Evaluation

Evaluation

Well overall it was a great experience and nothing for us but the audience too as we immersed them into a world that hadn't entered before. The actors and the audience discovered the world from a different perspective.

Before the shows-4:20(ish)

I was less nervous as this was a group performance which involved not learning a lot of lines so that was a relief .

The only thing seriously on my mind was remembering the transitions and the little lines to say in our trios however I kept myself calm.

The first performance-4:30pm

Naturally as it was the first performance I was excited to release the energy which had been building up inside of me during the wait. I was looking forward to study and manipulate the audience in a way in which they've never experienced before.

What took us by surprise

During our class piece the audience didn't dispense in a way we've placed so performance space became limited and we ended up performing mainly on one side of the performance area. Naturally as the audience were standing it became unfair for who could see our piece so sadly people near the back couldn't experience the full effect of performance.

During the performance I tried separating them and I putting them on the sides but it's a lot of work for one person.

Duets and Trios

For our trio piece we were taken a back by how loud it was. It was so loud that we couldn't hear our music but lucky we had prepared for this and we could adapt our piece without the music. The music wasn't central to our performance. I think this is a great example of organised theatre. With it being loud it became a slight competition to be heard as the piece next to us were shouting a lot in their piece which drew a lot of audience attention. As we used a lot of physical theatre without music it may have become less attractive to watch. Music does contribute to the emotion .To watch physical theatre I guess it's easier to understand when knowing a bit about it. That may be one factor why less audience members watched ours.

On top of this someone had taken our masking tap which we were going to use in our trio. This slightly annoyed us and also made us slightly confused but as professional actors we were able to make quick subtle changes and perform to the best of our ability.

What went well

I loved giving the breath of life when blowing on their hands. It was interesting to explore the beauty of a hand with breath. Blowing around possessions such as a ring. I think showing care when doing this builds a small loving connection between the audience and actors. I think the emotional connection was also created by the actors giving an interactive performance with one or two audience members. By having this interaction it changed the mood of the piece giving a calmer atmosphere.

When telling the childhood stories it was nice to get a reaction to what you said. I received laughter and subtle smiles.
The transition when moving the boards were slick.

Goals for the second performance

For the trio section our aim(Me, Naomi and George) is to draw the audience into our piece. We decided to do this through asking questions such as 'who can say what's important?' and also repeating what roles we represent. Instead of saying the media once for this small section, I repeat it three times during our piece. so when new audience members come along during our performance they have a small understanding of what is going on and who we represent. We also decided that it was reasonable that we speak when doing the physical theatre so there's something to listen to as well.
Our second goal was to make sure we share our performance evenly during the group piece.This means spreading the audience out so everyone can watch.

The second performance-6:00pm

Second chance-class piece

Once again the transition of moving the boards and getting the audience inside was very slick and professional.I tried to make sure this was all done in silence without telling the audience what to do as this could ruin the atmosphere of intensity and slight confusion.

During the section when running around the boards the lights were dimmed .This came at a slight risk as i ran into someone who was running in the other direction.I loved the effect the lights had on the performance however i think a warning should of been given and we should of been told to run in the same direction.

Improvements for our Trio

By asking more questions and repeating who we represented we were able to attract more audience.Some even took the time to read our rationale which  appreciated.

When asking the question 'Who can say what is important?' the person who i question was taken a back and most of the time unsure of what to say which could suggest they pondering on the question.I'm hoping by asking the question they may give it a thought and try and think who can say what s important.

We were able to find the tape for the next performance and this slightly added to our confidence of giving a great trio.The tape was a great representation of showing how the media can silence society and the government.

Improvements to spreading the audience

When performing i tried to add in little parts of when i sectioned the audience to the side so they can all equally see what was happening.

Goals for the last performance

To make our final performance amazing without injuries we should keep the dimmed lights but also all run in the same direction.

Other complaints were that during the dragging of the bodies peoples genitals were in other peoples faces.I think if i am dragging the bodies i will try my hardest to make sure people are placed in reasonable positions however if this situation does occur again as professional actors you simply have to get over it as these accidental things can happen.

The Final Performance-7:30pm

What took us by surprise

During the dragging of the bodies,the trios who were before our performance forgot to clean the floor and i slipped on paint.This ruined the tense energy in the room and what we did then on felt like a slight mockery.naturally it made audience members laugh and this was slight distraction however of course i carried on.It was a shame that this happened in the last performance as i was determined to make the last performance the best one.

Changes to the Trios

A slight change was made.We decided that tape was not needed as it prolonged our Trio in a non-beneficial way.It was long tearing the tape to put on Naomi's and George's mouth during the physical theatre section plus the tape was only used for 5 seconds before it was taken off again and thrown to the side.We couldn't re-use the pieces of tape because when thrown to the side they touch the dirty flooring and these pieces of tape are used against their mouths. Our Trios went as planned and was able to attract a vast variety of audience.

Overall Audience reactions

when spurring up a conversation from one of my friends who watched the performance she said 'first time I watched it  I was scared,confused and I realised you guys were sperms at some point.'

My mum said it was quite unusual in the way in which we blew on their hands and on a whole it was a great performance.



From the overall feedback I've concluded that we were able to create this immersive world in which the audience have never been before and we as a theatre group ave reached our objective for cabinet of curiosities.

If i was to do it again
If i was to do this unit again i would i would spend a larger amount of time devising  my trio giving a more abstract feel and i would also bring better speakers.

What i enjoyed
I enjoyed learning how to tell a story through experimenting with physicality and vocals.Creating this unknown/unheard of world.I LOVED doing emotional riffing s i felt free within the activity and so alive

Lesson 6-Alltogether-working on the last bit

Cabinet of Curiosities 

This lesson focused on preparing the whole year group piece for cabinet of curiosities and our interaction with the audience.

This part of the performance was involved the audience answering questions and us responding to it as a year group.(similar to rein-acting their answer)
What i discovered was that when the answers to the questions were given,we responded literally whereas we should responded to the different qualities.
for example if paint was an answer most people would glide like paint or be a paint brush however we should dig deeper and show the physicality of different types of paint like red could be acted as dark and sad whereas yellow can be acted as happy with loads of energy.

Preparation for accessing the work
As I've learnt it's always best to process yourself into what your going to do.I believe it gives the person and better and deeper understanding of what they're doing and also this effects the outcome of the work.
We started by focusing our breathing as this is central to preparing yourself mentally and physically.It relaxes you. 'If you have a quiet mind and a relaxed body, it makes sense that you also will have a quiet and relaxed breath. Everything goes hand-in-hand. Quieting the mind can be the most difficult thing anyone (actor or not) can do. What happens to the body and the breath when you let your mind wander? Your body tenses up and your breath gets ragged' 
The next step was to feel you body move by doing this you can explore different movements of your body.
The step was to get into partners a show something under a given title without speaking.An example would be when we were asked to show when we were most happiest.At first i found this hard as i wanted to to discuss with my partner when i was most happiest and when she was most happiest so we could create something with our physicality. I realised for this to work I shouldn't approach this task in a literal way but show an abstract version involving different aspects of when I as most happiest. This should also involve responding to my partner and their happiness. During this I automatically had a lot of rhythm and was very upbeat so I could reflect my happiness. This helped us with instinctual responses to the given tasks. We also explored spatial proximity
Transition
After warming up our minds and bodies i found it easy transitioning into doing the big group piece which i mentioned involved the whole class.
Our preliminary idea was that we all respond at the same time as a class however each response looked similar and it resembled aspects similar to a mosh pit/rave.As a group it was important that each each response was personalised and different from the one before.
The second idea was the one person from the class responds to begin then everyone else follows their lead when the timing is right.I felt that doing this it made each piece different and we collaborated better as a group.I felt that a more organic and more sophisticated piece was made.

Group piece qualities for success
For this section to be a success their are certain qualities which should be used to make this an intriguing piece of work to watch.
Below our my top five
1) make discoveries ,explore the space your working in and make discoveries within the audiences answers. Can you discover a little deeper?
2)Swallow and revive the energy of others.respond and work with others in the room to create something beautiful and unique.Don't be the one who acts lazy and decides to hang around in the background without putting in a lot of effort.
3)Interpret and release. Everyone's interpretation of the answer may be different however don't make what your doing be so individualised that u stand out from what the others are doing.
4)Be aware of others but also work to the limit.It's easy to get so emotionally and physically involved with this section that you don't realise your own strength and you end up hurting others.So make sure your work to the best of your ability but also look out for others around you as your a company and it isn't a one man show.
5)Let it be truthful.What you create should be organic and instinctual. Try.Try to create something which isn't to impress anyone.


What does it feel like to be in the response to questions piece?

At times it was very claustrophobic as everyone was getting very physical with each other and it did get violent at points accidentally. It felt similar to a mosh pit as people were pushing. From the outside it may of looked creative and I think it was a great concept however it was very uncomfortable.


Sources for information
https://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlights/just-breathe-breathing-exercises-for-student-actors#breathing-for-relaxation

How I felt about the cuts
It's sad that this part got cut as it was an very imaginative and would of definitely immersed the audience into a place which they don't usually experience.Unfortunately there's not much i can take from this as it is cut however this showed me how to work as an ensemble physically while also keeping myself safe from injury.

As a side note.My piece includes different font of writing. This is because I copied it from something I wrote on word and it wouldn't change font once I copied it over. I can prove this is my work.

Rationale for our trio

Rationale

Rationale

Name of piece: Censorship

Artist's names: George McAllister,Naomi India,Leanne Henlon

Piece from the TATE inspired by: Untitled,by Nam June Paik

Brief Description of the piece and what's it about:

From a painting depicting childlike paintings of smiling television screens over a newspaper, representations of the people, the government and the media engage in a physical battle for dominance over the message that goes out to the public. With the media winning the battle, it shows how the media has censorship over the stories that reach and influence the public.

Censorship

Created by George McAllister, Naomi India and Leanne Henlon

Inspired by Untitled by Nam June Paik at The Tate Modern

Rationale

based on a painting depicting childlike paintings of smiling television screens over a newspaper.From our interperetation it is representation of the people, the government and the media engaged in a physical battle for dominance over the message that goes out to the public. With the media winning the battle, it shows how the media has censorship over the stories that reach and influences the public. Although Paik was principally associated with performance and technology, he was also engaged in painting and drawing throughout his career. This freely executed work is painted directly onto a wooden surface. The abstracted form in the middle of the composition resembles the shape of a television set, while the lines and shapes surrounding it suggest the waves of distortion that hover across the surface of his televisual experiments.

We decided on making a new rationale as the one above didn't look attractive or appealing to the eye.The information was basic and the picture looked misplaced.The new rationale looks fuller as it is compacted with valuable information and also looks more professional.

Lesson 5-Putting it all together

Puzzling it all together

This lesson involved putting the final pieces of our  class piece together and having a re-look at our duets/trios.

The original order

Insect-The only thing to always exist

Emotional riffing-Expressionism-freedom

Soup

Butuh-In response to WW2-Monstrosities

Crowd moving through darkness

talk about childhood incident that changed your life

Hive of bees-Insects again

breathing on hands of the audience-The breath of life

chasing an invisible rabbit

start to make bodies in concentration 

Guantanamo section begins

Above is the original order which our piece should follow

A powerful song

The lesson began with learning a song which was in response to the holocaust.

'Dead can dance-Hymm for the fallen'

listening to the full song the melody is so simple for the piano and voice yet the words so powerful and full of meaning.The singer shows passion with every word sung.

Below are the lyrics which we shall recite

Now look,see how they're dreaming

The black reciteries,while the children dream

Don't go so deep in slumber

Where you'll shy 

Know you'll wander in sleep

Don't fly too far away

Oh look,your wings are broken

A wide blue sky is very near

Soon,soon,soon,soon,soon

Now sleep,close your eyes and have no fear

A wide blue sky is very near

It's shame we are only doing certain lines from the the song as i would of liked to of done more however this confined piece of text which is now to be spoken still does the song and the holocaust justice.

It would of also been nice to sing some of the lyrics plus i learn words easier through song.

Below is some brief information about the Dead can dance from Wikipedia

Dead Can Dance is an English-Australian musical project that formed in 1981 in Melbourne by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London, England, in May 1982. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty; African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chant, Middle Easternmantras and art rock."^[1]

Having disbanded in 1998, they reunited briefly in 2005 for a world tour and reformed in 2011, releasing a new album (Anastasis) and embarking on several tours.

The push,Hold and 180 degrees change

This new part of our class piece involves alot of contact during the hold which i felt uncomfortable with at first and felt that i couldn't put my all into it but after watching the a bit of the documentary i felt emotionally connected and involved with what we were performing.Using emotion helped to get the powerful message about how people can turn on each other.

Bodies in the concentration camp

Due to watching the documentary i was also able to get really into the character of the people who made a pile of the bodies.By the people being the bodies allowing themselves to be absolutely floppy helped make what we were doing real.It made it fell like i was there when they had to clear up the bodies.I was able to feel the full weight of people when i pulled them across the ground.

Time for an upgrade in material

Due to our latest unorganised trio piece we've taken on the advice and started from scratch avoiding sensational movement and ideas.

Using our new question 'Who can say what is important?'

Before creating our piece we looked at the qualities of importance then improvised using contact improvisation.

Our piece piece begins with each of us showing who we are a representation of,me being the media,Naomi represents society and George represents the government.During our piece we use contact improvisation imitating a fight between society,government and the media.All of our objectives is to be heard by writing what we believe on a piece of paper we are using in our performance.

We decided on the ending which would be the media winning.We didn't time when the media would win and decided that as a group through energy we would feel when the piece is coming to an end so it would be more natural and less pressured to fit within a time limit.

Trio feedback
.State our piece
.use bold movements
.good beginning
.use a monologue or article

Goals regrading Trio Feedback

Next time we perform this piece we aim for a response similar to the quote above.

Goals for next lesson
Learn the lines for the song and this can be done by constantly reviewing a piece of paper with the lyrics on it.

Lesson 4-Deception

Deception

'Deception is a trick or scheme used to get what you want, like the deception you used to get your sister to agree to do all your chores for a month.'

Deception occurs when you deceive, a word that comes from the Latin de- meaning "from" and capere, meaning "to take." When you deceive someone, the result may be taking — like items you don't really need from people willing to give them, believing they are helping you. You may have heard the phrase "take someone for a ride." That's a way of describing deception.'  http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/deception

In all honesty there's no particular reason why we  labelled our piece deception,it was a spur of the moment idea so the name may change by next week.The word is a interesting when said but has an less of an intriguing definition.

A clear understanding of the word deception is experienced in lion king 2 when Kovu lies about his reason to join  Simbas pride.The song below clearly outlines his act as deception as it is a key word sang in the song when casting Kovu out of the pride.

What our piece is about

Our piece is about how corrupt the media is and how they chose what is important to report. Our idea was to do this by me being a news reporter ,reporting less impotant news and Naomi and george our behind me behind a cage writing letters about what's really happening in the world and what should be displayed.Each letter written sits in between the gaps of the cage(fence).Naomi and George represent the voices which are not heard ad reported about hence the reason they are behind a caged fence.The piece starts with me walking over the fence and picking out the letter but because it's something i think that is not important,i rip it up then pick up another one and do the same then decided to report the things i think are important and know about.I report about optimistic things such as the UK will leave Afghanistan,football,UK economic growth and a cure found for Ebola.Through our piece we are also trying to portray how censored the news is.The news report is repeated with gaps in between.During these gaps,Naomi and George stick post sticks on me saying their opinions about the media which are negative in their case however they also engage and encourage  the audience to write on post stick with their opinions of the media and stick it on me. This is repeated continuously.

Negatives

Even though we had this great idea we hadn't spent alot of time practicing so when it came to showing the class it was a slight shambles.I often struggle with my pronunciation so when performing i awkwardly stumbled,stuttered and slurred my words which was VERY embarrassing.I think with time i could work on this through continuously practicing.

Feedback for Deception

we were told that i question didn't match our piece and that it was too direct.At first i didn't understand untill i go home . Our original question was 'Is what we see in the media true?' and our new question 'Who can say what is important?''This was changed as the media(expecially the BBC)  are trusted sources and most things they display are true and our argument in the piece is that the media report what they think important which isn't necessarily the most important news to be reported,so the question 'Who can say what is important?'.Plus this question is alot more open for discussion.

During our feedback we were advised that if we were to use the caged fenced we have to make sure it doesn't wobble.This can be simply achieved by be more careful as to not touch it when performing .

We also advised to find deeper research and i feel that this task can be easily taken on as a group.

General Feedback

As a class for we received general feedback that the piece should be created from instincts(body,voice and emotions)not ideas and that their is no need for sensational movements. As a group we haven taken this on and have considered starting from scratch as our piece is full of sensational ideas.

Buzzy bees

This technique is effective when the room is full of focus and if we are all very attentive. At first it was hard as a group to decide who was to take lead when leading the group but with confidence there became more people who chose to lead and less indecisiveness. 

Loitering in the darkness

This involved staying away from the natural lighting in the space and looking in at the light then one by one ending the space(light) standing or sitting fairly still.infront,next to or behind someone was your decision.when entering the space we should try not to think about entering and just enter.

Childhood incident

For this activity i chose an incident that definitely changed my perception of fire.

My childhood story is about when i was younger around the age of 7 my older sisters use to be able to swipe there fingers through a candle flame without being burnt.There's a certain part a candle when swept through fast that you won't get burnt.Being an interested but not brave enough younger sibling when my sisters had left i decided to try it however i was too scared to use my finger so i used my mums prescription which i saw as a MUCH safer idea. However to my surprise it set alight.Being not a very bright 7 year old i put in on the wooden kitchen table and ran upstairs nervously to tell my mum that i had set her prescription on fire Luckily the table didn't set alight. Since then i knew for sure that you shouldn't play with fire.

After doing some research i found out the reason why you don't get burnt below.

'This is a fascinating thing to see. The first time I saw this done was by my vicar at church. I really thought, 'This man has come from God!' It was very impressive!Thing behind this is that basically candles aren't that hot.The other trick is to do it fast and through the right part of the flame. You need to know a little bit about how candles work. It all boils down to convection, heat rises. The top of the candle is much hotter than the bottom of the candle. If you ever try holding your hand over the top of the candle you find out extremely fast it's very, very hot. It's about 600 degrees. You can actually pass your hand through the bottom of the flame because all the hot air is rising up the bottom of the flame is where all the cold air from the room is being sucked in. The bottom of the flame is quite cold. You can stick your hand through, get a bit of soot on it. You can do that so long as you do it at quite a quick speed, especially if your fingers are a bit wet. Then you'll just burn off the water rather than burning your hand.'-Kat http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/2126/

Question time

What is Talent?

In general Talent to me is someone modest who strives and works for something for themselves even when people put them down or others they work with aren't as motivated they willing to take the first step and lead themselves and group to the finish line.They are also eager to learn whilst being able to accept valid critiques. relating to theatre this person would make time to do their work to the best of their ability,prepare themselves mentally and physically for a lesson/audition and learn their lines in a reasonable amount of time.

What is stage presence ?

My idea of good stage presence is having a person with the ability to intrigue and engage with the audience through good voice technique and arguably reasonable and humble physicality.

As a side note my font changes on here due to the fact that some of this was written on word or is written after a quote which was in another font and i cannot change the font .This is not copy and paste from the internet and If necessary i can prove that the above work is mine.

Tate Modern

Tate Modern

I spent this relaxing day with Naomi and George as we decided that we would do our little group piece together. 

Inspirational pieces

In advance i am sorry about the blurry pictures

Burn Hole 1961

Henk Peeters

This piece has inspired me through it's simplistic art.

Unititled

Nam June Palik

From this piece of art i gathered that the media corrupt and it priniting a facage and in the the eyes of the artist is unworthy of title hence the title 'Untitled'. I also gathered the impression that the paint is the cover the lies that we read.It also makes us as people think of how much trust we put into the media to tell us accurate information(unless your the 'Sun Newspaper').

I think the childish painting represents us and that like children we believe in most things we read in the media.In conclusion media can arguably be summed to be a corrupted piece of art as media is a different form of art.

I'm inspired through how a simple piece of art work can be interpreted to have such a deep meaning.

Victrola

Nam June Paik

I am inspired through the combination of sculptural and instillation to create an exquisite piece of art with also thoughtful meaning.

Bakelite Robot

Nam Jun Palik

Mediterrranite 

Ellsworth Kelly 

I'm inspired by the different shades of colours used in this piece of art and how they complement each other.From it i interpreted that it represented the human race.That we are individuals.In this picture it's not very clear but there are two different types of blacks because of texture and colour.I think that this relates to society now as there are racial issues happening within the black  community where people separate themselves calling each other 'light skin' and 'dark skin' which divides the community and has now determined what sort of people we can go out with and what is defined as beauty.In the black community to be lighter skinned is seen as more beautiful and is classed completely as another shade however what these people don't realise is that we are all black,all from one race.I think it's sad to see this division between us.This sort of thing also happens in the Asian and Hispanic community. This reminded me of a short documentary i watched on vice about how people in Jamaica bleach their skin to become lighter. if you would like to research this more type 'Light skin Vs Darkskin' into Google.The art shows there are many different shades of one colour however overall it would all be seen as one colour which is black,blue,e.t.c....

This is a link to the vice video i spoke about.

lesson 3

Lesson 3

This lesson consisted of exploring other Grotowski techniques which involved exploring ones vocals and physical self in ways that the audience cannot copy.

We also looked into Butoh,which originated in Japan.

Warm Up

The lesson began with the Alexander technique semi-supine.This was done to connect with our breath and disconnect from our minds.While doing this i felt relaxed.We then moved onto rolling side to side to side into fetal position which helped me connect with the floor with either side of my body.The music in the background helped set a calm atmosphere helping me to de-stress.We then incorporated movement spealised to warm up the spine focusing on the atlas and axis.The process was about collaborating our breath with movement and by doing this i was engaged with my inner self.

Soup

Stage 1

Stage one involved exploring the different movements of our hand and how they embedded and felt while connecting with the floor.The benefits of this was i got to engage with the floor i was working with.We slowly worked our way up our arm.

Stage 2

Stage 2 involved kneeling in front of a partner then one person would stay censored while the other communicates with their body which involve moving around ones partner.

When doing this task i found it hard to not think as i was afraid that i may be judged by my partner because he was just watching me while i tried to connect with my inner self.I was lead by the soft tone of the music and it's gentle melody.This helped engage emotions and moving how i feel and not in response to my brain.The skin became an important stimulus to respond to.

Stage 3

Stage 3 involved listening and responding with your partner through physical movement. At first i found it rather awkward as i didn't know how to start a conversation through my body however luckily my partner started and i just followed while trying to once again disengage my brain.For this task our stimulus was our partner as we were responding to another.I began to really enjoy this task as i had a taste of freedom.

If i were to do this stage again i would be more confident with starting the conversation.

Stage 4

Stage involved stage 3 but also using voice.I found this weird at first and became an inner critique of myself.I was quite sure what vocals to use which wouldn't sound weird or disturbing.i tried to focus on instincts leading character rather than my mind process of insecurity. We began using our bodies and playing around with our vocals.I became less insecure as everything came together.

Soup was very intimate however it helped me build up my self confidence.This activity relates to 'Soup' as everything flows.

Butoh

The History of Butoh

Below is contextual research I've found about Butoh dancing.

This form of dancing originates from Japan 1960's.

Butoh is an avant garde performance art, that has its origins in Japan in the 1960's. After the second world war, Japan was a country in transition. It was a country still holding onto its old world traditional values while being forced into western democratic values by America's conquest. During this time there was much student unrest and protest.-http://www.zenbutoh.com/history.htm Theatre groups were performing socially challenging pieces, and there were daily demonstrations in the streets. Butoh was born out of this chaos. Its founders were a young rebellious modern dancer named Tatsumi Hijikata (1928 -1986), and his partner Kazuo Ohno (b. 1906).- http://www.zenbutoh.com/history .htm The Task During this task we explore different ranges of pitches and tones you can do while Ululating.doing this exercise i felt free as i was loss within myself knowing i wouldn't be judged.This process also felt therapeutic as i was able to enhance myself as a body with fluidity.

Lesson 3 Dictionary Ululating-To howl, wail, or lament loudly, especially by alternating rapidly between two high-pitched sounds.-http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ululating  Body- The physical structure, including the bones, flesh, and organs, of a person or an animal.-WikiThis is a simple logical explanation of what a body is however i gathered that what isn't obvious is that a body doesn't included a personality.Relating to the exercise earlier the task was to be a body which at the time i didn't realise that included not using personality. The Picture which inspired us Unititled by Nam June Paik Me,George and Naomi decided on using this picture because of the variety of interpretations you get gather from it. we chose the question 'Is what we see in the media true?'As we feel that's the question the picture is asking us. We came up we lots of fabulous ideas however as we learnt in the next lesson...ideas aren't always right. We aim to show/expose the media in which they chose what can be shown on. This will involve alot of deep research.

Lesson 2-Emotional Riffting

Emotional Riffing

The emotional Riffing exercise gave me a new perception of what defines experimental theatre.  Experimental theatre to me is exploiting ones vocals and what they can do physical with their body.The exercise involves pushing yourself to the extremes and beyond by fully investing your body and voice into the exercise finding your animal self.

Through observation i discovered by everyone by fully committing to the exercise people were confident in leading physically and/or vocally.During the exercise i felt of sense of intense,care-free energy as people bounced off each other.

By the end of the exercise i felt at peace with myself(inner peace).

I got the phrase inner peace from Kung fu Panda. I think if the character was to find inner peace it would be similar to the way i was feeling at the end of the session.

The exercise calmed and tamed people in my class.

Emotional Riffing

I couldn't find a video of emotional riffing however instead I've made my own interpretation of emotional riffing by breaking it down into 2.Below are two videos.The first one explores different Human emotions and the other is someone riffing.

First lesson

The works of Artaud

First lesson consisted of getting a physical introduction to the works of Artaud.
I found following the grid was very intense as we were pushed  to go beyond conventional boundaries which we had for ourselves and we were told to work harder.By doing this i learnt how to one zone into myself and block out others around me and concentrate on myself and on what i was.
The same amount of concentration was used when playing the knee game accept i extended my concentration out so i was focused on myself and my partner.Playing this game made me more alert and made me more aware,especially of tatics.In this game levels were used more frequent so you could catch your partner out.This made it more exhausting.

The Second activity pushed my limits to the most as in new pairs,one person was trying to leave the other person was trying to make them say.At first i felt energised and i was the one trying to leave.This process with my part became very physical and ever so slightly on the verge of violence.our piece gradually turned into a piece of physical theatre and i tried to explore different ways to leave kim my partner.I tried to also not let my mind have full control over what i was doing and just following the flow.Our piece involved alot of hugging and grabbing of the legs.I think by using these two moves it related to what maybe would of  happened in a real situation.

The task was to feel the music having our eyes closed and the lights off.At first i felt free as i could see no one and no one could see me.I felt free because i knew i wasn't getting judged so i reacted and i interpreted what i heard from the music.I Showed this through sharp,slow and sometimes dynamic movements in my body.From the music i felt as if i was in a mario game and i was continually running through bushes and i also felt as if i was in a club.After the 3 time of playing the track i began to become very self-conscious as i wondered if some people had their eyes.Admittedly i opened my eyes once or twice as i was scared that i was being watched and this made me very uncomfortable however it didn't take long for me to get into the flow of things.I let my body do the thinking and tried to disengage my brain so i wouldn't over think anything anymore.

The Next task was to form an imaginary box(cube) around ourselves then decorate with the alphabet making sure we remember where we placed the letters.This task involved alot of 'brain energy'/'brain juice'as i like to call it as you had to remember where u placed each letter so you could join in with the task.The first aim was to write your name with the letters in the box in a creative way.at first it was hard as not only did i have to remember where each letter was but also to remember the creative way in which i touched that letter.this task was about quick thinking and memory.For this task i learnt that it's best to go for simple moves as it won't complicate things and it won't take all your concentration as your concentration needs to be divided between this and remembering where the letters are.I tried to make sure i incorporated a variety of different body parts.

We moved onto working with scripts,focusing on a short play written by Artaud.
This play could be taken in many unusual interpretations.It was hard to know how to act out the story as i could make much sense of it.For our version we used alot soundscapes to represent the storm for instance and the setting. We didn't show alot of it as we didn't fully understand it.

This lesson was a great introduction into the works of Artaud