We began by reading a scene from "A Midsummers nights dream" together. It is a scene between Demetrius and Helena in the woods, Helena is declaring her unrequited love for Demetrius, and he is making it very clear to her that he is in love with someone else, Hermia and is not interested in her any more and wants her to stop pursuing him.
- Demetrius. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. 565
Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;
And here am I, and wode within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
- Helena. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; 570
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.
- Demetrius. Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth 575
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?
The two lines I have highlighted are the main lines we used in our exercises. We were put into pairs and one person was Demetrius and the other was Helena. We would say the lines in different ways to each other, using different emotions and different actions. The first time we did this it was just using the text, no movement or physicality involved. I was paired with Sav and we played around with it, we would use sarcasm, anger, sadness, bitterness, indifference and mania as all our different emotions. It was fun to play around with the different ways of expressing the lines we were given and it was very playful, it allowed me and Sav to have fun with each other and mess around with the different ways we could portray the emotions, I was playing Helena, and I interpreted her line as she is calling him hard hearted, or cold hearted and she is constantly drawn to him, she is attracted to him and even though he says he does not love her, she is still drawn into him and cannot cut her emotions for him. I prefer Demetrius' line as it is more strong and to the point, he is telling her I do not love you, so stop trying with me, stop trying to make me love you. This line has more impact, it is brutal. But it does not have to be said in a nasty way, you can be upset that you do not love someone any more, maybe he wants to love her but he just does not. The line itself is very hard, but that does not mean it has to be said in a hard way. He could be very upset with the fact that he no longer is in love with her.
We also did this exercise with NO talking, we were mouthing the lines but expressing our emotions through body language and actions. This exercise helped me to express acting through my movement, and I felt Sav and I did this very well. We swapped over so I was saying Demetrius' line, and I expressed this through a lot of pacing, holding my head in my hands, sitting on the floor, shaking Sav, pushing Sav and walking away from her. I was showing distress and anger and upset through my actions and not my words. And I will use this in the near future when we start rehearsing for Twelfth Night.
Another exercise we did in different pairs, was slightly different but we were still using the same lines. We would stand opposite each other with a distance between us, and say the lines at each other, and move towards each other or back from each other. We would use touching in one exercise, so we would always have to be touching each other, using hands mainly, holding the other persons arm, face, head, leg, waist. And in another exercise when saying the lines, one of us would have to be wanting eye contact and the other completely avoiding it. Demetrius would avoid eye contact at all costs and Helena would be demanding eye contact. I was playing Demetrius and avoiding eye contact was very hard, as I was paired with Chloe, and she demanding eye contact but coming very close to my face and following me around, it is so difficult to avoid eye contact when acting, but I have learned something new from this.
The last part of the exercise was with another pair, I was paired with Greta. And would have to perform a few verses from the scene, one playing Dem and one playing Helena. I was playing Helena, we were given a script and had to perform these lines to each other, we were told not to act too much, but to use gestures throughout. So whenever we said YOU we had to gesture to the other person, and when we said I we pointed to ourselves, and when were talking about something else we would gesture outwards, and anything to do with love or feelings we would gesture to our hearts.
- Demetrius. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. 565
Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;
And here am I, and wode within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
- Helena. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; 570
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.
- Demetrius. Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth 575
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?
This is the scene we performed to the class, and I found this interesting as it was not so much to do with our acting ability it was more to do with gestures and our physical ability. It was hard sometimes to keep remembering to gesture every time I said I or YOU. But it has helped me to start learning how we are going to have to act when doing Shakespeare. It is very physical and involves a lot of hand gestures, but the acting is easier, as Shakespeare helps you know how to say something as he writes this in his verses, he makes it very clear how the characters are feeling and how you should act it. He is always helping you in his words, which I have learned and I am really looking forward to start Tweflth Night and I am beginning to study the play now.
No comments:
Post a Comment