4+-+Who's+afraid+of+Virginia+Woolf?

**4- WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?**  **Please, make sure you post your comments before the deadline: __4th MARCH.__** **On the 27th January 2012, classes E and F went to Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in order to see the play "WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?" The experience was supposed to be unique and involving. A lot was at stake, namely adults' tendency to state teenagers do not like the theatre. Were they proven right? Let's find out!** 1. Let me feel the pulse of all of you who shared the experience of a field trip together! What would you consider positive?:)) And negative?:(( Did it match your expectations or were you somehow disappointed? Unfortunately I wasn't able to be on this trip but I was last year and I lived it! It is a good way of making classes interact with each other during school activities :) Mariana Ferreira 12thF I loved the trip. The play was very good (with brilliant performances) and the company was excelent. Filed trips are always good to the students. It's a way of learning and having fun at the same time Gonçalo Henriques   A field trip is always a great experience, not only because it is different from our everyday routine but also it is an opportunity to be with our teachers in a less formal way. Although we didn't have much time and Lisbon is too big to see in such a hurry, I really liked it a lot! I've just realized that we have a lot to thank our english teachers, it's the second time we get the chance to go to such famous and great theatres. I really appreciate this opportunity that you gave us! Emilia Mota  I think a field trip is often a good method to learn if the students have the will to listen and to enjoy it. Of course, we always like very much the bus part because we have fun with each other (and this time Telo did a great job ahah!) and, as we don’t have many field trips it’s a way of relaxing a little bit and go out from Viseu. This time the expectations were even higher than last year for the reason that we were able to see an incredible play with great actors such as Eunice Munoz. I really like her! I didn’t make any research before we went to see this play yet, I conceived in my head a totally different plot from what we have seen. Despite that fact, I really liked it because the entire story was a surprise and I have to say, these actors also did an amazing job. I didn’t like comments some ladies did about our behavior in the play. Probably, they think we don’t like to go to the theatre or that theatre is only for a restrict group of people, I don’t know. However, I think it was a very good choice, congratulations! Teresa Silva 12E OK, children (if I may say so:P) here are my first comments on your comments. Mariana 12F, we sure did miss terribly, but you're right. The interaction is definitely one of the pros. As for you, Gonçalo, I tend to agree with you completely, not only in relation to the play analysis but also to the fun element involved in field trips. Emília, a field trip is sth completely different from classes and I also regretted not having had the time to see each and every corner of Lisbon. In relation to your comments, Teresa, I would like to stress the part you mention "theatre isn't just for a restricted group of people". I would sure like to believe youths do like theatre and all the other art forms:)) ANA The field trip was awesome ! In the bus, there were two different classes but, in general, we all emphatized with each other and shared some funny experiences. We have got to thank our special guest/ dj Diogo Telo. He also brought a good environment to the trip, except when he sang during the songs.. The teachers... They behaved alright too. JK, you were a good company, especially because you liked Marco Paulo, ANNA ! About the adults' opinion, I think it was prooved wrong. I got the idea that the majority liked very much the play. In my personal experience, I really liked the play ! The cast was fantastic, my special congrats to the woman playing Honey. It is definitely a trip to repeat, of course, with a different play x).. Mariana Marques I agree that we have to thank our special DJ and I also noticed some empathy between class E and F. As for the play, it was fantastic, for sure. ANA I found the trip incredible, not only the bus parts and dinner time, when we could meet people from the other class, but particularly the play. I was already familiar with it so I raised high expectations and I didn't get disappointed at all. I thought the cast was pretty amazing except for Nick who maybe due to his lack of experience or the character itself couldn't keep the pace along with the other actors. However, I believe they guaranteed the play the strength, rythm and mess it required. Regarding the rest, despite some adversities, it all worked out fine, we had fun, cool chatting and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Ty, Vitória Melo Thank God, you weren't disappointed and the play matched your high expectations. As for "some adversities" you mentioned, in spite of my worries and suffering:((,they didn't really ruin the trip, did they?ANA It is always amazing to escape our daily routine and enroll in a field trip, especially if this one provides us fun and entertainement. It’s also a different way to get a long with each other, and definitely that was one of the best parts. In relation to the play i think that the casting stressed above all but in general i like the play itself. So, thank you english teachers for this great opportunity. Tiago 12F Some of you, Tiago included, thanked the teachers and it feels somehow comforting and rewarding to see that some of you remember us and appreciate our efforts. ANA A trip to the theater is always a great way to end well a day and accompanied by our friends even better. It was fun and it was  also a n opportunity to watch a great performance by an excellent cast so closely. We can only thank our teacher for this opportunity :) Margarida Aguiar I think that this trip was a really good idea, as it enables us to deal with some important issues in a more motivating and unusal way. Apart from giving us the oportunity of being together in a more relaxed atmosphere, specially inside the bus, we are able to go to the theatre in Lisbon. Furthermore, the fact that the play had a strong message implied, made it easier to develop an interesting project later, which is always benefitial. Núria Paulo The field trip was more than good. Not only were we in Lisbon but we got to see a grest play, a rare oportunity in Viseu. SOme people don´t agree but going on field trips is really a way of leaning. I enjoyed the play a lot and it was a refreshing way to learn. The only downside is that we didn´t stay for too long: Rita Rebelo It was a good field trip, there weren't many negatives, unfortunately it will be remembered in future field trips, but still this field trip should be remembered by the positive aspects of it. It was a great change of pace, going to Lisbon. Most likely some of us might move there next year and even if it was not a great opportunity, before i only went there to visit the city as a child so i didn't remember it quite well, but still it was something i was expecting, huge crowds, traffic, lots of different places, it's a nice city. The field trip itself was also entertaining, although, i think, that the teachers regret a bit letting us go sightseeing the city on our own, it was something much more helpful in that environment than staying all together at all times, probably that would make things even worse. The theater was also positive, there isn't much to say, just that there are no bad criticism when something is done by professionals that care and that can provide a good show. So everything pretty much matched my expectation, except the theater which i thought would be more boring, was no such thing, it was the opposite, it was entertaining. ** Diogo Pinto 12ºF ** The trip was pretty good, the best surprise was the quality of the theater: the actors did a good job intrepretating their characters and the play wasn't boring as the majority of plays end up being. Other positive aspect was that we have been allowed that dinner time to roam that area o the city. **Telmo 12E** Now, let's see! I'll comment on all of your opinions. You all stress the different way of learning in a funny, relaxed and motivating way. Thank God you weren't disappointed by the theatre and thought you were learning at the same time. As for the time I gave you to be on your own, I don't regret it because if you don't start being responsible for your own actions, when are you going to be? Besides, growing is always painful and involves personal and different experiences even if they aren't the most suitable ones:(( ANA

**2. 1. Is THEATRE a way to express your deepest emotions, feelings, fears, insecurities...?** I never did theatre, so I can’t know for sure if it’s a way of releasing your own fears and emotions, but that’ not the idea I have. When you’re stage, you’re representing a character, somebody else’s life, and you have to pretend to have experienced that character’s fears, dreams, and feelings. So, you’re not quite expressing yourself, however you can in a way adapt that ‘representation’ to you, inspiring your performance in your own past situations, although it’s not really about you, so it’s not your truly emotions you’re focused on. But this is only my opinion J Ana Carolina 12ºF How come you never did theatre!?... You keep doing it in English lessons at least once a term in the formal speaking evaluation activity and you're extremely good at it:)) As for your answer, Carolina, I agree with your views but I would like you to tell me whether you believe that by acting according to sb else's character isn't also a way of expressing emotions...? ANA I agree with Ana Carolina. Maybe my vision is limited but the purpose or, at least, what is supposed to be the final result of a play is to impress the audience in a way that they feel touched and close to the characters by the emotions that they express. If they are great doing it, it might look like those emotions are real and spontaneous..for example: in the movie, Honey cries a lot and I think that it looks pretty real and like she's really feeling that sadness, which is hard to do; in the play, the actress was great in general but in those moments where she was supposed to be crying she wasn't. Of course we can understand that, although they put themselves in their characters' shoes, such deep feelings like that are very difficult to portray realistically. Even though, theatre is all about that: emotions. Love, feelings and relationships are the key to keep the audience's attention. Emilia Mota <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Right, Emília:)) Now, you said it all. Excellent:)) Congratulations! ANA I think all types of art give us a help to express what we can’t say by our own words. That is the way you write, way you sing, way you do theatre, you try to be hidden in the back of your own message but at the same time you have hope to be recognized as “the creator”. Of course, seeing a play must be totally different from doing it However, I believe the audience always tries to identify similarities between itself and the ones who are on stage. Teresa Silva 12E <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Excellent point too, Teresa:)) You mentioned theother art types and you are so very right. There's always a hidden message even if we aren't able to identify with it. ANA I don't think so because the way we see theatre it's different from person to person and in my point of view is that some people live the theatre like I see a film in the cinema because we live the emotions like you are in the film but in the theatre it seems less real than the cinema. Diogo Marques Yes, I believe so. As any other career, it is supposed to be what we choose to do for the rest of our lives, so we can't runnaway from expressing ourselves in the process. But as the writter is not able to avoid mixing his personality and personal life experience in the play he builds, so does the actor who performs it. The way he/she sees the anxieties, frustrations, moral standards the character he/she is about to interpret portrays is affected by his own perspectives. And if a play is brought up to show humanity's big issues, common flaws, deepest wounds, it's a lot easier for an actor to relate to it and better fit his character. Therefore, he is simultaneously expressing the character's feelings and his own. Vitória Melo Well, i personally think that roleplays allow us to taste a litle bit of what is representing and how funny it is. I have always loved theatre, and I think that seeing the actor’s work on stage its better that seeing them on a movie. I feel this due to the fact that in a theatre actors can interact with the audience and because we can see them really expressing their feelings and how they manage to do that in front of big audiences. That’s the perfect way to see their worth and value. So, yes, theatre is in fact an entertainement way to expose our deepest emotions. Tiago12F

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I think theatre is not only a way to express our emotions, feelings and fears but also the best way to do it. While in a movie the scenes are repeated again and again due to mistakes of the actors in the play there is no time for mistakes, <span class="hps" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">all the actors show <span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> u <span class="hps" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">s their talent and their ability to express themselves and make us feel, sometimes, the same as them <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. In my opinion, the real actor is the one who can express the deepest and hardest emotion to a big audience without fail, and not the one who is in front of a <span class="hps" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> camera always with the guarantee that if he or she fails can always repeat the crash scene. Margarida Aguiar I believe theatre is one of the best ways to express yourself and your ideas. In reality, emotions have a greater impact among the audience and it is created a different and stronger atmosphere. If the actors deliver a good performance you will be completely involved in the plot, almost like you were living the characters' lives and sharing their feelings. Futhermore, the fact that you can´t repeat a specific part of the play or go back in time puts more preassure in the actors but also gives them more credit, when they are successful. In conclusion, theatre provides you certain emotions that you can't feel when seeing a movie or a show in tv. Núria Paulo

Yes, i agree. I think that theatre is a way of expressing what we really believe and want. For those who love it the most, acting is like a way of hiding their problems, and in theatre, they expose their feelings and insecurities, not because they want it, but because they can´t occult it. Nuno Branco

Well, Yes, I believe so. Actually, I finnd the roleplays we've been doing much helpful in the future. First, you get to expand your creativity and make it as real as you can. Second, when you act you get the opportunity to incarnate different personalities and attitudes from yours. In addition, having experience in the theatre world hepls you in the way you interact with people, namely in job interviews where you besides from having a specific CV, you need to convince teh other person you're the right man/woman for the job. So, in conclusion, I have to admit that theatre only brings advantages to you. Mariana Marques

Maybe sometimes, but most of the times i don't think so. Like someone already said we are playing a role, yes we give it our own taste in the end but what we create can't grow far from what was already stipulated by the play. It can help with our fears, feelings and insecurities but down the line we are playing a character that was created for a purpose and in the theater, just like any other professionals the actors should do what they do best, which is make those characters come to life.
 * Diogo Pinto 12ºF **

Specially for play writers, I think it is. In the case of this play, I think it was Edward´s way to cope with his childhood, his opinions on societies and to present his view of the world. Because it´s the representation of what one truly feels, through words, bodt placement, facial expression, and you do it right in frent of an audience and you can really get a sense of how others receive your message. That´s way it´s such a unic form of art. ** Rita Rebelo **

<span style="background-color: #991556; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">**2. 2. And what about the play "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" itself? How did you like it? Were you expecting something really different? State your personal opinions.** The play was excellent and really different from the "Milk train doesn't stop here anymore". Only by the title maybe we expect something boring or related with Virgina's Woolf life. However is a play full of psycologhical games which make us a thing. Certainly it isn't an easy play but that doesn't take its beauty away. I really enjoy it and thank you very much for having patience for us and take us to this fabulous places and plays :) Rita Pinto 12thF I was not quite sure what to expect from the play, I had never heard of it. When I saw its poster, I got the idea the whole story would develop around a woman (Martha) because she’s the only one represented on it. But fortunately I was wrong, maybe if it was the other way around I wouldn’t have liked it so much. I loved the plot, I loved the set, and I loved the intensity the actors kept on stage. I found the tension among all the characters provocative in a way of keeping you anxious about what was coming next, and to me that’s the main secret to a good play. Ana Carolina 12ºF The play exceeded my expectations. Everything in it was great, specially the cast and the set (like teacher said in class it was considered one of the best sets in Portugal). Like Carolina said, the tension between the characters was enourmous, and that was the high point of the play. For me, this play was better than "the milk train doesn't stop here anymore". Gonçalo Henriques Before the play I thought about making some research and find out some things about it but I ended up not doing it for one reason: the title was suggestive and it presented itself like a challenge, I couldn't figure out what the play was going to be like. This way, it was a complete surprise for me. A good suprise :) I was a bit confused about some parts of the story but in the end it was a fantastic play with fantastic performances! Emilia Mota  As I already said I was expecting a totally different play. At the beginning, I was a little bit confused, they were a really weird couple, but as the play developed we became absorbed in all that crazy night where reality and true, hate and love, success and failure were constantly contrasting. Only in the end, everything is correctly revealed what was even more exciting because they were able to catch our attention until the end, with a “simple” story of one night in a living room. Teresa Silva 12E  I wasn't expecting something different in what concerns the dialogues and the story itself, but I got surprised how outstanding the cast was. I knew they were good but not that good. Besides, I am fond of its themes and those ironies just kill me. This play is part of the "teatro do absurdo" of Samuel Beckett, so it demands a lot of attention from the audience thanks to its complexity. If we managed to do that we wouldn't loose the line, but if we got distracted for a bit, like Emilia said, some parts would become bewildering, even non-sense. I think it is a play that earns our deepest compliments and the issues it is focused on deserve we reflect on them because they sure concern us. Vitória Melo Honestely, i didn’t know what to expect neither who were the actors nor what kind of play would it be. Yet I knew that I would love it. And that’s still what i feel, the whole play was fantastic. Maybe sometimes it didn’t had the rythim that we wanted, but as it was mentioned before, it had a lot of games and scenes that we were not expecting, so it kind of overtake our interest. The casting performance, the enegy envolved, the tension between the actors, the setting, the music ground and the game of lights created an extraordinary clime that make us enjoy even more the play! On the other hand, it was obviously a difficult story. Tiago12F <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” was very well played, I was surprised with the Virgilio Castelo’s and Maria João Luís’ <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> ability to memorize a text which was so long, <span class="hps" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">so expressive and which required such commitment for an actor for having a great diversity of emotions from crying <span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> to laughing <span class="hps" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">out loud. I really enjoyed it, it was really funny J <span style="background-color: #98ff00; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Margarida Aguiar I had no expectations or informations about the play. It was a total surprise and I am glad that happened, as there was no possibility for me to be disappointed. The fact that the plot was quite complex made the experience even more fullfilling. Futhermore, the extraordinary performance of all the actors contributed to the success of the play and to the impact it had in the audience. There were some parts when I was completely involved in these people's lives and totally believed in their pain. Núria Pau lo Well, I was surprised in a positive way.. I don't go to the theatre often, so I was expecting the play to be a bit boring, actually.. So, I was really surprised, because during the play there were moments when I laugh, and the cast was so bright. I gotta say that the fact that those actors played so well those roles made the play so good. So, it made me see in a new way theatre and maybe I will go more often now.. In relation to last year's play, my bet on the best - Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf, no doubts. Mariana Marques I think it was a good play, like i said before it was made with great professionals who care about giving a good show, therefore, most of the times when that happens, there is no way the audience wouldn't like it. About the title "who's afraid of virginia woolf?", maybe it's my lack of culture regarding the theater but i really wasn't expecting something like that, first i thought, when i heard the tittle, that there would be a actual character named virginia woolf, and then it would be connected with war or violence, well it was a bit but i thought it would be more focused in things like that, especially due to "who's afraid off...?", to me sounds different than what happened in the play... nonetheless it was a great play and even if i wasn't really expecting it, it's not a negative because it just enhanced the power of surprise, and therefore it had a stronger impact on me. ** Diogo Pinto 12ºF **

As I stated before the play was a pleasant surprise, the actors were great, the general lighting and technical aspects of the play were good too. The plot of the play ended up being very entertaining and interesting. After viewing the movie i realised that the play's directors did quite a good job adaptating the play to the portuguese language. **Telmo 12E**

"Who´s afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is very far out of what we are used to see whether on theatre or tv. Without warning it takes us to a self observation of how we interact with others, and a close look on a destructive relationship. It´s intriguing to watch how Martha and George get to such a "messed up" life, to point they begin living in a illusion to mask their own misery. And this is the reason why I really liked it, because this illusion at the same time felt so real, making us wondering if we sometimes don´t choose that escape. When a play makes you wonder like that, it as to be good. ** Rita Rebelo **

“Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” was an amazing and interesting experience. I enjoyed the play a lot. I was really impressed by Maria João Luís and Virgilio Castelo´s performances. It was just incredible to watch how they both got so deeply into their characters´ mind and brought out those strong and violent dialogues and behaviors. We could, actually, feel the tension and somehow be anxious towards their next moves. I consider the play itself most intense and the way they managed the audience not to be bored or even lose their interest. Carolina Cunha 12ºE <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The play exceeded my expectations not only because of the actors work but also because it is was much more emotional than I thought. It is an story in which we are constantly being surprised by their madness and criativity. At first it could be a little bit confusing but as it goes on the characters start teeling more about their chilhood and life stories and we start connecting with them. It's that connection that makes the play so special because we feel like we are knowing everyones fragilities and frustrations something so personal. It is also really interesting because we leave the room thinking how crazy they are but also how real that stories are. ** Ana Paula 12E **

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">**2. 3. Who impressed you the most as a performer and why?** Maria João Luís (Martha) was brilliant! She managed to be very expressive and pass the message to the audience, we could see that she really got into the character like she forget who she really is. I liked too Sandra Faleiro's (Honey) performance because she was a really funny character. In general all the performances were excelent! Rita Pinto 12thF I have to agree with Rita Pinto. All choices for the cast were perfect, everyone did great. But the one that really impressed me was Maria João Luís: the way she managed to reconcile the character’s emotional charge and irreverent personality deserves a standing ovation; to me it was the most exhausting character and she was up to it. Sandra’s Faleiro was great too, I loved the ease which she played her role. Maybe if she tried harder to accomplish Honey, it wouldn’t have the same impact. Ana Carolina 12thF I really liked the interaction between George and Martha (MAria João Luis and Virgilio Castelo had good chimestry). They created great moments of tension between them and they captivated the whole audience. But, for me, the best performance in the whole play was Sandra Faleiro's. She was the comic-relief of the play and that worked pretty well. She was brilliant and, at the same time, very funny. Gonçalo Henriques Martha and George were my favorite characters. I liked very much the performance of Vergílio Castelo and Maria João Luís they were absolutely amazing. The chemistry between them, the rhythm they gave to their words to express the ups and downs off the play were very good. I also lived very much the performance of Sandra Faleiro, she was exceptionally comic. Teresa Silva 12E Women take power here! Maria João Luís as Martha is my first choice because she gives everything. She is aggresive and a sweetheart, she is complex and needy, she is dellusional and racional, she is crazy and she dances. And each feeling, each attitude and behaviour fit the right place. She must be a very intelligent person as it is definately reflected in this astonishing work. So, well done! Then, Sandra Faleiro playing Honey was surely a surprise. I couldn't stop laughing and every time she was about to talk we were always waiting for another funny moment. She managed not only to alleviate the strong emotional charge involved in the play but also to perform a stereotype in our society that we could immediately identify. Vitória Melo Despite the boring and static character that was Nick, I think that the all casting was admired and that Virginio Castelo was overpraised by the audience. Of course Honey(Sónia) knew how to make us laugh and how to reduce the tension created throughout the story, and of course Martha(Maria Luís) was really a strong an emotional character, but these ladys couldn’t step up to face George! He controlled, almost all of the story, and the others didn’t had the cleverness to play his games. He was the character that affected the others. He was the one to impose the rythm. So he was, in my view, the most important one. That’s why I believe that the character George was indeed very impressive. Tiago12F

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I think the best one was Maria João Luís like Ana Rita said, but on the other hand I consider that Honey (Sandra Faleiro) was the most comical actress, she was always there to break that tensest moments, without her the play would be so “strong” and “heavy” for the audience. It was an excellent cast! Margarida Aguiar

It was overwhelming. I agree with Vitória, women take power although Virgilio Castelo impressed me with his strong presence. Above all, they were able to have very emotional, deep and characteristic performances. It has been said a lot but it is never enough refering Sandra Faleiro's hability to give her character such charismatic actions and traces. I guess I can't say I was disappointed by Romeu Costa's performance, even though it wasn't at the same level as the others. In the end, we got the chance to experience some amazing acting and we can brag about having already seen Eunice Muñoz, Virgilio Castelo and Maria João Luis doing what they do best and standing where they love: on a stage. Emilia Mota

In my view, maybe playing the role of Martha was the toughest one. So, my sincere congrats to Maria Joao Luís, you lived up to the part. On the other hand, the performer that impressed me the most was Sandra Faleiro's one. The character of Honey could have had much less impact on the story. However, the brilliant representation of Sandra Faleiro gave the piece a breath of fresh air, and she prevented the play from becoming boring. Mariana Marques

The actors were way above what we see nowadays on tv. There were extremely believable and at the same time very dramatic, expressive and over-the-top, which was exactly what the play asked. I though I liked Romeu Costa´s performance, but, to be honest, I just don´t remember, Therefore, I conclude that the others were better than him. I loved the performence by Sandra Faleiro, her character was, in my opinion, that most challeging. She had to be fragile, and sensitive but everynow and then she would explode, and Faleiro was able to do it without breaking character"(not sure how you say that) Rita Rebelo  <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">I really have to admit that you are right when you say the cast was fantastic. I agree that Honey played by Sandra Faleiro introduced the comic element in the play and managed to make it lighter. I also believe, as most of you, that the chemistry between Martha and George was simply amazing. However, I consider Virgílio Castelo in his performance as George really out of ordinary. The way he managed to change his mood and the pace of the performance from one moment to the other, moved on stage, spoke with his whole body were simply amazing. I considered that scene when he was reciting the Requiem a real jewel in terms of acting. ANA

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">** I suppose someone ??? didn't like my 2.4 question and erased it. However, as I'm a huge fan of FERNANDO PESSOA, I'm going to post it again. Now let's see if anyone DARES erase it :)) Lol... By the way, this question is to test your IQ...AhAhAh ** 2. 4. **Fernando Pessoa in "The Book of Disquiet" wrote “Everything around me is evaporating. My whole life, my memories, my imagination and its contents, my personality - it's all evaporating. I continuously feel that I was someone else, that I felt something else, that I thought something else. What I'm attending here is a show with another set. And the show I'm attending is myself.” Can you relate this quote with the play "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?"**  Right now I'm amazed by the similarities, I hadn't thought about it. I guess that all of Fernando Pessoa's work and its "heterónimos" are based on questioning your existance and what you usually take for granted. These characters are fighting and throwing insults at each other, to me it felt like their whole lives were a huge lie. The son, their biggest lie is similar to all those imaginary scenes and people in Pessoa's world. We can also relate all the reagreat and pain about life itself, but seen from different perspectives. In the play they bring up stories and painful memories from their past and Pessoa misses its childhood and that blessed ignorance from when he was a yound and inconscient. In conclusion, the closest similarity might be the fact that they all face and approach life like it's falling apart and see no hope in the future. Apparently they are stucked in a moment, life has no meaning or value and they drag themselves through it. Emilia Mota Martha and George represent all the real families who have a big gap with no solution. They try to hide it, to invent a story to give the idea they succeeded as a couple but in the end everything is again clear. We can resume Fernando Pessoa’s quote and this idea between Martha and George on a proverb: “ You can run, but you can’t hide.” Teresa Silva 12E As Fernando Pessoa, Martha and George share the same feeling of nostalgy I think. They don't know exactly what they are because of their emotional crises. Fernando Pessoa lived without knowing the propose of life and he wrote about it so that his poems are all a bit surrealistic and hard to analyse. In a similar way as Martha said at the end, in my point of view, she is afraid of the destiny, the fate. She doesn't know what she is living for. Mariana Ferreira 12thF As the tittle of Pessoa's book suggests, his words will be part of an outside world of the world itself, our inside world, which safeguards our insecurities, inner doubts, insomnias, puzzles. They're both connected,but our inability to understand that sometimes is bigger than us, so we loose the objectiveness and we don't know where we belong, what to do next, what to value or misguise. "The Book of Disquiet" is signed by Bernardo Soares, the "semi-heterónimo" of F.P, so it also proves our tendency of wanting to multiply our personality and cover ourselves in another self who ends up being the same because our beliefs and fears are so rooted that nothing may be able to imped them from coming into surface. And so does this happen in Martha and George's marriage as they keep creating illusions and surrounding themselves by people who do not exist. Along with Pessoa they're too frightened to face their reality and the reality itself. They involve themselves in all these existencial crisis and the stories they tell are nothing but metaphors of their inner vicious, tormenting circles. Vitória Melo I believe with these words Fernando Pessoa refers to certain moments in our lives when we can't find our purpose or path. We became lost or trapped in our own lies, in our own games. It feels like we became a different person, living a life that is no longer our surrounded by people we no longer know or relate to. In the play we can clearly identify these problems in Martha and George. They both created illusions to fullfil themselves and fight the sadness of their marriage. They reached a point where they no longer recognised their lives, reality itself and they weren't able to connect anymore. Núria Paulo

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">** 3. This activity is really part of a project __"ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE".__ **** 3. 1. Does that ring any bell? ** As I said last year on one page teacher opened about William Shakespear, I absolutely agree with the setence. "All the World is a Stage" is a metaphore for our real life. Everything we do, every step we take will count to our destiny as it happens in the stage... When we are actors every line, every breath needs to be in relation to the role or the character. For me this is an analogy due to the fact that every action we made has always a consequence. Mariana Ferreira 12th F Our life is a theatre, we and the people who surround us are the actors. Our job is to pass a real image of ourselves without illusions or try to be what we aren't. Our actions will influence the end of the "play" so it only depends on us. If we want it to be all illusional we will suffer later. If we want to live by the truth, we may suffer but it will worth. Rita Pinto 12thF This sentence can have lots of meanings. As it was already said we are living our own lives, making our own choices as “actors” of a big “play” (world) where so many have already performed and some will one day perform. It can also represent how societies are more and more obsessed with the appearance instead of paying attention to the values and honesty some people have. Teresa Silva 12E Of course, this is discussed a lot nowadays, like society forces people to be someone else different from what they actually are, and it is true...none of us is what we truly want to be, mostly because said society diminishes that supposed image...we are somewhat impinged this personality so we can be accepted and so that everything and everyone can live peacefully and happily. Because it's obvious that if everyone would be allowed and would live their lives how they wanted the world would turn into a complete cataclysm, or not of course...I don't know, i only know how things are now and the truth is we are probably drifting, we can't forget that we are animals just like any other and what i see even more is we trying to push that part of us further and further away, we can be civilized but still embrace it a bit, i don't want to become a robot, but this is a different topic. Still the world is indeed a stage where there are no rehearsals, we play as it comes. ** Diogo Pinto 12ºF **

== We can compare how we develop our life with the way that actors represent their roles. The actors should say what the playwright wrote, should do the facial expressions that the theatre director want them to do. The citizens should follow the laws of its country, pay the taxes that the government want them to pay, etc…But most important of all, as all the actors bring to their role something different than what the author put on paper, every citizen must follow their dreams and change what is the so called “destiny”. Marcos Daniel 12ºF ==

<span style="background-color: #ef4d9d; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">**3.2. How do you like the project so far? Did you like seeing some movie scenes or were they a waste of your (and my) time? Let's hope you keep up the excellent work you've been doing so far!** I wasn't on the play, but during that weekend I did some research and as I begun reading the play I realised that it envolves a lot of emotional and psycological issues. I liked watching the film in the class because I would like to know actors performing what I had read and for me it wasn't certainly a waste of time. Mariana Ferreira 12thF The idea of having a project based on a play appears to be more attractive. It was an excellent idea comparing the scenes from the movie with the play because we could understand better and notice the differences between them so it wasn't at all a waste of time. This play was different from the last year's because it requires from us another maturity so we can understand it and involves a lot of emotions. Rita Pinto 12thF No, teacher. The movie scenes were not a waste of time. It's really important to do a comparison between the play and the movie. They're two different perspectives of the same material, and it is good for us to do the comparison. Now, let's see if we can do a third perpective of this material in our role play. Gonçalo Henriques I’m enjoying very much this project and I’m curious to know what the class will prepare to the speaking activity.The movie was the key to understand some parts we didn’t understood as better as we would like during the play. Moreover, we could make a comparison between some scenes, actors’ performance and so on. Per example, I liked very much the idea of the swing in the movie but I liked much more the performance of Annie in the play that in the movie. It was also a way of giving a help to those who didn’t go to the field trip. Teresa Silva 12E I liked seeing some movie scenes. First of all, I think it was wise not to see the entire film since it would turn into something tiring because we have already assisted to the play and we are studying it hard in classes. Secondly, because it was very useful and enhancing to compare performances, setting, quality and time circunstances. We rapidly get that it is a timeless play as it both applies to the 60's and nowadays. Besides, I liked the play better than the movie, which makes me very proud of the portuguese cast and the quality of theatre here. Vitória Melo It was a good idea to show us some movie sceenes that's for sure. Besides being a great opportunity to see some of Elizabeth Taylor's enormous talent, we could also understand a bit more about the challenge of adapting a play into the big screen. Not just that, but we realised that stage acting has a lot of limitations in terms of setting and voice projection (the portuguese actors did not seem to have any problem with the voice, we were able to hear them loud and clear). A text can always be interpreted in distinctive ways, hence the differences between the live play and the movie. Alexandre Paya Watching the scenes of the movie wasn't a waste of time at all. they made us notice and apreciate the diferences between the two versions of albee's play. Also it made us notice something that we might have missed on the play. Furthermore it made me apreciate the portuguese director's work on the play. **Telmo 12E**

I considered the idea of seeing some scenes of the movie very clever as it gave us the chance of better understanding the story and comparing/contrasting different perspectives and interpretations of the same plot. Futhermore, since theatre and cinema are completely different and provide different sensations, I do not believe it was a waste of time. Núria Paulo

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #888888; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> I think it was a great opportunity to get out of the classroom and have a different class, I really liked it because it gave a close look at the performance of a Portuguese cast of quality , which in my opinion was even more interesting than the film itself , although the duration that shouldn't have been so much , it was nice to be able to revisit lisbon and spend a different day. Rafael Gonçaves 12ºE  ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008080; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">In my opinion it was useful and interesting to watch the several scenes from the movie. Personaly, it allowed me to undestand better the play because of the aditional sets, details and scenes. In relation to the project, I think that we can make a positive evaluation. Honestly I was afraid of getting bored by this subject after one or two classes. After all, I could still talk about it for some time which surprised me. Being a different experience, I really enjoyed it, including the field trip. Emilia Mota <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #888888; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I think it was great to watch the movie, even if it was just some parts, because there were some students (including me) that didn't watch the play in lisbon, so it was great for me to understand the whole story. For those who had seen the play, e agree with Vitoria, it must have been great to compare performances from the portuguese actors with the foreign and original ones. Nuno Branco Well I must say that I am enjoying the project despite not being one of my favourites. From my point of view watching some movie scenes was very important because it gave us a different perspective from the play in some scenes like in the car or in the room or even in the bar when they had to stop. So I believe these were a major contribution to help us to understand better the play and also the characters. One more thing the open class discussion was very enlightening due to the debate of some key questions. Filipe Borges

The project is good, just not much on my comfort zone, mostly because interpretation of plays and books it's not easy...this is not something where there is no right or wrong answer, there is only one right answer, i think, which is the answer of the person who wrote it, that is supposedly the right answer, and for someone like me who has no real connection to literature it becomes even worst and more demotivating. I enjoyed more the other topics discussed in previous classes because they were more revealing, in my opinion they opened an interesting flow of opinions which i prefer and i think it's more helpful specially in the society we live nowadays in which our knowledge of current culture matters a lot, just like having an opinion about it (a good one of course), i think that is important and it was what, for me, made English classes more interesting than, for example, Portuguese ones; the discussion of a current topic, that in my opinion is more important than some book, it is a lot more motivating. But still i know it is the program and it must be kept, we can't please everyone all the time. Now going to the movie and the play, the differences are obvious, the introduction of camera changes a lot, not being restricted to a set also helps, and language differences were also noticeable...nonetheless the play was able to pull it off with what they had, but of course the movie gives a different perspective. ** Diogo Pinto 12ºF **

Seeing some parts of the movie enable us to understand the story better, because we could see more closely the character´s expression and we could understand what they were feeling better thatn in the play, also the fact that the film was in english as the original play was written enabled Rita Rebelo

<span style="background-color: #ce1c74; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">**3. 4. 1. Now everything we've done so far about the project:** <span style="background-color: #ce1c74; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**3. 4. 2. And a possible key to help you study for the test, just in case, of course:))**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">** 3. 4. 3. And, if you have forgotten, or lost, the test matrix, here you are. **