Lecoq: Expressive Masks (Week 3)

 It's time for drama this week.. and drama begins with autocour. Shame, with 3 people, the possibilities for drama are lesser.

Monday:

In movement with Frederick, we revisited structures and how they move. The LEM students would shut up and watch everyone else try. We learn more that way. Up until now, I'd been working with fixed point movements for the structure, and vectors, and speed, and even material (also air, earth) of the movement. Today, I began thinking of the space created by the structure, as well as the empty space, and how that moves. It's all well and good to move a structure along the lines that it proposes, and even turn around its various axes, it's also interesting to move the structure according to the space it proposes. Perhaps a little work of combining vectors? After, we played with placing the structures on our heads (like masks), on our bodies and feet (like costumes), and also higher than our bodies.

We re-visited expressive masks with Eric, this time the place was the living room of two people. They had been together for 25 years, a separation had happened, all that had been spoken had been spoken, and if speech were too happen, it would be too much, so much so that they wouldn't know where to start. In this living room, a person is existing when all of a sudden, the other comes back to pick up an item. Some notes:
- Articulation of le jeu; how do we reach for the doorknob with an emotion, share it with the audience?
- Triangulation of le jeu; we can play with our emotions, and share it with our partners and the audience
- Analogy; the object we're playing with is an analogy for the relationship. How do two people touch the same book. And then perhaps each other? Anna reaches for the book, then Jie touches it, then looks away. What happens when one carries a chair away? How does the other play with the empty space?
- Emotion; Every action has an emotion. Everything we do has an internal motor that drives it. If we sit, how do we feel about the space as we sit? We look out of the window, how does life feel being alone now? How do we look at the city through the eyes of a recent single? We hear a knock, do we know this knock? How do we feel about it?
- The masks are like the structures. Figuring out how the mask can move is the same as figuring out how a structure moves, and perhaps how the structure moves on our face. As I put the structure closer to me, I realize that moving with the structure outstretched is a different experience from moving with the structure right by my body/face. I have to feel the space of the structure as I wear it, the angles, the roundness, its possibilities. In the same way, I have to feel the space of the mask as I wear it - what negative space exist within the mask and without, what are its angularities and roundness. How can we move the mask in such a way to show passion? What movements does this mask allow? It's different for everyone.

LEM with Yasuyo was scenography work. We started with the structures that we'd built in the workshop (bodies, batons, and elastic bands) and moved them in the space. We had quite a few structures for 3 people instead of 2. I.e. three people hold batons that are connected by elastic bands. We tested the minimum tension, and the maximum tension, then worked on moving with point fixed for the three. Then we had two structures in the space playing with the possibilities, and then ending up intermingling with each other's elastic bands. It's almost like playing star with a few rubber bands on a few hands. Each move creates chaos, or can disentangle. Lastly, a bunch of us went up with different structures, played with the same thing, and had Ivet enter as an actor to play with us (the scenographers). We attempted to form the forest, the ocean, then NYC. What lines could we create with these structures? Vertical, horizontal, 45 degrees. And of course, grand attitudes with the body.

Tuesday:

We began loose object theatre with Eric today. He taught us the basic principles of juggling with objects, and how to discover / present them to an audience. We look at our items - shoes, luggage bags, books, caps, a paintbrush, and discover how they move in the space. Demonstrate their angularity or their softness, their ability to turn or fly in the space. The acrobats got to show off their partner juggling skills with caps.

Yasuyo brought Utilitarian masks and human masks (from the star wars company) today.

Wednesday:

Acrobatics today led to us discovering ways to fall. Forwards, backwards, sideways, and perhaps a roll after. 'The American', which is sliding over a table, falling down and doing a head roll. 'The French' ???, which is sliding off a table on the side, then doing a few rolls.

We went back to larval masks today with Anne - the human ones - in a scene where a person goes to another's house, where the 'other' has recently just died. The funeral has been done, and the person is here to empty the house. We start with just one mask, then we move to two masks emptying the house. Once again, we precise our relationship between us and the recently deceased, so that when we enter the space, we know our relationship to the space and our emotion at entering the space. There was a sense of sadness and knowing as Anna entered. Mykola and Florent tried anger, though anger might be a little difficult to keep up, so it changes. There is a game between anger and sadness that can be played. Perhaps anger and love? Perhaps we discover a book, not any book, but the diary of the deceased. We flip through it, perhaps we find the reason for the suicide. Can we tear the page out of the diary?

Thursday:

Double autocour today! Double the trouble. I'm reminded of how epic tragedies start from the family. Doing this in 3 minutes is going to be difficult, but we're gonna try.

The last class of mask with Paola was expressive masks. One person is waiting for the other, who went out to do something. The first person first does something; clean, set the table, arrange chairs, wait, when they find a letter for the second person. After (perhaps) some struggle, they open the letter to find it being a love letter for the second.

Friday:

Another double autocour day. And one which we got chased off stage after 10 seconds. We are in the wrong situation, and had no level of jeu at the beginning. A whole lot of nothing today.