Blog #4: "He's dead, the High Governor is dead!"

Description:

The fourth week of April just passed and the school play rehearsals this week were based on staging the fifth scene of the play. Since this is one of the longest scenes in the play, we divided it up into different sections in order to make progress quicker. Therefore, actors were divided into three different groups; the dinner party, Redwood and Mrs. Redwood, and the witches. In my case, I was in charge of incorporating the witches into the scene as they had to serve as a visual aid to increase tension exponentially. Throughout this entry I would like to discuss some of the issues and good ideas which arose from this week's work.

Analysis:

Firstly, I will being by analyzing the work done with the witches throughout both days as it involve much to it. One of the main issues regarding the witches was that they were incomplete during both days. Since each of the three witches is represented by 3 different actresses; when one is absent, the whole process of the witch is slowed down. For example, on Tuesday Giselle and Siu were absent, and both of them are part of the same witch along with Myra. On Thursday Giselle came to the rehearsal, however, Siu was still absent. To what extent was the progress of that witch poorer than the one of the witches that were complete? In order to start building the scene, we had to bear in mind the demands and limitations of the space and scenery that will be used during the performance. Since we had in mind implementing three different platforms/risers  located in the upstage, the witches had to have movements or actions that aren't going to put them at risk of injury during the performance. Therefore, we started working on still pictures; and the idea was mainly for them to have 2 main still pictures in which they were to remain during the scene looking down at the party and reacting to the different events taking place. The first still picture was to be used during the moment in which Mrs. Redwood is full of ambition and is trying to persuade her husband, Leon, to proceed with the assassination of the High Governor. Once the evil forces begin to move from her to him; the witches had to accompany this transition with a movement in which they go into their second still picture. The effect that this intended to create, was of a parallelism between the evil forces and the witches to give the impression of both being a single entity. This is why, when the witches see how evil begins to take over Redwood; they enjoy it and feel accomplished. It was interesting to see how each witch explored different levels at the same time; having each of the actresses filling different spaces and giving an essence of being big and unreal. For example, the witch which is at the center and is played by Mora, Deweena and Ana Lucia, during their first still picture gave a visual image of a ladder as they were one behind the other but at different levels. Likewise, during their second still picture, Mora who was at the back, bent forwards and grabbed the stick whilst Deween and Ana Lucia were tilted to one side each. All of these amplitude and coverage created by the three actresses had to be taken further and accompanied by an appropriate use of the face expression. In most cases, the eyes was the main focus; as they opened them wide and incorporated also a grim smile. All of these was effective in order to set a mystical and unreal atmosphere in the part of the corruption of evil. 

On the other hand, I would also like to comment on the other parts of the scene which I was not in charge of directing but managed to see afterwards. Firstly, the part of the scene in which Mrs. Redwood tries to persuade Redwood about killing the High Governor has to show two sides of the female character. At first, she intends to persuade him in lovely way and once she realizes that it's not having any effect, she becomes meaner and sassy. Sofia struggled establishing a clear differences between both attitudes; however the final product was an improvement. Her character remains in an upright posture which connotes her unwavering attitude that as the scene develops, is in charge of diminishing Redwood. Likewise, the fact that she articulates between medium and high pitched voice add a sense of roguery. The first moment in this scene was when Sofia's character tried to convince Redwood of the killing by seducing him into doing so; she had to flatter him and compliment him whilst explaining to him all of what he could be able to accomplish. There is an specific moment in which she joins her hand with his saying that everything would be at the tip of their fingers. This is a strong image that gives an impression the transmission of evil; there is meant to be contact between both in order for this disease to spread. Nonetheless, since it was the beginning, Redwood managed to break away from her and keep a distance. One of the strongest images in this scene is the lack of symmetry. We've got Sofia with all of the evil forces at center stage left whilst Jose Carlo is to the other side of the stage on his own. When Sofia begins to walk towards him and the evil forces accompany her; there is a visual image of a wave trying to suck in Jose Carlo. This connotes the idea of how strong is evil and what it is capable of doing; in this case, corrupting Jose Carlo's mind and transforming him into a different person. This dramatic change in attitude is contrasted with the moment in which he comes back from killing the High Governor. We are able to see that he has lost his vitality and is no longer able to fight back and defend himself. There is the contrast with the previous Redwood who womanizes Mrs. Redwood before and the Redwood at this moment; whose voice characterization clearly depicts the change in attitude. We can hear his monotonous voice which lacked expression and maintained the same volume. We can also see how this posture is different, his arms are lying besides his hips and is unable to fight any longer the evil forces taking over him. 

Finally, the other part of this scene involved the party itself with all of the guests. There are two key moments in this scene; one is the dance and the other is when they find out about the High Governor's death. In one side we've got the dance which in my opinion manages to add a lot of rhythm and fluency to the scene as it brings a different proposal to the scene. The fact that we got all of the different Ministers and Captains with their wives dancing together, gives the party a nice essence of friendship which is really key to contrast with the dark atmosphere portrayed by the other part of the scene; with Redwood's transformation and killing. Likewise, there is a comic relief just before the news of the death is told which makes the news more shocking and strong. We see both men and women talking in their respective groups of friends when the Secretary enters. I believe that Tabja's characterization is really good as it really allows for the scene to flow rhythmically without any problem. Everyone laughs at him until Donahue makes them quiet; then the news are told and everyone goes from having the easy and happy attitude to the quiet and shocked one. This adds dynamism and drama to the scene as we are able to see the different character's reactions. The fact that Redwood leaves as soon as this happens in order to confirm the news, adds tension as we don't know if he is going to get caught or not. Then Mrs. Redwood pretends to faint in order to distract everyone's attention, something which manages to also increase the tension in the audience creating dramatic irony. This works in order to catch the audience's attention; since we know what happened, we want to know what is going to happen afterwards and see if they eventually get discovered. 

Connections:

I can connect this week's work with last year's school play rehearsals in which we had to divide up scenes either due to their length or complexity; for example the scene of the circus. That scene involved several actions taking place at the same time; and that made it difficult to direct all at once. Therefore, we had to break it into different sections and distribute ourselves in order to direct each one of them. The same thing took place during this year's rehearsals as the length of the scene demanded for the division of sections to take place. Nonetheless, a recurrent problem that I have managed to recognize is the difficulty of putting the different sections together after working separately. It demands time and patience as in some cases the actors appear in more than one of the sections of the scene and when putting everything together, they feel lost and don't know what to do or what is going on. This was the case of both Sofia and Jose Carlo who didn't have much time to rehearse with the people that were in the other part of the scene. This, therefore, slowed the process a bit down and leaves us with less time to advance with the other scenes as we are working against the clock at all times. 

Reflections:

Although this week's progress was slowed down due to the absences and several problems that took place; the creative process of making the play is still on a good track. However we are still able of improving much more. The implementation of dialogue, as I mentioned last week, helps sometimes the actors in order to define their path whilst characterizing their character; however, this time, our major concern involved the fact that the scene appears to take forever. There are several monologues and moments in which the main characters have to say a long text and if these moments are not going to be accompanied by a great characterization or actions, they are going to become really boring for the audience. This goes in hand with what Grotowski intended; that the actor's acting is the most important and central core of theatre, and it is meant to be used as a medium to establish a connection with the audience as the performances are likely to be charged with energy. 

However, I think that our actors still are lacking the part of using solely the body as some have poor characterization still. This has to be worked on, especially by the main characters that remain on stage for a longer period of time. In my opinion, the chemistry between Sofia and Jose Carlo is improving, but we can still push it a bit further so it does not look unnatural or forced.  

How much of this scene can we cut off? Will the scene work if we try to increase its rhythm? To what extent are witches necessary in order to add creepiness to the scene? Will it be effective without them?

Blog #3: Proceed with the report

Description:

The second week of April is officially gone and this time the school play rehearsals revolved around a different idea, staging the first scenes of the play itself. On Tuesday we divided actors according to the scenes we wanted them to be a part of in order to start building the actual scenes; incorporating dialogue and actions. In my case, I directed the second scene of the play, the one of the High Governor and the Ministers, taking into consideration some of the conventions from Grotowski's Poor Theatre. Throughout this entry I would like to discuss some of the issues and good ideas which arose from this week's work.

Analysis:

On Tuesday, I was in charge of starting to pose a proposal for the second scene of the play which includes the moment in which the ministers discuss with the High Governor what is it that makes Redwood deserve a promotion in his military rank. According to Grotowski's conventions; everything is intended to be minimalist with the intention of focusing the audience's attention in the acting of the performers. I had a vision of the scene having 2 main beats; one being the moment in which the Ministers, Secretary and High Governor discuss about the current affairs regarding the nation, and the second one being the moment in which the Captains interrupt the meeting bringing news about Mayor Redwood's latest achievement. Regarding the first beat of the scene, I had in mind using only two chairs as they could be used in different ways, not just for sitting. The vision which this scene intends to show is how contrasting personalities can be complementary and eventually serve as a whole. For example, from the beginning of the scene, the audience can get a clear idea of the High Governor's peace and tranquility being contrasted with the Secretary's nervousness and fear. In order to make this contrast clear; the physicality and body expression of each of the two had to be worked on; as it was their sole medium of expressing the idea clearly. Juan Pablo at first had struggles finding a way of expressing the anxiety which characterizes the Secretary, nonetheless in the end he managed to define some interesting proposals. His body characterization was based on the idea of having his hands covering his mouth when he wasn't speaking and constantly shaking his body, looking in all directions. This gave the impression of him being dazzled, nervous and confused; which at the same time hinted that there was going to be a moment in which he was going to burst. When he spoke, he lowered his arms and grabbed his shirt whilst saying his text in a fast pace. Although this was effective when creating a contrast in relationship to Kim; it also needed work as it made his pronunciation unclear at times. On the contrary, the idea of Kim being a passive and reluctant character was our goal. This had to be worked on, as Kim's proposal at first depicted a moody and aggressive Governor who appeared to dislike his own country. Therefore, the stimuli given to him had to be changed in order to help him get there easily. We gave him the idea to be like Mr. Mitchell or Dumbledore, as both of them are really serene and tranquil. This intended to help Kim show in a more clear way his love and concern regarding the state of the country. He used legato moves which contrasted with Juan Pablo's staccato mannerisms; standing up slowly and using his arms while speaking. Since he remains seated for the first part of the scene, his reactions had to be made clear by the use of his face expression. For example, when he realizes that the Secretary is nervous and anxious, he gives a look of tenderness. However, when he sees that this is not changing, he begins to become impatient and eventually gives a look of concern and stress. 

Moreover, the two Ministers also had to be antithetical. Minister 1, represented by Patricio, had a more harsh and solid attitude in comparison to the clumsy and lost attitude from the Minister 2, represented by Joaquin. This attitudes had to be clearly shown by the interaction between the actor with the space; and how he moved along it. For example, Patricio used a chair which served to determine who were his movements going to be; he might stand on it, sit on it, lie on it and move it around. Visually, this gave an impression of roughness and savageness, ass the audience saw an unnatural physicality being portrayed on stage. This savageness was made clearly by the contrasting characterization by Joaquin's character, who's body did not used as many big movements as Patricio's, however, his presence was totally different. For example, Joaquin had a more upright posture and used his hands to indicate his different states of mind; hands on mouth, pulling his shirt, when talking, etc. Patricio's character broke away from the stillness of Joaquin's character and used a lower level. This would give the audience an effect of duality; both characters are different but at the same time complementary as they show two totally different attitudes which can be normally found in a regular human being.

Finally, I consider important to state the difference between the characterization of the characters already mentioned and the captains, messenger and Colonel Donahue; all of which enter on stage during the second beat of the scene. Carlos' and Jorge Ignacio's characterization was influenced in a way by martial arts as we had to find something which was totally opposite to what the ministers had been doing. Within the captains, both characters were also different and opposite; an idea which has been portrayed all throughout this scene. However, this time the differences weren't solely shown through the use of the body, on the contrary, they were made clear through the use of text. Whilst Carlos' character was the captain who appeared to be the most respectful and loyal of the two; Jorge Ignacio's appeared to be the most careless yet aggressive of the two. This was made clear through the way each one of them addressed the High Governor. Carlos' character played with a lower level once he entered the stage and saluted the Governor; bending his head down in a sign of respect. On the contrary, Jorge Ignacio's remained stiff and did not show any signs of respect. Therefore, we can see that in that sense they differed from the Ministers as both of these wanted to show respect towards the Governor; they wanted to appear noble to him. However, there is a sort of change in the attitude of the captains once they realize that the High Governor is capable of giving Redwood a better rank. They both begin to use more their body in order to transmit to the Governor the idea that they both deserve the rise in rank; especially when they visually represent a short moment from a war in which they supposedly came out victoriously. This transmits one of the main themes in our play, the idea of the thirst for power and control; something which later will be shown by Redwood.

Connections:

One clear connection that I can make with this week's process, is with last year's initial steps for building a character in a personal and outsider level. When exploring the different ways in which my character could be represented, I had to set my self some visual stimuli as that helped me to get a stereotypical and more clear image of the character that I should represent. For example, myself as the boss of the office had to look creepy and menacing, yet I did not wanted it to be the typical boss with a low pitched voice as that to me seemed too cliche. Therefore, I found myself some stimuli like the cat from "Alice in Wonderland" for the face expression and the "Slenderman" for the body characterization as it had long  extremities; an idea that I wanted to explore. 

In a more outsider point of view, I can conclude by saying that external stimuli is always very useful when building a character. Last year, I was in charge of helping Alejandro define or start building his character. His way of walking was the first thing that arose from the idea of his body controlling him rather than him controlling his body. Having ideas or stimuli to guide him managed to help him go from having nothing, to building a character which had a comical effect on the audience. This idea has been repeated once again this year as the actors on my scene all had a certain stimulus in order for them to define their characterization. In the case of the High Governor it was Mr. Mitchell and Dumbledore; for the Ministers and Secretary it were rodents and similar animals and for the Captains it was at first a gorilla.

Reflections:

I have realized that the creative process of making Grotowskian scenes in the play is going so far so good, however there is always room for improvement. The implementation of dialogue to the scenes really adds a completely different mood and pace. For example, during the scene I've been working on when the contrasting ways in which the actors say their text adds different rhythms to the scene; it all depends in the way the actors say it. One might say it a bit slower or faster and it all makes the scene fluctuate between different paces. This goes in hand with what Grotowski intended; that the actor's acting is the most important and central core of theatre, and it is meant to be used as a medium to establish a connection with the audience as the performances are likely to be charged with energy. However, I think that our actors still are lacking the part of using solely the body as some have poor characterization still. This has to be worked on in order to maintain the same level of achievement as it will not be cool to have actors on stage with different levels of accomplishment (one with a more solid characterization than the other).

I also believe that the idea that this play tries to transmit is really universal and can make the audience easily relate to it. Each one of us can become infected and blinded by greed and thirst for power, and this idea is going to be shown clearly by our game in which the actors do not enter from the off stage, and rather approach the stage from the audience; each one of them therefore working as an archetype for our society.

What might be an effective method to help the actors achieve a better characterization? Is it always useful to have contrasting characters on stage? Can monotony be equally as effective as opposites?