Arto workshop

Today we looked at more Arto exercises by using sounds. This is because Arto believed in influencing the audience's feelings when acting and have them 'on the edge of their seats' and not to just have them sitting there thinking 'this is good acting.' Therefore, Arto believed actions are more powerful than words. This was tested as, when people asked what was the most memorable moment of 'Rent,' they could remember the lines at first but only the movements of when Charlotte died.

• First, we turned the lights off and created sounds for different emotions, going round the circle. These included boredom, anger, despair and loneliness. We could use words as well as sounds which made it very interesting and I think it was effective how not many people chose the same sound.
• We then did a similar activity but creating settings. These included the countryside, a mental asylum, a torture chamber and a street at night. I found it easier to do this as with a whole setting there are endless noises you can make that fit. For instance, for the countryside, you can use cow noises, wind noises, people noises etc.
• After that, we got into two groups to add a visual impact to the sounds. Our group had to create the countryside and the torture chamber so we all started with our backs facing away from the audience and in staggered positions. We all turned round one by one and made noises like 'trator (in farmer accent),' 'baaaaa' and the noise of a tractor which was the main drive of the scene as this noise changed into a chain saw to create the torture chamber. We then all turned round slowly again after turning back in the same order. We then made screaming noises, bone cracking noises and Jess shouted 'HELP.' We then all screamed together to end the scene. To make our scene more visual, I was on all fours as a sheep, Mauve and Jess moved around whilst making their noises and, when it changed to the torture chamber, I was Kneeling and, as Ryan made a clapping noise, I gradually cocked my head more and more to the side. Although we did have quite a few visual aspects in our scene, I believe more movement was needed.
• I found the other group's scene was very unusual but extremely effective. They each sat on a chair in a circle and we, as the audience, stood in the middle. They first created the mental asylum so all sang 'baa baa black sheep' to begin with in very interesting voices with disturbing looks on their faces. They all then started to do crazy things like self inflicting, bashing the floor and screaming. Probably the most effective thing of the whole piece I thought was the transition line 'visiting time's over.' They all then completely transformed into very busy people and acting asking for directions or calling a taxi, for example. This involved a lot more movement which created an effective contrast and was also a lot more busy and noisy. They gradually went back to the chairs and all quickly said their lines one more time to end the scene. They also went through us a lot and asked us so we could really understand their emotions, showing Arto's techniques.
• Finally, we looked at smoking. First, Rachel acted making smoking look realistic to show the general actions. We then had to add the 'Arto' touch to it and show the feelings inside her body. We did this by showing her brain on one side and lungs on the other. As the brain, they all were extremely happy and hyper and jumped around a lot when she inhaled the smoke. On the other hand, as the lungs, we breathed in and out with her and gradually coughed more, were in pain and screamed a little. We also raised one hand, pleading for her to stop. I found this a very effective exercise as it showed just how much actions can be louder than words.