Depicting real stories in an alternative light, refracting your view

Fragmentation – Finding a Through Line.

Stephanie Newell / March 31, 2015May 25, 2015 / Steph N

This piece of theatre is not a direct story, it tells many stories. We are not playing named characters and we have no personality specifics. We portray emotion, mood and dynamics. The ones we have witnessed in the images and questioned. We hope to convey an understanding of shared feelings that we believe these images display.

In order for this piece to work, there needs to be something that combines it all together, something that connects the whole performance so that the audience has a story to follow. We have created all these small sections of the performance but what is the through line? We came across these images of an elderly couple that took a photo outside of their home each year. It is these images that are inspiring a story.

We are using the two people to develop two characters, a relationship and a story that will hopefully take the audience on an emotional rollercoaster, whilst also gluing together all the other images we have used.

Whitfield. S. (2015)

Whitfield, S. (2015)

Work in Progress

Amy Houchin / March 25, 2015May 24, 2015 / Amy H

Refract Theatre Company was recently invited to compare its work with Forefront Theatre Company’s, a fellow fledgling company. Alison Oddey articulates how ‘a planned “work in progress” is often useful, in order to consolidate the work so far, as well as identifying specific problems with the product’ (1996, 198). Forefront and ourselves performed the works we have devised thus far to each other. We in Refract accepted how it is ‘not good trying to insist that the imagination [of our company] be always correct and proper. The second stage involves accepting the imaginations of others’ (Johnson, 2005, 128). Our aim to take globally recognised images and transcend them into stories on a more personal scale, requires our audience’s imagination to closely match our own so they can follow the scene and also recognise the image we’ve ‘refacted’ the story from. Being assured that the famous images we have reframed were clearly identifiable with no alternative ideas suggested, strengthened our resolve.

There were however some areas of our work which Forefront suggested we review. They felt our ‘Selfie song’ might not be as well understood by older audience members. We thus became determined to ensure this scene would be equally appreciated by both the older and younger members of our target audience. Delgade and Svich argue how the audience are as important as the actors in making the performance work: ‘The audience…contribute their imaginations and, in concert with the actors, create the performance event’ (2002, 96). To ensure When You See It is a success, the performers will take the ‘selfie’ photos mentioned in the song prior to the performance and project these on stage for the audience to match with the ‘selfie’ titles being sung. The work in progress convinced me how invaluable a ‘second pair of eyes’ can be. It has yielded new ideas and, through constructive discussion, has helped improve our current ones.

The 'where is your nose' selfie. Photo: S. Whitfield. — The ‘where is your nose’ selfie. Photo: S. Whitfield (2015)

The ‘taking a poo’ selfie. Photo: S. Whitfield (2015)

Works Cited:

Delgade, M. and Svich, C. (2002) Theatre in Crisis?: Performance Manifestos for a New Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Johnson, C. (2005) House of Games: Making Theatre from Everyday Life. London: Nick Hern Books.

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

Whitfield, S. (2015).

Greg Sand Photography

Samantha Milne / March 24, 2015May 25, 2015 / Sam M

Last week’s research into the representation of memory led to the discovery of Greg Sand and his photography; an artist and photographer who “explores issues of existence, time and death”. Most examples of Sand’s artwork remove facial identity in order to portray the “temporarily of life” (Sand, 2015).

This example of his work is presented as an epitaph. The identity of the person in the picture is removed and replaced with a piece of text which honours the deceased person. Sand speaks about how his work is about “memory, the passage of time, mortality and the photographs role of shaping our experience of loss” (Sand, 2015)

Refract aim to portray themes of hope and loss through the representation of a human relationship in When You See It, emotions which would be evident in a universal lifetime. The way in which Sand conveys identity and existence could be used within our creating process, using texts such as epitaphs to build upon narratives and characters.

Works Cited

Sand, G. Statement, Portfolio and Bio/Resume. [online] USA: Greg Sands. Available from: http://www.gregsand.net/ [Accessed 24 March 2015]

Work In Progress

Anthony Richard Lancashire / March 21, 2015May 25, 2015 / Anthony L

Refract TC Week 5 Rehearsals

This week we have been working towards a work in progress session with a fellow emerging theatre company, Forefront. We have been primarily working on developing and polishing three scenes all inspired by famous images but depicted “in and alternative light” (Refract, 2015). The inspirations for the more established two are found below:

The Falling Man

Since 11th September 2001, when the World Trade Centre was attacked by terrorist group al-Quaeda resulting in the death of around 3,000 people, ‘The Falling Man’ has been one of the world’s most iconic images. The image displays a man “hurtling through the air” (Junod, 2003). It could be said that “If he were not falling, he might very well be flying” (Junod, 2003). The image divides opinion with “Some people who look at the picture see[ing] stoicism, willpower, a portrait of resignation; others see something else – something discordant and therefore terrible: freedom.” (Junod, 2003). The cast of the company were presented with an enlarged picture of the man falling to devise work from. The work created has been very physical and focusing on the relationship between the two falling people, aiming to look at the image differently.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

Georges Seurat’s 1984 painting ‘A Sunday on La Grande Jatte’ depicts “people relaxing in a suburban park on an island in the Seine River called La Grande Jatte” (Artic, 2015). It uses the technique of pointillism in which a multitude of small dots “appear as solid and luminous … when seen from a distance” (Artic, 2015). In our interpretation we have attempted to recreate the image on a smaller scale with each actor picking a character. This is then scored by a track played on a ukulele with physical and prop based stylized choreography inspired by items in the paining. The scene plays with the potential relationships between the characters seen in the paining and could act as light relief after one of our more serious scenes.

Works Cited:

Artic. (2015) A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884. [online] Available at: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/27992 (accessed 21/03/15).

Junod, T. (2003) The Falling Man. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/sep/07/featuresreview.review1 (accessed 21/03/15).

Refract Theatre Company. (2015) Manifesto. [online] Available at: https://refracttheatrecompany.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/our-manifesto (accessed 21/03/15).

Work-In-Progress

Thomas Hitchen / March 20, 2015May 25, 2015 / Tom H

Your power as a theater will reside with people – not just those within your organization but also those in your community (Nelson, 2010, 109)

The past two weeks have seen Refract Theatre Company perform to an audience; firstly, to our tutor and secondly to our peers. The work-in-progress’ have been invaluable to our company in terms of furthering ideas, understanding where to develop and learning to operate with the critical feedback. All of these are important for our progress and the continued exploration of both topic and stimuli.

On the other hand, giving feedback is also a very good way to comment on and reflect with another group who are sharing the same journey. In my opinion, constructive discussion and criticism encourages work to move beyond your own insights of what it should be and look like and allow you to craft and engage with the potential of the piece thus far.

These sessions prove vital to me as Marketing Manager in terms of reflecting the shows content within any externally facing materials and show/ brochure copy. The aim being to translate the dynamic performance and style of When You See It into print, and with the support of audience members reflection, hopefully this will be achieved.

Works Cited

Nelson, R. (2010) How to Start Your Own Theater Company. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated.