Rehearsal Session One

20/04/2016

This session was the first practical devising session we had in our performance space.

As a group the first stage was to sit down and begin thinking about what work and exercises had be done over the previous sessions that created interest this then began the process of working free instead of sitting down and working from a set text or stimuli.

DV8 (2007)

At the beginning of our process Joel lay on the floor in what seemed to be a praying position and then began to move his arms along the floor creating tapping sounds with his fingers with no particular rhythm which was in a similar style to dancer Akram Khan. This use of movement became a key working point for us as it lead to a less conventional way of working together.

The next step was to start looking at the work of Physical Theatre performance companies like DV8, we took influence from their performance to be straight with you directed by Lloyd Newson, after studying the art of Chair Duets weeks before. Noting the foot work being so in sync whilst they were sitting in chairs. Due to the lack of the chairs in the space we opted into using one of the benches which led to a revelation in our staging and audience.

Cruden, D (2015)

The process of experimenting with the idea of using traverse staging which included having the audience sitting either side of the stage but not at the ends, this technique has been used in the likes of Damien Cruden’s site-specific production of The Railway Children at King’s Cross. It was then thought it would give the audience the chance to see different things to one another and also we would be able to keep the movements very linear and mirrored to keep the effect of being ‘trapped’ in the stage.

Another aspect of our piece that

came into our piece is the contrast in gender in the company of three males and one female performer. This then enlightened us to the theme of equality and gender viewings, the initial way of representing this was having Louise Hadley work with the idea of how women are seen unfairly in drinking environments like bars and pubs, this was then contrasted with Louise moulding Joel, Sam and Will into a still image whilst talking about points that reflected the scenario. It then proceeded to the idea of the brutality of Policeman this idea will be further developed into the following rehearsal sessions.

The targets for next rehearsal session:

·         The use and meaning of gender reversal using costume and make-up.

·         The continuation of using the bench as a representative timeline.

·         The addition of using the Police and other forms of environments to represent the piece and its ever building narrative.

DV8 (2007) To be straight with you Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PvctLx8H8xs (Accessed 24/04/2016)

Damian Cruden (2015) The Railway Children Available at: http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2015/01/15/the-railway-children-at-kings-cross-theatre-review/ (Accessed 24/04/2016)