Month: April 2017

Developing the actors body

Holly Margaret Lomas Choreographer , ,

In order to prepare our actors for extensive physical theatre, I have planned a series of exercises, many of which are influenced by Jerzy Grotowski, to train the body to develop and embrace intricate movements. Grotowski created the notion of ‘poor theatre’, and was “grounded in the belief that the personal and scenic technique of the actor is the core of theatre art” (Slowiak and Cuesta, 2007, 44), meaning  practising exercises and techniques is of primary importance to performers.  I have particularly focused on exercises which loosen the body, build balance and help the actors to find and use their ‘centre’ – the point where the actor’s physicality should emanate from; Grotowski believes that one must “eliminate the body’s resistances” (ibid, 93), and so the result of these exercises will particularly help Sam, the main actor for the ‘space scene’, with the difficult task of representing weightlessness and anti-gravity. Below are videos which show me being taught specific exercises fashioned to benefit the body in physical teatre, which I will then further prepare to target my specific aims. I am going to be continuing to lead these exercises throughout the rehearsal process, as consistency when practising these warm up exercises mean that over time the body will be trained to allow for more technicality in physicality, as aspects such as balance, flexibility and strength will be further developed.

The slowness of the spaceman’s choreography puts pressure on Sam’s balance, and so building this ability allows for more stable and fluid movements. Also, by finding and using his ‘centre’, Sam will develop a stronger core and hence gain more control on each movement; this will correspondingly help him give the appearance of weightlessness. In the video below, we can see the type of choreography that the spaceman does that will be developed from these exercises.

 

Slowiak, J. and Cuesta, J. (2007) Jerzy Grotowski. London, Routledge.

Making the Moon Man Fly

Dwain Brown Director

The third delusion, is of ‘Thomas Clark’ a humble Handyman who has big dreams, he has goals of been an engineer. He is quite sweet and innocent, often taken advantage of by others in the office, especially the character Simon who’s cruel and unkind and pushes him down for been ‘just’ a handyman. Sam is full of self-doubt and hopes that he can eventually be an engineer, though it’s a difficult task for him and he sees it as though he is reaching for the stars, which constantly are out of his grasp.

We began to look at Frantic Assembly Learning to Fly techniques and how to make him Tom Fly in space.

These lifts became a main part of the delusion, they were all very pretty but ultimately lead to nothing. We just kept putting them in so they looked nice. We looked at pieces of contemporary dance such as Christopher Bruce’s ‘Swansong’ We soon realised even though there was movement there was a narrative been told. That was something we were missing. We focused on building a narrative within the scene and made sure that each section told a story.  This brought more substance to the delusion.

 

We also stopped focusing on lifts and started working on ground work, where we created the delusion of anti-gravity techniques, by having him held down or in place allowing him to shift his weight more easily and fall through the air with people to catch him.

 

We never intended on truly hiding those who were lifting, we’d have them in plain sight but in black attire. It never really seemed necessary and we’d simply allow the audience to use their imaginations and focus purely on Tom.

 

However we began to look at Black Light Theatre and their work with UV lights, which allows them to totally hide everyone moving the set and the actors around. The UV lights added yet another layer to an already beautiful scene. It became an integral part of the design of the scene, we then added UV paint to our hands to create stars that Tom would search for and they would come together to create a beautiful galaxy that Tom would dance with, but never be able to touch.

 

National Theatre Discover (2015) Frantic Assembly Masterclass: Learning to Fly. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4mXhW7TXQ8 [accessed 29 April 2017].

Philip Chambon (2011) Swansong Choregraphed by Christopher Bruce. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038BdfaaVVs [accessed 29 April 2017].

BlackLightTheatre (2009) The Best of Black Light Theatre. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L7-cLP9AOc [accessed 29 April 2017].

Lighting Design

Video Danielle Louise Galley Stage Manager

In terms of my lighting design the delusion sequences open doors for me to use lots of different interesting lighting techniques. The director wants there to be a stark contrast between the ‘real life’ office scenes, which I will light in a naturalistic manner using spots to merely highlight areas of the stage that we want the audience to pay attention to, and the ‘delusion’ sequences which will involve coloured washes as well as use of special lights such as; strobes, movers, floor level lights, and UV bars. So far the two delusions we have worked on are the aforementioned “silent movie” opening sequence and the “space man” sequence. The “Spaceman” sequence involves handyman Tom building a rocket and flying to the moon. We are currently devising a physical sequence that explores the effects of zero gravity when he is in “space”. Although the “silent movie” sequence is going to be mostly varying washes I plan on experimenting with creating an oncoming train using lights. On the tech rehearsal, I plan to experiment with both a boom stand from the wings and par cans on the stage pointing out to the audience. We are hoping to use UV lighting in the “space man” sequence to pick out Tom’s white space suit and also plan on using UV paint to create a galaxy effect on the costumes. I also plan on using a glitter ball in this section to create a starry sky effect.  We have already incorporated a few lifts into this section and although our choreographer has done physical theatre before, along with other members of our company, to ensure the safety of all members of the company I have arranged for a physical theatre tutor to come in on a rehearsal next week and advise the group on how to keep each other safe.

Individual Set Pieces

Sam Coggin Set Designer

Particular parts of the set came across as quite individual and necessary for particular characters. This was evident in the character of Zoe and her strategies within the office to keep the workplace motivated. These came across in the ladder of success, and the board of banned words; both of which I wanted to stand out as separate from the dreary feel of the office, but also have a homemade feel to the projects, reflected in Zoe’s character. Therefore the choice to colour code the board but have the letters and words cut out seemed a successful way to approach this, as where the cheap battery powered fairy lights to ‘attempt’ to give a game show feel to the ladder of success. The ladder was greatly influenced from a scene I saw in Little Bulb’s performance Wail, in which the performers’ brought a board of facts and figures and dressed as game show hosts went onto explain the information through comic means, the host continually asking Tony to “flip that chart” (Little Bulb, 2017).

Little Bulb Theatre. (2017) Wail. [performance] Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 16 March.

First Design for the Board of Banned Words
First Design for the Board of Banned Words

Theatre Company Funding- Arts Council England

Emma Jane Haigh Costume Designer ,

The Pin Hinge Collective are a small scale theatre company and a not for profit organisation. Arts Council England provide funding opportunities for up and coming companies in the UK. They look to support artists, organisations, artists and events which help them to achieve their mission to provide ‘great art and culture for everyone.’ (Arts Council England, 2017)

If The Pin Hinge Collective were going to apply for government funding, we would apply through the Grants for the Arts scheme. This is a programme aimed at individuals, arts organisations and people who use the arts in their job, it is Arts Council England’s open access funding programme. Through this programme they offer grants ranging from £1,000 to £100,000. On the Arts Council England website, it states that they will only fund up to 90% of the project. We would have to fundraise some of the money ourselves. We have been raising funds over the last few months for our upcoming show, Kalopsia. We held a themed quiz in a local pub where we charged for entry. We have also been selling raffle tickets for the opportunity to win a luxury stay from which we managed to raise £250.

Arts Council England (2017) Grants for the Arts. London: Arts Council England. [online] Available from http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/grants-arts [Accessed 28 April 2017].