Lecoq: Object Theater

 Monday:

Movement with Francois went back to good old batons. How it moves in space. Horizontal, vertical, then how it turns and changes. Where are the fixed points. I'm discovering material within my movements, and I'm happy about it.

With Eric we played with batons and chairs. How they move, and how they move in reference to other objects. Eric did something really curious, which was to play with the object in reference to the space of the salle verte also, which was super cool. He was interested in the syncopations / le jeu that the object could possess, so he got us to demonstrate the hurricane with two chairs. That was difficult, so he got us to demonstrate a car crash. With that, it became a little clearer of the directions the chairs could go, and how we play with the time of the crash to enhance le jeu. Suspension of the car could be slower, and perhaps we accelerate the way the car jerks on the ground. We even saw a little of the hurricane in this car crash demonstration. Lastly, we had two chairs and the encounter. Even though the chairs are in different spaces at the beginning, it is important that the chairs are already connected from the get go - if one turns, the other should have a reaction.

Tuesday:

In movement with Eric, we warmed up with plates in each hand, and with our partners. In the object movement course, we found families of object and worked to create personalities and interesting object movements. Camille started off by jacking off Guillaume's tire pump, and we ended with Jonathan and Joseph's luggage act. It's always good to have a high status and a low status person. Simple. Barbara and I had books, and once we discovered the library and the librarians, we immediately stumbled upon seduction. Classic. The movement that Eric did comment on was one in which we were playing with one book - one chases the book and the other dances away.

With Yasuyo we got another masterclass with object work. We start with an elastic band (a short one). First we discover how the comedien manipulates the object - we see neckties, boxing wraps, a noose, finger stars, etc. Then we discover how the comedien rests on fixed point and the object moves, then vice versa, then the space between comedien and object is fixed, as both move. As comedien-object, we encounter another such, and move with them to form structures in space that move, expand, contract, change. With this idea, a team formed horizontal and vertical lines in space, that was deemed building-like by Yasuyo, and we had the team break the form and show themselves as comediens in the building. We shift to geometrical forms, triangle and squares, and had the actors play with them to discover their location. Then, we played with two big black ropes in the space, and had a comedien enter the space to play. Jonathan entered the sea, then was tied up, and saved, then swept away, and became a butterfly. The last item we played with was a piece of cloth that was specifically used for items of a household.

Wednesday:

Movement with Eric was le jeu first, then la bagarre with objects. In partners, we would have to run across the grande salle and stop 1 meters from each other, and then 0.5 meters, then react to each other. Next we tried to touch and dodge each other, and played with one fixed point of the body. Then we warmed up by getting used to being on the ground, rolling and crawling, to prepare for falling from being hit by someone else.

Anne told us to bring some unique items, and then explore them in space. There are three ways to play it: first where the object serves the actor (its a vacuum cleaner, its a snake, its a skipping rope), second where the actor serves the object, and third where the object lives (how it moves, it is an eye, a robot, a puppet). After, we got into space and created a car race show with objects in the space. Lesson learnt to use harder items, or if soft items, be extremely precise. I found an octopus and a glacier in my silk, but while the idea was understood, it was not executed.

In LEM, we did some baton work, then re-visited the big rope scenography with Francois. This time, we had teams of 4 and 8 on the ropes, and 1 or 2 actors. The theme we discovered was a chase, and we would spend the rest of class figuring out how the actors could play with the scenography created to play the space. In fact, the manipulators could appear as actors to add to the scene, through of course, articulation of appearing and disappearing. We did this exercise of appearing as actor and disappearing into manipulator with 5 batons. I love this exercise.

Thursday:

Movement with Anne was a quick warm up and a few more additions to la bagarre repertoire that included hair pulling, ear pulling, nipple twisting and ball pulling. After that, she goes around and checks our autocour.

With Paola, we went back to batons and moved them, then moved them in pairs, then in teams. As we got into a team, we build structures that could be construed as something: a boat, a windmill, a billiard table, and then appeared as actors to play. We then worked on how an actor could perhaps switch with a manipulator, and the time frame that needs to be respected for the image to hold. Then we watched as 7 manipulators created a house, and see an actor enter, go through the corridor, and then find a window. Not forgetting fixed points, it's easier for the manipulators to move from house to corridor to window when the actor is posing. Lastly, we saw an actor go from his house into an elevator (which breaks / stalls), then goes down the stairs, walks down some streets, then enters his office. We got as far as elevator. What was cool was our ability to all switch from manipulators into actors, although our batons become an object in the elevator. 'Not a spade, Eugene!'  My baton is pas du tout horizontal (my baton isn't even straight), and that I have to vraiment put in at least a bit of effort to press the button in the same space as the previous person. Precision.

Friday:

Double autocour, and last day of school. It's super cool to be in the same space as 4 other groups all working on la bagarre. We yell and fight, and when we're taking a breather, another team yells and fights. Or we all raise the roof at the same time. One hell of a show. Everyone has amazing fight scenes. Sang Min did his acclaimed backflip, and that satisfied the hell out of the school.

Three weeks of nothing! I'm going to go to the gym every day.