The Eight Basic Laban Efforts

Flicking: Flexible, Sudden, Light
Flicking is flexible in its use of space and it resists both Weight and Time.
It is a movement with free flow. It is crisp, light and always brief.

Wringing: Flexible, Sustained, Strong
This primarily involves movement in the opposite direction, such as wringing out a towel where your hands will move in two opposite directions.
Keep in mind that wringing is not restricted to the hands.

Dabbing: Direct, Sudden, Light
This is usually performed with free flow and is very flexible.
There is nearly always a rebound, meaning something that the movement bounces off (not necessarily literal).

Punching: Direct, Sudden, Strong
This involves violent, direct movements but can be performed with bound or free flow.
There is no indulgence in this effort; it overcomes Weight, Space and Time.

Floating: Flexible, Sustained, Light
This effort is like flying but can be through air or water.
It can be performed with bound or free flow.

Slashing: Sudden, Strong, Flexible
This effort is usually performed with free flow.

Gliding: Sustained, Light, Direct
This effort is a smooth movement, generally performed with bound flow.

Pressing: Direct, Sustained, Strong
Pressing is applied to pushing, crushing and squeezing (pressing from both directions).
However, there is still a sense of fluency similar to the glide.

Making yourself more castable.

Your look must understand your abilities in such a way that your casting is clear.   As a true actor dedicated to the craft, you may feel like it shouldn’t matter what your look is because you can play anything—you’re an actor.  This may be true to a certain degree, but often your look has to be defined and fit somewhere between the stereotype and the archetype. 

Having a strong vision will help you in knowing the types of headshots to get and presenting that image to casting directors. 

Group Questions (5 mins)

1.     What factors will affect whether you are cast i.e. whether you will get the part or not?

Acting skills, talent, technique, preparation, friendliness, ability to take direction, stage presence, alternative skills and previous experience.

2.     What factors will affect how you will be cast i.e. what kind of role you will play?

Physical qualities (short, tall, young, old), voice qualities (gentle, nasal, resonant), range (whether you can play lots of different character types).

These exercises will help you to be more castable.

Exercise 1 (25 mins)

To assist the students in developing an understanding of casting types in general is a great way to start them understanding how to market themselves. 

1.     Pick out 10 or so TV programs and films, and categorize the actors.

2.     Make notes and pick out 3 films with roles of your age and gender and create categories of the types of actors. 

3.     Do the same for TV dramas. 

Exercise 2 (20 mins)

The idea is that the students create a range of roles that go together, but it’s not the entire spectrum of roles for that gender and age.  As an inexperienced actor they are still establishing themselves, you’re not going to be cast in the whole range. They need to know what roles fit together in a range realistically – from point A to point B or C, but not from A to Z in the whole range of roles.

1.     Collate the evidence from around the room and begin to draw a brainstorm, which then is converted, into a table that categorizes the types of role that fit together.

2.     Once you identify the types of roles you are seeing over and over, see if some of the categories you’ve created fit together. 

3.     For example, you might group strong characters in their thirties to forties as a doctor-lawyer type.  Or more nurturing types as a mum/dad-teacher-therapist.  Perhaps a femme fatale-mistress-spy.  Put some of the category types together to begin to create a grouping of similar roles they would fit into.

Now once they have observed the general industry casting, then turn back to your own casting.

Exercise 3 (40 mins)

Take a self-inventory.  

Think about what types of roles you would play and where you would fit. 

1.     In what type of roles do you see yourself?

2.     Are there stars you would like to exemplify? What roles have they played?

3.     What qualities do you want to come across to others? 

4.     What qualities do you think already come across to others?

Whatever category and look you go with, it should always bring together what you feel about yourself and how others perceive you.  You can’t just decide you want to be a Tom Holland type if you have more of a Woody Allen look. 

Your own perception of yourself as well as the outside perception have to merge.

1.     To clarify this, make a list of the qualities you want to present and have come across.  Then list what you think currently comes across to others.  Once you have the list of what you think, then go to the next step.

2.     Do a survey asking the other students what what they think (we need honest answers here!).  

3.     Compare their feedback to your self-inventory.  See what you need to do to further develop that look you want. 

a.     You might need to make some changes in your hair, clothes, or make-up n preparation for an audition.

Be realistic in your aspirations.  Accept that there is a starting point you are born with.

CG14 – Introduction to the texts

The Frontline by Che Walker

Task 1 (10 mins)

Ask students to sit in small groups.

Each group to be given some big paper and pens.

Ask students to thought-shower what being on the ‘Frontline’ means to them, what does it make them think of? What towns live on the ‘Frontline’. What people might live on the ‘Frontline’?

Share ideas from the group.

Read them the synopsis:

Task 2 (10 mins)

Whole group still image (Play some contemporary music in the background)

Ask students to sit in a large circle.

Explain that the inside is the street outside the tube.

Without discussion, ask them to build the image inspired by their conversations and the synopsis. (Maybe do this a couple of times)

Thought-track the image – noises first, then sentences.

Bring the image to life.

Task 3 (10 mins)

Read through the opening section.  (I will photocopy for you)

Ask students to stand in a circle. Tell them that they are going to participate in some vocal improvisation. Each person as you go around the circle adds in a new sound to create a whole group song. Do this a couple of times, play about with volume, pace, tone etc. Get them to think about using sounds that create their idea of living on the frontline.

The next time you repeat this, ask for a volunteer(s) to read the text above over the top. Get them to play about with how they speak/rap.

Task 4 (10 mins)

Ask students to break into groups and create their own version of what they have done as a group.

Share with the group.

13 By Mike Bartlett

“13″ by Mike Bartlett

Exercise 1 (10 mins)

I believe in….

1.     3 mins. Continuous writing exercise. Everyone needs a pen and paper and they must not stop writing when they stop their ideas dry up they must keep repeating the word ‘in’ on their paper.

E.g. I believe in the right to choose who you marry, in, in, in the looking after your family and protecting them, in, in, in, in, not eating poor quality meat….etc.

2.     3 mins. Use the material to concoct a cacophony of voices stating what they believe in and living through, not merely repeating what they have written.

3.     2 mins. Ask them to speak quietly while you read the following loudly from the centre and share it with them like a call to arms…

“In an increasingly divided world, which sees everything as black or white, the grey area in between is the most interesting and the most fulfilling. We must argue this case whilst at the same time rallying behind the idea of belief, imploring us to fight for a cause and resist the forces of blandness society struggles so hard to impose upon us.

We are in central London, among many intertwining storylines and characters.

Mini-internet revolution to become the voice of the people, fighting for freedom of speech and idealism. Your voices are important, your stories of love, loss, friendship and faith all share the theme of belief and ignorance.

Revelling in a confusion of voices.

To achieve a better future, we must make the impossible possible. X 3”

4.     2 mins. Reflect on what they think they heard/what happened.

Exercise 2 (5 mins)

Speakers Corner

If possible show some of the photos here.

http://martindancephotography.com/blog/street-portraits/

1.     Split the group into A’s and B’s. Ask the B’s to stand still spread around the room while the A’s walk around whispering in their ears telling the B’s what they believe in.

2.     When you tap a B on their shoulder they must burst into life with passion repeat some of what they have just heard but give reasons why thy believe it too. Here the others are allowed to argue and cajole the speaker.

·      Make sure you tap another speaker before the energy is lost.

Exercise 3 (13 mins)

Bad Dreams

1.     Ask the students to think about the worst dream that they have had. Try and remember its detail and be prepared to share it with a few people.

2.     Once this has happened stand in a circle with a group of 4-5 people and tell them your dream in 30 secs, asking them to try and remember the detail of each other’s dreams.

3.     Then choose one, this will be your shared dream, you will spread yourselves around the room and tell the story of the dream to the rest of the group as they stand with their eyes closed or the room blacked out and try allow themselves to re-live the dream, while your group embellishes it, adding supporting sounds and deepening the story to make the group invest in it.

·      Do this for 2/3 good groups, asking for deepened participation from everyone each time.

·      This will only work if the dream-telling group really invest and embellish, support and create atmosphere.

Final Thought (2 Mins)

As our world becomes ever more confusing and the number of heard voices increases, this style of multi-layered, collaborative and confused play is the only type to mirror our difficult and postmodern world, and as we have to deal with excess in everyday life, theatre must respond to it. 13 is ingenious in its variety, tackling huge, almost incomprehensible questions, but in doing so it asks each and every one of us to interrogate our own beliefs and values and opens up a discourse which must and will take place.

Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Ex 1   (4 mins )

Continuous writing exercise 

One of the key themes of Our Country’s Good is theatre’s function and it’s potential to ‘change lives’.

What difference does theatre make to your life? Where would you be without it? (Try and write straight from the heart using language and expression that means something to you)

Ex 2  (6 mins )

Share some of the pieces of writing –firstly by asking all of the students to stand in a place in the room where they feel powerful. Ask them to all speak at once as if performing their speech like it is a manifesto for their lives

Ask individuals to share what they have written.

Ex 3 Engaging with the physicality and language (10 mins)

OCG is set in 1787. Many lower class people in those days would have been pick pockets/thieves or prostitutes. Many of the convicts that we meet in the play are from London and have been sent to Australia in order to work.

The convicts use lots of there own dialect when expressing themselves much like the slang/street language of today.

Take students into character by asking them to create a very quick lower class character that could be on the streets of London, choosing from the following;

·      Pick pocket

·      Thief

·      Prostitute

Ask them to think about working with a cockney accent

They must come up with short phrases in response to what they might say if they had just been caught

E.g. It aint my fault guv, that there nibbler buzzed my wiper!

They can choose from the following phrases;

Nibbler – petty thief

Prigged- stole

Buzzed my wiper-stole my handkerchief

Whirligigs- testicles

Mossie face-cunt

Stir my stumps-run away

(I will print these out and you can give two each to each student)

Watch short performances

Ex 4 Engaging with the characters (10 mins)

During the play we meet two characters;

·      Liz Morden- a young woman who is a prostitute and had been found guilty of pick pocketing. She is hard and usually un –emotional.

·      Ketch Freeman –the designated hangman in the colony –he hates his job and feels awful about having to do this to Liz

·      After rehearsing the play together for many weeks, the authorities decide that Liz Morden should be hanged and it is Ketches job to measure her to make sure the hanging is effective.

In pairs improvise this awkward moment and try and get into the mindset of the characters. What would they say/not say to each other?

Ketch you need to imagine you have a tape measure and you have to get these measurements as there is an officer watching you.

Ex 5 Engaging with the comedy in the play (10 mins)

Although the play discusses important and serious issues, the rehearsals are very funny and offer some great comedic moments for the actors. The following scene is set in the first rehearsal in the play and is between Liz Morden (hard, bossy, leader of the women’s camp) and Ralph Clark (the lieutenant who’s idea the play has been-softly spoken and inexperienced with women)

Explore this moment between them and how you would bring the comedy out

(I will photocopy these extracts for you)

Share.