Piece

Our piece was based on how people feel, experiences that people have never felt before and most importantly, questions that make the audience members think e.g what is life? why are we here? etc. I really enjoyed our rehearsal process, we didn't have 'normal' set rehearsals, each and every rehearsal was something different. We would learn different techniques and excerisises that would come to help us a lot in our final piece. We were using L shaped blocks, that we had to move around the space in order to create an atmosphere for our audience, that would be a bit out of their comfort zone. We decided to put these blocks in a square to surround the audience, this means the audience being confined to a small space with people they don't know too well. Throughout the piece, we put them through all of these different experiences so that they would feel different to how they normally would. We used the use of our breath and body throughout the piece and i personally think that this really helped. We were all in time with one another and fully worked as a company. There was a lot of things involved in the piece that weren't really fully in sync, and we still managed to work with each other well. Considering how much movement there was in the piece and it always had to have so much energy i really think that all the breath excerisises we did helped in the final performance.

Process

Throughout the last few weeks we have been focusing on rehearsing our 'Cabinet of Curiosity' . ' It is our responsibility to reveal the world and give the audience experiences that they have never experienced before'. In rehearsal we tried many different warm ups and techniques to really help us open up our body and explore our body. We were told mostly 'dont think, just do.' We were always focusing on our breathing, breathing from our diaphragm through our nose and out of our mouth. We focused on sound, our skin, our bodies, things that you wouldnt usually notice. Foe example, after this term, i appreciate my skin more, a bag that holds your body. I have never sat and just watched what my hands can do, what every single muscle and joint does in my body. This term i really have started to understand how important it is for an actor, not only to be in touch with their mind, but their body aswell. There was an excersise this term which i really enjoyed called Emotional Riffing. This is when you over exaggerate your emotions, and go from one to the next quickly. For example. crying turns into crying, crying turns into screaming etc. YO ucan be as free as you like in this excersise and really do use your voice and body to its full extent.

Tate Modern 5

Title of art piece: Otaiti 1930

Artist: Francis Picabia

Artist rationale:

Materials made of: Oil paint and Resin on Canvas

Themes of the piece: Dream, Floaty, Warped, Layers

Why it inspires you: I love nude paintings because i think you have to be brave to paint, yet portray something that looks as real as a human body. When i saw this painting i thought it looked a) very surreal and b) i think Picabia captured the human body really well. I also like the layers of the paint and the varnish, i also could see many things going on at once in the painting, it felt real and alive.

Potential ideas for theatrical work: I like the individuality of the piece and also how free the female in the painting looks.I also think you could work with the hand reaching out, what could that mean? 

Tate Modern 4

               
 Title of art piece: Fascism -   The Most Evil Enemy of Women. Everyone to the Struggle Against Fascism! 1941

Artist: Nina Vatolina

Artist rationale:

Materials made of: Lithograph on Paper

Themes of the piece: History, Russian Revolutionary, Anger, Freedom

Why it inspires you: Feminism, Language ( I believe that foreign languages on posters/paintings look so artistic by themselves) as we don't understand what it means, it is practically a drawing to us, not words. 

Potential ideas for theatrical work: Representing history, foreign wars, the fight for women in the war, and also the language barrier, how languages don't mean anything to people who don't speak them etc.

Tate Modern 3

Title of art piece: Mountain lake 1938

Artist: Salvador Dalì 

Artist rationale:

Materials made of: Oil Paint on Canvas

Themes of the piece: Disconnection, Mystery, Dark colours

Why it inspires you: It was one of the first paintings in the gallery, and it drew my attention, because of all the dark colours and that mysterious telephone in the middle of nowhere. The piece as a whole is very mysterious and mismatched.The story behind it i 

found very interesting as well, how strong the connection between Dali and the lake, and the story behind that of how his parents visited the lake soon after his namesake brother passed away. 

Potential ideas for theatrical work: I think that the telephone is an object that represents the communication/connection that Dali has with this unknown place. He has only heard about it, also referring to the telephone. I also like the idea of layering the pictures, what each layer represents/means.

Tate Modern 2

 Title of art piece: Diabolo 1950, cast 1994

Artist: Germaine Richier 

Artist rationale:

Materials made of: Bronze

Themes of the piece: Entrapment, Escape, Evil

Why it inspires you: I found this piece intriguing as immediately i found this quite dark side to it. Not only is the woman caught up in metal wires but Diablo translates in Spanish to 'Devil'. 

Potential ideas for theatrical work: I really like the use of the wires looking as if they need to be there for structure, but actually there is an underlying reason, and they are there to represent entrapment. I really like the concept that something looks as if it must be there, but really its playing a completely different role. I think that concept could work on many different levels in theatrical work. People, emotions etc. 

 

Tate Modern

Title of art piece: Nude Woman in a Red Armchair 1932

Artist: Pablo Picasso

Artist rationale: 

Materials made of: Oil Paint on Canvas

Themes of the piece: Curves, Sensuality, Illusion 

Why it inspires you: Simpleness, Exaggeration, Complete Contrast of colours  

Potential ideas for theatrical work: Use the colours and how they make you feel, and use the colours as different emotions. Also i like how exaggerated the piece is, and i think we should use that kind of over-played characterisation.