Session 9

Boal's arsenal

We did an exercise based on "hypnosis" from Boal's arsenal which involved working in pairs to experiment with power and control. One person would hold their hand out in front of their partner, and the other person would follow their hand around the space, moving with it. Sometimes my partner would raise her hand higher meaning I had to jump or stand on my toes. Sometimes she would put her hand down low making me sit or lie down on the floor. It was quite difficult to be controlled like this because I didn't have any freedom with movements. When we swapped roles and I was the one in control, I enjoyed the exercise much more because I was able to do free movements and control what my partner did. I experimented with pace, making my partner move faster or slower around the space. I also looked at how far I could take my movements while still maintaining her focus. I span around and did things to make my partner drop focus, but she managed to keep up with what I was doing quite well. We tried doing this firstly close together, and then did it being further away. I stood at one side of the room and my partner on the other, and we tried to maintain the same level of focus. This was much more difficult because other people were crossing our path, and when I was the one being controlled I felt a lot more free to move around, and I felt more like I was mirroring my partner rather than being controlled by her.

Stories

In an exercise to help us with devising we were asked to devise a table with three columns on a piece of paper. The first column was a personal story, the second was details we remember about it (what people were wearing, smells, tastes etc) and the third was political or cultural context where we wrote about what was happening in the world at that time.

My story: I was in magaluf on holiday with my friends in 2011. We were walking down a street called "the strip" which is where all the popular bars and night clubs are. I was offered a free drink by a bar tender, which I accepted. I immediately passed out and don't remember much or what happened until I was in the hospital. The doctor said my drink had been spiked with Ketamine, or horse tranquilizer. I remember crying because I was so scared, and I had to stay there for a few hours until it left my system. My friends stayed with me and then we got a taxi back to our hotel at about 6am. Since then I have a fear of taking drinks from people and am always very careful.

Details

In "the strip" I was wearing a white vest top with a pink skirt and black shoes. My best friend Hannah was wearing a black dress and had a purple flower in her hair. The song "Mr Saxobeat" by Alexandra Stan was playing. We were in a bar called "Linnekers". The bartender spoke in a thick spanish accent and wore a white t-shirt.

Context

At the time this happened, there had recently been a stabbing outside a local night club in my home town. This had made me very scared and weary to go in to night clubs, and I had to be persuaded to go on the holiday because of this fear.

Images/movements I associate with this

- Ensemble- A group of girls dancing, walking down the street

-Flashbacks- Different scenes in non linear order. Begins in the hospital

-Friends panicking

-Slow motion actions showing me taking the drink

-Done in reverse