Today we are speaking with Kim Wright, a current student on the Movement: Directing and Teaching, MA course.
Can you tell us what you have been working on?
A new version of Electra created by the BA (Hons) Acting CDT course and directed by visiting director, Yasmin Hafesji. This production looks at the “bloody cycle of murder and revenge with Electra haunted by her father’s death.” Written by the company of actors, this retelling explores the “spectacle and ritual of female mourning, as well as the weaponisation of grief as Electra is made an outcast on the outskirts of her community.”
The excitement has come from the collective creative decisions made around staging the production an how this has inevitably informed the sound design in the round. I am always looking first at the playground from which movement can launch.
What made you want to get involved?
I was keen to work on a devised production leading on movement. My previous placement was as an assistant movement director to Anna Healey on The Tempest with the MA Acting Classical course. I was supported by a highly communicative relationship with Anna, sharing creative ideas around the director’s vision and trying out new ideas together. This time around on Electra it was an opportunity to trust my own instincts and I was fortunate enough to be working with both a director and a company of actors who understood how physical choices can positively contribute to the storytelling.
What have you been getting up to?
This production has been a springboard for the imagination and ideas. Physical scenes have involved establishing the theme of mourning, introducing the family, a celebratory feast, a wrestling and grappling scene along with other intimate moments between characters. You name it, we tried it! It has been an absolute joy.
Movement sessions in rehearsals always involved a warm up to enable the actors to move from a point of awareness and safety whilst igniting both the body and voice. Rehearsals have seen all kinds of movement from yoga and gentle stretching to full out grooving to drum beats!
How is this project, activity or placement related to your coursework?
This production experience has formed 100% of my Practice: Movement Placement unit on the Movement: Directing and Teaching, MA course. Assessment was taken in the form of an observation in the rehearsal setting as a movement lead in action. I found it remarkably calming to have my tutor in the room, simultaneously present in my creations!
What has surprised you most about your experience?
I am continually astonished by actors. My fascination in working with those who enjoy physically exploring their imaginations will continue to inspire me, wanting to produce work that both supports and challenges us to stay neurobiologically active! That’s another area of interest for me…
How did you find out about Central and decide to study with us?
The course was recommended to me. I used the 2 years of consideration to speak to alumni from the course, one of whom was movement director and teacher Christina Fulcher who was (and still is !) a beacon of positivity and empowerment. I also knew other friends who were going to study on either the Movement: Directing and Teaching MA or Actor Training and Coaching MA. They were a year ahead of me in making their choices, so I had lots of support and pools of experience to draw from whilst making my decision, which has continued through my training. I used 2020 to speak to as many movers as possible by attending workshops online, international seminars and regular podcasts and interviews to ensure I was absorbing as much of the movement world as possible before starting Central in October 2021. To quote current MA Movement: Directing and Teaching student Meadhbh- Lyons: “I was inspired by the work alumni from the course have gone on to do, as well as Central’s history of pioneering movement studies and the expertise of the course staff.”
What are you planning to do after graduation?
To keep creating accessible ways to incorporate physical language into rehearsal rooms….oh and to possibly look at an MA in Directing but that’s for another time.
