For our performance of "Still I Rise," we wanted to use texts and performances we had seen and read in the past to help us to make it better. A text we used for inspiration was "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. Having studied "The Crucible" in depth, I feel that it is easy to see a resemblance between the two. As in "The Crucible," some of our performances took place in a courtroom setting. In fact, our main themes were taken from The Crucible. For example with Still I Rise, we wanted to convey a sense of displacement for Laura's character, who my character bullied into killing herself. This was to do with the outlawing of Mary Warren by the other girls in the courtroom scene and the way in which human nature tends to turn its back on outsiders. We also wanted to draw out the unfairness of the witch-hunts in The Crucible through our own performance and this is why we deliberately did not show a reason behind the cruel and unprovoked torture of Laura's character.
             We also wanted to give a feeling of Arthur Miller's writing, in which he puts in small movements and accidental outbursts of speech for each of the characters that hide things from other people. For example, when in Act 2 John Proctor comes in from outside where it is taken that he has been with Abigail, he puts extra salt into the pot of food that Elizabeth has cooked for him then later tells her that it is "well seasoned." However, being as it is a non-naturalistic piece, we did not want to put in too many humanlike actions so we decided to create characters to act as "consciences." As my character is tormented with guilt, so does my conscience torment me by playing games and by pushing me around. Likewise, as Laura's character is consumed by self-pity and suicidal feelings, so, therefore, her conscience actively kills her and dies with her.
             Interestingly, this also relates to "Boxed Macbeth" by Box Clever, which came to our school on February 27th, 2003. We took inspir...