Wednesday, July 14

Off to Regents College....

Complicité Workshop with Judith Ackroyd

1. Judith welcomed the students to Regents College, explained it’s place as a private institution, and provided a bit of background of Complicité, as the work they will be doing in the following two days will be based on that theatre company’s style of work. It should be understood that Complicité is based upon the idea that the group should be so deeply connected and working together that they behave as a part of a whole and not as individuals.

2. Judith went around the circle allowing each student to introduce him or herself. Thereafter, the group stood in a circle and passed a boxing glove around, at first reciting their names, and then just passing it back and forth with Judith. She then indicated that eye contact must be made before the glove could be thrown to someone across the circle. Two went around at once, then three, then an umbrella, a rubbish bin, and finally (and on its own), a chair. Debrief followed the chair bit—highlighting the skill necessary to successfully catch the chair.

3. Using chairs, the group worked on a musical chairs type concentration game whereby each student had a chair placed somewhere in the space and they sat in it. The goal was for the seated students to lock eyes and exchange chairs without the ‘out’ person getting in a seat first. Rather than being one seat short, however, there were actually enough seats available for everyone – so it’s really a concentrated group effort to move chairs and keep the ‘out’ person continually without a seat. The ‘out’ person could not change direction until the seat they are heading toward was filled. This was a walking activity, and not a wild run in spite of everyone’s desire to speed it up. The real goal is to maintain a constant pace of movement for both those seated and the ‘out’ person. In an advanced turn, one member of the group stood on a chair and tried to conduct the movement.

4. After a break, the group participated in “Red Light/Green Light,” whereby the leader was at one end of the room with his or her back to the group who were at the other end of the group. The group’s objective was to touch the leader, but they could not move if the leader was watching. The objective of the leader is to catch individuals moving, and the penalty for being caught is to be sent back to the beginning. Judith encouraged the group to work together instead of as individuals—one large mass moving toward the leader. Thereafter, the group worked in two smaller groups with the props utilized in activity 3 and created a series of images of the group moving together (still in the same framework-so the leader never knew what to expect when he or she turned around) Some additional items were added (like hats and scarves) in order to offer more variety and each item was a gift of sorts, with the group trying to pass the objects around as part of their movements. Each person was to have held at least three items by the time they were finished. The division allowed half the group to act as audience and assess the work.

5. An extension of activity 4 - Philip is in a garden reading, and the students are throughout the space with props. If Philip looks up, everyone freezes, but when he’s not looking, the group is morphing and moving around him. The parameters from activity 4 still held: each person had to handle at least three items. Leigh was the reader in the second go, and this time the piece was shaped by having the members of the group disappear at the end.

**I left at the lunch break in order to continue assessment of the lesson and unit plans.