Tuesday 7th January 2014

What did we do?
As a class, we examined the assignment brief which explored England and what it is like to be English/British and how as theatre makers, we would be able to devise stimulus material for an experimental performance that covered these themes. We also examined two pieces of text, the first, "Going, Going" by Philip Larkin and the second "Richard II" by William Shakespeare which both related to Britain in the themes and attitudes they displayed to patriotism and also scrutiny and negativity towards Britain and its previous Empire.
Following on from that, we embarked on a "relaxation exercise" which was utilised to concentrate the mind and body. The scenario required us as a group to imagine a golden liquid flowing through our breath and out through our fingertips/toes, filling up the whole of our bodies and were asked to respond to the feelings we picked up from the exercise. We then explored the room and each other using only our heads and torso which allowed us to investigate the world around us from an alternative perspective. In warming up our breath, we embodied a "sound cathedral" in which we verbalised words such as "Crave", "Lust", "Fear" and "Loath" in order to experiment with the extent of our bodies contortions and vocal ability. The last part of the lesson, stretched our mental creativity in a "Writing exercise" which required us to write the first things that came into our mind. This was responsible for stretching our experimental devising techniques, tapping into the subconscious mind.

What went well?
The pieces of text for which we examined as a group, allowed us to gain a crucial insight into the mixed feelings and opinions of Britain as a nation. It also provided concise stimulus material for devising which would help us to a greater extent in the later performance workshop classes. The "relaxation exercise" helped me become completely centred in terms of my breathing and concentration, which is a crucial part within experimental performance. My thought process also became in tune with the strong impulses of my limbs and muscles, which enabled me to physicalise my emotions in a unique, flexible manner.
The "Writing exercise", evoked strong internal feelings and impulses on the concept of Britain and the lengths to which we could devise experimental representations of a powerful nation.  

Even better If?
In terms of the "sound cathedral", I believe we could have embodied the words, "Crave", "Lust", "Fear" and "Loath" to a further extent. For instance, we could have used the range of our physicality in order to portray the words through our impulsive body movements for which I believe would have been more powerful in terms of the feelings being displayed to an audience. The unique nature of our physicality would have benefited and stretched the range of our experimental understanding and broken up the monotony of dialogue.