Workshop 1

Cost of the Actor:

Grid

In this exercise we were purposefully pushed to get us to work at our limits. It is true that I felt physically and mentally exhausted during and after the exercise but it's questionable whether we can actually go to our limit because our bodies naturally stop ourselves from passing it. We wouldn't be here if we had pushed our limits.
The music being played throughout the exercise was stopped, started and repeated very frequently. It was highly irritating and made me feel tense and angry. These emotions drove me to walking faster with more purpose - to try and get away from it maybe. 

Using something we desperately wanted at the end of our line helped give us an objective and a reason to move. It increased my pace and the intention behind my walk. I could feel myself getting a little tearful because I was so in the moment and wanted my thing so much.
As the exercise progressed everything became far more organic and natural. I didn't have to think about it as much and just felt it. This became noticeable in the room, as everyone was moving at a pace and less frequently bumped into others.

Knee Fights - Pairs

I found the knee fights frustrating. There weren't really techniques which you could clock onto and use to win - as I really wanted to. The exercises wasn't that simple and you really did have to work for it.
I found that being pushed and shouted at added more of a competitive edge to the game. I felt I was being manipulated into trying to win and beat your partner - sort of like the devil on your shoulder. I also found that the pushing did add a lot of stress to the exercise. It was very hard to listen to. It made you feel bad, as if you weren't achieving and as if you weren't good enough. 
There was one point in the exercise where I felt as if I was going to faint. This showed that I was close to passing my limits as my body started to give up on me. But as a natural body reaction I slowed down and paced myself and stopped this from happening.

Fishing Lines

In this exercise I felt like I put a huge amount of effort in. I tried to picture myself in the situation and feel the weight and tension of the line and what was on the end of it.
This exercise helped me use my imagination and concentration to feel in the moment and feel my way through a naturalistic performance.
Having a real person on the other end of the line was good for having someone to work off. You watched how much they were struggling and moving away or towards you and reacted with them.
After a while the exercise became repetitive and I found it more difficult to maintain focus as me and my partner started to expect what was going to happen and the movements we were going to use. In order to keep it naturalistic I need to keep the movement and focus fresh. 

Lover Trying To Leave

In this exercise I got to test myself emotionally and physically. I became very in the moment and used my imagination and concentration to help me with this. Like with the fishing lines, having a real person to work with made the exercise easier because you could react with them and their effort made it feel more real.
This was the only exercise that didn't become repetitive. It felt like it could be a real situation and so was easily relate-able and easy to act along with. This meant that our improvisation felt and looked organic and natural.

Alphabet Boxes - Solo & Group

As a solo, I found this exercise difficult. It was hard to remember where my letters were without going through the entire alphabet. I had to think too hard meaning that my movements were slow and slightly forced. 
It was also hard to come up with different movements and ways of touching the letters in my box. Although this challenged and helped me to come up with new ideas, this also slowed the process down and would've made my performance incredibly awkward and boring to watch. 
As a group, the exercise became slightly easier as you had people to react to and with. We also didn't have the task of spelling our name which made this time more freeing and less worrying.

Dancing In The Dark

This exercise was probably the most awkward for me. We were told to respond to the music when we felt impelled to do so but I didn't feel like moving for the entire exercise.
The repetitive nature of the music made me feel tense and a little overwhelmed. It was loud and in your face. The only thing I could hear along with the footsteps of other people. It wasn't pleasant to listen to and by the end I was forced to sit down to try and collect myself.   


The Spurt Of Blood

My initial response to 'The Spurt Of Blood' was just how weird and strange it was. It didn't make much sense to me, but as we read over it more we all clicked on to aspects of the play. I thought although it seemed random I thought it was written very specifically. The stage directions were specific in the way things were to be performed. This did help during performance though as it was direction to follow which helped with character.
I thought the play was about a relationship that was disapproved of by parents who contradicted the relationship.
You can see how Artaud has used his own techniques particularly through the stage directions you can find visual poetry, skills of an actor and deliberate cruelty.

In creating our own version of the piece, we decided to recreate this part of the text:

"...A multitude of scorpions crawl out from beneath the Wet-Nurse's dress and swarm between her legs..."

This part of the text is very detailed in its writing. You can picture and almost feel it happen which was why it drew our attention. We felt like if this can be achieved in writing it can be achieved in performance too.

Using total theatre we recreated the section by making people sit on the floor with their eyes closed in the dark. Taking away one of the audiences senses made the remaining ones more sensitive. This way we could assault their sense of touch and hearing:

• By running our fingers over the audiences legs and gently blowing on them we made their skin crawl and made them feel uncomfortable like their were insects crawling over them.
• Making insect noises and leaving pauses and irregular times between people left the audience with a feeling of anticipation and worried about what could potentially happen to them. The sense of the unknown became more scary than feeling the insects themselves.

When performing I was challenged because it was quite hard to judge timings. Leaving it too early would make the audience more immune to the feeling and too late would let the feeling of anticipation pass.
The audiences reactions also challenged me to stay in character. The reactions were very funny and it was hard not to laugh.

As an audience member I felt that when some of your senses were taken away I felt more susceptible to the emotions created by the piece. Thought of the unknown was what scared me the most. I did feel like my senses were assaulted.

Starting Questions:

What is theatre?

There is no one definition for theatre. I believe that theatre is whatever you want it to be. You can see theatre as anything but there is always potential. Theatre is a showing of work. You can perform in any way you want to portray anything you want. When watching theatre you don't have to feel or learn anything. You choose what to take in. A personal outlook on a performance. These are other things people see theatre as:

• A fictional representation of people
• Something that happens in a space (with someone watching it)
• Views and opinions represented in an artistic way
• Performance: to entertain/educate/reflect/empathise
• Have a personal experience
• A way of expression
• An idea

What have you learnt over the last two terms? What new skills have you already developed?

I feel I am able to look at a character in enough detail to perform with ease and give a believable outcome.

I also feel I am able to be free and imaginative with improvisations and trying out techniques. Conducting myself in this way allows me to come out with more eloquent work as I am willing to try things that may not work and learn and alter them if they don't.