(I’m STILL catching up. And this post is from the past slash the future. So hopefully this all makes sense, but who knows!)
Note: This post has been edited to include an additional performance from the future (which is now the past… if that makes sense).
Yet again, we tried Silent Lady…
In case you’re unsure what silent lady is, it’s this form my friend Cozi and I made up where he does all the talking.
I can’t say any words, but can react like crazy (’cause I love to make big facial expressions and really use my body).
But of course we’ve already realized and made fun of the fact that even though we are playing to our strengths… we’re also being a liiiiiittle sexist.
So… we tried the Silent Man next time around.
I always felt a little bad during Silent Lady – like I couldn’t truly help him without words… which I know is very silly because you can totally help without words. That’s the whole point of using big reactions! As they say in The Groundlings, dialogue is only one of many ways to help build a scene.
But still. I wanted a turn in his position. So, I went and did Silent Man with him.
It is hard to be the one talking all the time. One of the things he’d told me was that maybe there was something to be said for not feeling like you have to fill all the empty space – you both could be silent sometimes… And our last little scene was completely silent. It was fun.
I’m not sure if this is a good form or not (or what even would make it “good” or “bad”). I think it could be fun and worked on more. But I think we’d probably have to do it more than once in a while to make real progress with it… But I’m glad we tried!