In this lesson we explored what attributes made physical theatre. We then came up with individual definitions of what we thought physical theatre was to them come to a conclusion as a group.
Physical theatre: movement used in order to help tell a story. Elaborate movements that can use element of dance. Highly stylised.
We then were given a random Dr Seuss poem and had to find the other person who had the same one. We then had around 10-15 minuets to devise a short physical theatre piece that included: Pace, Repetition and Exaggeration. Me and my partner had 'The Nook' poem.
We tackled this task by first reading the poem a few times and understanding the story that was being told. We also took this time to structure how we were going to perform the poem itself. During rehearsal we were initially doing a chunk of lines each and then the other person would mime whilst this was happening. However, we decided that it would be confusing to the audience of which character/object we were portraying. So then we decided that we should read every other line between us.
For repetition, we repeated the first line twice. We did this in order to create a humorous tone and to establish characters really quick within the piece. For example, Naomi would say 'we took a look' and look around where I would then walk away to the other side of her acting oblivious. She would then repeat this phrase then carry on to say 'and saw a nook' looking and pointing at myself.
Our elaborate gestures were references to the objects in the poem. For example, the book. Naomi herself became the book and her arms were the pages in which I would turn. As well as the hook on my head being a bright red feather which I pointed to and bowed down to the audience in order to draw attention to it.
Our pace was slightly slower than normal. This was to ensure that the audience understood every word we said as well as to draw emphasis on certain words. Particularly the words that rhymed i.e. Nook, Hook, Book, Cook.
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I believe our physical approach to the piece was good as we used our whole body either to become objects/characters or to perform elaborate/big gestures. Such as 'we took a look' we crouched low, put our hand to our forehead and swayed to the right. To symbolise searching/looking. This was effective as it was visual and supported the dialogue we were saying at the time.
I believe our vocal approach was appropriate to our piece as we didn't want to lose diction and projection trying to make it entertaining. Therefore, we spoke clearly and almost patronizingly slow in order to exaggerate but still make it audible.
EBI
I believe we could have worked on characterisation a little better. For example, establishing a certain mannerism or posture in order to differentiate between characters/objects. Therefore, making it easier to identify who the poem was about.
I also believe that we could have been a little bit more experimental with gestures and movement. For example, moving around the space a little more and perhaps adding a movement phrase to a particular word. However, I believe we did well considering we had limited time to construct and then perform.
Our second task was to do the same but with a longer piece of text. A full story to be exact. Again we were randomly given one of two scripts and that formulated our groups.
Again with this task the group I was in decided to take a very physical approach. For example, we had two people being the characters then the rest of us were objects/scenery/narrators. We approached the task by instantly being proactive and working through each page blocking it trying to memorise the lines as we went. We didn't use any staging as we felt it would be more visually engaging if we were the staging itself. i.e. We were the trees in the forest. We became the bikes and boats etc.
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I believe my vocal approach was strong as I spoke with enthusiasm and emphasis in order to create pace and interest in the dialogue being performed. I also believe it helped add an excited/shocked tone to the scene in the early stages when we were discovering the true storyline of the piece. For example, when I said 'and then they moved' I spoke in a higher pitch and breathier tone in order to create suspense and tension.
I believe our physical theatre approach worked well as it meant we were all on stage at the same time and we all had an important part to play. Whether we were talking or not. I believe it made us feel immersed ourselves with the performance and made us understand it better. It also made us feel more energised and I felt we had more enthusiasm as we were constantly involved doing something.
EBI.
I believe we could of made our piece better if we used more of the stage space. For example, in rehearsal and in performance we tended to stick to one side of the stage rather than perform centrally. Therefore, at particular moments we were in lack of space and therefore meant that some scenes were squished and cramped.
I believe that if we cut out some scenes/pages from our script than we would have been able to perform the whole of the story. As we only got halfway through before having to stop as we hadn't blocked the next part. If we had cut out bits then we would have been able to tell the whole story and still have made it interesting using physical theatre.
Personally, I feel that I need to contribute a little more to decisions made by leaders of the group. Adding input into directorial advice as that is where I feel I am at my strongest - blocking ideas that have been made.
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