Today Rob led us through an Improvisation exercise in which we had made an excuse to our boss leave work early to meet our girlfriend at a concert. This was also to see how greatly we can be lead with direction. we each had to follow the scenario narrated by rob, for example "the train was delayed" or " you were on the wrong platform". The final one was the best , which was that our boss had "just entered the platform"; everyone had to try and rush and cover our faces around the space hoping that the boss wouldn't see us and consequently, and most probably have given us the sack.
Another exercise was that we had all been instructed that we had too choose someone in the group that we liked and didn't like. and whoever we chose the conversation we had completely contrasted with each other. This was to explain the meaning of Subtext ,which is the hidden meaning behind the conversation and interaction you as a character has with another character on stage. For instance; saying "oh it's you" can be said both with excitement and pure happiness , and in contrast can be spoken with dread and pure disgust. A simple line can be said with two completely different meanings or expression , thus changes the whole mood of the conversation of the two characters.
We also learned to give our characters objectives. An Objective , is the goal that your character wants to achieve throughout a given situation or script. For example, during the improvisation exercise our objectives were to try and reach our destination without being caught out by our boss. A Super Objective is then what you do to make that goal possible , be it murder or betrayal of one of the other characters. An acting practitioner called Staford Meisner quoted that "Acting is behaving truthfully in given circumstances." As actors we may be acting in circumstances that we never experienced or never will experience. An example is that someone may have committed a brutal murder. Now you are either playing a family member of the deceased or a witness. Either way no character will be acting happy or jumping with joy... that wouldn't be acting completely truthfully. The actor playing the witness would be really distressed , outrage or completely hysterical seen as they had just witnessed a Gorey murder.
The actor playing a family member of the murdered will be completely infuriated mixed with being grief ridden. My point is that You want to the piece seem real , and the reactions need to be real, or else the audience wont be able to empathise with the characters affected. The key word is empathy. That's is what actors have to to do with the very characters that they are playing.This is because the script may require a situation the actor may have never encountered before; the actor must try make the reactions and feeling as genuine as ever or it wont work. Certain thought processes drive our behaviour and basic emotion, Its a psychological fact. The actor has to empathise how the character will cope with what information or circumstance they are currently digesting. However, no two people are the same. On stage it is good to see a range of different reactions. You can then see the contrast of how the actors portray their character. Some actors may feel appropriate to show how the character is at wits-end , yet another actor may feel that subtle acting is the better way of acting to show how their character is completely drained on how the situation could have affected them physically as well as mentally.
Today we also began piecing our scripts of Greek plays together and sharing them with the group. It was the development of how we began from just reading through our scripts to beginning to block it and see in different areas how we can tone down certain parts because we feel that its too much, or even act out parts with more emotion because we felt we lacked energy first time round. We gave and received constructive criticism from the audience members and Rob which will help us further better our performances ready to be performed on the 8th of October.
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