Physical theatre ‘focuses on the unfolding of a narrative through physicalized events and which relegates verbal narrative – if at all present – to a subordinate position’ (Sánchez-Colberg, 2007, 21). As a company, we wanted to position our work in the realm of physical theatre. Although in recent years the umbrella term ‘physical theatre’ can perhaps be overused, we felt that it best describes the work that we are creating. We do not want to naturalistically portray events. We want to physicalize emotions, narratives and events through stylistic movement. As a company, we chose to devise our own performance, tailoring our specific skillsets to make a performance that is suited to our taste as theatre makers. In our first couple of weeks, we have started investigating different physical theatre companies and how the work they create can inspire us to create our own drama. Frantic Assembly soon became a massive influence in the creation of our play as we searched for ways to express a narrative through highly physical movements, often looking at their company for inspiration.
The aim of our rehearsals this week was to capture the essence and emotion of a couple receiving an in-depth diagnosis of the illness, encephalitis. Naturally, this was a challenge for us as performers as we have never experienced such ordeals. Instead of trying to produce a naturalistic scene in which we would try to re-create a scene of someone being diagnosed, we tried to physicalize the harrowing emotions that arrive when hearing such news. Frantic Assembly’s ‘Chair Duets presents a very physical scene of touches, embraces, flirtations, rejections all played at a quite mesmerising speed’ (Graham and Hoggett, 2009, 139). We experimented with pace, facial expression, body language and sound when creating this scene, influenced by Frantic Assembly’s technique. The overall scene worked really well in rehearsal and it became a poignant moment in the play in which the audience focused on the emotions of a couple hearing life-changing news.
Works Cited:
Graham, S., Hogget, S. (2009) The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. London and New York: Routledge.
Sánchez-Colberg, A. (2007) Altered States and Subliminal Spaces: Charting the Road Towards a Physical Theatre. In: John Keefe, Simon Murray (eds.) Physical Theatres: A Critical Reader. London: Routledge, 21-25.