Inter-psychic Characters in Crete

(Correction: To be published in Improfil magazine for theory and practice of musical improvisation 2016 available by www.impro-ring.de (ring für gruppenimprovisation))

The Inter-psychic Characters: In 1998, at The Advanced School of Dramatic Arts, APHX, Athens, Greece, I began developing an embodiment practice with my acting students which I call the inter-psychic characters. The training and subsequent process is focused towards the embodiment of energy quality and its transition to the stage. Over the years it has had a profound influence on my music creation process. The three principal Inter-psychic characters are the Shadow, the Guest and the Bystander. The Main Character is the scripted stage character or its equivalent.

The first function of these explorations is to find the deeper physical/psychic core of the Main Character. It is a decoding of the invisible -- the unconscious comes into view.

“One does not work on the body or the voice, one works on energy.” Eugenio Barba

[endif]--Briefly: The Shadow embodies, or brings into him or herself, the energy quality of the Main Character. The Shadow does not mime or mirror. It has its own time and space. The Shadow is at first the student of the “master teacher”, the Main Character, but eventually becomes the teacher. The Shadow is never playing to the audience. It becomes an intuitive aspect of the Main Character. The Shadow can express aspects which the Main Character desires to express but is unable to in the limitations of the role and complexity of the situation. The Shadow often brings out into space “hidden” emotional and psychological aspects of the Main Character – thus becoming a subtext generator.

The Guest is the embodiment of the resultant energy quality sensed between the Shadow and Main Character -- a mezzo, intermediary quality between – combining the energy qualities of both characters. A study in the Third Entity.

The Bystander – creates a dynamic outside of the energy quality grid created by the other characters. It is outside of the action looking in – but strongly influences the inner action through its presence. It changes the weight value and tensile qualities of the stage space.

The Shadow in Crete

In Crete (24-25 October, 2015) I was co-teaching with Thalia Ditsa. We had 16 participants from various backgrounds, dance, theatre, professional, amateur in a beautiful studio used primarily for tango classes.

The two-day workshop, 10 intensive hours, was about building an awareness sensibility, playing with attention and perception through perceptual aspects of touch, space, movement, voice --- and developing deepening partnering relationships. It was very important for them to develop a strong relationship with one partner so that the second day’s work with the Shadow could be entered with open trust and freedom.

Merleau-Ponty wrote that…”the first operation of attention is to create a field, either perceptual or mental which can be ‘surveyed’.”

Literally, that’s exactly what we did the first day with ‘Landscapes’. I presented two possibilities for them to imagine.

Marianthi chooses Landscape I -- It is night, there is a rectangular field of grass and at the far edge, at a distance, the beginning of a forest. At the threshold of the line of dark trees is a single lit candle.

We ask Marianthi to perform her character, which is located in Landscape I. She begins upstage left and gently moves downstage to downstage center. She mimes a relationship with the candle. It is a simple, exquisite three or four minutes. We then ask Marianthi to describe her character’s action. She mentions emotional states such as fear and loneliness and the comfort the candle gave her.

Marianthi has partnered with Anna for nearly two days now. They have grown together through the sensing work --- and are now ready to explore the Shadow.

We then ask Anna to Shadow Marianthi’s character. Marianthi re-enters her starting position and Anna moves to an upstage right corner position --- facing the wall – motionless. Marianthi begins her downstage movement and Anna remains completely alive yet motionless in her position. It is breathtaking and I simply nod my head in recognition.

Anna’s Shadow creates a new meaning spatially and energetically, a completely new feeling state – a new dynamic in Time – something seemingly so simple has immediately and recognizably brought forth a precise quality which resonates in a thoroughly poetic way, and everyone there senses this.

Yorgos is then asked to bring in the Guest. He is to embody both the energy quality of Marianthi and Anna’s Shadow – to create the resultant energy quality between the two of them. He crosses Marianthi’s path with a slight upstage arch as she moves downstage, and the appropriateness of this movement and his energy quality is immediately evident.

We have peopled the stage.

As I walk with Thalia after the workshop I consider what has happened as something of beauty in the art of performance – but what actually happened?

In less than 10 hours performers of various levels and backgrounds where able to perform something richly poetic without rehearsal or conscious planning. They amplified their attention through various awareness protocols and peopled the stage.

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