The influences for our scenes.

In the process of creating our scene, the influences of things like 'The Life of Brian' guided us in our improvisations, as well as slapstick comedy duos and trios like the 'The Chuckle Brothers' and the 'The Three Stooges'. Personally, 'Black Adder' had a great  influence on how I worked on the scene, the way that every character is slightly mad and stupid and characters of a higher status would openly hit someone of lower status for very minor reasons

Research into the source material

The scene we are performing is based on a verse from Matthew Chapter 27 verses 35 and 36; " When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there". This is the only reference that we could find in relation to the gambling which took place and it does not tell us much; so we are free to interpret it without worrying about being disrespectful of the original scripture. Further information on our interpretation of the events can be found in the rehearsal section.

Character development for "The fool beneath the cross laying a wager"

I have discussed  in later posts about the creation of the physicalities of all the characters but the physicality is generally that of the commedia  archetypes. We discussed as a group which stock character fit each role, from there we improvised using the text and our preconceptions of military behaviour as a stimulus to create the three soldiers that are appear in our scene, the text itself does not reflect military. Through our research into Dario Fo we have interpreted his style of ridiculing people in power and the way he pokes fun at people, who blindly follow without questioning orders or religious instruction. 
We have tried to make the three soldiers more stupid than the fool, each soldier represents a different manner of stupidity. The captain appears to be brave and confident but is an utter coward. The first crucifier is ambitious and arrogant but he is quick to anger, he is a reflection of the upper class who normally serve as Generals or high ranking officers.
The second crucifier is just a general run of the mill idiot, absent minded, does what he is told (when he is paying attention!). Finally, we have the fool and though he is supposed to be the fool, he is more a jester than someone lacking in intelligence. He is probably the smartest character of the four of us.

Costume designs

To begin with we discussed potential ideas for the costumes of the soldiers. We decided on one of three ideas; traditional Roman centurions, classic English red coats, The Beatles sergeant pepper outfit or modern day military.

After a few discussions this week we ruled out the sergeant peppers and the Roman centurions as they would probably be the hardest costumes to come by. We were pretty much split down the middle as whether to go for the red coats or the modern day military. In the end we had one final discussion and came to conclusion that the modern day 
military would be easier to acquire and work in without having to adapt the scene specifically for the costume.


The Crucifiers
All of the crucifiers will wear a black t-shirt with a camo jacket that I obtained from a member of the cadets unfurchinitly one of the jacits is a difremd patern to the uther to. and black trousers and dark shoes. 

Chief Crucifier
The chief will wear a military beret and a captain mask from the stock characters.

First Crucifier

The first crucifier will be wearing a brighella mask from the stock characters.

Second Crucifier

The second crucifier will be wearing a Zanni mask from the stock characters, the mask will be a pale blue to represent the melancholic tone of the character. At a certain point off stage we will wrap the hands, arms and face in bandages and tying a small piece into a bow around the nose. 

The Fool

Originally we had an idea that the fool could be someone trying to be like the soldiers but getting it wrong; wearing army camo but brightly coloured and wearing dark shorts like the dark trousers of the soldiers but missing the point and probably wearing flip flops. The fool will wear a harlequin mask. We found it hard to find a reasonably priced neon army camo t-shirt so we have considered a few other things. Still keeping the harlequin mask we are going to have the fool in a 'chavvy' tracksuit with a cap. The fool will have bandages wrapped around his arms from wrist to elbow.