Martin Campion

The two subjects I choose at Leatss were Connecting with Chekov (Chris White) and Routine Timing (Mitch Mitchelson). Getting a taste of the other subjects through swaps was great to see what area you might like to do in the future.

In Comedic/Routine timing we learnt about the seven levels of tension first developed under Jacque lecoq. These are desert walk, cowboy walk, normal walk, purposeful walk, is there a bomb, there is a bomb, and finally petrified terror. Actors choose which levels to go through to build the level of tension in comedic routines like the bank robbery etc which we practised in class.

We covered freeze and slide routines where one is caught in action, one freezes for a second then slides into something casual. We then acted out two Chekov comedic scenes in groups, discussing how each tackled the scene and where the comedy hot-spots were.

In Connecting with Chekov we first worked on a number of small scenes, made choices for characters and actioned/verbed the text to decide characters intention. After practising these techniques on a number of scenes we had a read through of the Cherry Orchard. Scenes were picked for three groups which we got to work on with Chris in detail. It was great to see his work process and how he tried to find the truth in each scene.

I guess the main change of how I might tackle a character in future is to try out any idea or whim for a character and then eliminate what you feel does not work. The workshop I hope will allow me to be more adventurous in my choices for a character. 

The only way to find what works is to act it out, either in an imagined scenario for your character or otherwise. Even if you act him/her with real extreme emotions for fun something authentic might arise in you that you will keep. 

I guess the adage is true that actors really do need a fertile imagination.