Sunday, 11 May 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
Evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within it.
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.
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.
Comment on the effectiveness of the blog as a reflective means of charting your journey through the entire process, which began in Septemeber 2007.
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)
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.
“[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
Saturday, 10 May 2008
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.
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
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