From the Beginning of creating Porto we were never made aware of a particular theme or issue that we had to address in the piece, unlike in what is seen as traditional theatre were often the theme is what starts the development.
However since moving from the V stage of devising Porto to the P stage we have seen 3 dominant themes developing; love, jealousy and friendship. Although at times these themes may not have always been apparent, it always seemed to be these 3 issues that were being covered in each sub group.
When firmly in the V stage, it seemed that somehow on a sub-conscious level we had created issues that pushed our characters, without realising it, we had created a purpose for ourselves within Porto and themes that could now be shared within the entire group.
As a ensemble these issues become more and more prominent when we reached the P stage, from an audiences point of view the first theme would of been desperation, in the opening you see us a group becoming restless with this limbo we have found ourselves in, although at times our reactions to things seemed un- naturalistic, it was these scenes that the audience could relate to for example, the scene were Blake's character tries to keep himself away from his constant need to be in contact with his suitcase, you see us as an ensemble repeating his movements, this although exaggerated is the way people react when they don't know what to do. It was moments like this were the themes were most noticeable. Another clear ensemble moment was during what is known to us as the reprise, here you see the group at a point where we don't know what else to do but follow each other, our characters were now at a point were we had tackled our personal issues and needed to escape.
[2]
After successfully completing the R and S stages of Halprin's devising model, the group were gradually becoming confident with the piece, although at times becoming irritable with the process we could now see a strong piece with a clear structure. Throughout all of the in class rehearsals you could see the development of both individual work and ensemble work, everything had gradually become stronger; the timings, the movements,and the energy would increase immensely with every rehearsal. However it was not until we moved into the theatre were you could see the real raw emotion of each character, once in the theatre you really did feel that you were now in Porto this place where you knew not how you got there or why, or how you could escape, this sense of panic and frustration helped to build such intense feelings that grew and grew with every run through.
Although saying this at first it did seem that because we had made this transition into the theatre we were now thinking of it more as a piece of theatre instead of state of being which was our first approach. We gradually become more aware of the lighting and the sound and everything outside of the world we had taken so long to create, which at times disturbed our concentration which of course affected the overall affect.
After this however the group again regained its perspective over the piece and decided to carry on with the same level of compassion towards each other and the end result.
Even though we encountered this problem it did became yet another thing to focus our energy on, towards the end of rehearsing in the studio, the groups energy was beginning to become too relaxed, this change of scenery was the perfect thing to regenerate all of the feelings we had already discovered about the piece and now we could build on it.
With this transition the groups ensemble work was now showing a intensity that had not yet been seen in the studio, emotions had become clearer, even in the last performance you could feel different responses to what was happening It became the strangest feeling to know exactly what was happening yet not know anything.
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To all involved in Porto the growth between each performance became increasingly apparent with every show the intensity and desperation of the characters multiplied.
To begin each character was given the chance to bring their baggage into the performance area while the audience were entering. So whilst it wasn't exactly vital for them to see your initial entrance, it helped to round off the character.
On a personal level character development was always going to be the biggest struggle, the connection between myself and my character seemed un- reachable at first but then throughout the devising period I began to create this 'alter ego' a dark menacing character which I had never yet played.
To begin with my character was closely related to Edwards, creating a comfort zone for both me and my character, it was when i began to move away from him that i felt the development.
While at times there was focus on certain people we were able to develop our characters throughout the whole piece.
Our characters became the the only ones that actually came out of the action completely to develop our characters. Everyone froze during our section whereas every other section things were still going on around the action. Therefore it could be thought that our two characters were therefore the only two that the audience openly got to see the thoughts of.
I have always found it hard to relate to a character,I feel that because this particular character was the furthest away from naturally I became so intrigued by her that I had to constantly develop her mainly so that i could understand her thinking.
``I loved to dance because I was scared to speak. When I was moving, I could feel.''
(Pina Bausch, Lawson (2002)
This quote to me is the exact way i felt throughout the entire RSVP model, through the use of movement and expression I found a way to expose my journey in a way I could have never done through words.
Bibliography
Lawson, V
2002
Pina, Queen of the Deep
In : http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazin
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