Clapping community exercise. Stress lifting away – what a lovely idea, but also at the same time, what about letting that stress live? I always love these exercises that require everyone to live in each other’s bodies. It feels like an arrhythmic heartbeat, a little bit – or maybe the constant pounding of a team of marathoners. They have reached a rhythm in which they are really living in each other and with each other.
Three characters last time, Keith is going to do two each this time so we get all caught up. Think about the first character you want to do – three gestures and we guess which character, then three words, then tell us.
Characters in their bodies and language. Perhaps there should be a limit to the guessing. Self as a word that describes – interesting – an idea that certain of these characters live in themselves alone. Clarity of Tamora from Ashley – she is grasping and incredibly sexual in this interpretation. Witch, beautiful, mother. What is interesting about these is the idea of appealing to both an idea of icon/universality (that is ham-fisty on my part) and the notion of Titus as a specific piece involving very clear individuals.
TAMORA: treacherous, audacious, militaristic.
CHIRON: obedient, childish, ruthless
MARCUS: (gender will often play a role in what you see) obsessive, parental, ?
TITUS: gladiator, instinct, eagle
LAVINIA:
LAVINIA: idyllic and iconic (religion-like), sparkling and soiled, desecration
AARON: quirk, black, passion
TAMORA: maternal, proud, driven
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LAVINIA: youth, prized, ravished
TITUS: proud, father, vulnerable
DEMETRIUS: demonic, edible, religion
TAMORA: other, queen, unrelenting
LAVINIA: silent, torn, captive
LAVINIA: submissive, sacrifice, bound
CHIRON: anger, discrimination, winner
DEMETRION: fool, primal, pawns [for me they really are just one – like them combining – it weakens them, in the course of action they are the same]
TAMORA: Titus, retarded (slowed), misogyny [she is that symbol]
SATURNINUS: paranoid, opportunistic, needy
TITUS: warrior, honor, tradition
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Last Friday we did the Goths, today we are doing the Romans. Start with
Lavinia becomes more violated in these gestures – I think this violence against her, perhaps because we hear so many college horror stories, is incredibly moving for this group – it is the rape and what happens after the rape and during the rape and it is a body in pain, in torture, in stillness – an enforced stillness? The idea of Lavinia unmoving and broken in the midst of a heap of bodies is an image I can’t shake – from that first rehearsal when the bodies were all heaped in the middle. Raging against her situation…how much we want her to – Crippled and falling. The strength of the vocalization coming out of the silence – another extraordinary layer that speaks to me viscerally.
She gave up and then got pissed and then gave up again. Disbelief. The falling. Fall, started to get back up, fall. Nobody did the romantic pre-death figure. First things you think of and response to the previous. I found it very upsetting to do, essentially it was enacting the stages of a rape victim, it was really hard to see that, but I’m proud of everyone for that. Cleansing thing that happened. Renewal and water. Trying to get it off – didn’t know if it was blood or water. Washing something that can’t come off. I’m smearing blood all over everything, this running blood water. This time we go the other way – how you take it in, you take a breath, and then do your action on your exhale. Keith’s first Titus.
I think it is so interesting that Titus is so much more vocal than Lavinia. As though there is something about her pain, perhaps, that cannot be given a sound. I find the desperation mixed with the brutality to be incredibly moving – horribly violent and simultaneously tragically trapped- he has no recourse but these violent actions, in this interpretation. For some of them it seems to be a real reaching out for power. Perhaps after Lavinia, that’s why. I can see the earth of
How different with the breathing? I breathe with everyone. The sounds – started to play with sounds, vocal and non-vocal. On one hand it helps us to be able to analyze the nuances of the move, instead of missing the ball – it felt harder to keep momentum, it would jam up – wasn’t as fluid between – lost its spontaneity, moves away from first instinct. How much expression there is in the way you breathe. Observations on Titus: Titus never gave up. Vertical struggle – the warrior inherent in Titus. Titus bringing things up, Lavinia bringing things down. More human aspects of Titus. Father sometimes, weaknesses, saw the panic, drawing on the ground – a touching moment. Find the weaknesses of strong characters and strengths of weak characters. Boring to do the warrior after awhile. He is steadfast when he’s being noble and we see his passion ofr his state. He’s a character that needs something to drive towards, he’s not self-involved, he really has to sacrifice more than you think of – everybody had such a strong stance all the time – Titus as grounded.
Men on one side, women on the other. Titus and Tamora. Gestures starting on the Titus side – responding to each other. Continuing to send it. Give it diagonally across. Stepping forward, but if you need stillness, that’s allowed.
Starting to find stuff, a little bit. It made Titus seem weak and seduced. Tamora is so manipulative – a lot of toying with, and Titus’s only response is straightforward. So many hand-offs of things – where you didn’t know how to react, which I think is a good question. They react violently. Wanted to react to the one across from me. You started to figure it out that you can start a response and pass the energy.
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Boy-girl circle. Start to breathe and come back from break, back in the space. Bassianus gestures. Engaged the entire time – not standing and taking it in – start responding immediately, breathing thing, too. Inhale is the pose, exhale is the transfer. Come out of it as a response to what Liz is starting to do.
A lot of giving, it seems with Bassianus. Constant giving and shielding. And joy. It is amazing how many different feelings in Titus we are exploring.
He died a lot. Several times. How was this different? Unsettling. He’s another one of the ones that we don’t know. What we know about him is that he’s in love with Lavinia and then he’s dying. He is the more deserving. We missed some of his nobility. He’s much more animalistic than I would think. He was like a little lamb. Picking it up from the point where he’s on the run. We don’t think he retains his nobility. Trying to do the right thing – whether for myself or the good of
I sometimes feel like the men weaken Tamora. No offense, guys. But she seems to live less in their bodies. I wonder what the way in for them is. Maybe not – just at the beginning, I suppose. And I feel like Tamora is KILLING THAT BABY. A bunch of times. And then she died.
Picked up speed. We couldn’t wait and we wanted to jump on each other. Really hard to breathe, to inhale and exhale. Frozen and not breathing. What did we learn about Tamora – the baby was important – passing energy – the energy became a baby and food (OMG A BABY AND FOOD – THE BABY IS ALSO FOOD!!!). Became the most narrative – it arose. Always really engaged in her trajectory. We, Tamora. Almost like a heartbeat – crazy, crazier, exhausted. Connected more with people who weren’t directly close to me. Found myself mad if I got myself in a position I felt strong about but I couldn’t see other people. A lot less sound – was that the breathing? Very percussive with bodies and the floor. A physicalization rather than an embodiment of sound. She is not vocal about scheming because she is so manipulative.
GD production meeting. I depart, most unhappily.
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