Physical Theatre

11th October

What is physical theatre?

We began the lesson by discussing physical theatre and what it meant to us. The general idea was that it was a form of story telling, mainly told through psychical movement. The official definition is: 'A form of theatre which emphasizes the use of physical movement, as in dance and mime, for expression.' We then discussed physical theatre companies such as Frantic Assembley, DV8 and Complicite. Its interesting to think about how each company uses physical theatre in different ways and how each technique is effective in different ways. 

Warm up

We began by all walking around the room and finding space, we were then told to walk with purpose which increased the energy and concentration in the room. We then added instruction such as jogging, high knees, heels to bum, making eye contact and physical contact with others as we walked past them. We had to do a few things at once which was difficult as it meant we had to become highly aware of the people around us and this heightened our senses.We began to run to help us become more spatially aware and to get us to concentrate more while also become more physically warmed up and ready for the lesson. 

Instructions:

Right= Touch the floor with out right hand, then change direction

Left = Touch the floor with out left hand, then change direction

Sides = Run to the nearest wall or window

Centre = Run to the middle of the room, put your shoulder on someone's head

Speaker = Run to the speaker, sit down and point at it.

Look = Stop, stare at someone in the eyes.

Person = Hug someone

Favourite = Point to your favourtie object in the room in an energetic and dramatic fashion.

This game really helped me to focus on specific instructions. Concentration and listening/reacting are very important parts of acting. This helped me think about these aspects in detail and practice them. It also helped me to get in the zone and become spatially aware. 

Games

- Zip Zap Boing: Energetic/bold movement required along with a lot of concentration. 

- Name game: Everyone stood in a circle, one person (A) looks at another person (B), B says A's name, A walks towards B, B makes eye contact with someone else (C), walks towards them, this repeats until everyone in the circle has had their name said and walked towards someone else.

- Animal Game: One person stands in the middle and points at someone, while saying a command. The commands were: Elephant, duck, rabbit, bouncer and boyband, each required different resposnes and actions. The person pointed at performs the suitable action, with the two people either side of them joining in.

Grandma's footsteps: We played this normally, then added an objective in order to make not being caught more important.

These games helped build up my energy and concentration. They also helped me loosen up and have fun/ be silly. Working with an objective was very useful as this affects how we treat certain situations and increases the stakes, therefore making a scenario more exciting or interesting.

18th October

Warm Up

We began the lesson with the same warm up as last time, however we found that the energy was lacking because a lot of us were ill/tired. Simon told us that there's no point going into things half-hearted as you won't learn or improve anywhere near as much as when you put 100% into what you do. This struck me as it made me realise that I need to stop preserving energy or commitment and try my best in everything I do. This really helped me to focus and get in the zone while warming up.

Jumping

We stood in 4 horizontal lines. We had to jump up 8 times before turning around and jumping another 8 times. After this, the next line had to start jumping, this was done in canon. We then repeated this 6 times, 4 times, twice and then once. This was complicated as we were always kept on out toes and had to be very alert. This was an exercise Frantic Assembley often use in their warm ups, which shows its very professional and useful. It helped us focus on timing and watching/reacting to those around you. This is very important in physical theatre as everything has to be fluent, have ergonomic flow and have emotion behind it. We then added a clap on the second jump and a kick on the fouth jump, we had to also raise our arm when turning around. 

Potato/Blood

In this game, everyone had to spread out and close their eyes, we had to put our hands out in front of us and make them limp, in order to protect ourselves/not harm others accidentally. Everyone in the game was a 'Potato', and had to walk around saying 'potato.' Simon squeezed someone's neck, this person then became 'Blood.' This person would walk around saying 'blood', and had to try and find everyone. When 'Blood' touches a 'potato', the potato turned into blood, and had to help the other people who were 'blood' find/hunt down everyone else. It was like 'It build-up', but much scarier and more intense. The senses were heightened because our eyes were closed, we had to focus on what we could hear and touch which was very interesting. We were working with clear/strong objectives which had a big effect on us. This game was very fun to play. 

Eyes closed- identifying

- Everyone closed their eyes and got moved into position by Simon.

- We were moved into a circle, where we were facing someone's back, we were all very close together.

- We were asked to feel the person in front of us, we felt their head/shoulders to look for specific or identifiable features. We had to remember what they felt like.

- We got moved around again, while keeping our eyes closed throughout.

- We were asked to walk around and find the person from before, and place our hands on their shoulders.

- We walked around, feeling everyone's shoulders until you found your original person.

- I found the person from before because I felt them in detail, looking or key features which I could remember, others were less successful.

- This helped you analyse people and think about small, detailed features.

Eyes closed- Guidance

- We got into partners

- We were told to come up with 4 random noises, which we could both do

- We were told that each sounds must correspond to a movement, this included moving forwards/backwards/left/right

- We had to guide our partner round the room, using these sounds

- We had to guide our partner from one side of the room to the other

- We added obstacles(people)which our partners must avoid.

- Managed to successfully/ quickly guide Lois to the other side of the room without hitting any obstacles.

- Had to work on trust/ confidence in our partners.

- Loud/clear instructions were the most effective

- Distinct/easy sounds were the most successful/easiest.

- Works on listening/projection/clarity

- Thinking quickly on your feet

25th October

Warm Up

- Similar to last lesson

- 4 lines/jumping

- Jump 1/2 = Lunging/switch legs

- Jump 4 = Double clap

- Jump 6 = Kick

- Jump 8 = Turn with your hand in the air

- Became like a dance, was much easier after rehearsing it a few times

- Timing/energy was crucial

Following someone round

- Walked around the room in a pattern

- Found partner of similar height

- Followed them as closely as possible

- Footsteps had to be completely in sync

- Pay attention to details- how far they step/arm movement/timing etc

- Comedic/effective when done well, can be used in old fashioned/slap stick comedy

- Person in front doesn't notice how close you're getting to them

- Turned into routine- 8 steps/ back forwards back (like a musical)

- Head turn- comedic/subtle

- Was very difficult to get right timing, kept stepping on each others heels

- Must keep stride length/timing equal always

Imitating walks

- Everyone walked around the room as themselves
- Became difficult to act naturally when being watched- became very aware of awkward habits/posture/enegry
- Had to observe other people/how they walk
- Everyone walks differently- may effect their mood
- Different physicality tells us something about their personality/how they are feeling at the time
- Had to imitate someone's walk- copy them exactly
- Repeated this for 3 people
- Someone stands up and walks in front of the whole class
- Someone walks behind them, imitating their walk
- Next person walks behind, exaggerating their mannerisms/physicality/ how they walk
- Third person does extreme exaggeration
- Became comical/over the top/amusing
- Was very interesting to empathize mannerisms, makes us more aware of small details/features
- Made us realize that everyone walks/looks different- interesting when taking on/becoming a character
- Posture has a significant effect on us/ our status/energy