9|10|13 - Directing - Opening

I started the session by doing some team activities that would create trust in each other. The had to walk around the space, and whenever anyone liked they could shout 'I'm falling!' and the rest of the group would have to run over catch them and lay them on the ground. This activity was fun and it allowed them to bond with the others members of the group letting them trust each other. It took a while for them all to feel comfortable to start falling as soon as they said it, but once they managed it they had a lot of fun.

Because this went well, me and Kelly wanted to see how they would cope with a challenge. We wanted to try the alternative 'I'm flying!' where the person would be picked up and held as high as possible in a flat position. We understood more if people didn't want to this option, so we made it optional, Ruby was very enthusiastic and allowed us to demonstrate the position, which we made sure was clear to everyone what needed to be supported and the correct way to place her down. 

After this we allowed them to walk around the space, and any one was allowed to shout either option, and the rest of the group would have to carry out which one was mentioned. This allowed them to become focused for the session as they had to listen out to one another and then to carry out the process of falling or flying safely. 

We then decided to work on the freeze frames that we had created at the very end of the last session. We did some more discussion on how we felt about the script, Me and Kelly wanted to know what they thought of the script in order to give them the most enjoyable time in the creative process. We told them some of our idea's for soundscapes and shadow theatre and they were all enthusiastic, which gave us a confident go ahead to trial them out. 

The first freeze-frame we made sure everyone knew why they were stood where they were and why they were stood there, I made them say out in character the answers to both of these. It allowed them to explore their characters and let me and Kelly know where people needed expansion on the purpose of their character. We then created a movement piece where people could only move if they were pushed or pulled in a creative way to another position on the other side of the stage in order to create the freeze frame of the final position. This was just a simple way to get the cast focused on their character and character relationships and exploring creative ways of using each other to motivate there movements.