Body Conditioning
Theatre in Context
- Theatre about 9/11
- December 2002, New York, US, <The Guys> written by Anne Nelson
- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/120597/the-guys-by-anne-nelson/
- December 2002, <The Mercy Seat> by Neil Labute
- https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/the-mercy-seat
- December 2002, New York, US, <The Guys> written by Anne Nelson
- “What if we stayed in World Trade Centre at that time?”
- Watch Vimeo (10 mins) <DECADE>
- length of the play=actual time=realism
- audiences get through immigration set
What is theatre for?
Rachel Ellis
- emersive/emersion
- Verbatim theatre (Documentary Theatre)
- take interview people and use it as text for actors
- recording the facts and repeating
- same material but different form
- exercise) “What is going on now?” “What is context of your life right now?”
- relationship
- family
- lockdown
- Black Lives Matter
- social devide
- beauty standard
- Federal Theatre Project in US (1935)
- during the Great Depression
- living newspaper
- Royal Court Theatre in London will start “living newspaper” in November 2020
- “Editions will include satire of the week’s events, alongside long-form think pieces. There will be weekly dating columns, cartoons, the world in pictures, a sports section and a surprise theatre supplement. Plus, every week a space will be given to a guest company to create whatever they want in response to the world we are in.”
- https://royalcourttheatre.com/home/livingnewspaper/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Paid&utm_campaign=livingnewspaperlaunch&utm_term=RCT&gclid=CjwKCAjwzIH7BRAbEiwAoDxxTpxafQTdYvbbYQU5mrVD5Pg9J_L_nxKw67h7NFXafKYDLAZ0y91oRxoC-s8QAvD_BwE
- long-form think pieces may be new form of theatre in the future
- HW) Find out what is going on theatre at this moment
- reference – The Guardians, National Theatre…
- across the country&home country
Acting
Q1) “What is it to act?”
Q2) “What is it to be an actor?”
Q3) “What is acting mean to you?”
- It is not a test but just for you. Have your own identity.
- aim : become more impulsive
- actors – not brain, but also brain, more like embodiment in thinking
- how body express yourself
- imagine – brain in your centre. guts
- explore moving without any goal
- moving without any reason
- what body does seem to work?
- get feedback from your body
Communication is inevitable.
Chris Mckay
- Laban said, “you can’t avoid the movement.”
- Presentation <Factors of Movement – Rudolf Laban (1879-1958)>
Man moves in order to satisfy a need.
Rudolf Laban (1879-1958)
- ‘Laban Notation’ – shading-height/shape=direction
- “How goes it?” another mean where is a person going
- space
- weight
- time
- flow
Man aims by his movement toward something that is of value to him.
Rudolf Laban (1879-1958)
- aims = objectives, intentions, goals
- value = maslow’s hierarchy of needs (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4136760)
- 8 Efforts (qualities of movement/attitudes)
- Disclaimer : idea of being free/’mechanical advantage’ in Alexander Technique
- movement – thinking = bodymind
- constant desire to ‘do’ = ‘habit’
- Laban’s Mission Statement
- “We need an authentic symbol of the inner vision to affect contact with the audience.”
- “Being” in front of people (audience)
- Authenticity
- you don’t have to be always natural on stage but just try to be authentic
Voice
- Vowel chart and long monophthongs
- The placement fo the vowel symbol corresponds to the required tongue position
- “Aah”
- “Err”
- “Awe”
- “Eee”
- “Ooo”
- HW) 5 words for each sound