23 - Set Yourself Up For Surprises
I had lunch with Karen today, and at one point we touched on a move that she's been doing lately that I love. Karen will start a scene by toppling a chair over on stage. The more I think about it the better this is.
It makes the chair very not chairlike but it's still there one stage taking space, waiting to be discovered or endowed with meaning. The fact that's it weird, out-of-place, and "wrong" makes the eventual use of it all the more interesting. Is it a set of drawers? A bush? We know what it ain't, so whatever it is is surprising and (hopefully) interesting.
In forcing a unusual choice, you can stumble out of your comfort zone and into some great scenes. It's like playing Switch in your head in a scene: occasionally just throw out the first gut reaction, and then just react some other way: maybe the opposite, maybe something completely different.. Follow your mouth, commit extra extra hard and see what happens.
It is natural to want to control as much as you can, it feels safer. But it's the moments that get out of your hands and into the space between you and your scenemate that are most magical and collaborative. Let your self have the opportunity to be off-balance, sometimes be your own spanner in the works.
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