Once we were relaxed and prepared, we were told to think of an animal that has similar characteristics and physical traits as our character in Spring Awakening, like a spirit animal. I knew the animal had to be inquisitive and bold but shy and sweet looking, At first I chose a Meerkat, thinking it would suit Wendla, but I changed it to a Kitten fairly quickly as I felt they are sweet and innocent looking but can be vicious and are very curious with wanting to try new things. (After the exercise Devan and I spoke, discovering she had chosen a cat. This worked brilliantly at showing Wendla at different stages within her life that Devan and I represent, I the more playful and niaeve and Deven being the more experienced but quieter). Kittens have a lot of energy and have a confidence for trying anything, even if it'd hurt them.
Next we had to slowly embody our animal and start bringing them to life in the room. I started exploring and sniffing the chairs and walls, trying to climb onto things and looking into empty boxes and bags. I moved with haste and purpose around the room, immediately copying someone else if what they were doing looked interesting or exciting. After a few minuets of exploring the room to some music, we were then told to start interacting with the other animals in the room and respond to what was given to us. We also had to recgonise the human director in the room and react to him being there. I found the room very exciting and thrilling, being a small but excitable kitten. I would go up to the other animals, exploring them and then backing down if they frightened me or were too intense. After a while a rested for a bit, attempting to intimidate certain animals but backing off at the last minuet.
The next part of the exercise involved a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being 100% animal and 1 being 100% human. As we went through the scale, some animal traits were clearly left behind, for example walking on all fours or the animal noise we were making, although some stayed. For example I noticed Saskia's character's animal was a fly and she kept the buzziness nature and skittishness of a fly alive, but more internal. I noticed I clung onto the curious nature of a kitten and continued to lead with my head slightly. My pace became slower but I still observed the teachers and other students until they either ran off or disciplined me. We kept going down the scale until we reached 2 where were we stopped changing and stayed there for the rest of the rehearsal. This is because it is helpful to still have a bit of the animal quality within us, still have that playfulness and jitterness associated with our specific animal.
We continued moving around the room in out character. Different music was introduced with a more human quality than the track before. We responded according to the track, so altering our pace, mood etc. Now our characters were as they would be in the play, we started exploring the space. I noticed Jackie have very bold character choices which made her stand out from the rest. She had managed to incorporate her animal within her, creating an unique Headmistress. We were then allowed to interact with the other characters and I found myself instantly drawn to my friends, but my attention seemed to be pulling towards Melchior and seeing what he was doing. I started to copy him, only slightly and stand near him until he moved closer. Props were then added in, backpacks for the girls, over the shoulder bags for the boys (both genders having headphones too) and the teachers a notepad and pen. While most carried their backpacks on their backs, I swung mine around and played with it a lot more, not caring too much about it. This exercise helped me phsycialise Wendla, as that was one of my blocks. That kitten like nature which Wendla has will help with certain scene in the woodland.
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