Physicality

When inhabiting a generic male walk, not only do you have to think about the obvious physical differences but also how they may impact and contribute to the way in which a typical man may walk. I focused on how they would hold themselves first and foremost; particularly placing empathsis on the fact men broader shoulders and smaller waist, in comparison to women, and how that may impact on physical stance and walk. It was also really important to think about how they may distribute their weight and swing their arms when travelling from one place to another. I found looking at all these different attributes extremely interesting and helpful as in previously roles when I may have been playing a male, I never put a large amount of thought into their physicality as physicality is something I find generally quite challenging. However, by breaking down the different parts - like first looking at the fact they larger feet, inhabiting those feet and how they may feel, before moving onto other body parts before putting them together really enabled me to achieve a successful physicality for a male character. By looking at each generic aspect of male physicality allowed me to explore that singular characteristic in greater detail than what I might do usually, this not only allowed me to develop the physicality even further, but also enable me to look at physicality in a way I hadn't necessarily explored in great depth before.

It was really useful to think about the male physicality in general and developing our individual physicality before adding the characteristics and role of an army soldier on top as it allowed us to really refine our movements and build layers before developing it into a character. As many of our character's are going to be in an army scene at some point, it was useful to look at how the male physicality may change when put in that position of a member of an army. Simply by looking at how the solider may walk and distribute their weight opened up a world of physical character choices that I hadn't thought about. It will definitely be useful in further rehearsals when we begin to develop the scenes and characters in greater depth, as I will be able to think about to this workshop and the different aspects that helped me develop a physicality I was confident in.

It was really interesting to simply walk or run around the room inhabiting that male physicality. I found that I held chest out to almost emphasise the broadness of the shoulders, I walked with my legs further apart to accompany the male anatomy, I found I swung my arms out whilst walking more than I usually - amongst other things. By comparing the way I walked as a male and the way I naturally walk as a female, it was compelling to see the stark differences that were so blatantly obvious by physicality. For example, during my natural walk, I generally distribute my weight quite lightly, whereas when I was walking as a male, I found myself walking quite heavily. The differences between a generic male walk and my natural female walk are going to be really intriguing to look at further and cooperate into my role as a munitions factory worker playing a male part. Looking at the differences of how men simply hold themselves when they're resting in comparison to women was also engaging to explore as they're generally extremely different. Women tend to cross their legs when sitting down, almost trying to take up as little space as possible - whereas men are the complete opposite - sitting with their legs apart, generally not thinking about the amount of space their taking up. When I was travelling home after this lesson, it was comical to see how truthful those two stereotypes genuinely are as all 3 men sitting around me sat with their legs unnecessarily wide, one even with one of his legs stretched so far it was out in the aisle. By observing men in real life as they walk and sit, I am able to develop a physicality that not only looks realistic, but also remains truthful and authentic.