Performing cultures reflection 

Our initial idea was just to play out the script of Woyzeck as it was and use the characters to represent cultures. Each individual character would represent a different culture. We played with this idea before realising that there were culture within the scenes that we could highlight through discussion rather than applying random cultures to characters in order to generate cultures, they were already there.
 We found the way we were going to use the script and adapt it to fit a modern audience was to pick cultures and themes from the script that we felt had a mainstream cultural ties to modern society. We highlighted a variety of issues and talking points.
During the development of our interpretation and performance of Woyzeck we found that we often contested each other’s points and views on what was happening in the scenes and what they could represent. Through this we found that many themes and cultures in Woyzeck are still very relevant today despite being written centuries ago. We felt these debates could highlight interesting points if used in the performance and help tie in the audience.
As we decided that the final production should include an element of live debate as well as recreations of scenes from the script, we felt that the debates should contain an element of authenticity and we were very aware of “over rehearsing” and displaying an inauthentic atmosphere and experience for the audience. It was vital that we recreated as close to an accurate debate as possible. This was not solely for the benefit of the audience but also for the representation of the views of the cultures that we were defending and arguing for in the debates. 
Once we had picked out themes and cultures within the script we had all developed our own individual and collective opinions. However with some of the cultures we all had the same or near enough the same point of view so decided in some debates some of us would have to represent the opposing view point. In the gun debate I decided that I shall be on the Pro-Gun side which proved to be more of a challenge than I initially anticipated as the Gun culture debate divides opinions so strongly and definitively that it is hard to see the point of view of the opposition so to represent a culture I disagree with I found challenging. It was hard to put myself in the mind-set and maintain a strong and fair argument. 
Representing each culture respectfully was something we aspired to do but faced strain when, in rehearsal during the heat of debate, emotional responses led to points being raised that were unrelated or potentially if put in the wrong context offensive. Therefore we decided to have a semi scripted approach to the debates in order to try and keep them authentic but also keep a structure.
I found both a strength and weakness in the use of debate as I often find myself engaged in heated discussion trying to argue a point that I feel strongly on, this meant cultures and themes that we debated that I had an attachment to I found easy to discuss and debate and others that I was not closely linked to I found myself holding back in the arguments as I didn’t have the passion on it.