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. We worked intensely on collaboration and characterization of the mother character because although as an ensemble we are all different in appearance we could convincingly play the same character and convey her emotion to the audience. 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 regards to set design, owing to the space theme and use of imagination within our piece I began looking for inspiration in other set designs that appeared space themed as I wanted the set to make the audience feel as if they were in the child’s space-themed bedroom without explicitly showing an actual bedroom set. I saw this design by Mischa Katchman for ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and decided I wanted to use stars and constellations as a backdrop to fit the space theme but also appear child-like as if the child had glow in the dark stars in his bedroom.

However, as we began devising and decided we wanted the audience to focus more on the story we were telling through movement, it became clear that our set needed to be simple and not cause any distractions from the movement. During a rehearsal in the early stages of the production, I realised that the 6 female ensemble members would be playing multiple characters throughout the production and would need to show this in nonverbal ways as well as verbal. I then came up with idea of hinged boxes that would stay on stage at all times and would be able to be used multi purposely and to store props in. When discussing scenography, McKinney and Butterworth state that “what is crucial to Brechtian Scenography is not simply the way it looks but how it is able to comment, intervene and perform as part of the production” (McKinney and Butterworth, 2009, 44). I feel that the idea of the multi-purpose boxes reinforces this statement as they are able to perform as part of the production when used throughout. The use of boxes also allows the audience to use their imagination to fill in the gaps of the set, we provide them with the tools to create the picture that they imagine would be present on stage. This coincides with the theme of the show being set within a childs imagination. When designing the boxes it was important to make them versatile and moveable so they do not interfere or get in the way of any physical movements not only for visual effect but for health and safety reasons. Mendes Ribeiro states that “Scenography is concerned primarily with the ‘inhabitability of the space’; that is, the creation of space with which performing bodies can interact” (Ribeiro in McKinney and Butterworth, 2009, 3). The idea of the boxes emulates this statement by Ribeiro, as the ability to move and change the boxes within the performance enables the bodies to interact and inhabit multiple spaces. The boxes are also a perfect set for touring the show as they are versatile and can stack on top each other as an efficient storage method, also the props all fit inside the boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally I had the idea to hang planets around the auditorium to once again give a child’s bedroom type feel to the performance. However once discussing with Harry and Emily we decided that the planets hung around the auditorium, would create a confusion and a break in the barrier between the imagination and reality of Sam. Although the planet’s were not involved in the set anymore, we decided to include a physical sequence within our piece that still used lights that appeared to be planets or stars. Using paper lanterns and fairy lights we decided to create an imagination sequence centered around Sam, giving the illusion that he was being surrounded and intrigued by different planets/ stars.

When discussing the colour the boxes should be with Emily, we decided to have them black to enable us to create various stage pictures and illusions. Once the boxes had been built by Emily and the LPAC technical staff we rehearsed with them as long as we could without painting them to ensure the paint was fresh for the final performance. At first there were some slight challenges with the boxes as they were heavier than we had expected them to be, however once we had rehearsed with them a few times we soon got used to the weight.

 

On the final week before the show the whole cast helped to paint the boxes to ensure they were done quickly and efficiently. We used PVA mixed with the black paint as a glaze to protect paint on the boxes from getting scuffed and scratched and to give them a shine.

I designed the boxes so that we could use them in order to create different illusions for the audience and to enable us as an ensemble to remain present on stage throughout the performance reinforcing the illusion that we were playing the roles of Sams imagination, therefore we would always be present. Caspar Neher states;

“A Marble pillar can only be translated, i.e. at best hinted at; while if a turbine were a real one it would break the stage floor. This means that one always has to allow the audience to set their imagination to work in order to believe it could be a turbine, or might be a marble pillar. So you have to have an element of conjuring illusion.”

(Neher, C in Willett, J, 1986, 76)

Two of the main pictures we decided we want to create are; a fort for Sam to sit in during the preset of the show and a rocket that Sam builds in the end scene of the show. The way in which I will create these images, is with the use of other props that can be stored inside the boxes throughout the performance and then attached to the boxes when needed. During the final performance of the show the boxes were used effectively to create the stage pictures desired by Emily, Harry and I. Owing to the prop diagram I had created to ensure the props were placed in the correct boxes, the show ran smoothly and the images were created correctly. The show began with Nick playing the role of Sam in a pre-set fort centre stage, this image was created with four boxes stacked on top of each other and white sheet draped over the top of these boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of the props to create the rocket at the end of the performance was also highly effective, I used card to create the wings, window and top of a rocket and painted them red, this was to allow the audience to understand that it had been created by an 8 year old boy. Overall, using simple set and props enhanced our performance as a whole by emphasising the role of us as an ensemble and putting the focus on the movement of the performance instead of a large distracting set. We also received some great feedback concerning the production as a whole; one email we received  described the show as having “Charming and touching moments in abundance, tight choreography, everything honed and polished, simple but effective stage pictures, very effective use of music, voice, stage space, projections, story, and lighting” (Jordan, 2016).

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 these 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, making each letter used, authentic. This same method was used to characterise the mother and we took part in workshops to ensure that we could all portray the same character convincingly. 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 included in the show involves a game of Grandma’s Footsteps.

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 who state that “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).

We experimented with various techniques and methods used by companies such as Frantic Assembly and Reckless Sleepers. One sequence we created is based on the method of Hymn Hands established by Frantic Assembly; we took inspiration from this video and then created our own Hymn Hand sequence for the moment when Sam finds out JFK has been assassinated.

(Frantic Assembly, 2015)

(PinPoint Theatre Company, 2016)

We used mental scores throughout the piece in order to know where we had to be next and how long we had to get there, this is a method that Reckless Sleepers use ““Mathematical formulae are used by Reckless Sleepers as a means of notation i.e. ‘A to B, A moves to B, C falls, etc” (Brown and Wetherell, 2007, 55). This enabled us to ensure each sequence was performed without a hitch. Owing to the the time period that we had to fully devise and perform a completely physical show that relied on full ensemble synchronization, I think we were highly successful on our final performance of How I Got To The Moon And Back. If we had a more extended time period we could have perfected every movement within our piece. However, there was very little that went wrong during the final performance and feedback we received from audience members proved that they could tell how intensely we had rehearsed our piece. Overall, our production How I Got To The Moon And Back was successful in achieving our desires and goals of making the audience feel sympathy towards Sam. We were able to evoke genuine emotion from our audience by using the techniques we did throughout our devising process and on the final performance day whilst they watched Sam ‘make it to the moon and back’.

 

Works Cited: 

Brown, A. and Wetherell, M. (2007) Trial: A Study of the Devising Process in Reckless Sleepers’ ‘Schrödinger’s box’. Plymouth: University of Plymouth Press.

Complicite. (2001) Complicite- Teachers Pack. London: Complicite. [Online] Available From: http://www.complicite.org/media/1439372000Complicite_Teachers_pack.pdf

Crow, P. (2016) The Light sequence surrounding Sam. [image]. Available From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/26568765513/in/album-72157668377551582/ [Accessed 25/05/2016]

Crow, P. (2016) A photo of the boxes being used to form Sam’s rocket. [image]  Available From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/27105121621/in/album-72157668377551582/ [Accessed 25/05/2016]

Crow, P. (2016) The ensemble in the Grandma’s Footsteps inspired sequence. [image] Available From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/27105063161/in/album-72157668377551582/ [Accessed 25/05/2016]

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

Frantic Assembly (2015) Frantic Assembly: Building Blocks for Devising. [online video] Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U

Gent, D. (2016) 3-D design of set. [image]

Gent, D. (2016) Box Design [image]

Gent, D. (2016) Box to Prop Diagram. [Image]

Heddon, D. and Milling, J. (2005) Devising performance: A Critical History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jordan, A. (2016) How I Got To The Moon And Back. [email] Sent to PinPoint Theatre, 22 May.

Katchman, M. (2013) A Wrinkle In Time. Available From: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cc/d5/0a/ccd50add2d6c2692c03550089b051512.jpg [Accessed on 20/02/2016]

Lothian, R. (2016) Me painting one of the boxes. [image]

McKinney, J and Butterworth, P. (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography. Cambridge: University Press.

Neher, C., in Willett, J. (1986) Caspar Neher, Brecht’s designer. London: Methuen Publishing Ltd.

PinPoint Theatre Company (2016) Hymn Hands Rehearsal. [online video] Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1xPjblxIHk&feature=youtu.be

Ribeiro, M. in McKinney, J and Butterworth, P. (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography. Cambridge: University Press.

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

Walsh, H. (2016) Ensemble Partaking in a Workshop. [image]

Walsh, H. (2016) Setting up the fort on show day. [Image]