Exercise: Marionettes

For: Two Actors.
Aim: To help actors be comfortable keeping eye-contact and to work together for non-verbal communication.
How: The two actors stand comfortably apart facing each other. Keeping eye-contact, one actor moves the other by pulling invisible strings - hence the name of the exercise.
Variations:
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp -The actors can stand one behind the other - obviously a little difficult to keep eye-contact in this variation.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp -The actors can stand on opposite sides of the stage and one can draw the other one across the stage to them using the strings.
Important Points:
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp -The actors should focus on making the strings 'real'. This means they should not be looking at the 'operator's' hands.