Theatre Log Book Term 3

Antonin Artaud wanted to break down barriers between people, and in order to apply the breaking down of the fourth wall to our future performance, in the future we will set up experiments which will terrify the audience. For example, by stimulating the audiences senses.

Our stimulus for our performance is 'Alice in Wonderland'. This film includes lots of fictional and non-realistic characters. There are several colors used throughout and several events that relate to surrealism. It is almost a cross between reality and dreams, as it's somewhat like a dream world or a world from 'Alice's illusions. This relates to Artaud's theater ideology, therefore it is a good stimulus to to link and relate to the 'Theater of Cruelty'.

Today, on a piece of paper we wrote things down which had to to with being 'English'.

We then chose one of those ideas down and has to represent it physically with our bodies and by using sound. The word we chose from our list was a phone box. By doing this exercise I learnt that a small piece of physicality can be created by using a stimulus, in our case which was the topic of 'being English'.

What do I see when Alice falls down the rabbit hole?

When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, there are several floating objects such as a lamp, piano, mirror, a book case, flowers, clocks, rocking chairs, and a picture. I also notice that from her facial expressions she is shocked and also quite curious about the items that are floating and surrounding her. 

What does she see and do (Aspects of English-ness)?

At first she examines the hole that she is in and she observes all of the floating objects that is within the space. For example she switches on the lamp. Relating this to aspects of 'English-ness', it is usual for a British person to be curious when around things that they are unfamiliar with, for example if someone from the countryside and valleys of England came to the city of London, they would be curious to see and examine all the new surroundings that they are not familiar with. On the other hand it could also slightly intimidate them too, as in 'Alice in Wonderland' she seems quite shocked and wary at the same time which shows in her facial expressions.

Lastly, in class we brainstormed another circumstance which could have happened when Alice fell through the hole, and my group and I came up with the idea that the place is actually owned by hierarchy (the queen) who are bad people, therefore she somehow has to escape which then leads on to the rest of her adventure.

Overall from this lesson I can see different ways in which we can develop our ideas of a scene just by using a stimulus and relating it to the topic of 'being English', whilst linking it to Artaud's 'theater of cruelty' theory.