We actually got into the rehearsal. The need to focus on the performance is paramount. The nature of the sessions, from the early days of taking our time, meditative relaxation sessions, awareness raising games and excersises, has gone, and with noses to the grindstone, we get up to the business of getting a show on the road (again!).
As I am always looking for ways to link in what we do in the session to a discussion of an imaginary therapeutic session, I wonder, slightly aghast, in what way this part of the proceedings could be likened to, or described as, therapeutic - hard work and stress inducing more like it!
However, I reason further with myself. Much of the sessions we do are synonymous with the psychodynamic, attachment, developmental or social schools of therapeutic thought. We shun the cognitive behavioural therapy a bit, because it is physical, literal, and doesn't get to the core of people's "issues".
Being able to be part of a functioning group, that works together to produce a piece of entertaining artwork, completing tasks, overcoming tiredness (sometimes exhaustion), confidence issues, working with the body, being observed. These are all elements of training the self in being a functioning, successful, group member, that must on some level, be therapeutic. The balance for me is to guage when to give the occasional encouraging push to a reluctant participant, or when to allow tiredness and reluctance to express themselves. We have a show to get on the road. Sometimes in role as a comedic Cruella de Ville, and sometimes as nurturing Nanny, I tease, push, pull, encourage, coerce, annoy and entertain the group into continuing, and then, sometimes, I say "ok, have some time off, you have done enough".
As I respond to the constantly changing dynamics of the group, I am aware of my own inner dynamics. This is very important. I have to have my own observer, letting me know when my parameters are being approached, and reminding me of past lessons learned.
Now, I know I said that we would do no more games, but this one was very relevant, and in direct response to a training need of the group. I would venture to say, and feel free to disagree, that the most important social tool that we have, is our eyes. Eyes can do a lot of work for us, especially in terms of our communications and interactions with other people.
In drama, the rule still applies. Eyes convey a lot. They convey life, emotion, spiritual fire, all of the things that we want an audience to experience when we try to entertain them. This particular play, a comedy, is full of conflict, frustration, anger, accidents, accusation, and everyone has their own agenda. We practiced the interplay of conflict, anger and fear, by having "stare outs". Members, in pairs, stared at each other, and the winner of the stare out (judged by other members) got to stay on and try to stare out the next person. At first both conveyed angry stares, then, in a non-competitive format, one member conveyed the angry stare and one the frightened stare. Bodies were also incorporated, so that a whole sculpt, built around the stare, was produced.
Anyway, enough of the staring pics. Here are some pictures of us rehearsing The Badger Kettle, to get you wondering about just what we are going to come up with for the performance.
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