Ensemble Work

One of the most important factors that we have to work on as part of our piece is our ensemble work, many parts in the play, most particularly the beginning, include scenes where we have to listen very closely to the rhythm of the piece and work together as we interrupt each other at specific points within each others speech, that has to be very coordinated and cannot just be a messy argument on stage. We started working on our rhythm and coordination of our cast as an ensemble by doing a seemingly simple exercise. The task was for everyone to walk around the space and all stop at the exact same time without talking or communicating at all. I think this task is a very good team building exercise as it forces us to try and focus on rhythm and use our eyes to stay aware of the rest of the people around us, elements that are all very relevant within the play. Although I never expected us to all stop perfectly together as it was our first time as a cast that we performed this exercise, I found myself getting frustrated at the task due to the general lack of focus for the task and the lack of rhythm that was present within the room. I felt that the task could have been performed better if everybody had focused on trying to achieve the same rhythm with their footsteps. Had everybody found a rhythm of footsteps it would have been possible to stop moving easier as a unit as opposed to everybody moving in  their own direction and rhythm, meaning that nobody could hear if there was a pause in the walk of the other people in the room. I am almost happy that we did not get it right as it means that we have work to do as a cast and we are being appropriately challenged .