The Mind - Lesson 6 - Tuesday 14th February 2017

THE PERFORMANCE:




Prior to our performance we were told to remain focused since some of us were switching off and to be alert at all times in case the protagonist (Rose) was to choose us to becomes her (and then if we were Rose to respond to what we were seeing). I think we all achieved all of the improvements we were given which allowed our show to maintain a smoothness that couldn't have been achieved if actors weren't always paying attention to Rose.

Some of the strengths that shone through during our performance included the shows unpredictability which stemmed from our improvised work and the reactions of our audience. For example, at the end there was an ensemble moment in which we tied the audience members memories to our balloons, there was a really beautiful feeling in the atmosphere, it was quite cathartic. I think this was achieved because of our intimacy with the audience earlier on in the show and so everyone was feeling the same way and were all open to sharing those emotions. This meant that when it reached this moment, everyone was relaxed and shared the same buzz.

The girl that I opened my box with told me that I made her cry and gave me a hug at the end which is also evidence for the connections made between us actors and the audience. This made the work very relatable which gave it more meaning. The fact that most of the audience consisted of family members would also put dementia into retrospect because their memories which were displayed on the memory wall and the people that they love and are in front of them could potentially die of Alzheimer's.

There was a nice pace to the piece and despite issues with finding the right numbers to choose a box, we managed to move on and continue without the show becoming disrupted. Because of this, as the show went on we just became more confident in ourselves and our audiences responses.

However, we didn't get through as many of the improvised individual memories for the audience as we'd thought that we would have. Which was fine, but just meant we didn't get as much as we'd hoped done. Lack of instructions also left the audience members confused at times. We could have improved this by giving the audience members a set of instructions via a little booklet or even by verbally telling them in the games room of what is expected of them during the actual show. This would have allowed a smoother run and the audience would have been aware of what the numbers on their tags meant and therefore made sure they kept it safe and were ready for participation if asked to.

This terms use of experimental theatre has been interesting and fun to be a part of, I have appreciated aspects of it such as its unpredictability which has kept me on me feet and active, however i think it's quite a difficult en re to gasp and ever fully understand. Our piece was experimental because it was based around the unknown. Anything could have happened in our piece because most of it was left up to the audience. This did make me feel a little bit nervous but I defiantly enjoyed it. We had no control over what could happen which in itself also links in with dementia because the individuals suffering with dementia don't have always have control over their choices or what they understand.

We also stayed true to our practitioner (Antonin Artaud) by using things such as piercing lighting and abrupt sound which shocked the audiences senses and wasn't necessarily a comfort to listen to at all times. For example, some of the music used was played backwards and so it sounded twisted and sinister. This made me feel on edge and almost seemed to enhanced the lighting because of it's sharpness. It made me feel as though everything was all over the place and like broken is shards that were put back together randomly. This would definitely link in with the breakdown of the brain and confusion. We also performed without having a script which also went with Artaud's style. And our overall performance was closest to Peter Brooks idea of 'Immediate Theatre' because it will always be current and a timeless issue which we managed to perform/present 'in the moment'.

Other elements such as multiroling also seemed to have a deeper meaning. For example, if I review a previous lesson in which we watched an Emmerdale episode that had the same actors playing different characters to demonstrate how sufferers of dementia can often confuse people and places. Our use of multiroling portrays a similar meaning because it shows a group of people who could potentially play any character in the piece and  the play making sense. After all, we are all images stored in the hippocampus but when the hippocampus begins to decay, those images can get lost or become intermingled with other memories. It can become difficult to distinguish reality and fragments of the imagination.