[CSVPA] day-7, 15th Sep

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
• “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
  1. space
  2. weight
  3. time
  4. 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
  1. “Aah”
  2. “Err”
  3. “Awe”
  4. “Eee”
  5. “Ooo”
• HW) 5 words for each sound

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