Our class was held in one of the performance spaces inside the Mac. It was great seeing everyone again, and we all chatted at the beginning of the lesson like we were old friends! Ellie was our tutor for the morning, and we began with a warm up exercise, alot like 'simon says'! During this exercise we were asked to form into groups of six as quick as we could, and was told that these were the groups we were going to be working in for our introductory production named.... 'RISK'!
'RISK' was apparently going to be a piece of 'Devised Theatre' within our groups. Devised theatre??? I had absolutely no clue as to what this was! So, i googled it! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devised_theatre
This really helped me grasp the meaning and purpose of what i was about to be involved in. On reflection, i realised in the past i have actually been part of many 'Devised Theatre' projects at school, but never really knew the correct term for what we had produced. Maybe i never listened back then? Or perhaps this fact was never communicated to me? I will never know! But the feeling of understanding the road i am about to walk upon became extremely comforting.
In our groups we were asked to discuss what kind of risks we had took in our lives. We spoke about, drugs, family, relationships, health, career, and education to name a few. I realised that potentially all of risk topics were ones that would have either a positive or negative outcome. As we spoke more within our group, it seemed obvious that the majority of risk taking in our personal lives had been ones with negative outcomes. We asked ourselves, 'Why negative?' And with that thought found ourselves deeply obsessed with thinking of personal positive risk taking! I struggled, but discovered that the answer was right in front of my face. I myself took the risk of entering back into full time education after previous years of working Monday to Friday, 9 till 5, earning a salary and providing for me and my children. I have risked leaving my financial Independence behind, but in doing so it has meant i am studying something that i am passionate about, and hopefully will one day make an excellent Performing Arts teacher and make a better life for myself and my children in the long run.
After brain storming 'RISK' with the whole class on the floor, it opened my eyes to endless avenues of subjects surrounding risk. Ones that i had never thought of before, this was interesting as it gave our group more scope for ideas for our own piece. This exercise also sparked memories of other risks i had personally took, thus adding more influence into our group discussions there after.
To complete the day, Ellie asked the group to look up a poem and its meaning - 'The road less travelled' by Robert Frost. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/369200.html
This poem was very hard to understand at first, but with help from the link above and also - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060627054632AAtwWig i was able to get a better understanding. It seems there are a few different views on the meaning of this poem. Personally i feel it is about making a decision in life that is not the same as whats expected from them, or maybe different to what everyone else might do. Its about being different. Walking down the road that is less travelled is a Risk, but the benefit is discovering things that no one else has had the courage to do. For me, the poem also symbolises choosing a certain path in life, but because you have chosen that particular path, you have closed the doors to the other options you initially had and can never go back.
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