Recently we worked with an artist in residence by the name of Alice who works for the renown Zen Zen Zo.

The workshops were extremely tiring and tough but very benefiting for my growth in physical theatre. The three main things I took away from these workshops were focus, energy and awareness. Throughout both days, these three skills were reoccurring throughout the entire workshop. I have learnt how important it is to always be focused in and out of performing, it pushes your mind to be constantly alert and gives you the ability to respond both physically and mentally at any given moment. When she was explaining anything, she would ask us to sit in an alert position which meant that backs were up and preferably, legs were tucked under ourselves so that we were prepared to move if needed. Focus also draws the audience to you, even if you are not performing, and you realise at that moment that every detail can be perceived as either part of your character or a flaw and that if you do mess up you have to do it in confidence and play it off. I now understand how important it is for us to pay attention in and out of performing and throughout rehearsals because it keeps your energy up too and you feel as if you have done a lot more work overall. Energy was very interesting to look at in physical theatre, it was extremely tiresome because we had to push ourselves at an energy of 10 but only show around 3-5. This is because energy shouldn’t always be fully visible, it can be conserved and used in many other ways such as your stage presence. The stomping activity was super tough for me because I wanted to keep my stance, energy and focus constant but it was quite painful but I realised that pushing yourself to your limits can really create something beautiful to look at. Awareness also plays a large role in physical theatre because it can change the audience’s perception of what is happening at the given moment in the piece. Being able to be aware of yourself and others can show a general sense of unison and collaboration even if you are also focusing on your own work. It also means you are able to respond and react differently to what is happening. An activity which provided me with a good sense of awareness was the rock garden and when one person moves, how the others react can completely develop a new sense to the scene and it was really interesting to see the audiences opinion on the scene.

In my future performances, I really want to use the valuable skills I took away from the workshop and be able to create contrasts of speed, energy and levels in my performance and be able to draw my audience members in. I also want to test my abilities as a performer and use some of the activities as a base for creating my characters or helping others develop.