There are many common themes explored within Four Ways to Speak Out. Many themes did not surface until we had moved into the ‘P’ stage of the process and others had been set and clearly identifiable from the ‘R’ stage through to the ‘P’ stage. I speak for the whole ensemble when I say each of us felt at some point a certain concrete emotion and theme. It is fair to say that we all felt these emotions at different intensities during the development of the piece, however no matter at what stage or intensity; these feeling were shared by all of us and it is important that this is communicated to the audience. ‘If your body does not truly reflect the world of the world of the performance and the complexity of the people and ideas in that world, the audience cannot experience it’ (Marshall, L, 2001, pg 9). Themes of selfishness, manipulation, friendship, love and anger were common within Four Ways, and these grew to a more realistic level as travelling from the ‘S’ into the ‘P’ stage of the process. One truly noticeable thing during the process was that during the rehearsal period, I would often attempt to portray an emotion because the rest of the ensemble felt that emotion at that particular time. However, it became increasingly noticeable leading up to performance that my own personal journey through the process was making my characters reactions to the situation and surrounding completely individual and different, therefore isolating myself from the community. It became increasingly obvious as we continued through the rehearsal process that my characters reaction to the environment around him would continue to modify right up to the final performance. “The fine tuning of all performance elements did not happen until the dress rehearsal stage and run of performances” (Oddey, 1996, p128). During the ‘V’ stages of the process, I had developed a character that did not desire to reconcile with the community. Even though he desired to be forgiven and helped to be invited back into the community, he done little about it. However, as we moved into the ‘P’ stage, I discovered that my character has been emotionally broken by his severment with the community and he would do anything to be accepted and belong once more.
One shared experience that tied the community together was the discovery that the woman was no longer there. This was inevitably a pivotal point during the production. It is here were the community formed a line cascading up the street. Each member of the community entered into the line at different points. Some did so without any hesitation, whereas others were dubious as to why the community was acting in such a way. Dan especially felt this way, therefore, the community took responsibility for this and drew him in. This ensemble seen gave a kick-start to the common themes which were to be explored and focused not only on confusion, but also the skills of manipulation of society. For example, I began the ensemble movement during this section and by doing so inadvertently created a cycle of manipulation by getting other members of the community to copy my movement.
As Four Ways moved from the rehearsal space into the performance space, it was inevitable that we were to experience obstacles and radical changes. During rehearsing in the studio, we were used to a space which was very wide however not very deep, so we devised to accommodate the space. However, we noticed that when we arrived at the theatre, that the width of the space was less than the studio and the depth was greater. This caused a number of problems. For example during the beginning ensemble section, a line of people cascade down the street, however due to the fact our company were not used to working in a large space, many members found it hard to fill the entire space and many arranged themselves further downstage creating a clump of people downstage right. I believe the reason for this was because now we were working with a bigger space, people may have felt like that they may not have been seen. This is a perfect example of a selfish performer.
During the technical rehearsal I realised that due to the change in space, I would not always reside on the stage where I had done in the past. This is something that I had to accept and take time to work through as moving from rehearsal space to a theatre space requires one to accept that things will change and do all that they can to accommodate these changes. Work like this takes time to develop, and requires a lack of inhibition.”(Callery, 2001, p.139)
One particular scene in which I found repositioning difficult was the duet between Dan and myself. It took the both of us many times of running the duet to decide and define where new positions would be. Having said that this was a slow and tiring process, I found it equally exhilarating as it focused our attention on the theatre space and provided a great sense of a company moral. Another difficulty the company had top overcome was the fact that we were using a considerable amount of props onstage which had been mimed up until production week. These included plastic filled cups with liquid in the bar, bar stools, a self destructive suitcase and hearts attached to string which was used during the finale. However, despite these difficulties I feel that the ensemble took it in their stride and overcome these obstacles with ease. I believe entering the theatre space was the pinnacle point in the company becoming a tight unit. We all began to realise that we have a very well structured show and we are now in a theatre in which will showcase our work. Therefore, our professionalism matched this. Many people felt that moving into a theatrical space created a new sense of focus. I noticed that the majority of the company felt more at one with the surroundings and the focus obtained during the longer warm-ups helped the company to find the complex emotions we would need during the performance.
I feel that as each performance had taken place it had developed and changed in positive ways resulting in greater communication to the audience. I believe as each performance passed, we as actors developed a stronger emotional attachment to the work. This resulted in us caring for the product more each night, yearning to gain something extra with each performance and working collectively as an ensemble to heighten energy and emotion and yearning to gain something extra with each performance. ‘The responsibility of the actor is to work creatively as part of an ensemble and contribute ideas’. (Callery, D 2002 p.197) Every single performance was different and it was interesting to see that the company felt different about each run. Even though the ensemble follows the same choreographed movement each night, the feeling and intension behind the movement may be different from previous performances.
I feel that throughout the performances my character did stay the same somewhat. The majority of change my character experienced was during the scoring process. Therefore, during the performances my character remained the same, however depending on the intentions of other members of the company, my intentions changed to match. I feel working as an ensemble you do not merely focus on who you are and your own personal motivations, you must be aware of other people’s intentions, motivations and more importantly respect that they may react differently depending on how they feel within the piece and what intentions they bring to the work. ‘Not all decisions that are made in making a piece have completely thought-through reasoning behind them. Intuition and personal preferences come into it too.’ (DV8 Physical Theatre http:// www.dv8.co.uk/faqs/faqs.html#one 2009).
I believe R.S.V.P played an equally important role during production week. I believe as an ensemble, we realised during the ‘S’ stage that domestic violence does not necessarily mean physical torture. It can also be an overwhelming and passionate love that completely consumes someone to the point in which they don’t exist as an individual anymore. It is during the ‘P’ stage that it became clear the effect this ‘loving’ abuse had on the audience. Therefore, with each performance, I strived to ensure that this love was not only overwhelming for the woman but consumed the audience as well, resulting in them not wanting to watch this uncomfortable, tainted love the ‘man’ obtains. During the performances the ‘V’ stage played a huge role also. During in the first performance in the ‘Bobbies Girl’ section, I sat crossed legged on the floor just slowly rocking to myself, however, this to me felt staged. It was something that would look visually enticing to the audience, yet had no intention behind it. Therefore during the second and third performances I validated and modified this somewhat and ended up lying across the floor with my head facing the audience. This not only allowed me to seem and feel helpless, it gave me a chance as the character to sit and think about what I had done to the ‘woman’s’ life, which in turn, allowed me to get emotionally active for the finale scene which was to follow.
Bibliography:
Callery, D (2001) Through the body: A practical guide to Physical Theatre, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge
DV8 Physical Theatre (2008) [online]. London: [Home Page] [cited 25th April 2010].
Marshall, L, (2001) The Body Speaks: Performance and Expression. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Oddey, A (1996) : Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook: New York: Routledge
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