11C. "It" Responds

Divide into groups of four. This is similar to the Empty Vessel exercise. One person singled out is approached by each of the others in turn with a con­dition, and possibly a situation, using movement, sound or language. Instead of mirroring that situation as in Empty Vessel, the "It" person responds to the approacher with a contrasting form. If they approach with movement, then you can only use sound and language. If they use language and movement, then you can only use sound. In other words, the approacher provides one half of a scene and the "It" person provides the other half. Both the approacher and the "It" person interact within their forms until a new approacher interrupts. The three approachers work quickly, reading each scene as it develops and then interrupting with an immediate response. Approachers, don't be too literal or realistic.

Primary/Secondary Shifts

A primary shift initiates a scene change, whether it be a situation, change in environment, psychological or physical action. A secondary shift directly responds to the primary shift. Primary shifts initiate change; secondary shifts accommodate. In this exercise, the primary shifters are the approachers; they introduce new information. "It" is the secondary shifter. Each approacher offers the responder a primary shift. The respon-der ("It" person) replies with a secondary shift.

Direct/Indirect Relationship

A response may either be direct or indirect. A direct response enters into the same time and space as the initial action. The performers acknowledge one another and inhabit the same world. For example, a performer curls into a ball on the floor and cries, "I'm wax. I'm melting." In direct response, a partner might respond by standing above them, waving a hand, gleefully hissing, "See my flames. They will burn you." If that same performer responded by standing bolt upright, saying, " Last night I dreamt I was being attacked," or ran around the room waving their arms and crying, or squatted behind the person while rubbing their hands together and chanting a lyrical melody, her responses would be indirect. Indirect responses do not share the same space and time as the initial action. The performers do not acknowledge one another nor do they inhabit the same world. An indirect response adds different worlds to the scene.

Situation/Condition

What's the difference between a situation and a condition?

To make things easy, let's say that a situation refers to external happenings, locations, events, relationships, environments. Condition refers to internal feelings, mind states, physical handicaps, styles or peculiarities, possessions—as in being possessed. Situations come and go but conditions are always in us. We're always someplace internally. Even if that place feels like "no place," then "no place" is the place, the condition we're in.

For example:

Conditions: a stiff leg, a heavy energy, intoxicated, spastic, darting eyes, calm, introverted, exhausted, afraid, unable to speak, hysterical, hungry, etc.

Situations: Being introduced, coming home, on a train, a surgeon operating, falling from a cliff, in bed, walking through India, turning a corner, etc.

Both the primary shifter and the secondary shifter always communicate condition. They may or may not communicate situation.

Susan approaches Juan. She's tossing imaginary somethings around her onto the ground as if she is feeding birds. At the same time, she looks afraid and her actions are abrupt, angular, tense. After notic­ing her fear, Juan responds by pretending to lurk behind a tree while whispering to her about a debt owed to him by his closest friend. His manner is outwardly calm and soothing, but inwardly foreboding. He acknowledges her fear while adding an entirely new element (the situational business about the debt) into the scene.

Both Susan and Juan are communicating condition and situation: they also respond to each other's condition and situation. Had Susan only expressed her condition (fear, agitation) and stood relatively still on the stage, no situation would have been indicated. Juan could have offered a situation to give Susans action a context, e.g., he could have talked as he did, but on a telephone indicating a past or future interaction be­tween them. Time, space and ordering of events are always open to the imagination in this process.

Contrasting Forms

Why contrasting forms?

By insisting that the form of the response be different than the stimulus, the responder is forced to see. They must notice the shape of the action, how it moves in space, the quality of its sound or language, and its rhythm. They look, listen and feel. Their response, then, comes from an embodied experience. Since they can't fall into the same form as the initiator (which is always very tempting), they must search for a different response. Even if their response is logical and simple, they must change their perspective and expand its representation.

This requirement may plunge the student into an analytical mode, dictating to themselves, analyzing everything they notice, checking and rechecking to make sure they noticed what they think they noticed, and then, weighing all the possibilities for response. With practice, the choice of contrasting forms becomes second nature and becomes the most enticing stroke to make.

We're not looking for realistic scenes, scenes that copy "real" life, as television does, or the movies. We strive for more unchartered waters, as we put images and actions side by side that don't normally come packaged that way. Our scenes are like dreams: the chain of events, though stimulated by each other, come from realms of the psyche that aren't necessarily ordered by usual time and space. The logic that connects the images is as fresh and uncanny as the individuals' imagination allows.