Week 4 (Just Tues Rehearsal)

Developing the drunk

There was no Friday class due to the strike however I did come in for the Tuesday rehearsal (the first one due to the light workshop and the Library session the last couple weeks) to develop the physical actions of the character “The Drunk.” I started with the breath of the character as I feel when creating a character the breath is an effective way to start as it sets the emotional state of the character and starts to affect your physicality naturally simultaneously. For the drunk the breath is laboured, deep and slow this is because being intoxicated leads to shortness of breath and fatigue and this was a good place to start to build the physicality of the character off of. The deep breathing also gave me a sense of weight, a heaviness which started to build on the mood of the character being tired and trying to get home but struggling so having a sense of hopelessness. I went on from the breath to start working on my gaze. The gaze of the drunk is glazed and unfocussed eyes which is typical of drunks with the sense of looking at something but looking through it not being able to fully focus on anything. Doing this really helped to convey the image of a drunk and added to the state of struggle another layer of confusion and disorientation. From the eyes, I went on to explore how I would move around the space. I decided that I should move quite slowly around the room due to all the debilitating factors due to being drunk, so I took very short steps and every now and then stumble on a step with my foot in mid-air which would mean that I would have to take a second to recompose and steady myself. I rotated my hip in a circle throughout the piece to get a swaying from side to side to show that I am constantly trying to keep my balance. I decided that I would have a constant smile and occasion giggle when playing the drunk because although it is a struggle to manoeuvre around the space I think that due to being intoxicated it has left the drunk with less in habitations he is self-amused by the struggle that he inflicted on himself.

After getting the basics of the character I started to create some actions that I can remember and repeat intermittently throughout my journey around the space. I started by rubbing my face which would then turn into a big yawn with my arms outstretched. I would then stretch out more with my left hand on my left hip and stretching my whole body to the left with my right arm over my head touching my ear and vice versa on the right side. I would then start to laugh deep from the belly with my hand on my stomach slightly bent over, the laugh would turn into a cough and I would bend more, the cough would turn into a retch as if I was about to vomit which would be the cause for me to quickly stand upright and try and hold the vomit in. I would then take two stumbling steps to the left then to the right as a reaction to holding in the vomit.

Boxing in the street

Josh and I played around with the idea of our two characters meeting in the square, perhaps bumping into each other unintentionally and start to fight in the street. This would be apt for my character as the bumping into each other would be easily done by the drunk due to his lack of balance and I am sure that the obnoxious behaviour of the drunk will be noticed by the other characters in the square and prompt Josh’s character to react when the bumping happens. Getting violent is also something that is common amongst drunks.