Exploring The Space

We started doing this exercise with Ben as well. We started by touching the hut and familiarising our selves with it, with the added level of trying to notice things that we hadn't previously. We had to have an internal monologue describing what we were touching, seeing, hearing and smelling. This was interesting, because I know my mind tends to drift in internal thought, even when I focus my internal thought (in prayer etc), I find I draw links between things I am trying to focus on and those things that not my intended focus. So whilst doing this I managed to do quite well, though occasionally drifted away after drawing tenuous links to something or other else. We then moved on to externalising the internal monologue, making it a much more interesting exercise. When externalising my thoughts I find it a lot easier to focus on one subject, though I found it hard in a room of friends. I found my self feeling a little uncomfortable, as doing this exercise feels mildly like an invasion of privacy or an invasion of intellectual narrative. I also found myself solely drifting towards the intent of performing for my friends rather than familiarising myself with the place. We did this exercise again with Tim and I found it a lot easier to do the activity, because the entire room felt more focused. We then went on to exploring the space as our characters and describing their house and familiarising ourselves with there house, which I found fascinating, because my bay window was another persons fireplace and because I believed in my house so much, I felt like telling people that no the fire place was over there, to the right and in the corner! We then moved on by just living in the space as characters rather than exploring the space as if it were a new environment. I found this most enjoyable, because I was able to loose myself and bring about Torvald, and I did genuinely find myself believing I was Torvald in that space and being able to block out others. We then merged the two exercises of what if and being the character by playing what if as the character. This was really interesting, because it let us explore the reaches of our character and how they would react to different situations, giving us a more in-depth understanding of the characters psychological make-up. Also during this exercise we looked at how characters have an emotional attachments to inanimate objects, in the same way that we have attachments to inanimate objects in our own homes. To allow the characters in these attachments we allow a third dimensional character to form. Another thing I found fascinating, was that whilst doing the exercise I had a terrible cough and cold and as soon as I really got into the character of Torvald I lost that cough and cold because I did not believe that he would have one, though as soon as I fell out of character to observe other people, my cough returned. I also found that whilst being in character I started to unconsciously develop character traits and ticks that would help form a real living person. I again found the second time doing this exercise that it brought my house back, that I had previously imagined, but at the advice of Tim, I allowed it to involve into something better, I also didn't stick with the same character and allow that to evolve into a more intricate three-dimensional person.