Tuesday 14th January 2014

What did we do?
In this lesson, we embarked on a largely physical warm up that concentrated our body and mind for devising and experimenting. To begin the exercise, we started with a cardiovascular, aerobic and voice warm up that was responsible for warming up the body and becoming in tune with Artaud's theory of pushing the body to it's physical limit.
As part of our next exercise, we imagined as a class that we were trapped inside a box and had to spell out our name using different areas of our body parts as a means of stretching and pushing our bodies further in order to become flexible.
We then utilised a tableau (freeze frame) exercise for which we physicalised our interpretations of "cracked ice", "being bombed", "being burnt alive", "a dinosaur" and a "rat". This exercise was used to stretch our minds, becoming in tune with ways in which we could use multiple bodies in order to interpret and "bring to life" these stimuli.
In order to exercise our vocal chords and warm up our breath, we imitated "true to life" sounds such as a "car engine", "machinery", "flowing water", "crashing waves" etc. in order to replicate a day out at the "sea-side" or in the middle of "Piccadilly circus" which is largely inhabited my noise pollution.
Lastly, we explored the boundaries of "taboo", investigating the rules of a changing room/library and how they varied and how individuals would feel/react if we broke these rules. By doing this, we were able to create a moral message out of "taboo", making audiences feel uncomfortable by disturbing their senses, similar to Artaud's "Theatre of Cruelty".

What Went Well?
In terms of concentrating and centering our minds for intense experimenting and devising, the "physical warm up" enabled me to become more in tune with my body's physical limits and strength as an actor. The exercise also helped me become more aware of Jerzy Grotowski's methods as a practitioner and his ideals in pushing the body to its "physical limit" through excessive tasks and exercise in order to feel and perform the whole range of an individuals body. The tableau (freeze frame) exercise, helped me in terms of understanding how to represent unusual and often grotesque embodiments of both society and natural life and its importance for which could be represented through "gesture" and "mime"

Even Better If?
In terms of evoking "true to life" sounds such as a "car engine", "machinery", "flowing water"and "crashing waves", I believe we should have created a "sound cathedral" as a group for which we could have intensified in order to sound more in tune with the "sounds" used in reality. I also believe that in these early stages of devising, we should have used these ideas/thought processes and incorporated them into our performances in the later stages of devising and rehearsing in order to build a wider range of cohesive material. I also believe that if we had more time during the lesson to plan and shape these elements, we could have uncovered the implicit meanings of industrial revolution and consumerism in Britain, which plays a massive part in shaping the overall basis of our performance.