Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Physicality, awareness of space

Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Physicality, awareness of space

5. What inhibitions do you still have in using your body to express yourself? What are the strategies you can use to overcome this?

One inhibition that I possess is the usage of a space well enough. Usually or all the time, I see the stage as too large an empty space which I am not comfortable with. When I am on stage (blackbox), I usually feel that I am not doing something correctly and thus have little confidence in the actions that I commit. For example, in my previous group’s production, I am working with nothing but an empty circle bound by darkness. I feel insecure that I am supposed to be around nothing. One solution to this is practice. A large reason why I feel insecure is due to poor practice that is not serious. Due to this, I feel like I am in that space for the first time when I am performing it. By having various practices on spatial awareness such as the “Cube”, where I imagine myself in a cuboidal room doing everyday activities, I can claim my own space and have more confidence in the space I work in.

Secondly, I have problems in imagining that a prop is real and is not just a prop. For example, in Moritz’s production, I felt that I was kicking a prop, not a chair. This inhibition is imagination can cause serious problems when working in production next year, as I do not have full belief that I am my character. However, this can be solved by using Stanislavski’s method, “Magic If”. I have read that actors are children and that actors should imagine their props as how a child imagines that their action figure or doll is living. By utilizing the “Magic If”, I can use various props which have no relation to my script. This will build up my imagination and I would then be able to use props as they were real objects.
















6. Read up on the works of Rudolf Laban and Jacques LeCoq. To what extent do you think their works can help an actor be more adept in the use of space and their own physicality as an actor?
Rudolf Laban was a central European dance artist and theorist who published a dance notation system known as Labanotation. This notation system uses abstract symbols to define 4 important aspects of movement, the direction of the movement, part of the body doing the movement, level of the movement and the length of time it takes to do the movement. By using Labanotation, actors can document their own actions and movements on stage. This will allow actors to learn and analyze their movements in an easier manner which is effective, as it covers every movement of a person. This ‘language of movement’ enhances the ability of an actor to picture movement on-stage and thus, spatial awareness can be improved. By using the notations for floor plans, actors can basically imagine themselves moving about in a space. This will allow the planning of actions on-stage to be more flexible, as it can be done anywhere.
Jacques LeCoq was a French actor, mime and an acting instructor. His acting style was one that was aimed at a closer interaction with the audience, included an extended use of general space and a focus on the physical rather than the emotional side of the character to impact the audience. LeCoq has trained his students with emotional and physical exercises, which were clowning and acrobatics. He has also encouraged spontaneous mime. In addition, students were made to wear masks and they learned how body movements could turn facial blankness into expression. By learning how the body moves without using facial expressions, actors can fully depend on their movements and develop them.
In conclusion, I feel that both Rudolf Laban’s and Jacques LeCoq’s works can assist an actor in being more adept in physicality and spatial use as they allow actors to practice and focus on the body’s movement and actions.






Bibliography :
http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/~griesbec/LABANE.HTML#Conclusion
http://www.europamagna.org/pageshtml/Pgtheatre/SCOUT/StageIUFM/jlecoqeng.htm

Isa Ong