The last 3 days have been filled with immense revelations and i've needed time to absorb... so here is a summary/amalgamation of the last 3 amazing days.
The energy and the way the actors of this company bring to the space is amazing. I've written about all of the rituals around entering the space, and the focus that they all bring. It really creates an environment which is able to allow "something else" to happen on stage. By something else, i mean, something that isn't banal, or everyday life. It is heightened, and our imaginations truely engaged... more than anywhere i have ever been. Arianne says, this respect and energy is vital to creating theatre. We are and must always stay as kids playing and beleiving in castles and royal kingdoms, and to do so, to really do so, we must create the right circumstances to allow ourselves to do so.
That is what this whole place does. It allows the actor to let go of themselves, their baggage, thier "actorness" and become once again enchanted with theatre. To be inspired to be free again and play. These last three days, i have experienced and witnessed what makes Arianne so great. She embodies that philosophy. When she works, she is able to unlock people from thier heads, and is constantly helping people to allow themselves to play. So first step, is, once you enter the grounds of the Cartoucherie, you are filled with a certain magic... that is only the beginning... She quoted Eugenio Barbara, "People crave traditions" (something like that, forgive me cause i am also trying to translate and also try to remember...) and then she went on to say, that is why we adopted the traditions of a lot of theatres from the east. It is where theatre comes from, Iraq, Iran, India, Japan, China etc... If you allow yourself and dare to adopt someone's traditions, and try them on, in doing so you invite other traditions to be born, they are creating in you existing and embracing another.
She spoke on Day 3 about the importance of needing to support each other in the theatre. Some people would have success and some would have failures as they got up on stage and it was imparative that we be concious of how we treat each other. Don't dare take away someone having the feeling of existing on stage, for even a second, good or bad. In the theatre we are "the man in the corner" like in a boxing match. We are there to serve to other actor, the story, we need to take care of each other and support. It really struck me, how she emphasised it, and again, i felt people sit taller, realize what she was saying and take it in. The energy in the room, again, raised another level. Not because we were being told to, but rather because it made sense. Don't burn my star out to make yours shine brighter...
She has also put a lot of emphasis on the actor's vision. They have to really see whatever it is they are looking at, or else we will not see it and it will be false. If you are in an empty space and are not truly engaged and seeing an open field, we will not see it. I felt this first hand in that improvisation when i led the chorus, i actually saw the things i was engaging with and it felt I was in that moment. A great story she told was of one of her actors Juliana and how when they were doing Tartuffe, she played Dorine. At one point two characters had left her on stage waiting, and she was standing still looking after them, and Arianne was blown away, it was so moving. Out of curiosity, Arianne asked, "i see you seeing something, and i am curious, what was it". Juliana said, "I am looking down a long road and i see two young girls coming towards me in pink dresses..." and she described a vivid scene she was seeing. She was alive on stage, not just there, and it filled her with an emotional life and allowed her to exist on stage.
We had a large discussion about the idea of adopting cultures, as there was an improv of chorus with a Japanese actor leading to Japanese music and it became stylized and "japoneserie" (border line mocking). She was saying that theatre involves a voyage/Travel. When we look at something we can look at it closely (bring the paper to your face) or we can look at it from afar (hold the paper at arms length to examine it). Sometimes when we look at it from a far, we are able to see it from a different way. You have to be brave and risk to pass through "Japaneserie" in order to create a new vision of a new imaginative space. If you don't dare to go there, you will never unlock another world. You have to do it with respect, intellegence and rebellion and with an extreme naivite, which allows you to be open to discover things anew. At the end of the day, you are always looking for truth. This inspired me immensely as i have an idea i want to do, and now, will do! If anyone from Stratford is reading, please expect a call from me soon...
I will write another blog about the improvs we have been doing, the costumes we've been wearing and how amazing it has been (i feel i've never played so well and had so much fun on stage!!) and how she has been working with the actors... I wish you could just be here to see it!
There are numerous things she says that i could quote... but i am still processing them and this blog would end up being a book...which i am not the person to be writing it...
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