The first part of the lesson we looked at the part of the script which was looking at the memory of her marriage and getting excited about sex, disappointed with sex, then finding out about erogenous zones. When psycho (me) complains about her 'first night' we tried to create a simplistic, abstract physical move to demonstrate the movement (which I'm sure needed explaining) beginning with something with me talking at the back on the riser, then Hannah and Caitlin lifting Charlotte to perform the movements.
Here is our first attempt:
This was a little awkward and not clearly emphasised enough to be effective in what we wanted to portray, so we decided to create a less complicated movement which could be done in synchronisation in line, with me behind doing the same movement which I think makes it look more effective, especially as a piece of Berkoff. The looped movement in-sync both looked good and fit with the lines really well, all ending with a sigh of disappointment after the second run movement at the exact moment I finish my lines.
Then next part we took advantage of the lines and Caitlin's 'sexy' character to over-exaggerate the movement, which we did through bringing Caitlin as the main focus, her going onto my shoulders. This also helped to create a sense of an alliance between the two extreme emotions: psycho and sexy, which helps with the kind-off exaggerated movement to elevate the sense of emotion/character. It took a while to get the lift right, beginning with Caitlin getting on the riser behind me, with me kneeling on the ground, then me squatting and her getting up and finally we decided to stay with me sitting on the front of the riser, Caitlin stepping behind, onto my shoulders, then me standing up. I think Caitlin being that high really helps with her emotion, adding a new dynamic to the movement allowing her to manipulate bodies, and adding humour. To make sure the section didn't lose its effectiveness and to save me from dying, we cut a few lines to shorten the section and add a bit more of a flow to keep it snappy and interesting.
Getting out of the shoulder lift also proved difficult, as there appeared no way of getting Caitlin down safely without it being a bit clumsy, furthermore, Caitlin had a line straight after which needed to be snappy and effective. Thankfully, our saviour Mr Chipp swooped in a suggested a drop where I just bend over from the waist, without being conscious of Caitlin on my shoulders, and her feet should just touch the ground and go off. I was terrified of killing Caitlin and snapping my back the first time we tried this, but it was magical! It worked first time! It also turned out to be perfect for the next line which talked about the 'rump' and my 'rump' happened to be in the air right in the centre of stage straight after the lift and Caitlin could use it as a table or whatever she wants to do with it.
A major point from Mr Chipp during the rehearsal was the direction of our faces and lines. He noticed when I was doing my "No Loin. No Rump. No fillet. No Nothing!" (in following video) I directed my lines down with my concentration on the movement. He also noticed in our performance that we often direct our lines either to each other or directly in front-middle where the person we're speaking to is located, the neighbour. Looking at everyone in the audience, or just staring at a single random person, could add humour or make the more uncomfortable especially during the 'sexy' moments, such as the moment with Caitlin's legs spread for the 'loin' where I stroke my hands up her legs. During this first performance of that, I was pretty embarrassed, as were the others and I lost my composure a bit during the performance.
An exciting part of the devising was a part with Caitlin where she gets excited about the young Italian, we decided to really draw out some movement before her line to create humour for a 'punch line' as the other personalities try to prevent the 'sexy' one taking control out of embarrassment. Thus ensued a load of choreography beginning with me as the 'psycho' violently grabbing Caitlin around the waist, her screaming a kicking, to the opposite corner, eventually she gets free and gets up to the riser to deliver her line. The choreography was hard to get right, but after a bit of rehearsal it got pretty smooth.
Generally the rehearsal was productive, and the end result was effective, though it still needs more pace and refinement, parts still pretty messy and unsynchronised etc. but with more rehearsal it should be awesome.
The last part of our performance:
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