Dracula 6

Start up exercise

Today we started off with the same exercise we began the lesson with a week ago with the instruments in a circle, however there was one key difference: we had to run it ourselves. It started off with us all sat in a circle unsure of what to do, however eventually Yunusa took initiative and stood up and everyone followed suit. At first there were only 2 or 3 people swapping the role of trying out new beats and leading the group however as people became more confident and inspired it became more of a communal exercise. It took loads of complicity and simple, silent communication to make it work, but it felt so much better than a week ago. I felt like us having to do the work and leading meant that everyone had to work harder, some on focusing on the entire group so they'd understand what was happening, some learning to take the responsibility of stepping forward and leading the group which may be out of their comfort zone, and arguably the even greater responsibility of some to actually step back - I particularly felt this was something I needed to work on - and let others lead. 

Workshop

We were split into pairs and told to devise an epic, huge argument without using a single word. I was placed with Liam, which was good because I feel like we work well together. He inspires ideas in me just as much as I inspire ideas in him. We decided that our argument should be the kind that you have right at the end of a relationship, the final argument, where it's so epic and so long that you lose every ounce of self control you once had and end up forgetting what you were fighting about in the first place. I decided to incorporate the Silent Scream, which has always helped me work with the physicality of pain, both facially and in my full body. Behind me Liam would be using things like groans and breathing to build up the anger "vibe" whilst I simply screamed and rocked in complete silence. Then I started crying and panting before pushing him away and he would laugh. I slap him, he pushes me away and I start to scrabble at him, holding him and trying to keep him close before he pushes me down. The scene ends with me once again on the floor, crying and lying still as the tension slowly drops. 

We had to perform this in front of the class and in the moment, as I pulled Liam close,the word "Please" escaped my lips almost as part of my breathe. It was involuntary and a reaction, however Andy commented on the fact that we could now employ one word in our scenes. When we were working on them again I used more vocal reaction to Liam, screaming at my own frustration and at him, no words just animalistic screaming. He would then laugh and it was so frustrating. Even though we were acting, feeling that much emotion being expelled from my body and seeing him just laugh literally made me want to slap him, and when he pushed me down I went flying across the floor and let my body go with it, allowing myself to just lie there trying to recover from the shock of it. 

This exercise really showed me the raw, helpless, uncontrollable emotion you can feel as an actor working in this style. It was so effecting and I genuinely felt shaken and overwhelmed by the end of the lesson. It was also so moving watching other people's pieces. For example Harry and Sav had a scene and at the end Sav was lying, whimpering and sobbing on the floor as Harry held her down by her neck, shouting and howling in her face. Seeing that, feeling the energy pumping out of the scene like an Aurora of emotion, made me realise how heavily this style can affect you. It was so much stronger than if they'd run around shouting endless, empty words at one another for 30 seconds. I felt my stomach drop and my hands reached up to cover my eyes but some how I couldn't.

I think that this style is so deeply affecting, not just on the basic emotional sense but in this indescribable way that makes you feel like clawing your eyeballs out but also like it's something you want to watch forever, I think it will be so incredible to incorporate it into Dracula.

Castings

We also got cast for our roles at the end of the lesson, and I was cast as Lucy. In all honesty she was one of the characters that I was least interested in playing. Partially because I felt  so inspired by so many of the other characters, but also because I feel that I've played her before. I can easily be type-casted as the kind of girl Lucy is, often pretty, lively, young, sometimes spoilt, the lovely damsel of the show. I enjoy it sometimes, however over the last 4 or 5 shows I've been involved in - some in college, others not - where I've been cast by a director, it's been as those kinds of girls. In Dracula, however, I do recognise that the part of Lucy's story which I will be portraying will be the most fun one. She has been bitten by Dracula, she is succumbing to her animalistic temptations, brimming with rampant sexual desire and pure madness. Reading through the part I'd been given is that there's a part of her which is kind of like the female Renfield, and I'd love to take her to the full extreme of an animal, insane and completely embodying sex and madness.