Month: March 2015

Physicality In Theatre

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Physicality has been a part of theatre from the beginning of theatre however; the manner in which physicality presents itself differs. Scholars Simon Murray and John Keefe states “one can trace an insistence on practise of embodiment, physical expressiveness and corporeal fluency” (Keefe and Murray, 2007, 17). It is suggested that physicality has been and still is connected to theatre and the technique of physicality has been developed and implemented by many pioneering practitioners.
It could be suggested the term Physical Theatre has evolved its meaning in recent years, where it once represented a genre where theatre and dance meet to create visually beautiful performances, now is being used to describe performances to seem less dull. Keefe and Murray further explain this phenomenon, “today it is often to be found as a strap line to identify the direct and aspiration of many young companies determined to resist the embrace of mainstream realism and naturalism” (Keefe and Murray, 2007, 16). The term has morphed into a ‘buzz word’ for companies to suggest to potential audiences the performance is not traditional theatre, it is to remove themselves from the image of naturalistic theatre. The term is to suggest a performance will be “fresh, cutting edge and risky” (Keefe and Murray, 2007, 13).

 

The creators of the theatre company Goat Island had released a letter that is addressed to young and upcoming practitioners, it explained that bodies “are both art elements and tools that communicate intuitively” (Goat Island, 2007). The body is a tool and a tool that is able to assist the voice of an actor and ensemble in providing the audience with a true portrayal of a character and help the overall narrative of a performance. Keefe and Murray agree with having the verbal and the physical work hand in hand and suggest “the actor whose abilities are restricted to a glorious vocal range on an unimpressively lifeless body is easy” (Keefe and Murray, 2007, 14).

 

The vocalisation of a character’s emotion through the voice is capable by most actors, but to illustrate through the voice and body is demonstrating the actor’s capabilities as well as assist in the characterisation. The body is still able to present the emotions of character if the voice were to be taken. Physical Theatre is a complex genre and must understand the capabilities for a performance and this is what I as choreographer must understand.

Mia

 

Work cited:

Keefe, J and Murray, S (2007) Physical Theatres: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge. 

Goulash, M and Hixon, L. (2007)  http://www.goatislandperformance.org/writing_L2YP.htm

Blog limitation.

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Seeing all the capabilities for normal wordpress is frustrating.

 

I would like to add Meta codes in order to have a different header image on each base but, unfortunately, the universities WordPress software’s limitations has reared its ugly head.

 

Yet again, I would like to have added a widget in order to have all my rehearsal photo’s to be neatly sorted.

 

It appears I’m going to have to put in some extra work in order to make this blog look pretty.

 

Oliver.

Legal ages

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Update

This week I work shopped my idea of using the survey responses as stimuli, to develop the Boal exercise Rhythm with chairs ( as mentioned in my previous blog). Using the survey responses created some interesting images on what it constitutes to be an adult and what responsibilities adults have,in connection with a letter to a past self the writers created.This gave movement to the scene but currently a new way of transitioning needs to be researched to enable the actors to change more fluidly when going into the spoken role and between creating the images. I will research this to allow us to explore and experiment with movements in order to develop our pieces aesthetic,whilst ensuring the movements relate to Shoes to fill and adulthood so that the scene retains clarity for audience members.The Theatre of the Opresssed allows actors ‘to stretch the limits of their imaginations,[and] demechanize habitual behaviors’ (Anon.,2015) meaning adults and children would be depicted in non habitual ways and thought of more thoroughly.

An image of the the actors at work showing how their relationship with chairs - which will be a motif in our piece- is challenged and changed to reflect thoughts on adulthood.10403407_877722225583476_4836400386376306855_n
An image of the the actors at work showing how their relationship with chairs is challenged and changed to reflect thoughts on adulthood.

The writers are now working from some of the survey responses  to edit and develop the scene, using the perspectives gained from the survey.The letter talks of what shoes the future self thinks the past self should fill. To develop this further I shall suggest to the director the idea of having shoes placed by the chair for the actor reading the letter to wear, to symbolise that they are the same person. This shall be referenced multiple times in our piece as the idea for this has been brought up when related to other scenes by actors and the director.

Legal ages

Using the research I found on minimum legal ages a game show like scene has begun to be devised and research anomalies have been passed to writers to use for creating questions and answers for the game show. By incorporating the audience in this scene there is another sense of using Boal here to enable the audience to ‘better understand ourselves, our communities and our world’ (Anon,2015)as the audience will  share knowledge on minimum legal ages in multiple countries.This will show what these different countries constitute as adult or ages of responsibility thus giving them a greater understanding of the world if they participate in the performance, as the Theatre of the Oppressed aims to do. Our piece will not specifically be a Theatre of the Oppressed piece however – though there shall be other moments of audience participation- but will reflect and echo some of Boal’s techniques as suggested to enable imaginative thinking when devising scenes.

Rachael.

 

Works Cited

Anon. (2015) What is Theatre of the Oppressed? Theatre of the Oppressed: A rehearsal for revolution New York. Available from http://theforumproject.org/whatisto/ [Accessed 14 March 2015]

Marketing Stratagies.

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“More than any other person in the company, marketers must be environmental trend trackers and opportunity seekers. Although every manager in the organisation should watch the outside environment, marketers have two special aptitudes. They have disciplined methods, marketing research and marketing intelligence – for collecting information for the marketing environments. By carefully studying the environment, marketers can adapt their strategies to meet new marketplace challenges and opportunities” (Armstrong, 2015, 94)

Rather large quote, but in understanding what Armstrong is pointing to here, a hopeful marketer can adapt his/her playing field and target specific environments. In relating this back to Shoes to Fill, a marketer would have to understand what our audience demographic is, and cater to their wants and needs.

In this sense hitting the main marketing deployment will be necessary, posters, flyers, pictures, social networks, is a must. In completing these tasks, then comes the challenge of extending the reach of a marketer, making contacts and getting your name heard.

This will be interesting.

Oliver.

 

Works Cited:

Armstrong, Gary, Kotler, Phillip. (2015) Marketing: An Introduction Oxford: Harlow Pearson Education Limited.

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