This is a physical warm-up score for working on and developing performance personas.
As opposed to a psychologically constructed characters we usually see in a theatre plays, where actors fully become those characters, personas are more like jackets or filters. When a performer puts on a persona, we can still see them, as a particular person, behind their persona. Not only do aspects of their individual personality shine through, but these aspects could indeed be the basis upon which a persona is constructed or developed. A persona is not something a performer disappears behind but an attitude, mode or function they inhabit and embody.
Structured around a number of physical prompts and selected music tracks, this warm-up operates as a kind of score. It seeks to offer an approach to generating and developing performance personas that is anchored in the body, and in the participants' physical experiences and sensations of their body. The prompts are deliberately broad and are intended to be interpreted by participants in whichever way they see fit. Full physical commitment and embodied investment in the work are productive when engaging with the warm-up score. Its physical prompts deliberately play with repetition to spur participants to constantly generate and revise movements, as well as to enter a heightened, creative state; which is further emphasised by the high tempo of its music tracks, inviting an explosive kind of energy. Unlike the table work one might do when developing a character, or more conventional scenario-based improvisations, this warm-up score seeks to engage participants in a creative that is less cerebral or rational.
If you'd like to engage with the project and use this warm-up score in your own practice, please visit this page to read an introduction and access all necessary materials.
The warm-up uses the following music tracks [please note the songs include explicit lyrics] :