Within today's rehearsal we had a group workshop with Alex Packer. Within this workshop we made discoveries as to possible transitions (in the style of physical theatre), ways in which to introduce text and movement (combining), and movement motifs relevant to our theme 'the five stages of grief'.
In previous rehearsals, we have really been struggling with the devising and how to approach/start! Alex led some simple activities which then led onto the devising and creating movement or acting from this. An example was with the five stages of grief motif. To begin with, we agreed on five gestures that represented or portrayed each stage (denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance). We then linked these movements together with music, using pace (fast and slow) to add dynamic. This simple activity has created a motif which we are keen to use as Hero's motif- during scenes or transitions we could each take turns performing this. I will also consider using this within the bedroom scene as it could represent the different emotions that Hero is also experience - what is her intentions for coming back to haunt Claudio's mind? She must be suffering similar symptoms of desperation and loss as she now has to move on (as a ghost) without Claudio there with her, despite being mistreated in the past.
I really loved George and Amy's sequence using mime! They used the text from Claudio's main anger speech (when shaming Hero at the alter). George would speak a couple of lines whilst Amy mimed them, them she would suddenly switch to speaking the lines whilst Claudio mimed. This made it seem like they were both reliving a memory- they had replayed this memory in their mind many times and are now re-living the argument. This would work well within a flashback scene. I want to take this idea of using mime for the bedroom scene - Claudio could repeat a couple of lines that the Hero's mime to, as though they're being shamed again.
2 ) What led to those discoveries?
As mentioned above, we were led to these discoveries through simple activities (using gesture) that were then developed and linked together. This will really help us in future when trying to devise! I now realise that we had been making the mistake of trying to devise too 'big' and 'straight away' (rushing in to devising without any research or source). This method of devising is similar to the frantic assembly physical theatre devising guide- they would each learn 8 different movements (which were created through improvisation tasks based around a theme or emotion) that were then linked together and expanded.
3 ) Towards where do those discoveries lead?
All of us have benefitted from this workshop in the way that we have learnt new approaches or devising techniques, understand how to link text and movement (and have been inspired by this, making it relevant to our own performance), and also have been inspired for new ideas e.g. The Hero motif.
I will be taking these devising methods and some of the movement we created for use within the bedroom scene. Before the workshop I had the idea of using red ribbons (red pieces of material) which all the Hero's used to control and manipulate Claudio. Taking the Hero motif, each Hero could perform the movements slowly (each move has an impact on Claudio- either makes him respond in pain, anger, frustration etc. as he says a relevant line to the text). Each time the Hero's move (onto the next movement in the motif) signals the change from one Hero to the next. The Hero's he disregards e.g. The bed hero, will try and get involved with the movement still, therefore resulting in Claudio pushing them back into the wardrobe.
4 ) Consider questions No. 1-3 except focus on important roadblocks/dead ends.
The roadblocks had been devising and knowing where/how to start! I feel that today we overcame these blocks as we were taught how to work around them in the workshop. If we get stuck in the future for similar reasons with devising, we can come back to this workshop, remembering what we were taught and trying a simple activity (it's better to start small than big!)
6 ) Reflect on transformational leadership. How’s it going? What actions does this suggest?
Now that we have each been assigned a scene, we will individually have a chance to take ownership and lead the rest of the group. This will give everyone a voice and ensures that our performance is a group contribution (we have all worked on it - not just led by one person!)
8 ) What is the most important thing that happened (or didn’t happen) in your recent rehearsal? Unpack its importance.
Personally, I thought that the most important aspect of our rehearsal was the workshop with Alex. We have been struggling to devise and especially now that we are devising scenes individually, it will be so useful to have techniques and methods that will help us!
Also, when researching text for my scene I was having difficulty finding scenes relevant or understanding how I could link this to movement. Originally I had only considered the obvious (just reading the text off a page), however I have now been shown different (and more creative!) ways of using text.
9 ) What is the most important thing that could happen in your next rehearsal? How will you shape the rehearsal in order to increase the odds of that “thing” happening?
Before the workshop, we created a timetable of the next two weeks- planning out exactly what would be happening in each lesson and ensuring that we gave each person the same amount of time to work on their individual scenes. The timetable is as follows:
Week one (after Easter)
Tuesday- the suicide scene (Jess), Wednesday- the canteen scene (Amy), Thursday- the bedroom scene (George) and transitions (Nicole), Friday- the opening (Becca)
Week two
Monday- recap the opening and canteen scenes (Becca and Amy), Tuesday- transitions (Nicole) and recap suicide scene (Jess), Wednesday- depression scene (George), bedroom scene (me), Thursday - bedroom scene (me), Friday- bingo scene (Megan)
Week three
Monday- final suicide scene (Jess), Tuesday - recap suicide (Jess), Wednesday - recapping all scenes and run.
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