Body Conditioning
Acting
- 1 person in the group – how they came across to you when they were doing their monologues?
- Nervous – breathing, shaking hands or body, red face. where is nervous come from?
- quality of works or outcome – talent / technique
Theatre in Context
- Heiner Müller (1929 – 1995)
- German playwright
- his death was quite political, his childhood influenced by father’s career, rebelling with Nazi Germany, socialist who against Hitler
- communism play
- From 1970s, he moved to Texas, America and got culture shock
- capitalism of America, free to individuals were not truly free
- started to write about concept of socialism and capitalism
- influenced but also criticized Brecht
- “writing is a mean of play
- <Hamlet Machine> 200pg, 8 hours
One afternoon during the festival the playwright sat in a coffee shop watching the patrons eat pastries. ”Look at these smug West Germans,” he said, gesturing at the tables. ”They’re all ex-Nazis, but they feel completely innocent. They accept no responsibility for what Germany did. They believe they never did anything to anybody. I hate their moral complacency. But I can’t forget. I feel guilty for Germany. And what surprises me most about recent events is not the tumbling of the wall but the resurgence of nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism. I thought these weeds had been pulled out, but the roots were left in the ground to sprout again. A reunited Germany will make life unpleasant for its neighbors.”
THEATER; In Germany, a Warning From Heiner Muller
Mr. Muller says his hope ”is for a world where a play like ‘Germania’ can never be written again because its truth would no longer obtain. Art must awaken the yearning for another world, and this yearning is revolutionary. If you stray into a theater and see on stage exactly what you saw in the subway or the street, why bother to go to the theater? Stay in the street. I don’t find it interesting to see a man on stage with two eyes, two ears, two legs. I want to see a man with three ears and four legs. This is more interesting. Theater must not duplicate reality.”
THEATER; In Germany, a Warning From Heiner Muller
- Robert Wilson (1941 – present)
- the leading American avant-garde theatre director, revolutionised the stage by making visual communication more important than words
- Imagery Theatre
- A play that is contrary to the subject, character, plot, genre, and logical language structure
- Focused on Make-up, clothes, props, stage equipment, lighting, video (visual elements), music, sound effects (audible elements)
- Using audio, visual, and verbal images -> Stage image(scenery)
- The actor is not a ‘character’ but becomes a ‘symbol’ that plays a role
- Minimize the movement/slow motion/highlight lighting etc.
- <Scene from the theatre play Einstein on the Beach, directed by Robert Wilson, with music by Phillip Glass.> https://vimeo.com/45745446
What is the stage language? Everything you smell, hear or see
Robert Wilson
Theater is something live, so it’s always something exciting. There’s that risk, that danger that something might fail, something might not work. And some people are looking for an alternative to the media and the mass electronic world. So much of the theater that we have now reminds me of television: most directors, most actors say something for the people to understand. They say this, and you’re supposed to understand what it is that you’re saying and what you’re doing. It’s okay to get lost!
ROBERT WILSON: “IT’S OKAY TO GET LOST”
reference from https://the-talks.com/interview/robert-wilson/
- Robert Lepage (1957 – present)
- French-canadian scenographer
- material + technological stagecrafts
- “Auteur” the word from film critic in 1950s
I always complain that a lot of young theatre artists often tell stories that they don’t know about. They don’t speak about themselves. Speak about what you know. If you want to do a good film or a good novel or a good play, talk about what you know. And if you talk about that, you will have the answers to all of the dramaturgical problems. So it was very liberating for me to suddenly say, ‘Well, why don’t I just be myself on stage and go for it?'”
Robert Lepage revisits his childhood during Quebec’s cultural revolution
Well, why don’t I just be myself on stage and go for it?'”
Robert Lepage
reference from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/robert-lepage-revisits-his-childhood-during-quebec-s-cultural-revolution-1.4056286
Voice
- phonetics #7
- Aspirate
- Lateral
- Nasal
- Semi-vowel
- Palatal