Posted on February 22, 2016 by Harry Walsh

We Have Lift Off!

The Inspiration Behind ‘How I Got To The Moon And Back’

At first, our company all discovered that we shared a mutual fascination for conspiracy theories and how people have vivid interpretations of these supposedly factual stories. This topic of interest led us on to discuss the 1969 moon landings and the conspiracies surrounding that event, such as the argument that it was faked. We found a vast amount of different interpretations of the moon landing conspiracy, each as different and extravagant as the next, which led us to research the ideas of perspectives and perception. Using the idea of different perspectives, we were inspired to explore how the perspective of a child alters drastically from that of an adult, particularly when telling stories. From these group discussions and explorations, we were able to find the two things that became the backbone of our show: the moon landings and a child’s perspective.

We knew that we wanted to create more than a piece of theatre surrounding a conspiracy theory, we were brought together as a company due to our love of storytelling and physical theatre. We wanted our piece to reflect that, and we wanted to create a deeply human piece, which would explore personal stories using our bodies to do so. It was because of this realisation that we spent more sessions on how to make this happen, and we explored the idea of the child’s perspective in more depth. We become illuminated with the possibilities that exploring this on stage using physical theatre could have to offer, and through creative play, we discovered this was possible by including a physicalized version of a child’s imagination. After this breakthrough, it was settled that we were going to tell the story of the space race through the eyes of a child that would be grounded in a playful imagination, which gave life to How I Got To The Moon And Back.

A teaser image we shot and designed to announce the name of our show. (Smart, 2016)

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Charlotte Fage

Imagination is Key

(Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2016)

Forming a theatre company was a daunting but exciting task that was easier than first expected. The 10 of us within the group knew from the start of the semester that we wished to collaborate with one another, the idea of working with talented likeminded people to create a piece of theatre we all felt passionately about was an exciting prospect. We felt that as a cast and creative team it was important to create theatre that evoked some kind of emotion in us but also hopefully within our prospective audience. We discussed many ideas and researched certain events to try to find the basis of our show. We eventually decided on space with the moon landings in 1969 being our inspiration. We discovered that the Space Race would be an interesting and effective vehicle in which to explore a ‘coming of age’ story. After the Second World War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other in the Cold War as to who was the more superior power, the Space Race came out of this and “beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition” (History). Therefore this ‘dramatic battle’ that culminated in something that would change the world and it’s future forever stood out to us. The idea that a young boy could grow and learn through something as famous and iconic as the Space Race was an exciting opportunity for us as a theatre company. As the world’s knowledge grew and expanded as they explored the universe in the 1960s so would the life and knowledge of the little boy in our story as he too explored the universe around him.

The next big decision we faced as a company was how to tell the story of this small boy named Sam. The Space Race spanned over ten years so fitting all the events of the race into an hour would be an impossible task. Therefore a non-naturalistic style of theatre was adopted due to the amount of content and inevitable time jumps. We felt that the most effective method of portraying the life and emotions of Sam alongside that of the Space Race was best done through physical theatre with small snippets of dialogue to explain his inner thoughts. Due to the makeup of the company and the roles that individuals wished to undertake backstage our cast was made up of six girls and one boy. Therefore our story became about Sam, the little boy, and his mother with the six of us alternating as the mother figure, later called Barbara. Our story was to focus on Sam, therefore when not playing Barbara the six of us would become the physical theatre elements of Sam’s imagination. The story was not to be about us but about Sam, we served only to help tell his story. Imagination was a key theme we wished to explore in regards to Sam because “young children often learn about historical events, different cultures or people that they will never meet, and imaginative play is a way for them to discover the world that surrounds them” (1^st Place, 2015). With the decision to represent Sam’s imagination on stage we were blessed with the gift of complete creative freedom. A child’s imagination is one of the most powerful tools at their disposal, it “is the source of all human achievement” (1^st Place, 2015). This is because imagination:

“ – ignites passion

– helps create our future

– stimulates creativity and innovation”

(Serf- Walls, 2014)

All of which were effects the Space Race had on the world at the time. It ignited passion and helped to create the world we know today and stimulated untold creativity and innovation. Space to this day continues to fascinate and intrigue us. With the discovery of space we found a timeless theme that we were all able to connect with.

1^st Place (2015) 1^st Place: The Importance of Imagination in Children’s Development. [online] 1^st Place. Available from http://www.1stplace.uk.com/the-importance-of-imagination-and-creativity-in-childrens-development/ [Accessed 20 February 2016].

History History: The Space Race – Facts & Summary. [online] A&E Television Networks, LLC. Available from http://www.history.com/topics/space-race [Accessed 20 February 2016].

Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts (2016) How I Got To The Moon And Back [image]. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums/72157668377551582 [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Serf-Walls, L. (2014) Huffington Post: 5 Reasons Imagination is More Important than Reality. [online] Huffington Post. Available from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lamisha-serfwalls/5-reasons-imagination-is-_b_6096368.html [Accessed 20 February 2016].

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Nicholas James Wilson

The Sound of Space

From the very start of our devising process, we knew that we wanted to create a piece of theatre that utilised our bodies and movement as a way to show a story, as opposed to a reliance on text and dialogue. As sound designer, it was obvious to me that this meant sound and music would play a big part in creating a specific mood and tone for the piece. As a company, we have decided on the theme of the space race as a starting point for devising, and so I have started looking at composers and artists that have a distinct ‘space’ sound, mainly electronic instrumental music, that we could use in our piece.

Lyn Gardner wrote in a piece for The Guardian that ‘the perfectly placed piece of music, the sense that theatre can be musical without being a musical, still seems to be underrated’ (The Guardian, 2008). This is what music in theatre is about, for me especially; perfectly placed pieces of music, that don’t distract or divert attention, but rather amplify the content that is being physically produced on stage. The best moments of sound and music in theatre, like in film, are when you don’t notice the music being played, as it is accompanying what you are seeing instead of trying to be its own thing, so the audio and visual experiences merge into one. This is when music can truly heighten the senses of an audience, rather than distract from the action.

This is a notion that I want to carry throughout our piece as sound designer. As a starting point, I have been looking at soundtracks from films that I think are particularly poignant but at the same time subtle enough as not to distract from the action of the film. Stand out soundtracks for me include Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s Gone Girl and The Social Network soundtracks, as well as Daniel Pemberton’s Steve Jobs soundtrack. I think certain tracks from these may work well in our piece, particularly Remember from the Steve Jobs soundtrack, as the use of synth and electric guitar would work nicely to represent the technological side of the space race.

Trent-Reznor-and-Atticus-Ross-Album-Cover

The Social Network album artwork. (Asbill, 2011)

I also think it would be interesting if we could use original music alongside the tracks that I will find, as it would be easier to create a recurring theme or stimulus throughout the show. For example, we could use a specific guitar riff or chord progression for certain moments in the show that would tie it together. The idea of letters throughout the show was thrown around in a recent rehearsal, so it would be nice to have a recurring theme through those, if they are used.

Asbill, M. (2011) “The Social Network” Soundtrack, A (brief) Listening Guide. [online] Millerasbill. Available from http://millerasbill.com/the-social-network-soundtrack-a-brief-listening-guide/ [Accesed 20 February 2016].

The Guardian (2008) Music deserves a bigger role in the theatre. [online] London: The Guardian. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2008/dec/05/theatre-music-sound-design [Accessed 20 February 2016].

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Dominique Sabina Gent

PinPoint have landed!

When first discussing ideas for our show we all discovered we shared a mutual interest in conspiracy theories and wanted to focus on the conspiracy of the faking of the 1969 moon landings. As we were developing this idea we changed it slightly and began to lean towards a focus on the space race as a whole and what it would have been like for a child at the time it was happening. We decided the best narrative device we could use to further the plot would be letters that the child was writing to his dad who was not present in his life anymore. The use of the letters became an effective way to show the child’s inner monologue in a stylistic way by having the ensemble all take the role of the child’s mother at some point in the piece and read the letters as if they had found them. The child became Sam and as we had the challenge of having a 21 year old man playing an 8 year old boy we felt the use of the mothers reading the letters in a stylistic way was an effective method in which Nick did not have to speak and break the illusion of him playing a child. Once we had decided on the theme of our show we knew our concept would be best portrayed through physical movements and sequences due to the intense focus on the imagination of Sam. We were aware that the performers in our group consisted of 6 females and 1 male therefore it made sense for the 6 of us to form the ensemble and allow Nick to take on the role of Sam and become the main focus of the piece.

(Walsh, 2016) Ensemble partaking in workshop.

We began the rehearsal process by partaking in multiple workshops lead by our director and assistant director, in the first workshop we all assumed the role of Sam and began writing letters and drawing pictures to do with the space race and moon landing in order to get inspiration in creating the content for the actual show. By having us generate this images and letters Harry and Emily were able to create the letters used in the script for the show and develop the character of Sam. Once finding that this method was effective in writing the letters for the script Emily our assistant director came up with the idea of giving each ensemble member an exercise book to write letters in after each rehearsal, making each letter authentic. By creating this playful style of devising we were able to use these workshops to playfully generate ideas and begin working on movement that could be included in the piece. We found it important to keep playing in rehearsals as it is a method that multiple theatre companies use during their devising process, our director Harry from the outset made it clear that it was going to be a collaborative process with us working with him as an ensemble to create content rather than him just telling us what to do. Stephen Hoggett and Scott Graham the directors of Frantic Assembly do not decide what they are going to devise and then teach the choreography to their performers, they devise and “learn through doing and not through memorization of ideas and theories” (Richards, 1995, 3). They often set tasks for their performers and let them respond to them in their own personal ways, Graham and Hoggett feel that this is the most honest, creative and imaginative method for them. An important technique in the devising process of many physical theatre practitioners (including; Lecoq, Forced Entertainment and Grotowski) is devising through play, it is encouraged to spend “a few days [playing] almost without thinking, doing, well, whatever came to mind” (Etchells, 1999, 52). I feel as though this was emulated in our rehearsal process as we would often play games in workshops and turn those games into content for our show, for example a sequence we have been working on includes a game of Grandma’s Footsteps. By continuing to use this method I think that our production will display playful yet powerful images and sequences through the use of physical theatre.

(Walsh, 2016) Ensemble playing a warm-up game of Golden Egg.

Works cited:

Etchells, T. (1999) Certain Fragments: Contemporary Performance and Forced Entertainment. London: Routledge.

Richards, T. (1995) At Work with Grotowski on Physical Actions. London: Routledge.

Walsh, H. (2016) Ensemble taking part in workshop.

Walsh, H. (2016) Ensemble playing a warm-up game of Golden Egg.

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Rebecca Anne Lothian

Creating the Logo

The first task set for the marketing team was the creation of the logo and choosing the appropriate branding for our company.

After deciding our name (PinPoint Theatre Company) and original mission statement, we have spent this week exploring different logo types that we believed symbolised this criteria. Our interests lie in looking at the oddities of life and how they affect different people. We are also thinking of looking at truths that lie within deceptions.

(Lothian, 2016).

We eventually created around ten logo designs, with some above being examples and discussed as a whole company what would work the best for what we were communicating.

(Lothian, 2016).

The marketing team used this logo design as we felt it was direct, straightforward and bold, which matched entirely with our original vision as a company. The font is easily readable and has the ability to stand out. It also resonates well with a modern audience as the pointed image replacing the “O” has a similar appearance to the checking in icon that appears on Facebook.

Work Cited

Lothian, R. (2016) Logo Designs. [image]. Rebecca Lothian

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