Plastiques

(from Jerzy Grotowski via Stephen Wang)

Start with a part of the body, say a specific joint. Begin to move that joint. Move it through space, articulate it. Notice the feeling of it, how it is drawn to move when you start to move it. Also notice the other parts of your body that come into motion as you start to move this part of your body , and how they move. Do it all more. Amplify it, distill it, make it more of what it already is, in whatever way makes sense. You are looking for the (or a) voice of that part of the body, looking for a system of movement coming out of that part of the body. Organize your body around that joint. Amplify and distill all qualities of movement that arise… speed, tone, spacial levels, sensory orientation, etc. It might stay kinesthetic, but if emotions arise, go with them. Desires … go with them. What does this developing system of movement want to do in the space, how does it relate to space and objects (or people) in the space? How does it breathe? Ask these questions physically, not verbally, and follow what is already happening and first impulses. Follow your immediate intuition for evaluation, not your linear thought. You may start the process with eyes closed, but then see how it uses the eyes. What does it want to do in the space? What sound does it make? Amplify and distill that sound? Does it use words or is it nonverbal? What words come out, how, to whom, with what intent? This then evolves into full-fledged character, coming from sensation and internal processes already present.

Note, as a training exercise, the Polish Theater Lab would do this for an hour or so each with every single joint in the body, multiple times. I went through the cycle once, with 20 minute explorations, taking a full time week of work. Changed my life.

Plastiques River

As with Sensation/Action Flow, Plastiques River, traditionally used as a warm-up exercise by the Polish Theater Lab, is about immediacy, decisiveness, and detachment. Start with sensation. Immediately, find the voice of that part of the body. With the next noticed sensation, immediately manifest the voice of that part of the body. Thus, a sensation/action flow is set up, but the response is specifically to find the voice of the part of the body sensed.

With the idea of voice in the body, it can be quite similar to Subvoice flow, but holding the idea of the voice “of” the part of the body vs the voice “manifesting the sensation in” that part of the body results in a different flow.