I feel that I did a good job of matching the mood of the dialogue that I was speaking with the movements that I performed. I felt that there were clear contrasting moments in the piece, both between when Myrna is talking in her head and to her sister and when she is planning versus executing the murder. I also was confident that I had carefully thought through each of my actions and did not have too many unintentional or needless movements. This was something that I had struggled with in past performances and in several run-throughs of my monologue, and I was glad that I was able to dial in my movements in order to make the ones that I had more impactful and intentional. While I feel that my voice went along with the actions, I would have liked to have varied the register more. Although this is not a part of the Eight Efforts, I feel that making my voice lower and higher pitched at different points would have been helpful to create a bigger contrast between voices.
I would have liked to have had the stage more well-lit. Although I thought that I was fully illuminated, I noted afterward that there were times, especially when I moved stage left, that I was partially in the shadows. While this was not my intention, I did not feel that it significantly took away from the value of the piece, especially because the lights did not change, so the shadows remained where they were throughout the entire performance and did not prove to be a distraction. I felt that my set was effective because the simplicity of it gave me the flexibility to treat the space both as a hospital ward and as Myrna's image of Myra's house. Although I considered using chairs that looked more authentic to what would be found in an older hospital, they proved to be somewhat unstable. Because one of my movements involved plopping into a chair, I opted to use the more stable yellow chairs to ensure I did not fall over. I think that this was a good choice because the yellow chairs were simple enough that they did not distract from my movements, and their sturdiness allowed me to put more contrast into the movements where I had to interact with the chairs without fear of them collapsing. After talking with audience members and answering questions, I got the impression that my piece had achieved the intended impact. One audience member said: "That was so engaging. I felt like every little movement you did had me on the edge of my [seat]." I was pleased that this audience member had been drawn to watch my movements. While the dialogue itself was interesting, my intention was to use movement to show the character's feelings, and this audience member seemed to recognize that. I also got the impression from this comment that the audience member did not know what to anticipate and was engaged throughout the piece. This fit with my intention to surprise the audience and make them question what I would do next.
Another audience member commented: "I thought the movements looked really authentic to the character and …weren't done without purpose. They went along with what you were saying. They also went along with what you were doing, which is wonderful and creepy." I appreciated this comment because it helped me to realize that Laban's Efforts are not meant to be unnatural. Because they reflect what is in a character's head, the movements themselves are a part of the character, though not always the part that the audience is expecting to see. Although this seemed to be something that I had recognized as I blocked my monologue and experimented with different Efforts, I had not heard it put into words before that moment. I also was pleased that the audience member thought my monologue was creepy because this fit with my intention to unnerve the audience. Several other audience members talked to me after the performance and also expressed that they were not quite sure what to make of my piece but said that my character was not someone who they would want to be on the bad side of. This made me think that I had accomplished my goal of showing Myrna's darker qualities despite the cheery exterior that she presented.
Through my exploration of Laban's Eight Efforts, I feel that I have gained a deeper understanding of how movements and voices can be used to shape a character. While in the past, I had developed a character from their backstory, and from looking at their lines, I was very pleased to discover that analyzing the way that they moved and spoke gave me more insight into them than I thought possible. This piece allowed me to understand that the intention behind the movement of a character is just as (if not more) important than the movement itself and gives the audience crucial insights into why a character behaves the way that they do.
I also feel that this has helped me to break my habit of restless shuffling onstage. Now when I move, I have begun to think about why I am choosing to have my character move in that way at that time. This forces me to stop and think before I move onstage and also allows me to gain more understandings of the type of person that my character is.
I loved having a specific vocabulary to draw from when I was figuring out how to record the movements of my character because it allowed me to look at my notes and recall how I wanted to move during particular parts of my monologue. In the future, I also feel that the Efforts could be a useful tool for communicating my ideas to other actors or dancers who I am working with in order to help them more quickly and accurately understand the type of movement that I am talking about.
Explorations, Intentions, and
Feedback-3/9/2020
To explore the theory of the Eight Efforts, I practiced moving in the style of each of the Eight Efforts before attempting to pair them with my monologue. This was very helpful because it allowed me to get a grasp of what each movement was like before I applied it to the context of The Mineola Twins. I also practiced the types of voices that would go along with each movement. In retrospect, I wish that I had practiced pairing the movements with the voices more before moving on to applying them to the monologue because this was a piece of the aspect that I struggled with a bit later on in the process. As I read over my monologue, I paid special attention to the way that the character would move. I knew from the context of the scene that Myrna was in a psychiatric hospital and was being chased around by two aides. The monologue is performed in an almost dance-like sequence as she attempts to stay away from them. Although I knew that I would be performing alone, the idea of using choreographed movements impacted by the presence of captors influenced the way that I thought about the monologue and the thought that I put into my blocking. I began by thinking about whether a movement would be heavy or light, direct or indirect, sudden or sustained, or bound or free. I then marked the places in the script where I felt the movements would change styles and began to work out a rough outline of the types of movements I would include as I was speaking.
I then used the chart detailing the styles of Laban's Eight Efforts and their respective movement styles to help me as I paired my initial thoughts with the Eight Efforts. This was challenging because many of my notes only included a single component of an Effort, and it was sometimes difficult to deduce what other three components would fit the dialogue in order to complete the Effort. For example, while I knew that I wanted the first few lines to have direct space, this left me with four possible Efforts to chose from (thrust, press, dab, and glide). In the end, I decided to focus on dabs for the initial part of the monologue to convey the frantic, nervous energy felt by Myrna as she begins to plot the murder of her sister. In other parts, especially when Myrna pretends to speak to her sister, I decided to use more sustained Efforts to portray Myrna's desire to put her sister at ease and not make her suspicious. These moments are interspersed by Myrna talking to herself, and in those times, the frantic energy returns in the form of lighter, more sudden movements.
Through this piece, it was my intention to leave the audience frightened and surprised by the drastic changes in what was going on in Myrna's head and what she actually expressed to the outside world. While the monologue begins with Myrna's seemingly innocent visit to her sister's house that presumably is making her nervous, it is not until she suddenly switches into her suave alter-ego that you realize she has something to hide. Although the entire monologue is a scene where she is talking to herself, there are times where she pretends to talk to Myra and times where she almost seems to address the audience members themselves. Through the use of Myrna's movements, it was my goal to create a clear difference between the nervous and frantic voice in Myrna's head, and the calm and composed persona that she presents to her sister. I felt that these intentions reflected Laban's own goals to take a character's innermost thoughts and physicalize them in order to lead the audience and actor to a deeper understanding of the character.
I also paid attention to my set, lighting, and music choices in order to contribute to the impact that I wished to leave on my audience. My set was simple: just a table and two chairs, contributing to the theme of the supposed transparency of Myrna's character. The lighting consistently illuminated the entire stage, contributing to the idea of Myrna having nothing to hide while also emulating the type of lighting that would be found in a hospital. The music I chose was upbeat, generic, and meant to replicate the music that may have been found in lounges or elevators in the 1950s (the time period of my piece). The stark contrast between the cheerful music and the dark nature of Myrna's dialogue as she plots the murder of her sister was meant to unnerve the audience and lead them to the conclusion that although Myrna may have presented a sweet and innocent exterior image, she had more sinister things going on in her head than were initially apparent.
After showing my piece to my mentor, it was their recommendation that I focus more on combining the vocal part of showing the Efforts with the physical part. They said that while it was evident that I was using the Efforts to physicalize the character, the voices that I used did not pair with the movement that I was doing. To remedy this, I went back through my script and looked at the Efforts that I had chosen to portray during my monologue and practiced saying the lines that paired with them in a voice that matched the Efforts. Then, I ran through my monologue several more times and was able to find a balance between performing the movements with the voices while still making my words understandable and appropriate for the meaning that I was trying to get across.
During another rehearsal, I asked my mentor if they thought that the music I had chosen was too distracting or did not match the dark theme of the monologue. While I personally thought that the irony of the happy music and the dark dialogue contributed to my intended impact of unsettling the audience, I wanted to be sure that it didn't come across as confusing. After viewing my piece with the music, my mentor said that they liked the music and did not think that it took away from the meaning of the piece. In fact, they seemed somewhat surprised and frightened that I could keep the dark tone of my monologue consistently while the upbeat music was playing. This was inspiring to me because it gave me an indication that my intention to surprise and unsettle the audience was taking shape.
In a lighting evaluation with my mentor, they suggested that I change the lighting at certain points in the monologue to match the shift in moods of the character. While we experimented with several different lighting configurations, I ultimately decided to keep my lights consistently illuminating the whole stage. I wanted the mood shifts to be primarily conveyed through the movements and vocalizations of the actor rather than the lighting and felt that the consistent lighting also more closely resembled that of a hospital setting.
Aspect of Laban's Theory-2/12/2020
(Posted 3/9/2020)
For my aspect, I chose to focus on Laban's Eight Efforts. These are styles of movement that capture the way a certain character moves onstage because "In order to discern the mechanics of motion within living movement in which purposeful control of the physical happening is at work, it is useful to give a name to the inner function originating such movement" (Von Laban, The Mastery of Movement). The Eight Efforts can also be applied to speech, and when an actor applies one of the Eight Efforts to both movement and speech, it provides both the audience and the actor insight into the type of character that is being portrayed. The Eight Efforts are as follows: thrust, press, slash, wring, dab, glide, flick, and float. Each Effort is a combination of different components categorized as weights, spaces, times, and energies that create one of the Eight Efforts when combined. The weight of the movement can be either heavy or light, the space is direct or indirect, the time is sudden or sustained, and the energy is bound or free.
With Laban's Eight Efforts, the actor is given a vocabulary that they can use to communicate with others their intentions for how to portray a character. Through the use movement, actors are able to physicalize a character's inner intentions, allowing the audience to gain a deeper understanding of what is happening in the character's head. Laban articulates this by saying, "every human movement is indissolubly linked with an effort, which is, indeed, its origin and inner aspect. Effort and its resulting action may be both unconscious and involuntary, but they are always present in any bodily movement; otherwise, they could not be perceived by others, or become effectual in the external surroundings of the moving person" (The Mastery of Movement).
It is helpful to use a character's dialogue and mannerisms as sources of inspiration when deciding which of the Efforts to use as you physicalize the character. For example, if a character speaks with eloquently flowing language, an actor may choose to embody them with sustained Efforts that fit the nature of what they are saying. In contrast, a character who speaks in short and sudden bursts may move with more sudden Efforts (Espeland, "The Eight Efforts: Laban Movement").
Context of Rudolph Laban- 2/4/2020
Rudolph Laban (1879-1958) as a Hungarian dance artist who is thought to be the father of European modern dance (“Rudolph Laban”). Laban’s career, the height of which occurred during the turmoil of World War II, was greatly impacted by the social, political, and artistic movements that Laban witnessed during his time in Germany. In 1930, three years before the Nazi party took control of Germany, Laban was appointed the director of the Berlin State Opera Ballet, located in an area of the city that served as a site for major political demonstrations (Dickson, 2). Laban would have witnessed these political tensions as he was creating his dance works, and it is very likely that the impact of what he saw happening on the streets around him would have manifested itself in his choreography. After the Nazi occupation of Germany, the party placed limits on the types of artistic expressions that were permissible, stating that they had to reflect the National Socialist agenda (Dickson, 3). Whether as a result of his own choices or due to the influence of outside pressures, much of Laban’s work fit this mold perfectly. His ensemble choreography (also known as choric dance) served the purpose of bringing communities together to witness a “higher reality”. Additionally, Laban stressed that his work was a strictly German form of dance, and he sought to keep it from being spread to other cultures. These ideas were reflective both of the Nazi ideal of uniting Germany under their regime and also of the idea of the creation and maintenance of one perfect German race with a distinct culture (Dickson 2-3).
Despite the parallels between Laban’s work and Nazi ideals, Laban’s style of dance, Ausdrucktanz, was more focused on the dancers’ emotional expression than the physicality of the movements, a notion that drew negative government attention to his work. Laban’s piece entitled Of Spring Wind and the New Joy, was created to be performed at the 1936 Olympic Games opening but was banned for showing the horrors of war and death and destruction rather than war as a glorious endeavor (Kew, 80-81). While Laban did not want the political ideals that the regime wanted in his dances to overshadow his artistic vision, his intellectual dance allowed people to interpret it any way that they wanted. Under a government that strove for one unified national mindset, intellectualism and free thought were seen as a threat to the Nazi regime, causing Laban and his works to fall out of favor with the government (Kew, 86).
Labanotation and Context- 2/3/2020
This week in theatre, I researched the background context of my theatre theorist, Rudolph Laban. Previously, I had looked at a bit of Laban’s theoretical application, and I hoped that with the context research, I could get a sense of some of the outside factors that influenced his work. I also investigated Labanotation- the style of note-taking that Laban used to transpose movements into written form.
After searching several databases, I discovered some articles relating Laban to the Nazi party and began to realize that the way his theory was structured was simultaneously revolutionary in the creation of the field of modern dance and in line with several points of Nazi ideology. I was surprised by this because, as I was researching his theory, I had not made any connections between his work and the ideas of the Nazi party. However, upon further reflection, I began to see how the context in which Laban produced his works would have had an enormous impact on what he produced. Laban was creating his works in Germany during the time of the Nazi occupation and was an artist in a time and place where art movements were largely controlled by the government. For example, the ensemble choreography that can be seen throughout much of Laban’s career paralleled the Nazi ideal of the unification and control of massive groups of people. Additionally, I researched Labanotation- a style of note-taking that Laban used to record physical movements. It reads much like musical notation because it is written on a scale with each “box” representing a series of beats. Different shapes represent different types of movements, and different shadings represent different heights that the movements can be performed at. Although it was initially difficult for me to understand how these charts were meant to be interpreted, I was able to figure it out by starting with a simplified version of one and working my way up to learning a greater number of the symbols. Although this is not the way that I would choose to learn choreography, I could see how this type of notation would be very helpful for keeping records in an age where recording technology was not as easily accessible as it is today. From my own experience with attempting to record dance steps on paper, I know that it is a challenge to describe some of them in a way that I will recognize when I wish to recall them later. Additionally, it is rare that another choreographer will be able to decipher the exact movements that I have written down, and having a somewhat uniform way of expressing movements, such as Labanotation, would help to remedy this.
Theatre Based on Theory 12/6/18
Peter Brook Peter Brook's use of the simple to create something magical and fantastic can be seen in this video. Ophelia touches each object that she pulls from the box with care, almost as if she is remembering what each one meant to her. The Peter Brook method, as applied to the scene, shows how even something as simple as pulling objects out of a box can be turned into an emotional scene that allows the audience to gain insight on the character, their personality, and their motivations. This monologue was very serious and dramatic, and relied less on dramatic camera angles or special effects than some of the other videos. While watching this monologue, I was pulled into the story because the intense acting made it feel like you were in the room with Ophelia which was interesting and haunting at the same time.
Constantin Stanislavsky The Stanislavsky theory relies on putting one's self in the place of the character in order to enrich your acting and draw from personal experience. This can be seen in this video because the portrayal of Ophelia smoking is something that many people, including possibly the actress, can connect to. The cigarette serves both to show that Ophelia is soothing her nerves, and to show that she has something to be nervous about in the first place. This monologue made me feel very connected to the character because I have smelled cigarette smoke before, and it was easy to imagine that I was really there in the room with Ophelia, smelling the smoke and listening to what she was doing.
Bertolt Brecht The Brecht theory can be centered around the character addressing the audience in order to dispel the illusion of theatre, and inform the audience exactly what is going on. This is apparent in this video because Ophelia repeatedly steps out of her character and adds in lines such as "she said" during her monologue to show the audience that she is separate from her character. The mood in this monologue was also much lighter, with the lights being more bright and the music being more cheerful. This did not trap the audience in the darkness and despair of the other monologues, and allowed them to observe and analyze what Ophelia was doing without their own emotions clouding their judgement. This piece made me feel like I could understand what was happening to Ophelia more, but it was slightly jarring to be suddenly be talked to directly by the actress, especially when she was going to drown herself.
Jerzy Grotowski The Grotowski theory is meant to connect the audience with the character, and does away with things that might interfere, such as excessive music or costumes. This is evident in this video because there was little music, and besides alternating camera angles, the special effects are minimal. This allows the audience to hear every word and every breath that the character makes, and to see the subtle expressions on their face. Because of this, the audience is able to form a connection that they would not form otherwise. Without music, the scene seems much more real, as if it could be happening to someone you know, or even yourself, in the room next to you or right in front of you. This piece made me feel nervous and anxious because there was nothing to separate me from the character, and it was if I was watching a video that a person had taken of themselves in real life.
Antonin Artaud The shock value and surreal experience that the audience receives from the theatre of cruelty allows them to be transported to a different world. This can clearly be seen in this video, as the monologue begins form the perspective of a fish in a fishbowl. Ophelia's face is distorted, like it is being viewed through the water. Her features continue to be bent and manipulated throughout the piece, lending to the illusion that the audience can not tell what is real and what is effects. This created an eerie mood because the already dramatic monologue is distorted in image and audio to make the audience feel disoriented an surprised at every turn.