Rehearsal techniques

• (Spartan delegate and Athenian delegate meet) Inner Thoughts: I would ask my actors to rehearse, although at any given point I would call, “Inner thought?” and they must respond, spontaneously revealing their characters’ inner thoughts. 
• (Entrance of the Magistrate) Hotseat: I would do a hot-seating exercise with my actor. The actor must remain in character whilst being asked a series of questions which elaborate on life experiences. This will help create more realistic characters. 
• (Lysistrata’s Wool Metaphor) Temporal Divisions: I would ask my actor to identify the emotions and objectives within this “unit”, breaking it down into “bits”, in the way of Stanislavski. I would then ask them to focus on those emotions. This will help to create an emotive performance for both the actor and audience.
• (Lysistrata explains the cause to the Magistrate) Super-Objectives: I would ask my actors to consider their objectives within this “unit” – which is their motivation behind these actions/words - and then ask them to consider their super-objective, which relates to their role in the play. This is in the way of Stanislavski. This would help her to portray clearly the content and events of the play, and to remain as a “detached” character. 
• (Cinesias and Myrrhine) Bigger and Bigger: I would ask my actor to identify the beats and units, as would Stanislavski. Then I would ask them to play the character with huge emotions. I would command, “bigger” and each time, the actor must respond by exaggerating. This will help create comedy.
• (Entrance of the women) Flashback: I would ask my actors to think of where there character was a few moments ago, a day ago and perhaps a week ago. In turn, I would ask them to move in slow-motion to create a tableau which represents this. This will help deepen characterization for the actor, and help hone their physicality.
• (End of the play) Flash-forward: I would ask my actors to think of where there character will be in a few moments time, in a day’s time and perhaps in a year’s time. In turn, I would ask them to move in slow-motion to create a tableau which represents this. This will help the actor’s consider what message they want to leave the audience with. 
• (Lysistrata’s end speeches) Watch Real Life Speeches: I would ask my actress playing Lysistrata to watch videos of inspirational or powerful leaders giving speeches. I would ask that she study the way in which they use their hands and their eyebrows in particular. I would then ask her to replicate these when performing her lines. As most of the applicable speeches will be delivered by men, this will give Lysistrata a masculine quality to her. 
• (The women hesitate to agree to Lysistrata’s oath): LeCoq’s “Off-Balance Exercise” Toppling: I would ask the actress playing Myrrhine to stand in front of two other actors and to topple backwards and thus go “off-balance”, a term used by LeCoq. The other two must catch her. I would ask her to familiarize herself with this feeling, as she must play a character who at this point as inner conflicts: to accept Lysistrata’s oath or not. I would then rotate the roles within the group, and repeat the exercise. This will help each actress to understand the conflict.
• For any character playing another gender, for example The Magistrate being played by a woman: LeCoq’s Enjoying Off-Balance: Repeat the above exercise, but exhale as you topple backwards. This will help remove tension when encountering the unknown and remove the actor’s fears. They will reach a state of neutrality. They can repeat this exercise ‘falling’ in different directions. This will help them enjoy the unknown. 
• Myrrhine and Cinesias: Lysistrata and the Magistrate: LeCoq’s “Emotional Movement with a Stick”: I would ask the pair to hold either end of a metre-stick and to push and pull each other through the space with it, varying with dynamism and melodrama. I would ask my actors to familiarize themselves with the emotions and mood of the different movements and paces. I would then ask them to repeat the exercise, this time removing the stick and adding in their lines, trying to replicate the atmosphere, particularly of conflict. This would show the audience the tension of the characters through Proxemics, and help the actors to make full use of the space.
• Chorus swap insults: LeCoq’s Melodrama: I would ask the actors to consider the strongest emotion of the character in the scene and then to mime this scene with exaggerated movement for the chosen emotion. I would then identify the most melodramatic aspects of this mime such as large arm gesture or vivid facial expressions and ask my actors to retain these when adding their lines back in. This will help to create dramatic tension physically between the characters. It will also help unblock self-conscious movements.
• Any Chorus work: LeCoq’s “Choral Line”: I would ask two people to stand in a line. The person at the back must whisper their lines, line by line, and it is echoed by the person in front. The line gradually gets longer, with an actor joining at the back each time and those in front repeating his line together. This will help establish the character of the Chorus Leader and help the Chorus work as an ensemble.
• Any Chorus work: Tempo/Volume Line: I would ask my actors playing the Chorus to arrange themselves in a line, where one end represented a very slow tempo and the other represented a very fast tempo. I would ask them to chant a line in unison, and then I would move along the line and stop at a certain point. They must decide together, yet without speaking, on the appropriate tempo with which to now chant the line. I would repeat the exercise for volume. This will greatly improve the cohesion of the Chorus, and open up new approaches for the choral lines. 
• Any Chorus work: Rehearsing to Music: I would play a variety of music when rehearsing this extract, asking my actors to focus upon it, and to try and adapt their lines to it. I would especially play a steady drum beat/an African tribal song/a piece of classical music (especially as Meyerhold used Beethoven/Bach to influence his actors). This will help the actors bring life to the long choral speeches through the medium of music, which will become more interesting for an audience. 
• Any Chorus work: Unified Walking Pace: I would ask the actors to walk around the room and stop without saying anything or any command. This will improve focus and establish a relationship with other members of the group.
• Any Chorus work: Keeping Time by Counting to 60: I would ask my actors to stand in a circle and close their eyes. Each one must count to one minute in their head. At one minute, they must step forward. I would be keeping track of the order in which they step. Once everyone has stepped forward, I would be able to identify who has the slowest track of time, the fastest and those who are just on. I would then repeat by asking them to say an extract in their head, with those aware of who needs to slow down and speed up. This will help eliminate problems of trying to speak in unison. 
• Any Chorus work: Counting to Ten Co-Operatively: I would ask my actors to sit in a circle and attempt to count to ten. Only one person must say one number at a time. If two people overlap, the counter is reset to “one”. This will help create unity within the group. • Brook: Non-Verbal Language: I would ask my actors to think of an idea that they want to communicate to each other in this extract (give an example). Then I would ask them to communicate this idea without any words at all, though they may use any sound (e.g. whistling) or any gestures (e.g. pointing a finger). This will help the two actors to focus upon how they could use a wordless, universal language when in role.
• LeCoq’s “Rehearse in a Different Setting”: I would take my actors to a different setting, for example, a bedroom for the Myrrhine and Cinesias scene or a busy political place in London for the Magistrate and Lysistrata scene. I would then ask them to rehearse there and monitor the effects on the movement, as LeCoq believed the environment affected the way in which we move. I would ask my actors to memorize the effects and try to replicate them in the rehearsal space, as would Stanislavski in his emotional memory ideas.
• Create Tableaux and Movements: I would ask my actors to summarise the speech into five tableaux. The meaning must be clear. I would then ask them to use extra movements to morph their tableaux so it becomes a flow of movements.
• Play Around with Vocal Exercises: I would ask my actors to rehearse their lines with no movements whatsoever, so that they may concentrate solely on the voice. I would first ask them to say the line as neutrally as possible and then ask them to experiment with tone in which they say it. I would then ask them to repeat the exercise, but varying their tempo, speed, rhythm and then volume to create different expressions.
• Explore Ways to Touch: I would ask my actors to find a way to touch the other person that was appropriate to the line. I would ask them to rely on instinct and not to think it through too much. This will create something visually interesting and perhaps unusual for the audience, perhaps bring out elements of comedy, and draw out the actor’s “physical language”, which has been inspired by Peter Brook. 
• Ladders Exercise: I would position two ladders side-by-side and ask each actor to step onto their ladder: one must be at the top and the other at the bottom. As they recite their lines they must decided whether to move up or down on the ladders so that by the close of the scene, they are on an equal position on their ladders.
• Steps: As each line is said, the actors must experiment with their Proxemics: either moving closer or nearer to the other speaker, depending on their relationship.
• LeCoq’s Masks and Neutrality: I would ask my actor’s to focus on their physicéality. The actors should wear a mask and then act the scene. The loss of facial expressions will drive them to communicate meaning through their physical movements. 
• LeCoq’s “Valley of the Giants” – I would ask the actor to pretend he is a giant. He must interact with the other actors and props as if they were much smaller. He will take heavy steps, push and pull with his body and enjoy playing at being big, which was vital to be an actor under LeCoq. This will give an elevated status to this character.
• LeCoq’s “Imprisoned in a Tiny Space” – I would ask my actor to imagine he/she has been imprisoned in a tiny cell and has found a way to escape, but must move quickly. This will show how space can affect your performance and how your body needs to push/pull.
• Lysistrata as Athena: LeCoq’s “Daily Walk”: I would ask my actors to walk around the rehearsal space, attempting to reproduce their everyday walk. I would observe them and note if any walkers push the space as they walk, if they move with their upper bodies, if any images are being created, if any emotional states are being created. This will provide the actors with a sense of their own style of movement and an awareness of what a movement can convey. For Lysistrata, I would ask her to observe as well, and practice until creating a completely neutral walk to mimic Athena.
• Brook: Performing for Deaf Children: I would ask my actors to perform in front of an audience of deaf children. This would help actors consider their physical and non-verbal aspects of performance and tap into new creative impulses. 
• Brook: “One Handed Conversation”: I would ask my actors to hold a conversation each using only the actions of one hand and thus limiting communication ability. It forces the actors to become expressive with their hands and face, to communicate in ways other than words and to draw upon their own physical impulses.
• Brook: “Pictures”: I would ask my cast to recreate in detail the postures of people seen in pictures from the time. They could improvise the moments before the photograph. This would allow them to access the internal feelings of those in the photograph.
• Brook: “Hospital”: I would ask my actors to observe prisoners, those in care homes or activists, especially in Occupy London. I would ask them to imitate the external forms of the internal states of these people. This will help my actors to physically show what is happening on the inside. Derived from Brook making his actors watch hospital patients.
• Brook: Masks: I would create a mask of this character and ask my actor to wear the mask and then match their face to that of the mask’s. When wearing it, it will help the actor to develop impulses from within.
• Copeau: Neutral Walk: I would ask my actors to practice standing, sitting and walking and picking up an object with a mask one. I would watch them perform these actions and look out for characteristics such as a swing of the arms which shows it is not neutral. I would ask questions, “why pick up this object so quickly?” I would correct each mistake and it would leave the actor in a neutral role.
• Boal’s “Drawing a cross and a circle” I would ask my actors to draw a circle in the air using their right hands, then draw a cross using their left and then try to do both simultaneously. This would help my actors in dexterity and in sharpening their expressivity of their body.
• Boal’s “Physicality and music” I would arrange my Chorus into group(s) of three and then into a line. I would then play lively music/read the monologue to a tune and ask one member of the group to create a physical response to the music which the other two must follow. This will help my actors understand the group rhythm needed in a Chorus, reveal physically the message behind the monologue for the audience and create a physical theatre approach.