workshop day

Here are two accounts of the workshop day and what we learned from it.

On the day of the workshop the option groups got split up into groups of six or seven, with at least one student who had been studying either directing, physical performance, approaches to text, or design. Once we were assigned to a group the ensemble were given the task to devise a five minute piece on a stimulus that we were given. The stimulus was an object and a piece of text from one of the Alcestis text's that we had read. Initially my group shared ideas and discussed what they had learnt and the practical work they had been doing in their own option groups. The group then started to get up on their feet with some short warm up exercises in which physical performance came into use. I shared some of the exercises that had been carried out in class; such as walking around the room using different sides of the foot. The group found this useful as the different way one walks created a character for the individual. I showed the group the wind dance which instantly brought energy into the space. After a satisfied warm up, ideas in the group were further shared. Interestingly each reaction to the stimulus was different depending on the different option groups people were in. One reaction was to pick out the text and analyse the meaning. Another was to see how one could create a scenographic picture from the text by incorporating the prop, which was a mask. At first there was conflict in solely focusing on the mask. The groups automatically decided to do ensemble work, which interestingly all the groups did in performance. When the group began to work more practically our ideas developed, and a narrative was formed. It was clear that the group needed a narrative to devise a performance. The final perfromance was dissappointing. The group's ideas were not clearly communicated. This exercise showed how important it is to get straight into practical work and to not waste time getting caught up in discussions. It was interesting to see the different ways one can approach a stimulus. The workshops were a brilliant way to share ideas and engage in other group's practical work.

Our group first held a warm up where we did stretches and tried to teach each other a little of what we had been learning in our workshops. We tried walking around the space using differnt parts of our feet as we have been doing in our classes. Our piece of text was "A corpse on duty" and these movements, very staccato and jagged, reminded us of corpses. This in turn gave us the idea of an army of corpses returning from the dead. As we worked on this though, the movements seemed too contrived. We then decided to explore the idea that Alcestis had been a corpse in her life- weighed down by her responsibilities and her duty to her husband. To emphasise this idea, we thought of showing Alcestis repeating different acts from her life. As the Alcestis character repeated her movements, trying to get through her life, I was reminded of sats and the impulse of movement. Just as Alcestis tried to move forward in her life, the other characters would pull her back.

As each of the groups presented their pieces, it was interesting to notice the differences and similarities between the pieces. Alot of the groups incorporated exaggerated breathing within their pieces, which is understandable when exploring the theme of death and rebirth. It was good to see some of the work we have been exploring in class presented on stage. One group in particular (the one with the fruit), reminded me of our exercises with objects and repetition. It was interesting to watch all of the performances and explore how the work used in class can help when devising performances.

How did everyone else find the workshop?