next time I will make sure that I add in the improvements so that I can develop my character more and receive more improvements elsewhere and not have to worry about having to work on more than one scene at a time, this will then allow me to focus my time on improvements for each scene if I carry on taking on board the feedback given in the lesson.  

When going through the first scene we had already learned the dance for the opening, so we recapped that by going through the dance and adding in more movements to get us to the place we needed to be. When doing this it was helpful that we went through the dance before starting to block the play, as it gave us more time to work on the beginning scene. The movements that we then added were going on our tiptoes with our heads tilted to the side and allowing the weight of our body to split into different places. To get to where I needed to be we had to then carry on the dance but with smaller movements. Personally, I think we all did a good job at the beginning and allowed ourselves to spend more time on making improvements to the scene.  

We started to go through the scene where Dream Mother is walking through the land of the dead but is in denial that she is there. To make sure the scene was more effective we decided to mumble words that the voices say as Dream Mother is entering which I have chosen to say “we are the dead” I mumble this until she starts her first line and then we stop and just hover around looking dead. To make it look more naturalistic we were told to stand in different directions, and I chose to face forward due to there being nobody else facing forward.  

Further along in the scene, when Dream Mother starts to look for Ramon and he says Constantia we thought it would be more effective if we repeated it one after another but quietly to give the impression that he is in the land of the dead, implying that he is dead. We also add in the agonizing cries, which is what we were working on at the start of the lesson, but we all do different movements to represent the dead.  

Towards the end of the scene, we walk over to Ramon and whisper “Mother. Mother. Mother” and put our arms over him to bring him with us and further away from the Dream Mother. Although it seems easy to do, we did have extra work put into pulling Ramon back with us due to the whole point of him coming with us is to insinuate to the Dream Mother that he will not return, and this is how life is now and there’s nothing she can do to prevent that from happening. 

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/amnesty-international/

When going over the first scene, I personally feel like this scene is the one I struggle the most with because of not knowing what I am doing which really helped to spend the lesson going through different sections at a time so we could become more comfortable with the opening scene as it is the most important scene as it is the scene that starts off the whole play so it’s important that the audience understand what is happening on stage. We focused a little of our time on the movement which is our entrance cue to enter the stage as we must make ourselves appear dead which is difficult to do especially not having experience with this before. After going through this for a while the dance became easier to remember which benefited me because I struggle to show emotion when I am learning new things.  

We then got told to choose lines we wanted to say whilst finishing the entrance dance to get into our positions for the scene to start. I chose to whisper “We are the dead” because I personally feel like that line is easy to remember due to the atmosphere of the scene and the scene being based around the land of the dead. After doing this we then got given allocated times to say “We are the dead” as Dream Mother approaches and is in denial that she is in the land of the dead.  I am the third person to say this line straight after the second person, which is Ellie to say “We.” This was decided because when we all just randomly say it, it doesn’t sound as convincing. The reason we say it at different times is to convey to the audience that we are in the land of the dead and so it has that echo sound to it which shows more tension towards the Dream Mother as she is looking in despair at everyone saying it so it’s like it’s an ongoing thing that she is hearing. 

We also spent part of the lesson going over our agonizing cries and making them look realistic. This is something all the cast are struggling with due to not knowing what to do to make us look and sound dead. When being told, we were going to work on these, I personally felt relief because I was struggling at being able to let out an agonizing cry which is important in the scene to do because it reveals not only to Dream Mother but to the audience that we are the dead and showing body language to justify this is important because it makes it more effective at the beginning of the play. We took turns to show our agonizing movement and cry so that we could have a one-to-one at being able to improve it. The only thing that I need to improve on is making my cry sound believable and making myself sound like I am in pain, which is difficult to do due to the movement I make doesn’t allow me to project my voice loud enough. After going through it a few times I found a cry that sounded realistic and easy to project so that people in the audience would be able to hear it alongside everyone else. 

I feel like I have done well at showing emotion within this rehearsal, for example, when entering the stage, I feel like I have shown no emotion which is intentional due to being dead and the dead having no emotion which is shown throughout the scene. I kept my facial expression neutral, however silly I made myself feel when doing the agonizing cries. I also feel like I have done well at saying “We are the dead” when I was supposed to. I felt like I had done a good job at memorizing the lines I am saying throughout the beginning scene which allowed me to focus my time on approaching my character in a different way from the way I would if I was playing Francisca. I feel like we have done a good job at portraying to Dream Mother that this is the land of the dead as she shows that she is in denial that Ramon is dead. I also feel like I took on feedback well within the lesson and applied it when we have done run-throughs of the scene which shows that I am on board with what is being said to me. I feel like I also showed better posture for the agonized cry after going through it many times before the run-through. 

When thinking back to this rehearsal lesson I feel like I still need to work on my agonizing cry so that it matches the movement I am doing. To do this I will go over different sounds in the position which will help me to find the correct sound for me to use. I also want to be able to feel more confident in the dance and to do this I will go through the dance in my own time by rewatching the video and doing it at home or in my spare time at college. 

When going over this scene we focused more on the movements after the dance which were the lines, we all had to whisper after finishing the dance and going to our space. Lines were passed out and some chose lines, for example, I chose to say the line “We are the dead” under my breath because in previous rehearsals that were the line that was said the least. I felt like I did a good job at following the movements and memorizing the dance which helped me to only focus on saying the lines in a different tone as to what I would’ve said for my character Francisca.
 

Another thing we focused on was saying the line “We are the dead” one after another, this is to show to the audience as well as the Dream Mother that this is the land of the dead that she is in and the more deadly we make it sound the more she will start to believe it. The reason we focused on this specific part was that it didn’t sound realistic when saying it at different times as some were saying it way before others or all together but the whole point of it was to make sure we said it at different times. To enable us to do that, we all got allocated different times to say it and when to start saying it. After the first person says, “We are the dead” the second person follows on from the “We” and so on. The time I say it is on the second “We” which makes me the third person to say it. This worked better because although we know when we are going to speak it, it makes it sound more realistic, which is our aim for the play. 

The last thing we looked over was our agonized cries. This needed a lot of work putting into it, mainly the sounds we make whilst getting into our position. To better our understanding of what to do we spent a few minutes going over different sounds to make. The sound I start to make whilst getting into my position is “Ahhhh.” We also worked on our posture to ensure that our deadly spirits looked believable. To ensure I was doing my correct, I asked for some help in making it look more naturalistic as possible. 

I believe I did a good job at memorizing my lines for the first scene which I seem to forget, I put my all into this rehearsal to ensure that I am improving on everything I do. I think I have done well at going on time when saying the line “We are the dead” one after another, which helped it flow nicely. Another thing I thought I did well in was taking on feedback and giving it my all when trying to find the correct agonizing cries and posture. I found it difficult at first but after listening and asking for help I managed to work out what I needed to get rid of and what could’ve stayed. The last thing that I was entirely impressed with was how well I remembered all the improvements when going through the scene after changing things, this is because I usually go over things a few times to be able to remember what to do in this rehearsal, I managed to remember it all. 

I still need to work on my cry at the beginning of the scene to make it believable to the audience that I am dead and that I am in pain. To do this I will go over the cry a few times in my spare time to make sure for the next rehearsal that I have done it and will be able to go over it without having to waste time going over it again. The other thing I need to work on is making sure that when I do my movement, I am making myself as uncomfortable as possible without hurting myself which will make it more believable to the audience.    

When blocking the beginning of the festival scene I found it helpful to look at the stage directions to help show when I need to enter although directions were changed in the blocking of the scene but entering as we should’ve shown that I was prepared and looked into this scene even though we haven’t blocked it before. I started by adding facial expressions at the beginning of the scene especially when I say “There are many people here tonight. It is good to see such happiness” this is to show the atmosphere that is circling the room from the beginning of the festival scene. This is important because the festival is meant to be a scene where everyone is happy and cheerful before the sudden outburst of Ramon’s body being found in the river.  

Another important part of this scene that was added was showing the relationship between Inez and Francisca when Inez shouts me over, I decided to react as if I haven’t seen her in a while and show my excitement by being eager to go over and see her but waiting for her mother’s approval first as it shows that she still has respect for her mother even after everything that has happened. We added in dialogue where Maria shouts “Inez!” and runs over to her to show that she is more of a family friend and gives Maria a reason to go over to Inez. 

This is also a chance to show the audience the contrast between the relationship between Francisca and Constantia compared to what they saw in scene 2 which was more heated. It was important to make it look like we were close to showing that they’re a close family and that they’re just dealing with difficult situations. The relationship is shown through Francisca caring about how her mother feels when she asks her the question of “and you mother” showing that she does care and that she is supportive of her mother which is important to show for the upcoming scenes. The development between the characters is shown through them coming on together almost cheerfully and then entering the dance floor together calling others over to join them and smiling at one another in the dance.  

Considering this was my first run-through of the festival scene I took all the feedback given whilst blocking the scene well and when looking back at what I have achieved within this rehearsal I felt I showed my physicality well through communicating with Constantia. I feel like I showed my relationship with Inez well, by miming, it as if we are talking and having a catch-up.  

When looking back I feel like I need to work on coming in on time for the dance, this is because the dance is timed well with the music, so I need to make sure I clap on time when doing this as it’s myself and Constantia that start off the festival dance and I feel like I personally need to be more enthusiastic when getting the cast to join in on the dance. I also need to make sure that I am working on the dance so I can work on my footwork which is important throughout the play. 

For the dance that we do at the beginning of the scene, Francisca and Constantia enters first cheering for Maria and Isabel to come and join us which gave reasons for entering at different times as it shows the different kinds of relationships that are being formed at the festival dances. This also helps us understand where we will be after the dance so we could do the dialogue that is in this scene. After doing this it made it easier for us to be able to block the dialogue part of the festival scene so that I could move toward Baptista so we could speak. 

After doing the dialogue we then started learning the second part of the dance which is where Ernesto starts the dance with everyone at the festival pushing for him to start it off for us all to then join in after. We decided to have the family on the front row and the rest of the cast behind to show the audience all of us as a family connecting and having a fun time with one another before Constantia finds out that Ernesto and Baptista are seeing one another. We redid it and started to add emotion to the dance by smiling and laughing along with everyone. 

I feel like I have done a good job at showing I was having a good time. This is shown when getting feedback that the first row showed a lot of excitement and joy within the dance. I feel like I have also improved on my footwork in this rehearsal by giving feedback and redoing the dances on the same day to be able to include the improvements. I also feel like in the lesson I did well at following the steps of the dance movements. 

I feel like I could’ve improved more on my footwork, which is something that is very important to do in the dances because it focuses on the foot dances that happen. I feel like I could be more joyful although I am already joyful, I could improve it more. I also want to focus on being on time with the music. For example, at the beginning of the first festival dance, we need to come on in time and clap along with the music which is something I keep messing up but the more I go over it the more comfortable I'll feel about it. 

 

Dream Mother- 

The relationship between Francisca and Dream Mother appears to be reminiscent of the past and looks back at everything they did together as a family. Although Francisca and Dream Mother are not together in many scenes, they are close due to the dream mother being Francisca’s mother from the past and it shows to the audience the relationship the family had before they all grew up. For example, the scene where they are in the hills together shows a relationship between the whole family and the fun and joy, they all got up to when they were younger. 

Ramon- 

It’s shown that the relationship between Ramon and Francisca used to be something Francisca enjoyed, this is shown through the memories that are shown in the past life of Francisca and her sisters all playing games with their father. The relationship now is like Francisca is determined to find the underlying cause of the death of her Father. Francisca is shown to be a mature character although it seems like she is dealing with her father going missing. She is trying to reassure her family that he will not return and that he is dead. This is not because she is giving up on her father, it is due to the fact she respects her father and knows he would not just abandon them without any contact. 

Constantia- 

The relationship between Francisca and her mother is shown to be difficult. This is when she returns to the village in the scene “Absence and Loss” she and her mother have a heated argument about the whereabouts of their beloved father/husband is. Although it looks like their relationship isn’t strong it’s clear that they rely on one another due to Francisca being the oldest so she is more mature and aware of the situation and can give her mother the support she needs. Throughout the play, it shows their relationship becoming stronger, especially when they encourage one another to enjoy themselves at the festival and go on and dance together. Francisca is always looking out for her mother and the same for Constantia, due to them being similar it’s clear that they can rely on each other for moral support. Towards the end of the play, their relationship seemed to grow when Francisca says “Madre, you are the best mother there can be” this is when she announces to her mother that she is pregnant, and they share a special moment together. 

Maria- 

The relationship between Maria and Francisca is shown to be more wholesome, this is from the very first scene where Francisca comforts Maria when she gets up over her father. It shows that Maria really confides in her older sister, which is clear throughout the play. When looking at the script I noticed some key moments for Francisca and Maria, the main one being when they find the body of their father it says that Maria falls into my arms which personally shows that they share a close relationship. Although they’re extremely close due to being sisters I feel like it’s more of a choice to be that close due to Maria spending more time with Francisca, showing that they grow closer together each time they are around one another. Another great example is when they dance, Francisca shouts for Maria to come on and dance with her and when she looks for Maria to dance out of everyone in the festival she wanted to dance with Maria and Maria wanted to dance with Francisca too. 

Isabel- 

With Isabel being the youngest sibling, it doesn’t show much of Francisca and her having much of a relationship and she does with the others. Although they don’t talk to each other as much in the play, I personally believe Francisca would still be caring and loving towards Isabel. I feel like it’s harder for them to have a relationship due to them being completely different when it comes to talking about their father. They do share a cute bond when their father’s body enters the festival where they all come together and care for one another. I feel like my initial gut instinct would be to comfort my sisters but make sure Isabel was okay due to her being the youngest and having more faith that her father was going to return whereas the rest of us had that feeling he was already dead. 

Baptista- 

The relationship between these two characters shows that they’re similar and have the same beliefs, for example, when talking about their father they both have the same thoughts as to whether he is dead. They get on great because they’re the two oldest and understand things in a more mature way. Their relationship is strong, this is shown when Francisca is happy that she has found Ernesto but tells her “You must tell Mother soon Baptista, it is wrong to keep this from her” it shows that she is a trustworthy sister and that she doesn’t want her to get into trouble keeping it from her mother. I would also say that they have a respectable relationship due to being so similar in age that they know how to respect each other. 

Inez (girl from festival)- 

The relationship between Inez and Francisca is shown to be like a close friend, this is shown when at the festival she shouts “Francisca” as if she was excited to see her, and the fact that Maria runs over to her is shown that she is well known in the family and Francisca is eager to go over and spend some time with her friend and her Mother tells her to go over. Although this is the only time, she is mentioned it’s shown from the audience's side that they have a close friendship due to the conversation they have whilst at the festival and all the laughs and smiles made, she is the only friend that Francisca has connections with which is important to show the bond they share. 

Ernesto- 

The relationship between Ernesto and Francisca is shown through the politeness they share when Baptista introduces him to me and Maria. Although they don’t talk much Francisca is the type of person to get along with anyone and because Ernesto and Baptista are getting closer it’s important to Francisca to get along with him for the sake of her sister. It shows that they are friendly when she shakes Ernesto’s hand, and he talks and encourages us to go up and join in with himself and Baptista when they are dancing.  

Gossip- 

Personally, I feel like Francisca stays well clear of the gossip due to them trying to figure out where Ramon is and making different accusations. When Francisca says “Mother, they are terrible gossips. Some say bad things. It will do no good” this shows that they don’t get along and Francisca finds them horrible and that they don’t care about what is going on and they only want to find out the latest news to then tell everyone else.  

Scene 2- "Introducing Basilio"

 For this unseen scene, I decided to include all the family members but focus more on Francisca, Basilio, Constantia, and Ramon. This is because it is always important for your parents to meet your partner and I felt having it just the four of them for a bit before the girls entered was the best way for them to be able to talk to Basilio before the girls started interrupting. I decided to focus one of my chosen unseen scenes on the family meeting Basilio because I feel like he is a big part of Francisca's life so it would be important for the family to meet him and this would help me have a clearer understanding of the person my character is dating. 

The reason I started this scene like this is to show the personality of Basilio, which I felt I showed really well by showing that he was nervous to meet the family. I made this clear by using the stage directions of 'Pacing up and down' this indicates that he is showing some kind of nerves which is completely normal when you are meeting your partner's parents. The reason I decided to have Ramon and Constantia enter together is to give off less tension when you meet the family for the first time, I didn't want Basilio to feel overwhelmed with the whole family coming at once so I separated the family to have time to get to know each other individually. The reason I made Ramon hardly say a thing in the script is that throughout the script he hardly talks so I wanted to carry that on to show that his personality is the same. Although Constantia shows to have interest and likes Basilio this is when she offers him to join the picnic which I wanted to show that, that is a big step as she doesn't let just anyone join in on their family day outs. The reason for only having Maria and Isabel run onto the stage in excitement and not Baptista is because they are shown to b the youngest meaning they are childlike and will show to have more excitement in them than Baptista would. This is why I chose to have Baptista enter more calmly and approach Basilio in a calm manner because the other girls wouldn't be as content as Baptista.

Scene 3- "Meeting the newest addition"

I chose to do an unseen scene for this specific moment because I had so many ideas that would relate back to the last scene that ended the play completely. The reason why I chose to go about this scene this way is to show the relationship between Constantia and Francisca. I chose to focus on this scene because it would be a nice unseen scene to write about and be able to think of the different reactions to the newest addition to the family.

The reason I chose to do this is that I wanted to create some sort of reincarnation of Ramon and be able to show that Ramon is still thought about and that they wanted to remember him and the only way to do that is by naming Francisca's baby after him. The reason I laid it out with it being the Mother and Francisca is to show their relationship in a closer format due to there not being much of that shown throughout the play. I wanted to catch a nice moment for Constantia and Francisca to share before the rest of the family came in to meet Ramon. I decided to allow Constantia to name the baby due to knowing it would have a good meaning behind it. When the girls enter and comment on the looks and how he looks like Padre, I thought it would have a cute meaning if Constantia told everyone the name of the baby as you would be able to see through her tone and body language how much it meant for her to have a grandchild that is named after their beloved Father/Husband. 

This word document covers the unseen scenes I have written up and all the stage directions that help to understand the scene more. I chose to do these scenes because I find that it's important to be able to show the understanding I have got from the script myself in terms of how the different characters are and being able to think about the scenes that might have happened before and after some important parts in this play. I decided to focus on four different elements of the play to be able to write up different scenes that aren't relevant to each other and be able to go into detail about each scene due to my understanding of what happened before and after.

We started off by going over the dances and improving them by making ourselves go in time with the beats, which is important to do for the festival scene especially. I feel like going over these dances helped me to feel more confident when doing them and helped me to remember them by going through them a few times. We also started going over scene one which I felt like I needed to work on personally because doing the agonizing cries that we need to do I personally struggled to do but going over them repeatedly helped me to understand what needed to be done. We also worked on our projection when whispering the dedicated lines in the opening which for me was “We are the dead” this was done so we could be louder when whispering these lines so that Dream Mother can react to the whispers that are being said around her.  

We also went through scene two which I personally feel like I have improved a lot in this scene and added the feedback given to me within the last few rehearsals. When going over the scene I showed this by getting angrier and building up the tension in the room before having a heated argument with Constantia. I remembered the feedback given to me from previous rehearsals which then allowed me to develop my character within this scene. I feel like I have portrayed the meaning of my character in today’s rehearsal by showing that I am a role model to the younger siblings such as Isabel and Maria. This is shown through the tone of voice used when talking to them. 

I feel like I have done well in developing my character by taking on feedback given to me in previous lessons and in today’s lesson and showing the different emotions my character is feeling in the second scene, such as building up the feud between Constantia and Francisca. I feel like I have also shown a different tone of voice when speaking in the second scene which was important for my character to show the different stages of emotions and frustrations that she is feeling. I also knew most of the lines for this scene which allowed me to work more on my physicality throughout the scene. 

I still need to work on staying in character when going over the scenes, for example, I broke out of character when my voice broke, which I personally feel like I couldn’t then get back into character fully because I’ve come out of it which then for me personally felt difficult to get back into character, which again I felt brought down the emotion my character was feeling.  

When going through the picnic in the hills scene I decided to go off script so I could focus on adding emotion to this scene as this is an important scene in the play due to it reminiscing the memories shared between Ramon and his family before he disappeared. It is important to add in a lot of emotion such as facial expressions to show the emotion my character is feeling.  Within this scene, the aim was to make sure I looked like I was enjoying my time and showing the effect of how close the family once was when they were all together. It is important to show the relationship between Francisca and Ramon when they have scenes together as it foreshadows what their relationship used to be like. When going over the picnic in the hills scene I knew the cues as to when I said my lines which is important so we can get the scene done and blocked straight away and move on and block the rest. When playing catch with Maria, Baptista, Isabel, Constantia, and Ramon it was important to show that although we all had to show we were having an enjoyable time, I felt like I personally had to show I was having a fun time and laughing and smiling with everyone to show the age difference between my character when the memory scene is done too how mature she is now. When Dream Mother and Ramon started to dance together Francisca and Baptista took it upon themselves to react with excitement at the cuteness of their parents. This is to show the relationship they had with one another and the impact it had on the sisters. 

Today I went off script for all the scenes I was in to allow myself to focus on building my character and finding the different emotions my character is feeling and allowing myself to spend more time showing facial expressions which I personally feel like I do not show enough of when having my script. When going over the festival scene I feel like it is important to show as much emotion as possible even if the lines are small. For example, when saying “Mother” although it is a simple word it is important to show the term what it means within that piece of dialogue which is the fact my character is trying to be supportive towards her mother but at the same time, she is trying to get her mother to not think about Ramon and enjoy her night. When going over the festival dance as it was important, we did it because Ernesto played by Max was not there when we went over the festival dance, and he has a solo so it was important to go over it for all our sakes so we can improve on cheering Ernesto on to start the dance. I felt like I had done well in encouraging Ernesto to do the dance by smiling and clapping for Ernesto, which helped boost his confidence to start the dance for everyone else to then join in. I was also impressed at knowing the footwork of the dance and not having to look down at my feet constantly to make sure I was using the correct feet. 

When going over the body of the father for the first time, I feel like I contributed to that well by saying to some of the cast that we should try and carry the dead body, who is played by the assistant director, Tayler. This is because it would give everyone the feeling of how they will need to carry him on and if it’s going to be easy to do and would be better, so they start earlier to make it look easier and not forced. We have spoken in previous rehearsals about who will be carrying the body and we concluded that it wouldn’t make sense for the family to carry on their father's body but walk beside the body with emotions going on. For example, when my character is walking beside the body she is in the middle of Isabel and Maria holding their hands and comforting them, I made this decision because it’ll show to the audience that I am the oldest sibling who is trying to comfort her younger siblings at this difficult time whilst grieving herself for the passing of her father. The emotions my character will be portraying is her head down whilst the body is being carried to show the upset she feels, and I will also be showing facial expressions to show the heartbreak she is really feeling but puts on a brave face for her siblings so she can be seen as confident and strong towards her younger siblings. When the body gets laid at Constantia’s feet, Baptista and Francisca comfort each other by holding hands and looking at the body with tears in their eyes, this shows her vulnerable state because she is around Baptista who is close in age and she feels like Baptista is more on her level than any of her siblings due to them both having that gut feeling of their father being dead but it is the realization of seeing him dead is what is upsetting them both. When they take Ramon away the girls instantly go and comfort Constantia to show she isn’t alone and they’re there for her. This is shown through the quick reaction of the girls hugging Constantia and the tension changing with the audience seeing the hurt and heartbreak they have all just had to go through.  

I personally feel like this rehearsal has been one of the most rewarding rehearsals for me so far due to being on the ball with knowing my lines and being able to add more emotion in for each scene I done in this rehearsal. I am happy with how well the festival scene went and how much emotion I put into the dances, I personally feel like my facial expressions showed that I was enjoying my time which changed from my character never really having a smile on her face and constantly playing the role of big sister to her being able to enjoy her time with not only her family but with her friends too.  

I still need to work on showing more emotion when being revealed that Ramon is dead, I personally feel like although Francisca had that gut feeling he was dead she would still be just as upset as the rest of them are. I feel like I need to work on making myself look more upset, especially when standing around the body, I need to show more emotion than just holding Baptista’s hand, I need to let out a cry on Baptista for the audience to see the different change of emotion that is happening within the festival scene and the drastic changes happening so quickly. I also realized I need to comfort the girls more, especially with me being the oldest I need to show more of a maternal relationship between them all especially between Francisca, Maria, and Isabel because they’re the youngest so it’s good for the audience to see Francisca comforting them and making sure they’re okay. It’s still just as important to make sure that I am there for Baptista just as much but as Baptista isn’t immature or a child it’s easier for her to find comfort from other people and not just her family, for example, she can confide in Ernesto whereas the other two only have myself and their mother but with Constantia being with Ramon on the floor they only have me so it’s important to show that maternal love for them. 

When playing this improv game we got told to focus on how our characters act within the play so we can then add it into our warmup, I played my role in this improv game to be boring and maternal this is because throughout the play she acts maternally to her sibling’s so I thought I would show it here so that it's aware that I have a good understanding of my character and the way that she reacts. The scenario that we were given was at a hen do and this scenario best fitted my character to show the motherly love that she shows throughout the performance towards her siblings. By making sure I do this I started by looking for Isabe and Maria to make sure that they were okay and to make them leave as I feel it's inappropriate for them to be at a hen do so young so this showed my character's development through proceeding to take care of her siblings and to show that responsible effect on her siblings. My character is seen to be boring because of the way she acts within the play so when doing this warmup I made my character boring by trying to get Constantia to come home as it's not fair for the girls to be seeing this even though Isabel and Maria are enjoying their time Francisca takes that away from them by sending them home or not allowing them to engage with what is going on.

After doing this warmup game we then started to do a full run-through of the play of what we have done so far but only using physicality and no words. The reason we decided to do this was that we realized we focused more on getting the words right than adding in physicality. In the beginning, I personally feel like this was a good choice because I didn't feel as if I was adding in much physicality when doing the scenes that I was in, so being able to go over the scenes we have done so far I thought would help me to improve on my physicality. I felt like the first scene was easy to do because there aren't many lines being said from myself, I focused more on getting the movements right which felt a lot less pressured to say lines too. When going into scene two I felt it become more difficult for me to understand where we were up to in the scene because there were no lines being said which made it harder for me to react. After talking to the assistant director we all came to the agreement to have some cue lines to help us be able to understand where we are in each scene. 

After break we then agreed that we were going to go through some scenes that needed work on and come back to the physicality another day, this benefitted e because we worked on scene two which wasn't a strong point of mine especially with the scene being so heated. This helped myself and Mia to be able to go over the dialogue which we felt we needed to work on the most because it tells a big part of the story right at the beginning of the scene. When going through this scene we applied the feedback given to us which was to get angrier at one another before it starts to kick off, I have done this by getting agitated when Constantia doesn't listen about not laying Ramon's place tonight which starts to show the tension building up and the tone of voice changing which helped to show the different emotions that my character was feeling at different times within this scene.

Throughout today's rehearsal process, I feel I took the feedback really well and applied it to my character. For example, when doing the physicality at the start of the lesson, although I did find it difficult it allowed m to focus on the movements at the start of the play instead of worrying about the lines that are needing to be said. I also stayed in character throughout the whole warmup that we have done which helped me to build my character's personality as it allowed me to understand and see the way my character would act and to be able to add things I have added before, for example, when spending most of my time around the younger girls it's made me realize that I need to interact with them more to show that maternal bond that Francisca has with her sibling's. Although the physicality part of the lesson didn't go as planned I still knew the cues to come on and off stage which I felt was important as it shows the understanding and acknowledgment I have been taking in the lessons previously.

I still need to work on not laughing and coming out of character in scenes, for example, in the second scene today when doing our heated argument we tend to laugh which is something that myself and Mia have both said we need to work on together which will then help us to get better at making sure we stay in character throughout the scene. I also noted for myself that I need to slow down when I speak as I have realized talk too fast, this is important for me because the lines I say are important and tell a part of the storyline so it's important for the audience to be able to here me. To ensure I do this, I will go over my lines and see where I can pause and what I can slow down on to make sure that I am not rushing my words.

We also went over the second scene and made sure that we projected loud enough for everyone in the back to hear us, which for me personally, really benefited me so that I could have feedback on the spot to be able to apply it to my character. This helped me personally because I could then add the feedback given to me in previous lessons and in today’s lesson to then allow me to develop the emotion throughout the second scene. 

We also spent most of our time going over the festival dance, which was important because we needed to improve on adding more body language and facial expressions throughout the whole dance to show the audience that we were enjoying our time all together. By doing this, we were able to add more emotion in the dances by adding in dialogue such as ‘Woo’ or laughing together and just smiling along with everyone else to show this is a good time for everyone and it completely shows the opposite of everything that is going on around us in previous scenes. 

I feel like I have done well in today’s rehearsal when going over the scenes we did because I applied feedback from previous rehearsals, and I was able to memorize a few lines for the fishwife scene which for me helped to then focus on creating a backstory for my character and the way I feel she would act which really helped to hear feedback from other’s about how she was played previously. I also feel like I did well in the second scene by adding in more emotion and finally being able to project which was something I personally struggled with but got there at the end which was important for me and something I wanted to work on anyways.  I personally feel like I have shown a lot more excitement in the festival scene by cheering everyone on at the beginning of the dance with Constantia and constantly smiling and laughing with everyone around me and playing with my dress which helps to show the interaction my character has and how she feels about being at the festival.  

When getting feedback, the thing I need to work on the most is creating a character for Carmen and trying to focus on what I feel she would act when doing this scene and I will do this by researching into fishwifes and how they are shown to be portrayed to help me think of a character and how I believe she would react and act around other people. I still need to make sure I make both my characters Carmen and Francisca in the play completely different, I'll do this by having different costumes to show the different character behaviors which will really help me to change the way I am from Francisca to Carmen by being in different costumes to help me act differently. I feel like I personally need to work on my projection throughout the play and to do this I will watch some videos back and see what I need to project louder and go over this in my spare time. 

In the first few scenes I realized that my footwear isn’t allowing me to produce what we need in the dance scene which is quiet movements in time with the beat. We got told to make sure that we are starting to wear our character's shoes that we have brought to make the movements smaller and quieter. I personally feel like I have done well in the opening scene, I whispered: “We are the dead” loud enough for Dream Mother to then be able to react to all the whispers that are being echoed into her ear. I also feel like I did well in doing my agonizing cries by sounding in pain and being in agony. In the second scene, we changed a few things, and overall this was the best rehearsal of the scene because we added in a lot of emotion throughout the process which made the tension in the room circle around to the audience too. The argument between Constantia and Francisca was one of the best times that we have done it because the voice was raised by me and Constantia which helped by having feedback to work with.  

In the picnic in the hills scene, we focused on not always being placed at the back and having the scene more at the front so that it is easier for the audience to see what is going on instead of it all being towards the back which for me it helped a lot because it shows my facial expressions and the relationship between the siblings a lot. I and Baptista also stepped in when Constantia couldn’t put the picnic blanket down in time and we started to do that together whilst paying attention to the parents and their relationship increasing. When going over the fishwife scene I felt like I needed to work on was making sure I don’t block myself which is important especially when I am trying to have a conversation, I feel it’s important to show my expressions not only to the other fish Wifes but the audience too. 

The festival dance needs work too which is important because we need to all to make sure we change the atmosphere of what has been happening around us to what is happening now, all the family and the cast enjoying their time with each other and having a fun time. We need to show this by adding facial expressions and laughing and smiling with each other and engaging in the music and making the dance look fun. It’s more to make the audience want to join in, which is the aim of the dance.  Another scene that needs work is the search scene because I can’t keep covering myself or Mia within this scene it’s important to show the facial expressions and they change throughout the scene which is important to show the different stages of frustration my character feels. 

To be able to improve from today’s rehearsal, I will watch the video’s back that I am in and focus on the things that I need to improve on. To do this I will go over the scenes with my group to ensure that we are applying the feedback. I will also ask for peer feedback to help me develop my character and to help me become better with my dancing and to help me with footwork. 

Personally, I felt stressed at the fact I have now been given another role to play with just two weeks until our performance I personally didn’t think I could learn the lines and build a character within that amount of time so for me, I was stressed but wanted to do it to not only help myself but help everyone else performing in this play have the best chance at playing their roles. After doing these videos, we started going over scenes that we thought we needed to work on, which were gossip and the ending scene. The fishwife’s decided to go over their lines to benefit me which really did help me to be able to learn the cues for when I say my lines. It helped me develop my character even though we didn’t go through it properly it still allowed me to think of different ways to approach my character. 

When going over the gossip, was helpful for me because it allowed me to experiment and add more facial expressions to help the audience understand my character and how she reacts when around the gossip, this is shown through the facial expressions she pulls when standing near them. We also spent some time fixing the ending scene to make it look more exciting and joyful. This is shown through the expressions on everyone’s faces when they talk about the news of Francisca’s pregnancy. This was something that needed to be worked on so everyone could show more emotion and make it look more like a heartwarming thing and make it look as natural as possible. 

I feel like in this rehearsal, I done well at applying feedback in the lesson to the scene and going over it multiple times until it was good enough for ourselves. Another thing I feel as if I done good at was showing my facial expressions throughout the gossip scene especially when walking on and rolling my eyes it shows that instant knowledge that Francisca doesn’t want to socialize herself with the gossip because she believes that they are "terrible.” 

I still need to improve, especially in the end scene at making sure we aren’t all awkwardly silent when finding out that my character is pregnant because it’s an exciting time for the whole family to the point where they’ve had so many bad things happen to them that this was something they need to carry on and it’s important to show this in the ending scene because it shows a happy ending for them although they are still unaware of where Baptista is there is something to look forward too. 

I will make sure I do this by, taking on feedback and watching the video back to give myself improvements and to try and make the awkwardness disappear and show the excitement through constant talking over one another with smiles on our faces throughout the pregnancy reveal up until Francisca talks about wanting Constantia to meet her grandchild this is more of a realization for Constantia that her daughter needs her and she needs to stay positive for the newest member of the family now.