This weekend was a full onslaught of blocking this mammoth show. In 10 hours we almost made it all the way through (short 20 pages), with some Viewpoints work to start each rehearsal.
Each time I return to Viewpoints work I am astounded by the power of bodies moving in space and the stories that are created not through conscious effort, but through physical relationships.
Viewpoints as defined by Anne Bogart include:
And I've added the following to think about to this lovely list:
We took these a few at a time over the course of three rehearsals and incorporated them into our "milling and seething" - where we walk filling the empty spaces with our bodies. As we finished this part of our rehearsal on Sunday, we sat down to reflect on what had just happened in the room. Many of the comments addressed how at first it was overwhelming, everyone settled into a sort of groove. This came about because the actors began listening and reacting with their bodies instead of planning and calculating and deciding with their brains. My favorite comment came from Noah, whom I can only paraphrase: "It was incredible to see how I affected other people. I haven't really experienced that as an actor - I'm generally focused on what is happening to me and reacting to that, but seeing how I could start things, or how we could start things as a group, was really amazing." Or something Shoshi said: "I did things with my body that you can't just plan. I had no intention of lying in the middle of the stage in a straight line, but I did it... because that's just what my body had to do."
This process is really informing how the actors move on stage, and I am so glad that I decided to incorporate it. When I say "make a shape in the architecture!" they know what I mean! This really has given us the opportunity to create some beautiful stage pictures and moments.
Each time I return to Viewpoints work I am astounded by the power of bodies moving in space and the stories that are created not through conscious effort, but through physical relationships.
Viewpoints as defined by Anne Bogart include:
- Tempo - the speed at which one moves. I like to take it as a scale from 1 - 10
- Duration - how long something lasts - a gesture, shape, etc.
- Kinesthetic Response - the body's response to any kind of stimulus, external or internal.
- Shape - shapes are made of lines and curves and are either stationary or move through space.
- Gesture - there are behavioral (learned/indicative) gestures and expressive (metaphorical/impulsive) gestures
- Repetition
- Spatial Relationship - the distance between things. We like to say no "Polite" distances, lets go to the extreme.
- Architecture - the set, stage, audience, or otherwise space in which we are working
- and Topography - levels, and the shapes our feet follow on the floor
And I've added the following to think about to this lovely list:
- Direction
- Starts and Stops
- Direct and Indirect
We took these a few at a time over the course of three rehearsals and incorporated them into our "milling and seething" - where we walk filling the empty spaces with our bodies. As we finished this part of our rehearsal on Sunday, we sat down to reflect on what had just happened in the room. Many of the comments addressed how at first it was overwhelming, everyone settled into a sort of groove. This came about because the actors began listening and reacting with their bodies instead of planning and calculating and deciding with their brains. My favorite comment came from Noah, whom I can only paraphrase: "It was incredible to see how I affected other people. I haven't really experienced that as an actor - I'm generally focused on what is happening to me and reacting to that, but seeing how I could start things, or how we could start things as a group, was really amazing." Or something Shoshi said: "I did things with my body that you can't just plan. I had no intention of lying in the middle of the stage in a straight line, but I did it... because that's just what my body had to do."
This process is really informing how the actors move on stage, and I am so glad that I decided to incorporate it. When I say "make a shape in the architecture!" they know what I mean! This really has given us the opportunity to create some beautiful stage pictures and moments.
