The initial starting point of the creative process of four ways to speak out was realised by Paul and Royona when they reflected on the fact that the group is predominantly female, which inspired an exploration of domestic violence and female exploitation. This process of developing an idea is common in the realms of physical theatre, Newson commented on the starting point of DV8’s Enter Achilles “the starting point came one evening after rehearsal when the cast went to the pub and realised their communal identity actually arose from the fact that they all drank pints of beer.” (Govan, Nicholson and Normington, 2007; pg 167) this lead to an exploration of heterosexual males.
Robert Lepage’s devising formula, the RSVP model, states four main stages of the devising process, these are Research, score, validate and performance. Our ‘research’ stage was the stage in which the theme or concept was introduced. Throughout this stage many strategies were used, the first was to write a letter to a person outside of our community, expressing concern for a missing woman. “A story or a starting text may provide the basis of a primary decision about the content of a proposed devised product” (Oddey, 1994; pg 24), this starting point gave us opportunity to delve into our characters, decide who we were, and gave a basic outline for the structure.
The following strategy used to create material was, when all members of the group brought in two items, one that belonged to said woman, and one that represented the last time she was seen. The group then placed all objects together, creating a collage of images and emotions, tracing out who the woman was.
Following this, the group improvised a naturalistic scene, in which the community discovered the woman had disappeared; Oddey suggests this is how devising work should begin, “Devising begins with the interaction between the members of the group and the starting point or chosen stimulus” (Oddey 1994; pg 24). This strategy provided a strong sense of the woman; this strengthened the ensemble because we had begun to build relationships within the community due to the sense of grief and panic.
Another strategy employed was the voice clips of the victims (of domestic abuse) families. The clips were taken from the four ways to speak out web page. This provoked real emotion and gave the story a sense of truth; it allowed our individual character to grow and gave the ensemble real purpose.
My own character has changed regularly during the research stage. When writing the diary entry, I described the woman, as a neighbour who I barely knew. But when the group began devising scenes, I had to adapt my character into a scenario, there for I had to adjust who I was in relationship to the woman. I realised not everyone’s ideas could be explored, so I had to adapt my own and assume someone else’s vision, which created a whole new character to my initial thoughts. I did this because it was necessary for the piece to progress knowing that the main objective was the development of the relationships and the process we were going through; as Oddey states “Ultimately, it is about the group discovering the relationship between itself and the product is produces” (Oddey, 1994; pg 24).
“The art of creating believable characters lies in never quite knowing who they are. As soon as you think you’ve got them, they disappear” (Callery, 2001; pg 211).This quote describes my own character, and how it changes frequently due to the way in which the devising process transpires. I find my character has shifted and altered constantly, even more so during the “score” stage (of Robert Lepage’s devising formula).
The exercise when the group walked through the space and fell at random, helped me discover that my character felt guilt and that she would not fall because she thought no one would catch her. On the contrary, later in the process, during the “validate” stage, my character feels more secure in the community as the group has begun to shift the blame to a particular target.
“When actors are aware of their own habitual ways of moving [...] they can depart from their own characteristic movement and embody others” (Callery, 2001; pg 72). The warm up helps us to become aware of our own body language and analyse particular characteristics, by the end of the warm up, I feel I have totally embodied someone else. My characters spine will have more contact with the floor than myself. “The spine is a conduit for internal energy as well as being the main support of the upright human form” (Callery, 2001; pg 72), as Callery discusses the spine is the source of great power, so body language and characteristics are sourced from there, the spine drives emotion and physicality.
In the bar scene, my character is extremely eager for the bar tender to appear, and communicates this with the repetitive gesture of looking up and down the bar frantically. Additionally she is the one who has the most shots in the sequence; this suggests she is the encourager in the group and the one who will be the most drunk. Perhaps this is why she feels such guilt when her friend is missing the next morning. Furthermore this could be why she is reluctant to phone her friend in the voice over, as she would feel that she was to blame.
Bibliography
CALLERY, D. (2001) Through the body, a practical guide to physical theatre London: Nick Hern Books.
GOVAN, E. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge
GRAHAM, S. and HOGGETT, S (2009) The Frantic Assembly book of devising theatre. London: Routledge
KEEFE, J & S MURRAY (Ed) (2007) Physical theatres: a critical reader London: Routledge
MURRAY, S & J KEEFE (2007) Physical theatres: a critical introduction London: Routledge
ODDEY, A. (1994) Devising Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook, London: Routledge.
[http://www.fourwaystospeakout.com/]
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