Blog #4: Suck it and See... You never know

Description:

The second week of April is gone and for me the school rehearsals revolved around the same topic as last week, characterisation and interaction. Throughout this week we polished our characterisation during the school play's rehearsals, which involved establishing our final sequence of movements, defining a voice for our character, identifying mannerisms, giving the character a defined way of walking, etc. I had to continue exploring a new character which was different from the first one I created, however this time it was easier for me as I had found new stimuli and by applying what I had learnt in class about conventions of German Expressionism, the job seemed flawless. Once we had all of these clear, we were told our characters for the school play, in my case "El Jefe" of the second job of "El Hombre". We were then expected to make a scene from scratch with other people who's characters appeared in the same scene as ours. I was told that I had to work with Nathalie, Klara and Renzo. On Thursday we created and presented a scene using the writing machines that were in the theatre.

Analysis:

On Tuesday I felt motivated to finally find a way of portraying the type of character Roberto asked me to do. After balancing the space and getting into the mood of the character I decided to explore using a chair. I basically had in mind the idea of "El Jefe" entering the area of a factory in which production took place, looking carefully at the workers, pointing out their mistakes, sitting down and finally lamenting the fact that there was so much incompetence in the work place. I tested using as a center of energy my shoulders and chest in order to guide my way of walking which can be described as my legs making slow wide steps, my hands behind my back and my face looking at the audience as if they were the set of workers. I felt that this could give the impression of power and control as I took my time to make each step which lengthened the time and gave also the idea of a creepy and mysterious tranquility. The fact that I used as a center of energy my chest and shoulders gave this sense of someone obtrusive and reassembled a mole as they are always sniffing and getting into every possible place; they also have as a center of energy the nose and upper body. I also explored using a similar face expression to the one Roberto helped me to define, it involved my eyes being wide open, my  eyebrows being gently raised, my mouth being in a straight line and my whole face being somehow elongated to give this sense of thinness which I will later relate to my new stimuli.

I will now introduce my new stimuli which helped me to build this new character. I have three major stimuli which include: The Slenderman, Jack Skellington from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and Anton Ego from "Ratatouille". First I will refer to The Slenderman and explain why I think this character connects to "El Jefe". The Slenderman is a mythical creature often depicted as a tall, thin figure wearing a black suit and a blank face. According to the legend, he can stretch or shorten his arms at will and has tentacle-like appendages protruding from his back. Depending on the interpretations of the myth, the creature may cause memory loss, insomnia, paranoia, coughing fits, etc. I believe that this creature has both physical and psychological characteristics that can be put into practice and linked to "El Jefe". First, I'll refer to the physical aspects which basically involve the fact that he has no face, the thinness, the long limbs, the long arms and fingers and the suit/colors he wears. The facts  that this creature has no face (blank face) gives the sense of suspense, creepiness, seriousness and power; it also suggested that voice is not essential in order to make a character terrifying. I found this character to be really Expressionistic as it relies on his body and movements to generate all of the emotions and effects previously mentioned. The fact that he is really thin, generates a sort of ironic contrast between fragility and power. What do I mean by this? Well, it gives the spectator or in this case, the victim the idea that although he might appear to not be physically strong he can cause death. This feeling of uncertainty and  the unknown generates fear amongst people. 

The Slenderman

The long limbs are really Expressionistic too as they give this sense of deformity and unnatural entity, which can take advantage of his physical characteristics. The long fingers and arms work together to generate this feeling of always being chased and clustered. It gives the impression that the victims are not able to escape as the fingers and arms work as a gigantic blanket that traps them an do not let him/her escape. The use of a suit gives this human sense, and highlights the idea that the character is of some sort of importance. I believe that all of these characteristics can be applied to "El Jefe"; the use of make-up and costumes can help to give the impression of the elongated and exaggerated arms and fingers. The white make-up can also give this impression of thinness and fragility. The slow walking and cold expression I'm currently using connects with these characteristics as they together work to give the sense of "slender".

Since the three characters I chose as stimuli share some characteristic, I will now mention the uniqueness of the two remaining ones. First, Jack Skellington, who was really thin (thinner than the Slenderman) which helped to highlight the length of this fingers and legs. The fact that his eyes were all black gave this idea of profundity and  mystery. On the contrary, Anton Ego had this elongated face which differed from the rest of the stimuli. It gave this sense of thinness once again and the black circles he had surrounding his eyes give this sense of tiredness, paranoia and creepiness; which I believe are very useful in order to know the inner feelings of the character. 

Anton Ego from "Ratatouille", whose hands are really Expressionistic as they have long fingers which move and give an unnatural feeling 

I have noticed that each one of my stimuli used the colors black and white which can be connected and related to the Expressionist movie "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". In what sense? Well, in this movie everything uses these two colors and the character of Cesare uses a particular make-up which highlights his eyes, eyebrow and lips. The purpose of this is to accentuate the face expressions which are essential and very important in German Expressionism.

Cesare from "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"

I wanted to go further and understand the meaning of the color black. I found out that the color black means the secretive, the unknown, it creates an air of mystery, it gives the idea of power, control, it is intimidating, unfriendly and highlights rejection. It is said that black creates a barrier between itself and the outside world which I believe is interesting as I intend to make "El Jefe" show his inner feelings "caletamente". The excess of black can generate depression, create a negative environment and when it is combined with white it creates an argumentative atmosphere. This gives me ideas for the physical being of "El Jefe", can we create this sense of depression amongst the workers by saturating the stage and the clothing of "El Jefe" with black? Can we create an atmosphere of arguments and disputes by using whit also?

On Thursday; Nathalie, Klara, Renzo and me created a scene as we all are in the same scene in the play. "La Compañerita", "La Secretaria", "El amigo bueno" and "El Jefe" respectively, appeared in the scene of "el papeleo". Since we were not sure of what to do or how to make this scene work, we followed Miss Alicia's advice and started exploring, in character, the props and things around us. In the case of Nathalie, Renzo and Klara; their characters interacted and explored with the writing machines settled on the table in which they were seated. They had to respond and "learn" how to use the machines while remaining in character. On the contrary, I had to find ways of walking and approaching them; an advantage of working in the theatre were the stairs and levels we managed to get while rehearsing. This can be easily exlpained with the following diagram of the place we used to rehearse.

Diagram of the Theatre in which we can see the working place we used for rehearsal.

We settled the table with the three writing machines to the left of the theatre, near the stairs and I used the piece of the stage itself to represent the third level that will be used in the play itself. This contrast between levels helped to intensify the difference between characters and highlighted the power and hierarchy that "El Jefe" imposed. By using the way of walking I had previously determined and by walking slowly and taking my time down the stairs, an effect of patience, tranquility and mystery were created. I walked behind the table from side to side, looking with my face expression at the audience and at the same time at the other characters. This generated tension and uncertainty. Then I abruptly approached Renzo's character and looked at him with my eyes wide open and congratulated for his absurd work. Afterwards, I approached Nathalie's character and question what she was doing; after receiving a incoherent response y quickly crossed to the other side of the table and approached Klara's character...I took the paper and by transferring my energy towards my limbs I managed to give the sense of frustration and yelled at her telling her that her work was mediocre and useless. I immediately returned towards the stairs and went up the same way I came down, taking my time. This gave the idea of two different worlds, the world in which I was alone, in which I felt relaxed and without pressure and the world in which the rest were, the crude world in which I felt I had to be aggressive and mean. I discovered that by using my fingers and moving them in order to talk to other characters it gave it a more unnatural and Expressionistic sense and feeling. The fact that I occasionally smiled to the audience by gently showing my teeth, generated fear and creepiness too. My voice had a really low pitch and was slow, I took my time to say each word as if there was no track of time itself. However, Roberto told me to change my way of walking and make it less exaggerated and contract it a little bit, as well as too deepen my voice a bit. This, I believe, will create a more serious and weird character...perfect for German Expressionism.

Connections:
Many connections can be made, and I am now able to find connections between the character and myself, unlike one week ago. I now feel more comfortable as I feel more free to explore by using my body and exaggerated, grotesque and unnatural movements. I feel that this character has now a part of myself, I consider myself to be quite Expressionistic in a daily basis and the freedom I have to implement new movements and actions to this character helps me to feel more connected to it. Although there are still some parts of this character that need to be developed, parts that are sort of challenging for me, I believe that I will be able to create them if I keep on exploring. These parts include, the deeper voice, the contracted way of walking and preventing my character from slouching so much. I now feel that I have a defined personality for this character and would like to orientate his physical aspects towards this personality. I feel that he is cold, serious and uncertain which help to create this atmosphere of creepiness. By doing a way of walking that involves short footsteps that are still at a slow pace I believe that the weirdness is still going to be created. 

However, my favorite connection is between my character and Cesare from "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" as I already mentioned. I picture my character to have the same face expression and by using eye shadow and accentuating the eyebrows and mouth the change in mood and expressions can be more clear. The use of black is also important as it will transmit the feelings and meanings that I mentioned in the analysis part too.

I can also link my character to the theatre practice we are currently studying...German Expressionism of course. The stimuli I used to create this character also can be linked as I previously mentioned, they all have grotesque and exaggerated body and postures. The long hands, limbs and weird way of walking help to express something. As I have previously mentioned on other entries, German Expressionism is just that, it consists on actors expressing their inner feelings and emotions trough the use of their body. In what way is my character expressing my feelings and emotions by using this creepy and weird way of moving along stage? Well, I could argue that this way of walking and slow pace he shows somehow gives the idea of him being constrained, of him being controlled and not allowed to show how he truly feels. That somehow happens to me, I feel that it is not okay to show my emotions and true feelings at times and I feel restrained from doing so. I believe that this happens to many of us, and therefore the audience, I hope, can feel identified with this character who in the end can be any "Jefe". I have also imagined a background for this character; maybe his parents were too strict and demanded him to concentrate on school rather than on feelings and emotions...they never actually let him express himself and now he feels that need to ruin the other's lives and make them feel like trash. We can also connect this to the context of German Expressionism. We have studied in class that German Expressionism originated in Germany just before World War 1 which meant... confusion, lack of identity and aggressiveness. Since the play takes place along that time, we could argue that this character never managed to define his true identity and therefore feels confused and unable to express how he truly feels. He is influenced by society and everything surrounding him.

Reflections:
I feel that I understood that the character and us are basically the same as both of us share characteristics and emotions. I also realized that it is sometimes difficult to come out of our comfort zones, as I previously mentioned it was really difficult for me to start building a character which is different to the characters I'm used to representing. However this week, through exploration I have managed to find more similarities between the character and myself.  This new link between the character's physicality and myself is really interesting. I find it useful to connect with my character in this way, in a way in which I feel I'm freer to express myself and ideas. 

I can also refer to German Expressionism and how it fitted with my new stimuli. The fact that I found and discovered new stimuli also helped me to determine and explore a new way of representing the character of "El Jefe". By taking looking closely and analyzing images and videos from my stimuli I discovered that representing a character you are not used to can be easier than what you think. I finally see this "Jefe" molding up and although it is not fully characterised, I believe that it will soon be.

I have also discovered that we can build different characters using part of our experiences and emotions without the character to necessarily be stereotypical and the type of character that you are used to representing. What do I mean by this? Well, this means that like the German Expressionism conventions say, actors should build characters relating to their past experiences and emotions like Ana Correa demonstrated to have done in her performance, "Confesiones"; the character should express and be based on that. In that way, you and the character have a stronger bond between you. Theatre, for me appears to be the idea of self exploration and discovery...you can always discover new things by building a character. You can either discover how to use a part of your body to express something (e.g. arms to express strength) or you can discover how to make the voice more suitable to your character's voice. 

I am going to be a risk-taker and will refer to a quote by another philosopher. Aristotle, the greek philosopher once said

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom" -Aristotle

If we try to understand this quote we can assume that in order to be totally wise, you should first know yourself really well. You should know your strengths, weaknesses, fears, etc; in other words you be able to accept all of your defects in order to enrich and widen your qualities.  This can be also shown in Ana Correa's "Confesiones" in which she says that to grow as an actress is to grow as a person. Because by characterising you are digging into the deepest of your soul and feelings in order to identify qualities you share with the character you're representing.

I will close this entry with the following questions
Can voice characterisation be more effective than body characterisation in order to express a feeling or idea in German Expressionism? In what way is the context of Germany in the 1920s going to be reflected in the play? Is the music of the play going to help to intensify both tension and drama? Is using a stimuli limiting your mind from exploring other ideas? Are most of the conventions of German Expression going to be followed in the play? Will the little children still be Expressionistic in their own way? Will the use of excess black generate the desired effect of depression and negativity? 

PD: Another "Just in case you were wondering..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlYJKfunfC0