Lesson #1

Today was my first introduction to my Performance Workshop lesson. In only a period of 4 hours, I was able to grasp a idea of what I will be learning in this class and the understanding I will have to have of the work I am doing and of my own strengths and weaknesses as a performer to be able to contribute and gain everything I can from this class.

An Introduction to Melodrama
Melodrama is the old way of performing- by overly exaggerating a character, to a point where the reality of the character, story and personality, is lost in the dramatisation. Melodrama was built on: stereotypes, theatrical gestures (ie. hand to the head in times of dramatic climax) and a philosophy that held the actors personality in a higher regard than the character being portrayed. It was built on a social obsession with celebrity culture, which made the actors arrogant and pompous after being put on a pedestal. As actors they didn't become the character, they demonstrated them. Their character was based on facial expressions and hand gestures; the more over dramatic, the better. The plays performed, were palatable. The audience could easily digest them and they did not make them think or necessarily affect them, as this wasn't their main purpose- the most important part of the theatrical world at that time, was maintaining a social and cultural level of finesse. They performed only what they believed their audience wanted to hear. The story lines and themes were black and white and 2D.

Exercise #1
After being introduced to the world of melodrama, we tapped into this by embodying some of the stereotypes that the actors on stage would have themselves, For example, a hero, villain and damsel, three key characters in the melodrama structure. Firstly we walked around the room, finding a physicality and eventually a voice and mannerism for the character. Doing this type of exaggerated acting allows us as contemporary actors, to understand the scale on which emotion can be played and therefore appropriately pick a happy medium on that scale. It also clearly demonstrates, how not to act.

Afterwards, in partners we allocated one person with a hero and a damsel. The hero spoke to the damsel saying:
"My love for you burns with a passion that fills me with fear."
On the stand out words- love, burns, passion and fear- the hero created a gesture to accompany their actions.
Then, we swapped, with the damsel now speaking to the villain saying:
"Your treachery kills my heart you villain."
Again on the stand out words- treachery, kills, heart and villain- the damsel put an action to their words.
Doing this allows us to develop a sense of inspired action. Certain words, in certain sentences, will inspire actions; not necessarily as dramatically as this example, but that fundamental basis of the relationship of body and voice was experimented with then and now.

An Introduction to Naturalism
Due to such fake acting in melodrama, people grew used to copying previous generations, which created a chain of cloned actors. The true art of acting was lost. Naturalism changed this. It is all based on truth. Strangely, being truthful, is harder than faking something as you are opening yourself up to judgement when you are bearing the most stripped back version of your performance. It is the core of basic natural instinct placed under a microscope. The mask that theatre lets you wear appeals to actors, so when you are asked to remove this and be truthful, it can be a hard transition. A psychological depth is introduced as you let your character become you. You draw on your own life experiences; as their is no director more important than life.

Exercise #2
Being relaxed as an actor, frees our body and mind up, enabling us to create better work. In this relaxation exercise we experimented with circles of attention. Opening all our senses, we started by focusing on the room we were in, expanding to the corridor, courtyard, road, street, town, London and finally to our homes. It was an out of body experience that some people enjoyed; however it made me feel sick. Perhaps due to being in my home alone, when I normally associate it with a warm busy household, but I felt sick at the thought of intruding on my own thoughts. It felt odd to be tapping into my thoughts, feelings and memories in this way. However I understand that relaxation is important to loose tension in the body and mind and allow me to be completely focus on my task. Relaxation opens your imagination, drawing on your own memories. This triggers action and reaction, that without, makes a performance dull and flat.

Exercise #3
Solitude in public. An odd concept, but it concerns using different circles of attention to focus attention on stage. We were given the task of standing at a bus stop with either a small or big circle of attention. My circle of attention was not so simple, so as to be categorised into a small or big circle of attention; I had the task of picking up my children, but in the back of my mind I knew that today was the anniversary of my husbands death. Being able to balance your focus of two circles of attention you can in turn focus the attention onto the stage. Being able to portray a characters inner emotions is a sensitive, yet vital process, Like any person, your internal monologue is sometimes the one that speaks the loudest and can be the most important on stage therefore.