To start with we played the game where there are two teams of ten sitting on chairs in a line facing one another. There is a person holding a ball at the end of the line, and they call out a number. "Number 3!" Then the two 3's run to get the ball. If the person with the ball gets it to their seat - 1 point. If they get it to their opponent's seat - 2 points. If their opponent touches them whilst they have the ball - the opponent gets 1 point. Good for pleasure, complicité and body control.
Then "the same game but not the same"... This time one of you is in major and has to speak with a good theatre voice, and you can't take the ball until Philippe beats his drum. I had a good voice today! I wasn't trying too hard (although I was trying) and I kind of 'rode the pleasure' with my voice. I had better complicité with my partner - so I didn't get gonged for 'talking too much' and I was actually able to talk fast and slow, high and low. Philippe talked to some people about sounding like washing machines. But not me. I think this is because I had 'tiny fixed points' in my speech, which he mentioned a few times as something important. I played with rhythm too. And didn't forget about the game. So felt great about this. A good shift in me. The fear is disappearing and the pleasure is increasing and I'm able to play and turn it on more now (i.e. give it life). Also interesting that when I do well Philippe says nothing. Whereas when people didn't - he kills them. But when I do well, nothing. This is because I already know. And it's not about getting it right. It's about what I discover. And I'm discovering what it feels like to speak with pleasure on top of a game, and to tease and play with my voice.
Then Philippe asked if anyone wants to have a go at impersonating an actor they've seen performing on stage recently (he has told us this Friday we are all to dress up nice in our party clothes when we will impersonate actors we've seen with all 50 of the first years). A few people went and it was pretty bad. I thought, what the hell, and got up and impersonated this fantastic clown-type african woman who played a man in the Théâtre du Soleil show I saw on Saturday. She had big movements with her body. Tall strides. Lots of arm actions. A scrunched up face. And a raspy Louis-Armstrong voice.
I really enjoyed her in the show - she was my favourite - so I gave her a go. When I went up on stage I hadn't prepared what I was going to do. I hadn't practised. But I had an idea of where I would play. I committed to it, and although I feared I might have been too 'heavy', it went really well. People laughed a bit. And I played a bit. And then I left the stage. "Not so bad. Surprising!" Felt really good because I'd sucked it up and gone there, for the first time. I felt a bit like I really thought I was going to get killed, and just kept going till I died, but things started going well and then I had to find my own ending. I could relax a whole lot more though. I wasn't really seeing or listening to the audience like I would like to be. It's trusting myself. And trying to be comfortable in the risk I think.
After me Andre got up and impersonated one of the lip-syncing actors from the show we went to. Philippe then got me to do my actor's voice for Andre. Had lots of fun! "We have to think ooh we have good fun with the mouth making sounds - Not like a primary school teacher!"
Then Zoe got up and I got a chance to do a voice for her. She was kind of doing operatic singing gestures - so I played with an opera singing voice! "Not bad. But you do it the same way as she. You have to play opposites." We were trying to find the fun of playing against what we see on stage. So Zoe looked like she would have a lovely singing voice - so can we give her a deep off key voice??
"What is a character? A meeting between an actor and a costume."
Lynn, who tried an actor impersonation earlier, got worked on by Philippe at the end of the class. He got her to dress like a fat old lady (with borrowed clothes) and put lip stick on. We put a table and chair by her. She was much more interesting like this than as herself. When she's ridiculous - when she speaks loudly and does old lady gestures, she has more pleasure and we like her. "With this costume we feel you are happy in your shoes. So you are fat in your head from now on."
"Sometimes you don't give enough life for your director/teacher/writer/audience to dream around you...For them to think you have something special for the stage."
I made a good step in 'giving life' today and it felt great.
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