We had to hand in a two thousand word critical reflection at the start of this term. What a nightmare. Somehow, I don’t know how, this fairly simple, straightforward task became a mountainous challenge, which drove me within firing range of my wits end. Maybe it was because I got so used to being told to ‘think’ less and ‘do’ more last term that made sitting down to something academic so difficult. However, after a few very late nights I handed it in, more relieved than satisfied, and started the term with mental exhaustion, sleep deprivation and smothered motivation.
It didn’t help therefore that, for the Performing Research Unit that we embark on this term, the first couple of days were a research intensive. More thinking! Though it was rather nice to be able to just sit in lectures and listen. I suppose that’s what uni is like for most people. I confess it was, on occasion, a fight against drowsiness, especially when the lecturer chose to use very academic or technical language or even just read their lecture from a paper. That annoyed me a bit and if nothing else the two days gave me a good insight into what makes an engaging presentation, and not.
On top of that our project work for this week was to compile and present research for the feature film script that we will be working on for the first few weeks. The script is The Duchess so the period we’re researching is the late eighteenth century, which is actually really interesting but again it requires still more sedentary thinking.
Our first practical class came as a breath of fresh air. It was a new class on Meisner technique with a new teacher called Emett. He’s from Northern Ireland originally and a bit unbelievably nice. I’ve been looking forward to exploring Meisner because I can see in those of the class who have done this work before that it really helps with their listening, intuition and immediacy when acting. And the work is mostly all about using imagination and playing games! I think I’m really going to like this class.
I was glad to have the opportunity to get away at the weekend and visit my second cousins in Exeter. Firstly because they’re wonderful people and I don’t get to see them that often and secondly because I know as the term goes on it will become increasingly impossible to do anything extra at the weekends. My stay was both relaxing and recreational. I played Cluedo, went for runs and ate cake. We went to see Spielberg’s War Horse and immediately afterwards James was able to show me on a map exactly where in Devon they shot it! We went walking in Dartmoor and climbed on the tors where I could lean into the wind and it was strong enough to hold me up, and then I had a juicy Devon steak in a homely English pub. It was great to escape, to see more of England and have a break from the regular routine. Here’s a picture from the windy moor:
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