'I believe theatre should be dangerous'

I'm in the first half hour of my new drama workshop evening class, and the tutor is talking about performance. She's a big fan of Brecht and Boal rather than Stanislavski*, and I'm loving listening to someone talk with passion about theatre, and I know that I'm smiling and nodding. I so agree - theatre has to challenge and confront and push at the boundaries.

I didn't know what to expect when signing up for this class, as drama classes are notoriously a bit of a 'mxed bag', but there are 8 of us, 5 women and 3 men, aged, I guess, from late 20's up to 50's. We go round the table, and say what experience we have and our reasons for being here. 3 of us seem to have done significant amounts of drama and acting before, two have done a little, and 3 are absolute beginners. The tutor tells us that she prefers to work with 'raw talent', so, in the 'what have you done' round up, when I say that I have a degree in theatre, film and television, I feel I'm getting the 'why are you here?' look. This is enough to make me feel a little intimidated, and I try to stay in the background for the rest of the session.

We have to fill out our 'learning objectives' and I put down that one of mine is to re-build my confidence in performance. My acting has rather fallen by the wayside since Uni, I've done a couple of pieces with a friend, and a few workshops but nothing more, and I'm dying to do some practical work again. When she mentions a new RSC certificate in Shakespearean Performance, I think I'm beaming!

In the second half of the session, we start with the trust games, to breakdown the barriers with others in the group. We work in pairs, and have to feel each others hands, and then, with eyes closed, have to find our partner just by touch of hands. We have to greet each other in various forms, shaking hands, by hugging, and rubbing noses. We do the trust exercise where one person leans back and trusts that their partner will support them. It's a little scary, but I love it.

Later, I get into my friend's car, waxing lyrical about theatre and drama, and just how much I've missed it, and I'm talking with my hands. It is physically impossible to talk about theatre without using your hands!

*I'm more of a 'Stan' girl myself.