Bootcamp
September 10, 2012
FIGHTING! Something which everyone has experienced in some way or another, and this week we were to be taught how to make it believable that we were doing some serious damage to another person.
Tom Jordan, the fight director for Pericles, led us in some basic stage combat.
The first step was to learn how to slap. We learnt two techniques for this, both using what's called a 'Clap Knap' – which involves using a clap to make the sound of the slap.
Next – punching! Tom asked me before he gathered the group if he could 'punch me in the face' (normally if someone asked you this you'd say no).
As the group gathered ready to listen to Tom's next set of instructions – he turned around and 'punched me in the face' (I was prepared). The reaction from the rest of the group was priceless! Some laughter, some shock, definitely unexpected.
After punching there followed hair pulling, ear pulling and strangling. Everyone was very enthusiastic and had a great time – but remaining safe and in control at all times. I can't wait to see what fight scenes we have in Pericles.
For the final bootcamp session before rehearsals start, we had Head of Movement, Struan Leslie. We spent a lot of time walking around the room at different paces and developing our senses as an ensemble so that we can move, stop and start at the same time as one another.
We applied that skill of moving as ensemble to a piece of text and saw the beautiful images that came out of that.
Struan taught us about Laban Effort States, some of us including myself had done work on this before, I personally in a previous workshop with Struan a few years ago. Laban defined movement in some simple words – we had to discover what our 'state' of walking was.
The 'Effort States are made up of polar opposites; for example heavy and light, direct and indirect, sustained and sudden.
An intense and tiring morning, but we learnt a lot and were continuing to become more of an ensemble.
We had another afternoon with Michael Corbidge working on our voices. This session focused on how to 'anchor' our voices.
It was amazing to discover how using the muscles in our back could produce an extra tank of voice which seemed to come from nowhere. We found speaking in a 'stage voice' effortless and very powerful.
Michael taught us several techniques on how to 'anchor' the first being the 'Gym Bar' where we would imagine we were pulling down a heavy bar behind our head down to our shoulders. The second called 'The Bolero', we had to imagine we were wearing a bolero jacket and someone was tugging at the bottom of it around our backs. Both of these would kick start our back muscles working thus enabling us to 'anchor'.
Bootcamp has been great. We've begun to get to know each other better and gel as a cast. Now to get down to the nitty gritty!
by Hannah Kelly
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