THEATRE METHODS 04
Creative Presentations
Sheila Gordon (USA)

       ANIMAL BODY in PERFORMANCE
In Our Charge 

A Solo-performance of Adapted Shakespearean
Scenes and Original Works
Exploring Issues of Human Captivity
by
Sheila Gordon

       This will be a a work-in-progress performance which actualizes the technique embarked upon in last year’s workshop, “Strasberg Sense Memory through Animal Observation as Applied to Shakespeare.” 
       Actress, professor and director, Sheila Gordon will perform a series of scenes, demonstrating the application of psycho-physical transformation and it’s application to characterization.    
      The theme explored will be “Human Captivity: Explorations in Shakespeare, I and Contemporary America.”
       A pictorial essay and program notes will be provided for basis of roles created. 
       The following are Guidelines to Creating Animal Character as explored in the July 2003 workshop taught by Sheila Gordon.

Observe Animal
       Physically and sensorially explore in detail on the following experience:
Position and ability of eyes
       How does this animal see?  How far?  Is sight its strongest sense?  Stronger or weaker than my own?  Are eyes closer together than my own?  Farther apart?  On the side of my head or in front?  What can I see now that I couldn’t before?
Position and ability of ears
       How does this animal hear?  With these ears can I hear better or worse than I do as human?  Are ears farther back on my head?  Are they on top of my head?  Larger or smaller than my own.  What do I hear now that I don’t as human?  How does that effect me?
Position and ability of nose
       What can I smell now that I could not as human?  How does smell tell me what to do?  Where to go?  Which way to turn?  How fast?  How far?  What do I know about others through this sense of smell?  How does it effect my tempo-rhythm?
       Smell various places:  A room with eyes closed.  A garden.  The clothes of someone you love.
Position and ability of jaw, teeth, tongue
       Taste.  What tastes good?  Where does the jaw open in relation to the head?  Are the teeth larger or smaller than my own?  How does that change the way I move my mouth when talking, eating, drinking?
Tactile abilities, sensations:
       What does this animal like to TOUCH? How? How hard? 
How gently?  With what part of body? What areas of my body am I more aware of now?
Skeleton
       How can my spine move now?  How far do my arms extend?  How long/short is my neck?  How heavy/massive are my bones?
       Breadth of chest. Suppleness of joints. Where joints attach.
       It must be kept clear at all times that the point of the exercise is not so that you imitate the animal, but that you incorporate the animal with a free body. 

Next
Return to THEATRE METHODS 04