The AFPA organized 3 acting workshops directed by the DIDASKALOS. The workshops took place at AL MADINA THEATRE between the 15th and the 30th of June 2011. They were addressed both to people who worked already in the field of acting and to many new comers to the world of acting. People who were curious to learn more about the art of acting and more about themselves.
As per has become expected of the DIDASKALOS, these workshops were designed not only to teach a person the art of acting, but also to allow the individual to further explore aspects of his or herself, in the sanctity of a guided established method, coined as Nagy Souraty's THEATRE OF THE EDGE.
The terminology of THEATRE OF THE EDGE is a play on words; be it a physical edge, as Nagy Souraty is often prone to placing his actors on highly dangerous sets or the other edge, which is of course the edge of one's self, or rather the exploration of that edge, how far can the body go? How far can the mind go?
To accomplish this the DIDASKALOS used an array of techniques and exercises that stimulated that sense of being put on the edge, where you drop all pretense in front of an audience, an audience however that is involved physically and emotionally as well, in order to cultivate a safe and certain atmosphere and mindset, an element which is at the core of the THEATRE OF THE EDGE: TRUST.
In order to get into such a mindset all those involved would spend 20-30 minutes before each session warming up the body and the mind, the actor's 'tools', through various guided yoga and meditations and workouts to warming up the vocals, all paramount in achieving the right mindset and concentration.
Sessions would last up to 6 hours a day. Wherein the participants would explore various aspects of their imagination and body through single and group exercises, on one day the actors had to face their worse critic; themselves. The DIDASKALOS would have them stare into a mirror and have their flaws pointed out to them by one of their peers, after which the person had to face the audience and convince them that these were not flaws but something to be proud of, something that made them who they were.
Other exercises challenged the imagination, where the actors were asked to take on various different personas, sometimes ones that were the polar opposite of themselves, they were put in situations and had to interact with others on stage.
In essence they were learning how to 'act' through non-acting, in the sense that they were learning to be true to themselves, and that showed on stage.
The entire workshop was a success on AFPA's behalf, the many moments of laughter and self realization, had those participating eagerly awaiting the next workshops to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment