1. Turner explains that a group of liminal individuals can exist in a community where all are ‘equal’ and able to explore free from ‘law, custom, convention and ceremony’ in a realm that can only be described as that of ‘pure possibility and structural invisibility’. As an ensemble we became a group of liminal individuals and the space of Porto became our ‘realm of pure possibility’. [http://www.liminality.org.uk]
This realm was explored using Halprins RSVP model of devising in which the ‘V-validation’ stage of enables the cementing of liminal characters and the scenarios derived from their explorations within the ‘S-scoring’ stage. However, it is the ‘P’ stage of Halprin’s model, the actual performance of the piece that conveys the true content of the piece. [www.puppetcenter.org.uk]
As Porto became a cohesive performance we were able to further explore ourselves within our shared state of liminality. During this final stage of the devising process themes and issues began to emerge throughout the basic structure that altered the complicité between individual characters as well as the ensemble as a whole.
A common theme was our relationships with our bags that had initiated our personal journeys. As our journeys developed and coincided with other characters journeys a prominent common issue of belonging arose- either to an individual character, the ensemble or in the case of Nicola and Blake’s characters, simply belonging and being unable to escape from their own baggage.
Nicola and Blake’s characters had consistently been enigmatic and quite reclusive throughout the initial play sessions during the ‘R’ stage of the devising process. Their presence within Porto became a shared experience for the ensemble that allowed individuals to experience these characters from their own persepctive. Some characters wanted to help them and protect them, whereas other characters were over-whelmed with fear and wanted to hide in the periphery or with members of the ensemble they had developed a relationship with. The experience of these two characters tied the community together with their presence revealing aspects of our personalities that enabled us to develop further individually and as an ensemble as well as our shared curiosity, particularly in the ensemble section with Blake’s fight over his emotional baggage and attachment to his suitcase, embedding both themes of our relationships with our bags and belonging within Porto.
Throughout Porto we had developed and acknowledged that we all had emotional baggage and needed to belong. After witnessing Blake’s struggle with this task, we realised that Nicola’s character was vulnerable and this realisation culminated with the entire ensemble as a community fighting against an invasion of our personal journeys and defending the conclusion of Nicola’s personal journey as Leyna tried to photograph her relationship with Jay.
2. As Porto was given it’s own space within the theatre, several developments occurred. Initially there appeared to be a little resistance from the ensemble as a whole to remain focussed and committed to the work we had created. The theatre space was entirely new to all of us unlike the studio space we had previously been working in which could account for this. As the transition of Porto occurred this became a strength of the process.
Previously the work leading towards the Performance stage of the process had all occurred within a space that the group were familiar with as a teaching space. DV8 describe the devising process as an ‘exploration that continues even after the show is made’ with ‘intuition…and interplay of ideas and meaning between all the people involved, including the audience.’ [www.dv8.co.uk] As we moved into the theatre space the exploration between characters evolved with our exploration of the space that now belonged to Porto. The space actually was a transient space where we were able to completely remove our own characteristics and become our characters within Porto. To an extent this was a factor that had been hindered within the studio space as we were surrounded by reminders of our academic lives.
Within the theatre space interplay even on the periphery was strengthened with new relationships being formed and relationships that had emerged previously being developed. My character’s friendship with Ana’s character gained depth as we acknowledged that we both wanted to protect Nicola and we developed a mutual trust and understanding of one another. Ellen and Mikey’s relationship completely altered as it went from mutual affection to Ellen resenting Mikey and refusing to have further contact with him after their duet work. These developments only occurred within the theatre space, possibly due to the freedom that the space gave our characters to develop that we had previously unintentionally limited when working in the studio.
Oddey places great emphasis on the importance of play within the devising process. As an ensemble exploring our characters through play sessions in the studio had been a productive means of character development and the ensemble’s complicité. However when we had play sessions in the theatre, the extent of the developments were more sincere with the new relationships being explored as well as existing relationships continuing to develop even during the performances. Again the space could be accountable for this as it belonged entirely to the ensemble and Porto. Overall, the transition from the studio to the theatre space strengthened the ensemble of Porto but held the possibility to completely alter the piece we had previously created.
3. The RSVP model continued to apply at this stage as Haplrin explains that once the performance is reached, the cycle begins again with a new exploration of the Resource stage. [http://www.puppetcentre.org.uk]. This had begun as we had moved into the theatre space and at Porto’s first performance the group were unsure of their characters and the sense of ensemble was unsettled by the arrival of an audience. From this stage over the three shows the performance grew quite rapidly
During the first performance my character was not fully developed and I did not feel comfortable with the changes and new relationships that had occurred during the transition from the studio to the theatre space. It is acknowledged that an audience can affect actors by the ’quality of their attention’ (p 27 Brook 2008) and my initial apprehension of my character’s new connections made me more aware of the audience than my role in Porto. In this performance I believe my emotional involvement and place within the ensemble was hindered as my character had not fully adapted to the new environment and had not established the new relationships that had began to emerge. However, during the play session preceding our second performance I began to feel more settled as part of the ensemble and began to realise my place within the performance.
As my character was evolving within Porto I needed to make sense of the new surroundings, relationships and my own understanding within the piece of what my aim was and whom I had or wanted to make connections with and found myself relying on my initial Resource, my quest to find someone to love. This strengthened the opening ensemble section for the second performance. I felt as though we were more connected as an ensemble and more aware of our peripheral vision and the context of Porto throughout. It was during this performance that my relationship with Luke developed most.
I had always felt a strong emotional connection with Luke’s character from the initial Resource work at the beginning of the process. However up until this point I had never entirely felt as though our relationship was completely genuine. It was almost as if I was adopting characteristics I believed synonymous with love rather than simply relying on impulses my character felt and wanted to act upon. In the second performance I genuinely felt as though I had fallen in-love with Luke and each time he turned me away I felt genuine distress and a sense of betrayal. It affected me so much that I found myself entranced by the love triangle with Gavin, Sarah and Amy, as it appeared to mirror what was occurring in the periphery with Luke and myself. I felt a connection with Amy as Gavin spurned her in the same manner Luke was at that point- albeit on the periphery- rejecting me in favour of Emma. I watched Amy as she tried to gain Gavin’s affections and saw how she ended up alone and related that to Luke and my relationship. At that point I gained a determination my character had never had before. I was certain that by whatever means necessary I would not leave Porto alone. These experiences formed the backbone of my character for the final show in which the ensemble were cemented as a community, aware of their roles within the piece and during which I lived in Porto completely. The relationships I encountered and my place within the community were more than cemented- they were genuine.
Bibliography :
Oddey, A Devising Theatre: A Practical And Theoretical Handbook London: Routledge 1996
Brook, P The Empty Space Penguin Modern classics 2008
Halprin, L The RSVP Cycles G. Braziller 1970
http://www.dv8.co.uk/faqs/faqs.html#four (accessed 9th May 2009 18.30)
http://www.liminality.org/about/whatisliminality/ (accesed 9th May 2009 19.10)
http://www.puppetcentre.org.uk/animationsonline/aonineteen/playprocessproduct.html (accessed 9th May 2009 19.40)
Porto performances at the Arena Theatre, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, Thursday 7th May 2009, 1.oo p.m and 7.30 p.m, Friday 8th May 7.30pm
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