ENSEMBLE

Ensemble Work

In today’s lesson we looked at working and performing in an ensemble, as this is a something that Brecht uses and something that we want to put into our piece of theatre. The main aim of the exercises was to explore what it is like to be part of an ensemble and what difficulties may present.

The first game that we played was a combination of three games, where we had to walk towards someone in the circle, say someone else’s name and throw a ball. This exercise was about making us engage with not only ourselves but with each other, as we had to be able to listen to one and other and be aware of what they are doing. By gaining these skills, it allows us to become more connected and aware of each other. It also made us concentrate more as we had more than one thing to concentrate on, while there was lots of noise and movement going on around us. This was useful because in ensemble work, there may be other things going on around us or we may have to be engaged in more than one movement or dialogue, and consequently this task made us have to be concentrated all the time.

The next game we played was a boat-based game, where we were given different instructions, such as “port” and we would have to run to the end of the room, there was a number of different instructions and, like the other game, we had to concentrate on and react to the different instructions. Also there was certain instruction that were made to confuse us, such as “freeze” and “unfreeze”, this meant that we had to be fully in the exercise and engaged with it, this showed us how in ensemble work, you always have to be aware and involved with what is going on, even if you are not the centre of attention all the time. This links with the fitness level of this exercise, as there was a lot of running, and in ensemble work, it can be very draining and you need a certain level of fitness to engage with it. Also at some points of this exercise, everyone had to be very close to each other, this allowed us to get used to being in small proximities with each other, and breaking down unnecessary boundaries, to make us be more comfortable with each other and to try out new things, with each other.

We then did a battle, in ensemble form using gestures, which links in with gestus and Brecht’s idea of using gestures to express the character. One person had to stand in front of the other team on do a gesture and sound, and then their team would repeat this. To me this displayed how doing something in an ensemble rather than as a single person can create a much more effective and forceful meaning to the gesture and can make it more interesting to watch. The strength of a group is displayed in this exercise and by having the entire group fully involved and committed to what we are doing can make the performance stronger and more interesting to watch.

Finally we did a really powerful exercise, where we were given a stimulus, such as the Syrian massacre, apocalyptic Britain and Blondie’s control, then one by one we had to entre the space and make a freeze, then slowly an image would appear of this scenario. Then we would have to bring the whole scene to life. I personally liked the exercise most, as we were able to put all the things we had learnt about ensembles into this exercise; however we wouldn’t have been able to do this exercise as well if we hadn’t done the other exercise. This exercise allowed us to work with and interpret different things from the stimulus. Also I think the still images were really powerful because it showed the scenario’s clearly, and it also demonstrated that in an ensemble piece lots can and all yet everything can be important and contact with each other, as we are in the same scene, but one person isn’t the main character, it is more about the message and the word that they are trying to spread, not the individual characters.