First of all we we play tag games , but we change the rules of the tag…
..so we move from just simple touching into a final tag game...
..where everybody is tagged and ends up in a circle.
(noise of tag game)
Then we take a Peter Brook exercise, which is…
..choose one person in the circle you want to stand next to,
one person you want to keep away from, you must keep hold of hands,
so that what you end up is a whole group of people who've…
..gone through each other's legs over their heads and then they re knotted up.
(noise of circle exercise)
Then you you come back.
(noise of circle exercise)
(Lizbeth Goodman) The workshop participants are a mixture of young struggling actors,
more experienced actors doing some brushing up on physical skills,
and students encountering these exercises for the first time.
Barker doesn't tell them what plays he's thinking of,
finding that out for themselves is part of the game.
Then I say two men two women. You' re in love with him, but she's in love with him.
Okay, the object of the exercise is kiss the hand…
..and right up the arm of the person you love,
and keep your arm well away from the person you don't love,
and this is a basic game of Midsummer Night's Dream.
(noise of exercise)
Stanislavski our great teacher says to us, when you're playing a part in a situation,
try and go back in your memory to try and recall some situation…
..where you can recreate the feelings or bring back the feelings...
..which will help you to play that scene,
but if you play a game like that during the rehearsal period,
you have an emotional memory which is not in the past it's in the present,
and which is absolutely specific to the situation in the play you re working on.
(Clive Barker) Okay can I have two men two women please? Yeah, okay?
You are in love with him, I know you've only met him but you're in love with him,
but he's in love with her, unfortunately she's in love with him.
But unfortunately he's in love with her, okay. That's it.
So the object of the exercise now is to kiss the hand of the person you love,
(kissing sounds and laughter)
and keep your hand well away from the person you don't love.
Okay. Can we give them space? Okay , go.
(noise of exercise and laughter from onlookers)
(Clive Barker) It's a question of finding what is the basic action of the play,
what would you say is the basic action of the play.