Week 3: Classwork

Monday

In Monday's class we started off with an exercise that caused us to be attracted to one person, avoid another and regonise that their was someone following us. This allowed us to be aware of everybody in the room and also zone in on 3 people specifically.

We were then told that this was one of Stanislavski's concepts known as motives. An actor needs to search for the character's inner motives to justify their actions and find the characters seek to achieve in the end.

We were asked to create a situation where 3 people with these motives were in a room together and we had to react how we thought we should. My character was the one who acknowledged that their was someone following them so as i was at the front of the stage and Jenna's character came up to me, I responded as frightened but civil. I think that during out piece we could have used speech to accentuate the awkward atmosphere that there was so that even the audience felt awkward watching it.

Once the whole group had formed a circle, we then had to come up with a piece of fluid movement that explored what the person to your left was wearing. The moves were first realistic and you could definatly see what was being shown but as the individual movements became one fluid piece then the meaning of it became unclear. This meant that to anyone watching the movement, they were open to interpretate it in their own way.

When each person had their own movement we explored the different ways you could use the movement to show emotion. For example, we experimented with the size of the movements so some parts could be small and others bigger to accentuate that emotion.

Adding this movement into the scene we had already come up with was the hardest part for me. Due to the fact that every action that you had done previously had to be replaced with a part of your movement and it was hard for me to think of ways that we could do this. One of the moves that i had to replace with a part of my movement was placing a cup of tea on the table. The part of my movement that I decided would be best for this was when I ran my hand down my leg. Originally this was to show the leggings that my person had been wearing but now, using it in a minimal way, allowed me to look uncomfortable whilst placing the cup of tea down which showed the connection between my character and Hannah's.

This links to Frantic Assembly which is a global theatre company that uses movement to portray stories and emotion. The major thing with Frantic Assembly is that they use movement that you wouldn't normally associate with that emotion which allows to audience to interpretate it in their own way just like we did with our movement. I enjoy Frantic Assembly's work as its completely abstract and open to what you want to think. The amazing thing is that if you were sat in an audience, the person next to you could have a completely different interpretation to you.

Wednesday

During Wednesday's lesson, we explored another one of Stanislavski's concepts known as emotional memory. This causes the actor to feel a overwhelming emotion and then when it comes to their character needing to feel that same emotion they can remember exactly how they felt. 

We started by completely relaxing and focusing souly on our breathing. This allowed us to be completely isolated and think about only ourselves at this point. We were then asked to think of a memory that we associated with a strong emotion and my memory was recently, which meant that I could remember everything that was said and done around that memory, and it was really upsetting for me so my whole body was consumed with sadness which caused me to start crying. Being asked to replay the memory over and over again with us trying to remember it in as much detail as possible made me fully focus on myself.

I think that the lighting and music that was being used also added to my emotions. The lighting that was used was quite dark and if there was any colour that was used it was blues which added to the relaxation but also to my feelings. The fact that I couldn't really see anybody else in the room made me try and concentrate on how everyone else was feeling to try and connect with them and make them feel like they weren't alone. The music that was being played was quite slow and quiet but then in certain points it build up which corresponded with my emotions as my emotions were up and down constantly.

We were asked to "write" down what we were feeling and what we would say to the people in the situation. At this point I was aware of the people around me and i could feel the emotions of everybody else in the space which caused my emotions to be heightened even more. 

Next we were told that when Chipp tapped our feet or shoulder we would walk into the spotlight that there was in the middle of the floor and stand until someone came up to us. No matter what the other person did or said we would have to react as we could. Once I was in the spotlight, Kieran came up to me and stood directly in front of me and stared at me for a while which made me feel like he was penalizing me because I was crying. He then reached for my letter and so I gave it to him. He read it and tore it in half which made me fall apart inside and I was screaming at myself to do something about it but I think that I was too shocked and upset by his small action that all I could do was go back to my space and sit down.

Our next objective was too find people without opening our eyes and stay as low to the ground as possible. I found Sarah first as we both reached out for each other and I then felt that Sarah was already holding on to some people so I took comfort in the fact that I wasn't on my own anymore.

Once we had all calmed down we were introduced to a sweet box in a spotlight. We discussed the play Antigone, the script that we are going to be exploring, and how it linked to the box. We were told that Antigone's brothers are fighting against each other throughout the play and eventually they battle and both die. One brother is given a proper burial and is given a good send off to the afterlife whereas the other is left to rot in the mud. Antigone can't stand to leave her brother like this and so sets out to give him a real funeral. She is caught half way through and is told she will be punished by Creon, the king.

We were asked to form a circle around the box and try and get into the character of Antigone and really understand what she would have been feeling if she was told that both her brothers ashes were placed inside this box. 

I thought about how she would have been going through all the conversations that she would have had with both of them and remembering their childhood memories when they were all innocent and didn't have anything against each other.

Chipp then walked out of the room to prepare to re-enter as Creon. We were asked to react as Antigone would in this situation.

He entered with an axe which initially scared me as he had changed his whole body language and he has a aura around him that caused me (as Antigone) to fear him and become afraid of what he could do with the axe. He then begin to chop the box with the axe and many people began to react to this but I felt that Antigone, even though she is quite a strong character, has to have a breaking point and I though with her wanting her brothers to move on to the afterlife she would have snapped and completely broke down, which is what I proceeded to do.

The picture above was the aftermath of the lesson.