This basic structure was followed and expanded on depending on the content of the Berry exercise/strategy or improvisation that would then be used and/or adapted in each rehearsal. I found it important to begin each session in this way and to find links with the thematic content from the play and the scene(s) or improvisations at hand for that rehearsal.
Later warm-up exercises usually began with an energiser of some sort, sun salutations established familiarity with combining breath and stretching and a sense of muscular control and at some point floor work was always done on breathing, resonance, fuller projection on humming, vowels and later song was often included. I also used small rubber balls now and again for them to throw to each other in various ways while making sound or singing out words and phrases. This was always fun to see who could concentrate on sound as well as catching the ball. Tapping and patting the head, facial area and chest lightly with the hands was also introduced while releasing sound, rolling from side to side with knees drawn closer
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to the chest, feeling the sound vibrations and loosening the body. In a sitting position on the floor the actors felt grounded on their ‘sitting bones’ and rocked in circular movements, alternating direction on longer extensions of vowels and their combinations. Sound and upper body became more flexible. I brought in a consonant exercise familiar to them from their second year voice classes, which is a consonant sequence that effectively combines short vowels and consonants in different lengths and combinations. Although much shorter and compact, it is similar to what Berry (1973:63–69) works with in sections of Voice and the Actor in her chapter “Muscularity and Word”. Each consonant can be worked through thoroughly in the sequence.
A further addition to warm-ups from the second rehearsal and which became part of many thereafter was the addition of an object being used by the actor while making sound. These were sourced from props used during rehearsals and had links to the characters and themes from the play, e.g. bunch of keys, cleaning cloths, books, pen, small drum, a candle, a hat etc. One variation had the actors think about the object they chose, place it in the space and then with a specific attitude towards that object, find a tone and quality on a vowel that felt appropriate. This gave an internal connection to the sound needed at that point. As they moved away from the object the sound became intensified and their attention on the object was enlarged. They could also then interact with their object by handling it, putting it away or placing in a different spot or giving it to another character, all the while expressing their intentions and feelings through sound. In this way the warm-up did assist the transition into more specific textual and improvisatory work and it flowed very well after these first three sessions.
As these sessions progressed we also started to include singing as part of the warm-up and to repeat parts of the heightened texts, the poems we had worked on before. After the Tristia improvisation and my decision to include it in the production as a Prologue, it was often used after physical and vocal warming as part of the process into further work on the play. During this improvisation we also found a hymn to include before the first scene of the play which formed a clear sound link from the past to the present, to this moment when the play begins in contemporary South Africa. “Soos ‘n Wildsbok” (1983:psalm 42, ii) is an Afrikaans hymn that is likely to have been sung at a funeral in the countryside. I often included the singing of the hymn in different ways as part of the warm-up process, especially during the first eight sessions before we started working more closely on the text itself. The “Suikerbossie” song (1979:F.A.K) is also mentioned by character Dawid in the play and assumes more importance as the play progresses and we discover that it is actually character Rebecca, his daughter, who is the “suikerbekkie” he refers to (Fugard 2002:43). It is an old folk song in Afrikaans and part of South African culture. The song was used during my audition process already as part of the warm-up and the improvisations I set up for the students and was used
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at various stages during formal rehearsals on the text. The subtle refrain of this song was included later at various points by the characters during performance and was discovered during these early times. The focus on various options of sound to be explored and given prominence, and potentially included as part of the concept for the production, was reinforced by the repetition of these elements in the warm-up process.