The first lesson of my second year of ib theatre included:
With the entire class, we made physical representations of words, or objects. This required team work, and often it was required that we didn’t speak while organising ourselves. This meant cooperation and improvisation was key.
Firstly we made straight forward shapes, bold images and we had to reproduce this image with the class using our bodies.
We constructed things such as: a Melways map, melting ice cream, the number 5, the letter M, the number 8, a bowl of Chinese noodles, deodorant on an armpit.. etc.
Next, we split into two groups, in which each person took a turn to direct the other three people into a 3D sculpture- a “tableuax.” This meant that the class could view the scene 3D, seeing each person close up.
The four sculptures were “despair”, “Victory,” Envy” and “lost”
From this activity I learnt a lot:
a) i learnt that directing can be fun! However it requires a direction (as implied by the name..) we needed to ensure when it was our turn to direct the other students, that we weren’t vague, that we constructed teh image as close as we cold resemble it to the one we visualised in our minds. It was difficult however in the beginning to form a concrete idea of what we wanted.. the word victory (which was what I directed,) can bring to mind any number of images, however I had to choose just one. My idea was to have one of our students with the leg upon two other students, who appeared to have been trampled as this victor had made their way to the top. I wanted to be symbolic in how i represented victory.. in that sometimes victory can mean failure or trampling upon others to get there.
b) being directed was a process which was in some ways easier, however sometimes it was difficult to interpret what the director wanted, and how to do it effectively. Sometimes it was also important to discard any ideas that you had about the word, and ensure that the director could have complete creative license to do what they wanted with your body to construct the image that they wanted.
c) The importance of small gestures, arms, fingers, and especially facial expressions were emphasised in this activity. When looking at the other director’s work, you could get really up close to the ‘tableaux.’ You could see the personal and individual thoughts that had gone into constructing the image, and because it was 3D, the director always had to be conscious that the sculpture was effective from all angles.
d)different levels made the tableaux more interesting.
e) Body awareness, physicality, actor-audience relationship all had to be taken into account.
f) Uses of different angles, because it was 3D, theatre in the round- this makes us aware that what we have created needs to make a statement from many different angles. Sculpture needs to be composed so that there is a message to be conveyed form every angle.
As a director there was a process, of having a mental image of what you wanted; director must have a concept in their mind before they begin organising people into what they wanted. Joseph pointed out that as a director, this can be challenging and it is important for the director to convey their intention to their performers.
Clare pointed out how important it is to have a broad movement vocabulary. The body must be flexible.
Sophie pointed out that the subtleties are important, the meaning is conveyed not just by large and expansive gestures, much can be conveyed from how you use the eyebrow, or hands.
Van pointed out that at first the directing could be difficult, because so many images come to mind when one word is said, but instead communicating just one clear image to the performers is important so as to not confuse them.
I gained some directing experience from this, as well as understanding and appreciating the importance of body movement an body language vocabularies in order to really convey an idea or thought. Team work and cooperation was also something that was developed for us in this exercise.
Julia's IB Theatre Journal 