Technique / Consent based approach to Nonconsensual Intimacy and Violence

*Warning this workshop will deal with language and subject matter that may be triggering to some.

 

 

About the workshop

 

The Workshop consists of two parts. The technique / consent based approach and an intro to vocal extremes.

 

The technique / consent based approach

As artists how do we approach subject matter that is meant to awaken and shock the audience without traumatizing the actor? For some, this may never happen. Therefore, we must know our boundaries when it comes to performing nonconsensual intimacy and violence. Which means, we may choose not to do the work. For others, we must create a consent-based community, working within the boundaries of each performer while expressing the given circumstances of a performance.

 

Intro to Vocal Extremes

What are the sounds we make during extreme events in our lives? How do we recreate these sounds to help create the illusion of these events while doing them eight times a week? Like everything else we do in the theatre, screaming, grunting, groaning, wailing, laughing, and shouting, all benefit from a technique-based approach. In this workshop we will begin to explore the vocally safe &effective creation of these sounds and how they help to communicate the emotions we experience. Fear, pain, joy, resistance, Etc.

 

The first part of the Workshop will cover:

Consent Community

Consent:

FRIES – Freely given – Reversable – Informed – Enthusiastic – Specific

RRR – Request – Respond – Respect

Boundary practice:

Physical partnering

Understanding weight: active and inactive

Weight centers:

Stage Combat

Nontechnique based violence

Found weapons: what extent do we use them

Movement patterns and levels

Grappling & Grasping techniques

Restraint & Constriction

Applying to script

Text analysis

Type of aggression

Relationship

Minimalist vs Explicit

Scoring the vocal work

 

 

 

The second part of the Workshop will cover:

Preparation: Respiration – Phonation – Resonation – Articulation

Exploring the passaggio or vocal break

Call Focus

Consonant & Vowel choice

Building the techniques

Adding Noise

Adjusting for intent

Warm down

Vocal health

 

 

 

About John McFarland

John McFarland is an actor, teacher and practitioner of Voice, Intimacy and Stage Combat. His work in Sexual Violence began 18 years ago when he realized actors needed a solid technique approach to safely represent physical and vocal extremes. When he began, he based his work in consent, the illusion of violence through choreographed moment to moment work, domestic violence, the power wheel and equity non-violence wheel, and the works of Gavin de Becker, author of The Gift of Fear. Later, taking courses with Intimacy Directors International and Theatrical Intimacy Education, he incorporated intimacy practices into staged violence with nonconsensual Intimacy. John is a Master Teacher with The British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat and a Fight Director and Certified Teacher with The Society of American Fight Directors. He has just finished his 22nd year of teaching at Columbia College Chicago in the USA, where he teaches Voice, Combat, Intimacy and Physical Acting, and Advanced Applications of Stage Violence. John has taught at more than 70 workshops in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, and Canada. His home base is in Chicago where he lives with his wife Susan and his Chocolate Labrador Phoebe.