Week Three: Text

Text: Not just dialogue, script or words. But all types of mediums.

This week we worked from newspapers. We picked five photos and then made five still images from them. We used different laban efforts and ways of moving to connect these images into a small piece. We then made these in to pieces that could be interpreted as a small story.

Week Two- Levels of tension

Seven levels of tension

1. Jellyfish-
No tension present in the body at all. Completely exhausted- state of complete relaxation. Little or no movement. This was an interesting task as it almost resembled elements of someone being paralytically drunk.

2. California Surfer Dude-
Hardly any tension in the body anywhere. Very chilled, a bit exhausted. Just enough tension to move around slowly. A happy vibe. This tension made me think of a person whose completely stoned. Overly relaxed, with happy vibes.

3. Neutral-
State of tension where there is only enough energy and tension to move, without wasting any energy. No past, no future, simply present. Aware, without being alert. This was one of the hardest t

4. Curious
Some tension is present in the body, maybe in the neck or the shoulders? Begin to notice things and have an interest in them. Sitting, standing and experimenting with ways of moving slightly. What is in the room?

5. Suspicious spy (Alert)
Tension is quite clearly present within the body- a sense of purpose and concentration in the eyes. As wary as trustful. Suspicious as much as fact. Breathing may begin to get faster. Questions I asked myself were ' Who's behind you?' 'Are you being followed?' 'Is someone watching you?'

6. Bomb is somewhere!

The tension is evident everywhere in your body. Difficult to control- filled with passion, fear, despair and anger; every emotion is sensationalised and hyperbolic. Movement feels indirect and a heavy. Light in ways, as if someone is chasing you. There is a bomb somewhere in the room.

7. Bomb
The body is completely tense. Very little movement. Bomb has gone off- almost complete shock.

Conclusion

These levels of tension can be used to explore different characters and identify shifts within a script. A point that was made in class that has huge relevance to the successes of using these levels, is that people living today are always jumping from number to number, and it's our job as actors to make this as convincing as possible. The main way to do this is through justification and annotated scripts- understanding the writing and furthering, therefore, your knowledge of the character. 
I also love the direct effect that levels of tension has on the voice and our breathing. It's clear that our bodies, both physically and mentally, have massive influences on how we speak and communicate during different scenarios.

Week One: Initial Response

Response to subject matter of show

I think that the topic that we have been given to explore is an essential one- migration is something that has influenced our culture for many years and will continue to do so in the future. With the recent light that has been shed on to the migrants trying to enter the UK from just pass the border in Calais; the issue has never felt as close to home as what it does now.

Exploring the positives and negatives on migration will be extremely interesting- but simply showing what it is and drawing emotions and feelings from various different 'text' will be really interesting to shape a very interesting show. Looking in to the idea of the show being site-specific sounds very exciting! After the recent events of the NYT's show 'Homegrown' being shut down due to what can only be described as ultimately censorship, I feel that we have a chance to tackle a subject matter here with as much as importance as those raised within that show. Therefore not fearing to be bold and confident in the decisions we make could see us make something very interesting. Placing the show in a tank/lorry warehouse could be very exciting- and pose an instant stimuli for us to all work with.