In this lesson we looked at improvised story telling, going around in a circle saying either a sentence or word each. We started by saying a word each, which was difficult as it was easy for the plot to change direction and not make any sense. When I said a word, I had a clear idea about what I wanted to come next, but everybody wanted something different to come out of the story. I felt that some people said words that deliberately didn't fit, which added comedy, but stopped the story from progressing.
We then changed it, so that we said a sentence each, which I found easier, because it gave you more freedom to develop the plot. Saying only one word was restrictive and didn't allow you to be inventive. We got the most inventive stories when we said a sentence each and those are the stories that an audience would remember.
I think that it would be really effective to play this game, with the audience, in our performance to involve them with the story telling.
Emotional recall
After the storytelling exercise we looked at emotional recall, by choosing an emotion and deciding some way to express this emotion. We then all expressed a certain emotion, building it up as a group, until we felt the right moment to let it go again...
Anger
We decided that the best way to reflect anger was to embody a wild animal, who was angry or about to attack. We experimented with how we moved and the noises we made. We built up the anger as an ensemble and as it got more intense, it actually became scary being in the room! I felt that the atmosphere was genuinely dangerous and this is something that we need to make the audience feel.
Nervous
They way we recreated feeling nervous, was to turn to another actor and ask them something person and confrontational, such as 'Why do you wear make up?'. The person who asked the question would then stand there and look blankly at the the other person, whilst they came up with as many answers as they could. I found this really effective, because when I was answering a question i found myself become more and more worked up and feeling like I had to please the other person.
I think that in the performance it would be really interesting to ask the audience, instead of each other, these personal questions. This would then make them feel nervous, instead of us.
Sadness
We showed sadness by crying. We stared off with making our breathing faster and getting ourselves worked up. It then became more vocal and people began to sobb. I found this emotion really difficult, because it is the hardest emotion to really feel and not fake it, so that it looks comic. I think that I found it easier to go further with the crying because everyone else was doing it at the same time, but if it had just been me, I would have found it embarrassing!
Exhilaration
We recreated the feeling of exhilaration through our breath. We built up our breathing so that it got really fast and that made it become audible. I think that this emotion will have least effect on the audience because it is not as exciting to watch as the others. Breathing fast doesn't involve any physical movement and it builds up too fast.
Anger
We decided that the best way to reflect anger was to embody a wild animal, who was angry or about to attack. We experimented with how we moved and the noises we made. We built up the anger as an ensemble and as it got more intense, it actually became scary being in the room! I felt that the atmosphere was genuinely dangerous and this is something that we need to make the audience feel.
Nervous
They way we recreated feeling nervous, was to turn to another actor and ask them something person and confrontational, such as 'Why do you wear make up?'. The person who asked the question would then stand there and look blankly at the the other person, whilst they came up with as many answers as they could. I found this really effective, because when I was answering a question i found myself become more and more worked up and feeling like I had to please the other person.
I think that in the performance it would be really interesting to ask the audience, instead of each other, these personal questions. This would then make them feel nervous, instead of us.
Sadness
We showed sadness by crying. We stared off with making our breathing faster and getting ourselves worked up. It then became more vocal and people began to sobb. I found this emotion really difficult, because it is the hardest emotion to really feel and not fake it, so that it looks comic. I think that I found it easier to go further with the crying because everyone else was doing it at the same time, but if it had just been me, I would have found it embarrassing!
Happiness
To show happiness, we used laughter. As a group we built up our laughter, so that it eventually became hysterical and got really loud. At first I was faking my laugh, but after a while it became real, because the situation of everyone laughing hysterically, is actually very amusing!! I think that when we do this in the performance, the audience will start laughing as well.
Exhilaration
We recreated the feeling of exhilaration through our breath. We built up our breathing so that it got really fast and that made it become audible. I think that this emotion will have least effect on the audience because it is not as exciting to watch as the others. Breathing fast doesn't involve any physical movement and it builds up too fast.
