A sensory experience...

Over the last week we have been looking into different ways stories can be told and what different routes or perspectives they can be told from.
We have looked at ways in which stories can be told visually, through the use of puppets and shadows, and, how music and movement can also portray a story of their own. A really great example of how music can tell a story by itself is in the hand puppet scene that materialised on Thursday morning! ( I can't remember which two of you it was that came up with this idea but I thought it was genius) The use of music inferred that Beowulf and The Mother were going to have sex, there was no need for it to be said as the music was telling that element of the story by itself. It was really comical and when combined with the hands was really effective. It would be great if we could come up with a few scenes that could be performed that way, if they were short scenes they could be performed in a certain area, and they could cut into the performance in a similar way to the personal stories.

This put me in mind of Antonin Artuad and his want for a theatre to "Smash language in order to touch life." (Esslin, M, 1976 pg 70 ) It is my understanding of this that he wanted theatre to go beyond an actor standing on stage and simply relaying a story to the audience through the dialogue. Our work with shadows and puppetry is a good example of how language can take a back seat and become a secondary, less important element.

Smell and taste could also be used to enhance this idea and transport the audience into a complete sensory experience. We have spoken about using smells such as traditional incense and the possibility of serving food or drink during the performance. This would also completely lend itself to the Artuadien style of acting.

The workshop on Thursday with Sarah was also very Autaudien for me. Throughout the choreographed movement, we were using chants and shouts but not not actually speaking, but this did not make the scene any less powerful. It reminded me on some levels of the work we did with Vanessa during the first term when we were learning about Artuad.
Artuad was mesmerised by the ritualistic movements of the Balinese dancers and the Suzuki training moves we were experimenting with were also very ritualistic and repetitive. I was intrigued by this idea and found the following performance on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmTOlw4WZwI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
(the whole video is great but around 3.30 is visually my favourite i think!!)

I really liked this video in particular out of the ones I have seen because it was the most disciplined and polished performance. It would be great if we could use some of the movement sequences we have worked on in a similar way.
Artuad wanted the audience to be transported into a sensory world that mesmerised and forced the audience to live the action for themselves by throwing them into a world that was no longer just presented to them, but forced upon them through the senses.