opening up the narrow road of mindedness

8/11/2019 Opening Up the Narrow Road of Mindedness

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Being back on the floor as a new company isan alien but exciting feeling. We have received

the brief for Ways of Seeing which allows us

to start researching and get inspired for our

own devised piece. We had the afternoon to

plan our workshop to lead two other

companies the next day, we took the more fun

and upbeat approach and made a list of games

we wanted to play and thought would be

beneficial for everyone. It was a big challenge

as there were eleven leaders with a company

of fifty to work with. It started of very slowly

but then picked up energy and commitment

and I believe everyone had lots of fun and

learnt something new. Our message and aim to both companies was about team building and

working together which I felt we achieved. After finishing the workshops we came to the

conclusion and after comparing the two workshops we found not sticking to the plan worked better

and going with where the companys goallows us all to make discoveries and move on. A variety

of games were played in each workshop, from observations we can now see what now works and

what doesnt. For example, Flocking and Buying in are supposed tobe played in second year

however they can always be bought back up and reminded by us how to play in the future.

The buddy challenge was so much fun, it gave us the chance to be creative with the different tasksand allow us to get to know everyone more. It would have been more useful if we had longer to

fulfil them, that way we could have created a better song at the end as it was very last minute and

improvised. Im looking forward to seeing everyones images/ videos, Imsure it will be

entertaining. Receiving the image as our stimulus has now allowed us to properly work together as

a company and bring ideas to the floor. Already there are debates and discussions about certain

ideas that not everyone agrees on however I think we are dealing with them professionally and

considering everyones opinion. Our thoughts and feelings about the image are being shown and

noted through spider diagrams we have created, this now allows us to refer back and try out moves

and see what works and doesnt.

Our first skills class with Gavin on text was very beneficial. We looked at the prologue to The

Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. When I receive a piece of text whether that is a script or monologue Iknow the first thing to discover is what I know, what I think I know and what I want to know.

At the beginning of the class we had to say the first word that came to our head describing

Opening Up the

Narrow Road ofMindedness

(15/09/2014) (WAYS OF SEEING)


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ourselves, mine was wiry. In pairs we played around with emphasizing certain words and saw

how it worked in certain places but not in others. For example, Ladies and Gentleman, we present

today the great historical gangster-play! By bringing elements of wiry into the dialogue as well

as emphasizing certain words and thinking about the three questions adds layers and brings the

monologue to life. This is something I am playing with and making discoveries in my own time to

bring to the next class and share with the company. This will help me as an actor in the future and

take a more direct approach with working on a monologue and understanding it. After we had aphysical skills class with Carleigh, which I thoroughly enjoyed, it focused on continuity

improvisation. We explored different scenarios and after looked at each and discovered that as a

company we were not referring to the same thing each time. For example, while at the festival I

may have thought I was at the front while another actor thought they were in the middle. Continuity

wise and for an audience to watch that would ruin the illusion and make it unbelievable for them.

Each time we went back and retried it, we kept finding differences which started to annoy me

personally but made me more determined to try again and make it better. Comparing the festival

and surprise party we made different discoveries as a company in which the festival was simpler as

in real life at a festival everyone does their own thing however at the party we had to work together

and had an objective. To get all in sync for that was a big challenge, we came across many obstacles

such as knowing the age of the birthday, what furniture there was and where it was placed in theroom. When returning to this or perhaps needing to use this in a performance we need to ensure

every actor is aware of whats going on and it is my own reasonability to tune into everyone else.

The singing class with Innes was a good surprise as I was not looking forward to it however the

turnout was fun and creative. This I feel is one of my weaknesses as I am not confident in singing

but I feel the more we cover it as a company and individually this confidence will grow and take me

onto my auditions for drama schools. Firstly we played keeping the ball up and our goal was one

hundred, we did not manage to get that far. This was down to lack of focus, communication and

control; the task was to get in the swing of things to work together. Then moved onto a voice task

with copying the hum of each actor, again there was a lack of focus which did not prepare us for the

main part of the class of singing I dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables as an ensemble, this was

fun and I thought sounded powerful. After splitting into groups and working on the lyrics as if it

was a monologue allowed us to see it in a different light

and we took it out of relation to the play. As an actor I

understood the dialogue better, and then using that

knowledge and understanding when singing it again in

our groupsinterpretation the lyrics meant more and this

showed through our performance. Each group had a

verse to sing each which when it came together did not

sound right however after changing to singing the

original individually, it sounded amazing. There was

focus and meaning behind the lyrics and the soundbounced off the walls in the space. When looking at

songs in the future I will look at them as a monologue at

first because as an actor this will be more useful. After

we went onto a dance class with Vicky, it was the most

intense workout I have ever done. The space was

already very warm so working in that was a challenge in

itself. I always enjoy physical warm ups as I feel I gain a

lot from them and I like to keep fit. We covered

different areas; cardio, stretches, toning and a couple of

dance sequences at the end. I have given myself a goal

that by the end of this year I would like to be able to dothe splits which I am pushing myself at every

opportunity possible. I have seen that moaning about the

GAMES & EXERCISES

I went to the shops

Buying in

Flocking

Wink Murder

Scenes youd never see

Show Game

Oi, Take it, No

Pass the sound


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pain does not do anything to make it better and only disrupts the focus in the space; the best thing to

do is breathe through it. That afternoon followed work on Ways of Seeing we started researching

as a company, looking at some work by Frantic Assembly and finding inspiration. We watched a

clip called Ignition Bed Scene the main prop was a bed and I feel we could use something like this

for our piece like a bench as this would be significant for our theme/ ideas. This followed with

music we could use for our performance, lots of ideas were being bought to the floor it is just the

case of knowing the moves and the order of editing music to go with them. It was the mostproductive we had been in terms for Ways of Seeing as I felt most of the time there has been a

lack of focus from some company members which spoils it for us actors that want to work and

produce the best we can. Next week I feel we need to start bringing the ideas onto our feet and

piecing some bits together as time is against us and I am feeling positive about our concept.

opening up the narrow road of mindedness

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