My first drama lecture at UCC began with Jules placing us into ensemble exercises which I found to be abstract and very unusual compared to what i’m used to in auditions and workshops. The exercise that stood out to me that first day was the mirroring based one in which Jules moved in unpredictable movements. Whoever she approached in the circle would have to mimic her. I have done exercises similar to this but what made this particular one stand out was the gibberish based language she added to her movements which honestly made me feel uncomfortable, regardless I participated with no objections. I am still trying to explore the reasons and thinking for this new, unfamiliar approach to theatre exercises.

Eadaion then took over and went through some exercises which weren’t as difficult to understand. We wandered round the space and greeted the people we would meet in various ways. Examples being a meeting of the eyes, jumping at the same time or even crawling through their legs. The point of this exercise was to strip back the self awareness of making mistakes which could threaten the flow of ensemble pieces. Once we purposely fumbled the greetings with one another it removed that mental block of knowing we did it wrong and allowed us to flow more easily as an ensemble.

The rest of the week involved similar exercises which encouraged our creativity as actors (Jules) and creating a synergy within an ensemble (Eadaoin)