Movement within the performance was very successful and matched with the writing very well. Hoping that the message could be understood with just the movement but having the speaking there to back it up. Although we tried a different few styles within the piece, I don’t think any of them didn’t work within the piece and if they stood out they stood out for the right reasons. With the right amount of intention behind the different scenes showed the message and gave a greater impact. The audience feedback was absolutely incredible, it was a very well received show and we are pleased with the result and the feedback.
During the process the biggest challenges I particularly had to face was trying to come up with new and different ideas for each individual scene to make them all different but also keeping certain movements to provide a similarity between the scenes. Hopefully this came across in the performance that we tried new and different things.
The most enjoyable part of the experience was the ensemble work, it was the strongest pieces within the performance and as a theatre company it showed that we worked well and to have this as a strength is something we could play around with more in the future and create more dynamic and different movement sequences.
The physical parts
(All the photos contain the important parts of the Choreographers Script)
The opening:
The opening was something which we did first of all, and this was the part that was inspired by our own stories/letters. The movement in this section was a collaborative piece, and everyone has the opportunity to make acount of 8 and this was the beginning of the piece. We wanted to build up the movement within the piece gradually and the beginning was a slow and repetitive movement based piece that set up the next pieces really well because there is such a massive contrast. Use of the whole stage was particularly important for the opening as it allows the audiences to have several places to look and then with the individual movement it shows different stories every time they look at someone new.
Time Lapse:
Time lapse is something that really stands out in the whole performance because it is so different to everything else. It has a fast pace, and there are lifts and dynamic movements that just make it a completely different section to all the rest. Again it covers the whole of the stage which gives it more impact, especially for the running part, with the music and lights and especially the projection this scene stood out for me for all the right reasons. Choreography wise it was nice to sections of different groups together at different points. Why we chose to put it there was because of the beginning of the ‘Mans’ ideas of being lost and confused and we wanted to represent how he could feel on a day to day basis.
Science and Music scene:
Inspired by frantic assembly within this scene was the chair duets which again completely contrasted to what we had just scene and we really pull it back and it almost becomes still. With the chair duets we wanted to represent a waiting room and we had three sets of couples all of which represented different stories all waiting to hear different sets of news. The chair duets represented that within the movements, but the movements didn’t show that it was a certain couple it could have been any two people with a strong relationship. During this scene is the first time we see the ‘Man’ exposed on his own. The choreography for that particular scene was his conflicts between trying to listen to his diagnoses while trying to remember music, and how much his life revolved around it before his illness.
Props:
This scene would be the first one where the props we used are properly introduced, and used. This scene also gave a bit of light relief to the whole performance as it is very intense. With help from a Beatles song this becomes a scene about the day in the life of the couple. Again it can be classed as more of a fast paced scene but nothing like Time Lapse was.
Ribbons:
Ribbons is one of the Scenes within the performance that makes it more memorable, the choreography in the scene it technically minimal but it was effective. Essentially we are walking/running with the ribbons and once we get to the place we wanted we stop and extended and make the most of the stillness by striking a strong pose and making sure the ribbon is pulled tight. With the minimal but effectiveness of the piece is gives it a new dynamic.
Happy Memories #2:
The happy memories scene again changes the feel of the play again to a part happy, part sad feeling as she is remembering these lovely memories they share and but sad because she can remember it and he cannot. This scene felt like it had to have a simplistic vibe to it so it didn’t detract from what was being said but just to reinforce it. Using one prop at a time and the movement again being very minimal but it made the prop stand out and married both prop and speech well.
Solo/Ensemble Dance:
This again had to give yet another different feeling, at this point we wanted to show that the woman couldn’t take it anymore, she was angry and she needed to go, The suggestion to her version of ‘deleting’ her memories. After the speech from Hannah it lead into the solo I performed myself, it had to show the torment of her leaving even though she loved him, she has struggled for too long as the previous scene nicely set it up for. The solo turns into an ensemble piece that shows that all of the past ‘Wives’ all got the feeling and have an understanding for the current ‘Wife’.
Ending:
For the ending we wanted to show that the wife couldn’t live without him and that she needed him as much as he really needed her. Bringing in the use of the props we wanted the ending to provide a feeling of the love they had before he became ill. He then relives the Props memories with different uses of the props but still the same stories. Then ending leaves it on a nice note.
Overall we hoped that the scenes reflect on what we can show as a day in the life of some things these people have to go through.
Stateless
Going to see a variety of different shows before we heavily got into the devising process was such a help tool. They gave us thoughts and ideas to where we could take the piece. Seeing Stateless by Joli Vyann was what I would describe as a physical theatre/dance theatre and it stuck in my mind as I knew we would be creating physical theatre and this piece of work gave me inspiration for some of the choreography particularly for the leaving scene, it helped knowing where I could take the choreography. Especially because of the tone of the piece it was the same and that part of our piece.
“Stateless explores the topical subject of refugees and immigration. Through a mixture of dance, from gentle and expressive to fast paced and expansive, integrated with Circus Skills of Hand to Hand Acrobatics and Cyr Wheel, the four performers take the audience on a physical and emotional journey.”(Stateless,2015)
Joli Vyann (2015) Stateless. [performance] Quayle, O & Patzke, J. (dir.) Lincoln: Drill Hall, 19th feburary.
Joli Vyann (2015) Performances. [Online] Joli Vyann. Available from http://www.joli-vyann.com/dance-and-theatre-company-performances/stateless [Accessed 1st march 2015]
Helpful talks and Broke
When starting up a company you are usually influenced by a number of different ones, and one we felt like we wanted to see as a company was The Paperbirds. We knew they held experiences and great reviews from the past and with only being a two week old company at the time of the meeting we thought getting tips from them would help us. They gave us brilliant useful knowledge they received themselves when they started out which we will keep with us “If you’re theatre isn’t good, the show itself then there is not theatre company.” (Paperbirds, 2015)
We arranged as a group to see their performance of Broke, with our director Michael previously seeing it at the Edinburgh fringe festival in 2014. We emailed them in advance asking if we could meet with them pre show asking for advice, which they were more than happy to do. They gave us some helpful advice that we used within our journey of creating a successful theatre company and a successful show.
The performance of broke was such an incredibly stunning and extremely truthful for the harsh reality of life for some people on the bread line in this country. It had several elements that made the show a different experience for me like the use of live music, the simple bits of physical theatre and the use of sock puppets. The set was incredibly simple yet they use of it was clever and brilliant. The underlying story throughout it all was moving and it made me go away and think about the current state of the country and how some people are actually in this state. I would definitely see this again.
“The Paper Birds return with a new verbatim show that shares the real life stories from the front line of poverty and debt in the UK. ‘Broke’ is a heartfelt and urgent look at the debt of a Nation from displaced families and gambling addictions to beans on toast and blind leaps of faith onto the property ladder.”(Paperbirds, 2015)
Paperbirds (2015) Broke. [Performance] Jemma Mcdonnell (Dir.) Lincoln: Drill Hall, 12 February.
Paperbirds (2015)Productions page- Broke.[Online] Leeds: Paperbirds. Available From http://www.thepaperbirds.com/ [Accessed 20th February 2015]
Warm Up!
Let’s do a warm up!
Warm up was a consistent part the rehearsals, every single rehearsal would start by warming up. All the work we were going to be doing was physical so to not warm up could end up hurting the cast. I would tailor the warm to fit the rehearsal, if we were going to be doing a lot of fast paced movement then we would do cardio, followed by stretches that we would be getting our hearts pumping and raising the heart rate to allow for the physical work to happen. We gradually build upon this by following it with star jumps and running then once fully warmed up we would then go onto stretched the now warm muscles. I fully believed that with consistent upkeep of the warm has led to the more flexibility in some of the cast members.