Exploring the character of Gregor

Today we looked at the exploring the character of Gregor and normal family life for the Samsa family.

• Our improvisation involved two scenes, one showing the family when Gregor and great were younger and one showing a normal day when they are older. We chose to do the first scene in a very naturalistic way however the second one more stylised. We used a door frame as a prop which helped with the transition between the two scenes as it was only Mrs Samsa who stayed in the acting space the whole time. To begin with, we all started at the back, turned away from the audience in a line with Greta in between Mr and Mrs Samsa. The parents then both turned round and sat down normally whilst Greta and Gregor started having a fight with Gregor pulling on my hair. This is because we were both meant to be very young and getting ready for school in the morning. We were both moaning whilst fighting and, as Greta, i tried to adapt a childish wimpy voice but also one of a 'tell-tale.' After Gregor had finally stopped tugging my hair, I looked at him and that was the cue for all of us to say 'Gregoooor.' They then told Gregor to stop it and I said in a very wimpy voice 'Mummy, he keeps annoying me!' Mrs Samsa then said 'Don't worry, I'll do you hair for you,' and I said 'He messed it all up for school Mummy.' Gregor was also being bossed around my Mr Samsa at this point and then Mrs Samsa said 'Don't forget to put Greta's lunch in her bag. You forgot yesterday,' and I added, 'Yes I was hungry!' I'm not sure if I went a little over the top with the wimpy voice although I do believe it fitted the character. Next, Gregor wen to polish the shoes and brought our breakfasts. Whilst we were eating in a slightly robotic fashion, Gregor could be seen looking very sad on his own. I also said 'Thank you Mummy' when Mrs Samsa finished combing my hair and Mr Samsa also said many other comments to Gregor like 'Pick me up a newspaper after school.' Mrs Samsa then went 'hadn't you better be getting to school dear,' and I said, 'Yes mummy - Bye,' and then skipped out of the room. Mr Samsa then said he was going of to work and dragged gregor out to go to school so then all three of us were throught the door. This was when we went into the next scene. Me and Mr Samsa then walked back into the room in a robotic fashion that fitted our character. As Greta, I tried to walk quite girly and was fidling with my hair. Mr Samsa then sat on the chair and me and Mrs Samsa stood either side. Mr Samsa then talked about Gregor and his cigars whilst me and Mrs Samsa leaned in a repeated 'beer, money, cigars, clothes.' gregor then entered and stood at the front and Mr Samsa got up and we all said the words together but in a more questioning way. gregor then said 'Oh I;m so tired and fell back onto me and Mrs Samsa and Yvonne pushed the chair underneath him. We then all leaned on him to show physically the pressure we put on him mentally and Mr Samsa asked 'So, make much money today Gregor?' She said this whilst controlling his head and whilst we were looking at him closely and he said 'Not really I wasn't feeling well' and then we all said 'Oh, how disappointing,' to end the scene. We chose to do two contrasting scenes like this to demonstrate how Gregor has always been an outcast and unappreciated by his family. Our scenes also simply showed how Gregor was not the favourite child for no reason so that is why so much pressure is put on him when he is older.
• Another effective scene was done by another group although it differed from our greatly. They did a scene involving a family trip to the beach and the many stops they make on the way. They showed Gregor carrying all the bags, being forced to obey his father and go and get things including ice cream and shoes. The thing i liked the most about the scene was when Mr Samsa was reading the newspaper and was talking about an article to so with slave children. This was very ironic as they were going on about treating your own like slaves showing they don't realise how badly they treat Gregor. Similar to ours, I think they demonstrated how Gregor is always an outcast as they showed all the other family members close and together like a family should be.