Session Two

Week Three - Tuesday 13th September


Recap of terms explored and discussed in the previous session


KEY TERMS OF THE SESSION

•                RELAXATION

•                IMAGINATION

•                MAGIC 'IF'

•                GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

•                TEMPO-RHYTHM

Warm up - Frozen body, Relaxation exercise


Exploring and discussing the difference between tesnison and relaxation by tensing the whole body as if frozen. 

 “Muscular tautness interferes with inner emotional experience.  Muscles must be relaxed in order not to impede your actions”  Stanislavski

Imagination exercise 

The group individually use their imagination to visualise an 'object' they dislike, a creature, vegetable, insect. They are asked to do this with as much detail as possible: colour, texture, weight, size etc.

Without stating what it is individuals describe drawing on the visualisation they have created.

Other students guess what it is by the details of the description.  

“Establish truly and precisely details that are typical and the audience will have a sense of the whole, because of their special ability to imagine and complete in imagination what you have suggested.”

Stanislavski in Benedetti, 1989: 12

Magic If exercise

Students respond to a series of "What if" questions responding as truthfully as possible - how they believe they would respond. What if...: you found a £10 note, you saw your ex, you forgot your keys, you were running late, it started raining etc.

Students discussed the various responses different individuals made - how truthful/believable they were. 

“’ “if” acts as a lever to lift us out of the world of actuality into the realm of imagination”  Stanislavski

Given Circumstances exercise

Given Circumstances give the imagination, the 'magic if' a framework within which to work. Students explored this by observing others taking part in a scene set in a doctors waiting room. What are the given circumstances that exist in this scene? The scene is discussed in detail - body language, character choices, what might be happening in the scene for each character etc.

Tempo-rhythm was also discussed in relation to the scene as body language, gestures, movements give away the characters emotions, feelings. The tempo is the speed of the movement/action/activity the rhythm is the intensity of the movement.