One and a half year of preparation has gone before with initially Tai and me dreaming about doing something together in Berlin. This has now ended up as a exhillirating collaboration given the task to research performance styles of Chekhov in a contemporary, postdramatic context.
I felt a wonderful mixture of excitement, anticipation and being also a bit nervous. But reflecting back on a day's work in which we met, played games, exchanged, learned from each other, showed our individual preparations, set out a working culture and contract, challenged ourselves with ideas around content, form, performance and process with specific attention to the working models of companies Gob Squad and Dood Paard, has given me a real feeling of potential what we are able to do together.
Three schools of learning and trainging (Toi Whakaari, Ernst Busch and 'the school of life') in one room and exchanging those was a fascinating experience. Because the differences are huge.
Germany with its many stadtheaters and year contracts for actors, is requiring a very refined skill set of techniques in body and voice when performing for the bigger companies here. Ernst Busch being one of the most prominent acting schools in the country, teaches its students in a four year degree through a rigourous, demanding schedule what that entails. Having witnessed classes and performances of the school, I celebrate the precision and stemina these students are showcasing in their work. You come to class and there is no small talk, you go into the work straight away. And not in your own time, from the very first minute. And then you do it again, and again. When Harry Furhmann (teacher of the school) told me that in the first years each student has one and a half hours of private voice tutoring per week, I understood how these young actors could hold their own in enourmous performance venues and a competitive environment. Having Runa and Florian in the room representing this background is a gift for us all in the project.
As I have now worked for a few years in the industry in New Zealand and recently travelled back to Europe, the actual learning that I gained from the directing course at Toi Whakaari and Victoria University is now slowly getting meaning in my practice. What I more and more appreciate from my Masters is the language of questioning, research/investigation and provocations we learned to use, that I see as absolutely essential to make and create your own work. The actors trained at Toi are able to speak to and work in that language, giving them the tools to grow as artists and performers also after they finished the course.
In this group configuration, one can see and experience how people trained at Toi are operating as organic leaders and collaborators and are extremely equipped in talking and reflecting upon their work and process. They have the means to analyze and unpack their work in sophisticated articulations, and are able to push the work further with a strong sense of purpose in a community context.
And what I as an Nordic European appreciate from the culture of New Zealand as a whole (which is an central element of the learning at the school) is the meaning of ritual, journey and community. I applaud the development of the Maori frameworks that Toi Whakaari is more and more developing that I see as being unique and artists are able to share with the rest of the world. There is a need for that here. Harry Fuhrmann has invited us to share the school's vision with the second year actors of Ernst Busch at the start of 2012. More about that later.
Back to this first day of our Chekhov project. After learning interesting (personal) things from each other and just play on the floor (good 'old' space jump and the hat game), the actors shared their images and individual compositions on the theme of waiting, sometimes in relationship to their chosen characters of Chekhov and/or plays. We saw Verhinin (Florian Steffens) waiting for his car to pick him up (being very much on display and working from the notion that he never has to wait for anything in life), Sonya (Tai Berdinner Blades) eating her morning breakfast whilst listening to music, Andrej (Thom Eason) emodying the central actions that he does during the entire play (playing the violin, reading, gambling and taking care of the baby), Jaci Gwaliasi working with the form of seperation and distortions in her body (and creating the magic of clipping wings in different parts of her body), Konstantin (Andrew Paterson) running a marathon over and over again and at the same time occupying himself with what he has to do during the day (and yes theatre is sports) and Ben Crawford sharing a story linked to his work on the character of Astrov in Uncle Vanya.
Holly, Thomas and me have been doing extensive research on the concept of postdramatic theatre (see the previous blog posting); what is exciting is how the collective is instinctively interested in the core elements of this way of looking at performance. The work is visceral, visual (images rather than text), present and immediate. A strong sense of ownership. The performer rather than 'the character' is put to the foreground, and the audience's perception in relationship to time and place is being challenged. The collective expressed the wish to investigate audience and performer relationships and also how to work with the space between actor and character in order for us to understand the power of communication in performance contexts. Finding a new balance between character, actor and dramatic situation.
The last part of the day was called LAB PLAYGROUND. Holly, Thomas and myself had layed out texts, theatre programmes, videos, soundscapes, power point presentations and images, for us all to move through, as a labarynth and a treasure hunt. It was like being in a candy shop, provoking us with we liked and did not like, what we personally agreed with or what angered us. Maybe also what unsettles us and what we do not understand. But that is ok and maybe even better. Audition monologues of young American aspiring actresses doing the famous Nina monologue from their home environment and recording it for YouTube, TED Talks on Success in relationship to Trigorin's conversation with Nina in the Seagull, and questions that Chekhov is asking the audience to think about (do you love nature more than people, are you experiencing unrequired love, are you part of the masses). Jaci had a great time in a little corner watching the shadow play of the collective's bodies on the wall whilst listening to Thomas Press' soundscape (a combination of the Berlin public transport sound and monologue recordings of all the actors in the company). She was able to create her own story and the people in it were not aware of the fact they were performing/acting/being part of that. Ben did not agree with the notion of a very famous Dutch actress that ACTING IS USING THE TEARS OF YESTERDAY, he still needs to explain why because then we got kicked out by the dance group that was using the space after us. Good lesson, in Germany you do have to keep yourself to your rehearsal times. We debriefed quickly on the stairs, and then walked home filled with a lot of impressions and questions after a first day of eight hours work. Today is day 2 and we research THE ACTOR AS PERFORMER, train in Laban and exploring a mixture of techniques from Stanislavski and Brecht. Keep you posted, also photos here tomorrow.
Some final thoughts to ponder (from our research):
* AN EMANCIPATED COMMUNITY IS A COMMUNITY OF STORYTELLERS AND TRANSLATORS.
* AN ACTOR IS NEVER ALLOWED TO HIDE BEHIND THE FOURTH WALL.
* LET THE AUDIENCE BE A SCIENTIST OR A DETECTIVE. PRESENT THEM WITH SOMETHING STRANGE AND LET THEM SEEK FOR THE CAUSE AND CREATE THEIR OWN DRAMATURGY.
* PRESENCE VERSUS REPRESENTATION
* PEOPLE WANT TWO THINGS IN LIFE. TO FUCK AND TO KILL.
* EXPERIENCING/BEING VERSUS POSING/BEHAVING
* WHAT HAPPENS IN A THEATRE BETWEEN AUDIENCE AND PERFORMERS THAT YOU CANNOT FIND ANYWHERE ELSE, NOT IN CINEMA AND NOT IN TELEVISION?
* POSTDRAMATIC AND THE CLASSICS/THE BIG NARRATIVES. A PARADOX?
* I CAN NOT ACT, BECAUSE I AM NOT AN ACTOR.
* BOTH THE INTELLECT AND THE SENSES NEED STIMULATION FOR THE IMAGINATION TO FIRE.
* CAN YOU PLEASE SHOW ME EVERYTHING AND NOT JUST THE ILLUSION?
* PSYCHOLOGICALLY CREATED CHARACTERS ARE DEAD OR DYING.
* WHAT IS THE POINT OF JUST PRETENDING?
* WHY WOULD ONE SPEAK A TEXT WHICH IS NOT CREATED BY THE SPEAKER, BUT MEMORIZED BY HIM?
* IT IS PERHAPS A STUPID CLICHE, BUT I ALWAYS FALL FOR IT, THAT THE REAL PERSON HAS SOMETHING THAT CONNECTS US ALL. SOMETHING WEIRDLY INNOCENT.
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