Veenapani has been engaged in research towards creating a performance methodology based on old knowledges. This methodology involves a physical craft to facilitate the actor’s vocal, bodily and psychological expression. She has been disseminating this through workshops, performances and papers at Adishakti and other national and international venues.
LABORATORY DATES: Tuesday 13 to Thursday, 15 April
Focusing on storytelling, the dramatisation of concepts using different forms of expression and on the role of rhythm as an inner text; this laboratory will reveal Adishakti's unique performance practice.
The first day of Veenapani Chawla's laboratory was dedicated to considering the Ramayana, the text which will form the basis of the three days work. We started off by discussing what we were all looking for from the laboratory process and then moved on to to a wide ranging discussion considering the Ramayana and these sort of epic myths generally.
ReplyDeleteVeenapani talked of her work with myths in the past and how she finds the centre of the myth. We compared other myths with the Ramayana and talked about how they can be used to illuminate and contrast. For example how the stories of Ganesh and Oedipus can be contrasted. In the Greek myth Oedipus kills his father, in the Indian the father kills his son. The young revolutionary versus the patriarchal conservative. We also watched an extract from Veenapani's production of ‘Brhannala’ and discussed the myth involved in that section.
In the second half of the session we each selected a passage from the Ramayana which we particularly liked and read it aloud to the group. We then discussed why we liked it. We then watched the first half of a cartoon version of the Ramayana. For tomorrow we will each select 1 or 2 dramatic moments in the Ramayana which we will go on to consider the staging of.
The process overall was thorough and the various responses to the myths were fascinating. I was particularly struck by considering the way myths are used and reinterpreted and changed for different societies and times. I am very much looking forward to the next stages in the process and seeing the various responses of different members of the group.
The second day of Veenapani's laboratory was spent developing the ideas discussed in the first and beginning to look at selected sections.
ReplyDeleteWe started with a poem, Valmiki: Shloka, based on the opening of Valmiki's Ramayana. Veenapani introduced this by talking about how different art forms can lead off each other and show different perspectives and aspects of the same thing.
We discussed how we could find our way into a text. We talked of finding parallel stories and modern stories which tell similar tales. Through this process we can see what is similar and what is different and gain a deeper perspective.
We also talked about using other factors to both understand and perform the text. We talked about the idea of Irish keening and how this could chime with aspects of the Ramayana and also looked at the ways songs, music and dance can be used. We contemplated how the form of the artwork affects what is created: how changing poetry for theatre will affect the work and what you need to do to prepare for this. We also considered how you could use the Ramayana and ideas in it as a basis for other work and a starting point to move on from.
In the second half we moved on to looking at individual sections of the Ramayana. We had each chosen one section in advance and thought about how we would choose to stage it. The group discussed these options and explored the ideas in the examples, throwing up comparative examples in other literary works and traditions. We also discussed the practicalities of theatre production and what could be possible with certain examples.
Finally we considered what we would do on the final day. There was a feeling among the students that we would like to see more of Veenapani's working practices and traditions while also continuing to develop our ideas for the specific texts chosen. We planned to spend tomorrow working individually on texts, followed by a general introduction to Veenapani's working techniques. From there we will go back to individual work as a group and see where the insights from the afternoon take us.
The final day of the laboratory started with each of us taken time to consider the sections of the Ramayana we had chosen and working out how we would stage or approach staging them. We then met in a group to discuss this.
ReplyDeleteWe looked at each section in turn and listened to the individual's ideas. We then helped, as a group, to start to initialise them. This ranged from the individual directors acting out their ideas personally, to trying exercises, to staging ideas in full. Veenapani was very helpful in both supporting the work and pushing it forward as necessary. Her comments were always interesting and the group dynamic was very supportive and open.
In the final two hours Veenapani introduced us to a few of the core values of her work and her actors techniques. She stressed that this was only a very brief overview and that these techniques need a considerable amount of time and discipline to acquire. We looked at the 7 Chakras, some positions which help align these and began to consider breath. As a group we explored how our breath changes with different emotional states. We then started putting this into rhythmns. Finally we concluded the session by talking about our experience over the three days.
The laboratory as a whole has been a very rewarding and opening experience for me. The calmness and reflective quality of the group was invaluable and I feel I leave Aberystwyth with a much stronger sense of how the best work can be achieved. It has been a truly inspiring process.