Assessment 1

After weeks of working on the smaller Fractals, it was a refreshing session as it saw the return of the community. After being taken back to the mental preparation we used to frequently participate in (lying on the floor and clearing our minds) the focus was once more on the community, an element I feel we have to consider for resolution in our smaller relationships. The simplistic task of walking round, in character, and exploring improvised play was extremely rewarding to most. It allowed us to fill in the missing gaps in our characters and their motives and relationships with others, thus allowing the possibility of resolution(s). Having the freedom of existing outside the borders of Fractal allowed me to do what I cannot in the Fractal’s aesthetic space; it allowed me to interact with the other community members; my character is an observer who watches over the community and has some control over its life, yet I am never seen. Thus this exercise helped me explore emotions that lie beneath my existence in Fractal and to utilise them into the development and shaping of my character.
To me, despite being new encounters, they felt like past emotions, like I was walking through a photo album, remembering past relations and desires, with Emily and a connection with Sami (of which, I think will never have the chance to further, of which is a feeling of regret perhaps that will continue to shape my earlier performance). By having these memories ‘remembered,’ it allowed me to develop a sense of resolution to my character and gave me a clearer idea to my current sense of purpose and motives. Also, by being able to communicate with Frankie in such an explorative way of which the confines of Fractal can never allow really gave a sense of desire and purpose to my connection with Frankie within Fractal.
This exercise evolved into the crafting of the final sections by taking what resolutions we found in the improvised play and shaping them into resolutions in Fractal. For myself and Emily, it was a sense of remembering a past relation; she sensed I was there but not physically, which fitted perfectly with my character and the lonely stasis in which he is kept. Taking this to the final community section, we could explore this feeling of loss and spiritual existence whilst simultaneously living in the past, so that my existence is non-linear almost.

As is the nature of physical theatre, it is during these past few weeks, quite late in the process, that my character has really made its greater steps in the development of self-discovery, I look forward to what lies ahead in the creative process and continuing this self-discovery.