Rehearsal 20/9/17

We started with a warmup called 'Sidestretch'. This will be the warmup we carry out every session.

Firstly, we clear the space in silence so that our performance space is clean. This is an exercise Yoshi Oida would use when training actors. In all of Yoshi Oida's rehearsals, he would get him and his actors to clean the space they were going to use. This cleanses the space of any pre-existing ideas and acts as a clean slate for a new day. We then begin to fill the space and make the spaced balanced, bringing a focused energy to the space.
We then squat slightly, tilt your head up slightly and release a natural sound, raise arms straight and face palms to this the ceiling. This enables you to plant yourself on the ground. We all eventually face the same way and take up the position called 'warrior pose'.

We wait for everyone to assume the position. You lean to each side 4 time, breathing as you lunge. We go to a lower stretch (sometimes a spiderman lunge):

We then go into a press up position and do 1 press up. You tuck 1 arm in and roll to the floor. You then raise your arms and legs from the floor, breathing, and this really strengthens the abdominals:

You then lower your legs and hands and roll over. Then assume the cobra pose and slowly rotate your head from side to side as you're doing this: 

You raise your bottom and push off the ground and assume prayer position. Turn your hands over so they are facing the ceiling, and slowly sit back on your knees. 

In today's rehearsal we finished our initial run through of the play. We started to block the beginning section. It is based on the 3 main stages of life: Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood. The first group contains a group of people all performing parts of the Hokey Cokey to themselves and playing other games such as Grandma's footsteps. We transition to adolescence by exploring the intense mood swings. We explore love by hugging our partner and then running away, and also shaking their hand showing the gradual transition into adulthood. We all form into a line and shake each others hands manically with dead expressions, exploring that monotonous corporate world of suits and boring jobs. We all stand and pump our fists in the air and stamp our feet in a sort of protest to symbolise our displeasment of this type of secular world.

God makes her entrance and we all move with our breath, rising and lowering. As she walks past us we all drop to the floor like we are passed out at a party as she tidies up all of the mess on the stage.


We explored a couple of songs that we might be using in our show.

God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash (Punisher Remix) - This is the song that may be used for Everyman as he runs away from Death. It contains the appropriate lyrics: 'You can run home for a long time' and 'sooner or later gonna knock you down'.
We used this song to come up with a physical sequence for when Everyman is running from Death. We stomp and clap along with the stomping and clapping in the song. We have to physicalise a sort of predator role and look slightly menacing.

We also looked at Death Cab for a Cutie's: I'll Follow You Into The Dark. The song uses both religious imagery and belief, and skepticism of religion, to a great combined effect: whatever waits, they’ll be together.
The history of religious representation of death is varied and multifaceted, but strangely, it’s usually associated with either darkness or light.
For example, we speak of death as “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel” and certainly envision Heaven as a well-lit place. The Buddhist religion describes vast oceans of light in other dimensions.

We also looked at some songs we might use and their corresponding 'typical dance move' for the party scene at the beginning:

Feed Em To the Lions - Moshing
Mr Brightside
Pow
Hey Ya
Bohemian Rhapsody - Head Bang
In Da Club - Groove
Crank That - Superman
American Idiot - Scat circle
Jump Around - Jumping
Cha Cha Slide
Candy Song - Candy dance
Centipede