Lecoq: The Neutral Mask - Gare du Nord

 Neutral Mask week 3:


The Neutral Mask does not have an opinion. The Mask has a body on alert. The Mask is always curious. The Mask has a desire. The Mask is never fatigued.

I turned around on the exhalation of breath. Which made sense immediately after as I breathed in the exterior of Gare du Nord. It was a tall building. Paul and Morteza went in first, and then I followed on the other side. A different position. Then Barbara behind me. The mask discovers the place - we look at the space, using the angles. Next I discover the edge of a pillar. I gaze at it and follow it up to the ceiling. I felt the time come to an end as I looked at my teammates. There - Nicky spins around like the star he is. He runs down the middle and stares at the trains. We follow his gaze. The crowd disembarking shocks us and we recoil. The crowd then pushes and pulls us. Next we split and go to our various scenes where I go down an escalator like a freaking harlequin. I see Florent and chase him back up the stairs, where we show the levels of the Gare by looking up and down at each other. After that we all head down to the metro and discover trains. I hop on, and discover to my shock that the doors close behind me. Florent runs and places his hands on the other side of the glass door. The train moves and they run after me. One mask left.

At some point, Nicky played the piano. 

C'est pas mal. It is probably the best thing Paola ever said to any of us. It's alive, maybe too alive. She means that she likes the improv, but we had too much of it. It's badly constructed - perhaps the scenes? Perhaps the orientation of the metro scene? Piano was anecdotal. But we're in the right direction.

Apart from working on the voyage this week, we had a respite with Yasuyo - the theme was 'The Encounter'. A man meets a woman. Place? In the forest. We started with Joon making fire, and Audrey chancing upon him. And we ended with Ivet and Guillaume meeting each other and successfully fending off a wild animal (boar?). Yasuyo was pleased. 

Barbara and I were a little too primal. During our improvisation, we circled each other after discovery, and touched each other (here we were told it was a little forced). Barbara took off, wanting to show me something, but I didn't comprehend, so I was a little stuck between the old space and the new space. There was more to play with! Eventually though, we slowed down, and the banging on the roof turned into rain, and we ran the other way. We were closer. 

I am reminded every time of the fixed point exercise. It is simple, but so difficult. We touch a fixed point, and we see a space. As we change positions, the fixed point stays, but we see a different space. As simple as it is, using it in improvisation allows us to move past objects and see something else with our bodies. And this happens before our mind registers it. 

On Saturday, I crashed real hard. My mind came flooding back and was screaming to be used.

Next week's autocour is the Exodus. I'm super excited.


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