MURRAY, S., KEEFE, J., Physical Theatres, a critical introduction (2007) Oxon: Routledge

Blog Assessment 3 (Final Post)

1. To examine the transition into the final stages, we must first establish what the initial stages were. In the case of ‘Fractal’, what preceded was a separation. The company built and created separately creating a huge amount of material from which to work and in that sense, the creative sense, this way of working was very successful. However, because of this the ensemble became disconnected and disjointed in its awareness of its separate parts and in its sensitivity in trusting the process. When the company was together as a whole it was clear to all that each fractal part was held in the same esteem as any other. When separated this trust is lost as focus on the whole has to tighten in and constantly shift. Similarly, when performers’ concentration is focused only on their work, they become precious about it but they also loose touch with the work of others.

Combine all these factors together and you are presented with a possible reason as to why there was a certain amount of dissention on a particular subject at one point. It may also have contributed to a wane in focus and commitment towards the end of the second semester.

In hindsight there may have been ways to avoid the negative atmosphere that developed. An example of this may be returning to the group warm-ups more often; or if that was not possible due to people arriving at different times, assigning someone to lead a warm up with those who arrive together. That way the ensemble, or a fractal part of it, come together again and reconnect. It would also have maintained the established structure of warm-up – work, aiding focus and concentration. It would also ensure that warm-ups would have been effectively carried out because an observation that could be made about any one of the fragmented sessions in the workshops was that many did not warm up efficiently enough to gain the body-mind connection and concentration required for the work.

To examine this transition in a positive light what must be said is that the individuality of this way of working allowed each couple or trio or lone performer to develop a physical identity true to them that was clear and sharp. There was no blending over of edges. While there was a physical language that was used by all, there were many dialects creating character, mood and emotion in distinctive ways.

2. Over the three shows there was a growth and change that was different to what was expected by the performers. It was different in that it did not feel free and erratic when things changed; everything was still grounded in the performance space and the world of fractal. When being told that the shows change and morph in meaning and detail through the run, a performer new to the way of working is presented with a frightening prospect but this is not at all how it is when experienced on stage.

The idea of change is daunting and frightening at the open because the concept of our way of working is not understood. This concept is entwined with the ownership of the work belonging in the hands of the performer in a similar way to the work of Theatre du Soleil and Ariane Mnouchkine who had a commitment to having “collaborative, and hence potentially democratic, ways of working” (Murray and Keefe: 2007, 94). With this sense of ownership comes a control and surety that allows the work to change and grow without the explicit command of choreographer or director. This also allows a wider range of physical ideals or attitudes to be expressed which can be positive or unhelpful depending on what the company is trying to communicate.

Over the three shows one thing that changed and developed dramatically was that of the emotional intensity felt by all, audience and performers. The balance seemed to shift from a high level of nervous energy to a high level of deep commitment in feeling as the shows progressed. Where this was most evident for me was in the bowls section as the lunch box section was more rigidly choreographed. The bowls section was fluid and undetermined to a point where the impulse of the time directed the movement almost entirely. A way to illustrate this would be to take an example of me forgetting one of the synchronised moves. While it would seem that it changed the piece because I made a mistake, it was more that it changed the emotional significance of the light and the movement within it for my character. The motion of pushing the fist into the light was initially my movement and was intended to show a struggle, but during development of the piece of a whole, this meaning was lost. Because of this my character’s place there became dampened and the emotion became smothered by the imposed motion. When this pressure was released by me forgetting the first of the three movements, the meaning and reason for my character came flooding back to me. In that moment it was difficult for me not to loose the piece as a whole in the newness of the feeling. The character shed a few tears in that time as she began to find herself in that golden light, as she began to understand a new her that was strange and that had forceful impulses controlling her behaviour. With this in mind, to remember the first two shows’ bowls sections feel empty and meaningless in comparison. So in this sense for me this section grew and changed dramatically over the performance.

The lunchbox section needs to be considered differently because of its pedestrian nature. Here the movements were preselected and rehearsed to death in order to gain the synchronicity. The quest then was to find in it the emotion and the means to express it. This did happen over the course of the shows a surprising amount because of the feed between performer and audience. Because the movements themselves were not intrinsically expressive, a physical intensity had to develop and this is what grew for me over the shows. I felt as if all the emotion was being squeezed down into the movement of the eyes and the tension in the muscles and it was a challenge but I think we managed it.

3. As a means of charting our progress, the blog was valuable, but as a means of developing our thinking throughout the process it was invaluable. If you look back now you can see how the performers’ thinking develops though the process and you can also see the commitment to the process growing. The comments rise in complexity, astuteness and length as time progresses. To look back to the first semester where the bodies were learning, the responses from each session and post are person accounts and responses, a sharing of experiences from the lesson. This semester the posts have more direction and drive, they have a more theoretical or work-driven base, asking us to think in a particular direction. This means the comments became more formal in their phrasing as people began thinking and connecting the work with the research we had done for the essay as the questions were more formal in their own presentation. In this sense the blog was an effective means of charting the process, providing you are charting the process of those committed to it and the blog, which was not always the case.

Final Blog!!!

Within the final transitional phases of the process into the performance, there were many different trials and excitements that were both internally challenging and externally challenging. For example during what was meant to be our first technical run the set was not completed in time for the company to rehearse in due to circumstances beyond the companies control. So during this session we worked more on our own individual characterisation and giving them a voice through words, but on the other hand we were not going through the physical side of things that we all knew needed to be done so that we could be ready for the week ahead.
During the companies “first” technical rehearsal we were in awe of the set and inspired that our characters felt perfectly in place within this world that had been created by the scenographers. When the company first entered into our aesthetic space, the excitement took over the company as a whole and members found it hard to keep focus, thus leading to a very chaotic rehearsal, which took the company a good length of time to gain focus. Once the focus had been regained however, there was a real sense of expectation for the up and coming run.
The final official rehearsal took place after the first disastrous technical rehearsal. After the focus had been enforced to first run went smoothly and at the end I believe that every company member was very proud and excited of what they had created had been inserted into this world. Although the rehearsal started and stopped a lot of the time and there were some things that could be improved upon in this initial rehearsal.
Throughout the week, normally an hour before we had to warm up we went over things with our respective partners and tried to sharpen up our own individual solo, duets, trio’s or group pieces, so we were continually within the process of editing our work, for example throughout the whole process of creating this piece I was working with a notebook and observing various females within the piece, but the day of the first rehearsal at the Arena, I had a discussion with the company director and decided to scrap the idea even though it had been an integral part of my character in the initial period, through my characters growth I found that the notebook had become a hindrance, and this is a perfect example of changing things last minute for the purpose of the character, and the piece.

The performances over each show changed a great deal as I think that the emotional intensity of each performance changed and grew stronger after each subsequent show. Thus making it our job to keep in character and to make sure that the standard of the physical doesn’t drop or lose its true meaning.
During the first performance we were nervous as a company because it was the first time that we had let an audience into the world that we had created, and we were not sure of their reaction to it and our own characters that we had brought to life. Although we felt a bit unnerved by the end of the first performance as there was no audience reaction due to vast amounts of students making notes, we had to learn to just get more involved within our character and carry our stories out through without having to feel any accolade from the audience, but we let the audience watch the piece and take what they want from it. During the first performance I felt that my character wasn’t as imposing or intimidating as he has been throughout the rehearsal process. Physicality wise I think that with the added factor of an audience it was increased tenfold, but in this case it was not so good as I hurt myself during a particularly physical section of my piece, this is one of the hazards of having adrenaline rushes during a performance, as it makes you think you can do things that otherwise you would not be able to do.
As we move onto the second performance as a company we had felt that we could only do better within the world of Fractal and to help refine our characters and to make our physical work neater and cleaner than the previous performance. Throughout the second performance I felt that I needed to calm down a lot more before the performance as I didn’t want another injury like within the first performance and I felt that through relaxation techniques I felt that my characterisation was also improved. The audience’s reaction towards this performance was also better than the last and this helped our own performances as a company as we felt like we were giving them something that they both enjoyed visually and challenged them mentally. With this in mind we all stepped up our performance. I felt more emotional within this performance and due to my characters nature I felt really worn out afterwards emotionally and physically, I believe that this is due to the amount of effort I put into getting into character and also the amount of physical work that I have to do in performance.
The final performance was very emotional as it would be the last time that we would perform our piece towards a paying public and also it would be the last time that would be visiting this world as a company. Now with this in mind as a company we were tight knit and all together in the final journey and all we wanted was to do our world its final justice through the physical work, and also the emotional intensity that we had put into the world that we had created. The last night audience was very attentive to the work, which helped us perform to the best of our ability, and I firmly believe that this was the best performance we did of our work over the three days of performing, as with previous performances the process of the character that I was working with tired me out by the end but I felt that It was what I needed to make the performance better for me and the character itself.
So overall I found that the performances only got better over the three that we did and I learnt that that was part of the process that we were trying to recreate.

The use of the blog has been an unusual one for two reasons, one is that as opposed to having a hard copy of an essay to hand in we can be tracked through our submissions to the blog and our own thoughts and feelings towards it. The second unusual aspect to the blog is reading other peoples thoughts and theories towards the piece as with a formal piece of work this cannot be done due to cheating elements involved, but you can see a clear progression throughout the blog, and this is no more evident in the early stages of the blog at the start of the second year.
Although the blog can be seen as a fad use of modern computer equipment I felt that it was effective because not only could I submit my own ideas towards the blog but also read the ideas of other peoples blog and I could discuss these with the bloggers in the lesson the following week making the whole theoretical side of the work a more interactive experience for the whole company and as company members.

Final blog

Evaluate the transition of the final stages of the process into performance, paying attention to strengths and weaknesses encountered by the company.

Throughout the process the company had been told many times that we should only move if it felt right and there was a reason as to why we were moving. “.. making performers question how they engage in making work… seek movement with intention and purpose. What are they/we trying to communicate?” During the process it seemed that many of the scenarios changed often as the weeks went by. A lot of people fell into the trick of moving because it looked pretty but after being reminded about moving for a reason everyone’s scenarios began to slip into place. During the performance there were still slight changes to some of the work, for which I believe that the body had taken over and everyone was feeling what they were performing rather thinking about it.

Once everyone had started to rehearse in costume, that is when everyone seemed like they had started to come together and really connected with their characters. When an actor is in his/her costume it changes the way your move or hold yourself. It can even restrict you from certain movements, so it is most important to get to grips with your character in costume.

“To understand and achieve the physical feeling of a character, the actor must rehearse in costume, ersatz though it may be. Corsets, pointed shoes, high heals, skirts – all will cause the character to feel and move in specific ways.” (The Articulate Body; 2002: 33)

Once the company were moved into the theatre space it was as if we had all come home. It was our space that was made for our characters and this alone seemed to infuse more life into the performance and the characters.

However, being in the performance space was exciting but also a little bit nerve racking. This in itself has an affect on the performance or characters. Their nerves make them feel different emotions so slight actions or directions may change. This also includes nervous fiddling. Some people tend to mess with their clothes or hair in a performance when the are nervous which can be dangerous as it projects a meaning to the audience which they most often don’t realise and it is learning to control this that some people may have found difficult.

“Every movement has a value.. as a result of the dramatic need. A fleeting gesture of the hand or a wondering of the eyes reflects a thought or emotion specific to the given moment. The physical manifestation of a moment must be precise and articulate” (The Articulate Body; 2002: 51)

Evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within it.

During our time in the Arena we were to perform Fractal three times. Performing this in the theatre alone would change our work and create something more powerful. This was due to having an audience in with us. It would be the first time that people outside this group would be witnessing the piece. But they wouldn’t be just any people. There would also be friends and family. So, depending on the day that the company members had friends or family in was the performance that they wanted to be best. This would change their journey weather it be a slightly different reaction, movement or just more emotional.

throughout all three performances there were changes to my own journey. As we moved from one performance to the next, I found my journey getting more intense and emotional. This, in turn, sparked off gestures or tiny movements that I had never used before. For example: when Leanne climbs over my back I originally just stayed in the same position. Frozen. But in the performance I found myself reacting to her every touch. It was only as simple as me looking up or closing my eyes but it made the piece feel much more alive then it had previously.

I found I was so in the moment when performing in front of an audience and I let my body and emotions run away with me. This was evident, for me, by the fact that I was so lost in my journey that I never noticed the audience were there during the first performance.

Part of what helped me to become so focused was the warm up prior to the performance. It helped m to concentrate, get rid of any silliness in my mind and focus on my character and the journey I was about to take 100%. The character warm-up that we also underwent before the performance helped my to connect to my character and for the first time made me realise that I should be more emotional and more upset about what was happening. For me, this was the drive for the changes in the actual performance.

My family had come to see the second show so I was determined to make that one the best so far. I was a lot more nervous because I knew I was being watched by people who I wanted to impress and this anxiety I felt drove more emotion into my character.

At one point I was worried that I was going to make a mistake. This was apparent when Shona’s cup got kicked right off stage and I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. On the inside I felt distracted and once I had stopped thinking about it I realised I was in the middle of the ritual and couldn’t remember where we were at. However, it seemed that without thinking, my body knew exactly what it was doing. This is because “the body-mind is always in operation” (Zarilli, B, P. (1995). P. 87) This helped me get back into the frame of mine about what I was doing. “It is perhaps easier to relate rhythm and sound to movement.” (D. Callery: 2001; 148) which may have been why I was able to continue and no lose pace ad focus.

By the third show I knew fractal was coming to an end and so far I had improved my performance each time and seeing as this was the last performance I was determined to push myself as far as I could go. I pushed myself so hard that I almost cried. I was determined that my character was not the crying type so when I almost broke into tears I was very shocked. But I did not let this unusual feeling affect the performance. I allowed myself to feel hat was there and channel it into my movements, which later, in the women’s section, turned to anger and I found myself being more aggressive then I had been so far.

Comment on the effectiveness of the blog as a reflective means of charting your journey through the entire process, which began in Septemeber 2007.

I have found the blog to be very useful. At the beginning of the year it was a good way of finding out how other people felt and I as able to get an idea of how the rest of the group felt. This helped me not to feel alone because often I found some of my insecurities and misunderstandings were the same as other peoples, so it comforted me in a way. It was also useful to see how Paul and Royona felt about each lesson. They used the blog to guide us from week to week and opened up my mind in a way that wasn’t done in lesson and could only be done on m own.

Overall it was a very good way of being able to communicate to one another and keeping our memory and imagination about the process that we were going through alive. Also, we were able to express ourselves on the blog in ways most probably wouldn’t in lesson. It was a useful tool for learning, remembering, understanding and being able to sort out our own thoughts and feelings on things that had been bought up in lesson, including keeping track of my own personal journey.

http://www.dv8.co.uk/about.dv8/LN_butterworth.html
Dennis, A. (2002) The Articulate Body
Callery, D. (2001) Through The Body, Routledge.
Zarrilli, B, P. (1995) Acting (Re)Considered, Routledge.

Final Post - Craig Smith

1.
The last leg, in most cases, is considered the toughest part of any process and ours was no exception; we encountered a number of strengths and weaknesses in the transition of the final stages into the performances.
Not long before the dates of the performance, we began to see a more structured frame in the shape of the performance and it then became the drive to pull the smaller fractal sections together into one seamless show. Although it was a very mechanical process and had a different feel to the sessions, it was extremely necessary. After working on the separate pieces for a large part of the process, it was necessary to rework the ritual and community pieces to reiterate the sense of ensemble amongst the company and with the intent of refining the piece. It was a tiring and frustrating time for most and there was a sense of negativity in the hope of the product coming together. The strength of the cast and the lecturers ensured that this negativity was quickly and effectively overcome, and allowed the sessions to be very productive which reinstated the sense of hope and direction.
There was also the risk of losing our emotional charge as refining the work became very repetitive in nature hindering our commitment to an organically rich, emotive and well-paced piece. However as a company I think we all overcame this in a very cooperative manner and we were all able to remember the intentions and motives behind each movement. In some cases this meant slightly altering certain elements in a way that it kept the emotion alive. I think the fact that we overcame the fatigue and frustration from the repetitive mechanical runs and that we re-connected with the work and re-vitalised the emotion behind it showed a great strength in the company, both as an ensemble and as a collective of individuals.
There was a set-back of entering the world of ‘Fractal’ as the set was not able to be completed by the time the cast was ready to enter the space. Despite the fact that it was a saddening delay we were patient and understanding as we were aware that the scenographers were working very hard along with the technical crew in such a small time scale. Despite this set back hindering our intentions to work on the physical aspects of ‘Fractal’ in the aesthetic space, the time was used constructively to work on our characters through self-reflection and a letter-writing exercise. This, I would argue, was more beneficial to us than what had been previously been planned for the rehearsal time as “the actor [performer] must be aware of all the influences that have formed his character” (Alberts 1997; p.26) and there was a general feeling that our characters still needed a sense of completion. So by the time we entered ‘Fractal’s’ world “with the rest of the company, [we could] bring them alive in the theatre space.” (Alberts 1997; p.22)

2.
“[The] drive to keep discovering makes a production a matter of process every time it is performed rather than a commodity put out on display” (Shevtsova; 2004; p.48.)

Shevtsova reiterates here what we were told to expect as during the three shows the process was still ongoing and the development of characters and motives were still being explored despite us being in the ‘product’ phase of the journey. Probably the biggest influence in its development was having the world of ‘Fractal’ brought alive. By this I mean the scenographic entity. Having the set around us to live in and being in our character’s costumes really aided us in the conclusion of moulding our characters. By the time of the first show there was a better sense of clarity in most characters, including my own, of which the improvisation and warm-up exercise to get into our characters that we did had a great input. Through the performances this development furthered as “it is alive, it is not staged, it continues to develop.” (Weimer in Shevtsova 2004; p.49)
One such development in my character was that I really gained an understanding in the reasons for laying out the cups and the truth behind my connection with Frankie; after having done research a day before the run-through on ‘ferrymen’ of the afterlife, I came across the term ‘psychopomp,’ a word derived from Greek meaning ‘soul conductor.’ A psychopomp “waits with and comforts the soul of a person who is dying and guides them across at the moment of death.” I found the discovery of this term and the finding of a picture through Google Image Search (see left) really conclusive in my character’s long and exciting journey through development. Thus I explored the motive behind placing the glasses down as not only a means of bringing the community together (as I imagine my task was when I was ‘living’ in the community) but as a way of searching for the lost soul (Frankie) within the community that I may not have seen whilst ‘living.’ It gave me a greater clarity and connection with my task of glass-laying and also in my relationship with Frankie; it gave me the reason and emotion that I felt was missing from my observing character. This clarity was furthered in my reading of ‘The Book Thief’ as I could relate to the narrator (death) in his job of “handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity.” (Zusak 2007; p.30)

I wanted to stop. To crouch down.
I wanted to say.
‘I’m sorry, child.’
But that is not allowed
I did not crouch down. I did not speak.
Instead, I watched her a while
…
I would watch the places where we intersected, and marvel at what the girl saw...
(Zusak 2007; pp.23-4)

Myself and Frankie had a long wait through the process before we could begin to work on our section, for a larger reason of needing the Scenographic elements for us to work around. So for us, our performance in the shows was essentially new to us; each time I led her to the pond, it felt a new and explorative process but never imposed. “The emotion comes out in the work in a much more pure and interesting form than when they try to impose emotion.” (Battien in Milling 2005; p.168) Where the physical journey of taking her to the pond was ultimately the same, the emotion behind it and the little gestures (like stroking her hair, her hand touching mine, and reaching into the water for her cup) differed between each show as they were organically reborn each time, keeping it fresh and alive for us as performers and for the audience.
In addition to having made quite significant progress in my connection with Frankie, in the final two performances my relationship with Emily really came together following an unexpected moment in the second performance. This moment, or as Callery names as “accidental discoveries,” (Callery 2002; p.164) occurred during the company reprise where Emily and I carried the block upstage; when we altered the block before lifting it our hands accidentally touched, something that had not happened previously and it created a surge of emotion and a real connection was created between us; “one instant takes me unthinkingly to the next… [and it] keeps unfolding without a plan… like the successive figures in a kaleidoscope.” (Lispector in Fernandes 2001; p.35.) To our surprise everything afterwards was executed in perfect synchronisation without us having an input and for me, our back-story sparked into my mind like a forgotten memory which provided me with the basis of my emotional drive towards Emily, a feeling of desperation to contact my old friend in the ‘living.’ As is the nature of this work, we could not re-create the moment in the third show which led me to feel that the penultimate show was the most emotive for me; we mimicked the moment in the final performance and still found this aided the development of our relationship and the exploration of our back-stories which I felt was very much unexplored prior to this accidental discovery. What new material we discovered we continued and concluded into the final show.

3.
Having created a personal journal of session notes and character and process developments alongside of the blog, I have found this extremely useful in charting my own developments and techniques learnt in the introduction of this new genre. Having referred to the blog several times over the process, I have found it a really useful tool to clearly chart my development, particularly through the short exercise of listing 5 words that summed up where our characters were at which I had decided to continue with in my personal journal. Not only that, but it was beneficial to be able to chart the development(s) of the other company members, and reading their responses to the questions that had been specifically shaped for leading our thoughts on particular issues. The blog has been a way of communicating ideas, sharing thoughts and has been in most cases inspirational to my own work and ideas. Also it has been a place where issues and inevitable episodes of negativity could be raised and expressed. By talking about such issues online meant that they could be overcome without bringing negativity to the physical workshops or having the issues lingering over our sessions.
The blog not only been successful in a reflective way but in a creative and constructive way also; it had a direct effect on my character development as it was through the blog that my comments shifted the pathway my character would take. This commenced on the 13th February when I claimed “this week's efforts of excluding Frankie from the group destroyed my characters love with the cup and questioned his desire of being in the group.” And through the blog I can trace how this developed from my removal from the community in the attempt of freeing Frankie, to becoming the character that could fulfil this aim.

Sources

Alberts, D (1997) The expressive body Focal Press
Fernandes, C. (2001) Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater, Peter Lang Publishing Inc.: New York
Milling, J (2005) Devising performance: A critical history Palgrave Macmillan
Smith, C. (2008) Gradual Progression – 13th February 2008 [online] Blogger.com, [visited 11th May 2008]
Zusak, M. (2007) The Book Thief, Black Swan edition, Doubleday (a division of Transworld Publishers): London

Images

‘Salvation’ - Http://processandperformance200708.blogspot.com
‘Angle and Woman’ - http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/ArchAMichael/Angel-Woman-11.jpg

assessment 3

Assessment 3

1. According to Ruth Zaporah, on her book Action Theater, “Practice makes perfect. When we say this, we mean that when we practice a skill, piano playing, for instance, we become more skilled. We get better and better as we aim for perfection.”
I strongly agree and disagree with such comment. It is clear that physically speaking the more practice you have, the better and smoother the movement becomes, also practice helps to open your horizont of skills, giving you a bigger range of moves.
But when it comes to emotion, I disagree with this quote.
During the final stages of the process, in which our company has gone through was clear the loss of emotional attachment to the piece. The more the company practiced the physicallity the more mechanical it got and the more emotions were lost.
Practicing the skills and making the movements perfect worked very well, but as a performer was hard to not become mechanical when it came to the emotional part.
I was moving without a purpose, I couldn´t feel the conection between movement and feelings anymore. It was then, when I realised that just developing physical skills was not enough, I needed to dive into the most complex and darkest feelings of my character and find again the purpose of moving.
I needed to make my character mature, not just physically speaking, but emotionaly as well; and not just me, but most of the company members had to go through the same journey to find purpose again.


2. The first performance clearly showed that the company was physically prepared, no big mistakes, all movements very controlled, a very consistent performance although a few changes needed to be made, but still, the performers worked well around the small mistakes and barriers.
Is consistence another word for good performance? The answer is no.
The performance was well structured, and that is what consistent means. The first performance was far from good, physically a few mistakes were done and a few wrong choices on stage were made.
The audience couldn´t notice any physical mistakes, but did they notice how mechanical it was? Did the audience noticed the lack of emotional attachement to the piece? Emotions, where were the emotions?
This all could be related to the lack of concentration, too much talking, too many jokes backstage and loss of focus. Performers were simply not taking their own piece seriously.
Clearly this afects all the performers in a sense, if the performer gives a impulse and don´t get the same level of reaction back it looses its concentration and focus easely.
As a performer, the first performance was the most mechanical performance I had done in Fractal, I felt nothing, I was moving because I needed to, I was more frustrated than ever.
For the second performance the performers were more focused and willing to go deep into the world of fractal and give to the audience a real emotional impression.
Defenetely the second performance was more commited than the first one, the level of focus and concetration was absolutely fantastic. On the backstage the noise was almost zero, performers were ready to go on stage at any minute, it was possible to feel to mood building up as all the performers were getting ready to go on stage.
As one of the performers I could say that the level of focus of the company on the second performance helped me completely to finaly find the right emotional balance on my piece with Andrew and Silvia. It was a long search, i was always feeling like i was being untrue to my charaters feelings, reacting in a completely wrong way, and i was right, my reactions were wrong and on the second performance i could finaly have enough support from my colleges to find the last piece of my puzzle.
Then the third and last performance. The best peformance of the three, and also the most mature one.
The second show gave bases to make the third one what it was.
Of course that would be wrong to say that the performance was perfect, because obviasly it was not, but we can say that the audience experienced all the performance as it should, visually and emotionaly.

3. The blog is defenentely a great idea. Sharing ideas and thoughts is the best way for self improvement, also the blog was very usefull in moments of great stress within the company members and the only way in which they could express themselves.

Reference for Ross Gibson's Post

Callery,D (2001) Through The Body, A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre, London: Routledge

Assessment 3 - Ross Gibson Final Blog

1.

When working within the genre of Physical/Dance theatre it is crucial to consider the ways in which meaning is conveyed to an audience. “Theatre is a transaction between actor and spectator.” Callery, D. (2001, pg. 103). The conventional use of language is often absent from Dance Theatre performances and so it is crucial for the performers to engage with their audience through another means. The idea of communities and the different relationships within them had crafted our performance from the outset and we had spent months developing personal relationships and scenario’s that were highly relevant to our own personal journeys. Having spent a long period of time working on individual tasks we needed to now come together and recreate the community we had first formed. Putting a structure to something that had developed in a fragmented way, using an organic framework seemed like a difficult task for Royona and Paul. The fractal pieces of our performance had to reconnect and form part of a whole piece. At this stage we had to pose the question would the relationships and scenarios we had created be transferable to an audience?

The title of our piece was Fractal and was highly relevant to how the company progressed throughout the process. It was not until the final couple of weeks before the performances that we got to see the work we had all produced. For this reason it was understandable that we should have doubts about how our individual work could come together to form one complete piece. It was amazing to see the strong bond that our company had developed over the months of devising considering how separated we had been for a large majority of the process. It was clear to see the close relationships between the couples who had individual pieces together, but it was interesting to note the close group relationship we as a whole company had. The fact that we had worked apart for so much of the process our collective appreciation of the piece and what we wanted to signify to the audience integrated us back together smoothly.

With the kind of work we were producing there was a tendency to become emotionally attached to our own pieces, especially as we had been working individually for much of the process. Not being witness to the overall picture that was being built by all of our separate work there was a tendency to become precious about we had created individually. When told by Royona or Paul to refine our pieces some people did find it hard to part with their work. Although this was an understandable reaction, it needed to be understood that anything that was being refined was being done for the benefit of the overall piece.

2.

For me the performances were the culmination to a lengthy journey of discovery. The emotional connection I felt to the piece and everyone within it reflected the hard work we had all put into the process of developing the piece. When we first began the module none of us truly understood the effect this type of performance genre would have on our personal lives. One of the reasons I think we were able to become so emotionally involved in the piece is because we spent such a huge amount of time creating the work. It has been a year long process with each performer taking their own personal journey of development. The emotional and physical barriers faced by each of us have helped us to grow as performers and as people.

Unlike traditional scripted theatre where everything is directed in some way or another and has a very structured format, Dance Theatre is much more fluid in its nature. The freedom of working in this manner is that as a performer you can put so much more of yourself into the characters. Royona said during a discussion with the first years: “The difference between acting in a traditional play and performing in a Dance Theatre piece is that with acting a character is generally imposed onto the actor. With Dance theatre there is the freedom to create your own characters from scratch.” I absolutely agree with this statement, because although most actors will bring something of themselves into a character, that character will have been written to behave in a certain manner and therefore there is not as much room to be creative.

Performing in front of an audience had an enormous effect on the emotional intensity of the piece. As a performer emotionally engaging with the audience is an important part of the performance. Feeling connecting to an audience whilst on stage and knowing they have an understanding of what you are trying to portray, is a very thrilling feeling. Dance Theatre by its nature is very much about interpretation, so whatever the audience decided to take from the performance is up to them. The positive thing about this is the fact that there really is no wrong or right interpretation. Even if the intension of the piece was to reflect on the relationships within a community and some members of the audience interpreted the performance differently, it doesn’t make them wrong. I feel that it is actually a positive thing that so many people can have many different appreciations of the same piece.

The fantastic thing about working on a performance like Fractal was the fact that no two shows were ever that same. I know from my own experience that I entered into each performance with a totally different mind set every time. The first performance in front of the first year Drama students was a nerve-raking but exhilarating experience. I personally felt a mixture of anxiety because it was our first performance, but also strangely safe because I knew subliminally they would be on our side as they were drama students. The second performance for me was the best performance. Personally I always feel I perform best if there are people in the audience who I know. The nervousness I feel before the performance seems to propel me forward and brings out in me a determination to prove myself in front of the people I know.

The final performance was the culmination to a year long journey and I did feel very sad that it was all coming to an end. The other performances seemed to have gone by so quickly without us truly realising and when I thought about the fact that after this performance I would probably never do Physical Theatre again I did feel very emotional. The performances which seemed to fly by so quickly, with each one seemingly over within a blink of an eye didn’t represent the long and arduous journey we had taken to get to that point. The emotional intensity from every member of the company during the final performance was electric. Each person brought with them to the performance their own emotional baggage. Some went into the performance with the knowledge that it was the last show and they were glad of it, others like myself felt sad that it was all over. Whatever motivated each performer, I truly feel that the emotional drive behind the performance brought a new level of intensity to the piece and concluded our journey through the world of Fractal.

3.

The blog has played an enormous part in the process of developing Fractal. From the outset it has been a productive and useful way of documenting our own personal journeys through the module. Being able to reflect critically on aspects of the process has given everyone the opportunity to engage analytically and theoretically to the work. The practical nature of the process meant that often we would move rapidly from one exercise to another within the space of a short time and often it was only when reflecting on the days lesson on the blog that you could fully appreciate what you and everybody else had actually achieved. Communicating through the blog meant that often you would be given a true insight into how different people within the company were engaging with the work.

I often find it harder to reflect theoretically about work when speaking to other members of the class face to face and it has been easier to do this when given the time to think about what you want to say and then write it on the blog. The blog has also been a great discussions board. Being able leave comments on other people’s posts meant that we could engage in theoretical and practical discussions with other members of the company. This was particularly relevant in the beginning half of the module where we were learning techniques. It was often nice to know that other people where struggling in the same areas as you and meant that strategies for overcoming these problem areas could be shared between the group.

Blog Assessment 3 (Final Posts)

Dear All,

Hope you are suitably rested and recovered from last week and have enjoyed the photos. Here, as promised, are the questions for your final blog posts. This week Paul and I have formulated the same questions for performers, scenographers and Tamara alike. Please read widely and use quotes to support your arguments so give your writing a theoretical context. Please remember to reference your quotes.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts from the final stages of our process. It's been a pleasure working with you all.

Deadline for Posts: Sunday 11th May, 5pm

Questions:

1. Evaluate the transition of the final stages of the process into performance, paying attention to strengths and weaknesses encountered by the company.

Word-Limit: 400 words

2. Evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within it.

Word-Limit: 600 words

3. Comment on the effectiveness of the blog as a reflective means of charting your journey through the entire process which began in September 2007.

Word-Limit: 200 words

Looking forward to your responses.

Royona

Blog Assessment 2

In referring to the ‘body as art’, the question implies the change in attitude toward movement when used in a theatrical setting. A walk across a space becomes dramatic, as famously stated by Peter Brook in his book ‘The Empty Space’ in 1968. When looking at the use of pedestrian movement in dance-theatre in this sense, it opens up a realisation that the smallest of twitches may become theatrical and of enormous significance to communication. Thus this significance follows though to performance.

Pedestrian movement refers to the use of physicality that can be seen in the everyday. It can be extrapolated from this that ease of communication may be taken from this form of movement in the same way that familiarity with a vocal language aids a persons understanding. Day-to-day familiarity with pedestrian gesture allows us to obtain a heightened awareness of detail. When this is combined with the frame of the theatrical environment, pedestrian gesture becomes stylised by its mere presence in performance and becomes art, as referred to by Susan Broadhurst.

In ‘Fractal’, pedestrian gesture is used throughout to great effect. Performers use little movement to communicate a huge amount and this allows for a large contrast between that and the more abstract and risk-taking movement that occurs. To use an example, in the men’s section the men use a cigarette box as a means of isolating and disciplining one of the group. They do this by passing round the box and putting cigarettes behind the ear in a familiar way as a gesture of masculine behaviour. Watching this becomes more interesting and ‘theatrical’ to an audience than the risk taking of a performer sitting on another’s shoulder, or even the stylised synchronised movements of the three men.

Similarly, in the women’s section the performers do little more than walk and look. However, due to the performance setting and the use of the movements in repetition and with the accompanying music, the movement becomes ‘stylised’ and is thought of in term of an Art form. The repetition allows the pedestrian movement to become underlined and the message communicated loaded with significance. The message repeated means it becomes overlaid with itself and thus condenses into strength and all encompassing meaning – he is in the wrong and must be put down.

Another example of pedestrian movement is myself and Ross’ section. In this we use the ritual of eating to communicate age and relationship. What is communicated to begin with is the familiarity the characters feel with each other and this ritual of their own that has developed between them over time. Then comes a change in the relationship and confidence in the movements appears to change. The gestures remain small, if anything they become smaller, but gain significance in emotion. It is this intensity of communication that makes pedestrian gesture so powerful and thus becomes Art.

Blog 2

The Idea of pedestrian movements has been around for forty years and has been developing ever since. In the majority of contemporary dance theatre there is always some form of pedestrian movement as it can sometimes be more powerful to watch than just watching physical work on its own. As within my section with Lauren and Sammy the simple idea of moving someone's face away to force them not to watch something is a clearer view on dominance and control of someone's life. For example Steve Paxton from Judson Dance theatre and Grand Union Believes...

“He believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to the dance form, and so began Paxton's great interest in pedestrian movement. After working with Cunningham and developing chance choreography defined as, any movement is dance; Paxton's interest in the boundaries of movement was ignited. Paxton is one of the most influential dancers of his generation whose approach has influenced choreography globally. He attempts to be remain reclusive, except when performing, teaching and choreographing internationally.”

When it comes to the stylisation of body as art in relationship to pedestrian movements and physicality then the use of repetition can be a powerful tool. For example the penultimate scene in “Fractal” where the girls are now taking dominance over my character there are movements that are used within previous scenes and these highlight the change of role reversal and is more powerful as the repetition links it.

Trisha Brown also from Grand Union and Judson Dance Theatre. Also believes that narratives can be shown through basic pedestrian movements...

“Brown's rigorous structures, combined with pedestrian or simple movement styles and tongue-in-cheek humor brought an intellectual air that challenged the mainstream "modern dance" mindset of this period."


Now with this in mind we must start asking why this is being brought into our work of “Fractal”, as well as pedestrian movements for some of the funny scenes or aggressive scenes there is also some very physical work to show sophistication for example in Karine and Tolu’s piece going into Ashley and Joes piece to show the two differentiations of their characters.

One of the important things with the creation of our piece was to keep the idea of minimalism and repetition for example our opening ritual of the piece and how with the repetition of the ritual it highlights the exclusion of Frankie from the community and her role within the piece as a whole.

Craig Smith - Blog Assessment 2

In physical/dance theatre and in our homage to it’s genre in ‘Fractal,’ meaning and emotion is conveyed “through the body, rather than through the mind” or text alone (Callery, D., 2001, p.4.) Every movement originates from real life, only when we get the impressive lifts are we reaching into a totally expressive form of what strives “to say something that cannot be said” in everyday behaviour (Bausch in Fernandes, C. 2001, p.5.) This corporeal language through pedestrianisation is more relative to the viewer, as they can relate to the movements and their assigned meanings from real life. Thus they can understand the relationship and its depth between two performers by how they hold hands, how they share a gesture such as looking at a watch, or even how they eat a sandwich.

Pedestrianisation on stage brings the audience and its familiarities into the aesthetic space, its imitations of reality establish the blurred existence between the two forms of movement, the merge of which Susan Broadhurst comments on. This merge then allows the development to more surreal and expressive movement to happen. My character physicalises this progression at the pre-beginning of the piece, metaphorically taking the audience to the blurred existence and gradually guiding them through to physicalistion beyond pedestrianisation.

Through the process of ‘Fractal,’ the thought that smaller gestures say more than grand lifts became affirmed. “There is a greater emphasis on exploiting the power of suggestion.” (Callery, D., 2001, p.5) To say something, in most cases there is no need for explicit information, and so a suggestion is all that is required to make our intentions clear. Each action is stripped down to its smallest movement and providing the motive is kept, the meaning will be carried through. These ‘skeletons’ of actions can then be dressed and interpreted by the audience, giving them the freedom to determine what is being said. As Newson of DV8 says “It is not that I am necessarily against using an arabesque, but you must know why you do it.” This is an important philosophy through the process of physical/dance theatre and through our process to ‘Fractal.’

The holding out of a hand, for example is all that is required to tell the audience that my character wants to contact Frankie; that I am communicating a desire to reach out to her, that I am telling her my hand is there to hold and am offering guidance to her. This doesn’t need to be expressed through a highly physical duet between the two of us, and it was our decision to keep it simple which would carry a greater emotion for both us and the audience.

One of the greatest means of communication I have discovered in ‘Fractal’ is through the eyes. The eyes are the most common use of expression that, in everyday life tends to be taken for granted. Communication through the eyes is played upon throughout fractal between characters and implicitly towards the audience. This is easily communicated because we are “demonstrators of [our] own bodies, not the body of some passer-by” (Wright in Fernandes, 2001, p.10.) or artificial creation in a text-based play. Seeing this on stage opens up the subconscious awareness of how we use our eyes other than to see in reality, and so the audience is still aware of what is trying to be ‘said.’

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Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body, Nick Hern Books Ltd.: London

DV8’s website, www.dv8.co.uk - accessed 13/11/07

Fernandes, C. (2001) Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater, Peter Lang Publishing Inc.: New York
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Craig Smith

Assessment 2

Pedestrian movement began in the early 1960’s by New York’s Judson Dance Theatre “whether walking or getting dressed, hauling mattresses or throwing pitches, Judson artists found in the familiar gesture a neat alternative to the theatricality of dance.” (M. J. Thompson 2008) In dance theatre, Small pedestrian movements can be as expressive, or more so than extreme physical movements. Pedestrian movements are very easy to read as they are used everyday by everyone. Such movements like a handshake, the stroke of a cheek, a wink can be much more affective and readable then movements that are of high physicality.

In Fractal there is a high use of pedestrian movements such as; eating a sandwich, a pat on the bum or a nod. It is not only simple gestures that are used. Meetings and rituals take place which are ideas taken from what people do everyday only they are distorted, fragmented or exaggerated by using expressive communication techniques through the body.

Observing everyday movements leads us to believe that we will see movements and gestures that are predetermined. But while this may seem innocent enough it is very easy to take a simple, innocent gesture and turn it into something more shocking. In dance theatre it is so effortless to take a gesture and turn it upside down to, for example, break stereotypes, “performance styles, and identities shatter the same old, same old of the dancing body” (M. J. Thompson 2008). This is what Fractal aims to do. This performance is about a community and where would it be without straightforward gestures or messages that can be recognised by anyone?

However the performance is not just about naturalism and pedestrian movements, it’s about communication and expressiveness via connections of emotion as well as movement. There are many movements, which aren’t everyday but convey the emotion or meaning of which they are intended.

From watching Fractal develop it has been fascinating to see just how effective the use of pedestrian movements are and just how expressive the body can be. Using the body in such a way helps to communicate “familiar actions that are fragmented, as if broken apart and reattached in the way a mime might, but to a lesser extreme.” (M. J. Thompson 2008) By doing so a performance can still be readable but much more interesting and meaningful which is what the dance theatre genre strives to do.

(http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/03/dance/who-plays-pedestrian-movement-neumann-style)

Assessment 2

“Pedestrian” movement first flared on the radar in the 1960s in the dances of Judson Dance Theatre. Judson artists found in the familiar gesture a neat alternative to the theatricality of dance.” The use naturalistic pedestrian movement can visually be as expressive and emotive within Dance theatre as highly physical movement. If a movement is executed with purpose the smallest gesture can have the greatest impact. Pedestrian movement due to its nature is very relatable to an audience, so when it is used within the context of art it can be highly affective.

The use of pedestrian movement is highly relevant to the development of Fractal. Naturalistic situations have been developed and exaggerated to create physical environments for the performance. Within these environments elements of human behaviour have been explored through the use of pedestrian movements.
Simple everyday scenarios have been stripped down to their distinguishing elements and then these elements have been explored. The predatory behaviour of men in a pub when a woman enters their space has been uprooted from its preconceptions and has developed in a manner that has explored social stereotypes and turned them on their heads.

The freedom of using pedestrian movement is that they rely on preconceived ideas for them to be instantly recognisable. “Ordinary movement seems readily legible, counting almost for the words assigned to the actions themselves”. Working with these preconceptions means there is the potential to go against what is socially recognised and encourage alternative interpretations. Society tells us that men are the dominating sex and that women are more vulnerable than men. When these roles have been reversed and the women have taken on the masculine social role these preconceptions have been thrown out of the window. This exploration of premeditated social behaviour has been a really interesting element of the devising process and has opened my eyes to the stereotypes we all place on ourselves and others around us.

“The place of the pedestrian in theatre and dance theatre reminds us of the felt intimacy between everyday movement in dance and language.” The examples of pedestrian movement shown within Fractal are so affective because they are used to express meaning in the simplest form. The slightest touch of a hand or the way in which a sandwich is eaten can portray so much meaning to an audience. Sometimes being heavily reliant on theatrical movement can, due to the nature of the genre, actually hinder the expressive process. As with a play, things can become over acted, the same can be said of dance-theatre. A well intended piece of pedestrian movement can carry as much meaning to an audience as a highly physical action.

Having worked mainly using pedestrian movement throughout the process of forming Fractal I feel that I have developed a good understanding about the effectiveness of using this type of movement. The physicality of I and Ruth's first section of the piece is so minimal, sticking entirely to pedestrian movement. The work that we have produced however is so poignant and entirely relevant to our characters. Had we gone down a different route and tried harder to incorporate more physical movement, I feel that the work would have become forced and as such would have gone against the organic process we have been a part of. When using everyday movement in an artistic manner, through physical means the body is able to emulate naturalism on stage, and art imitates life.


http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/03/dance/who-plays-pedestrian-movement-neumann-style

Ross Gibson

Assessment 1

Ross said...

1 i)
Over the weeks I feel that Ruth and I have developed both a physical and mental connection between our two characters. Our interactions replicate the process we have taken by developing in stages, with varying degrees of physical interaction. The first interactions we have together on stage with the lunch boxes involve us being physically very close to each other but somehow not being physically connected. Most of our connections in this section seem instinctive and at times almost telepathic. Our relationship is almost unintentionally obvious to everybody but ourselves. That we are so comfortable within each others presence and remain oblivious until the end of this section shows quite clearly a dimension of childlike innocence. Having such a strong and well developed relationship made it easy for us to continue forward to some kind of resolution. The creative process came naturally because both Ruth and I new instinctively in which direction the relationship was heading.

ii)
I feel that for both Ruth and I our characters have been on a very obvious journey culminating at the end with the community scene. At the start of the piece it is obvious that we have a very close bond which slightly begins to crack as we end our section. We are separated and participate in two individual sections of the piece, myself with the other men and Caitlyn, and Ruth in the Golden Bowls section. For myself there is a sense of unease and a struggle to find my individual identity having previously been part of a duet, almost behaving as one singular person. Our reunion in the last community section portrays the sense of unease felt between the two of us and the struggle to regain our relationship previously in the first section. There is however a sense that our relationship has moved forward and although we our trying to regain a lost part of our history we are also trying to move toward a future.

iii)
I think that the final community section reflects the journey that I and Ruth’s characters have been on. Our reunion in this final section seems appropriate to our journey and almost seems like an induction into the adult world. We have moved on from the childish play demonstrated in our first interactions and have grown from our experiences of facing the world separated from each other in the intervening sections. In the final community section we are reunited bringing with us previous and new experiences which both help us to bond again but also cause a degree of uneasiness that needs to be overcome. At the end of the section after we have drunk from our glasses we immediately separate from each other, showing that although we have reconnected there is a need to establish a sense of individuality within our relationship.

17 April 2008 08:13

Assessment 1

i) Through out last Wednesday morning, the task of bringing our relationships to a resolution was given to the group just after an improvisation exercise in which we were allowed to explore new relationships with other characters. Personally my character couldn’t find any other strong connections apart from Andrew’s and Sylvia’s characters. Although my character wouldn’t find any other connections he definitely found a much bigger connection to Andrew’s character. Theirs relationship on the piece achieved a whole new level of intensity and with that we were able to bring our fraction of the performance to an end. The exercise was important to finally help me understand my feelings for Andrew’s and Sylvia’s characters. So far I was not given the opportunity to work on my characters reactions to the different situations he comes across, I was only allowed to work on his feelings and develop his personality. On this exercise I was able to give appropriate responses to his emotions and therefore develop his personality even more. My character has achieved a new stage of personality, much more mature and developed.

ii) Bringing all the fractal bits to an end gave to every character a reason to be in this community. After all the process we have been through, all the characters now know why they belong to this community and what their role in it is. To my character was a great relief when he finally understands why he is there and also gave him more confidence and purpose to stay in it. It is clear the difference when my character walks in to the last community section, It is easy to tell how more comfortable and confident he is compared to the first section. Now he has someone beside him, he is no longer alone and confused.

iii) Life is fractal, and finally the last bit was brought to life, all the characters now really know themselves as a whole. For some of the performers this last Wednesday session might reflect on the earlier stages of their relationships, although this is all part of the development of the characters, this will surely bring the whole performance to a new level of understanding and therefore might change its structure as well.

Assessment 1

1) The creative strategies that were used within Wednesdays session varied depending on what each group was doing, be it the group piece or the conclusion of the characters relationships with other people within the space. The focus of these culminated within the resolution of our characters individual stories. The stimulus for this was “What would happen to your characters at the end of the piece?” With this in mind we had to come up with a resolution that suited all the characteristics of the performers individual parts. With this in mind we had a play/improvisation session in which we came up with a way of making the characters naturally conclude their relationships by the end of the performance. The technique of devising through improvisation worked well as our natural instincts came out and the characters motivation and ending came out naturally, without seeming forced or unnatural to the characters personalities.


2) After the individual groups progressed with their ending then we had to find a way that our characters would react to the current communal style ritual that occurred within the penultimate section. My character had been shunned by the only females that he had any contact with and at the end he was left alone to think about his previous actions and how his chauvinism has turned him into an outcast, like what he made of Lauren. After this the character is not only more insecure but more lonely than usual as he had no option to make himself stay as an outcast within that society, even though he conforms to the ritual he will never find anyone or be happy. With this in mind other people’s resolutions were cemented within this final community section and a lot of peoples resolutions were generally happy and joyous and this was a complete contrast to what was about to happen with Glenford and Frankie’s final duet.


3) I think that now a lot of people have found out what happens to their characters, then they will have to make sure that the earlier scenes will also have to be able to show their characters progressions a lot stronger than what is already there, as the journey for each individual character will then have their ending and to show the journey they will need to improve the earlier stages in order to achieve a desired effect for their own personal ending what ever it may be.

Assessment 1

After weeks of working on the smaller Fractals, it was a refreshing session as it saw the return of the community. After being taken back to the mental preparation we used to frequently participate in (lying on the floor and clearing our minds) the focus was once more on the community, an element I feel we have to consider for resolution in our smaller relationships. The simplistic task of walking round, in character, and exploring improvised play was extremely rewarding to most. It allowed us to fill in the missing gaps in our characters and their motives and relationships with others, thus allowing the possibility of resolution(s). Having the freedom of existing outside the borders of Fractal allowed me to do what I cannot in the Fractal’s aesthetic space; it allowed me to interact with the other community members; my character is an observer who watches over the community and has some control over its life, yet I am never seen. Thus this exercise helped me explore emotions that lie beneath my existence in Fractal and to utilise them into the development and shaping of my character.
To me, despite being new encounters, they felt like past emotions, like I was walking through a photo album, remembering past relations and desires, with Emily and a connection with Sami (of which, I think will never have the chance to further, of which is a feeling of regret perhaps that will continue to shape my earlier performance). By having these memories ‘remembered,’ it allowed me to develop a sense of resolution to my character and gave me a clearer idea to my current sense of purpose and motives. Also, by being able to communicate with Frankie in such an explorative way of which the confines of Fractal can never allow really gave a sense of desire and purpose to my connection with Frankie within Fractal.
This exercise evolved into the crafting of the final sections by taking what resolutions we found in the improvised play and shaping them into resolutions in Fractal. For myself and Emily, it was a sense of remembering a past relation; she sensed I was there but not physically, which fitted perfectly with my character and the lonely stasis in which he is kept. Taking this to the final community section, we could explore this feeling of loss and spiritual existence whilst simultaneously living in the past, so that my existence is non-linear almost.

As is the nature of physical theatre, it is during these past few weeks, quite late in the process, that my character has really made its greater steps in the development of self-discovery, I look forward to what lies ahead in the creative process and continuing this self-discovery.

Assessment 1

(i)This session was focused on finding resolution in the group performances and also to the end. In our different groups we worked to finding some sort of end to our sections. This was just following on from what we had already created and previous ideas and movements that had arisen before. However, to find a communal ending for the piece as a whole we used a different method. Play and improvisation. This took us back to when we first started the module. It helped to bring about new relationships and fresh ideas. All of which filled in missing pieces that many people in the group had been waiting for. The improvisation seemed to allow space for each individual to discover their characters more intimately and give them a fresh of where they have or shall be heading.

I felt this lesson was very useful as we are now finally starting to tie things up, making me feel less lost in what I'm doing. I’ m now able to know the true meaning of my character.

(ii) These explorations evolved by allowing each character to mingle with the community (no having found their own character) and enable new relationships to open and be explored. It also evolved into a journeys end. So far everything has had a beginning and it has not been often, as of yet, that may people have found their journeys end and this was what the final improvisation has led us to.

It seemed the final journeys at the end were allowing the people to simply show where they had arrived in their journey. Using little time and significant images it is a summary of everyone’s journey to bring him or her to resolution.

(iii) I think this defines the characters earlier stages of what they were discovering to what has now/ or is being discovered. Now characters have found their journey and know were they are going to end up, or at least the goal they are headed toward. There is much more purpose to relationships and in the communication of these, which has changed much of what was opened up and discovered at the start. This, however, does not mean that further change will not occur. I'm sure there will be many more surprises created by the work or ourselves to come.

Assessment 1

1. i) Yesterday morning was eye opening for many. The beginning of the session concentrated on the group sections and those were brought those a step closer to resolution. The second half took on a different format to the one we have been working to this last month however; we returned to open improvisation and play. This session filled in a vital piece of the puzzle for many, allowing them to intermingle with the society as a whole rather than being segregated into small relationship groups. Creatively this allowed the group to expand its horizons. During the previous work in twos and threes, characters have been developed to a high level, with performers getting to know their characters intimately. This exercise using open improvisation allowed for that experience to fruit in a new environment. With the entire community together in such a way for the first time it allowed for the community to find, or not find, new ties between its composite parts.

I felt the exercise helped me place my character in relation to the whole. Before yesterday I felt as if I were floating free of the community, with no real ties or setting within it. Now however I can see the community and my character’s place within it. That in itself has provided some resolution for my character.

ii) These explorations provided the performers with new routes and relationships and the exercise also cemented them together as a community. The material for the final community section was taken from the conclusions drawn in this exercise. It opened the final chapter of our journey as performers.

The proposal of showing the journey of the characters in three short bursts allowed the performers to communicate their characters’ journeys simply and explicitly as a method to begin to come to some sort of resolution.

iii) This will impact, or has impacted on the earlier stages of the journey by giving a glimpse of resolution. Before now relationships and characters hung in a delicate balance, but after the session it feels as if that balance has solidified a little. Not to a level of being set in stone, but there is now a surety of direction and purpose. Knowing where the relationships will end up has changed perspective on the journey undertaken to get to that end. Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen. There is still a way to go and things may yet change.

Blog Assessment 1 - 16th April 2008

Questions:

1. i) What were the creative strategies that were used this morning to enable you to explore resolutions to your relationships/interactions?

ii) How did these explorations evolve into the crafting of the final community section?

iii) How does/will this impact on the earlier stages of your journey through Fractal?


Deadline for posts: Friday 18th April, 5 pm

Word Limit: 400-500 words

Welcome to Process Makes Perfect

This is a blog for second year Drama and Performance students in the process of developing 'Fractal', a physical theatre/dance theatre production to be performed on the 1st and 2nd May. This blog will serve as 25% of our final grade for the Process and Performance module and posts shall be in response to the process we undergo in the lead up to the performances and our critical evaluation of those performances.