Commedia Rehearsals
No-one is born a Commedia actor. The art of improvisation can only be mastered trough experimentation and practice. Luckily it's almost as much fun to train the Commedia as it is to perform. The below are versions of classic improvisation exercises (a tip of the hat in the general direction of Keith Johnstone is appropriate right here) modified to suit the constraints of the Commedia's digital stage. Perform the exercises in a concentrated but playful way. There are no rights or wrongs, just lesions to be learnt.
Gather your Troupe, step onto the tiles and go wild...
Gesture Exercises
1.
Pass it on...
This exercise is about taking gesture cues from
your fellow players. The Harlequin begins by making a gesture or easily
repeatable gesture. The player to Harlequins right must then "take
up" the gesture and repeat it to the best of her ability. As the
characters have different sets of gestures it won't be possible to replicate
the gesture exactly. Aim at interpretation of the gesture. Then change
the gesture into another one and pass it on to the next player. She must
then imitate the new gesture, passing it on to the harlequin and so on.
Continue passing on gestures until you've managed to achieve a flow. Then
stop and think about what was hard about the exercise and why. Did you
manage a flow, and in that case how?
2.
Tag
Play tag on the stage. To tag another actor you
need to perform a gesture that touches her body squarely. The tagged player
must react by performing a fitting gesture or saying something appropriate
(l'll get you, you &¤/%!). The challenge is to make the game
look believable despite the lack of depth and space. A hint; don't rush
it.
3.
Make Sad, Make Happy
Just like in "Pass it on", the Harlequin
starts by making a gesture directed at the actor on his right. She responds
by reacting to the gesture by becoming sad. She then makes a gesture directed
at the third actor, who responds by becoming happy and makes a gesture
at the Harlequin who become sad and flings a gesture at the second actor
and so on. Continue until you find a sensible rhythm and the changes in
mood feel smooth. Try to imagine the reasons behind the mood shifts, why
does Harlequin become sad when the captain flings out his arms? Take it
slow and give the gestures time to sink in before you react to them.
5.
Mirror
Two actors stand beside each other. One does
a gesture, walks a bit, says something or combines word and gesture. The
other actor tries to mimic the first as precisely as possible. Continue
for as long as it feels useful.
6.
Who am I, Who are You? Living Charades!
For the most extreme gesture challenge, try playing
charades with each other. Keep the concepts you are illustrating extremely
simple and give out plenty of hints. Example; if you're going to charade
a mouse, at least tell the others that you're going to charade a animal.
Impro exercises. These can be done in or out of character as one of the three masks. Try them out both ways.
6.
Nonsense Impro
One actor chooses a subject, preferably something
with strong emotional resonance, like whale hunting or the death of a
dear friend. The subject should be kept a secret from the other actors.
The first actor makes a speech about her chosen subject, using only completely
gibberish words. Like so; kjefgk jumanjurgfrsg öo hmdb kugh irtiyrttf!
The other actors listen, and after the speech is done (it should be no
longer than a couple of minutes long) they try to guess what it was about.
The other actors the take turns performing rousing speeches in resounding
gibberish.
7.
Dismissal
The actors take turns dismissing each other with
a gesture and a few words. The dismissed actor has to leave the stage
temporarily, then come back and dismiss another actor. Try to find gestures
and words that go well together and really makes the dismissals clear.
8.
Simultaneous Improvisation
One actor begins by making up a story about his
morning. The other actors can interject at any time and continue the story,
juggling authorship back and forth. Make sure the story keeps its internal
consistency and keeps on going. Advanced actors may use gestures to back
the words.
9.
No Substantives
One actor starts telling a story without using
any substantives or names at all. The second player must try to "rescue"
the other player with his interjections, also without using substantives.
Example;
Player A : I was walking rapidly along the…
Player B : Yes, it is quite magnificent right now.
Player A : There I met…well bumped into would be more like it. Quite rude actually.
Player B : She's always been like that. So what happened next?
And
so on. Try
to keep it up for as long as you can manage to avoid the substantives.
Then see if you agree on the contents of the story you've told together.
Mini
scenarios (Using
the Masks is strongly recommended.)
10.
Mini Scenario for Two Actors
Two actors alternate giving an imagined love
interest (off screen) compliments. Counter each other's pick-up lines
directly or indirectly and if you get into a fight, go with it and act
it out. Using the commedia characters, the exercise becomes really useful
as a way of discovering the way the characters talk and interact in a
very simple framework.
11.
Mini Scenario for Three Actors
The Captain approaches the Innamorata, disguised
as a Turkish Emir. Since he only speaks Arabic his servant Har-le-quin
must translate everything he says. The Captain should try to communicate
his love trough gibberish. Harlequin is free to translate however he sees
fit. Considering his mischievous nature there is a substantial chance
that he will make some…eh, errors of translation. Isabelle should
react as if she believes that Harlequins translation is correct. Keep
it up until the situation becomes ridiculous.
