Solo Voice: Subtex & Sustruture

 

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CONCEPTS 

Context, Text, and Subtext

Constructure, Structure, Substructure

 

Context

Often when we think of context, we think of things like the date a work was published, who it was written by, or the climate of the time. But context is very important within your fictive universe as well. Context in this sense is all the grounding and guiding information that the audience needs, such as who the characters are, where they are, what time of day it is, etc. Context can also be any other additional information the audience needs to interpret and accurately understand what is happening in the story.

 

Question 1

How can the artist create context at a personal level when working on a character?

 

Text

Text is the easiest one of the three to understand, because it is what we often focus on the most. The text is the written part of the story, what happens and what is stated on the page. It is everything you see that is not implied.

The story-context is within the text, just as subtext is, after all, we need to have text in order to have context or subtext.

 

 Question 2

In which way can the text be a deterrent when doing character work?

 

Subtext

Subtext is any content of a creative work which is not announced explicitly by the characters or author, but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work. Subtext has been used historically to imply controversial subjects without drawing the attention, or wrath, of censors.

Subtext is what we mean when we talk about “reading between the lines.” The “sub” refers to underlying. It is underneath the text. It is different than context, in that context helps us interpret and understand the story, and subtext happens when the story is bigger than what is on the page.

Once the viewer has some stability, some grounding with context, you can make them a participator in the story through subtext.

Thus, subtext happens through implications. It also uses contradictions of one sort or another ( I verbally say I love you, when what I am really implying is that I hate you). Subtext happens when the audience comes to a conclusion that explains those contradictions.

Question 3

How can the actor imply the opposite of what he/she says textually?

 

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Constructure

Although it is considered obsolete, we will use constructure to describe the process or act of constructing or the manner in which movement is constructed using all the elements of extra-daily techniques.  

All the grounding and guiding information that the audience needs, such as who the characters are, where they are, what time of day it is, etc. Like the word "context," constructure can also be any other additional information the audience needs to interpret and accurately understand what is happening in the movement story.

Question 4

 Based on your work so far, how would you describe your own experience with the process of constructing movement?

 

Structure 

Structure comes from the Latin word structura which means "a fitting together, building." Your body structure can refer to how your muscles and bones fit together. A movement phrase structure (choreography) is the movement put together, including the elements you choose to use from all the elements extra-daily techniques explored in class. Structure is usually a noun, but it can also be a verb meaning to create order, like if you structure a movement phrase to express an extra-verbal or even non-verbal story.

Question 5

The structure of the phrase you created in class made possible the work with the text you brought to class? Explain.

Substructure

It is an underlying or supporting movement structure devised by the performer to tell that part of the story that escapes the lines of the text and/or the overt movement structure explored during the structuring (dancing) of the character (or play at a larger scale) during the creative (rehearsal) process. 

The substructure can stand on its own when used as the primary source of story telling (a movement piece, a dance piece or a physical theater piece, an opera).  Thus, the substructure, as the subtext, can also happen through implications. 

It can also use contradictions of one sort or another [I avoid movement literality (illustration) by verbally saying/singing I love you, when what I am really saying in movement has no connection with stereotypical ways of saying it in abstract movement and/or abstract gesture].

*Both structure and substructure allow the performer to have some schema (essential form) to rely on when nothing else works.

Question 6

How does the substructure enrich the movement proposed by the actor or dancer?

Source:

 https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/11/context-text-and-subtext-what-they-are-and-how-they-help-storytelling/

 

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Activity

Warm Up: Stops and Bound Flow

Creative Work: Processing poem using context, text, and subtext

constructure, structure, substructure