Physical theatre as a “performance style requires a ‘sense of ensemble’ with its complex physical interaction between actors, strengthened by a shared understanding of physical and visual composition.” (Heddon and Milling, 2005, 178). In order to devise and create a successful physical performance you must be able to work closely together as an ensemble in order to form a strong bond and to find the ability to trust one another to complete lifts and balances within the performance in a safe and supported manner. In order to reach this level of trust it took weeks of rehearsals just on ensemble work and playing games together to strengthen all of our relationships with one another. The methods we used to solidify our ensemble work were similar to that of the physical theatre company Complicite;
“All the work that Complicite does in the rehearsal room leads towards the actors working together intuitively and instinctively. The Company are able to improvise their way seamlessly out of most situations without an audience realising if anything out of the ordinary has happened. This makes the work rich and exciting to watch and perform because the level of communication and teamwork is so high. There is no way to fake this ensemble feeling. It takes many months of playing games, doing physical exercises, improvisation and working together.” (Complicite, 2001, 11)
Our production tells the story of 8 year old Sam and his vivid imagination, waiting for the return of his father who is revealed at the end of the piece to have died in the war. We see Sam enter various stages of his life and watch him on his journey as he gains confidence and eventually realises he can make it to the moon without his imagination. We tell the story mainly relying on the use of physical moment as the only dialogue present is the letters Sam has written to his dad describing his new found love for space and the exploring he wishes to involve his dad in. Throughout the production we as an ensemble played the role of Sam’s imagination and also each at some point played his mother, who herself was coping with the heartbreak of losing Sam’s father and battling with the decision whether to tell him or not. As the theme of our piece was the space race and moon landings we had the freedom and artistic licence to use movement to display the vivid thoughts running through Sam’s head. In rehearsals we experiment with various techniques and methods used by companies such as Frantic Assembly and Reckless Sleepers. We are working on a sequence that is based on the method of Hymn Hands established by Frantic Assembly; we watched the video Building Blocks For Devising and then created our own Hymn Hand sequence in a part of the play where we as Sam’s mind were attempting to stop him from seeing JFK assassinated.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U
(Frantic Assembly, 2015) Frantic Assembly: Building Blocks for Devising.
(PinPoint Theatre Company, 2016) Hymn Hands Rehearsal
As an ensemble we have to be synchronised in the majority of our show, including when moving with the boxes and opening and closing the boxes. We have been working on a sequence in which we all move with our boxes to different positions on the stage, open the lids in sync, reach for newspapers and then move with these newspapers opening and closing them at the same time as each other. In order to complete this sequence with total synchronization we picked out points in the music and worked on moving as an ensemble in multiple workshops lead by Harry and Emily. We were made to stand in a line at the back of the stage and close our eyes, then without looking or talking to each other we all had to move at the same time just from feeling each other’s energy. We used this same technique in our scene we call PANIC where without talking we feel each other’s energy and move at the same time to create a tableaux that represents the panic and fear people felt when first hearing about SPUTNIK. By completing this exercise multiple times we were able to move in sync without having to make direct eye contact throughout and discussing when to move. This exercise not only helped for this sequence but for the show in its entirety, as we were present on stage at all times we have to be consistently aware of our faces and ensure that all of us are conveying the same emotions through our facial expressions.
(Walsh, 2016) Ensemble rehearsing Panic sequence.
Works Cited:
Complicite. (2001) Complicite- Teachers Pack. London: Complicite. [Online] Available From: http://www.complicite.org/media/1439372000Complicite_Teachers_pack.pdf
Frantic Assembly (2015) Frantic Assembly: Building Blocks for Devising. [online video] Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U
Heddon, D. and Milling, J. (2005) Devising performance: A Critical History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
PinPoint Theatre Company (2016) Hymn Hands Rehearsal. [online video] Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1xPjblxIHk&feature=youtu.be
Walsh, H. (2016) Ensemble rehearsing Panic sequence.