Blog

Setting The Stage

Yasmin Chamberlain / / Yasmin C

“The scenery does not have to, and even should not, function only as the location…it has much more important and alluring functions to perform, such as the function of locating emotions, conflicts and the dynamics of the action.” (Kantor, 2010, p.212)

The stage set for When You See It reflects one word and that is: simple. Taking the role of set design was definitely a bit daunting for me, I have never really involved myself in anything that happens back stage or on the technical side. As I am also performing in the show I decided to put the idea of set design to the back of my mind until I had some scenes to work with as an idea.

In some ways, I believe that the design of the set makes an impact on the overall performance, by having something spectacular it instantly grabs the audience’s attention. On the other hand, it draws the attention away to what is happening on stage. The idea I had was “not to make a set the actors can play on, but one they can create with” (Keiley, 2012, p.54) allowing the actors movements and actions to be the priority of the performance. The idea is to keep it minimal with two rosta that create levels on stage, a tv and a screen to project anything visual that would aid the performance and a couple of chairs that were to be added to needed scenes. Adding props to the set will dress it and will be visible to the audience throughout the whole performance which also means that the performers will constantly remain on stage as they have no need to go off stage to collect their props.

Keiley mentions that “we theatre practitioners excel at igniting imagination” (2012, p.54), the aim is not to create and represent something with the set, our set doesn’t represent anything until the performers add their actions or narrations to them, it simply just outlines the space in which the performance is going to happen.

Kantor, T. (2010). My Idea of the Theatre. In: J. Collins and A. Nisbet, ed., Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge

Keiley, J (2012). ‘Igniting Imaginations with Actor-manipulated Design’, Canadian Theatre Review, 150, pp. 53-55

Introducing Billy and Dolly

Laura Spaven / / Laura S

Whilst struggling to finalise an idea for a through-line to run throughout the full production, it was a cast member that suggested taking another look at the previously researched images of a couple, who, in the midst of every change in season, photographed themselves poised  in the same positions for several consecutive years (see image 1). As you scroll down the pages of the slowly aging couple, the viewer can’t help but begin to wonder about everything the couple has experienced together. Hints of story, character and mood are all suggested through the still images, sometimes purely by the couple’s surroundings, with weather and distance being of particular importance when considering these factors. As a company this opened our eyes to the power of still image, none more so than the shock of the final image; the man, standing all alone. The uniformity and consistency of the images made the loss of the man’s wife even more poignant, simply because we had grown comfortable with seeing her and were therefore expecting her.

 

The inspiration behind Billy and Dolly (Thedmo, 2014)

The inspiration behind Billy and Dolly (Thedmo, 2014)

It was decided that the concept of a constant symmetrical image was what our currently promising, but widely fragmented show needed, and thus, Billy and Dolly were born.

In keeping with the regularity of the recurring image within Billy and Dolly’s unfurling relationship, I took the directorial judgement of deciding that Billy and Dolly should also be consistent between ensemble segments in the way that they move together. Working together with the actors, we devised three set movements that would be reoccurring through; an extended leg elevation, a slight skip when travelling greater distances across stage and a spine roll upwards to pre-empt new movement.

When thinking about the specific movement of Billy and Dolly, much of it was inspired by the theatre company Theatre Ad Infinitum, a company that claim to “create performances that harness the universal language of the body” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015), often using physical theatre in order to present their story. Translunar Paradise is a production that works with mask and movement and tells the story of an elderly couple (see video 1), as the recently deceased “Rose revisits her widowed companion to perform one last act love: to help him let go” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015). With no speech at all throughout the show, and the only sound being the live accompaniment of an accordion, the show effectively portrays and tackles complex areas around “life, death and enduring love” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015).

 Video 1, Translunar Paradise.

When viewing the production at Hull Truck Theatre back in 2011, it was a show that moved me in a way that theatre never had before. It was simple. It was quiet. And it was real.

This is exactly what Billy and Dolly need to become. Near participants, constant observers, of the events unfolding around them.

 

 

Works Cited

Thedmo (2014) An Elderly Couple Took the Same Photo Every Season. [blog entry] Available from http://imgur.com/gallery/XyA2s [Accessed 25th February 2015].

Theatre Ad Infinitum, (2015) Theatre Ad Infinitum. [online] Available from http://www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk/ [Accessed 1 March 2015].

Work in progress

Morgan Wills / / Morgan W

For the past 5 weeks, Refract had been making great progress, it came to the day where we had to show Forefront Theatre Company and Diane and the fear suddenly overtook. We were going to show something that the 10 of us had cared over and put so much time and effort in, this was a huge moment for us. As much as we were all excited to show off something we were proud of, it was incredibly nerve racking; what if Forefront and Diane sat there with blank looks spread cross their faces?

Fortunately our work in progress was incredibly useful; although we had stood out and watched rehearsals; we had  a complete understanding of what we wanted to achieve. Allowing Forefront and Diane to watch without explaining what we were trying achieve, they could tell us exactly what they understood from our performance.

In our feedback, Forefront and Diane stated they understood and recognised the famous images that each scene was re-telling. However, what was unclear was the story that linked all of these images together. We were so happy that the images were coming across clearly to the audience without us showing the image directly or telling the audience outright what image each scene was trying to convey. The images we were presenting are ‘transcending from a global to a personal scale’ (Refract, 2015).

Then we started creating the story that ran though these images and a story that the audience could believe in. This was the beginning of Billy and Dolly.

Refract Theatre Company. (2015) Manifesto. [online] Available at: https://refracttheatrecompany.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/our-manifesto [Accessed 18 March  2015].

Being an Actor

Stephanie Newell / / Steph N

Although we are relatively early on in our process, our progress has been substantial. Everything has been running smoothly and we have been working together to get this piece of theatre on its feet. In each rehearsal we have been presented with an image that has been chosen by our director Laura, we have then been given the time to create fiction using these images. It has caused us as a group to examine photographs in a new light, looking at them from all different angles and not always viewing them literally. We have begun to notice the emotions, the message, the lies, the small things that go unnoticed at first glance. We have been drawing out short stories from within the images that Laura then watches and adapts. She’s been finding ways to change our intention, changing our angle of approach or the emotion behind it. Our way of working has been playful, experimental and an exploration, we are slowly discovering ways in which we can build up small fragments of a performance.

In our latest rehearsal we used images by graffiti artist Banksy. This rehearsal was led slightly differently to our previous rehearsals, because we were not aware of the image Laura was basing the rehearsal on. She experimented with an idea of control, she took charge and we followed each rule she put in place. During this rehearsal Laura placed an imaginary balloon into an actors’ hand and as expected we all chose to believe this balloon was there, we were told to follow the balloon, wanting it, wishing we had it. “The imagination takes the initiative in the creative process, drawing the actor along behind it” (Stanislavsky and Benedetti, 2008, 63.) Actors are constantly expected to use techniques as such as ‘the magic if’. Laura was testing our ability to believe, she gave us the ‘balloon’, allowed us enough time to attach ourselves to it, so that when she pulled it away she saw a truthful reaction. One of loss. We were working strongly with our imagination, it is important that we attempt to believe the situations we’re put in so that audiences can visualise and believe it too.

 

Crow, P. (2015)
Crow, P. (2015)
Crow, P. (2015)
Crow, P. (2015)

 

 

 

The image was revealed later in the rehearsal. (See Below) We were working with hope, loss, power and the balloon was the symbol.

 

Girl With a Balloon by Banksy (2015)
Girl With a Balloon by Banksy (2015)

Works Cited.

Stanislavsky, K. and Benedetti, J. (2008). An actor’s work. London: Routledge

 

‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see’ – Henry David Thoreau

Amy Houchin / / Amy H

We have now gathered and started to ‘refract’ several renowned images into scenes in keeping with our company’s ambition to show loss, relationships and new beginnings. Each workshop is now themed on reshaping one particular image per session. This system appeals to me as it has started to sculpt the content of our performance. What’s more, we now have the name of our show. When You See It, ‘It’ being the refracted image, will be performed at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre on the 17th May.

George Seurat’s pointillist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte has provoked much interest since I brought it into rehearsals. We studied the different interpretations that could be contrived from the uncomfortably still, eerily atmospheric narrative of the image, practicing our ethos of ‘not seeing things in black and white’ (Refract, 2015). We decided the man in the foreground of the painting looks incompatible with the other figures. His attire suggests a different class and time period. We developed this proposition by devising an intimate story exploring the disparity between the bourgeois figures and the seemingly modernistic, proletariat man.

The devising period being a time for ‘growth, experimentation, creativity’ (Berger and Luere, 1998, 32), we resisted making a snap decision on the staging of the images narrative. Through improvisation, we decided to illustrate the contrast through dissimilar timed movements. The performers playing the upper class figures executed separate, slow, elongated movements which complimented their character’s persona and prop. I played the bourgeois man standing with a cane and focused my movement around the cane, slowly lowering it to the ground, marking my territory. After these movements were completed we froze and Morgan, playing the proletariat, walked brusquely through the space. These contrasting movements emphasised Morgan’s character’s detached relationship with the other figures. The scene concludes with everyone except Morgan regaining their positions in the painting, allowing an audience to determine the image we have ‘refracted’, but encouraging them to form a revised opinion of it.

The globally recognised image. A Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (2015)
The globally recognised image. A Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (2015)
The image’s ‘refracted’ story. Photo: A. Lancashire
The image’s ‘refracted’ story. Photo: A. Lancashire (2015)

 

Works Cited:

A Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (2015) [photograph] Available from: http://www.artble.com/artists/georges_seurat/paintings/a_sunday_afternoon_on_the_island_of_la_grande_jatte [Accessed 18 March].

Berger, S. and Luere, J. (1998) The Theatre Team: Playwright, Producer, Director, Designers, and Actors. London: Greenwood Press.

Lancashire, A. (2015).

Refract Theatre Company (2015) Manifesto. [online] Available from https://refracttheatrecompany.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/our-manifesto [Accessed 18 March 2015].