Following last weeks suggestion of bringing in "something owned" to use as a source of personal improvised drama, we had a great starting point and some curious objects in the corner of the room!
To start off with, we played some high energy drama games involving using our names, expressing ourselves through our body with high energy, and a new variation (to me at least) on the trust game.
This involved chairs being placed around the room and the group members pairing up into groups.
One person had to shut their eyes and be spun around in an attempt to disorientate them and the other person took on the role of guide, and this person then had to guide the individual who had their eyes shut around the chairs in the room for a few minutes.
This was great, as well as being quite scary. I felt like I was in a tunnel, I was very nervous about where I was walking. I kept on walking despite this, so I suppose despite the fear, that trust was there.
I didn't walk into anything, so I would call it a success.
The final game involved focusing on your partners finger, who then led you around the room while you were aiming to keep their finger roughly 30cm away from the centre of your face.
VERY funny, and also makes you a little cross eyed afterward. This was silly and so much fun! :)
Now on with the actual devised pieces from the session. For this, we took first explained the relevance of our items that we brought in, and its personal significance to us.
We then used that information and had to take another person's personal item, and with out partner, we worked on a devised piece which had to include some element of the persons story about why they brought in the item, as well as a way to intertwine the two stories and the two items. Other than that it was open to anything, and this was evident in the 2 types of final pieces.
OUR ITEMS!
- A book of poems by a woman who eventually killed herself. Complied by her ex husband (who ironically was a contributing factor to her suicide)
This reminded the individual of her experiences of taking her GCSE's which included question on selected pieces by the author of the works she brought in.
As part of her research she has bonded with her father and discovered other relevant poems to her life story which weren't compiled in the book!! (?) - A book of poems with a post card inside (as found on a group members lounge table)
This touched and inspired the individual who brought these items in becasue the postcard was of a woman in a small kitchen who lived in the ex-USSR. The postcard was inspirational to the individual who found it so inspiring that there was a strong sense of community in what could be seen as a deprived communist society.
The poems were also more like "rambling" of an individual and gave the impression of being close to someone's heart without much thought, which the individual admired. - A photograph of a group member's family from her childhood.
The group member found this a great source of comfort and amusement that the poses and positions of her and her siblings in the photo would now be unconciously established for every photographic opportunity, event today. It also reminded her of theunity she felt growing up with her siblings. - Some old, battered, paint tarnished boots with string for laces, snapped laces and cobwebs inside
This individual brought in the shoes of a neighbor - an ex activist who was no longer as active as she use dto be. These apparently derelict shoes were in fact the ones currently worn on appropriate occasions, but hadn't been worn for a while. The owner also had a row of old boots lined up as they didn't want to throw them away.
The individual who brought the boots in was intrigued by the "stories" which the boots could tell, as she felt shoes were highly personal, somethign which is demonstrated by teh difficulty of throwing some away. - A Dictionary
This individual didn't feel like they had many personal items in their home, so instead they brought in an item which represented learning - something which the individual took solace in on a daily basis and viewed as their personal search for happiness and fulfilment.
The dictionary had an award sticker in the front from the individuals secondary school years, and despite the new appearance of the dictionary, this was not so recent.
This dictionary transgressed the divide between impersonal learning and the individual things that everyone takes from what they learn as well as the meaning of ownership with regards to material items, as opposed to learned knowledge, understanding or lack of.
The Final Devised Theatre Pieces:
Group 1 - The Dictionary & Book of poems with post card
This piece was very free, dynamic, punchy and with an underlying depth that sparked some debate.
The piece focussed on the frailty of words.
The 2 members ran in the room very happy and instantly changed to being angry. They had an argument which led to them standing with their backs to each other throwing insults from the dictionary at each other representing pain and power struggle, such as "explosion", "attack", motivate" and "deviate" until one actor shouted "DRAW"; at which point, instead of pulling out guns, they began to draw an imaginary picture.
The final blow came from the word, "sleep" which lead to the individuals slowly descening to the floor, ending the piece.
Group - The Boots, the Book of Poems by the dead author, The photograph of a group members family.
The second piece concerned 3 individuals in a space around an imaginary table.
One individual appeared to be pouring over a book of peoms, and occasionally blurting out malignant phrases such as "the dirty wooden teeth exposed this abyss" and "someone got lost in this place".
In a juxtaposition, another group member wanted to have a few drinks and a laugh - but how could they with a suicidal poet in the corner muttering to themselves? Not only that but the other character was worried about throwing away his BOOTS! They're only shoes!!!(are they)
This odd silence sparked a conversation between 2 of the actors who did start having a drink, and as the conversation took various directions through forests of fear and oceons of optimism the topic eventually landed on Facebook with an unenthusiastic thud like the sound of when you flop into bed at the end of a long day (which it was here, coincidentally).
So they decided to take a photo of their fantastic evening. Everyone else was doing it, maybe someone would be interested on Facebook? Maybe if they're Friday night is equally as uneventful.
So they group got up and posed for their photo. Well, the girl with the poems didn't actually look at the camera, but she was in the picture,which counts.
Ultimately, the futility of any attempt to make this night go anywhere was realsised and the gril who wanted a drink decided she should go, and while she's at it she can borrow the boots and include them in a piece of art she wants to draw.
I would, they have loads of character, I wanted to see a spider inside but I couldn't!
At least I would want to include it in some art, if they weren't nicked by the girl who wanted a drink when I wasn't looking.
I know you're probably thinking that if I didn't want the boots, what difference does it make? i don't know why I don't want to throw them away. In fact, I did kind of give them to her, but she took advantage of me while I was thinking.
So the girl with the wine left, slightly concerned and the crazy lady with the poems started praying; which was quite nice as the bloke with the boots wasn't very happy that the girl with the wine had nicked his boots.
THE END!
Conclusions!
Draw your own, we drew ours ;)
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