Week 10 Ideas for LiveJournal

The new system of LiveJournal Academic Assistants is now in full swing. You should all be visited by your LJAA very soon. Once you have been visited you can ask them questions and get the advice you need. The whole LJ experience will, I am sure, get a powerful lift through this process. And remember you must submit to me your 3 best entries in EACH category of writing by Friday of Week 12- which is exactly 2 weeks away…. so if you are behind in any category then get writing to make sure you have a few items to chose from.
And so for ideas arising from this week:

First year drama: how about writing a very short sketch, containing 2, maybe three characters. Some momentous event has taken place and these characters are trying to come to terms with the event. Use “Andre’s Mother” as an example… but of course don’t try and write a three page play. See what you can do in maybe half a page- and remember the importance of silences, positioning of characters and so on… And what sort of playwright are you going to be? One like Arthur MIller who tries to tell his director how to set everything up on stage?????
You might, alternatively, like to write a brief review of either of the plays we workshopped on Friday…. or you might like to continue writing your poetry… or you might like to write a good decent review of one of your friends….. lots to think about.

Second year drama: this year we watched that fabulous film about Chekhov and had that powerful D E E P discussion about the meaning of life- especially the power of distraction!!!!!!!. You might like to write a short review of the Chekhov film: what did it teach you about the life of a writer? Did you find it at all inspiring? What does it inspire YOU to do? Or you might like to write an appreciation of “The Cherry Orchard” itself. Do you think this play still has contemporary relevance?…. and of course the other items that I have listed for first years, of course apply to you guys as well: you might like to continue writing your poetry… or you might like to write a good decent review of one of your friends.

Third year: this week we had a full lecture on King Lear and also explored Sonnet 94 with its deep connections to Shakespeare’s views on those in high places. Our class discussion on Lear seemed to come back to the key question of whether Lear’s tragedy has any redeeming features or not? What do you think? Is Lear reconciled with Cordelia? Is Lear better off dead rather than alive? Why does a play like this continue to pull in the crowds 400 years after it was written?
Or if you want to use LIveJournal for some really useful focusssed work that might help your exam too, then take half a page of the play (from anywhere- preferably a section that you find very complex) and see if you can’t translate the language into modern English. Use all the tools at your finger-tips to do this (Oxford English Dictionary- on-line for example)…. this is an excellent task for honing your skills in reading Shakespeare- OR (as for second years) you might like to continue writing your poetry… or you might like to write a good decent review of one of your friends.

Whatever it is you try…. please enjoy the task… and make it one step further in the direction of releasing your own creativity in whatever shape or form it tries to surprise you…

I saw this miracle of creation on my bush- walk this morning through the mist-filled valley in Kuring-gai Chase just behind our place: