Since our performance has developed from focusing on moments of love to moments of life, we have found that the daily delusions of everyday people provides a fascinating representation of individuality and great opportunities for moments of artistic creativity. We have hence integrated another full scene of physical theatre, this time with dance incorporated movement.
The main scene that I am now choreographing is the Handyman’s delusion, also known as the ‘space scene’; this involves the character building a rocket and flying into space. It holds elements of escapism, as well as him chasing his dreams – all executed through the means of physical theatre. When thinking of movement, I began by researching ways to represent anti-gravity. I considered that the best way to represent anti-gravity was through the use of lifts, leans and balancing methods. For these to be implemented, ensemble work is necessary and therefore teamwork is crucial.
To prepare for choreography, I watched many spacewalk videos to analyse the speed, pace, and the physicality of astronauts.
After watching videos such as these, I noted the height, bounciness and floating elements of the movement and started to use the ensemble to practice ways to represent space walking. Our experiments can be seen from the video below.
After experimenting with base movements, I had to find a story within the choreography. Through discussion and character analysis, I worked with the director to develop the scenes narrative to hold representations of the Handyman chasing his dreams, but unable to reach or touch them. To portray this in a visually stimulating way, I incorporated a female dancer into the piece to represent a personified embodiment of the galaxy. The act of chasing his dreams can then be more clearly portrayed through a series of chasing sequences, as well as creating a magnetic draw between the Handyman and the Galaxy, yet having no contact between the dancers. Below are some video examples of this: here you can see the ensemble experimenting with leans and lifts, whilst incorporating the chase and non-contact elements.
We also often film in slow motion to analyse our intricate movements in more detail. This helps each actor clearly see where they need to improve, and how every part of their body works throughout each movement.
Graham and Hoggett talk of the importance of filming rehearsals when creating physical theatre. For their rehearsals with Frantic Assembly, the choreographers explain how “the video camera became a necessity in the rehearsal studio” (Graham and Hoggett, 2009, 33). The media provides actors to reflect of how their movement looks to an outside party; “[i]t is there to show you what you don’t yet know” (ibid, 35). I will continue to film videos for the actor’s benefit, so we can continue to improve and develop the movement scenes, and analyse the details of the choreography.
amovees (2013) Astronauts tripping on the surface of the Moon. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2adl6LszcE&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 19 April 2017].
Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2009) The Frantic Assembly book of Devising Theatre. Abingdon: Routledge.
NTDTV (2012) Neil Armstrong – First Moon Landing 1969. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZb2mqId0A&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 19 April 2017].