SHARING AUDIO/VISUAL TOUCHSTONES AT THE OUTSET OF A PROCESS
Actors in training can often be visually-led learners. At the beginning of each theatre process I share a selection of ‘visual touchstones’ with the group, bespoke to that particular project. These ‘visual touchstones’ - image collages, video clips - can offer learners an accessible doorway into a project’s artistic ethos. Recently, I’ve tended to share ‘visual touchstones’ with learner groups via PADLET, a fantastic web-based learning tool that enables tutors to create a living online ‘wall’ of resources - images, text, webpages, video clips, audio recordings - visible only to their learner group and accessed via a bespoke password. It’s similar to Pinterest, but the big advantage with PADLET is that learners don’t need to sign up to the platform to access content. If you wish, learners can also add their own content to a padlet that you create, or they can collaborate to create new ones. You can learn more about PADLET here.
The images on the right are taken from a set of ‘visual touchtones’ that I offered a group in 2019 at the outset of a rehearsal process for Chekhov’s Three Sisters. Actors-in-training who are new to playing Chekhov can sometimes find it difficult to shake off preconceptions about ‘period drama’ and this can lead to acting that is mannered, physically bound and unreflective of the way that people truly behave with one another. Top right you’ll see two collages that I created comprised of delightful photographs of people from the late Victorian era informally fooling in front of the camera.
The image at the bottom is a still from a video clip that I shared with the group, and that we watched together, from Sally Wainwright’s recent BBC drama about the Bronte family To Walk Invisible. I’ve included the clip below. As you watch it you’ll notice that, whilst the actors are wearing what we could call ‘period’ clothing, their acting is unrestrained, emotionally connected and we believe that their relationships possess a history through the behaviours that they demonstrate with one another.