DRAMA: Critical reflections on a drama exercise and a module reading
by Selena Jolley
Part 1
With reference to your own experience, examine the problems and possibilities of facilitating a single exercise or performance process.
Learning how to truly make use of space is an essential skill in theatre. This is why I chose to examine the exercise walking in space, which has taught me specifically about ‘owning’ the space on stage. Each participant begins by facing inwards to engage their peripheral vision. Then we walk around the room at the same pace whilst keeping an equal distance apart. It’s also important to understand the significant details of the exercise, where we start walking together as a group, and then eventually stop, close our eyes, and point to a specified person in the room. Walking in space, to me, is an essential exercise in the performance process, and particularly spatial awareness, because it addresses several key skills in theatre such as utilising the space, ensemble work, peripheral vision and having presence on stage.
The first exercise of standing up and sitting down highlights the vital importance of peripheral vision. Peter Brook’s notion that his simple exercise helps us become more sensitive is easily applicable to walking in space because it demonstrates how actors can use their peripheral vision to be aware of everyone and everything that is going on in the room.[1] Our peripheral vision was tested in this exercise as we were instructed to close our eyes and point to a named person in the centre of the room. This part of the exercise allowed me to test myself to see if I was using my peripheral vision. In the several repeated times we did this, I successfully pointed to the correct person in the room, which meant I had fully engaged my peripheral vision.
If then, peripheral vision is vitally important, walking in space tests an important aspect of performer training that is ensemble work. Dick McCaw, in Chapter 8 Training the Actor’s Body points out that this particular exercise encourages us to ‘Think outside your own head’[2]. Walking in space gives us an opportunity to listen to each other in the room and feel everybody’s movements. This is developed when we had to form pairs or threes with the people nearest to us without talking or breaking our concentration. It was very easy to walk around the space and believe that I was using my peripheral vision, but I was actually just staring at one general space. From this I learnt that concentration not only means to engage with the basic instructions of the exercise, but to use all of my senses to really work as part of an ensemble and make it easy for those around me to get into a group when asked. In a similar way to a particular Tai Chi exercise I did called ‘Sticking’, by engaging all of my senses into the exercise, I explored and filled the space more freely and confidently because we were working as an ensemble.
Another important performance skill I have learnt from walking in space is quality of movement. Whilst we are walking in the space, we also have to consider the directions we are walking and the way we are walking. When I was not fully engaged with the exercise, the atmosphere became very miserable as I was ‘walking like I had a full nappy!’ and walking in circles rather than filling any gaps of space.[3] If we compare this to my full engagement in the exercise, my posture was more upright and I was walking with intention – it made a significant difference to the exercise as I became more direct in my actions when filling the space. By becoming more direct and walking with intention, I had a better presence on stage and felt l was part of the action rather than feeling absent.
When I understood why the atmosphere in the room was miserable, I also realised the importance of breathing in the exercise. I was able to transfer this skill from a breathing exercise in class (where we only moved on the outtake of breath, stopping when he had to breath in again) as I focused specifically on the release of breath as a key factor in getting ready for an exercise/performance.[4] When I felt I wasn’t fully engaged in the exercise, I was able to almost restart my engagement in the exercise, as my outward breath calmed me and showed that I was prepared to begin. The concept of breathing is the performance making skill that I find the most important. By taking just a small moment of time to breathe out, it suggests you were getting ready for a performance, and controlling the ‘flight-or-fight’ response that is natural before getting on stage.[5]
From observing the importance of breathing in the exercise, I have learnt about what McCaw calls ‘the anxiety of learning’.[6] This was seen as we were walking around and our collective pace began to increase, and we began to look down at the floor. This clearly highlights the consequences of not working as an ensemble and not focusing on those around you – it creates a sense of anxiety and therefore increases the speed at which you walk, disengaging my peripheral vision which means that the exercise is harder to complete. This anxiety I felt with the increased pace caused what is known as bunching. Bunching means that we went from filling the space to physically bunching up in one corner, which defeated the purpose of the exercise to fill the space and changed the atmosphere from calm to panicked and rushed.
Walking in space, I believe, is one of the most important exercises in theatre and performance making, because it focuses on all of the key elements of practice: the importance of concentration, peripheral vision, quality of movement and the validity of breathing. The more I practiced the exercise, the more I also learnt about the importance of composure when performing and the willingness to fully engage, so that the exercise demonstrated the previous elements of theatre and performance making.
[1] Brook, Peter, standing up and sitting down, from Olivier Interview, 5/11/1993
[2] McCaw, Dick, Training the actor’s body, Chapter 8 The notion of space, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2018, p.
[3] McCaw, Dick, in conversation, seminar 10, 29/10/21
[4] McCaw, Dick, notes from class, seminar 7, 18/10/21
[5] McCaw, notes from class, 4/10/21
[6] McCaw, Dick, Rethinking the actor’s body, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, pg. 250
Part 2
Discuss how any one of the course readings has informed your understanding of the processes of theatre or performance-making. You may refer to exercises or principles you have encountered in class.
Anne Bogart and Tina Landau’s The Viewpoints is an essential text that informs my understanding of the process of performance making because their theories detail just about all key concepts and theories of theatre making we have covered so far.[7] The concept of the book emerged as part of a cultural shift in America. The Viewpoints is about creating a deep, personal connection with the theatre, a method for allowing us to truly understand the environment of the theatre, subsequently understanding ourselves as actors and the different ways in which we move.
Bogart states that there are four separate viewpoints relating to time: tempo, duration, kinaesthetic response, repetition, and shape. This is because I feel it has allowed me to explore my own personal ways of moving on stage and the emotions that I get from it. In the text, Bogart describes shape as ‘the contour or outline the body makes in space. Within this, the shape we make when moving can be broken down into either lines, curves or a combination of both’. [8]
If, then, our movements can be deconstructed, then a key exercise that has helped me understand this is Rudolf Laban’s dimensional scale. As a process that involves a series of movements (rising, falling, narrowing, expanding, retreating, and extending) - this exercise not only helped me to think about the quality of my movement, but also how the basic movements of our body can create a piece of theatre in itself. When rising and falling in particular, I felt my body curve, as Bogart suggests it does, and when the exercise was repeated, I paid close attention to how I can maximise the feeling of the curve, specifically in my legs, and explore the full possible extension of my arms. By practicing Laban’s movements, I can’t help but refer back to Michael Chekhov’s argument that each exercise we are involved in becomes its own unique performance.[9] By linking Laban’s movement efforts to Bogart’s concepts, it relates to performance making because when executing those movements, each actor has a different and personal experience with them, in which they test how far they can extend and curve their bodies. Whilst the movements are the same, the way in which I execute them are perhaps different from my partner opposite me.
From this difference in execution, another main concept that The Viewpoints has taught me is the importance of individuality in performance. Bogart’s argument that we are the ‘material’ needed to make great theatre is especially important here.[10] If Bogart emphasises the importance of shape in viewpoints, then the different ways we move whilst doing the same sequence of exercises is what the whole notion of shape is about. Thinking about this made me realise that, in performance training, we are not just bodies, we are training to bring our own unique take to theatre. The execution of movements will always be different, and this has helped me understand performance making more because it allows me to connect with and appreciate the performance space as an opportunity for exploration of how I move as an actor, reflecting on the true purpose of Bogart’s The Viewpoints – to learn more about our own ways of moving.
Another way The Viewpoints have informed my understanding of performance making is Bogart’s link between the idea of shape and sticks. When throwing the sticks to our partners, gesture was vitally important to show that we were working together. If my non-dominant driven and rushed. This is what Bogart calls ‘expressive gesture’, where my relaxed throwing of the stick expressed a state of tranquillity and friendliness. Furthermore, the relation between this viewpoint and sticks I found very important in performance making because it expresses the importance of relaxation and working with my partner when performing an exercise instead of just focusing on myself.
But Bogart also discusses the importance the shape of our bodies when working with other actors. This perceptive thought about the relationship between two actors reflect a process of performance-making that involves sensitivity: the state of being aware of those around you. One way in which this was practically applied was in a Tai Chi seated sequence exercise, feeling forward/dropping back. [11] As the exercise was focused on the ways in which the spine curves, and opens For me, the whole process was quite personal; when i was dropping back, the way mine and my partner’s backs were connected. Furthermore, the silence in the room also meant that we were physically listening to, and therefore feeling each other’s movements.
Overall, I think Bogart’s The Viewpoints is the most important reading to understand the reasons behind the concepts of theatre and performance making. Theatre should be a personal experience, where an actor learns how to move in their own way, subsequently creating their own relationship with the theatre space. The understanding of shape and gesture in regard to performance making highlights this concept particularly well. Understanding the ways my body can move in performance not only helps me to understand the potentials I can bring to the theatre but also helps me become more confident in my experimentation.
[7] Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, The Viewpoints Book : A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition, Theatre Communications group Inc, New York, 2012
[8] Bogart and Landau, p.9
[9] Michael Chekhov, Lessons for the professional actor, Performing Arts Journals
[10] Anne Bogart, from notes on seminar 3, 4/10/21
[11] David Zinder, The seated sequence, Seminar 8, 22/10/21
Bibliography
Bogart Anne, Tina Landau. The Viewpoints Book: a Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition. Vol. 1st. Theatre Communications Group, 2005.
Brook, Peter. Oliver Theatre - interview Genista McIntosh. 5 November 1993.
Chekhov, Michael. Lessons for the professional actor. Ed. Deidre Hurst Du Prey. Baltimore: Performing Arts Journal, 1985.
McCaw, Dick. "Chapter 8, the notion of space." McCaw, Dick. Training the Actor's Body, London: Bloomsbury, Methuen Drama, 2018
McCaw, Dick. Rethinking the Actor's Body. London: Bloomsbury, Methuen Drama, 2020.
Zinder, David. "Stick work and soft focus ." Zinder, David. Body Voice imagination, Routledge; 2nd edition, 2009
