On 10 May, 12.30-4.30, Phillip Zarrilli will conduct the fourth of our Presence workshops here at Exeter.
In the workshop Phillip wil be assisted by Klaus Seewald http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/509 of Theatre Asou/Austria, the performer and researcher Jeungsook Yoo, and Exeter University students
Phillip writes:
In ''The Metaphysical Studio'' (published in The Drama Review) I reflected upon the relationship between 'presence' and 'absence' in actor-training and performance.
Absence is derived from the Latin 'absentia (...) state of being absent or missing'.
Presence is derived from the Latin 'praesentia', to be before one; 'pre + esse to be (...) at hand.
In the spatio-temporal realm of the ‘metaphysical’ studio, this workshop will further reflect upon and interrogate the relationship between presence and absence, between 'what is' as it 'comes into being' and 'what is not'.
I view this relationship as a constantly dialectical state of creative possibility. I will argue that only if the absent is constantly present (‘at-hand’) to the performer might ‘presence’ emerge as a performative disposition—a place of possibility and readiness.
The question in practice becomes how to prepare/train actors toward this dispositional 'readiness'.
To tease out this relationship between presence and absence, in addition to drawing Western phenomenology and South Asian paradigms and languages of practice and embodiment, I will elaborate a few Taoist principles that inform the inner dynamics of taiquiquan and the dynamic, dialectical relationship between yin and yang central to its practice.
After an introduction, the first part of the workshop is a work demonstration of pre-performative psychophysical exercises (yoga, [kalarippayattu], taiquiquan) guided by the set of metaphors used to train and prepare actors toward this dispositional state of readiness. As important as the exercises per se is the studio-based language I have developed to held actors toward actualizing this dispositional readiness. We will explore and interrogate this dispositional state between presence and absence in advanced martial arts practice with weapons.
Two reflections will follow: *(1) how everything must be ‘forgotten’, i.e., one must enter a kind of ‘chaos’ where form is ‘abandoned’ in heightened practice; and *(2) the ‘problem’ of the senses, sensory awareness, and perception, i.e., how an alternative language of awareness might move the actor toward a dispositional state of possibility.
The underlying principles of the training will be put into play towards acting as a few structured improvisations are ‘played’. Again, ‘abandonment’ is crucial to this process of ‘play’.
In the final part of the workshop, specific examples of the application of such principles and training to specific dramaturgies will be explored.
How is the dispositional state of the performer shaped by particular modes of being/doing appropriate to a particular dramaturgy?
What are the tasks most appropriate to helping the actor create a “dispositional score” in which presence might emerge?
Particular attention will be given to the actor’s inhabitation of performance scores in which media has played a central part in realizing the mise-en-scene, and in issues of documentation—Beckett’s ''Eh Joe'' and ''Rockaby'', Martin Crimp’s ''Attempts on Her Life'', Charles Mee’s ''Orestes''.
Time permitting, the workshop will conclude with a brief discussion of the ‘problem’ of documentation of non-mediated live performance—the ‘problem’ of ‘capturing’ an ephemeral/emergent ‘presence’ if and when it is not directed at or incorporating media as part of the mise-en-scene.
Phillip Zarrilli is a performer, director and theorist, internationally known for training actors using a psychophysical process combining yoga (especially Hatha Yoga) and the Asian martial arts ([Kalarippayattu] and Tai Chi Ch’uan). He is the first westerner to have undergone full-time, long-term training in Kalarippayattu. He also studied Yoga and t’ai chi. In 1988 he received the traditional pitham (stool representing past masters) from Govindankutty Nayar. He also trained at the Kerala Kalarippayattu Academy, Kannur, with C. Mohammed Sherif Gurukkal, and under Sreejayan Gurukkal and Raju Asan. He studied Yoga with Chandran Gurukkal in Kannur and Dhayaniddhi in Thiruvananthapuram. He specializes in northern style kalarippayattu, full-body massage (uliccil), and complimentary yoga. He trained in t'ai chi ch'uan (Wu-style) with noted theatre director and East Asian scholar, A.C.Scott.
Phillip has conducted workshops, "Making the body all eyes..." throughout the world, including Esalen Institute, Utrecht School of the Arts, Passe Partout, National School of Drama (New Delhi), Centre for Performance Research (Wales), (London) International Workshop Festival, Gardzienice Theatre (Poland), among others. For over twenty years he was Director of the Asian-Experimental Theatre Program in the U.S.A. where he taught classes daily. His numerous books include (editor) ''Acting (Re)Considered'' (2nd edition, forthcoming), ''When the Body Becomes All Eyes'' (1998), ''Kathakali Dance-Drama: Where Gods and Demons Comes to Play'' (2000), and (editor) ''Martial Arts in Actor Training'' (1993). He is currently writing a new book with accompanying interactive DVD-Rom (by Peter Hulton) on his approach to training actors and performance, ''The Psychophysical Actor at Work: acting ‘at the nerve ends’'' (London: Routledge Press, forthcoming).
Phillip is Professor of Performance Practice at Exeter University.
Audience places for the workshop are free. The workshop will take place in Theatre Studio 2, in Drama's new complex, The Alexander Building, Thornlea, University of Exeter. Details of how to find us are here http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/performing-presence/How%20to%20find%20us.php
To book an audience place at the workshop please contact l.m.dowsett@exeter.ac.uk.
A fuller discussion of Phillip's work is available through the Collaboratory at http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/357
Phillip Zarrilli's extensive website is at http://www.phillipzarrilli.com/
Future Presence workshops will be conducted by:
Fiona Templeton (24 May)
Bella Merlin (21 June)
