Lesson 1

In this lesson we had three different workshops- one on Artaud, one on Peter Brook and one on Grotowski. The reason we did this was to get an idea for how these practitioners worked, so that during this term we can use their methods in our rehearsals and performance.

Workshop one - Artaud 

In this workshop we all lay down on the floor and Ben gave us different scenarios to react to. We had to think about what our emotional reaction would be to these situations. The first scenario was being trapped in a giant spiders web, the second was sinking in mud and the third was lying in a chocolate fountain. The lights were turned off and we were all lying down with our eyes closed, I found this helpful because it helped me feel more relaxed and less self conscious, allowing me to be real with my emotional response, instead of being fake.

Another exercise we did was line up lots of chairs in a row so that the legs were all in line. This created the impression of a tunnel and several people lay down in the tunnel, so that everyone lying down was trapped. Ben then turned out the lights, played dramatic, scary music and the people who weren't in the tunnel came and banged on the chairs and tried to frighten us. Being trapped in the tunnel, I found this exercise genuinely scary because I was experiencing the real feelings and  definitely wasn't acting! I think this would have been interesting for an audience to watch because everything happening on stage is real, not pretend and I think we should try to capture this truthful experience in  our piece.

Workshop two - Peter Brook

In the workshop we began by sitting and watching Olivia in the space. Jack told her to to try to clear her mind and look forward. We watched her for a while, then Sam came into the space and Jack told him to choose an emotional state (anger). Jack told him not to act, but really try to feel angry. Even though he was feeling an internal emotion, it was clear that his physicality and facial expression was very different to Olivia's, because of his state of mind. This showed that you can convey an emotion to an audience in a very subtle and powerful way, as long as you REALLY feel the emotion. You don't have to be melodramatic or pretend because when you access the real emotion, it will naturally show in your face and body. 

Workshop three - Grotowski 

In this workshop we began by jogging around the rehearsal room with our shoes off. We had been told before we started the workshop that we had to be silent from the moment we entered the room. I found this helpful because it meant that I was more focused and couldn't complain about what I was doing, which made it easier to carry on running! 

After running around in the rehearsal room for about 15 minutes, we put our shoes back on and ran outside for about 1/2 an hour. We still weren't allowed to talk  and Sarah kept shouting at us to carry on, not letting us stop. 

Although I found this really difficult, whilst I was running I found that I got into a rhythm and my head eventually cleared and all I thought about was what I was doing in the moment. This meant that after we finished, I was completely focused and had no distractions. 

The point if this exercise was to physically exhaust ourselves, so that we could access real emotion more easily. I understand how this would work, but during this workshop we didn't have enough time after our run to do some emotional recall, so I couldn't experience the full benefits of this exercise.