Research - Week #3 What's It Like In Your Shoes?

"Acting isn't something you do. Instead of doing it, it occurs. If you're going to start with logic, you might as well give up. You can have conscious preparation, but you have unconscious results." - Lee Strasberg

Character Building

"Hello, this is Ronnie." "And this is Reggie." "We're the Kray Brotherssssss." We used animals as inspiration for vocal and physical character choices. What a pair of snakesssss!

Dressing Up

Catherine and Paul AKA Kat Slater and Cat Woman used costumes as inspiration to develop their feline inspired characters. A diva pop star and an aspiring model battled it out for the lime light. 

Park Bench

Our characters meet for the very first time on a park bench. A simple and innocent offer to feed the birds becomes a sinister dodgy deal with highly sort after bread crumbs. 

Surprise Ending

Just as the scene comes to an end Francis unexpectedly reappears with a cameo appearance of a motorbike riding Arsenal supporter.

Debrief

We reflect and discuss our session. We ask questions. "If you were an animal what would you be?" We share stories. A visit to a shaman, wolf pack behaviour and sacred cows in Nigeria. 

Gratitude

We take pictures of our characters in costume and tie them to our grow tree. Francis reads his reflection to the group. 

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My name is Nathalie Carrington, this is my reflective diary following my research on how a two-way creative exchange between performers with learning disabilities and drama school graduates can impact theatre as a training and communal activity. This research is being done in partnership with LAMDA, University of Brighton and BCH to further understand the benefits of inclusion of learning disabled artists within professional actor training.