SOUL TREE
SOUL TREE
Theatre research on the relation between theatre and nature
by Evelien Pullens and Badungduppa
Evelien is a Dutch director and drama-teacher
Badungduppa is a theatre group based in the jungle of Assam ( Rampur) India.
The Soul Tree theatre-research-workshop is conducted by Evelien Pullens in collaboration with Sukracharya Rabha. Eleven actors of Badungdupppa attend the workshop. The actors live permanently in the Badunduppa-camp. They cook, clean and work together. Evelien got a room in the camp as well. Due to the hot and rainy climate we had to adjust our schedule day by day. As there was no roofed rehearsel space in the camp at the moment we always worked outside. Sometimes in rain, sometimes in the sun. ( 35 degrees)
The purpose of this workshop was to explore the relation between nature and theatre.
Evelien worked with Badungduppa before in the Power of Puppetry project.
The actors from Badungdupppa live very close to nature, but they are not always getting the maximum profit out their surrounding and knowledge in the theatre they create. My aim was to build up awareness about their relation with nature and to open their creativity to give them more freedom, more possibility and more consciousness about their unique situation, a theatre group based in jungle.
Activities
For the first time Badungduppa went into the dense jungle to explore this natural space with sound and movement. We communicated with trees in a traditional ritual, in a theatrical way.
We explored the earth in holes underground, in roots and on a spiritual level. The images and impact of this experiences we used as inspiration for theatre-improvisations on the Badungduppa playground. How to reproduce the strong memories of sound, smell, emotions and body-experiences in body-movement and images. How to translate it to small stories and situations.
Later we got back to the jungle to use the trees as stage by singing from far away, climbing trees, hiding and acting in the middle of the dense green vegetation.
We explored other environments as well, such as fields, fishing-water, rocks and a hill.
In the second half of the workshop we started to extend our research to natural objects in theatre. We mainly focused on leaves, sticks, seeds, vegetables and mud. We concentrated on the world of insects. We started to make them out of natural materials without the use of any glue, pins or other artificial help. So we moved into puppetry as we let the insects come to life.
The other material we explored was mud. With full body make up in mud and clothes made of leaves the actors discovered movements and sounds of. They easily got into the imagination being ancient tribal people, that explore their surrounding.
Additional we worked on basic theatre-skills such as timing, group-balance and action-reaction.
Working process and reporting
I gave most of the exercises and Sukra occasionally took it over to try one of his ideas. Sukra was almost always present to translate and observe the process. The workshop was not only meant for the actors, but mainly to give awareness and eye-openers for Sukra as a director.
The results of the workshop are recorded on video. This image archive makes it easy for Badungduppa to remember the experiences and exercises of the workshop. During the workshop the video recordings gave the actors the opportunity to reflect on their own improvisations. We produced 2 short movies on Youtube so far: One to support the activist Anna Hazare and one with the message: Save the earth.
Outcome and impact
The impact of the workshop is visible on different levels.
Sukra mentioned he discovered new movements and new types of exercises, such as climbing the tree as a body-exercise. He also could see how important it is to create images on stage.
The actors told us that they have so many new ideas for stories and images.
They also got inspired by the new media, film, and were thinking of making a small movie.
On the inner level the actors felt opened, more creative and full of energy for playing and acting.
Ideas for new stories are on environmental theatre; save the trees. Stories about ancient peoples. Stories about insects. Stories about trees that become alive.
Evelien Pullens August 2011
