Theatre Jam: Theatre Workshop in Cubbon Park - Improvisations
Duration: 00:15:41; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 98.744; Saturation: 0.075; Lightness: 0.421; Volume: 0.246; Cuts per Minute: 0.255; Words per Minute: 22.055
Summary: Theatre Jam was a public spaces initiative initiated by Maraa (
http://maraa.in) in 2009 with the hope of getting urban performers of all kinds to meet in public places to share skills and perform. In our times, when access and skill sharing within the arts is getting limited and commercialised, we felt creativity was also getting compromised. Theatre Jam arose out of one such need - to create a space that would foster collaborations and a spirit that nurtured creativity. We see Theatre Jam as something collaborative, for visual artists, theatre artists, musicians, poets and photographers.
Theatre Jam turned a year old in October 2009 and to mark this, we conceptualised diverse activities that comprised a 31-day marathon. Maraa also worked on getting travelling artists and local artists' groups to collaborate, propose or execute activities, and perform at various sites in the city! Our approach was community friendly and inclusive. The larger plan was to create a culture of expression and exchange between artists in the city and make public spaces more culture friendly, thus reclaiming them and initiating dialogue.
This video documents the improvisations that took place during a theatre workshop led by the students of Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University.
improv 1
life.... abort it!
a man searches for life, wants to know how he can find it.
he's teased by a man (maybe his conscience?) on the tree.... whose philosophy seems to be that life should be aborted.
he (the first man) is joined by a child.... and then different stages of life pass by him....
This performance happened on the second Sunday of the month. The idea of this month-long activity was also to invite artists from outside the city to explore Theatre Jam as an open learning and a space for space. A group from the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University, came to Bangalore with two performances and a theatre workshop planned. This workshop was held in Cubbon Park, which is at the centre of the city. There were some reservations about whether theatre workshops would be effective in a park given its expanse, passers by and other distractions. But we realised that we didn't have to fight the natural conditions. In fact, it only complemented the work that we accomplished in the workshop.
Drawing from the energy of the trees, the uneven earth, naturally available props, and space to explore seamless movement, the workshop worked very well. Eight participants, including students and one faculty member from Pondicherry organised this workshop for about 15 participants. It involved various games and exercises, which then led to warm-up exercises that used Kalaripayattu. The exercises were helpful not only in terms of learning the techniques, but also in realising what affects and impacts the body. Many of us felt the pain after stretching, for the first time!
After we were warmed up, we divided ourselves into groups and tried to improvise a performance-based piece that took off from five statements which were being shouted aloud in a sequence, repeatedly. (See above) On listening to these five statements, a story would form in every participant's mind. Then the different stories would be discussed in the group and it had to collaboratively work on making meaning of these stories and using theatre to tell them.
What you see here is one of the improvisations that came out of this exercise. The piece is rather abstract and largely improvised, and had even moved away from those basic five statements. Participants had interpreted these statements differently and then, they had devised this piece. Playing with silences and pauses, using nature and space, creating dramatic tension made this improvisation more performative than the others. The others focused much more on content, rather than form. Some improvs were casual and used humour; others used repetition to heighten emotion. In sum, this exercise allowed for multiple meanings and imaginings of uni-dimensional statements and also underlined theatre's potential for telling stories creatively.
absurd
actors
art
cubbon park, bangalore
exercise
improvisation
park
public
sounds
stories
theatre
tree
workshop
Pan from tree to actor - hand movements.
Man in white shirt walks across frame. Why?
A: He's crouching; he's afraid of something.
A: No, look at the sounds he makes, he is scared; it's the city that is hemming inwards, closing in on him. It says a lot about living in the city - the quality of life.
B: I'd say he's prowling; rather like seeing a tiger run loose in Cubbon Park, isn't it? Imagine what it would do to the city. You pass by the park all the time. In the fear that radiates outwards, a happening like that will 'situate' the park.
C: Isn't it ironic that others should function, even within the improv and beyond it, in unresponsive, 'normal' ways? It's almost as if this entire exercise exists in a bubble. It tries to reclaim public space but is also carving other set-apart spaces within that space.
i'm leaving...
leaving...
yup… uhun...
[hindi] i'm leaving
[hindi] enough
i swear ok…
i really mean it this time...
[tamil] i'm not coming back
you're reazlly getting on to my nerves…
[bengali] i'm going
overtime u say the same thing
same thing
you also say same thing no
same thing
ok, same thing…
if i say the same things, and you say the same thing
you…
if i am the same thing, you're the same thing, you're samer than me
samer
samer
you're getting more and more absurd everyday, i'm worried about u
worried
worried
worried!
hahah
blah blah blah
i wonder after 50 years, what it would take
50 years
[hindi] 50 years
50…
to make you look up from those pages
[hindi] 50
[bengali] 50
[tamil] 50
if i keep listening to you, i can never be able to finish a book
oh after all these years, you still make me laugh. that's a mark of a good marriage.
laugh
hahah
you know what, if you want to go then just leave. overtime u say the same thing and never do it. you want to do, why don't you just go away?
{pause}
improv 2
the wife is packing her stuff and declares that she is leaving.... the husband doesn't seem to care. she's done this many times before, but has never left...
but there is this little bird... who has decided to take off but she does not know where she is going....
the improvisation is a combination of two stories by two different participants... the stories came out of an exercise about listening to different sounds and words, and stringing together a story with them.
{pause}
go
leave
once upon a time…
there was a little bird
where will the little bird go?
where?
don't know don't know
the bird will get lost
lost
it will just get lost
bird will be flying… but does not know where
the bird is leaving
leaving
the bird is leaving
its going to get lost…
{everyone, except for the husband, turns around and points at the the sky}
improv 3
a description of a dream....
an abrupt ending with soup...
again, a combination of three stories by the three actors you see in the play... stories that came out of an exercise of listening to sounds and words and stringing a story/ single line from them.
(she) was on a swing and it was just swinging this way and that way, and there were long ropes. and then i think the swing was cut somewhere. then of course she fell with the swing into this huge blue river which was going somewhere. she fell into it but i don't think it real affected her too much. she was ok. and then i don't remember what happened. oh yea! actually there was this whirlpool, (it) was trying to suck her in and there was this sound {zhooooshk} but she was trying to go round and round. and she was trying to do this surfing thing it was actually like a surfer, and she was trying to dance.
{pause}
and then she dropped hot soup on her feet.
{action}
the selfish song of a fish.
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