Page 92

Creating Movement From Stimuli

2012-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, Emma set us a task. We were asked to create a short movement piece inspired by our response to one of the following stimuli:

Forgotten

The devil in me

Growing

Here is what we came up with:

Díana

Rehearsal shots

2012-02-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Leaping

2012-02-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

Just read an interesting blog post from Digital Dirty Market asking,

"Can a director/observer analyse too much? When does an actor actively know when to stop, to stop questioning and to take a leap into the work?" (http://digitaldirtymarket.tumblr.com/)

This seems particularly relevant to Page 92's process at the moment - we are into our second week of a five week intensive devising and rehearsal process. We have spent the first week playing, exploring our bodies and drawing on source material. As we near the end of our second week it feels as though we are ready to start devising material with a particular eye on the end 'product'.

It is difficult to know at what point to stop searching and discovering more material and to stop asking questions which are taking the work into new directions. I am keen, as director, to maintain the sense of play and open exploration that we have developed as an ensemble during the past week - but to guide this in a way which reaches deeper into what the piece can and will be, rather than searching further afield.

Digital Dirty Market quote Bogart when they discuss,

"Knowing when it is right to ‘take the leap’ as Anne Bogart puts it into the work, and when to remain where you are, foraging deeper."

Reflecting on the way Page 92 have worked as a company thus far, it feels like we will be taking this leap fairly soon - and I feel confident that the leap will be a graceful, supported and yet far-reaching one.

Emma

Rehearsal Shots

2012-02-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here are a selection of photographs from our most recent rehearsals - we hope that they give you a flavour of what we've been up to!

More Than Just a Cake Sale!

2012-02-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

Raising funds is an important task for any theatre company, however we have the advantage of being able to use the resources and facilities at CSSD. Having said this, we did not want to be restrained by the lack of budget, as we felt having no funds could really limit our creative process. We thought it would be important to raise some sort of funds for ourselves, without having to rely solely on the provisions given by CSSD. In this way we would not feel as restricted about the choices we could make for our production. With all of this in mind and very little time we decided to set up a cake sale.

We realised that this could be an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about our project, engage our peers in our work, and generate more material for us to work with. The purpose of our cake sale became more than just to raise funds, but also to aid in our creative process. It became an interactive / participatory cake sale, where our customers were asked to participate in our project by sharing a childhood memory and having their picture taken. I think there was an interesting correlation between eating cake and sharing childhood memories, as we found that people felt comfortable to share their memories and really enjoyed the process of eating cake whilst remembering. Maybe because we were offering and sharing something with them, they felt more inclined to share with us. It was intriguing to see what people shared and to discover the commonalities between experiences from our childhoods. It was also interesting to note how excited people become at the possibility of sharing something from their childhood, and their eagerness to share more than just one memory.

This relates to a conversation we had previously about how we shape other people's perception of ourselves by the memories we choose to share. We consciously select the memories we want to re-tell and these memories become stories. We are not only selective in the memories we choose but who we tell it to, and how we tell it. This is an interesting concept to think about when discussing the topic of memory, remembering and identity.

Our cake sale has given us more than just a budget - it's given us a lot of material and a lot to think about!

Díana (Producer/Performer)

Some Thoughts on Design

2012-02-05T12:15:00.001-08:00

As a company we are inspired by the work of dance theatre pioneer Pina Bausch and the intelligent and poignant way in which she magnifies moments of everyday life through a choreography of repetition and transformation. She worked closely with her designers when working, so in search of inspiration I researched Rolf Borzik and Peter Pabst who both worked extensively with Bausch.

Bausch insisted that the set should be informed entirely by the content of the work which it framed. Rolf Borzik, her original designer and life partner, agreeing with this perspective worked to create physical spaces which responded to the choreography and gave the dancers and environment with which the could interact.

'He created sets which capture the chronology of the events on stage - countering their ephemerality and their transience. By the end of the performance the scene of events has been altered, just as, conversely, the dancers often carry traces of the sets' materials. The relationship between humans and objects becomes visible; it is possible to gain a sensual understanding and experience of humans in the concrete dimensions of time and space.' (www.pina-bausch.de)

In Bausch's work the set was as much a performer as the dancers themselves. The set was never simply a decoration - it had to be experienced by the dancers and influence their movements.

Peter Pabst, who replaced Borzik after his death, continued to work with the same sentiments. He recognised that in dance theatre, at the beginning of a process nothing is fixed - at most an idea. It would take time before the space required could be visualised.

'Patience and art are intrinsically linked for him; patience, in order to wait till the essential idea has been arrived at together, but also patience with himself, not to demand things which are not (yet) possible.' (www.pina-bausch.de)

Reading about the practice of Borzik and Pabst was both comforting and unsettling. On the one hand, as my own design is still in the early stages, I was reassured by their emphasis on the fact that the design concept should not precede the piece itself. On the other hand, I recognised that it will be a real challenge to delay decisions regarding design and also any construction which that may require (costume, set, props) in favour of ensuring that the concept develops organically alongside the piece. This will be particularly difficult considering the time constraints of this project.

However, the notion that the set should be encountered and experienced by the performers is something which I hope to take on in my own practice. Furthermore, although the design may take on a particular aesthetic it should not be without function.

Anna (Designer/Performer)

Physical Theatre Workshop at the Battersea Arts Centre

2012-02-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Neil Callaghan at the BAC. We explored spatial awareness, working as an ensemble and the use of imagery to tell a story. The workshop ended with a song which we sang together a cappella - what a lovely way to literally tune-in to one another as a new group of people.

However, although the workshop was very useful, most interesting was the conversation which we had with Neil afterwards. In response to our (very broad) question 'what advice would you give to a young physical theatre company at the beginning of their creative process?', he made some great suggestions:

- To 'zoom in and out of your practice', i.e. to really consider the detail of each moment created (zoom-in), but every so often 'zoom-out' and consider what each moment is saying in terms of the bigger picture.

-To experience other works of art together as a group. This will allow for moments in rehearsal when you can expand on and develop an image/thought/movement which the whole team have recognised to be significant or interesting in some way.

-To agree that any material offered by individuals of the group (i.e. photos, writing etc.) can be interpreted, adapted and developed to suit the work being created.

-To set some parameters to your work, e.g. play by the rule that only two performers can be on stage at once, or the playing space is only 2x2 meters wide...

This conversation really excited us as a company and broadened our perspective as to what is possible and how we might begin to shape our performance.

Anna (Designer/Performer)

Lovesong

2012-02-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

I can only agree with Michelle and thank Frantic Assembly and Abi Morgan for a brilliant theatre experience this past Tuesday. Lovesong was skillfully put together and through stunning movement told a beautifully intimate story.

Merle Hensel's design is simple, but creative. Standing on a bed of fallen leaves, a fridge, table with chairs, bed and wardrobe illustrate the home and garden in which the story plays out. On first glance the set appears naturalistic, but as the performance continues, one by on the furniture pieces become portals to the past. Margaret and William emerge from the furniture to haunt Maggie and Billie with memories of their past and remind them of their life together.

Creating opportunity for an imaginative use of the set is something which I hope to incorporate in my own design . I am also particularly interested in the idea of using a naturalistic set in a non-naturalistic way. This draws an interesting parallel to the notion of memory as a thought which dances on the line between the real and the imagined.

I also enjoyed the use of projection throughout the piece, particularly the moments when the characters interacted with the images projected. This was an interesting way of connecting the projection to the performance itself - something to consider if we choose to work with media in our performance.

Anna (Designer/Performer)

Lovesong by Frantic Assembly (and Abi Morgan)

2012-02-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

"Lovesong intertwines the lives of a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness.Lovesong intertwines the lives of a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness."

I can safely say we all left the theatre yesterday felling truly inspired and touched by this fantastic production. I found the use of physicality, movement and gesture particularly impressive but not overpowering. The biggest thing that stood out for me was the attention to detail in the piece. The younger 'Maggie' repeating gestures of the older 'Maggie and vice versa was a lovely use of repetition and represented the commonalities in the past and present self. The habits and everyday things we do (whether conscious or unconscious) are what makes us individuals so I really want to play with the idea of what it feels like to have someone else repeat or take on your unique gestures and movements.

Due to the piece we are creating being just 20 minutes long, as a company we feel that every second should count and therefore we want to pay particular attention to precision. The refining of the piece will come at a later date, I am enjoying the freedom of our initial devising process and really like Scott Graham's (Co-Founder of Frantic Assembly) idea of "throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick"......

Michelle

(Movement Director)

Changing Perspective

2012-02-01T04:08:00.000-08:00

As part of a physical warm-up in rehearsals we were using the wall to stretch and this led to some experiments with perspective.

It was strange when our eyes/minds gradually shifted the floor and the wall so that it looked that we were sat on the floor, which was actually the wall! We played about with how this might look on film and as a photo.

This reminded me of how memory can become distorted - we sometimes alter a memory, or remember something differently to make it fit with other things, for example other people's memories. I hope to explore more how this shifting in perspective can be expressed.

Emma

Ideas!

2012-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

On Thursday we had a company meeting to discuss our many ideas and thoughts about our upcoming show. We covered a wall in colourful post-its - at this stage we didn't want to filter anything: everybody voiced whatever they were thinking/had thought about the piece. It was fantastic to bounce ideas off each other - the way individual thought processes develop from our associations is fascinating (and helpful!)

We then moved on to trying to draw what we were thinking. I asked the company to do this following reading about Lepage's practise of asking his performers to draw at the beginning of rehearsals, he writes "drawing and using images is a good way of finding people's inner visions" (Irvin (ed.) 2003 Directing for the Stage, RotoVision: Switzerland).

We each used different materials to draw with (marker pens, pencil and rubber, coloured crayons and ball-pen) which, I think, led to different styles of responses. It was interesting to see the common elements - lots of faces, books, moving figures - and also see the use of space on the page. I found I had drawn many more things than I had spoken about when discussing ideas with words. I was especially interested in how I felt able to express some of my thoughts in terms of lines and shapes (wavy or dotted lines and circles) but would struggle to express this in language. I hope to continue to use various ways of thinking about and expressing our ideas and thoughts - including more drawing, physical movement, creating or choosing music and use of space.

Emma

A thought from Lepage

2012-01-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

Following an interesting session at CSSD about directing, I have begun some research into other theatre director's techniques and working practises. Today I have been reading some of Robert Lepage's thoughts and feel particularly inspired by this quote:

"You have to put yourself in an environment where you just kind of throw things, create chaos if you want some kind of order to find its way" (Irvin (ed.) 2003 Directing for the Stage, RotoVision: Switzerland).

This reflects how I have enjoyed working in the past - and has encouraged me to enjoy the chaos and the unknown because that is where creativity lies.

Emma (Director)

Frantic Assembly Workshop

2012-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

I realised just how hard Diana, Michelle and I worked on Saturday when I woke up this morning. Oh how my muscles ache!!!

What a brilliant and stimulating workshop, though! Frantic Assembly's Krista Vuori led us through an intense day of lifts, physical tasks and lots of press ups...We learnt how a series of neutral movements could be adapted and layered to create interesting characters and narratives. Playing with tempo, intention and eye contact stories evolved and we generated some really interesting raw material.

I can't wait to take what we have learnt into the rehearsal space and see how we can marry this with our existing ideas and kick start the creative process!

Frantic's motto is to always move forward and improve each time a task is repeated - something for us to keep in mind. We should probably keep the press ups in mind too...let's get physical Page92!

Anna (Designer/Performer)

A name!

2012-01-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

After much discussion, many cups of tea and lots of laughter we have decided on our company name - Page 92. It really feels like we are on our way now - timetabling our rehearsals, completing risk assessments and beginning many creative conversations. Looking forward to what the next eight weeks will bring!