1.) Throughout the ‘P’ stage of the devising of Porto it became apparent that certain themes had become to weave themselves through the fabric of the piece. These themes being loss, uncertainty, hope, fear and the main theme that stood out for me was obsession. Throughout the sub-groups many different themes were reflected through their work, but obsession for me stood out as a theme that run through almost all of them, for example; Jay’s obsession with Nicola or Sarah’s obsession with Gavin. The obsessive as theme translates many different emotions and themes within it and for my character her obsession with Edward could also have been translating a theme of love or need for Edward to the audience.
The ensemble pieces translated a theme of obsession in their repetitive movements. These movements showed how as a community they are obsessed with conforming to each other and not their own free will. This theme is then revisited in the ‘ensemble reprise’ Where the same movements are used but at a slower pace, showing that although everyone has experienced their own individual journeys they are still a community and still conform to one another.
2.) As the ensemble moved from the studio to the theatre it was apparent how difficult it was devising in such a small studio space. With the freedom of a larger theatre, as well as the extra wing space, the freedom to move around opened up the entire piece.
This helped with making a focus on the journeys going on centre stage because they had more room to move about and the ensemble didn’t seem so boxed in.
This helped with making a focus on the journeys going on centre stage because they had more room to move about and the ensemble didn’t seem so boxed in.
This strength of space however also caused a weakness because although we had all this new space to ‘play around with’ we had to loose half the space because any floor work done past a certain point would not be seen by the audience at the back. This meant we had to shift chairs and move our work much further back than we had originally intended. Another weakness of moving from the studio to the theatre was that in the theatre their were no hiding places. In the studio you could leave the room or go behind a curtain, but in the theatre everything was stripped back so the ensemble had nowhere to hide. “Everything and actor does is seen and interpreted. The actor informs through his physicality, In silence,” (The Articulate Body: The Physical Training Of The Actor. Pg 10) this awareness that they will be constantly on stage and constantly performing unnerved a few of the ensemble upon entering the space and dramatically changed their periphery work.
3.) When starting to run the three shows it became apparent that characters where still finding out new things about themselves and new connections with other members of the ensemble, and even throughout the final performances these new connections were being made. The main example for me was during the exits from ‘Porto’ during the first performance Waquar put his hand out to me, something which to my knowledge he had never done, or at least I had never notice him do before. It surprised me that even after six months of rehearsals and polishing the finishing product the ensemble was still driven by their impulses.
For me, I feel that my character didn’t really flourish until the dress rehearsal. Until that point I was just a lonely character, seeking acceptance by copying those around me, especially Edward and Roxanne. I would copy the way they stood and how they behaved to try and gain their acceptance. However, during the dress rehearsal Roxanne had left the ’podium’ leaving just Edward and I. I then received an impulse to calm Edward as he seemed upset that Roxanne had left him behind, but every time my character would go to touch him something would stop her, or her would turn away. This impulse touch Edward grew and grew until during the ‘ensemble reprise’ in the second dress rehearsal run through I touched Edward. The reaction from him was to shove my character away which ended up in my character falling to the floor in desperation. For me the RSVP model applied the whole way through the final stages of the piece as the day before the first show I was scoring and validating new material.
With this type of work I feel that it is hard to stick to a set string of movements or polished work because as I found, you are always developing new things and new movements and with no script to follow you are free to move with those impulses.
In my entrance I was really uncertain of what I wanted to do, this lead to many changes in how I approached my entrance. It wasn’t until before the first show when we got into character at our most extreme emotional point in the piece that my entrance became concrete. At my most emotional point my character Is upset and frustrated with trying to get Edward to notice her. Starting the show at this heightened emotional state for me meant that I had to keep that level of intensity and then really add some power behind it to make it even more intense for my character pivotal moment.
Bibliography.
Oddey, A Devising Theatre: A Practical And Theoretical Handbook London: Routledge 1996
Dennis, A The Articulate Body: The Physical
3.) When starting to run the three shows it became apparent that characters where still finding out new things about themselves and new connections with other members of the ensemble, and even throughout the final performances these new connections were being made. The main example for me was during the exits from ‘Porto’ during the first performance Waquar put his hand out to me, something which to my knowledge he had never done, or at least I had never notice him do before. It surprised me that even after six months of rehearsals and polishing the finishing product the ensemble was still driven by their impulses.
For me, I feel that my character didn’t really flourish until the dress rehearsal. Until that point I was just a lonely character, seeking acceptance by copying those around me, especially Edward and Roxanne. I would copy the way they stood and how they behaved to try and gain their acceptance. However, during the dress rehearsal Roxanne had left the ’podium’ leaving just Edward and I. I then received an impulse to calm Edward as he seemed upset that Roxanne had left him behind, but every time my character would go to touch him something would stop her, or her would turn away. This impulse touch Edward grew and grew until during the ‘ensemble reprise’ in the second dress rehearsal run through I touched Edward. The reaction from him was to shove my character away which ended up in my character falling to the floor in desperation. For me the RSVP model applied the whole way through the final stages of the piece as the day before the first show I was scoring and validating new material.
With this type of work I feel that it is hard to stick to a set string of movements or polished work because as I found, you are always developing new things and new movements and with no script to follow you are free to move with those impulses.
In my entrance I was really uncertain of what I wanted to do, this lead to many changes in how I approached my entrance. It wasn’t until before the first show when we got into character at our most extreme emotional point in the piece that my entrance became concrete. At my most emotional point my character Is upset and frustrated with trying to get Edward to notice her. Starting the show at this heightened emotional state for me meant that I had to keep that level of intensity and then really add some power behind it to make it even more intense for my character pivotal moment.
Bibliography.
Oddey, A Devising Theatre: A Practical And Theoretical Handbook London: Routledge 1996
Dennis, A The Articulate Body: The Physical
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