Mette hammerlund - 0815251 - Task 3

When working with the theme of domestic abuse, we knew we needed to treat this subject with care. It was not just to tell an interesting story as many of us have previously tried in other productions, but to expose traumatic experiences which real people go through every day. Due to this we had to take into consideration how to tell this story truthfully and respectfully.

Rémy Charest: “We let the production guide us there. We try not to force our ideas, our concepts, onto it; the show has its own logic, poetry, rhythms, that we have to discover. ” (Dunjerovic, 2009, p. 29)

The process we have gone though has almost been backwards to how many other companies work. In traditional theatre the initial stimulus is the story as it will be word for word performed on stage. In the case of physical theatre, it is often derived from an emotional stimulus, which slowly evolves into a narrative. This means that no one knows the ending of the story before it actually happens. Even Tanzteater, Jasmin Vardimon Company and Vincent Dance Theatre go through the same process of working in the dark until the stage lights illuminates their stories.

Although we never quite knew where we were going, it somehow seemed to bring us closer together. We were on the same journey. We had the same fears and worries and inhibitions to overcome. Our openness and ability to express these thoughts and feelings helped us help each other to get through the process of dealing with these issues. When a few individuals dare to expose themselves, more will follow and this is how we have ended up with a group that has such trust in each other. We found that through eclectic exercises it became easier to give in to the action and leave the critical part of the mind behind. This was especially visible in our play sessions and contact improvisations, where we discovered that when in the right mindset a person is free to explore the body's potential without being restricted my fears of exposure and inhibitions of touch.

Many of us have experiences to achieve this state of mind once in the process of creating the performance. By working as a character or submerging oneself into a specific emotion, the restrictions of the self can be eliminated for a moment, and the body is free to perform towards its true potential.

“Contact Improvisation is not just another dance technique or discipline. It is a forum for discovering who we are beneath our skins. It is a place where our self concept is questioned. Who am I? What is the shape of my fear? To what degree am I present?” (Martini, 1996)

The experience of losing oneself in one's character became even more accessible as we moved the work out of the classroom and into the set. Here the surroundings, the lights, the music - everything amplified the connection between performer and character. A world was created for the characters to fully come to life.

Although the set helped the performers to connect with their characters, it also had the potential of becoming a distraction. We had to put some effort into locating ourselves in the space, making sure not to bump in to furniture, nor to let the props distract from one's purpose in the narrative.

By creating a simple rule such as not allowing shoes on stage, the space became in some sense holy to me and a ritual for entering the space was established. This added to the magic of the space, giving it a special energy or atmosphere that added to my concentration and empathy for my character.

Although I felt more connected to my character within the performance space, she seemed to only come to life during the action of the performance itself. I began finding it very hard to connect with my character outside the storyline. This meant I really had to struggle during the character warm-up, but I felt that as soon as the story was playing the character came to life within seconds of concentration behind the curtains. This might be partially caused by the fact that I had two separate characters which confused me during the warm-ups. I found it difficult to choose which one to focus on during the warm-up and especially to choose which part of the story was most emotional. Looking back it appears clearer for me that my one character had her peak when she finds out that the woman was raped, and when I was playing the woman it is when she is giving back the heart that is the climax of her story. However during the warm-up I found it very difficult to see the bigger picture. For me it was something that came by itself through the course of the narrative. And at times it would differ slightly, as to which moment I loaded with more intensity.

In addition, by working in a draughty environment wearing only a skimpy costume I felt the need for a high-pace warm-up, also in order to work some of my nervous energy away. I tried fitting this in before the group warm-up and I found it to be highly beneficial. When my body was warm and slightly tired I was able to concentrate on the more mental focussed warm-up.

“Your movement has to be saying something all the time.” (Steel, 2006) In order to have constant intention behind my every movement and every gesture, I discovered that I needed to listen to both the needs of my body and my mind. Through the work I have learned much about my own needs and my own processes prior to a performance, as well as the importance of engaging and connecting with the ensemble.

Even before we had an audience I could feel a tension building in the ensemble. Everyone knew that we were getting closer to the performance. Once the audience came I was expecting the whole piece to lift immensely. In my privious experiences the audience functioned as a fix of pure energy for the performers. I am sure our performance did lift in some areas, however it felt as though we were all holding back a little, feeling a bit unsure of what we were doing. I believe it was a combination of only having had one day before to rehearse in the theatre and that we had just had a tiring run-through. Also for our second performance we seemed to have reached a point of slight exhaustion and were lacking in energy and performance intensity. However Thursday's performance had a great energy. We were rested and ready when we came in. There was a general feeling that we were clear on our tasks at hand and there was excitement in the air. Everyone took great care in applying the notes that were given, and it raised the entire performance to a new level. I spoke to someone who had seen two of the performances. He said: “It was like seeing two different performances.”

“In devising theatre, the resource is a stimulus for the performance – an object, place, piece of music or memory. The score is the material that arises from research, discussion and improvisations – settings, characters, images and events.” (Allain & Harvie, 2006, p. 51)

The idea started from the Avon Refuge campaign Four Ways to Speak Out. The initial brief given to the group was that we were about to create a piece of physical theatre revolving a woman's disappearance from a community, and that it was somehow linked with domestic abuse. This was our Resource in the early stages. We then started gathering our Score. This included the letters written by all the members of the group, the movement devised through ensemble work and work in smaller groups or pairs, as well as the props we brought in.

“Valuaction is the process of evaluating, selecting and organizing the collected material, and performance is the testing out in practice of the resulting performance draft.” (Allain & Harvie, 2006, p. 51)

Through the process of Valuaction, we made the decisions of what would actually be part of the product on stage. Much of the gathered material would not make it to the performance, but would still be part of the score, and some even became part of the Resource. The letters for instance, became a foundation in our character work, yet was not directly part of the performance.

“As the acronym 'RSVP' suggests, the method aims to facilitate continuous feedback amongst participating makers and audiences. The designation 'Cycles' indicates that the creative process in ongoing, the performance is always open to revision.” (Allain & Harvie, 2006, p. 51)

In the duration of our process we have used Resource, Score, Valuaction and Performance as headlines for the different stages we were going through. However, each element has constantly been part of our way of working. By using the Resource as a stimulus we would collect a Score, which we would then Perform in order to Validate it. The process is a constant cycle of gathering, refining or discarding.

By looking at the process from our dress rehearsal through to our final performance it is clear that the development of a performance is never truly finished. There will always be elements that can be polished and edited in order to improve it. It is a long and slow process of perfecting a piece of theatre, and even when it appears complete, it will still have to change slightly from performance to performance in order to keep the material fresh and lively. This is one of the joys of physical theatre, where parts are left to chance and the emotional state of the performer in that exact moment.



Bibliography

Allain, Paul & Harvie, Jen (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance Abingdon, UK: Routledge

Dunjerovic, Aleksandar (2009) Robert Lepage Abingdon, UK: Routledge

Martini, Ken (1996) Contacting the Soul [online] Naturedance >http://nurturedance.org/contactimprov.php<

Steel, Liam (2006) Creating Physical Theatre – Stan Won't Dance [DVD] Australia: Contemporary Arts Media

Jessica Green Blog Task 3 0820731

“When discussing the building process of a performance Barba… says that although there can be no general message contained within a performance, as each spectator hears something different, there are key ideas and realities that are embodied by a culture in a particular time and space, and these ideas and realities might constitute a shared understanding on a general level.” (Turner, J. 2004, p31)
This quote is true in relation to the ‘validation’ and ‘performance’ process of Four Ways To Speak Out. There was ‘no general message’ due to the complex narrative, enabling the audience to decipher the ‘ideas and realities’ and each to have a unique reading of the piece. The ‘ideas and realities’ or common themes and issues were explored and embedded in the piece creating the complex narrative. Common themes explored in the work included; curiosity, confusion, loss, domestic violence, community, guilt, blame and commercial love.

The sense of community was instrumental during the creation of the piece, as it was our initial relationship to ‘the street’, the area that we all lived and existed in, that allowed us to explore the individual dynamics within our created community. However, the piece didn’t start with a tight-knit community, it started with a realistic community, where each individual character stuck to their secular group of friends and only through the course of the piece did the community unite through the story of this missing woman.

The discovery of the woman’s suitcase was the catalyst for the community’s first shared experience. A series of movements were performed and each character was drawn into the action. Not everybody joined at once; it took some time for the realisation of what was taking place and the implications of this, to filter through the whole community. The feelings experienced here were different for each character; personally I felt confused by the situation but had an almost overwhelming sense of concern for the woman. Consequently during the set movements, I was looking for the woman and looking to Andy, who started the movements, to find out what was happening. Turner notes that, “Rituals can also confirm a sense of collective identity for a particular group and involve the participants in some sort of transformation.” (Turner, J. 2004, p8) The drawing in of all but one of the characters to this repeated set of movements, helped to establish us as a community. We were a community that had come together after the strange occurrence of a woman’s suitcase being found. Due to one character’s resistance to join our ‘ritual’ (Dan), the focus of the community changed from Andy, who started the ‘ritual’ to the person refusing to be involved with it. At this moment I felt that because Dan was avoiding the community, he must know something about the woman, subconsciously the community started to blame him.

Through a dialogue between the two male characters, Dan and Andy, the suitcase opened to reveal the woman’s diary. The communal reading of this diary and the unloading of the woman’s story, forced the community to examine its past actions that had led to her disappearance. My character felt an overpowering sense of guilt, I felt that I could have and should have helped the woman. This guilt manifested itself in the second ensemble, whereby my body hit a wall of shame and just wanted to throw itself to the floor. The group then shared an intense experience of fear as Andy tried to separate us and get one of us alone. He succeeded in this by convincing Dawn to take his hand, and make contact with him. At this moment the group were shocked but let her go with him as they felt that they could not stop it, it would be a never-ending circle of entrapment. This led the group to feel despondent to their situation and this showed during the subsequent movement section, where the characters kept throwing themselves to the floor.

For Four Ways To Speak Out, the transition from studio to theatre space was fluid, but not without certain difficulties. The main problem that we had to quickly overcome was the change in the shape of the space; the theatre space was deeper and narrower than the studio. This meant that in the ensemble sections we had to be aware that instead of spreading out length-ways as we had in the studio, we had to spread out towards the back of the stage. This brought into question the placement of people, as some people were concerned that if they stood at the very back of the stage, they would not be seen. This obviously was not the case and was inevitable as many of us have experienced the Western traditions of ‘rich theatre’, which is big on spectacle and which attempts to keep up with cinema and television. (Grotowski, J. 1975, p19) “Work in such an ensemble can never be stable. It is nothing but a huge challenge and, furthermore, it awakens such strong reactions of aversion that these often threaten the theatre’s very existence.” (Grotowski, J. 1975, p45) This was true to some extent, since people wanting to be constantly lit did create unnecessary challenges; however these were quickly ironed out during the technical rehearsals, with a word from the directors. Therefore ‘reactions of aversion’ were not given time to manifest.

Kevin Finnan, the Artistic Director of Motionhouse Dance Theatre, describes “the strong link between space and performance” (Finnan, K) and creates his work using the space and set as a stimulus. For Four Ways To Speak Out we used an imagined space, the street, as our stimulus. This meant that we encountered another setback in the movement from studio to theatre space; this being the placement of set and props. In the studio we had imagined where each of the set items, such as the bed and the bar, would be placed but you can never truly appreciate how much space the bed is going to take up without seeing it in the space. Therefore, once in the space we had to achieve a heightened awareness of this space as well as with the community. “The requisite state of mind is a passive readiness to realize an active role.” (Grotowski, J. 1975, p17) The ‘active role’ described here is a responsibility to the safety of the performers, this was realised in our piece during the second ensemble when people nearest the bar moved the stools so that nobody fell onto them. This was done effectively and with great common sense.

Once in the space we had a technical rehearsal where we mechanically marked out where we would stand and move. This mechanical movement carried on into our further rehearsals and it felt as if the group was just going through the motions, without attaching emotion or intention to the movement.

On the principle of the ‘decided body’ Barba,
“… suggests that it is achieved when an actor is immersed in the theatrical reality that is their tradition to the point where the artificiality is experienced as normal behaviour within that space; the work no longer needs to be mentally considered or translated by the mind for the body – usefully, mind and body are working as one.” (Turner, J. 2004, p56)
After absorbing the mechanical and clinical learning of where we needed to be positioned, we re-entered the space afresh the next day and found that our artificial movement from the previous day had been replaced as ‘normal behaviour’. There was no longer a “hierarchy of word over body” (Murray, S & Keefe, J. 2007, p7) our minds and bodies were ‘working as one’.

Grotowski notes that,
“during a rehearsal an actor may reach a climax that he will work on. He keeps the same gestures and the same positions but never again reaches the same intimate climax. The peak of a climax can never be rehearsed… The climax itself can never be reproduced.” (Grotowski, J. 1975, p172)
The cast of Four Ways To Speak Out experienced this point of ‘climax’ in the final rehearsal before the performance; subsequently the two performances on that day had us keeping ‘the same gestures and the same positions’ without achieving the same intense performance as in the rehearsal. During the two performances, I found myself thinking ‘you were here on the bed last time when you cried, so you need to be there again to feel that same emotion’. This completely impeded the growth of my character, as I stopped living in the imagined space, I became more like an outside party analysing my past actions.

This is where Robert Lepage’s ‘RSVP’ model still came into use, as after performing for an audience we were able to gage what worked and what did not. An example of this was when the characters in the bar scene went into a slow motion series of gestures. When performed for the rest of the group, this section was found quite funny however when the first audience saw it they didn’t give a humorous reaction. It was only through analysing the audience’s reaction that we realised that, they were seeing a grotesque nightmare and this is something that was brought up and embedded into the actors. It is important to remember that the ‘RSVP’ model empowers the creative journey rather than the final performance. For that reason, one must note that the creative journey isn’t over until the end of the final performance, so the company needed to continue to ‘Score’ and ‘Validate’ between each performance.

After two slightly disappointing performances, the importance of a focused warm-up, before the final performance, was great. During this warm-up, we did similar exercises to the ones we had done prior to the previous performances, however before we began I made a mental decision to forget about the usual physical positions my character adopted and to find new ones within the space. This really helped me to find new dimensions of my character that I had not yet explored and sparked a renewed excitement in the work. This carried across into the final performance where my character was fully engaged throughout the whole performance and I was not preoccupied with remembering where I needed to be to feel a certain emotion.

Murray observes that,
“in live art and certain types of physical theatre, the body is regularly used to investigate the unspoken, the forgotten and the silenced, thus bringing marginalised or hitherto excluded experience to the foreground of the performer’s arena.”
Four Ways To Speak Out certainly falls into this description, as we investigated the difficult and often unspoken subject of domestic violence. Through audience feedback, I think we handled the subject delicately and were able to give an example of a strong woman who leaves her tormentor.

Bibliography

Finnan, K Interview With Kevin Finnan (Online) (Accessed 25 April 2010) Available at:
http://www.motionhouse.co.uk/documents/SyndicatedinterviewwithKevinFinnan_002.pdf

Grotowski, J (1975) Towards A Poor Theatre London: Methuen

Murray, S (2003) Jaques Lecoq London: Routledge

Murray, S & Keefe, J (2007) Physical Theatres: A critical Introduction London: Routledge

Turner, J (2004) Eugenio Barba London: Routledge

Emma Gill - 0808614 - Blog Task 3

1. Moving from the validation process to the performance brought out themes and issues that had not arisen when working individually or on our group sections. The main contributor for that may have been the addition to the periphery and how our characters developed while watching and listening to the performance as this had not been experienced or used in rehearsals. A theme that was apparent through out was the unity of the female cast members. Although Daniel Harris was mainly part of the ensemble he was nit noticed as often. At times I myself did not even know he was on stage. The response from the periphery may have been completely different if his character was more ‘in the space’, more interactive with what was happening on stage. The theme of community was overwhelming during the second ensemble, the chaos section. Although everybody had their own individual reaction to Andrew’s character, everybody at one point did not want anything to do with him, and without knowing were segregating him for what he had done and what he knew about the woman’s disappearance. This however was also apparent from the beginning as nobody knew why he was being secretive about the suitcase. The community were always reacting to what was being presented. During the tech runs the community always seemed to peak emotionally during Hayley Rockley’s suitcase scene, this meant that the rest of the performance was at its highest emotional capacity. However when performing the cast’s emotional reaction was during ‘Bobby’s Girl’. This meant the emotion was fresh and gave the finale a greater impact.
When it came to the performance, the opening became stronger as people had already created relationships with people in their environment. I think because people had planned what they were going to say and where they were going to move and when, this meant the opening lost a lot of its original intention. When it came to the first ensemble people joined because they had to at the rough time they did before in the previous rehearsal/performance, instead of letting it be intension based. This may have been due to the adrenaline from the performance or it could stem from ‘the deep- rootedness of the human desire to perform, to act and play outside of the everyday..’(Keefe & Simon 2007 p:38) so a sense of getting the performance ‘right’ may have meant that some of the cast over acted and lost the intension, forgetting why their character would move or react in a certain way.

2. When moving the ensemble from the studio to the theatre, the cast had to overcome some changes and were at times challenged by using a different environment. Overall the ensemble created an altered perception of the ‘street’ this was also helped by the items such as the bed and bar. While investigating the space a few problems arose, such as spacing and the placement of our sections. The chaos section took the most reworking, as at points the whole ensemble were centre stage. While in the ‘scoring’ process we had not accounted for the depth of the space and therefore did not use it’s potential as most of the ensemble would not use it as they may have thought you could not be seen. Another thing the ensemble had to deal with was the spacing for the periphery and making sure we were using the space efficiently and without drawing the attention away from the main action, with the studio we did not have the stairs, the pillar or the bed and bar, so when we moved into the performance space we had to rework and re-space the certain elements. Not only did things need to be re-spaced but our transitions which included moving set had to change as well. I found this extremely hard as I found my character was getting lost as I moved the set, as I didn’t have an intension to be moving set or helping to move the set. We also had to watch out for lights as at certain points we were really close to the floor light and this would mean they would be out of focus for the rest of the performance.
In addition to these problems the most important to me was during the tech, when we had to do things repeatedly and with out much intension. I started to lose all the emotion I had built up in rehearsals. So in the performances I was trying to get back to that emotional state which meant my intensions were false and did not feel right. All though there were problems a strength was the professional relationship between the ensemble and the new environment. When decisions were being made the cast helped out as much as the could, this was how the piece kept developing and changing because the environment changed. Our performance space was used to its maximum as the only thing that determined the edge of the space was the use of light. We performed right up to the audience’s feet. This is a common technique used in physical theatre in particular it is seen in the work of Pina Bausch, Alain Platel states ‘the division between audience and stage should be made as minimal as possible…in other words what is shown may deal with reality but it is not reality’ (keefe & Simon, 2007 p81)
Emalene Hickman says ‘I think the communication of the message became stronger..’ (accessed on 25/4/2010) this is due to the fact that the ensemble was always changed and always performing, reacting to what they were seeing, this was the major strength as we managed to portray the sensitive issue of domestic violence.

3. After each show and rehearsals we were given notes on either things to improve on or things we had performed that looked effective. This is in effect when we then changed what we needed to make the piece look complete and effective. I was given a note on the second performance that I then felt I had to replicate for the final show, I did manage to revisit the movement as for the first time it was instinctive and therefore it happened again but with more intension as my character was more emotional. One part of the performance that was constantly being scored and validated was the toilet rape scene between Naomi Chamroo and Andrew Smith. Although this was not personal it did impact on my reaction to what I had listened to and seen about the woman’s story. My character’s personal journey had started from the first ‘S’coring session, as at first my character was over protective, purely because she had not seen anything that happened to the woman, but during the play sessions in the warm up, my character wanted to save everybody. This as also apparent in the first scoring of the chaos scene, where we were falling and being caught, I felt that it was my job to catch everybody else. This changed however, when the opening was re-scored and my intension changed, I was not interested it the suitcase therefore did not care who it belonged to, until we found out whose it was, and how my relationship with the woman was closer then I first thought. Instead of feeling over protective I was riddled with guilt, and couldn’t let it happen to anyone else, this is where my relationship with Jess developed from.
There were clear differences between performances, this was due the ensemble growing and adapting to changes that were made. I believe that this was purely down the running order being remembered and not coming out of character. From feedback received the audience did not always understand the opening ensemble, they were not aware of why everybody was doing this, if the cast had portrayed more intention when starting the group ensemble then the audience may have be able to comprehend it. Also we started the performance in a naturalistic manner then merged it with the physical theatre element. This may have thrown the audience, and only when it was clear that physical theatre was being used through out the whole performance they understood it on a deeper level.
The performance grew with the ensemble using always acting in the periphery, there was ‘not a held image, but one of movement and urgency that does what it needs to establish…’ (Keefe & Murray, 2007, p:173) we established our understanding and feeling about the action on stage, and although we were not meant to be over powering the action we still had to react, by the final piece mine and Andrew’s relationship had developed into me not being able to stand him for what his character had done. I instinctively lashed out. Not in a violent manner more in the tolerance for him being in my space, and touching me, however there was a couple of shoves and at one point without thinking I did elbow him in the back, on purpose but as my character. This was as true to my character as I could be, but other members of the ensemble at times through out the process feel they were not portraying their characters 100%, as Emalene Hickman quotes in her blog ‘I soon realised I was not being true to my character’(25/4/2010).

Bibliography:
Keefe, J & S Murray (2007) Physical Theatres: A Critical Introduction London: Routledge
Other sources:
http://jemenpp.blogspot.com/ [accessed on 25/4/2010]

Final Blog - FOUR WAYS TO SPEAK OUT - NAOMI CHAMROO 0820502

Naomi Chamroo - 0820502

1. Robert Lepage uses the ‘RSVP Cycle’ as a tool for creating a narrative within a piece of devised theatre, using this process enabled us to come up with the narrative for FOUR WAYS TO SPEAK OUT. Conquering the ‘research’ stage, and verifying the ‘score’ stage with the material, we reaffirmed a clear and concise chronological linear structure through, the ‘validation’ phase. Anticipating the events when entering the final phase ‘performance’.

As the ‘validation’ phase, transformed into the ‘performance’ phase, the key themes and issues emerged through the sequence of events within the piece. The key themes of loss, guilt, anger, control, manipulation, confusion and desperation were all explored through our performance. The characters within the community felt these emotions at different points throughout the performance, and individually we experienced these and expressed them through similar gesture with differing intentions.

The issues of domestic abuse and the key themes came to light in the scoring phase, and emerged through the piece as we validated, with the ensemble. The first ensemble saw the community gradually being drawn into a series of emotional gestures lead by Andy, who controlled and manipulated the ensemble who became fixated on him and felt compelled to join in. The ensemble became so physically powerful that Dan who remained on periphery was overwhelmed by the sense of togetherness and eventually forced by Liz to join the piece. This ensemble explored the initial feelings of a sense of loss, manipulation and confusion, mixed with uncertainty as to where the woman has gone and why?

Jean Sabatine explores emotional gestures:-
Emotional gestures: Gestures that replace language when verbalization is impossible or not needed – for example: holding hands; raising a fist; kissing; opening the hands in shock or surprise, (Sabatine,1995, pg:120)

The second ensembles key themes where of fear, anger and desperation, it begins with a sense of fear of Andy, as the story unfolds and the community discovers the woman has been abused at the hands of Andy, the run in desperation and fall into the arms of someone who can save them. As the ensemble moves through the choreographed sequences the anger builds and community separate themselves leaving the perpetrator alone.
In the ‘validation’ phase of the process my individual experience changed dramatically, in ‘scoring’ I welcomed a connection with other members of the community when watching the ‘Diary Entries’ I often become overwhelmed and needed the human interaction. However, I rejected everyone who comforted me in the ‘performance’ stage and remained alone; I felt this was truer to my character as my character was work colleague and new no-one in the community.
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2. The space or the architecture ‘the physical environment in which you are working and how the awareness of it affects movement’, (Bogart, 1995, pg:22). This has a significant impact on how the actors feel and respond to the performance space. Practical things need to be overcome and dealt with, to allow creativity to flourish.

In Anne Bogart’s book on her viewpoints, the architecture is a significant part of the process:
In working architecture as a viewpoints, we learn to dance with the space, to be in dialogue with a room, to let movement (especially shape and gesture) evolve out of our surroundings. (Bogart, 1995, pg:22)
As the community moved in to the theatre space from the rehearsal space initially we encountered logistical problems, the space itself seemed narrower with more depth. Even though in the validation phase we had discussed the set, the bedroom and the bar I did not anticipate how the objects would affect my character. Moving into the space and working practically with props meant overcoming unforeseen nuisance.

We are sensitive to people and objects outside ourselves in space. We develop a response to other people’s use of space and its effects on us. The way in which we relate to space is an important part of our expressive behaviour. (Sabatine, 1995,pg:112)

In order for the community to make the space come alive, the process of exploration must take place. This was explored in our warm-ups; we selected a part on the set where our character felt most emotional or vulnerable, their most heightened emotional state. This part of the stage enabled us to access our most responsive emotion.

This engagement of space and associated emotion was key in my characters development throughout the performance and enabled me to access the required emotion when returning to that space on the set. For example when representing the woman, I was most vulnerable at the stool and this was the most heightened emotional state my character found herself in before my interactions with the other characters.

The development between individuals and the community in the space became more apparent. The division of the bedroom and bar meant that the community split, individuals that connected with that part of the stage remained within that space and chose not to move. For example, my performances as the woman happened in the bar, I felt a connection to this area and never left this space.

The strengths of validating within another space allows you the freedom to change set and look at logistical problems you may encounter in the ‘p’ stage, it allows a trial and error approach to work. Logistical we were a large group and could often to all fit into the one room and would use the two rooms. The weakness in this meant for some people they felt disjointed from the rest of the group, we had spent the first half of the year connecting together as a community then we were split which some felt disrupted the communities journey. Another weakness, as mentioned previously was the size and shape of the space, when you encounter the actual space which was longer and narrower with a bar, a bed and chairs in it, this meant a great deal of manipulation around the set pieces.
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When everything comes from the actors, what happens in performance is determined by what happens in rehearsal, and accidental discoveries are part of that. (Callery, D., 2001, p164)
The above quotes shows how important each stage of the RSVP cycle is, one without the other simply cannot exist, each stage leads into the next. The three performances saw a different journey for the individuals with the community, the community as a whole and saw the themes emerge with more emotional impetus than ever known in the validation process. ‘Validation’ process explores using movements and gesture to create and physicalise the diary entries. The chronological narrative derived from this stage was very technical and felt less emotional connected to the community, when we reached the ‘Performance’ stage the process became less about technical performance and more to do with transferring an emotional message to the audience.

The RSVP module was executed until the curtain fell on the last performance, as a devised piece of work that is fluid and interchangeable is bursting with unknown exchanges within the performance space, thus leaving the performers in a constant state of readiness and awareness. When the community where placed around the periphery, the characters where constantly active, living in the moments and experiencing the past events, but viewing them for the first told as they are retold, being frozen in that moment in time.
The overall theme of domestic violence and sensitive portrayal one woman’s story of this type of abusive, was done without throwing punches, without bruises and cuts and but by perceptive emotional intention lead physical movements.

Simon Woods of the Zen Zen Zo physical theatre articulated that, ‘...Watching a group of people who go through this incredible process of transformation, physically, spiritually, mentally, intellectually over a period of time together in training room is a truly profound thing. The performance is like opening a door to say ‘This is where we’re at; this is what we’re thinking about’, and the door closes again and we go back into the training room. (Bradley & Woods, 2003, pg:156)

My role within the piece was layered with complications and disjointed emotions, I was torn in two halves. This is due to my experiences as playing two roles within the piece, the representation of the woman, and the character within the community. This unique role was challenging physically and emotionally I felt an automatic affinity with the other four girls playing the role of the woman and instantly felt their feelings when performing there snippets of the diary. However, found it very difficult to regain my character within the community, the insignificant act of putting on a piece of clothing that represented the character enabled me to make that connection, if a little incoherent.

I personally re-scored and re-validated throughout the process, when watching the ‘Bobby’s girl’ sequence, each time I saw this section my reaction changed, in ‘scoring’ I enjoyed the superficial playtime of the ritual of the girls getting ready, and saw a woman supported and loved by her friends. In ‘validated’ this became more sinister, the friends controlling her and manipulating her as her abuser. When it came to performance stage, this section left me feeling sad, gulity and often bringing me to tears, seeing the woman being forced to put on a happy face and carry on. The themes crescendo as the feeling of manipulation and control, now executed by her friends who seem to be unknowingly abusing her.
Through the RSVP cycle I saw the ensemble work flourish into the emotional lead sequences and the individual representations driven with force and meaning, and delivering a story and conveying a meaning through gesture, choreographed movements, moments of repetition and stillness.

As the key issue in the piece was Domestic Abuse, I felt we were successful in conveying meaning and dealing with this subject in a mature and delicate way, we left the narrative open. This left the audience to make their own mind up to how they chose to leave the woman, either empowered by her breaking away from her abuser, or did she simply choose to ‘give up’. Pina Bausch describes how I feel we best delivered this message: ‘It is not how people move, but what moves them’ (Bausch, 2002, Pg: 57)

Bibliography

Bogart, A (1995) Viewpoints USA: Smith and Kraus Inc.
CALLERY, D (2002) Through the body London: Routledge
Dundjerović, A. (2009) Routledge Performance Practitioners: Robert Lepage. Oxon. Routledge.
Govan, E & Nicholson, H & Normington, K (2006) Making a performance: Devising histories and contemporary practices London: Routledge
Huxley, M., 2002, The Twentieth Century Performance Reader London: RoutledgeMackey, S & Cooper, S (2000) Drama and Theatre Studies Cheltenham: ThornesMurray, S & Keefe, J (2007) Physical Theatres A Critical Introduction London: Routledge
Murray and Keefe (2007) Physical Theatres, an introduction. London. Routledge.Oddey, A (1994) Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook UK: RoutledgeSabatine, J (1995) Movement Training for the Stage and Screen London: A&C Black Ltd

Secondary Source

Frantic Assembly: About us. Online. [Accessed: 21st April 2010] Available at: http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/
Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre: About us. Online. [Accessed: 23rd April 2010] Available at: http://www.zenzenzo.com/

Emalene Hickman. Assessment Blog 3. 0803198

Themes of guilt, anger, vulnerability, manipulation, confusion, helplessness and fear were all explored throughout Four Ways to Speak Out. Individual characters felt each of these to a different degree and at different moments in the piece but the fact that these emotions were felt by someone meant that they were explored. The performance element brings something new and sometimes unexpected to the process and different things emerge. As a personal example I had never felt any anger towards Andy in the ‘V’ stages of the process, however, in the ‘P’ stages I couldn’t stand to even look at him, he made my skin crawl and I wanted to lash out at him.

The opening ensemble section draws the community together for the fist time. This scene explores confusion and manipulation in particular. The cast start performing a series of movements and people gradually get drawn in, some people join in fairly quickly, others look a little confused but join in anyway and others take a lot longer to join in, but inevitably, they do. Manipulation is a theme explored greatly within the piece, particularly within the main domestic abuse storyline and ‘the woman’s’ controlling friends. However you also see it in this section as the whole ensemble do the same thing, they may not have a reason to but they do so because everyone else is, they are being manipulated by the community.

The middle ensemble was also particularly striking as it showed helplessness, fear and guilt. Each member has a moment of vulnerability as they run, fall, catch and collapse with someone else. Emotions run particularly high in this scene and I think this is clear to the audience as they begin to feel threatened by this male figure. Each audience member will create their own meanings however, “It is impossible for a piece of theatre not to convey a meaning” (Murray & Keefe, 2007, pg.92). I think this is particularly important in this type of work as the smallest of moments will create meaning for the audience. I feel this is something that was some what forgotten by the cast in the ‘Performance’ part of the project. The ensemble members who were not involved in the central action became very lacks and tended to simply watch the action. Whereas the simplest of gestures, character traits and body language will transpose a meaning to the audience.

The first thing I noticed about the stage space was that it was a lot deeper and narrower than the studio. This was inevitably going to cause problems as the cast grew used to these changes. People became selfish and felt as though they could not be seen unless they were front and centre. This meant that the ensemble sections became cramped into one part of the stage and everyone fought to be seen in the sidelines. Also, with the full set people soon started to realise that they couldn’t always be where they had originally anticipated. For example the bed and bar took up more room than I had expected and meant that I could not start the second ensemble where I always had done in the studio. The props and costume also caused a few problems; however, I feel the cast dealt with them extremely well. In the bar section drinks got spilt, pieces of costume flew across the stage, the bed had no mattress and the directors had to buy yet another suitcase on the day of the performance. All things considered I think the ensemble did a good job of avoiding the spillages, moving potential trip hazards and readjusting to last minute changes.

There is something about the stage environment that brings a performance to life in a way the studio cannot. Being in a stage environment with full costume, set and lighting immediately brings another level to the performance which allows the actor to feel more. This in turn allows the production to take flight and cause a response from the audience as “with an actual exchange of emotion between the actors, the scene instantly will come alive” (Allensworth et.al, 1982, Pg.165). However, as much as some people achieved this by taking the process seriously, others took a long time to get to an emotionally heightened place. This seriously affected the others on stage and in some cases distracted them from their character considerably.

I also noticed that the warm up became longer, more intense and a lot more focussed on breathing and character. For me, this helped greatly as the new space is off putting at first and the importance of character and personal journeys is higher in a performance environment. This helped me achieve “The neutral body, immobile, breathing, [which] is ready to act…ready to reflect, not only through the eyes, but through the whole body, all that is happening inside” (Dennis, 1995, Pg.52). I feel this quote is extremely relevant to what we were trying to achieve through our concentrated warm up. The neutral body is ready to respond to stage action and the use of breath helps the body to show this reaction, as opposed to just the eyes. The specific part of the warm up when we are asked to breathe, as our character would at its most intense, then asked to develop that into a physical gesture is a precise example of this. The physical embodiment of an internal emotion is something Process and Performance students are constantly trying to achieve.

This devised performance was very typical in the fact that it was used “to communicate and express particular interests or concerns” (Oddey, 1994, pg.12). I think the communication of the message became stronger with each performance, due to emotional connection from the performers and from the changeable nature of this work. Each performance was different and more developed than the last and the somewhat delicate subject of domestic violence was dealt with sensitively. “In a theatrical setting, the purpose may be to display skill or express a universal reality in an aesthetic form created by the individual artist” (Alter, 1991, Pg.75). The aesthetic we were trying to create was one of symbolism to represent the universal reality of oppressive love. In the performance we showed domestic violence without throwing any punches, without the woman being violently killed and without any blood and cuts. This aesthetic was achieved more successfully each performance as the casts reactions became more intense and more real. So much so that, particularly in the ‘Booby’s Girl’ scene, some of the actors found it very difficult to embody the happy-go-lucky, smiley faces the scene required.

For my character personally the growth was there but rather unexpected. I noticed throughout the performance several people crying and I originally took that to be a goal, I had to get so upset that I cried. However, I soon realised I was not being true to my character for two reasons; one, it meant I was trying to get to something and not feeling the emotions and secondly I realised that tears in their essence felt wrong for my character. I was extremely emotional in the performances and at times found it difficult to watch but I never became upset to the point of tears. I found that I became upset to the point of anger, I wanted to get up and help her leave, I wanted her to be her own person and I wanted to do something to stop it ever happening to someone else. Yet, I never did. I was so immobilised by my emotions, the anger, hatred and fear stopped me in my tracks. I just sat and watched, completely helplessly, more and more so in each performance.

I think the RSVP model can be applied at this late stage of the performance as actors will always analyse and wish to improve their performance for each show. I think the ‘S’ and ‘V’ stages of the model happen between each ‘P’. As Dundjerović (2009) supports: “’P’erformance as a final part of the RSVP cycles, [is] not necessarily a finalized and fixed performance as expected in professional theatre; on the contrary the performance structure remains fluid and open to further change” (pg.30). A specific example of one section I personally re-scored and re-validated each performance was my reactions to Hayley’s scene. The first performance I perched on the side of the bed, I think this came about so that I could get away should I choose to. When I thought back on it however I felt unengaged with the action. Therefore on the second performance I sat closer to the middle of the bed with my legs crossed in front of me. This made me feel more involved in the action but in comparison to my physicality in the other scenes it still didn’t feel quite right. So, I re-evaluated my position once more. The third performance I sat right in the middle of the bed, with my knees clutched in close to my body, holding a pillow tightly to my chest. This felt natural for my character; I felt involved in the action and gave me more of a stimulus to move for the next section.


References:
Allensworth, C, Allensworth, D, & Rawson, C. (1982) The Complete Play Production Handbook. New York. Harper & Row.

Alter, J. (1991) Dance-Based Dance Theory. USA. Peter Lang Publishing.

Dennis, A. (1995) The Articulate Body. UK. Nick Hearn Books.

Dundjerović, A. (2009) Routledge Performance Practitioners: Robert Lepage. Oxon. Routledge.

Murray and Keefe (2007) Physical Theatres, an introduction. London. Routledge.

Oddey, A. (1994) Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. Abingdon – UK. Routledge

Blog Task 3

Deadline: Wednesday, 21st April 2010, 5 pm
Word Count: 1500 words total (400 + 500 + 600)

Task:

•There are 3 questions you need to respond to
•The questions this time are mostly reflective, however should still be analytical and not descriptive academic writing
•Wider independent research, particularly from physical theatre practitioners via company websites should be used to support your opinions
•Present your writing in academic language with Harvard Referencing and a bibliography presented alphabetically at the end of your post
•PLEASE TYPE YOUR FULL NAME IN THE POST TITLE

Questions:


1. As the creative process turned from the 'V' stage to the 'P' stage of devising, and Four Ways to Speak Out started to come together as one cohesive performance, what were the common themes and issues that were beginning to emerge through the basic fabric of the piece? Despite the individual journeys, what shared experiences tied the community together? Discuss with clear and succinct examples. (400 words)

2. Critically evaluate the transition of Four Ways to Speak Out as the ensemble moved from the studio into the theatre space. What were the strengths and weaknesses of this phase and process? (500 words)

3. Critically evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within the piece. Did the RSVP model continue to apply even at this final stage of the performance piece? Discuss with concrete examples. (600 words)

If you have any queries over these blog questions, please email me in good time before the deadline. Looking forward to your final set of blog responses.

Royona

Emalene Hickman 0803198 Assessment Blog 2

The main strategy of devising used within the process and performance module is Robert Lepage’s RSVP model. “’RSVP’ stands for ‘Resource, Score, Valuaction and Performance’. In devising theatre, the resource is the stimulus for the performance…The score is the material that arises from the research… Valuaction is the process of evaluating, selecting and organising the collected material…Performance is the testing out in practice” (Allain & Harvie, 2006, Pg.51).
The Resourcing of this piece started like many others; as Oddey 1994 states: “Devised theatre can start from anything” (pg.1) and is often used “to communicate and express particular interests or concerns” (pg.12). The original resource could be seen as the ‘genre’ physical theatre, as the cast worked vigorously to learn and develop skills in this area. The second level of ‘concern’ which was chosen to be explored in the piece is domestic violence. “1 in 4 women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime – many of these on a number of occasions” (Women’s Aid. (2010) Available at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220036§ionTitle=Statistics). We explored these themes meticulously through play sessions and improvisations.
The group have used a delineated approach to the creation of the material and ‘scored’ several sections as an ensemble and in smaller groups. The sections are created in a seemingly random order, created independently and strung together later once in the ‘Valuaction’ stage. The piece, now in the ‘valuaction’ stage, is beginning to take shape as the ensemble work together to develop the plot further. This allows for a better development of character as the actors approach each scene individually and their progression as a character becomes more natural. This also allows the ensemble to create a combined energy as characters come together rather than a group of people placed together without personal aims. The ‘performance’ part of this production is yet to be completed as the ‘valuaction’ stage is still in progress.


At the start of the creative process the ensemble created a very naturalistic scene whereby characters were developed through communication. In this scene I was particularly quiet, making no attempt to talk to anyone and ignoring those who tried to talk to me. My character is withdrawn, unsure and extremely shy. However, as the process moved on I was in a situation where I was getting ready to go out, drinking and partying with my friends. In this scene my character developed to be more outspoken due to alcohol consumption. ‘The woman’ is being pressurised by a group of friends to please her man and wear what she knows he likes. I felt as though I would be more inclined to encourage somebody to be their own person and this came through in my character. We then created another ensemble section incorporating falls and catches. In this scene I began to feel very vulnerable again, the character traits from the first scene unintentionally coming back to my person. This suggests to me that the bedroom scene is indeed ‘out-of-character’ due to the influences of alcohol.
In the final ensemble routine we perform slow choreographed duets. In this section we stare blankly into the audience, by this point I feel so emotionally drained that it is physically impossible to express any emotion. Yet, the blankness of the face does transpose to the audience as they see someone who has given up.


My Character has a very closed physicality, I spend a lot of time sat down with my knees clenched closely to my chest. If and when I move I do so very slowly and rarely make eye contact with other characters. I give my weight into the floor a lot; I see the floor as a magnet, my body giving in to the gravity 90 per cent of the time with moments of sheer power to separate from the force, before immediately being dragged back down.
The idea of Stanislavski and method acting is in the forefront of my mind when creating my character. Whyman states that: ‘The three bases of the system [are]: activeness, truth of passions and the subconscious’ (2008, Pg.39). ‘Activeness’ suggests to me external awareness, the physical embodiment of an internal emotion. For example, nervousness portrayed with a lowered head, hunched shoulders and flitting eye contact. ‘Truth of Passions’ implies that an actor must be true to themselves when creating a character. Also, the ‘subconscious’ is relevant when building a character as improvisation often reveals a heightened version of an aspect of the actors own personality. For example, the shy withdrawn qualities of my adolescence are extremely evident in my character.
One particular movement that has become a key gesture for my character is incessant fiddling. I am wearing a long, flowing halter-neck top that has a long train down the back. I pull the train over my shoulder and pull the end through my fingers in varying speeds. Sometimes extremely slowly, gripping the train tightly, other times quickly, repeating it over and over again. A different time I barely move the hands, just rubbing a finger back and forth, whilst staring intently at action on stage.


Bibliography
Allain, P & Harvie, J. (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance. USA. Routledge.

Oddey, A. (1994) Devising theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook. London. Routledge

Whyman, R. (2008) The Stanislavsky System of Acting. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Women’s Aid. (2010) Statistics [online] [Accessed on: 22/03/2010] Available at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220036§ionTitle=Statistics.