6th June 2011 - Piecing together the characters

Write - up from today's session.  Please note if you are interested in the background of any of the pictures, I randomly copied them from Google Images to help to describe the sort of things we do, and they are not really an accurate depiction of what we did in the session.


Some very definite and strong characters are being bought to life by the actors, and this was demonstrated today as they worked further on their narrator characters.



Following a physical and vocal warm up, in pairs, half an hour was spent learning a section of "The Tea Kettle", with one narrating and one sculpting.  There were several different techniques being developed, and the two that we will mostly incorporate are the sculptactor and narrator moving at separate times, with the sculpt reflecting the story that the narrator is telling, and the narrator moving around and through the sculpt, so that the two are connected in the performance.

Each pair was instructed during rehearsal to think about voice - tone, pace and rhythm, and level of movement.  As the point of this week was to start to work without script, the purpose was partly to demonstrate how cues from the musicality of the speech and movement of the body can help with remembering lines.  In addition to this, it was intended to show how increased levels and freedom of expression are enabled when the script is put down.  In fact, initially, expressiveness is reduced, as panic sets in and the actor searches in vain for forgotten lines, however over time, confidence begins to grow as does the range and flow of creative expression.

During the performance certain aspects stood out as being very good 
 - Using character voices, or speaking in role as character
 - Narrator moving around especially in a carefully mapped out way    - that is matched with the telling of the story
 - Use of levels to keep audience attention
 - Use of expressive sounds that are not "in the script" (e.g., a laugh)
 - Narrator using the sculpt as a prop.
 - Use of facial expression - eyes very important.

At the end of the session Actors were requested to let the group know if they want to play any particular part, and who wants narrative roles.

Points to note 
 - each story can have one, two or more narrators.
 - different people can narrate each story
 - sculptactors can occasionally come out of the sculpt and narrate.


Movement
 - movement in the style of theatre that we are devising is extremely important.  I have seen over the weeks people become more confident with moving and physical expression.  As we start to map out the stories in the way that they will be finally performed, I will start to ask people to create, practice and learn different pieces of movement in their own time.





Voice
 - similarly, as the vocal style is extremely important, and in order to enhance the levels of improvement in vocal expression and clarity that we have been seeing, people will begin to be asked to practice some of the excersises that we have done during the Monday evening sessions, at home.

Improvising Narrative and creating sculpt

This evening we put the scripts down for the first time and tried telling the story without the help of the script.  Looking back, the most incredible thing, is how bad our memories are, as although we have read the story and parts of it so many times, we don't really know it at all.  This is because the story has mainly been used as a vehicle for the training in narrative styles, movement and rhythm, and thus been read on a superficial level, even though the content has been used to add emphasis and style to the performance.

It amazes me how little we take in from the written word in terms of detail and process.  We form minimal mental pictures to get a drift of what is going on in the story, using as little effort as possible.  We easily lose concentration, beginning to think about other things while the story is being told - or even whilst telling the story.

If we translate this into the experience of the audience, it may be important to consider how much information we want the audience to take in.  What is the experience of being entertained?  Does it mean that every word and experience are digested and internalised or maybe it is ok for the audience member to wander off a bit into their own world, lost partly in their own thoughts and partly in the flow of the performance.

Of course the actor does not have this luxury - they have to be focussed and present at all times, concentrating and bringing meaning and magic to the story that is being told.  Bringing the audience members back from their mental driftings into the presense of the tale.




As a warm up and to bring the group together, we did 3 kaliedoscope excersises - one with just hands and one with legs and feet.  then we did one swinging our arms and upper bodies, in a standing position.

In the main part of the session we read the whole of the Kettle Badger, each person taking it in turns to narrate a page and then beating the drum 10 times whilst the rest of the group entered a group sculpt.  the first time we did this with the script, then again by memory.  When telling the story by memory, 2 things happened.  Firstly the vast majority of the detail was almost instantly forgotten, secondly, the narrator's style became less dramatic and engaging, and they became more inhibited.  This shows that we have been using the script as a prop, and thus need to get used to working without it.

Despite the lapses in memory, we did piece together the bare frame of the story, adding a little bit of detail here and there for embellishment.  Thus overall, our collective memory of the story is now greater, as we were able to reconstruct it without the written word.  Over the next couple of week, we will continue to do this, and I have also committed to sending out the story - will do this today by email.  I may actually be able to do it here as a page - will see.


We are not fixing people in roles yet, as I want us to continue to work with improvisation without fixing any structure in terms of role or sculpt.  After a couple more sessions of this I think we will be ready to start to get structure to the performance.  Also Chris will be back after a 3 week absense, and now our other current project, Nettle Roots is over, he will be able to start working on the music for this.

Still to do:  Constitutionalise, Funding bid for Fairy tales evening.

A little bit of Commedia

First of all a note - I didn't blog last week's session.  Sorry guys.


Here are a couple of pics to remind people of what we did:

Briefly - we worked a bit more with narrative styles, and building up sculpts, using the Tea Kettle, to continue to familiarise ourselves with the story.  

  

Use of voice - e.g., intonation, clarity, emphasis, and changing metre is vastly improving, and I noted that now we need to work with movement.

We haven't done much on dexterity, because most of the movement style we have studied so far has been the slow, measured movements of the 1st story, the Thunder Good.  However, the narrator is intended to be a nimble, childlike figure, a magical makebelieve story teller, and, especially when trying to read from the book, we do need to work on a more flexible, nimble movement style.  There are also times when the characters in the story need more of a flexible, dance or acrobatic movement style, for instance, in the storm (Good Thunder) or the Badger (Tea Kettle).

Gabi gave a half hour session on Commedia De'll Arte.  We decided on this because in Commedia, the stylised, characteristic movements of the stock characters are very important.  They also add to the theme of the characters, which can be seen along the same lines as archetypes and thus can be lent to many other themes or works.

Each person in the group worked on a character, developing movements that show the characters themes.  for instance, Capitane - rather vain and grandiose, Harlequin, nimble, trickster, the Lovers, romantic and sexual.  At the end of the session we improvised a scene around the theme of a cafe, and two characters trying to get served.  It was very crazy with lots of things happening at the same time, and lots of movement.

This immediately led into the next part of the session, in which I instructed each member of the group in methods to further develop their character.  They each worked from 3 positions, that began as a sculpt, 1st position was standing, 2nd position sitting, and 3rd on the floor.  They also each chose a rythm for themselves - 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4.  In this rythm - including breathing, each person developed a movement sequence (motif) for each sculpt.  The rhythms really helped to describe the character, and added much interest to the movements.

It was quite special observing the characters taking shape as each group member worked alone for a while, moving around each other, and changing position, finding motivations, facial expressions became more animated, movements became more nimble and finely tuned.  

We then allowed the characters to interact.  We set up a performing area and an audience area, and in twos, the group improvised an interactive scene, starting with a scenario - e.g., dog walkers on a hill watching the sun set, or teachers in a staff room, and having only one rule for interaction - they must not be in the same position at the same time.

Giving the characters the opportunity to interact showed how each character, although very stylised and with just 3 motifs, could have very different responses in different situations.  these responses were gauged by things like size of movement, speed, energy, and facial expression.  

Finally, each person, in role as their stock character, read some of the Tea Kettle.  Again, they were given tasks.  They had to weave around the audience, sitting directly beside one audience member and engaging them personally, they also had to use all 3 positions.  

Each character gave a completely different style of reading, and each one engaging and energetic.  Which were very funny, and a delight to watch.

Next week we will continue on the same theme.  The group will be asked to familiarise themselves with parts of the story so that they can work without the book in hand, and thus free themselves up for greater movements, as well as not having the problem of losing their place on the page.

Monday May 2nd - Narrative styles

Introduction

Today we experimented with narrative styles.  The aspects of narration that I asked the group to focus on where bodily movements, posture, vocal tone and clarity of enunciation.

Focus and Warm ups

We brought ourselves into the room by saying our name, and describing where we are and what we are about to do.  We went round the circle a few times, each time requiring more detail and gradually bringing focus of attention from the busy lives we had come from and into the Konnektiv session.

We then observed things about each other, again going round the circle more than once in order to bring peoples focus of attention more closeley into the group, and strengthening the sense of connection between group members.

In order to bring in a physical warm up, we slightly changed that excersise by "imagining" each other doing things.  The person imagined then had to mime what they had been imagined doing.  For instance, I imagined Damon juggling with seven balls, and he then had to mime this.

We then brought in voice by imagining each other as someone of a particular age and gender, singing or speaking, to a group.

 Experimentation

The poetry reader looks alert, feet and hands are being
used to tell the story as well as the face.
 She leans towards the audience and uses vocal tone to
 add interest and meaning to the prose.

The main body of the session was taken by experimenting with narrative style, as we all took on a different role with which to tell the Japanese Fairy Tales we are working with.  We had a fairy, who had to persuade some children that they had to believe in her so that she could stay alive, a preacher, who was trying to convert some shoppers, a polititian, promoting their views at a hustings, a performance poet and a nursery teacher.

The audience

The "nursery teacher" reading is non-intrusive
but still includes the audience by leaning forwards, and
being seated brings the narrator closer to the children.

The point of the experiment was to look at ways that different people use to engage, persuade and entertain an audience.  Normal rules of acting don't apply, as the narrator makes personal contact with the audience, using eyes and body language.

The nursery teachers style is relaxed and simple,
unlike some of the more assertive styles we experimented with.
Her voice was soft and she spoke quite slowly

 Our audiences tested the narrators by being engaged, 
indifferent, or put off by the messages being relayed.  Some narrators were surprised that they found the experience of a "rude audience" to be liberating, and their performance improved as they were challenged by indifference to create a greater level of rapport, or got past the point of caring what the audience thought, or even got angry with the audience.

The "fairy reader" used a flirtatious manner, entertaining
 the audience by her quick, nimble movements and using a bright,
 lilting voice.

 Movement was very important, and sometimes quite hard to sustain.  However the movement adds to the character of the narrator.  Suggesting elements of personality to the reader, adding drama and style to the reading, and generally being much more entertaining than being still.

Occasionally the fairy would come quite close
to the audience, clearly requesting  more engagement.  
Both voice and movements where quick and light

The politician read slowly, with some gravity.
Attempting to convince the listeners of the seriousness
 of the subject under discussion.
Her voice was slow and deep and she used an emphatic tone.

 Some of the personalities used less distance than others.  The fairy was very intimate, unlike the polititian who was much more still physically during the performance.  The fairy had less social rules, was more childlike.  The polititian mainly used physical and vocal gravity, and strong eye contact, to engage the whole audience simultaneously.  The fairy flitted from one audience member to the other, engaging and releasing eye contact frequently.  She smiled a lot, unlike the politician.

The preacher was the most aggressive of the speakers,
his body language broke many social rules as he
threatened and accused his listeners.   Like the politician,
the preacher used slowly spoken words spoken emphatically.
However his tone varied a lot as his voice rose and fell in waves. 

The preacher used the more magical, unreal style of the  fairy, along with the emphasis and gravity of the politician.  His message was very serious and real, yet was given in a way intended to arouse strong emotions such as fear.  He did this by using a very varied vocal range, quickly changing his voice from deep to high, causing a forceful and emotive delivery.  He pointed directly at the audience, again quite threatening in his manner.


There seemed to be several themes in the range of styles of reading:


Intended magical content - indicated often by use of varied and changing vocal range.  Real readings were indicated by less of a vocal range, and greater use of emphatic words.
Intended emotional content - altered by changing the vocal tone, as well as the style of movement, quick for happy, or fearful emotion, slow for brevity.

Using the whole body, from tip of toe to slant of shoulders,
 the whole audience can be included in the reading

Entertainment - the less serious readings involved more quick, quirky movements, indicating an interesting character and adding texture to the reading.

At the end of the session, we brought the session to a close by a group mirroring excersise, where one person led the movement and passed the leading task to a random other, until someone ended the task by standing still.

Living Room Drama

Being homeless is so motivational!  For weeks I have been struggling to find new digs.  One evening of having to meet in my living room, and being very confined with space, and finding it difficult to keep the theme of the meeting from wandering off from the usual Konnektiv activities and into the realm of political campaigning and astrology, I managed to find us a new home the next day.  For the very reasonable sum of 10pw, we can use the meeting room at the Quakers meeting house.  Getting the key any day now.  If the rest of the group is ok with it, I will ask people to contribute a pound and I'll just put in anything left to pay.

Anyway, thanks to the 6 people who came, and when we managed to stick with the topic of in hand, we did do some very interesting experimentations.

Movement Dynamics

We played with the idea of making very small movements, in twos and in larger numbers.  I had the idea that this could be very powerful, a still image, and one small, slow movement.  However this completely didn't work, maybe because there was so much stuff and people in such a small space that detail is lost, but also maybe because when using very small movements, if it is too slow it just isn't noticable to our perceptive systems.  In which case, when we are improvising with movements  again, it would be useful to experiment with speed and size of movement.  Also I am thinking about once we have large bodies - due to extensions using masks and costumes, this might serve to magnify the movement, so in this case, a small movement, carried out very slowly, might be much more observable, and also may imply a different motivation than the same movement carried out without the extra costume/mask.

Group Attunement

Group sensitivity and 'togetherness', in this movement the group place their hands in a preplanned place on each others bodies, with their eyes closed, to a set rythm and within a set time.  Each member of the group tries to maintain an awareness of the movement made by other members and to synchronise with this.

There is a video of the movement described above, but I'm just having a bit of trouble uploading it.  

Another group synchronised movement that we did was, standing in a circle, initially facing the centre, to raise our hands into the middle and simultaneously turn so we faced each others backs, then slowly walk around, like a wheel, and as a group, stop walking, turn to face the centre of the circle again, and lower our hands.

This was very difficult, at times seemingly impossible.  In each case there was quite a lot of laughter and some jubilation when a task was completed fairly well.

Several questions are raised in my mind following these tasks:

1) Is it actually possible to have a 'sixth sense' awareness' of the physical, spacial and kinetic elements of the group. 

2) If it is, is it actually possible to co-ordinate ones movements, in anything more than an accidental, or choreographed way, with the other members of the group. 

3) If the above two things are possible, then would this practically add to the ambience of a performance, in that the performers are connected not just on a purely physical level, but are also aware of a more 'extraphysical' level of connectedness.

(these two questions relate to some martial arts, such as tai chi, in which contact made is not always physical.  If this is plausible, how is it, and how could a group hone this skill)

If the above notions are all hocus pocus, and rather a lot of nonsense, why do we like to try to do these things?  What do we stand to gain?  As individuals and as a group?  I have one or two theories that people might like to think about:

4)  In the 'game' of extraphysical contact, the group experiences a common aim that is quite exciting and suggests a greater connectivity is possible than the one we experience in day to day life.

5) By co-ordinating our efforts, and in our attempts to reach an extraphysical level of contact, we do in fact allow ourselves to become aware of each others presence and movements on a very physically minute level.

6) This attunes the members of the group towards each other, and thus the group towards itself.

7) In performance, this may well end up with a more precise, connected performance, in which the actors are highly in tune with each other and focussed on their physical/cognitive tasks.

One more question

8) What does the phrase 'in tune' mean in terms of group dramatic endeavour?

Last Session at the David Jones Centre

The last session at the David Jones Centre was held  on 11th April) and we still don't have a new venue sorted out :-(

This now being a state of emergency, and my attempts to tap into my Housing Associations Tenant's Involvement scheme having fallen onto barren land, we have decide on two courses of events.

1)  Approach the Quakers, who sometimes let groups use their hall cheap or free if it for the community benefit.
2)  Carry on with steps to become constitutionalised and open bank account.

Progress is being made but slowly due to other commitments/holidays etc.  We are getting there slowly.

In the meantime, we are back to rehearsing in my living room.  Think due to small space, using some of the enrollment rituals to facilitate further engagement with people's roles will be appropriate and also some sharing of the two new stories.  Also, experiment with different percussive/musical sounds to accompany movements.  Oh yes - and experiment with moving only one body part at a time - how does this look when the whole group do it very slowly?  Also some quick frantic movements, which will occasionally add contrast to the usual slow ones.

Anyway, about Monday.

What an interesting session!  We had two new people arrive - one who will be joining us permanently, who specialises in music, and one who just came to see what it's about.  Of course they both had to join in the full session.  We also had an artist join us for the first half of the session, because hopefully she will be helping us create the masks and costumes for the performance.

For the benefit of the regular members present we started the session with an excersise aimed at relaxation and then using guided visualisation, the members went on a journey to find their "creature".  The creature is the being - animal, person, god, hero etc, that the actor will be embodying in the performance.  In order to help the actors to use their imagination to create a stronger image of the creature to be embodied, I guided them on a hunt, to find the creature, and upon finding it, to have some interaction with it during which they found out more about the creature's purpose, visage, movement etc.  The new member and the visitors each imagined a creature from a story or film that they liked as a child.  Each person spent some time with their creature, and when the guided visualisation was over, they would enrol as this creature in the next part of the session.

Ethics - Issues for mental health clients, fear, nature of the "creature", feeling loss of control.  Probably not appropriate for vulnerable groups, also importance of thorough enrolment and derolement and being guided properly out of the visualisation, to ensure re-engagement with everyday reality.


Returning to the theme of slow movement accompanied by drum and ending in sculpt.  The group made a sculpt enroled as each of their creatures.  I asked for them to make the creature sculpts interact to that the final group sculpt told a story.  The group used different levels and took in different elements of mood and purpose.  Three group sculpts were created and the final one was examined by all as we took it in turn replacing another member's sculpt as that member walked around the final 3d image.

Following this, we returned to the two stories that we started last week.  The two main characters had had a chance to create strong imaginary impressions of their creatures, and this came out quite strongly in the performances. We started with the Fisherman story, which is very sad, concerning loss and grief and followed it with the Badger Kettle, which is quite comical and quirky.  Next week we hope that a dance/movement person will be coming along to help us to find ways to engage with some of the more difficult movement parts - such as the Badger Kettle and the Storm in The Good Thunder.

Hasty and late update from last week (4th April)

Much business in developing further projects has prevented the usual prompt Konnektiv update.  A reminder that planning takes far less energy and time than doing.  

Structural update - We are still homeless.  Ouch - I think that we have only one week left at the lovely David Jones Centre with its large space, little stage and lots of chairs etc.  It has done us well for 3months but we will be meeting in my living room for a while, which is fortunately quite big.

Having failed to find us free digs, I have asked the group - who have happily agreed, if they will agree to us becoming a constituted voluntary organisation so that we can try to get some funds for a place to have our sessions.  Written up the constitution, next step, phone call to the bank.

One or two interesting developments are that we have a dancer and a sonic artist coming along, which will really add a lot to what we are doing.  The main focus of the current project is movement, embodiment and narrative.  The sound aspect will really add to the dynamism and intensity of the performance.

After a few months of small but regular attendance, there is a rustle (spring?) of expectation in the air, as new people and new interests start to emerge.

On Monday we improvised again with sculpt.  Two members each forming a random sculpt, that complimented each other, and the third inventing characters and a narrative based on what they saw.  There were three parts to each story, in the first, the actors maintained eye contact, in the second there was one body part touching, and in the third, eye contact again.  The movements between each sculpt were integral to the game, and accompanied by 10 slow drumbeats.

There are several points to this game, which have been touched on before:

1) Using imagination (esp the narrator)

2) Being very aware and deliberate in the movement, being comfortable and enjoying the sensation of moving and finding a final sculpt.

3) Being very aware of centre of gravity and balance, embodying the final sculpt and feeling comfortable in the stillness.

4) Intimacy - this is quite a new addition to our work.  part of the role of group drama is to bring about a sense of intimacy, 'togetherness'.  lack of intimacy is as telling in a cold/distant theatrical performance as it is in life.  The idea of the eye contact/body contact is that the actors become intimate with each other on a deeper level, and if not comfortable, they might wonder what is blocking their ability to be comfortable with this level of personal contact.

5) 'Telling' - the narrator sees the sculpt, invents a story behind the sculpt and then 'tells' the story.  How do they tell?  Do they take delight in sharing their creation?  Are they afraid to speak - perhaps fearing criticism?  In this game the narrator might experiment with different ways of telling, and embody different roles, to explore the effects of role on the way that the story is experienced.

Theory: 

These games can be quite challenging, as we discover just how uncomfortable we are with being seen, being heard, feeling exposed, physically and psychologically.  We might feel clumsy, ungainly, out of shape, unbalanced.  Our voice may seem too loud, or quiet and inaudible.  But then, we see others making the same efforts.  The experience of risk and exposure are shared.  We do not criticise others, and we do not get the  criticism we feared and expected, and we are free to continue with the experience, experimenting with our bodies, our voices and the group, finding our expressive, creative self, gently pushing at our inhibitions and boundaries, and expanding our comfort zone.

We finally looked at two more stories, so that we now have the complete set that we will use on our Japanese Fairy Evening.  This Monday we will look at these two stories in more detail.