In his book Stage Acting Techniques: A Practical Guide, John Hester states that “one of the most important truths about acting is that an actor is only ever as good … as the other actors on stage” (2004, p.33).  Hester’s comment can be particularly applied to The Trail. The play requires a significant amount of action from the ensemble, so it is then important that the performers work closely and are comfortable together. To help the company achieve this Lucy, the director, insisted that before each rehearsal the group played team building games. Although these were predominately fun exercises they did help to create a team spirit within the group that we were then able to channel into our rehearsal process. For example: One of Lucy’s games was to get the group together where she would say a particular word/scene and the group would have 30 seconds to make a tableau of that scene. I felt this exercise not only helped the company to work together but also to get into practise of working quickly and smoothly.

The Trial contains many sequences that involve fast paced movements from the performers. For example: The links between the Taxi Sequence, Lift Sequence and Bank Sequence are swift and rely heavily on each performer knowing exactly where they need to be at a particular moment and where they need to move to. So using the exercise we had done with Lucy we applied the quick and confident movements to the sequences allowing the transactions to take place smoothly.

Here are images of our ensemble work during rehearsal:

The team building games throughout the rehearsal process helped us to  improve ourselves individually as actors which then allowed us to develop our skills as an ensemble. Hester’s statement highlights an actor can only be as good as those he acts opposite. By improving ourselves individually as actors we are also empowering the acting of the group as a whole.

Until next time,

Larissa

xxx

Work Cited

Hester, John (2004) Stage Acting Techniques: A Practical Guide, The Crowood Press Ltd.