Depicting real stories in an alternative light, refracting your view

The Formation

Anthony Richard Lancashire / February 28, 2015May 25, 2015 / Anthony L

It has been a busy first few weeks since Refract Theatre Company formed. After initial meetings to decide on what we would like to do and what roles we would like to take on within the company we began the rehearsal process. I have taken on the roles of Stage Manager and Assistant Director, with the latter in a more advisory capacity in addition to deputising for Laura in any rehearsals she is unable to make. The expected jobs of the stage manager include “provid[ing] and furnish[ing] rehearsal space … oversee[ing] the rehearsal process … [and] run[ning] the technical rehearsal in liaison with the director” (Pallin, 2010, 16). I will also be compiling blocking, lighting, sound and props notes as well as “cue[ing the] show during the technical rehearsal, dresses and the run” (Pallin, 2010, 16), jobs which would usually be carried out by the Deputy Stage Manager (DSM). I will also be forming a weekly rehearsal video to give you an insight into our devising process (see week 1 below).

Having chosen to devise our own work, as opposed to putting on an existing play, the rehearsals so far have included a lot of experimentation with style, genre and structure. We are looking to explore the story behind both famous and personal images and present them in an alternative light. There has been a lot of good material generated in rehearsals, the challenge now is to find a through-line to fit the fragments of work into a story that is both representative of the company ethos and entertaining and engaging for its audience.

Works Cited:

Pallin, G. (2010) Stage Management: The Essential Handbook. London: Nick Hern Books.

Refract TC Week 1 Rehearsals

You’re the director, so direct!

Laura Spaven / February 26, 2015May 25, 2015 / Uncategorized

In all truthfulness, I’m not a director. I’m a fraud.

I am a student, working within a group of people who are all round about the same age as myself and have the same, sometimes more, theatrical experience.

Simon McBurney, co-founder and Artistic Director of company Complicite, sums up his views perfectly when he explains that “I still think of myself principally as a player, a performer, and an actor; an actor who also directs” (Irvin, 2003, 75), and I think that is something that is particularly resonant with my view on the role. Thinking of the piece from the perspective of an actor isn’t particularly a bad trait to have, especially considering that “many directors have surprisingly little knowledge of the various way actors work and of the most constructive way to communicate with them” (Bloom, 2001, 119).

As Peter Brook, English theatre and film director states in a video interview regarding his rehearsal process, (see video 1) “I believe in throwing all the junk possible into the pot, and then filtering it” (The Guardian, 2013). I recently researched into all of the separate skills obtained by the company in the hope that, in true Peter Brook fashion, rehearsals can then consist of an amalgamation of different techniques and approaches.

Video 1 – Interview with Peter Brook. (The Guardian, 2013)

I am excited to be working with such a diverse and talented group of performers. For now, we are concentrating on gathering as many primary resources, mainly photographs and paintings, as possible in order to influence and kick start the creative process properly.

I may have the title of ‘Director’, but really that just means I shift and shape the work that everyone in the company creates together!

Works Cited

Bloom, M. (2001) Thinking Like a Director. New York: Faber and Faber Inc.

Irvin, P. (2000) Directing for the Stage. Switzerland: Rotovision.

The Guardian (2013) An Interview with theatre director Peter Brook [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2qHHFS5Yk [Accessed 18 February 2015].

You’re the director, so direct!

Laura Spaven / February 26, 2015May 25, 2015 / Laura S

In all truthfulness, I’m not a director. I’m a fraud.

I am a student, working within a group of people who are all round about the same age as myself and have the same, sometimes more, theatrical experience.

Video 1 – Interview with Peter Brook. (The Guardian, 2013)

I may have the title of ‘Director’, but really that just means I shift and shape the work that everyone in the company creates together!

Works Cited

Bloom, M. (2001) Thinking Like a Director. New York: Faber and Faber Inc.

Irvin, P. (2000) Directing for the Stage. Switzerland: Rotovision.

The Guardian (2013) An Interview with theatre director Peter Brook [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2qHHFS5Yk [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Depicting the emotions through movement

Morgan Wills / February 25, 2015May 25, 2015 / Morgan W

Photograph taken by Phillip Crowe — Crowe, P (2015)

The 9/11 image of the falling man, is so iconic and is such a famous image in the 21^st century. Tom choreographed a movement piece to the soundtrack of the film Gravity. Mark and I have a duet where we represent that actual falling of those 2 people, we anticipated conveying the strength and power of those two humans who are holding hands and falling out of the building together. We can not confirm their relationship, but Mark and I wanted to do depict the emotion and energy that radiated off those two bodies as they fell hundreds of metres to the ground.

I wanted to convey the emotions that go through ones head as they are plummeting in those last few moments. The dance is so energetic and we use every single fibre in our body to try reliving this moment.

An element that we found hard to achieve initially was using each others weight to hold ourselves up. Annie Loui conveys precisely the skill involved in partner work: ‘your ‘share in the endeavour will exchange roles with you as ‘base’ and ‘flier’ providing a secure foundation and alternatively and elegant manoeuvrable body’ (Loui, 2009, 92). Tom had advised that although the dance was choreographed it needed to look so natural and we needed to throw each other and trust each other to support one another.

Loui, A. (2009 The Physical Actor, Exercise for action and awareness. Oxon: Routledge.

Finding new stories behind old pictures

Morgan Wills / February 15, 2015May 22, 2015 / Morgan W

In an initial workshop led by Laura and Anthony, we explored different interpretations of existing iconic photographs and pieces of artwork. This workshop was a significant moment for me and I think the entire group as it was a where everything clicked and we understood what we wanted to create.

In the workshop we were split into 2 groups and each given a photograph and had to create a new story. I was given the haunting photo of the two people falling out of the twin towers. Once we had created and developed these new characters we then created a performance that incorporated the new character and used the picture as a stimulus.

This workshop was a crucial point in the process so far as it conveyed how a photo has a pre-conceived story but new meanings can be created that are just as powerful than the original. ‘Devised theatre is concerned with collective creation of art’ (Oddey, 1996, 4). This left us wondering if the original interpretation is necessarily the truth, this is what we anticipate to explore further.

Oddey, A. 1996 Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. Routledge: London.