In the two above videos, we played back some clips of our earlier rehearsals and discussed what we thought worked and what we felt needed to be improved or perhaps changed in order to turn our explorations into a performance.
Here, whilst we are again discussing moments we likes or developments to be made, we are looking at a more recent session, in which we aimed to maintain our focus on a prop, which was a television, throughout the performance. We also discussed potential ideas for performance possibilities.
In this clip, we are still discussing the aforementioned points, but for our exploration of the ending with everyone left on stage.
This time we looked at the video of where only one person remains on stage. We considered the different angles from which the performance could be seen from and how they worked well in relation to the performance.
Here, we discuss our explorations of performing the movement in slow motion to follow the accompaniment, what went well and how it could be improved.
In the above videos we discuss potential ideas for pre show possibilities in our performance. We began to structure and plan the final performance and noted down ideas for how it could pan out.
Below is an image also depicting our ideas regarding the subject.
Over the course of the past few sessions we have come together as a full company in order to start exploring possibilities for our performance.Using music used by Frantic Assembly themselves, we began with two chairs on stage, and one duo sat in them. This pair would loop their own chair motifs twice through, and then the next pair would come in and disrupt them, remove them from their seats and sit there themselves and perform their duet. The idea behind this was that should the duo not be removed, they would continue to loop their movement indefinitely.
In this video, we watched one another's motifs and aimed to highlight moments which presented opportunities to create unusual transitions to remove people from the chairs.
In the following session, we continued to develop this idea, now taking it a step further with the remaining pairs travelling in pedestrian manner, mirroring the monotonous, somewhat exasperated dynamics our duets intended to invoke. At different moments, those walking around would transition into the position of the base from our trust exercises, also inspired by Frantic, signalling another to complete the exercise. This became more difficult with the hip lift, as we were unable to use verbal communication to signal to another our intentions of performing it, and who was to be lifted, nor could we simply stop still in the space and wait for someone.
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In the following video we are much more confident and accustomed with the improvised nature of the task, for there is a significant increase in the amount of material we are performing from the last video where there was much more walking.
Now confident with the concept we were exploring, we began to incorporate the table and a single chair, so that we could begin to explore the idea using the other movement.
We then added in the idea mentioned in Frantic's book of Devising Theatre of placing a television at the front of the stage and all performers needing to maintain their focus on the television throughout the performance. On top of this we rotated our performance so that we were unable to look at ourselves in the mirrors whilst performing, which meant our sole focus was able to be on the television. This posed more of a challenge for contact work as we had to further implement means of non verbal communication.
Having fully consolidated the possibilities thus far, we began to look at how we could end the performance. In one session we explored several of these practically, and also mind mapped further ideas. We also turned the performance around in the space, so that we could not watch ourselves in the mirrors and had to rely more on eye contact and peripheral vision. We focussed on one of the ideas presented in Frantic Assembly's book of devising theatre, whereby performers maintain a sustained focus on the television
In first of these, we started from a point of climax, whereby we were running in the space, and gradually sensed coming to stillness as a group without verbal communication. In the second, we explored ending the piece with one person left on stage. We then explored what would happen if we followed the speed of the music, so that by the end, all was done in slow motion. Our fourth exploration was simply improvising in the moment.
In this session, we mindmapped ways in which the table and chairs could be used within the performance other than using them for their intended purposes. After creating this mindmap we explored these ideas further practically to develop our own motifs. We later wrote about these to explain how we had used these ideas or how we could use those we had not yet considered.
In today's session, we were tasked with creating our own cause and effect/question and answer motifs in pairs built up of contact work and pedestrian movement. Using the heavy, almost glum dynamics from the taught motif as a starting point, Matthew and I created the following motif that reflects an argument or heated discussion.
We used a video from Frantic as a way to gain an insight into how the company use a series of exercises used by the company to develop trust between performers and to produce the dynamic weight bearing movement as per the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
Push Hands:
Frantic Assembly perceive this activity to be the first step in working towards contact work within their practice, reason being that it cuts out unwanted stimuli with one participants eyes being closed, and allows the performers to adapt to the concept of sending and receiving signals using non-verbal communication techniques, as well as giving them an opportunity to develop a trusting bond with other members of the company before proceeding onto the more elaborate forms of contact.
In this exercise, we labelled each other A and B. Person B would place their hand on top of Person A's. A would push into B's hand creating a degree of pressure between hands. B then led A around the space, creating different pathways and levels. When the word "eyes" was said, the person would open/close their eyes. Person A and B would then switch and repeat the process.
Practising Flying:
The next activity we undertook was the idea of getting used to "flying" and trying to make come contact work seem effortless and weightless. One person within the pair would form a strong platform on the ground by engaging their core, whilst the other would plant their hands onto this platform as they push off and create the desired shape with the rest of their bodies as they travel, or 'fly' over the platform.
The exercises we practiced were those previously taught to us in a workshop with the company Metro Boulot Dodo.
In the first of these exercises, one person would form a strong platform on their hands and knees, engaging the core and creating a flat back in doing so. The other person would then jump over the platform, pushing off of the platform's back to achieve height.
With one person still using the previous position as a platform, the second would squat in order to connect their hip to the platform. From here, they would lean over the platform onto their hands, create a position with the legs, and finally push themselves back up again.
One other exercise, which I experienced in another MBD workshop, incorporated the platform position once again. The second performer would, aiming to position their hips in the centre of their partner's back, as this would evenly distribute the weight, balance on the platform's back. The second person would then lift through the sternum and legs and hold said position, before tucking the right shoulder and head under in order to roll off the platform, without holding onto them.
The final exercise was a hip lift. Here, both performers are standing up, right hip to right hip, facing opposite directions. The person lifting would plie in order to assist with getting more height into the lift, whilst the person being lifted would jump/lean into them. The lifter would then turn in a small circle and put their partner down.
Lifting Exercise:
Further building on ideas from the previous task, we then came together as one group to practice such a concept on a larger scale, whereby an individual would be lifted by the rest of the group, with the weight of the individual being planted in a single person, who was labelled the "rock".
Apologies for some videos being upside down.
Should I find a way to rectify this I will upload them again at a later date!
