"We Are Happy With Him"

Had a great day today! Starting to really get it. I took some risks and let myself go there and I feel great because I'm finally rising to the scale of actor I know I can be.

Movement:

Did the John Bolton favourite The Seven Stages of Tension.

1. Nothing
2. Struggle to move (like at the end of a long journey in a desert when you reach for a mirage)
3. Imbalanced (you have the strength to stand but not to stay upright)
4. Neutral Mask (focussed, efficient movement)
5. Melodrama/Tragedy (with arm extensions, reaching out with body to listen...)
6. Commedia Del'Arté (full body extensions, big shapes)
7. Extreme tension (can't move a muscle - like Noh Theatre)

- Always need a fixed point - a game - somewhere to look/get to.

- You can do the 7 stages exercise and add voice. Interesting what happens...what is required to fill the scale.

- You can do half steps too (Neutral Mask is really a 4.5)

- 1, 2 and 3 don't belong in the theatre (except in specific exceptions like a drunk man, which would be a 3). 4 is the minimum amount of energy required on stage.

Improvisation:

Today we showed our animals that we 'prepared' over the weekend. Most were bad, verging on ridiculous! According to Gaulier my emperor penguin had Parkinsons disease (they really do wag their heads like that!!!). A few were selected - including Anna's monkey and Andre's meer cat. Both were clear and light and had distinct rhythms. For the selected animals, he got them to do it again and then have their masks removed and try to find a character from the animal and speak some text or make some noise. Ling Tao's tortoise became a fun old man who spoke really fast but moved really slowly. Everybody else froze up and struggled with either having 'no ideas' or not letting go of their one idea when it didn't work.

Q: "Is it good or bad to have an idea?"

A: "Pretend to have several if you don't have any. Or have one, but if it's no good prepare to flop."

We then imitated FIRE and eventually had the masks removed and added text.

• Take your time to burn
• Fire is explosive and unpredictable
• Let the voice follow the impulses of the fire
• Don't speak like a washing machine - say a few words here and there
• You must give a lot - fire is relentless...physically demanding to imitate!

I really got this element, and gave in to the movement.

"I don't like to say nice things about Guy, but it was not bad..."

After my turn Gaulier started getting actors to stop moving, but contain the feel and rhythm of fire within them as they spoke. This looked harder! Some who were good as fire moving lost it when they added text with a still body.

At the end of class Gaulier asked for three guinea pigs to put on some Greek Tragedy costumes. I took the opportunity! They were big plain earth coloured cloaks that were quite heavy and wrapped around your body. Like the cloak below:

We had to walk around the space and 'warm up' as if we were tragedy storytellers preparing for the night's performance. We could say text, sing, laugh etc. Walking with what we have learned from Neutral mask - energised tall body - looking to the horizon. And we were to look just above the heads of our audience. To somehow include them.

The first time it was my turn I was really heavy. "No warmth". I tried my 'lets go to extremes' approach, but lacked the sensitivity I'm learning is so important in the theatre. All three of us were bad the first time...as would be expected! But due to Gaulier's 'Christian charity' we were given a second chance. This time I was lighter, more sensitive to the audience and the room, but I still committed - which felt great. I sung, spoke text without talking too much, laughed a big hearty laugh, and moved slowly and strong. I was quite relaxed yet still focussed. And I wasn't so much in my 'you might as well get it over and done with and kill me' state. Which is a super step for me. And I played! I explored gestures, and moving, volume, and when I lost the text towards the end I just made it up ending with me paraphrasing the final fight between Hektor and Achilieus by slamming my foot to the floor and my fists together. I rose to the scale of the form. But more so for me, I rose to the scale I know I can go to as a performer.

"Not too bad. He is warm with the audience. We are happy with him. "