Devising/Performance Art Introduction

Devising/Performance Art Introduction

What is devised theatre?

It is an idea that comes from a stimulus. These ideas then undergo a creative and collaborative process (whereby there is no “official” positions, e.g a director, everyone helps with everything) to create a performance. It is also free form meaning that it crosses multiple disciplines and can include other aspects such as dance, multimedia and puppetry.

What problems can it throw up?

Ø  You can become stuck when you run out of/ lose track of ideas.

Ø  You can have too many ideas, making decisive decisions hard.

Ø  You may not have a stimulus.

Ø  You may not know where or how to start.

Ø  Too much focus on imagery can result in a lack of content.

Ø  As this area of theatre is more subjective, it is more open to criticism.

What is exciting about devised theatre?

Ø  It is an experimental process

Ø  There is no right or wrong way

Ø  Group may create ideas that you may not have thought of yourself

Ø  There is no set out “ending” so you don’t know where your group will end up

Ø  Every piece is unique and original – you have complete ownership over what you have created.

“Devised theatre can start from anything. It is determined and defined by a group of people who set up an initial framework or structure to explore and experiment with ideas, images, concepts, themes or specific stimuli that might include music, text, objects, paintings or movement… A devised theatre product is work that has emerged from and been generated by a group of people working in collaboration…devising is liberating and allows you to create anything.”
                                                                                                                                                     - Allison Oddey.

The Framework of devising includes:

Ø  Structure (episodic, linear etc.)

Ø  Style/ form (physical, natural, epic, total etc.)

Ø  Practitioners (relating to particular chosen style)

Ø  Genre (comedic, tragedy, horror, dramatic etc.)

Examples of devising companies include…

Forced entertainment

The Wooster group

Idle motion

Station house opera

From watching these companies I realised that devising doesn’t always have to make sense and it doesn’t necessarily match up to the stereotypical conventions of what people perceive theatre to be. For example, the Station Houses Opera created a piece where dominos are toppling over around London, and the word or concept of ‘theatre’ didn’t even cross my mind.

Classwork

 In class we redid our short devised pieces but added aspects of physical theatre to my groups piece. We did this by adding aspects of mirroring, shared speech and physical representing an argument by pulling the person trapped in the middle of it from side to side. Different groups had different aspects to embellish their original pieces, so as my group worked on physical theatre, other groups focused on adding aspects such as multimedia puppetry and performance art.

We also looked at making a puppet with five plastic cups. From this short exercise we learn that it can be quite difficult to bring objects to life and make all the different parts of it move with perfect synchronicity.

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We also looked at the roles that different people take within a group.

What role do I take within the group?

According to Meredith Belbin’s ideas on the roles within teams…

I am a plant:

®     Introverted but intellectually dominant

®     Source of original ideas and proposals

®     Very imaginative and intelligent

®     Resents criticism

"People, places and things"

"People, places and things"

What was your favourite moment of the production and why?

My favourite moment of the production was just before the ending when the main character has a box of drugs, from her past, in front of her and recites a mantra (which I presume was picked up in the support group). It was my favourite moment in the play as the actor manipulates the words so that when she starts saying them they are positive words of encouragement and strength. However, gradually the words become more negative and sinister, giving the mantra a whole new meaning, indicating that the main character should "say yes" to the drugs. This was also my favourite moment of the production as the audience don't actually know what she decides to. Yes, we know that her life becomes a struggle and that it goes back to the boring and almost pointless existence that it had before. However, audience members are left wondering if her life has become that way because she took the drugs or just simply because that's life and there is nothing we can do as human beings to stop it.

Pick one performer between you and analyse the way the communicated their character to you as an audience member.

“Foster”

Foster had open body language which communicated his loving and accepting nature to the audience. He is also a contrast to other characters as (excluding the party scene) he is quite reserved and down to earth. He communicates this endearing and calming nature through the calm and steady pace that he talks and the soft tone of his voice.

How did the production values effect your interpretation of the production?

 

The strobe lighting and loud music allowed me to view the production from the point of view of the main character, seeing her crazy drug influenced world. The staging also affected my interpretation as having the main characters bedroom coming down from above the stage and surrounding her allowed me to see that each event transitions into the next and what just happened directly affects the next scene. For example, when ‘Lucy’ “practises” in support group it affects how she approaches her parents in the next scene.

Pick 3 elements that you would like to experiment with in your devised rehearsal process

Ø  Multiple people representing one person

Ø  Circle of chairs- moving one seat at a time = a transition in subject matter

Ø  People trying to get their story to be heard over each other/ fighting for the attention, like an “essence machine” changing volumes on different sounds

Which practitioners have influenced this production?

Bertolt Brecht

·         The stage hands come onto the stage so that the audience don’t forget that they are watching a play.

·         Characters use multi-role (e.g the psychiatrist playing the patients mother).

·         There are plays mentioned within a play (e.g referencing to Romeo and Juliet).

·         We see aspects of a conventional play and reality crossing (e.g auditioning for a part in a lay within a play).