Andrew Smith – 0823118
Assessment: Blog 2
‘Devising is about thinking, conceiving and forming ideas’ (Oddey, 1994, pg 1)
Devising for Physical Theatre requires intense amount of research, understanding of appropriate devising methods and more importantly complete consideration of the subject matter being focused upon. During the process of creating Four Ways to Speak Out, several concepts of devising have been explored. One theory is that of Robert Lepage’s ‘RSVP’. This outlines the process in which devised theatre is created. It is a breakdown of how the devising process is ordered: Research, Score, Validate and Performance. This method soon provided a structure for creative play in which we explored the clap method. This allows ideas for ensemble movement to be created quickly without constant verbal interruptions and provides the opportunity for ideas to be placed into the piece or discarded easily. Many members of the ensemble thought the clap method to live up to reputation and felt they had made sufficient progress by using this. However, I disagree somewhat with this. I can appreciate how it allows large groups of people opportunity to physicalise ideas without the need for constant conversation, but on the other hand, the devising process can become increasingly intense and masses of ideas may be lost by constant use of clapping for new ideas. Therefore, I feel some degree of verbal communication is needed in ensuring ideas are developed and fully explored to their potential. During the creative process, especially during the early stages ‘play’ sessions of contact improvisation was used to not only help us understand the need for contact within physical theatre, but also to fully appreciate how we can use different parts of our body when working with other people. “Contact Improvisation is a dance form in which the point of contact with another dancer provides the starting point for a movement exploration”. (http://www.contactimprovisation.co.uk/whatis.htm) The ‘play’ sessions undertaken also aided the ensemble to strip any embarrassment and self consciousness which allowed freedom for creativity. After all, we are portraying a community that has very tight relationships with one another, therefore, it is paramount we develop a strong working ethic and trust the group before even thinking of creating material. ‘Groups are complex. They are composed of a number of individuals, each with unique qualities, skills, personalities, experiences, expectations, insights and needs’. (Westergaard, 2009, pg 116). The knowledge gained during creative ‘play’ was bewildering. It opened up the company to the idea that movement can be creative not only by using the mind, but relying on the body to create a foundation of movement which can be modified and built upon. It important to note that during the devising process things will change and performers should avoid become precious and attached to what they create. This is one challenge I faced during this module. It is very hard as a performer to not grow and attachment to material in which you create, however devised theatre requires you to put this practice aside and adhere to the notion that any material that is not used is a stepping stone to material which is more appropriate for the subject matter and character development. The final element used during this process was the constant use of research and investigation. Our subject matter is domestic violence and it is vital that we understand the stimulus before attempting to explore it. Articles and journals were brought in and read to the company and our own individual character research was untaken. This was achieved in the form of letters. Each member of the community wrote a letter speaking of the disappearance of the ‘woman’. This allowed each of us to create a basis for a character and establish the relationship we shared with her, which would later prove to be imperative in establishing the reaction to her disappearance.
Throughout the devising process, it is expected that characters will change and modify from rehearsals to the final performance. “All of us are in a constant state of impulse and response” (Marshall, L, 2001, pg32) However, I underestimated to what extent my character would change. The initial writing of my letter insinuated that I was a very close friend of the woman who disappeared and I was traumatised by her disappearance that I had become a complete social recluse, avoiding contact with other people in the community at all costs. However as the preset to Four Ways to Speak Out was constructed I noticed that other people in the ensemble reacted to my distance differently. The community interpreted my distance as a sign that I may have known or have had something to do with her disappearance. This changed my character somewhat. I realised that other people involved in the ensemble had huge influence on my character development which reflects the point of Oddey who states ‘it is about inventing, adapting and creating what you do as a group’ (Oddey, 1994, pg 1). It is from this point onwards my character gradually progressed from someone I wanted the audience to sympathise with to someone who they would detest and blame. The devising process requires the creation of a character to be continually modifying. The audience are taken on a journey with the characters; therefore, the actor must play an active role in that journey, being guided and moulded by their surroundings, being led by the characters natural development, not by analytical thought processes. At the time of writing the company are within three weeks of going to performance, and I am sure that my character will continue to develop up until the opening night and beyond until the final performance. ‘The length of process varies with every show’. (Oddey, 1994, pg 91). This is utterly thrilling for me as a performer. Most conventional theatre require the actor to understand their character fully weeks before the performance goes public, however devised performance works differently. You are constantly learning new things about your character, discovering different intentions and relationships and finding new focal points within the work. It is these above points which make devised theatre an enthralling performance genre.
In order to develop my character physically, it was vital that all the physical and habitual traits I embody as person were stripped away. ‘Focus on breaking down ingrained patterns of movement before creating new ones’ (Callery, 2001, pg 19) I not only had to dismiss the make-up of my personality, but had to create a blank neutral slate for which to re-invent my character. “The concept of neutrality embraces both the idea of stripping away our habitual ways of moving and discovering an inner calm where we are relaxed and open to possibilities.” (Callery,2001,p36) Most of the personality and movement traits we have as individuals are completely involuntary and very rarely noticed by ourselves. Therefore, becoming aware of what our traits are as individuals was the first process in which to create a fresh character. During the initial opening sequence, my character is comfortable with his surroundings and has no emotional baggage in which he is carrying. I hold my head high, my shoulders back and my feet firmly rooted in the ground which communicates stability. One essential character trait is that he feels he is above the rest of the community. He can do no wrong and people within the community look up to him. Women want to be with him and men inspire to be him. Therefore, I constructed a slight strut for my character, which was created by embodying relaxed gestures, hands in my pockets, relaxed and well poised shoulders and bent knees avoiding seeming ridged at all times. These simple redefined bodily stances help communicate that my character is at ease with himself and his surroundings. However, this contrasts dramatically as the piece progresses. During the period the community realise the woman has disappeared by physicality changes somewhat. No longer do I stand up right, well poised with my feet rooted in the ground, I embody a slightly bent back, holding my head down, constantly shifting my weight from side to side, which displays that my character has become unstable with a negative approach to everything in his path. Again this is contrasted when the community turn their back on him. He tries his upmost to become a part of the community once more and the only way to do this is to seem well balanced. He returns to rooting his feet in floor, resting his chest high and bent knees. However, there is one vital difference. Unlike before, he snaps his movements; his head jerks whenever he draws his attention to something and his eyes are constantly wandering sporadically. This communicates that no matter how hard he tries to seem to have a stable mind, subconscious shows something different. Finally I have come to the conclusion that my character has one repetitive movement when faced with pressure. He constantly rubs his eyes. This I hope will communicate to the audience that not only is he agitated, he regularly closes his eyes and rubs them in attempt to hide his vision from the horrific reality of what he has done to the person he claims to love.
Bibliography:
- Callery, D. Through the Body: A practical guide to Physical Theatre. 2001: Routledge: New York. Nick Hern Books: London.
- Marshall, L. The body Speaks (2001) London: Methuen.
- Oddey, A. Devising Theatre: A practical and theoretical handbook. 1994. Routledge.
- Westergaard, J. Effective Group Working with Young People. (2009). Open University Press.
Other Sources:
- http://www.contactimprovisation.co.uk/whatis.htm. Accessed on 20th March 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment