Journal Entry #10

On April, Monday, the 20th, in Mr.Evans class, we touched upon Meisner and his techniques once again and tried to incorporate his technique in new exercises.

We were introduced with the idea of a "synthesis". We were then presented with a task to make a short skit using the theme of a "synthesis". We did this by using all 4 members of our class and each saying one differnent word at the same time while tapping a wooden stick on the ground. Towards the end, we said each of our words in an order that read "I am so happy".

We then did an exercise where we had to balance a wooden stick on our hands while reciting "Do be or not to be, that is the question" by shakespeare or our ABC's.
The reason we did this is to see how hard it is to multi-task and concentrate on balancing the stick as well as reciting a quote.

The next activity we did was have someone sit down in a chair and ask a person standing up balancing a stick a series or questions. We wanted to see how the person who was holding the stick's tone change.
When Ann was sitting in the chair asking me a series of questions, the tone of my answers was very different then how I normaly talk. We noticed that since we were balancing our sticks, our focus was not in the conversation by rather on keeping the stick balanced. Therefore, we were answering using spontaneity, which Meisner believed should happen "under imaginary circumstances."

We then recieved a passage of a script called THE LESSON. Which is about a professor who teaches his pupil mathematics and then kills him. My partner was Ann and together we performed this showing elements of Meisner.
Below is the script we used:

PROFFESSOR: (wittily): But still sitting down, I see!
PUPIL: (appreciating the joke): Just like you, Sir!
PROFFESSOR: Good! Then shall we arithmetize a little?
PUPIL: I'll be pleased to, Sir.
PROFFESSOR: Then perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me...
PUPIL: Not in the slightest, Sir. Please go ahead.
PROFFESSOR: What do one and one make?
PUPIL: One and one make two.
PROFFESSOR: (astounded by his pupil's erudition): But that's very good indeed! You're extremely advanced in your studies. You'll have very little difficulty in passing all your Doctorate examinations.
PUPIL: I'm very pleased to hear it, Sir. Especially from you.
PROFFESSOR: Let us proceed a little further. What do two and one make?
PUPIL: Three.
PROFFESSOR: Three and one?
PUPIL: Four.
PROFFESSOR: Four and one?
PUPIL: Five.
PROFFESSOR: Five and one?
PUPIL: Six.
PROFFESSOR: Six and one?
PUPIL: Seven.
PROFFESSOR: Seven and one?
PUPIL: Eight.
PROFFESSOR: Seven and one?
PUPIL: Still eight.
PROFFESSOR: Very good answer. Seven and one?
PUPIL: Eight again.
PROFFESSOR: Excellent. Perfect. Seven and one?
PUPIL: Eight for the fourth time. And sometimes nine.
PROFFESSOR: Magnificent! You're magnificent! Sublime!

The way we showed elements of Meisner was by reading it quickly so that it sounds as if it is spontaneity. So for the proffessors questions, we got the pupil to answer as if it were all one line. Very quickly so that it seemed like the pupil did not need time to think about his answer but rather answered with spontaneity.
We also got the pupil, Ann, to be looking at her textbook so that her answers were more relaxed and realistic since she was focused on turning the pages of her book similar to the exercise with talking to someone balancing a stick.

The short skit was overall very amusing and it was very interesting to see the other groups

(we were split into groups of two), interpretation of Meisner. The other group used a lot of balancing of stick work to focus their minds on balancing the stick and not on saying the script.

Tuesday's lesson:

Unfortunetly, I was unable to attend class therefore I missed a athol fugard lecture where students were given a script and applied athol fugard's technique to it.

Thursday's Lesson:

Since I was away on Tuesday, I was unable to be as involved as I could have in a monologue that my classmates had been preparing. I was placed in a group with Mei and Maria and was in charge of lighting the script for Mei to read as well as participating in a little drumming.

The first picture is of Mei while she is reciting her monologue. The lighting was very effective. The second picture is of Maria drumming and the third is of myself with the script. These pictures were all taken by myself with my cellphone therefore, the quality of the pictures are not very good.

Monday's lesson:

We were given a hand-out last Monday that was to be completed for this class. In it, we were asked to research things such as Meisner, Repetition, Stick work, Ionesco, Andrei Serban, Peking Opera, The Lesson, Romania, Meyerhold, and Absurdism. We had to find the link between these elements. With all this research, we have now been asked to devise a piece of theatre that connects at least 5 of these findings/syntheses.

We brainstormed idea's and so far, came up with an idea of a mental illness such as Schizophrenia which links to absurdism. We also found a story that Sara told us about a man who swims everyday and cannot break his daily routine of swimming 2 hours a day. Then Mr.Evans told us a film that was an adaption from a short story on the New york newspaper, about a man who decides to go home by swimming home. By the time he reaches his house however, his house is abandoned with leaves all over it which makes us question whether he was sane or not.