Dancing our way into the new millennium

When everyone brought in the new millennium I was 5 months old, but creating the party atmosphere needed is something I'm pretty sure a group of 17/18 year olds are capable of.  So what was it like:

From the footage we've been shown and a first hand account from our director about the scale of the celebrations, our understanding is that this was a party to end all parties; and not only that, it was an Enron party. There stamp has to be smeared all over this work; the flashy, classy, crazy atmosphere they built over the years coming together in a huge celebration; a celebration that was worldwide, but an Enron party, that has to top them all.

Ben had asked us to create a series of poses, the kind you would see on the front of a 90s magazine promoting Enron as the new, flash face of business. Using our poses we created a repeated routine, which could translate onstage into a dance. My moves were hand on hip, arms folded, looking over my shoulder, sat on the floor with my legs extended and crossed and standing with one leg kicked up and my hand and arm thrown backwards. All very glamorous, all very fake, all very Claudia. The idea of using poses to choreograph a dance seems a little over the top- hence why it's perfect for Enron. They were all about the image, at every angle picture perfect and so getting the employees to 'dance' in this way immerses us in a culture which was obsessed with the surface value of everything- on the outside everything needed to look perfect; it was what was underneath the surface that no one could see.

And if this wasn't already out of my comfort zone we needed to make Claudia's entrance even bigger to upstage the grandeur already being presented onstage. My entrance will occur on Mani's shoulders and today I was so shaky in the air. Claudia's entrance needs to be poised and controlled and yet what I was doing replicated a wild animal gripping Mani's hands so tight and letting out yelps of fear- so not exactly the aesthetic we were going for. Therefore this is something I definitely need to work on. Like everything else that has stumped me in this process I need to practice it and become comfortable with it before I can perform it successfully. It's the same with this entrance- to me it is so extravagant and embarrassing, but saying that just makes me sound like a broken record. Most of what Claudia does in this play makes me feel this way and it's just got to be something I embrace- not necessarily on a personal level, but in that rehearsal and performance space I have to learn to love it. Again, it's all about creating an illusion of control and beauty, no matter what may be happening underneath, perfect for our particular story.

When I get down onto the floor everyone creates a semi circle around me and performs the dance moves from my sequence. Even though it is something I have just I need to deal with, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous performing in this way. As an actor you want the audiences eyes on you for many different reasons and yet there are moments when they won't be and that provides a safety blanket. Everything in this scene means that I will be observed: the outfit, the entrance, the dance- there is no way of hiding. This idea can be a little daunting. I know that I am essentially being put on show and to become confident with that I need to generate some solid self confidence in what I am doing. Hopefully this will come when we revisit the scene, but today I felt idiotic. However the only reason an audience will see me as an idiot, is because I ooze that negative attitude. For 2 minutes of my life I am going to have to learn to enjoy this sort of limelight. It's a strange juxtaposition- an actress who loves to perform, but who when given the full limelight doesn't want it. Unfortunately what I want doesn't matter; Claudia would want every single persons attention in that room and what Claudia wants she gets.

Gliding and slashing with Claudia Roe

Today we focused on finding the quality of our characters using the eight Laban efforts, which are:

• Wring- heavy, sustained, indirect  
• Press- heavy, sustained, direct
• Flick- light, staccato, indirect
• Dab- light, staccato, direct
• Glide- light, sustained, direct
• Slash- heavy, sustained, indirect
• Float- light, sustained, indirect  
• Punch- heavy, staccato, direct

We experimented with all of the efforts paying attention to the different speeds, weights and direction moving around the space experimenting with both dramatized and naturalistic ways of moving within these rules. There are two that I identified with for Claudia's character:

Movement- glide
This choice was very easy for me to make and yet there are different variations of the gliding motion. One of the first things Ben picked up in the first weeks of this process is that when Claudia moves, she has a purpose; she plans it does and moves to effect someone, so the effect I chose had to be direct. Take Claudia's planned movements and her status and you find a women who refuses to rush for anyone- she moves around when needed but it is in no way hectic; it is always calm, cool and collected, so there comes our sustained motion. Not only does Claudia walk in heels, so automatically walks on her toes, she is the kind of women who would see heavy footedness as something ugly; it would ruin her sleek appearance, so her movements must be light. Gliding to me felt regal and powerful. Moving in this manner is a vote of self confidence in ones self to keep up this upheld, gliding motion. It is this effect that causes Claudia's movement to fit her overall aesthetic.

Voice- punch
Judging Claudia's vocal quality on this scale proved to be harder- I don't actually believe any of them fit completely with her voice. However for moments in the play I believe punch is an effect which can be seen in her voice. Claudia says a lot of horrible things, directly aimed at particular people in the aim of creating the most impact. The line that came to mind was the one we wrote in which was 'you know, your ideas sound just about as successful as your marriage.' It is heavy- after a scene in which Jeff opened up to her she is delivering an insult that is meant to hit Skilling hard. It comes out of nowhere and changes the whole tone of the conversation so you can see a staccato nature in her wit and replies when she is battling for the upper hand in an argument. Plus this line couldn't be delivered to any one else; it was designed and crafted in her brain, it was gift wrapped specially for Skilling and therefore direct. It is line's like these that indicate a punch effort in Claudia's words.

Identifying these are important because it gives you something more visceral to work with. When I move now or deliver a line, I can imagine these actions which will begin to exaggerate and push my character to the extremes that it needs to make a stand in this play. I think having a key word or effect to focus on makes your work more succinct and thoughtful.

My crazy, table jumping, keyboard tapping baby

If this scene was my baby, then I must be a bad mother for bringing it into the world I created today. Today I got the chance to direct the physical sequence that myself and Tat began last term. Due to a recent injury I obtained, I can thoroughly blame the effects of co-codomol for the crazy explosion of ideas that were translated to stage today.

My ideas began with Ben giving me a track to listen to over the break so I could start forming some plans in my head.

The track he gave me was: Knife Party & Tom Morello - Battle Sirens

I fell in love with the track, listening to it profusely as it became the stimulus from which all my plans began to form. Mix that with Ben's ideas and perhaps we have an explanation for what we created today.

Stage 1- For approximately the first 30 seconds the track builds up to the initial beat change. In my head I saw the energy and atmosphere of the world come seeping in as the audience waits for the track to kick in. As Skilling is already positioned onstage I would like him to take the time to look out over the balcony, imagining the Enron he will create and in the next minutes, those thoughts that only he is privy to at the start begin to appear before the audience's eyes- it is like watching Skilling's dreamworld come to life.

Stage 2- When the beat changes, a perfect cue for the explosion of Skilling's dreams to appear on stage presents itself. As our tables are on wheels I envision the ensemble entering in groups with people sat typing on the table and being pushed on by people talking on the phone. Each time the beat hits consecutively in that beginning section a new table enters and they line up: one upstage right, one centre and one downstage left.

Stage 3- In the following crescendo, the people sat down will clear the tables and leave room for the ensemble to take turns jumping over the tables, running across the stage, making the feel of the scene be one of the world being these people's playground. The tension will build as they jump and they will make one final jump into position onstage in preparation for the next section when the crescendo comes to it's conclusion.

Stage 4- There is then just over a 20 second period of time in which people can exit to get props, set tables in new positions and move across the stage in preparation for the main section of the track and indeed the piece.

Stage 5- The track's chorus kicks in and for 45 seconds the ensemble have a period of time in which to perform devised motifs they have created for their individual element. They will use it to interact with each other, move across the space in a direct, structured fashion, responding to the music and their surrounding, attempting to paint a picture of the world Skilling has created.

Stage 6- With Skilling at the front of the stage leading the ensemble and Claudia on the balcony looking on in dismay and bewilderment, Skilling and the ensemble track the sun moving across the sky right to left as time passes- 2 years complied into 30 seconds of the lull in music.

Stage 7- when the lull in music is finally interrupted everyone breaks the trance and in this last section of the music everyone has a different job onstage: the table pushers line up the 3 tables and make a walkway for Skilling to walk along from stage right to left, his very own walk way. As he reaches a new table the previous one will push around to the front of the line so the walkway continues across the stage until they reach the other side at which point they set up the tables in a triangle formation ready for scene 7. Once the tables are set and secured one person will bring a chair on from the wings so Sam can jump down and sit cuing the end of the track. Whilst this is happening the back of the stage is full of the busy officer workers which Claudia will navigate through to come to arrive in Skilling's office. By the end of the track the stage should be clear with just Jeff and Claudia ready for the next scene.

And thus Skilling's world is brought to life. What I wanted from this piece is a combination of style and raw energy- I want the theatre to come to life; the audience thought the play was mad and now they think it's scary in it's lunacy. Skilling is this ball of energy bursting onto the scene at Enron creating this new world of business. I want all that energy we see trapped inside realised in this piece to create this landscape that is frightening for an outsider to walk into which we see in Claudia's entrance. It's great to be able to get creative with these scenes because in the same way Skilling see's his world come to life, I got to see my ideas carried out by the ensemble. If this scene is polished and technicalities addressed it could be a moment in the play which captures the vibe Enron produced in the 1990s and the one it built it's name on.