T-Minus 3 Months

‘We are affected by the more subtle aspects of costume: the psychological use of colour and texture, the careful underlying of plot points’ (Holt, 1993, 7).

From the offset, my co-designer of costume and I decided on an understated base costume that unified the ensemble. We settled on layered, black clothing that came down to the performers’ wrists and ankles and came up to the base of their necks.

Due to our show, ‘How I Got to the Moon and Back’, heavily involving physical theatre it was necessary for the costumes to allow ample movement. To achieve a successful performance to the best of our ability the performers could not be restricted by clothing. Furthermore it was important for me that the costumes complimented the movement not just allowed it, costume is an extension of the character created onstage and therefore every movement had to be emphasised by the costume. ‘Costume is part of the actors’ apparatus’ (Holt, 1993, 7). With this in mind Lily, my co-designer, and I then refined our vision and decided to have the all-female ensemble in either a skater cut dress or skirt. This was a flattering cut for all figures, as our ensemble all have different body shapes. It also created a feminine image for when the performers took on the roles of Barbara and Sally. Furthermore the A-line cut allowed the skirts to fan out during movement sequences and therefore became an extension of the choreography in the show.

For practicality (and for the protection of dignity) we also had the ensemble wearing plain, black leggings rather than black tights, there was to be no knicker-flashing in this show! Additionally every ensemble member wore a long-sleeved black top either tucked into their skirt or layered underneath their dress to full cover their arms. This created a uniformed image and immediately showed the audience that these characters were not naturalistic. ‘As soon as the actors appear, even before they speak, the audience will have gleaned a great deal of information’ (Holt, 1993, 7). Because as a company we spent a great deal of time working on the ensemble moving and becoming one entity and the costume needed to reflect that. Despite the different heights, shapes and sizes of each performer the audience needed to understand the ensemble as one.

Lily and I chose to have full-length sleeves and leggings not just to ensure unity but also to emphasize the facial expressions and hand gestures of the ensemble. This was hugely important because our show was lacking in dialogue and therefore relied on physical expression and movement to tell the story. A playful scene wherein the 8 year old protagonist plays with the characters in his imagination does not appear playful if the performers do not express it with their faces and body language. A neutral face becomes a cheeky grin and long strides become short, quick steps to imitate child-like movements. By having the ensemble in a black costume against a black background these moments are accentuated and the audience’s attention is subconsciously led to exactly where we wish.

One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For A Theatre Company

‘Putting on a play is essentially teamwork, teamwork which depends upon the creativity of administrators and craftsmen, performers, directing staff and stage crews’ (Holt, 1993, 6).

For a company to run smoothly there must be open lines of communication throughout the process. Working collaboratively has always been something I’ve enjoyed and the journey of this show was no exception, both with my costume co-designer and the production team as a whole.

Relatively early on in the process we, as a company, knew that the base look of the show would be simple yet effective. With the spectacle coming from projected videos, the emotive lighting and the poignant music. In order to achieve maximum impact for these technical mediums the set and ensemble costume had to be unified. Black became the obvious colour choice during collaborative discussions as it contrasted the most with bright projections and suited the theme of space. ‘When it comes to the scenic power of costumes, such a power is almost always strengthened by the use of clever lighting’ (Maclaurin and Monks, 2015, 157). Throughout the show there were many moments where Sam, the protagonist, slipped into his imagination and explored the galaxy with the help of his fantasy friends. The blank canvas of the stage showed the audience the freedom Sam felt during these moments of true expression and investigation. For example we included a light sequence wherein each ensemble member produced a small Chinese lantern from their respective box and performed a movement sequence around Sam, this was done with no stage lighting whatsoever. Therefore the only light given was the warm light from the lanterns which were not bright enough to light anything more than a small space around them. This gave the effect of floating planets as the bodies of the actors could not be seen, only Sam was illuminated by the lights circled around him. Whereas if the ensemble had brightly coloured costumes or if the set was painted in a pattern, the audience would be distracted from this image and the full desired effect would not have been successful.

A challenge that we had to overcome with sourcing costume was our budget. As a new student company we had to ensure that our expenditure was as little as possible, this meant that we had to rely on borrowing rather than buying costume. Thankfully because our base costume for the ensemble was simple we were able to begin by asking the performers to bring their own clothes to a session for us to assess the options and to establish what items we would need to find elsewhere.

Fortunately most of the cast already owned appropriate dresses or skirts in a skater cut, due to it being a popular fit. This meant that we only needed to source three long-sleeved tops for those who did not own one,these were priced at £2.50 each from Primark.

I was very proud of the final image created by the ensemble costumes, many audience members commented on the flattering cut as well as the effectiveness of colour. I thoroughly enjoyed working collaboratively with Lily in the costume department, we combined our differing skills to create a well-rounded team. ‘The team can best thrive when responsibilities are shared and lines of communication are always open, direct and cordial’ (Holt, 1993, 6).

Then We Can Explore Space Together

‘‘Physical theatre’ as a term, idea or concept captures the aims of certain movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to confront the continuing hegemony of a theatre defined by its literary and verbal dimensions’ (Murray and Keefe, 2007, 6).

There are many different approaches to devising a piece of physical theatre. ‘Devising is a method of making performance that is often non-text-based and includes the collaborative participation of the whole creative company in all stages and aspects of performance-making’ (Allain and Harvie, 2006, 145). We took inspiration from different companies who employ their own rehearsal techniques and devising processes namely Frantic Assembly who use play and improvisation.

Frantic Assembly, a company that formed in 1994, are led by artistic director Scott Graham and use the technique of play during devising workshops, finding choreography in the improvised movements of the actors. We employed this technique in a lot of our own workshops to devise our piece. Often our director, Harry, would lead us in a simple playground game such as ‘Tig Scarecrow’ then he would sit back and observe, picking out any moments he felt were powerful and flowed well. Many of these moments were then refined and made the final cut in the show. One section showed Sam being encouraged by his imagination to play rather than consume his world with space, this was done by distracting him with a game of ‘Grandma’s Footsteps’, requiring him to move toward the ‘grandmother’ without being caught, freezing every time she turned around. This section began as a play workshop where Harry gave us rules to adhere during the game. We had to touch the ground, touch another player and go under the arm of another player before we reached the grandmother. This encouraged improvisation and a playful attitude necessary for the scene as well as encouraging teamwork and requiring us to work as an ensemble.

Whilst we thoroughly enjoyed using play during our process it cannot always be completely relied upon. ‘It is, in a sense, an opportunistic form of theatrical creation which, to a sometimes alarming degree, relies upon an engagement with coincidence and the unpredictable’ (Barton, 2005, 105). Because of the unreliability of this method of devising it was often difficult to not become disheartened or held back by an unsuccessful rehearsal or sequence that was ineffective or that impeded our progress; it was essential to learn from these mistakes rather than to dwell on them. It was important for us to know when to put a section to one side and not attempt to force meaning from it. We had the difficult job of choreographing routines from an idea or a plot point rather than being able to rely on a script like a naturalistic play. It was imperative for us to remember that arguably the most important part of the devising process is the failures. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett of Frantic Assembly said, ‘an expansive array of mistakes makes us informed and trustworthy in describing the trials and tribulations of modern theatre making’ (Graham and Hogget, 2009, 3). Their company make a note of wearing their mistakes like a badge of honour, proudly referring to them as necessary learning curves that built the success of their company.

In all types of theatre, but especially physical theatre, everything that happens onstage must be carefully considered and extensively rehearsed as the audience can and will read into anything they see. And in our ensemble heavy physical theatre show that was especially true. Every minute movement, every breath and even every moment of stillness told the story and therefore had to be choreographed. Especially since our plot was told with little verbal explanation. A huge difference is made when a performer’s foot changes from dorsiflexed and extends to plantarflexed, it suddenly becomes an extension of the gesture and the actor’s body rather than fighting against the body and making a statement to the audience about an inner turmoil within the character. For this reason alone it is easy to see how important extensive rehearsals were for our cast, when every tiny movement or indeed stillness has the potential to be scrutinised. This was heightened by the fact that our ensemble played the same character or extensions of the same characters’ imagination and therefore many of the sequences had to be performed in perfect synchronisation. The success of this relied on our continuous hours of engaged rehearsal and a lot of ensemble workshops and exercises.

We Made It To The Moon And Back

Last night we, as PinPoint Theatre, made our debut with ‘How I Got To The Moon And Back’ and the response we got was overwhelming. Everyone had such positive feedback and even a few tears were shed!

‘Congratulations on the show tonight. It was lovely. Very well-judged, by everybody. Everyone on the same page throughout. 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. I loved it. You should all be very pleased’ (Jordan, 2016)

Given the time frame we had and the enormous devising task we set ourselves I’m so proud of the company, we professionally and successfully put on a show that we created from scratch. As a performer I was very grateful for the countless hours of rehearsal we put into the show and as a co-designer of costume it was a thrill to see the look of the show so well received.

Creating and being part of a theatre company has been a challenging yet fulfilling experience for me and has enabled me to develop my communication, devising and creative skills. I could not have wished for a more dynamic, hard-working, dedicated or entertaining group of people than PinPoint Theatre Company.

 

Works Cited:

Allain, P. and Harvie, J. (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance. Oxon: Routledge.

Barton, B. (2005) Navigating Turbulence: The Dramaturg in Physical Theatre. Theatre Topics, 15[1] 103-119.

Crow, P. (2016) How I Got To The Moon And Back. Lincoln University. [online] Flickr. Availabe from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums/72157668377551582 [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2009) The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. London: Routledge.

Harris, M. (2016) Choosing Ensemble Costume.

Holt, M. (1993) A Phaidon Theatre: Manual Costume and Make-up. 2^nd edition. London: Phaidon Press Limited.

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

Maclaurin, A. and Monks, A. (2015) Costume. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Murray, S. and Keefe, J. (2007) Physical Theatres: A Critical Introduction. Oxon: Routledge.