Day 5, Movement: Generating Character Driven Blocking & Business
Lesson Objective: Students will discover character driven movement for their scenes by choosing one prop they will implement into their scenes, creating a basic floor plan of their scene’s set, and writing out blocking for the scene.
Materials Needed: Students will need paper and writing utensils
Hook:
Have some students who feel confident in their piece/memorization of at least a chunk of their scene come up and perform. Call up a scene group and have them sit knee-to-knee facing each other – their kneecaps should be touching, and they should be looking straight into each other’s eyes. Have them “perform” their scene without moving their knees and without looking away from the other’s eyes.
Processing:
Talk with the performers about the situation you thrust them into.
- How difficult was it to act without moving? Why?
- What could have made the whole activity easier and more natural?
Talk with the student audience about what they just experienced
- What did you just observe?
- What if you saw the opposite? Instead of not moving at all, they moved on every single line—were always moving? What effect would that have on the scene?
- What ideas or suggestions do you have for natural blocking movement in the scene? (What have students done in the past for performances to create natural, interesting blocking?)
Extension to the Hook: (if time permits, use this activity to help all students in the class have the kinesthetic experience of working with restricted/unmotivated blocking). Have students quickly get with their scene partners. Have each start their scene either in a knee-to-knee position, or in a frozen pose that they can’t break out of. (students will likely struggle with this quite a bit) Let this go on for a minute or so.
Have students start their scene again, but this time they must be constantly moving, nonstop, over the top. They can use the suggestions offered earlier by other students or follow their own ideas as they go. After the second performance, discuss with the class the difference between the two performances. Have them do it one more time, but now focusing on balanced blocking.
Whole Class:
- What kind of blocking/movement is most interesting to watch? (Motivated, character driven, objective driven, life like, natural, etc…)
- What ideas or suggestions do they have for natural blocking movement in the scene? (What have students done in the past for performances to create natural blocking?)
- How important is natural, motivated blocking to a performance?
Transition
Encourage the students to thrust themselves out of their comfort zone in order to have creative, motivated blocking.
Encourage students to really explore different ideas in business and blocking because it is seldom their first idea or impulse that is the best idea; more often it is their fifth or sixth idea that really works the best for the scene.
Learning Activity
Play the improv game New Choice. Each scene partnership will group up with another and they will take turns performing a portion of their scenes for the other group. The audience group will say “New Choice” at any time during the scene and can say it repeatedly for the same moment. The performing team must then repeat their last line and make a new acting/blocking choice. The audience team’s goal is not to be silly, rude, or disruptive but to push the performers to make new choices they would not have done before. The performing team must do their best to stay in character while they are repeating moments. Encourage them to not get frustrated at repeated New Choices.
Instruction/Discussion
What sort of logistical things do the actors need to know in order to create blocking?
- (Need to know WHERE the scene takes place. WHAT kind of room/space it is & what objects are in it.)
- WHY are these things important?
- Knowing your space and setting allows you to also come up with “business” for the scene that can be natural and motivated as well.
Ask students to define the difference between business and blocking.
- (Business=smaller life like actions character does ex-reading newspaper, clipping toenails, eating snack, doing hair, tidying the room…Blocking=the big movements, getting up, moving to SL, sitting in chair, etc…)
Ask students: How can props and business be utilized in a scene and what can they convey about a character or situation?
Ex—Patrick Stewart Macbeth production, murderer scene. In many productions, this scene is set in a chamber room. In this modernized production, the scene is set in a kitchen. While talking with two hired murderers, giving them instruction to kill his best friend, Banquo, and his son, Macbeth pulls out a loaf of bread, knife, meat, and pickles, and makes himself a sandwich.
- What version of this scene would you rather watch? One where the characters just sit around talking at a table? Or this production—where the king, calmly makes sandwich while plotting another murder?
Explain that theatre is ordinary events made extraordinary. Character driven business--like blocking—makes characters lifelike and the scene overall so much more engaging to watch.
Partner Application Work
Assign students to brainstorm for a couple minutes, and for each partner to identify at least one prop for their performance and discover different ways to utilize that prop as business. Have them write it down on their script—what they’ll use and how.
Assign the students 10 minutes to draw out the floor plan of their scene’s setting. Doesn’t have to be gorgeous or to-scale. It should clearly define where you’re at and include anything that you’ll use throughout your scene. Students should label any furniture props they may be using. This is a tool to help you create the business and blocking of the scene.
When time is up, give students another 10-15 mins to coordinate their blocking around those pieces. They should explore many different ways to block the piece following their impulses until they find the best movement for each particular moment. This means going through the scene—on their feet! (If needed, remind students to write the blocking the decide on in their scripts—that way they can remember it in future rehearsals)
Float around the classroom and give ideas and encouragement to the students as they work on their scenes.
Wrap Up:
Explain that next time, we’ll be doing a memorization check and some partner preview work. Make sure you are memorized.
ASSESSMENT: Students can be assessed on their floor plan and blocking creation during rehearsal time