Last night I went along to a workshop ran by Aileen Gonsalves, from Arts Educational Drama School, London. She was an inspiring Actor, Director and Write. ‘She trained as an actor at the London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked professionally in film, theatre, television and radio. For the RSC, Aileen was assistant director to Tim Supple and Gregory Doran and then directed our Youth Ensemble in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2008) and A Winter’s Tale (2009).’
Her workshop explored the idea of being unafraid and letting go of al inhibitions. Her session was strongly based around Stanislavski method. One task we did we had to circulate the room, take eye focus high up- this meant we became more especially aware. We also had to search for a certain colour and find it everywhere in this room. This exercise made me realise how many things we are unaware of until we draw that focus. From Gonsalves session I certainly felt that I grasped a greater special awareness and a new method to draw focus when in rehearsals.
Today I ran this exercise at the start of our rehearsal so our company could be taught about this too. The group responded well to this fun excersise.
Works cited:
RSC. Our practitioners: Aileen Gonsalves [online] Available at http://www.rsc.org.uk/education/about/our-practitioners/aileen-gonsalves.aspx [Accessed 3/3/15].