Blog #2: "Confesiones" immerging into Ana Correa's Life

Description

Last week; Friday 22nd March, we went to the Yuyachkani house in Magdalena del Mar in order to see “Confesiones” by Ana Correa. This was a one-person presentation in which the actress shared the creative processes which lead to the creation of different characters for Yuyachkani performances. Likewise, we were able to emerge into the actress’ life, empathizing with her and being able to understand everything she has gone through. We therefore say, we can connect with her, who assumes theatre as a way of life.

The stage was divided in two parts; the most prominent and noticeable section was the one in the canter of the stage physically marked with masking tape. On the contrary, the other section was located between downstage right and upstage right; where there was a chair and many props.

Analysis

As soon as we enter the stage in order to find our seats, we are greeted by Ana Correa who is already representing the first character, the nurse with a mask; similar to the type of characters we will find in Paucartambo. The use of body and a mask, which had fixed and exaggerated expression of joy; when representing this character, transmitted the sense of happiness, festivity and good mood. We are able to feel connected with this character as it interacts with the audience; one of the few characters that interacted with us, therefore we feel joyful and happy too. She threw toilet paper and inflated surgical gloves to the audience, and then she tucked the toiler papers into a bag and started spinning the bag. For me this represented the release from obligations. What do I mean by this? Well, if we compare the characters represented without the mask and this character which used a mask; we see a contrast in mood and attitude. For example, the character of the teacher was really energetic, serious and used a lot of strength in its voice and body (staccato); on the contrary, the nurse did not use the voice and her movements seemed more relaxed (legato). The fact that she is wearing a mask, prevents Ana from exposing herself, she is less vulnerable and freer to explore and show her inner feelings and emotions. She does not feel the tension or pressure of showing her face, her true identity and side. There is no hindrance; she throws those props as if she was saying “I don’t feel obliged to comply with what is demanded from me”.

The Nurse, character that greets the audience as it enters.

Afterwards, she sat on the chair at downstage right and removed the mask and the nurse’s outfit. This unveiling reassembled an onion; it was the exposition of the real and truer Ana to the audience. Then she started talking to the audience, narrating the story of her life and many key events that affected her emotionally. This connection between the audience and the actress made the presentation more personal, we were able to understand her and feel somehow what she felt at those moments in her life. She also talked about building a character and how it is important to be connected with the character we want to represent. We can therefore say that acting is a personal process in which the actor or actress is in charge of translating personal experiences or emotions into performance. For example, the next character she presented to us, in the space marked with the masking tape, was the one of a lady she met. This lady wanted to sell stamps and lied in order to do so. Ana therefore had to connect with this lady in order to build a representation of her; she had to understand her mentally so she could give her a “say”. With that been said, I can say that she is a mirror of her experiences. From this point on, we will be able to see a game which varied between she explaining the character, and she representing the in the squared space. Each time she changed character, she took pieces of clothing off, making the layer of the onion thinner and thinner. This represented the idea of Ana becoming more opened and more vulnerable; as we were learning more and more about her life.

The division of the stage created two totally different worlds in the presentation. We see a contrast between the fiction world (squared in centre stage), and the crude and real world (on the right stage). This is really interesting to me, since I find fascinating the fact that we can create two totally different stages by using just a masking tape. There can be different spaces on stage, working for different purposes; it all depends on how the actor of actress uses it. For example, as soon as Ana entered the square she became the character, she was not Ana anymore; she was the character itself.

Moreover, to emphasize the idea of the actor using personal experiences to build their own characters we have the teacher. Personally, this character was the one which managed to transmit the most energy to the audience; it caught back my attention and made me more interested towards the performance. She entered the square pushing a desk which contained many props in the drawers. The use of a fixed and rigid face expression transmitted the seriousness and aggressive attitude of the teacher. Ana used as a stimulus her old teacher to build this character from “Sin Titulo Tecnica Mixta” and admitted that she identified with her, since she could sometimes be like that with her students. The way of walking was also very strong, like gaiting. It made the audience connect with past events in Peru’s history as she basically was marching. She also represented teachers in those days and how strict they could be. Investigation is essential in order to build a character; you need to know well the character in order to represent it. I believe in the fact that “to grow as a person is to grow as an actress” because characters are representations of yourself, you must be able to connect really well with your characters in order for them to be mirrors and clones of yourself. If you mature as a person, your characters will reflect so.

Another character that made me reflect was the one of the lady which was hanging her clothes. She used a face expression which showed her eyes to be gazing at the horizon like she was waiting for someone of something. For me it represented the separation from her husband and what it meant for her to end a long lasting relationship. The fact that she dances with a man’s clothes represented how the character misses that masculine figure in her life. The audience feels her sorrow and despair as we can also identify with her; we all have had moments in our life in which we lose something we cannot replace.

The Lady who is hanging the clothes, gives the impression of weakness

Finally, she represents an Andean woman. She stands on a desk and asks the audience to stand and gather around the desk. By this time, Ana is on her last layer, she is just wearing an Andean robe and underneath she is topless. Once the audience comes close, she unveils her breasts to all of us, for me this is one of the most powerful moments in the performance; we have managed to break through Ana’s layers, we have stripped her down into the vulnerable side she has been hiding from us. The progression from the nurse (many layers of clothes and a mask) to the Andean woman from “Sin Título Tecnica Mixta” (almost completely nude) is the evidence. By showing herself nude she tries to symbolically represent the idea of Andean women and how vulnerable they were in times of terrorism. Once again, we find the idea of her connecting with characters and being able to give them a say. On the robe there are some pictures and writing which explains what Andean women suffered in those times. The idea of showing herself shows how vulnerable they were and how people saw them, sexualising them. The audience feels shocked and confused at first, but once they read what it says on the robe we can understand the deeper message of that action; we are horrified by the things that were done to the innocent. We can really connect with the character she is representing and therefore we can say that acting also helps the audience to know themselves and people surrounding them even better.

The Andean woman, Ana exposes herself nude which gives the idea of vulnerability

Connections

The first connection I can make with the performance relates to every actor or actress. I have mentioned several times in this entry that acting is a personal process in which we connect with our characters and build them up from personal experiences. I also mentioned that "to grow as a person is to grow as an actor/actress"; I find this to be true because we all mature in life and thus our characters will reflect so. For example, I have been part of two school productions "Down to Earth" and "Miyuki y los Tres Demonios". I represented a clumsy super hero and a royal guard respectively and this shows an improvement in my acting. I grew as a person, matured and thus my characters reflect it. I can therefore say that this presentation connects with each one of us and teaches us that our characters represent ourselves. The scenery can also be connected with "El Valle Oscuro" (Das Finstere Tal) by Cargo Theater.  In what way? Well, both presentations used really simple and basic design elements. What made both of them unique was how the actores used them. For example, in "Confesiones" the use of masking tape to create two different settings was essential in order to bring uniqueness to the performance. In "El Valle Oscuro" the use of a hand crafter mountain filled up with little trees, cottages and animals; might seem grotesque at first but managed to accomplish is purpose which was to create humor. Also, both presentations had props located at right stage which helped the actors to represent different characters.  We can therefore say that in both presentations the use of design elements accomplished its purpose, to create two different settings and to create humor, respectively. 

Moreover, connections can also be made with the current theatre tradition we are sutyding, German Expressionism. In German Expressionism, actors dig deeply into themselves and represent restrained emotions and past experiences with the exaggerated use of body and face expression. In "Confesiones" Ana does basically the same, she recalls past experiences in order to connect with her characters and then represents each one of them by creating different body characterisations which demand exaggerated movements and face expressions. Eyes wide open, staccato movements or the use of a high pitched with a high volument voice are the characteristics of one of Ana's characters, the teacher. In order to build this character she had to identify which characteristics she shared with the character and developed them even more. The main idea is that you become the character, that the use of body create a character that is basically your vivid image and representation.

Reflections

This performance gave me a different perspective about theatre and acting. I learned that we must become the character in order to fully understand him/her and ourselves. The idea of one-person theatre made this performance more fascinating and unique as it connected the actress directly with the audience as she adressed to us an narrated her story which gave a sense of closeness and "nakedness". Every Yuyachkani performance is not meant to be understanded as Miguel Rubio said previously when we went to see "El Ultimo Ensayo"; therefore I feel that I'm missing out important details from this performance, I believe that there is something more into it, that Ana wanted to evoke a deeper message. 

Moreover, the fact that she undressed and unveiled new costumes while adressing the audience worked agains her clarity and consistence. It made her focus on the actual action of undressing rather than talking to us which made the voice's volume go down sometimes and therefore it was difficult to understand her; especially due to the fact that she did not used microphones or amplifiers. I did not find this idea effective at all, although it might have had a reason being. Maybe it helped to highlight the closeness between actress-audience or maybe not. Maybe it symbolized the idea of us interrupting and breaking into her personal space; or maybe it did not have a reason. 

Furthermore, we can relate back to theatrical conventions. What does the audience expect to find when going to see a play? We expect to be entertained, we expect to laugh, we expect to understand the play, etc. Does this performance meet our expectations? Well, although it was not meant for entertainment whatsoever and it rather focus on making us reflect upon an actress' life, it had parts which seemed endless. For example, when Ana represented the character of Bernardina, the seem did not transmitted much energy or enthusiasm to the audience and made it seem quiet dull. Personally, I was not paying much attention at that moment and was rather focusing on staying awake. 

Finally I would like to close this second entry by relating to a prhase by famous chinese teacher, Confucius

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest"

What does this mean? It basically summarises the whole performance, Ana managed to teach us that in order to become wise and be able to know yourself better you must first reflect, meaning that you should study the character you want to represent; then you must try to imitate it or represent it, using your personal experiences as the base of everything; and finally you should use this character built up from experiences to help yourself understand the rest and yourself too.

Can we truly understand ourselves by reflecting upon our personal experiences? To what extent does the character profundity depend on the personal experiences? Can I build a good and solid character without much investigation and analysis? Is it wrong to imitate someone without processing their inner feelings and emotions?