We then undertook an hour long exercise called 'The Sacred Space', an exercise created by Complicité and their director Simon McBurney, who based the idea off of the Peter Brook idea that the only things needed to create a piece of theatre is a space, an audience and someone in that space.
To add stimulus to the piece, we were asked to bring in our "objects of joy". I chose my guitar, as i felt it also tied in with the theme of music, but these ranged from jaffa cakes to a bicycle.
We gathered in a circle and took off our shoes to mark the perimeter. It was then agreed that once you stepped into the circle, you were no longer yourself but a neutral actor who's only objective was to follow any stimulus given to them by the circumstances and people around them. Throughout the exercise a number of events occurred that would go on to form the skeleton of our show.
These included:
- Jake riding his bike, everyone following suit
- Benji, Lloyd, Joe and I sporadically play our guitars in and out of time with each other, orchestrating and narrating the piece
- Daniel making love heart out of party rings, then I present him with a jaffa heart I have bitten into shape
- Michelle protecting herself with the twister mat
- Screaming in sync with each other
- Daniela with fairy lights around her head
- Jaffa cake vehicles
Although I took part in a number of exercises, I finished the exercise regretting that I hadn't stayed out and watch for longer, as there were many moments that I missed because I was focussed on myself and I could have had a greater understanding of what worked in our group and what didn't.
Chris
In Chris' class we watched a couple of videos on the brain and music, and I discovered that there is a scientific link, as often in the climax of a song the brain releases dopamine and you get a rush of excitement. I also learnt that learning to play an instrument is one of the most effective cognitive exercises around as it challeges your brain to do many different things at once.
We then worked on blocking a piece of physical theatre to The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA", in order to open our show. This piece was picked because Brian Wilson is an interesting link between the brain and music, as he has suffered long term depression and used music to express and combat this, as well as suffering aural hallucinations after taking too much LSD.
Chris
In Chris' class we watched a couple of videos on the brain and music, and I discovered that there is a scientific link, as often in the climax of a song the brain releases dopamine and you get a rush of excitement. I also learnt that learning to play an instrument is one of the most effective cognitive exercises around as it challeges your brain to do many different things at once.
We then worked on blocking a piece of physical theatre to The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA", in order to open our show. This piece was picked because Brian Wilson is an interesting link between the brain and music, as he has suffered long term depression and used music to express and combat this, as well as suffering aural hallucinations after taking too much LSD.
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