As Four ways to speak out made the transition from the validation period of the process to the performance stage, the themes and issues of the piece began to emerge and become more prominent. From the start of the creative process we had decided the main theme for the piece would be that of domestic violence towards women, as we progressed with the process and moved in to the validation stage this theme became more clear for both the ensemble and the cast particularly the violent rape of the woman. It also however became clear that our piece was not only about physical violence towards women but also psychological and mental abuse, the most common form of domestic abuse as it goes unnoticed as it doesn’t leave physical marks only mental scars. Mental abuse gets significantly less publicity and attention than physical abuse, so therefore we wanted to draw attention to the issue:
“Mental cruelty, threats, sexual abuse, physical violence and any form of controlling behaviour used against a woman by her husband or boyfriend are all types of domestic violence” (Hamner.J, 2000, P27)
This theme of mental abuse that emerged through the ‘V’ stage also led to a further theme to emerge which was that of overpowering and possessive love that that leads to entrapment. Through the piece it becomes clear that the man loves her intensely, to the point that he cannot see what he is doing wrong, his love for her is overbearing and possessive and causes her to eventually leave, as shown at the end of the piece when the woman leaves him and he is left trapped by his love for her.
We became aware through the process that it is only when a woman is killed or seriously injured as a result of domestic violence, that any attention is drawn to the issue. By having the woman leave of her own free will, we aimed to show and represent that there is an escape from domestic violence and a chance to regain control of your own life. Ultimately there is hope for sufferers of domestic violence. Our piece ultimately looks at women within society much similar to what DV8 address within their pieces:
“The company's reputation relies on pushing its own boundaries and on the constant re-examination of the roles and relationships of men and women in our (society”http://www.dv8.co.uk/about_dv8/artistic_policy)
Despite the individual journeys each person found themselves s on there were experiences that were shared by the entire ensemble which had the effect off drawing the community together. For instance although each person knew the woman in different ways and had a different role to play the entire ensemble shared one key role which was that they were all part of the same community from which the woman disappeared . The entire community shared the experience of discovering the woman’s disappearance, and in the same way the entire community were all burdened and suppressed by their guilt of not helping the woman and a shared hatred of the man who abused her. An example of this guilt and hatred was the second ensemble the community needed to take their pent up emotions of guilt and hatred out and so turned to other members of the community to help them, as people were falling onto the other members of the community this could have been a sign of release, defeat or entrapment, for many of the ensemble the falling was a form of catharsis:
“Catharsis is the emotional cleansing of the audience and/or characters in the play. In relation to drama it is an extreme change in emotion resulting from strong feelings of sorrow, fear, pity, or laughter; this result has been described as a purification or a purging of such emotions” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com)
When the ensemble moved from the studio space into the theatre in which we were going to perform the piece there were both strengths and weaknesses that arose, the theatre space was a lot larger than the studio space we had been using throughout the process and therefore we had to adapt to the space and become familiar with it, as Dymphna Callery states in her book through the body:
“Commanding the stage demands a control of the space……. but in order to do this she has first to really ‘see’ it, to create parallels of attention so that the whole space becomes their field of vision” (Callery.D, 2001, p79)
We could not become intimidated by the amount of space we found ourselves in. A problem encountered by the ensemble was that we had spent 7 months working in the same space, we had spent a long time working on gaining a good sense of peripheral vision, when we moved into the theatre the space dynamics were so different it was essential that we had to spend time exploring the space and opening up our vision once again.
A further problem we encountered was that we were so used to the studio being our characters homes we had to find an emotional connection to the theatre space, we had to get use to the different areas within the space such as the bedroom and bar we did exercises to help us regain a sense of our individual characters within the space, one exercise we revisited before each performance was to sit in the area where your character finds themselves at their most emotional point in the piece, we then had to take in the space and the other characters in it, and respond to their role in the woman’s life, through our responses to the other character the story of the woman’s life could be unravelled, the exercise was successful in that we became aware of the space, the bodies within it and helped us focus on our characters emotions and what our piece needed to communicate to the audience
“ You must be able to work as an ensemble to tell the story moment by moment.… Eye contact is a crucial ingredient, so is a heightened sensory awareness of others in the space.” (Callery, 2001, p.88)
However moving into the space made me even more desperate to perform our piece, seeing the space with all the stenography in place made the woman’s life all that more real, and her story needed to be told . In the same way the space was the home for my character, and so my emotional journey did not stop when we entered our new pace instead it moved on dramatically.
There were three performances of Four ways to speak out and as demonstrated in the RSVP model, the performance stage does not mean anything is final and without change, in fact the piece itself still remains flexible, fluid and open to change. Therefore each performance was different, and each audience member will have seen a completely different show interpreting the encoded signs in response to their own culture and experiences.
My character continued to evolve in response to the RSVP model over the three shows, for example before the second ensemble, the community have discovered the rape of the woman and move into the second ensemble in response to the mans actions, I had always felt a strong enough emotion to move but by the final performance I could barely stand, I fell with so much intensity onto Catherine to get away from Andy. I believe it was in response to the previous flashback in which the woman attempts to leave. My character unlike many other characters on stage didn’t feel guilty but instead was angry, she had tried many times to help the woman but she had never listened, when my character learnt of the rape through the flashbacks that gave me my reason to move to the floor by the bed ready for the attempt to leave, I had previously been seated on the back of the bed so was therefore in everyone’s sightlines and could never really find an intention to move but through the performances the intention became apparent I had to move to get lower to the floor away as if to escape what I was being told. In the final performance of the attempt to leave I could not control my crying, but in response I wouldn’t have wanted to control it, ‘such an “emotion” cannot be expressed; it can only be induced or simulated.’ (Hjort & Laver, 1997, p122) the emotion I felt was not forced and was truthful therefore it aided in my journey, all the other characters and the audiences understanding of the piece.
With every performance my character developed, I felt something different to the time before and was able to carry that new feeling forward to the next performance if it felt right and honest. Up until the performance stage of the model I had never found a connection to the first flashback of the street. It wasn’t until I made the connection that one of the girls within that scene to me could be representing my character, that my character was in the street that night when the man first noticed the woman. As soon as I made this connection, I made the connection to the flashback, the flashback although at times a humorous one, was upsetting for my character, if only we had not gone out that night she would have never of met that man, was all my character could think.
The RSVP model was constantly being used and applied throughout the performances, adaptations were made in response to notes, if something didn’t feel right anymore it was changed, ultimately it had to be honest, otherwise the community would not have been able to connect emotionally to the piece. The strongest emotion I felt throughout this process was prior to the final performance, we had one last chance to tell this women’s story and we had to draw attention to our theme and affect our audience.
Bibliography
Callery.D ,Through the body : A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre, 2001, London , Nick Hern Books Ltd
Hanmer.J, Home truths about domestic violence, feminist influences on policy, 2000, Routledge
Hjort.M, S.Laver Emotion and the Arts 1997, Oxford University Press
http://www.dv8.co.uk/about_dv8/artistic_policy Sourced : 20/04/10
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/search.aspx?charset=utf-8&SearchBy=0&Word=catahris&tab=0&TFDBy=0 Sourced : 21/04/2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Catherine Hollies, 0805215 - Assessment Blog Three
1. As the creative process turned from the 'V' stage to the 'P' stage of devising, and Four Ways to Speak Out started to come together as one cohesive performance, what were the common themes and issues that were beginning to emerge through the basic fabric of the piece? Despite the individual journeys, what shared experiences tied the community together apart from their state of liminality? Discuss with clear and succinct examples. (400 words)
Once Four Ways to Speak Out started to move from the validating stage to the performance stage of the creative process, themes and issues started to emerge and come together. Some of these had not been noticed before and some were always there but were emphasised more for the audience, to clarify the story. The main theme of the piece, from the start of the creative process was the abuse and rape of women. However not all of the issues behind this theme were clear until the process turned from the ‘V’ stage to the ‘P’ stage. A main issue was that the abuse and rape of the women was wrong and that no one deserves it, but also it explores the misconception that the woman in the piece, who was represented by four different performers, was in some way at fault. Although she stayed with her boyfriend, despite his treatment of her, implying fault on her part, she did not invite nor deserve what he did. Another issue that became apparent though this process was that although the man’s actions were horrid, in his own twisted way he loved her and could not see what he was doing was wrong. This was clear at the end when the woman left him and he was alone, trapped by his own love, which introduced a new theme of abuse, that of obsessive love. In the end this overpowering sense of love that the man felt was what made the woman leave, Four Ways to Speak Out showed this by using a string with hearts on to trap the man by his own consuming love.
These themes and issues took you on a journey, “journeys are central to the development of the action and the story plot.” (Dundjerovic, 2009, p 35). Each person’s journey is individual throughout as each person’s character is an extension of ourselves, it reflects the saying ‘no two people are the same’ therefore no two peoples journey is exactly the same however it is also important to be able to work as an ensemble. “You must be able to work as an ensemble to tell the story moment by moment.” (Callery, 2001, p 88). What tied the community together as an ensemble were the similar experiences that they shared. The main experience tying the community together, discovered through the stages, was the need to know what had happened to the woman who had disappeared. The community all went on a journey to discover her story both as an ensemble and as individuals. “The devising process challenges every group member to confront the work, engage with it individually at different levels, as well as developing a sense of group cooperation, affiliation and unity at the same time.” (Oddey, 1994, p 24). This main experience that tied the group together led to other experiences that the community shared. In Four Ways to Speak Out, just before the second ensemble piece, the community had just learnt what the man had done to the woman, with the rape being recalled through the reading of the dairy and action flashbacks. The community were experiencing similar emotions such as guilt and disgust towards the man.
2. Critically evaluate the transition of Four Ways to Speak Out as the ensemble moved from the studio into the theatre space. What were the strengths and weaknesses of this phase and process? (500 words)
“Commanding the stage demands control of the stage.” (Callery, 2001, p 79). For Four Ways to Speak Out the ensemble had to be able to have full control of the stage and to understand how it operates in context towards the piece in order for the narrative and story to be understood from an audience’s perspective. When the cast moved from the studio to the theatre space it was clear everyone was excited, for not only were the cast moving into a new space but were also seeing all of the full scenery for the first time. “The aim is to explore ways in which the participant/actor can use their physicality and the immediate environment in order to spiritually and mentally connect with it.” (Dundjerovic, 2009, p 94). As it was a new area the cast had to be able to connect with the space and the objects that occupied it, so the first thing everyone did was walk around and take in everything, thinking about the piece and of where each scene would be taking place within the space. Marshall (2001) explains that in everyday life the body constantly reacts to space and that the strength of this response should never be underestimated. This process of moving into the theatre was a strength for the whole cast, as everyone seemed to connect and feel comfortable with the space physically and mentally very quickly.
A weakness of this process of moving from the studio to the theatre was the act of filling the space and the proximity during the ensemble pieces. In the ensemble piece’s the cast were more used to having more width in the studio, whereas in the theatre there was more depth. At first the performers were naturally going to where they would normally be if they were in the studio. Then another problem arose which applied to the whole performance. Many performers believed and felt that if they were not centre stage then the audience would not be able to see them, the depth of the stage meant that they did not want to use the entire space. However, as long as the performer was continually active they were able to maintain a presence regardless of the stage occupied and the audience was always able to see them. “And when an actor has this ‘presence’ it can make us feel that we’re standing very close to them, wherever in the theatre we’re sitting.” (Callery, 2001, p 84).
Nearer the end of the process the weakness did start to become a strength. As the performers started to engage with the different dimensions and the layout of the space they started to listen and be more aware of other performers in the space. For example in the last ensemble piece a pair who were standing up were blocking another pair who were sitting down, so they turned their bodies onto a diagonal slightly which allowed the performers behind to be seen. There were concerns that because the space was different the story and meanings may not be as clear, but through the process the transition between the studio to the theatre actually enhanced the meanings and narrative. If Four Ways to Speak Out was to have changed venue and toured, Dennis explains:
“The actor will need to find a way technically to sustain, night after night, in new space of differing dimensions, differing shapes, and differing proximity to audience all that he has found through the process of rehearsal and previous performance. The same ideas must be conveyed through the same rhythms, tensions, designs.” (1995, p 58).
3. Critically evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within the piece. Did the RSVP model continue to apply even at this final stage of the performance piece? Discuss with concrete examples. (600 words)
Each performance seemed to grow and become clearer and stronger for both the ensemble and the individual, the RSVP model continued to apply throughout and to the final performance. Dundjerovic (2009) explains that the Performance stage is not a fixed structure, the structure remains fluid and open to further change which allows the performance to be a ‘work in progress’. “Even if you go back to see the play again, no two performances are exactly identical.” (Oida and Marshall, 1997, p 33). I believe this applied to my character, which remained a ‘work in progress’ up until the last performance. One particular scene where this applied was near the end of the piece. During the flashback of the bedroom scene, just before the cast went into the last ensemble piece, I could not quite find the right emotion to move me into the next position, but in the last performance I had a feeling of emptiness and overpowering love which made me move from where I was into my ending position, to escape the sense of being suffocated. “The character moves only because he must. Who he is, where he is, what surrounding circumstances are, will all affect just how the movement manifests itself.” (Dennis, 1995, p 24).
In each performance I found something new and sometimes although I had the same emotion it triggered something else compared to the performance before. In the validating stage when I watched the flashback of the woman trying to leave I always felt guilty but sometimes this emotion felt forced and that I was not really connecting with it. If I was unable to reflect the emotion in the performance the audience would not be able to experience it either (Marshall; 2001). By the first performance of this scene my emotion changed slightly, there was more depth to my feeling of guilt and I believe this was brought about by the music played for the audience “you can physical respond to music without any knowledge of dance.” (Marshall, 2001, p 44). My head had naturally moved to lean against the wall. Also in that same scene when Andrew walked on to pull the woman back in, I felt my body tense and fill up with hate towards him, as if he had actually hurt someone I cared about. However in the next performance this emotion did not surface and I felt that I had to force it through. In the last performance I tried to stay alert and allow the original emotion to flow or let something new trigger a new emotion. I noticed in that scene my breathing had changed, I found it hard to take a deep breath which I believe was how my character felt, showing guilt and disgust.
The RSVP model was continually being applied right up to the final rehearsal, in the flashback street scene the woman represented by Gemma was showing that idea of being manipulated by the man and that she did not like it, but before the first performance it was realised that it was too early and soon to be showing this, so it was altered to her showing that she was a little uncomfortable but she liked the man. My character in this scene also changed through the performances through the RSVP model. During rehearsals, nearer the end of the street flashback, I started by not liking the man because he was not paying any attention to me but I changed this to feelings of confusion, contrasting the man being gentle and a little flirtatious at one moment but then quite forceful and aggressive at the next.
Over the three performances my character kept growing and changing through the RSVP model and as an individual I tried to keep engaged with the story of the woman by always being alert, keeping aware of the space and connected to the rest of the community.
Bibliography
· Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body: A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.
· Dennis, A. (1995) The Articulate Body: The physical Training of the Actor. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.
· Dundjerovic, A. S. (2009) Robert Lepage. Abingdon: Routledge.
· Marshall, L. (2001) The Body Speaks: Performance and Expression. London: Methuen Publishing Limited.
· Oddey, A. (1994) Devising Theatre: A practical and theoretical handbook. London: Routledge.
· Oida, Y. and Marshall, L. (1997) The Invisible Actor. London: Methuen.
By Catherine Hollies, 0805215
Charlotte Swaby 0803698 - 'Blog Assessment 3'
As Four Ways to Speak Out came from the validation stage to the performance stage the overall themes of domestic violence and oppressive love had become emerged into the basic fabric of the piece.
As Huxley and Witts state themes in theatre “can anchor a particular performance"(1996, p4) and for us it helped us as an ensemble to relate to the piece in a specific way and help us strengthen and support out own individual characters and journeys too. This theme of oppressive love became the overriding theme which helped support and portray our adaptation on the main stimulus of our piece, domestic abuse and it progressed right up until the finale where through the entrapment of Andy with the string of hearts, this oppressive love was seen as more of a portrayal on mental abuse than of physical abuse. It took Andy’s seemingly pure innocent love and left ‘the women’s’ heart wrenched, in limbo and her sole demoralized. It made the piece more prominent as we showed that even though rape was explored, women do not have to be beaten and have bruises to be labelled a victim of domestic abuse, it can be much more physiological ultimalty forming “a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour… that can include a range of abusive behaviours, not all of which are in themselves inherently ‘violent'” (http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles). We wanted to show the women leaving the man off her own accord not through theatre’s past conventional ways of having abuse turn extremely violent leading more often than not to the death of the victim. This prompted positive feedback from the audience as they said it was very refreshing to see abuse dealt in such a way especially in having the women leave of her own back. These themes were told in two specific ways that made the piece more accessible for the audience to understand as we had to make allowances for the people who perhaps wouldn’t be familiar of the genre of physical theatre. We did this by having the narrative of the diary extracts and the use of voiceovers for the flashbacks which in turn helped the audience to understand the journey that ‘the women’ had undergone and what had happened too her before the point we see on stage, thus giving the piece an appropriate cohesive context in which for them to follow.
The main theme and experience that tied the community together was that of guilt and that everyone felt they were unable to escape from the realisation of what had happened to the women. This unfolded more as the performance progressed and soon enough the piece transferred from seeing a naive and blissfully unaware community to a community in complete pandemonium powered by this overwhelming guilt. The effect of this emotion on the community as a whole was evident through the fact that each character despite having their own individual emotions, journeys and places in the community began to become more dependant on each character of the ensemble at some point or another because this guilt in relation to the women ultimately has binded them together. It became apparent that even though a few characters resisted partaking in the community ensembles in the beginning they came to realise towards the end of the performance that they needed reassurance from someone and that the whole community wanted or needed something from someone, whether it was emotional support or just someone to be there for them. This was shown primarily through the second ensemble when everyone had discovered who exactly Andy was and the role he had in the women’s disappearance therefore everyone clung to anyone around them.
For us the transition from the rehearsals studio to the theatre space brought about many strengths and weaknesses upon the process and the main weakness we faced as an ensemble and as individuals was similar to the dilemma which Dv8 faces when addressing theatre space. This been that when work is moved into “a large auditorium, the subtleties of the gestures are often missed and performers feel they have to make actions bigger and in many cases they become less real” (DV8, Interviews, 1993, p11-13). Our performance mirrored this as when we littered the space at the sides out of focus for when the flashbacks were happening, we found it hard to balance between been still and not respondent at all to doing gestures that seemed to be too big and distractive and took attention away from what was happening in the centre. We found it hard as a whole ensemble on the periphery of the space to keep our established characters engaged into the moment of what was happening. We all felt that the space around the periphery seemed limiting and confining at various points in the piece especially in the depths of the back of the arena space, the stairs and the pillar. The whole space in general was much bigger than the rehearsal studio and we had all become used to the length and width of the studios therefore we had adapted the moves to fit that rehearsal space not the Arena. When we did eventually enter the space, even though we were excited to work in the space and to see the scenography put in place, we realised just how cramped and close we had been working together for the entirety of the process and we didn’t realise how much it would confuse and throw the ensemble when adapting the piece to the performance space. For example the pair work in the ensemble sections that had to be slightly reconfigured in order to use the entire space and to avoid coming into contact with the scenery such as the bed, the bar and the chair and tables during the more technical movements such as the lifts and falls. In having to make these various changes it made the theatre rehearsals time-consuming, stressful and painstaking because we had to trace each of our steps in the space to see if we had plenty of room to move in and to make sure we had considered the entire of the space in all its levels and dimensions. An example of this was that in the first ensemble on the street the community was all grouped at the front and we were forgetting that we had to fill the space all the way to the back near the stairs thus we had to alter our positions slightly and be aware throughout the three shows that we had to arrange ourselves to stretch the community throughout the full length of the stage in order to fill the space fully. This showed for us that like Callery states “commanding the stage demands a control of the space…the actor has to read the space but in order to do this s/he has first to really ‘see’ it, to create parallels of attention so that the whole space becomes their field of vision.” (2001, p79). These rehearsals, working out such spatial and technical cues, was necessary but because of how long it took, it caused the energy of ensemble to drop and make simple necessary tasks such as the ensemble warm up to seem tedious as we hated having to repeat the warm up so many times in order to try and regain our focus towards the piece.
Another weakness that became prominent when transferring the piece to the space was that many people in the ensemble thought that you could only be seen by the audience on stage if you were in the centre or in the front hence why many of us became reluctant to use the back of the space due to the fact that we thought we wouldn’t be seen and that out ensemble work and character work would be lost if any of us stood there. However I found that when I was at the back of the stage, especially in Hayley’s flashback of her representation of the women, I was laid on the floor in direct line of the spotlight. Even though the spotlight was on Hayley, I was most defiantly lit therefore still seen even at the back. In the rehearsal studio in validating the structure especially in regarding where the flashbacks would come, once all this had been agreed and validated, the structure gave us the necessary framework and security we needed for the performing a cohesive piece but even in the theatre we were getting rid of a few aspects in this structure that didn’t work in the space. We were constantly asking Huxley and Witts question of “does it work?”(1996, p244) and if it didn’t like Newson says you then had to “have the courage to throw out ideas that weren't working, no matter how wonderful or logical they appear” (Dv8, Interviews, 1993, p11-13) even on the day of the performance despite us having had these ideas throughout the entire process.
The way in which the performance had grown over the 3 shows prompted my character to develop a lot quicker in the space than it had done in the rehearsal process and it did surprise me how many more emotions I started to explore in the piece. During the chaos scene it overwhelmed me how much more emotionally I reacted to what was happening around me as in the past I hadn’t really felt that much of an emotional intent towards the piece as my character throughout the beginning stages of the RSVP model and even in the beginning parts of the validation stage had never been properly established in the community or as an individual. The excitement of the performance stage made me truly focus thus all my emotions became heightened giving me genuine feelings towards everyone on stage. I was so upset when Andy was chasing everyone and I felt so scared at how the community was reacting and how the community was unravelling around me. Even when lieing down out of the limelight I was so emotional I was still crying about what I was seeing on stage even though I wasn’t directly in it. I felt truly locked into everyone’s emotions and really felt everything they were feeling throughout all of the three shows. Throughout all of the performances the RSVP model was still very much a definite influence to the piece and still applied to Four Ways to Speak Out even in the last stages. By entering the new Arena space it allowed us to go back even to the Research stage of the model because we were still exploring, researching and discovering more new things about ourselves, our capabilities and our characters that we had not noticed throughout the rest of the process ultimately showing like what Dundjerovic said that the V and P stage of Lepage’s model can “represent something quite different for each deviser individually so produces different results in performance” (Dundjerovic, 2009, p38) for each member of the ensemble.
Adding such as aspects as the setting and the technical aspects to the piece and adapting the feedback we had been given between each performance, prompted us to see the different aspects we had to improve on and change, meaning that the validation process was still ongoing in order to reach our idea of a successful performance. By the time we had reached the eventual performance stage it wasn’t until the third show that the whole ensemble reached the emotional peak we had aimed for. For us an ensemble we seemed to have peaked too high too early on in the technical run and we thought as a community that this level of intent and emotion would be reached again whenever we did it therefore we expected this to happen and became to complacent and it wasn’t until the first show that we soon found out that this wasn’t the case. From what I gathered from the community was that when we didn’t reach this expected peak through the first two shows everyone felt a bit deflated especially as the feedback we had received from both the lecturers and the audience hadn’t been great and had shown that we hadn’t displayed the correct level of emotion especially from when royana said that you should always be giving more to the piece on every show because ultimately everyone is on stage all way through the performance so ”a thought or emotion must be explicit, no matter how small or subtle” (Dennis, 2002, p18). The first and second performance was almost lacking in energy and was a little static around the periphery so for the third performance “we let the production guide us there” after all “the show has its own logic, poetry and rhythms” (Charest, 1997, p99) so we let ourselves truly focus, let go and discover this without trying to force emotion or rely on emotion we had had in the past to come back thus the third performance was much more energetic and involved and gave us what we wanted to achieve, really paying justice to all the hard work we had put in throughout the module. We truly learnt through this though that as a performer in physical theatre, a move or emotion can ever be fully validated as every performance is different because like Lepage states “it’s live, it changes every night” (Huxley & Witts, 1996, p239). But the performance stage can be achieved if you become aware of the all the factors of the space and stay alert to everyone around you, their reactions to what’s happening and what they are doing.
Overall we had all undergone and seen the growth of our piece from beginning to end and we all have had various positive responses to it so it was a pity that the first two shows weren’t as successful as we had aimed for but I truly feel that the overall process and particularly the last show, through the community’s journey and own individual character journey’s, had really helped to give an intention to the real life issue of domestic abuse and really helped to get across the life of oppressive love which the women had lead.
By Charlotte Swaby - 0803698
Bibliography
Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body: A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre. Routledge. New York.
Charest, R. (1997) Robert Lepage: Connecting Flights. Translated by Wanda Romer Taylor. London. Methuen
Dennis, A. (2002) The Articulate Body: The Physical Training of the Actor. Nick Hern. London.
Dunderovic, A. (2009) Robert Lepage. Routledge. New York.
DV8. (1993) Interviews [Accessed at 24th April 2010]. Available at:
http://www.dv8.co.uk/about_dv8/interview_dance_now_lloyd_newson_on_dance
Huxley, M & Witts, N. (1996) The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader. Routledge. USA.
Women’s Aid. (2008) About Domestic Violence [Accessed at 24th April 2010]. Available at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles
As Huxley and Witts state themes in theatre “can anchor a particular performance"(1996, p4) and for us it helped us as an ensemble to relate to the piece in a specific way and help us strengthen and support out own individual characters and journeys too. This theme of oppressive love became the overriding theme which helped support and portray our adaptation on the main stimulus of our piece, domestic abuse and it progressed right up until the finale where through the entrapment of Andy with the string of hearts, this oppressive love was seen as more of a portrayal on mental abuse than of physical abuse. It took Andy’s seemingly pure innocent love and left ‘the women’s’ heart wrenched, in limbo and her sole demoralized. It made the piece more prominent as we showed that even though rape was explored, women do not have to be beaten and have bruises to be labelled a victim of domestic abuse, it can be much more physiological ultimalty forming “a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour… that can include a range of abusive behaviours, not all of which are in themselves inherently ‘violent'” (http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles). We wanted to show the women leaving the man off her own accord not through theatre’s past conventional ways of having abuse turn extremely violent leading more often than not to the death of the victim. This prompted positive feedback from the audience as they said it was very refreshing to see abuse dealt in such a way especially in having the women leave of her own back. These themes were told in two specific ways that made the piece more accessible for the audience to understand as we had to make allowances for the people who perhaps wouldn’t be familiar of the genre of physical theatre. We did this by having the narrative of the diary extracts and the use of voiceovers for the flashbacks which in turn helped the audience to understand the journey that ‘the women’ had undergone and what had happened too her before the point we see on stage, thus giving the piece an appropriate cohesive context in which for them to follow.
The main theme and experience that tied the community together was that of guilt and that everyone felt they were unable to escape from the realisation of what had happened to the women. This unfolded more as the performance progressed and soon enough the piece transferred from seeing a naive and blissfully unaware community to a community in complete pandemonium powered by this overwhelming guilt. The effect of this emotion on the community as a whole was evident through the fact that each character despite having their own individual emotions, journeys and places in the community began to become more dependant on each character of the ensemble at some point or another because this guilt in relation to the women ultimately has binded them together. It became apparent that even though a few characters resisted partaking in the community ensembles in the beginning they came to realise towards the end of the performance that they needed reassurance from someone and that the whole community wanted or needed something from someone, whether it was emotional support or just someone to be there for them. This was shown primarily through the second ensemble when everyone had discovered who exactly Andy was and the role he had in the women’s disappearance therefore everyone clung to anyone around them.
For us the transition from the rehearsals studio to the theatre space brought about many strengths and weaknesses upon the process and the main weakness we faced as an ensemble and as individuals was similar to the dilemma which Dv8 faces when addressing theatre space. This been that when work is moved into “a large auditorium, the subtleties of the gestures are often missed and performers feel they have to make actions bigger and in many cases they become less real” (DV8, Interviews, 1993, p11-13). Our performance mirrored this as when we littered the space at the sides out of focus for when the flashbacks were happening, we found it hard to balance between been still and not respondent at all to doing gestures that seemed to be too big and distractive and took attention away from what was happening in the centre. We found it hard as a whole ensemble on the periphery of the space to keep our established characters engaged into the moment of what was happening. We all felt that the space around the periphery seemed limiting and confining at various points in the piece especially in the depths of the back of the arena space, the stairs and the pillar. The whole space in general was much bigger than the rehearsal studio and we had all become used to the length and width of the studios therefore we had adapted the moves to fit that rehearsal space not the Arena. When we did eventually enter the space, even though we were excited to work in the space and to see the scenography put in place, we realised just how cramped and close we had been working together for the entirety of the process and we didn’t realise how much it would confuse and throw the ensemble when adapting the piece to the performance space. For example the pair work in the ensemble sections that had to be slightly reconfigured in order to use the entire space and to avoid coming into contact with the scenery such as the bed, the bar and the chair and tables during the more technical movements such as the lifts and falls. In having to make these various changes it made the theatre rehearsals time-consuming, stressful and painstaking because we had to trace each of our steps in the space to see if we had plenty of room to move in and to make sure we had considered the entire of the space in all its levels and dimensions. An example of this was that in the first ensemble on the street the community was all grouped at the front and we were forgetting that we had to fill the space all the way to the back near the stairs thus we had to alter our positions slightly and be aware throughout the three shows that we had to arrange ourselves to stretch the community throughout the full length of the stage in order to fill the space fully. This showed for us that like Callery states “commanding the stage demands a control of the space…the actor has to read the space but in order to do this s/he has first to really ‘see’ it, to create parallels of attention so that the whole space becomes their field of vision.” (2001, p79). These rehearsals, working out such spatial and technical cues, was necessary but because of how long it took, it caused the energy of ensemble to drop and make simple necessary tasks such as the ensemble warm up to seem tedious as we hated having to repeat the warm up so many times in order to try and regain our focus towards the piece.
Another weakness that became prominent when transferring the piece to the space was that many people in the ensemble thought that you could only be seen by the audience on stage if you were in the centre or in the front hence why many of us became reluctant to use the back of the space due to the fact that we thought we wouldn’t be seen and that out ensemble work and character work would be lost if any of us stood there. However I found that when I was at the back of the stage, especially in Hayley’s flashback of her representation of the women, I was laid on the floor in direct line of the spotlight. Even though the spotlight was on Hayley, I was most defiantly lit therefore still seen even at the back. In the rehearsal studio in validating the structure especially in regarding where the flashbacks would come, once all this had been agreed and validated, the structure gave us the necessary framework and security we needed for the performing a cohesive piece but even in the theatre we were getting rid of a few aspects in this structure that didn’t work in the space. We were constantly asking Huxley and Witts question of “does it work?”(1996, p244) and if it didn’t like Newson says you then had to “have the courage to throw out ideas that weren't working, no matter how wonderful or logical they appear” (Dv8, Interviews, 1993, p11-13) even on the day of the performance despite us having had these ideas throughout the entire process.
The way in which the performance had grown over the 3 shows prompted my character to develop a lot quicker in the space than it had done in the rehearsal process and it did surprise me how many more emotions I started to explore in the piece. During the chaos scene it overwhelmed me how much more emotionally I reacted to what was happening around me as in the past I hadn’t really felt that much of an emotional intent towards the piece as my character throughout the beginning stages of the RSVP model and even in the beginning parts of the validation stage had never been properly established in the community or as an individual. The excitement of the performance stage made me truly focus thus all my emotions became heightened giving me genuine feelings towards everyone on stage. I was so upset when Andy was chasing everyone and I felt so scared at how the community was reacting and how the community was unravelling around me. Even when lieing down out of the limelight I was so emotional I was still crying about what I was seeing on stage even though I wasn’t directly in it. I felt truly locked into everyone’s emotions and really felt everything they were feeling throughout all of the three shows. Throughout all of the performances the RSVP model was still very much a definite influence to the piece and still applied to Four Ways to Speak Out even in the last stages. By entering the new Arena space it allowed us to go back even to the Research stage of the model because we were still exploring, researching and discovering more new things about ourselves, our capabilities and our characters that we had not noticed throughout the rest of the process ultimately showing like what Dundjerovic said that the V and P stage of Lepage’s model can “represent something quite different for each deviser individually so produces different results in performance” (Dundjerovic, 2009, p38) for each member of the ensemble.
Adding such as aspects as the setting and the technical aspects to the piece and adapting the feedback we had been given between each performance, prompted us to see the different aspects we had to improve on and change, meaning that the validation process was still ongoing in order to reach our idea of a successful performance. By the time we had reached the eventual performance stage it wasn’t until the third show that the whole ensemble reached the emotional peak we had aimed for. For us an ensemble we seemed to have peaked too high too early on in the technical run and we thought as a community that this level of intent and emotion would be reached again whenever we did it therefore we expected this to happen and became to complacent and it wasn’t until the first show that we soon found out that this wasn’t the case. From what I gathered from the community was that when we didn’t reach this expected peak through the first two shows everyone felt a bit deflated especially as the feedback we had received from both the lecturers and the audience hadn’t been great and had shown that we hadn’t displayed the correct level of emotion especially from when royana said that you should always be giving more to the piece on every show because ultimately everyone is on stage all way through the performance so ”a thought or emotion must be explicit, no matter how small or subtle” (Dennis, 2002, p18). The first and second performance was almost lacking in energy and was a little static around the periphery so for the third performance “we let the production guide us there” after all “the show has its own logic, poetry and rhythms” (Charest, 1997, p99) so we let ourselves truly focus, let go and discover this without trying to force emotion or rely on emotion we had had in the past to come back thus the third performance was much more energetic and involved and gave us what we wanted to achieve, really paying justice to all the hard work we had put in throughout the module. We truly learnt through this though that as a performer in physical theatre, a move or emotion can ever be fully validated as every performance is different because like Lepage states “it’s live, it changes every night” (Huxley & Witts, 1996, p239). But the performance stage can be achieved if you become aware of the all the factors of the space and stay alert to everyone around you, their reactions to what’s happening and what they are doing.
Overall we had all undergone and seen the growth of our piece from beginning to end and we all have had various positive responses to it so it was a pity that the first two shows weren’t as successful as we had aimed for but I truly feel that the overall process and particularly the last show, through the community’s journey and own individual character journey’s, had really helped to give an intention to the real life issue of domestic abuse and really helped to get across the life of oppressive love which the women had lead.
By Charlotte Swaby - 0803698
Bibliography
Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body: A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre. Routledge. New York.
Charest, R. (1997) Robert Lepage: Connecting Flights. Translated by Wanda Romer Taylor. London. Methuen
Dennis, A. (2002) The Articulate Body: The Physical Training of the Actor. Nick Hern. London.
Dunderovic, A. (2009) Robert Lepage. Routledge. New York.
DV8. (1993) Interviews [Accessed at 24th April 2010]. Available at:
http://www.dv8.co.uk/about_dv8/interview_dance_now_lloyd_newson_on_dance
Huxley, M & Witts, N. (1996) The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader. Routledge. USA.
Women’s Aid. (2008) About Domestic Violence [Accessed at 24th April 2010]. Available at: http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles
Stephanie Drury-0802543-Blog 3
The main themes that Four ways to Speak Out explored was domestic violence and oppressive love. The way in which the ensemble showed this to the audience was clear through its narrative in two different ways. The use of a voice over allowed the audience to understand the journey of ‘The woman’ and how she was treated and also made the genre of physical theatre more accessible to those who are unfamiliar. However, the audience was also shown how pure love could be oppressive. In Four ways to speak out the audience was shown visually, aided by hearts threaded on to string, that obsessive love can also be the a type of abuse and domestic violence. When Andy was left at the end of the performance, it was not the rape, the control or anything else that made ‘The woman’ leave it was solely the overpowering amount of love that was exploited to her. A theme that ran throughout the piece was that someone does not have to be beaten on a daily basis in order for it to be classed as an act of domestic violence. It can be, “psychological, physical, sexual or emotional.” (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/domestic-violence/) and as a group we managed to allow this to emerge from the performance.
Being a female dominating group we felt that we wanted to create a woman who was emotionally strong enough to leave the man at the end. This showed the audience that domestic abuse is unaccepatble and most importantly there is a way out. As an ensemble when we finally moved away from the validation part of devising and edged closer to the performance element of the RSVP model we, “discovered a collective imagination.” (Callery,(2001), p5). What is meant by this is as an ensemble we had finally rooted any ideas about what ‘The woman’ was like and what she wanted in life. This allowed us to become emotionally attached to ‘The woman’ and give an honest performance on the stage.
What tied the community together was that as perfomers our characters were an extention of ourselves. As a performer I found myself calling on my emotional memory (a technique created by Stanislavski) in order to realise how my character would act if I was put in the situation of my character. As a performer this was “natural and unavoidable” (Merlin,(2007), p143), and this was the case for many other performers within the ensemble.
In order for Four Ways to Speak Out to work the ensemble had to reinvent the entire space that it was performed, in order for the narrative to become believable for the audience. Callery believes that, “commanding the stage demands a control of the space.” (Callery, (2006), p79) If the ensemble was weak and did not have control of the space on stage the performance would lack energy and honesty.
On the day that the cast of the performance moved from the studio in to the performance space it was obvious that the group was excited to see the sceneography for the piece. It was important that the ensemble were, “connected to the space they occupied,” (Callery (2006) p84) as well as everything that was included within the space such as props. This was a strength of the ensemble as we all managed to adapt to the new space and connect and feel comfortable within it.
A weakness that the ensemble had when making the transition from the studio to the theatre was filling the space. Many performers felt that if they were not centre stage that the audience would not see them. A performer can have presence on stage wherever they are placed and “when an actor has this presence it can make us feel as though we are standing very close to them, wherever we are sitting in the theatre.” (Callery,(2006),p84). Although it was difficult to realise this initially, as the day moved on and the cast began to finally validate the piece we slightly overcame this problem.
Although as a member of the ensemble I felt that the group responded positively to the change in space some critics believe that changing a space can have a negative effect on the performers. For example, Zinder believes that even changing the floor surface can, “certainly limit physical expression.” (Zinder,(2002),p23). When working within the genre of physical theatre it is important that performers create a good relationship with gravity and the floor. Zinder also believes that the foot is an, “integral part of the body’s physical expressiveness.” (Zinder,(2002),p24). Therefore, changing the space an inevitably the floor could of had a dramatic effect on the way the ensemble performed.
My character did not develop at a fast pace, which as a performer I struggled with and found myself concentrating on creating movements that had no intention behind them. The RSVP model continued to apply to the process right up until the end of the final show, everyone’s character seemed to perform on instinct, as there was space for variety within the performance. For example, my character did not express as much anger within the first and second performance like it did in the third. This is because of the way my character was treated by Andrew Smith’s character in the ‘chaos’ scene. Andrew pulled my hair, which then fuelled my anger in to me pulling his leg back as if to gain revenge. This changed the dynamics of the performance for my character and created a different experience for the audience watching on the third night. Callery sees the, “actor as creator, as opposed to the actor as interpreter.” (Callery,(2006),p13) This is relevant to Four ways to speak Out because as performers the ensemble creates the characters and narrative through movement which allows the audience to interpret what you are trying to express.
The performance grew immensely over the three-show period and this led to my character validating just in time for the third show. The RSVP model was still being applied to Four Ways to Speak Out at this point and perhaps throughout the third show for my character. As a performer you don’t validate a movement or gesture until it is being performed because you must stay alert to the surroundings. In the physical theatre genre it is important to understand that, “every action has to be justified by a rational and logical analysis in behavioural terms.” (Callery,(2006),p149) What this means is that as a performer you have to be ready and alert to react to how everyone in the ensemble reacts. However, this doesn’t mean you should ‘do something because everyone else is’ as this couldn’t be justified within your character.
As previously mentioned my character developed slowly over the R and S stages of the RSVP model which made me as a performer feel nervous about performing as I was worried my character would look forced. However, during the dress run my character seemed to validate itself, which allowed me to relax into the character more.
The role of my character in the flash back was of a friend who had taken ‘The Woman’ to the pub in order for her to indulge on some drinks before she went off for a meal with her partner for their anniversary. This part of the performance grew over the shows as the three other members of this group along with myself really started to enjoy the choreography, which made the section flow more easily. With particular reference to my character within this section, I allowed my character to have a little variance to the other performers at the table as I felt that my character still had a slight feeling of regret within this section so I made sure as a performer that I kept looking over at ‘The Woman’ to make sure she was okay. However, the members of the audience can interpret this differently.
Over the three shows it is fair to say that the performance grew as a response to the characters growing. I found myself becoming more attached to the woman, which gave my character an intention to perform and bring ‘The Woman’s’ story to life.
Bibliography
Callery, D. (2006) Through the Body: A practical guide to physical theatre. New York: London: Routledge.
Merlin, B. (2007) The complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. London: Nick Hern
Zinder, D. (2002) Body voice: Imagination. A Training for the Actor. New York: Routledge
Other Sources
(http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/domestic-violence/- Accessed on 22/04/2010 at 19:04)
Being a female dominating group we felt that we wanted to create a woman who was emotionally strong enough to leave the man at the end. This showed the audience that domestic abuse is unaccepatble and most importantly there is a way out. As an ensemble when we finally moved away from the validation part of devising and edged closer to the performance element of the RSVP model we, “discovered a collective imagination.” (Callery,(2001), p5). What is meant by this is as an ensemble we had finally rooted any ideas about what ‘The woman’ was like and what she wanted in life. This allowed us to become emotionally attached to ‘The woman’ and give an honest performance on the stage.
What tied the community together was that as perfomers our characters were an extention of ourselves. As a performer I found myself calling on my emotional memory (a technique created by Stanislavski) in order to realise how my character would act if I was put in the situation of my character. As a performer this was “natural and unavoidable” (Merlin,(2007), p143), and this was the case for many other performers within the ensemble.
In order for Four Ways to Speak Out to work the ensemble had to reinvent the entire space that it was performed, in order for the narrative to become believable for the audience. Callery believes that, “commanding the stage demands a control of the space.” (Callery, (2006), p79) If the ensemble was weak and did not have control of the space on stage the performance would lack energy and honesty.
On the day that the cast of the performance moved from the studio in to the performance space it was obvious that the group was excited to see the sceneography for the piece. It was important that the ensemble were, “connected to the space they occupied,” (Callery (2006) p84) as well as everything that was included within the space such as props. This was a strength of the ensemble as we all managed to adapt to the new space and connect and feel comfortable within it.
A weakness that the ensemble had when making the transition from the studio to the theatre was filling the space. Many performers felt that if they were not centre stage that the audience would not see them. A performer can have presence on stage wherever they are placed and “when an actor has this presence it can make us feel as though we are standing very close to them, wherever we are sitting in the theatre.” (Callery,(2006),p84). Although it was difficult to realise this initially, as the day moved on and the cast began to finally validate the piece we slightly overcame this problem.
Although as a member of the ensemble I felt that the group responded positively to the change in space some critics believe that changing a space can have a negative effect on the performers. For example, Zinder believes that even changing the floor surface can, “certainly limit physical expression.” (Zinder,(2002),p23). When working within the genre of physical theatre it is important that performers create a good relationship with gravity and the floor. Zinder also believes that the foot is an, “integral part of the body’s physical expressiveness.” (Zinder,(2002),p24). Therefore, changing the space an inevitably the floor could of had a dramatic effect on the way the ensemble performed.
My character did not develop at a fast pace, which as a performer I struggled with and found myself concentrating on creating movements that had no intention behind them. The RSVP model continued to apply to the process right up until the end of the final show, everyone’s character seemed to perform on instinct, as there was space for variety within the performance. For example, my character did not express as much anger within the first and second performance like it did in the third. This is because of the way my character was treated by Andrew Smith’s character in the ‘chaos’ scene. Andrew pulled my hair, which then fuelled my anger in to me pulling his leg back as if to gain revenge. This changed the dynamics of the performance for my character and created a different experience for the audience watching on the third night. Callery sees the, “actor as creator, as opposed to the actor as interpreter.” (Callery,(2006),p13) This is relevant to Four ways to speak Out because as performers the ensemble creates the characters and narrative through movement which allows the audience to interpret what you are trying to express.
The performance grew immensely over the three-show period and this led to my character validating just in time for the third show. The RSVP model was still being applied to Four Ways to Speak Out at this point and perhaps throughout the third show for my character. As a performer you don’t validate a movement or gesture until it is being performed because you must stay alert to the surroundings. In the physical theatre genre it is important to understand that, “every action has to be justified by a rational and logical analysis in behavioural terms.” (Callery,(2006),p149) What this means is that as a performer you have to be ready and alert to react to how everyone in the ensemble reacts. However, this doesn’t mean you should ‘do something because everyone else is’ as this couldn’t be justified within your character.
As previously mentioned my character developed slowly over the R and S stages of the RSVP model which made me as a performer feel nervous about performing as I was worried my character would look forced. However, during the dress run my character seemed to validate itself, which allowed me to relax into the character more.
The role of my character in the flash back was of a friend who had taken ‘The Woman’ to the pub in order for her to indulge on some drinks before she went off for a meal with her partner for their anniversary. This part of the performance grew over the shows as the three other members of this group along with myself really started to enjoy the choreography, which made the section flow more easily. With particular reference to my character within this section, I allowed my character to have a little variance to the other performers at the table as I felt that my character still had a slight feeling of regret within this section so I made sure as a performer that I kept looking over at ‘The Woman’ to make sure she was okay. However, the members of the audience can interpret this differently.
Over the three shows it is fair to say that the performance grew as a response to the characters growing. I found myself becoming more attached to the woman, which gave my character an intention to perform and bring ‘The Woman’s’ story to life.
Bibliography
Callery, D. (2006) Through the Body: A practical guide to physical theatre. New York: London: Routledge.
Merlin, B. (2007) The complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. London: Nick Hern
Zinder, D. (2002) Body voice: Imagination. A Training for the Actor. New York: Routledge
Other Sources
(http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/domestic-violence/- Accessed on 22/04/2010 at 19:04)
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