16|10|13 - Directing - Soundscape

For this session I wanted to focus on the mother and her relationship with her child and how she feels about her daughter growing up. As they all seemed really excited at the idea of sound scapes, I decided I would create a workshop that would allow them to develop the sounds. 

I asked Abbie to stand in the centre and create a simple sound that people could develop and add too. I then said that whenever they were ready they could enter the space, they had to walk in a circle around Abbie in the centre, and with their sound they had to move in a different way, whether they crawled or jumped, they decided. The people around the edge of the circle could either join a circle with the same sound and movement, or they could create another circle with a different noise and movement in the opposite direction. The sound had to add to the current sound in a way that it would develop the noise positively. They were allowed to filter in and out when they wanted and this allowed the overall sound to change gradually and their were moments where the sound was very thick and sounded very nice. 

After doing this for a while, I stopped them, I then replaced Abbie with Emelia, who is playing Red. I wanted to create a tone that was darker, so I told them to bare that in mind when entering the circle. Giving them a focus allowed them to elaborate more on sounds and feelings they get. Because the circle was so adaptable, if they didn't think the noise was on the right track, they had the power to change it and develop it with their own input. 

After this, I placed Mia, who is playing the mother, in the center of the space, and told the rest of the group that I wanted them to act it more. Instead of just sounds, people could talk, shout things at the mother. Whilst still in a circle they could also have physical contact with the people on outer layers of the circle and this could effect the noise they decide to make. There was a moment where I really liked the sound. I told everyone to remember what sound they were doing and that I was going to tell them to stop, and then start again doing the exact same noise. This helped them remember their sound so they could replicate it when necessary. 

The improvising aspect of this workshop was refreshing and it was great to see everyone be creative in the way they move and how they sounded. We made them vary the tones in their voices as well as the pitch, texture and tone of the overall sound. 

As they had their sound memorised, I made Mia sit in a chair, and they rest had to fit the familiar freeze frame around her. We then replicated the sound scape around her, building it up having people join in canon. I then wanted to demonstrate how we could alter the overall sound slightly, so I wanted them to transition into a new position create a new sound. I wanted Mia to show the character of the mother, so I made her hold a sheet to represent a baby. The sound scape tone juxtaposed with the mothers distressed tone, which symbolised the over reaction of the mothers inability to accept her daughter growing and the passive attitude she has towards this. This is the video clip of what we performed to the rest of the group: