11. EXERCISES IN PHYSICAL
THEATER AND MASK PLAY
OUTLINE OF PHYSICAL THEATER: CONTRAST- OPPOSING FORCE
EVERY LITTLE MOVEMENT - ATTITUDES OF EYES, EYEBROWS AND MOUTH
THE BODY AS A KEYBOARD
UNDULATION - ARCHETYPE
THE COAT AS TRANSFORMATION
VITRUVIAN MAN AND THE GRID – PRESENCE - READING SPACE- INTENSITY - COCOON - HARMONY AND THEATER
TRANSFORMATION INTO A MASK CHARACTER - AUDIBLE BREATH - EXPANSION AND LEITMOTIF
VIEWPOINTS! – STOP MOTION - INTENSITY - INTERACTION AND THE KEY - AUTONOMOUS ACTION AND VARIATION
The exercises here I use regularly with my students and actors and they are essential to the physical and mask theaterplay. By no means do I presume those exercises are the only ones or to know exlusively what works or not. The method and exercises are developped by my teachings and performances. They are partly part of theatertradition, where I once was student in mime and dance and now can pass on.
The most obvious elements are contrast, tones, opposing force, or counterweight.
We use most of them in the research with the emotion masks. The need for a good framework is necessary to get to the insight of how the masks work. Especially after the first series of emotion masks, the background on mask play and mask design for physical theater becomes crucial for the designs and the exercises become more important for putting the designs to the test.
CONTRAST
When mask maker and actor Frans Krom says every mask has its own patterns and rules he is talking about contrast. Actors look for this in color, dynamics, space (inside and out), speed, etcetera to help play the mask. The mask has to work! This means it has to be part of the overall shape. Body language and the mask’s expression have to fit together. Jacques Lecoq, grand master in mask education agrees, and indicates contrast as the main starting point for physical mask play. Physical actors look for the ‘counter color’ in play: when a mask expression shows ‘very dumb’ it seems an ‘intelligent’ attitude is all the more fitting. This is expressed through dynamics, color, space and other elements of the physical act. Contrast is the foundation of play. After all, we also tend to compensate physically what we cannot be or know. Our confident attitude keeps up appearances and covers up our underlying insecurity. The reverse is no less true: you know you are right but you show insecurity and modesty so others will believe you more easily.
If you want a mask to work well on stage it is elementary that its fixed expression is worn facing front, facing the audience. This means only small turns of the head can be employed. As soon as the fixed expression is seen in profile and the border between mask and face is seen, the illusion gets lost. Some masks cover the entire head or work with different faces and views; the rules for these apply differently, they become part of a complete sculpture of body and mask.
OPPOSING FORCE
Opposing force is a given in gravity. Weight is carried by a natural resistance or tension to shape the entire skeleton. When the tension is increased, when the resistance grows, a ‘contrepoids’ (counterweight) is needed to manage the position to carry the superhuman shape, or the added burden. This opposing force is the source of many figures in theater. It is expressed in the body as well as the face. Opposing force is also seen in modern dance – both in Martha Graham’s ‘contraction’ as in Merce Cunningham’s ‘release’ technique– and is, though different in execution, essentially the same thing, overcoming gravity. Physical actors train their opposing force in every stop and motion, in each articulation of technique, because with every isolation an imaginary force has to be summoned.
Employing a fixed point (or ‘point fixée') forces isolated movements to remain in the same space. Think of pantomime, the illustrative style of corporeal mime technique of Etienne Decroux. Exercises in gait, stop-motion and pushing and pulling are all ways to practice opposing force from this fixed point and to learn to distinguish it. It is hard work, only this time for the imagination. After all, everything in theater is fiction, it is not functional and every movement is a non-functional movement, like Eugenio Barba of Odin Theater states in his poetic novel The paper canoe.
After Decroux and Leabhart one can say that the mime is making the ordinary things in life extra ordinary.
EVERY LITTLE MOVEMENT
Francois Delsarte was the first truly scientist researching expressions and gestures.
From Alfred Giraudet ‘s book I show here 6 illustrations of his attitudes of the eyes , the mouth, the eyebrows and the mouth: they elaborate the categorisation of attitudes and human behavior in emotion expressions. I have combined attitudes of the mouth and those of eyebrows and nose in one paper to have better overview.
In Archetypes - the continuation of the research - there are more examples of attitudes of legs, torso and opposites of the gestus and postures in emotion expressions
THE BODY AS A KEYBOARD
In August 1974 Thomas Leabhart was interviewed about his article Etienne Decroux on Masks (Mime Journal 1974, USA). Thomas is the most important author on corporeal mime and has studied with Decroux from 1968 to 1972. He performs and teaches in California and often in France. I met him in America and was taught by him there, as well in Paris, later. This is the gist of his interview.
Decroux – inspired by his studies at the Vieux-Colombier school – developed his corporeal mime because of the mask: the body that can be played like a keyboard. Decroux often covered his head with a piece of fabric, not to conceal it, but to focus attention on the body. The piece of fabric basically acts as a neutral mask, it does not express a specific emotion, it is simply present. However, contrary to the neutral mask, the piece of fabric softens the most prominent features of the head and face. The fabric follows the movements in the face, but it seems to diminish what it covers. It is used to link the abstracted movements to an expression: the movement is like music, the face becomes a not yet fully defined sculpture. Like in the film Les Enfants du Paradis, it seems to evoke the opposite too. The film shows pantomime, with which Decroux meant to focus attention on physical expression. The reverse happened, the film caused an unprecedented enthusiasm for pantomime. Jacques Copeau – father of theater reform in the 20th century – also used neutral masks to allow the body to keep focus on movement. Masks are magical. Masks expose movement. They show us the quality of movement. And with it every noise and lack of quality. The neutral mask allows the actor to express every emotion without clashing with the mask’s own emotion. However, a character mask shows a crystalized form of a dominant feeling. The dominant expression is always present, even though other emotions can be represented. A happy character will show anger very differently than a sad character. The mask lets the actor work like a poet, a sculptor, a painter or designer. The face is always there and is always realistic. The body can easily be changed and transformed; it consists of larger parts and can draw attention to it more easily. The face is much smaller and therefore much harder to transform.
UNDULATION
I often use undulate (wave) movement, a corporeal mime technique, as a basis for opposing force and connecting to the body in Commedia dell’Arte mask play and physical theater. This type of movement is a great inspiration for clown training as well. Its articulations provide a tactile insight: after all, the motion of it, the way weight is carried and how tension is applied to the entire body, often largely dictates body language. Not many techniques and exercises are described in mime literature, it is mostly about its philosophy and methodology. However, Grotowski and Eugenio Barba have put down several practical exercises in Towards a poor theatre. The Handbook of mime (Dutch Mime Centre, 1987) is an excellent Dutch example of where to find Decroux’ exercises for corporeal mime. The compound undulate movement is described as a movement dynamics and drawing in space, but its use in Commedia dell’Arte is not mentioned. The archaic nature refers to an animalistic origin which isn’t mentioned even though it is precisely this element which lets the movement tap into our primal force. I use this primal force, this opposing force to enable undulation from the sacrum and lower back. The reversal principle is clear here, the movement springs from the center, not the outer parts (also see 11.3). A huge dramatic force lies in the reversal principle. Undulation is the connection to dramatic expression of the movement itself and to its imagination. I have worked for years to connect it with physical theater, Commedia dell’Arte mask play and abstract imagination. The lower back and sacrum is where it all comes together. I call the arches that can be formed to all sides and that can be lengthened by arms and legs, ‘divine arches’. The name refers to classical sculptures. For example, the shapes and their expressions can be easily recognized in sculptures by Rodin.
the undulate movement is characterized by strong isolation in movement of different parts of the spine, arms and hands. The movement can be performed from the front to the back, from side to side and any way in between. The chain of different articulated parts of the spine (or arms/hands) is created by visualizing a fixed point internally (that cannot be moved from the outside) so that tension is generated between two points and the shape is arched and pushed (for example) to the front. Several body parts can be pushed out: pelvis, lower back, middle of the back, upper back, neck and head (a few vertebra at a time).
UNDULATION ON THE FLOOR
- First, the feet curl up to push off as much as possible. The rest of the body remains still. The feet push the pelvis and sacrum up and creates a hollow lower back. Opposing force is needed to keep the body fixed on the floor. This is a matter of pushing and pulling at the same time.
- After the first push and the peculiar 'butt up, hollow back' ('Pulcinella'), the pelvis tilts to the floor. This way a bulge is made in the lower back ('Arlecchino').
- The biggest effort now is to roll the pelvis all the way back in the floor. This puts a lot of strain on the spine. Here, the 'Pantolone' figure (miser) is roughly formed.
- Push the pelvis further down, follow with stomach (‘Dottore’).
- In the next phase the curve at the upper end is only just maintained by keeping the hairline to the floor (‘Capitano’).
- When the wave-like movement reaches the chest, neck and head and makes them rise up off the floor, the motion is repeated. The moment the body stretches from this last part of the undulate movement, 'Hulot' is shown. It is the last part of the movement, ending at the top of the head. At this point, the pelvis can almost start a new wave.
The example here is chosen because it is the easiest to practice. The floor is used for the needed opposing force. Standing up or lying on your back or sideways is possible too, but requires more practice. When reversed, the head is first placed on the floor so the neck is curved. The next step is difficult and results in a badly bruised chin and a painful nose: you roll your face into the floor from forehead to chin, neck and then upper chest. The wave motion in the back naturally follows from this. In both options, the hands are put below the shoulders to support the movement. I call this undulation of the spine a divine arch. Divine arches of the spine and arms refer to all kinds of classical postures in sculptures and theater.
ARCHETYPE
Each part of the undulation is an archetypal stance from which a person can move. The tension put on the spine is considered an archetypal pose and can show the different archetypes from the Commedia dell’Arte. Many variations are possible if we go into the characters of Commedia dell’Arte more deeply. The body language speaks for itself. You can’t get around it. When this many different archetypal figures in posture and movement are created, they can only differ hugely from each other. Hierarchy between the created figures is the essence of theater. Commedia dell’Arte, clown play and abstract corporeal mime also draw from this. Compare it to the represented animals in theater. Even without a mask, acting is often a hierarchic play in which differences in status and movements have the lead.
THE COAT AS TRANSFORMATION
The coat as movement exercise is part of my teaching methodology and performances. The exercise is a great way to practice and gain insight into viewpoints and elements of a transformation, shapes, textures, space, dynamics. The coat is like a skin to put on. In this sense it is a mask, only for the body. How will the face react when the body is covered? The situation is reversed, but would this also mean that part of the expression would be taken over by the face? This is partly the case. Concentration is visibly heightened and the intensity of the facial expressions increases. The expression and intensity follow the movement and dynamics of the body. The body is never still! The coat is mobile which brings out its dynamics, texture, tactility and details like zippers, buttons and sequins, the shape, color and individuality of the piece of clothing. At least it does when it is used in movement play focused on the coat. We have all had a coat like that. One that largely determines our social status, we live in it, it feels like a second skin. It is hard to part with it, we regard it as part of our personal being. Some coats become so shabby they hang off your shoulders like a burlap sack. Others exhibit proud fur lining or bold leather. Some have many zippers and creak from all their tough latex. A thick coat can stand on its own. Each has its own story to tell. Some coats are so scanty they crumple into a small pile of fabric if you drop them, others can barely be folded up. Some make you want to fold them and crease them because they are too smooth or strict. Some have so many pockets, you shudder to think what could be in them all. Ornamenting buttons, popped collars, creased collars, lapels that suddenly point out, threadbare elbows, greasy stains on the collar, missing buttons. They all contribute to a coat character with their fabric, material, their shape, texture, tactility, dynamics and in the way they move and 'speak' and can be approached and be touched.
TRANSLATION (ON STAGE)
The research into the character of the coat as a mask for the body goes beyond the simple act of putting it on and taking it off. Working with the object ‘coat’ as material to act from means you study its dynamics, texture, tactility, details and shape to formulate a specific language based on it. Someone else’s coat is the best choice because you are not as close to it and it will show you more easily at which point you cannot separate your own coat from your own self. You build, move the coat in the space as a 3 dimensional drawing, and you go into every detail of it, bringing it together in an accumulation of action you perform like a puppeteer. You are composing a small story. Abstract dimensions can be predominant, but the story can also be a mix of more concrete elements. Both are fine.
The coat you perform with in this way can suddenly fly because you throw it into the air, you flip it over, let it get tangled up, make it strut sprightly, smooth like velvet through the room. The coat can be folded up and stretched out. You can shake it roughly, or let it hop as if it is looking for a place to hang or sit. You can make it push, pull, vibrate, tumble, dance, fall, grow cold, you can let the coat shiver. After the story is composed, the owner 'has to get back into it' as it were, meaning his/her body will act as if being the coat. Translation may not be the right word here, still it explains best that the given dynamics and characters of the coat must be translated to another level. Not everything is possible now, you cannot contort your body like you could do with the coat before you put it on. It means you have to look for an equivalent intention and expression within your own body limitations. What happens above, can now take place below too. What happens to the entire coat can be shown in just a body part now too. This study with a coat inspires endless imagination and can be broadened and explored further. It sharpens the transformation and the perspective of play and it forces the body to look for an expression and its dynamics. It is precisely this search, this struggle that lends physical theater its individual strength and dynamics. Not the answer or the explanation, but rather the evocation and the dynamics of the movement are subject.
On the writing of Vitruvius De
Architectura - we see Leonardo da Vinci drawing
|
The theory of harmony refers to architecture. Architecture in Roman antiquity was rarely documented, except in the writings of Vitruvius' treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius tried to describe his theory from the composition of the human body, which he called the perfect or golden ratio. The principles of units of numeral measurement, feet, and cubit also came from the Vitruvian man's measurements. More specifically, Vitruvius assumed the average height of a person being 6 feet, and from that each part of the body is a different proportion. For example, the face is about 1/10 of the total height and the head is about 1/8 of the total height. Vitruvius used these proportions to prove that the composition of classical orders mimicked the human body. Modern Architecture and scenografy and technique of corporeal mime uses these insights. |
PRESENCE
You are either there or you are not. When your body is half turned away from the audience, are you leaving or just arriving? That’s the question. The golden ratio means that the largest part belongs to the smallest part, as the whole belongs to the largest part. The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci shows us the ideal (according to Vitruvius) proportions of a human body, the golden ratio. These proportions can also be applied to architecture, geometric figures and structures and the way a body moves in a space. We can't magnify our eyes and other senses, but we can magnify the intensity. We do this by zooming in with our eyes or focusing our ears on a certain sound. To create greater interest on stage, we can choose to increase shape and tension, or instead go smaller (and more internal and restrained). When form and tension are compressed, the intensity is more tangible and present. When the shape is expanded and the volume is increased, less intensity is felt and credibility diminishes; the character becomes a caricature or grotesque. Everything is clear on the surface. (The layer below is all the more interesting.) Compressed tension prompts the audience to zoom in. When we talk about transference, we mean the intrinsic tension that can be seen, even felt. Our skin and touch make things tangible and concrete
READING SPACE
In Western Europe we attach most dramatic value to movements from left back to front right or the other way around. The other diagonal line seems to have more claim on reason, on deliberation. The 9 point grid is only one option, and one that allows for many variations (think of a knight’s move in chess) but it provides support in space and meaning. In Asia things were mostly read from top to bottom and from right to left until around 1920. This creates a different view on space and meaning. The senses have everything to do with our space and how we handle it.
INTENSITY: FOCUS AND ZOOMING IN
The golden section means the largest part is to the smallest part as the whole is to the largest part. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man shows us the ideal (according to Vitruvius) proportions of a human body, called the Golden Ratio. These proportions can also be applied to architecture, geometric figures and structures and the way a body moves in a space. We cannot enlarge our eyes and other senses, but we can increase intensity. We do that by zooming in with our eyes or focusing our ears on a specific sound. To create a bigger interest on stage we can choose to increase form and tension, or instead to go smaller (and more internal and hold back). When form and tension are compressed, the intensity is more tangible and present. When the form is expanded and the volume is increased, less intensity is felt and credibility is reduced; the character becomes a caricature, a farce. Everything is plainly on the surface. (The layer below is all the more interesting.) Compressed tension calls on the audience to zoom in. When we speak of delivery, we mean the intrinsic tension that can be seen, felt even. Our skin and touch make things tangible and concrete.
COCOON
Presence is like a cocoon you can wrap around you and, without wondering how that works, it helps you to fit in and adapt to a situation – often because of an emotion. The larger the cocoon, the more closed off and protected you are. Personal space is connected to your presence. Within the western world we generally (there are some minor (regional) differences) allow others about 60 to 70 centimeter of personal space. We cannot just move in closer before first getting to know the other better. When I breach someone’s personal space, a big problem is instantly created and with it an exchange of extreme expressions of emotion. What happens when someone moves in to the personal space of a mask character or personage? Performance uses tokens and the most obvious thing is to look for confrontation and to play with elements like cocoon, presence, space, and intensity. The physical action too, be it abstract or concrete in its expression, the gestus, the archetypical transcendence and the relation with a character, embodiment in all its elements, is the focus of a performance. The struggle, the dilemma is leitmotief and it brings us to a world where anything is possible. A mask is like a skin.
THE GRID - USING THE SPACE
We practice with a flat stage surface, no walls and with a distance of at least one meter to the audience.
The actors enter the stage one by one and choose a spot that feels right. Position yourself front to audience (so there are no other motives in play) and make sure your tension feels natural and common.
There are 9 basic positions given on this stage. All positions in between refer to this framework. It’s not about standing exactly on one of those points, but they show possibilities. The 9 points divide the view in front, mid and back of the stage. This way, sidelines and a halfway line are created from front to back. The lines also function as playing lines. Additionally, the grid creates two diagonal lines – from left back to right front and from right back to left front (and of course vice versa).
Actors enter from the back of the stage (grid) one by one and let their own intention towards the audience and the other actor(s) dictate their position. The positioning leads to a tableau vivant on stage – built up out of different relations to the others.
If you spent some time studying how to use a space, and using this grid, the actors get more insight into available lines of play, positions in relation to the audience and their fellow actors.
At first, the effect is rather dull because everyone automatically takes a position that is harmless to them. It is natural for us to look for a safe position from which to observe a scene. Just as natural as it is to fill in the empty spots. So the actors are almost always spread evenly around the space in a harmonic way. The same happens in conversation. When a silence occurs, there’s always someone to fill it to avoid tension and because everyone wants their share of the conversation acknowledged.
HARMONY AND THEATER
The same set up as before only this time, look for the spot with the most tension (which means it will be uncomfortable).
Every time a new actor enters the stage, in the imaginary grid, the others have the opportunity to change positions, causing dialogue in positions.
Systematically follow the tension and discomfort. Keep at it, connect with existing intention or leitmotif.
Perceive and anticipate the spatial arrangement and the influence of hierarchy: Groups, soloist, collaborators and challengers will arise.
It is remarkable that those in mid-front usually come off worst. Actors who have taken position at the back of the stage seem much stronger. With every new entry the presence game is reset and a new story and struggle emerges.
TRANSFORMATION INTO THE MASK CHARACTER
The ‘stage’ is on a level floor, away from the walls. An imaginary line runs about 1 meter from the walls and audience. No objects.
The mask is worn towards the audience. Small turns of the head are allowed and give direction. The transformation into the masks starts and develops from the back to the front without turning around. There is no backstage.
Each actor starts on his own. The second actor prepares to come on stage and does so when the first actor’s presence is clear and tangible.
The transformation is visualized and progresses slowly. It starts acting small, with transformation and putting on the mask and adjusting breath, it expands from this first moment. The intention, impulse is then magnified in body language and space.
When you put on the mask you make sure at the same time you start breathing audibly (to yourself and your audience), make eye contact with the audience and keep tension in your entire body (especially your spine and weight). It is like putting on a new skin. Your entire focus shifts to the mask’s expression. First perform the transformation fairly slowly, breathing in and out, so it becomes the center of attention and visible.
This principle is surely used in clown play. Franz Joseph Bogner - well known German clown in the 80th, trained us many times in transformation and made sure to often go beyond limitations in wheight shift: you can for instance do the same while you jump in right after or with the transformation of getting the mask on. The harder it gets the more you can be sure it is not prepared and beyond control, so the body takes over.
The audience gives feedback to the actor’s metamorphosis by the way they react to it. Awareness and heartfelt imagination is sparked and can grow or be expanded step by step.
AUDIBLE BREATH
The first audible breath (exhalation) with the first movement initiates the development in the present moment.
Pause, hold and rebuild intention with audible breathing and movement up again.
Why audible breathing? These masks cannot speak because they cover the actor’s mouths as well. Commedia dell’Arte masks do speak because they only cover three quarters of the face and leave the mouth unobstructed. If the actor does not breathe audibly, both he and his audience notice that there is no connection to the mask and that it is, in fact, immobile. Obviously I am not talking about the short pause between inhalation and exhalation, which is actually more thrilling the longer it lasts.
Silence is the actors friend.
Through breathing the actor notices his own sound. This helps him to keep in touch with his body and the character of the play. Besides, it instantly helps the actor to grasp hold of further development of his movements and actions. With each hold, and new breath inhale there is anther distinctive step to take in the development of action and play.
EXPANSION AND LEITMOTIF
Repeating and developing the first sounds (audible breathing) and movement (dynamics) starts off further development.
Development through repeating is dependent on intention and tension: the performance can develop to be more musical, or loud, or small and timid, or cheerful, etc., but it always has to develop with significant steps.
Expressly repeating and expanding the acting or gestures means we start a gradual development in size as well as in musicality, tempo, multiplication, emotion, use of space, dynamics and the way opposites are handled. What is the limit? In theater, we constantly push the boundaries because that is the only way we can find the path to innovation. Only when we cross lines we can reach what we could only imagine before.
The first start immediately shows a promising development. That is when it is in the here and now and authentic. Only the actor does not know this yet. He needs to figure it out by looking at the audience, keeping in touch with himself and realizing what it is he is doing, audible breathing. Catching yourself on a first impulse is the mark of a skillful actor. This theme is continuously developed on unknown territory. It isn’t easy: the actor wants to move on to the next thing but is now limited to a very basic beginning.
If you look at a lot of theater improvisations with masks or clown noses, the importance becomes increasingly apparent. This limitation is a source of great wealth. If the performance moves away from the first moment of intention and promises too quickly, the audience will keep waiting for the actor to return to that point and fulfill the potential they saw at the start.
VIEWPOINTS!
This exercise for impulse and joint play is also a way to practice viewpoints, signs of space, stop-motion, time and dynamics, expansion and leitmotif. The structure of the improvisation is simple, the result quite surprising. It is not only remarkable in its apparent coincidence in time and correlation, but it also lets the actors work very purely, without reserve or withholding anything. There is no other option but to act in the moment. The improvisation is easiest to organize with three actors, although it is possible with two, or four or more, but this would take more practice. The improvisation is constructed in 4 steps.
· STEP 1
All actors choose a ‘personal space’ on the floor. This space can be near a wall, somewhere in the middle, standing up, lying down, sitting or any other position. The number of people on the floor dictates the amount of space available to everyone. There is first in this phase no interaction. The actors focus on themselves. The first ‘true’ impulse they notice can immediately be used as material. You have to let it happen to you. Clear your mind. Perhaps you can feel your leg slip. Perhaps you feel the need to jump up, or maybe you notice an involuntary act, like brushing a hair from your face or scratching an itch. Any movement, sound, breathing is allowed, provided it is not preconceived. Maybe you suddenly notice the concentrated silence in the room and a huge noise comes in from the hall, your surprise makes you prick up your ears. This too can be the cause of an genuine impulse. It’s the coincidences that happen to us when we are not looking for them, that are gifts to us in a performance. They force us to connect to the moment. With that, every act – whether it is practiced or not – becomes much more personal and loaded.
· STEP 2
The actor continues to investigate the act or action. He or she repeats it with realized and heartfelt inclination for intention (from which the act/action stems). The repetition needs to be examined from small to large to its greatest extent. In reverse too, so when the progress starts tiny and ends huge, the way back to tiny must also be examined step by step. There is no need to record it, nor does it matter how many steps there are, it is important that there is a development which can be articulated in steps and can be reversed. Some cases have smaller steps, other progresses take giant leaps. Greatest extent means extremes, so when you feel the action or movement cannot be expanded or diminished anymore, see if you can’t take a few more steps anyway. This way you avoid preconceived censorship and norms. In case moving to a different spot is part of an action, or it becomes logical during the expansion or diminishing, this is included in the action. Expanding is not only an increase in volume. Given the specific intention from which the action stems it can be multiplication, increase in musicality, softening, developing it by adding more and more, becoming more thorny, more emotional, more abject, more restless, more velvety, more spacious, etc. Each development starts from that first impulse and the way the actor actualizes it physically. Text, voice is not excluded in that sense, provided it flows logically from the initial impulse/action.
· STEP 3
After the actors have been exploring this way for a few minutes, the same examination is repeated in two different spots around the room. Positions change as well. Chance objects like chairs, clothes or even tables that have been put aside may become part of the action, as long as it is not preconceived, but logically flows from the initial impulse.
· STEP 4
The fourth step is an improvisation with what has just been explored. Preparation is no more then 10-15 minutes. Actors are invited to take position on stage in random groups of three or four. The rest of the group is the audience, they watch from the side. This is the new rule: start the action or movement from impulse and move on with expanding or diminishing it (step by step) until you reach the point when you wish to switch. This switch is a move to the second or third prepared spot. Run to the next spot and immediately continue the action from impulse, but start at the level you reached in the previous spot.
The most important rule during this improvisation is that you always, no matter where you are or in what position, you keep your focus and eyes on the others. You have to see each other. You are now interacting but only within the limitations of the structure: switching places and choosing timing and choosing going to expanding or diminishing the action.
STOP-MOTION
In music there can be no sound without silence, in physical theater there can be no movement without standing still. Standing still is the most complex and demanding movement. Standing still does not mean resting. It means using the entire body to find the best balance and effective tension to support your arrested position. How to accomplish this standstill – and how to move again from it – is an entirely different study. Do you have images, thoughts just before you move? Do you tense your muscles from your core so you can push off as it were? Do you first re-awaken the necessity? The body is often lazy but much more intelligent than the mind in relating to different unpredictable or unimaginable situations. The body’s aim is to execute an action as effectively and efficiently to use as little energy as possible. When two conflicting actions have to be executed at the same time, things go amiss sometimes. For example, when you are in the shower and try to pick up the dropped shampoo while at the same time turning around because you are in such a tight space, you are trying to perform two opposing actions: bending over and turning around, both of which require physical effort. To make matters worse your mind has tried to interfere with the dilemma while your body was almost done solving it. This is when things go wrong.
When practicing acrobatics, it is vital that you do not start thinking about how to land while performing a somersault. Thinking about how to go back because you are now afraid of landing is even worse. I practice stop-motion with my students from the very first lesson. The body is trained to act immediately, without interference from controlling thoughts and preconceived ideas. When applied, the stop must be unconditional. Just do it, nothing else. At first there is a remarkable amount of noise between stop and motion. So called parasitic moves are made, actions you don’t even notice anymore. Fixing hair, pulling up pants, brushing hair from the face. Realizing and discovering this is the first task. Stop-motion is from walking pace to full stop, but also from running to full stop. At greater speeds more energy, tension and focus is needed to achieve the unconditional and immediate stop. This is where theater begins. At once, any group of actors position themselves as if they are in the process of acting out a scene.
INTENSITY
The intensity of movement is expressed through the focus on the body and the act of walking, running and standing still. This is a first, basic articulation; in the moment, concentrated on the action, which speaks autonomously. When a stop follows walking or running, the natural response is to break concentration and ‘sit back’ to wait for what will happen next. This is an automatic reflex; you want to look out, analyze the situation and check whether or not it is safe enough to take the next step. That is absolutely not productive for theater. If anything, it must be about continuing the tension – even though it has been paused by stopping – and to keep portraying it so the intensity remains palpable to the viewer and the room gets – or seems – bigger. The actor can almost still be seen running, including every desire and frustration that belongs to that movement. It is a suspended moment, but much can still be read into It.
INTERACTION AND THE KEY
Pausing, stopping can be done the other way around too. The departure from standing still (running or walking) is just as interesting. Starting can be so explosive it surprises everyone, including the actor. The unconditional stop and start again with different speeds is first practiced on a signal from someone else. After that, this basic stop-motion exercise can be performed by the actors independently. This means the actor can choose when he stops or continues to run or walk; he can decide to explosively start running or walking, or hold the same position. The performance is now the interaction between the actors but only from the basic stop-motion exercise. Every preconceived thought to do things differently is immediately visible and obviously incongruous.
Suddenly everyone wants to stand out and choses to stop near the place another actor has stopped. Or an actor makes a statement by stopping with his back to the audience. Or suddenly the walls become part of the act when the action is performed towards a wall. You can see the cogs turning, you can see there is no more attention for others walking and standing still, nor for unconditionally performing the movement. It takes some time to discover the key to this exercise. The viewer sees everything. Because of that the viewer understands how it works. The key is simply to execute the action without preconceived or censored ideas about how it should be done or how it will look. These ideas might be resourceful and original, they hamper the body, the action and the attention they require.
AUTONOMOUS ACTION AND VARIATION
The autonomous stop-motion action in this basic physical exercise has many derived variations. Voice and speaking can be used for example, from a whisper to a grand opera volume. The same goes for holding and blowing out a breath at a chosen moment, using gesticulation and enlarging it, adding dance, musicality and rhythm, etc. The basic exercise is still there, but now with added focus points and perspectives (viewpoints). Varying dynamics in the way the action is performed, gradually working out growing development, meeting, greeting, dialogues, etc. provides even more possibilities and hones the physical language on stage and being in the moment. Most important is the material with which you – like a few notes in music – learn to create variations. The material, in this case walking and standing still, is the so-called protagonist. This is the subject, not the depiction or portrayal of other motives and intentions that come with it. How can walking and standing still, or sitting down and standing up, be interesting in all its variations? That depends on the how. How it is performed and how clear the actor is with it. The heartfelt intention, tension with action will follow from this.
