Category Archives: Research

Looking for Inspiration

As I have mentioned before, Peter Brook was a great influence of mine and one approach that really influenced me was in the way in which he strives to use a number of forms of theatre in order to achieve something new and fresh. Below are just some of the influences I had when directing ‘The Trial’.

Within the performance of ‘The 39 Steps’ I am particuarly influenced by the use of staging and props to tell the story and the way they did this in front of the audience. There was no use of deception and as a Director I feel it is important to share all aspects of staging with your audience in order to create that Shared Experience.

I was partiuarly influenced by the use of the grotesque expression and focus on the body and voice explaining the story. Again, the focus on story was put at the forefront and this was something that further influenced me.

Brook’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream inspired me to further look into the ways in which you can use the physical resources of the theatre to conjure up new ways of interpreting texts and sharing the story. I was also inspired by how he had such a bare stage, that was brought to life by the actors and their props. This allowed me to consider how my staging could reflect something similar.

Doing a Berkoff adaptation, the script lends itself to the work of himself. Although I did not watch Berkoff’s adaptation of ‘The Trial’ to avoid repeating anything, I watched interviews and some of his other productions such as ‘East’. This inspired me to further look into the work of Lecoq, focussing on the use of the body. What has always influenced me within Berkoff’s work is how he uses the actors to create physically stunning pictures; it’s as if you are watching a slideshow of a story falling apart and being moulded back again before your eyes. This was something that I was very impressed by and therefore strived to achieve.

Word Count: 340

Character development – Joseph K

Blackeyed Theatre – The Trial.

2 Replies

The Trial by Steven Berkoff is an incredibly challenging play to perform. It is a play with dark undertones that arise from the confusion and insanity that K is thrown into. At the beginning of our rehearsals I felt that it would be a good idea to research past productions of the play and discover how other theatre companies have tackled the play.

I came across a company called Blackeyed Theatre. The company is a touring troupe that was established in 2004.On their website they state that ‘The company specialise in reviving modern classics and staging established titles in innovative ways’ (Blackeyed Theatre 2012, p. 2). It was the notion that they are innovative that compelled me to look further into this particular production.

Whilst exploring their work I came across a short clip of their performance on YouTube:

What is interesting about their performance is that they have explored The Trial in a similar way to us. They have opted to use a minimal set and chose frames for the actors to look through and move around on stage during the show. In this way the world of the play becomes mutated as frames are used to create the course Joseph K takes on his journey to the law. The actors’ physicalisation is exaggerated and which coincides with the grotesqueness of the chorus.

In another clip we can observe an interview between Blackeyed Theatre’s artistic director Adrien McDougall and Simon Wegrzyn, the company’s Joseph K:

Wegrzyn highlights how the company tried to keep the performance ‘as universal as possible’, which allowed the show to be accessible to people from all different backgrounds. In our own company we want to reach out to people who do not visit the theatre and bring them to our performance. Having Joseph K being presented as a normal person amongst the chaos of the other exaggerated characters will allow the audience to instantly connect with him. In the interview Wegrzyn goes on to discuss how Blackeyed Theatre used their set that shares some similarity with our own ideas.
The Director of the performance, Ella Vale, comments regarding the play that ‘the hardest thing about it, and also the most interesting thing, is that we as an audience must make up our own minds about what The Trial actually means’ (Blackeyed Theatre 2008, p. 12). The play opens up many possibilities regarding its meaning but what is perhaps most interesting is the fact that it is a different experience for every individual. The intention of the piece could be to question the law; or question our own lives and the trials we have to face daily. I hope that our audience can make meaning from our performance and appreciate it for a show as well as a potentially thought provoking experience.
Overall Blackeyed Theatre’s production of The Trial is a really interesting piece to explore in detail. Many of their show elements parallel our own. I feel our production can be inspired by them.

Work Cited

Blackeyed Theatre (2008) The Trial Education Pack, http://www.tomneill.co.uk/blackeyed/The%20Trial%20Education%20Pack.pdf (acessed: 22/03/2013)

Stage Manager Interview

Leave a reply

The following is an interview by Kerry Lynch with Nicole Blackman, a New Zealand Stage Manger for the production of The Importance of Being Earnest in March 2010.

“What are the key roles of being a Stage Manger (SM)?

My main role is to facilitate. The Stage Manager is the central person for the whole production. All departments from the actors, designers, administration and publicity go through the SM, so a key responsibility is communication. I have to anticipate the needs of the rehearsal room as well as keeping track of all the information that comes out of rehearsals and distributing it to the appropriate departments within the company. I am also responsible for ensuring the safety and well being of the cast.

What preparation and tasks did you need to complete prior to the start of rehearsals for Earnest?

I did a ‘who/what/where’ list. I went through the script and created a spreadsheet with every page number and notated which character (with what costume and prop) is present on every single page. This is very useful to get the script into my head, and it is great in rehearsals when the director says go to page 60 because I know exactly what prop is required for each character.
I drew up a rehearsal schedule and a spreadsheet with the contact names and details of the forty plus people involved in this production.
I also made sure that all creative’s (designers) and performers had scripts.
I had to mark up the rehearsal room from the set plans and obtain rehearsal props and setup the tea and coffee.”

This is a very interesting interview and I feel I can take a lot from it and apply it to my own role of Stage Manager for The Trial. What I found particularly interesting was Blackman’s emphasis on the importance of communication. From working with STAMP Theatre for a week I can already really appreciate why good communication between all company members is important. Without it confusion arises and can stop other people from being able to complete their own roles successfully. I was also very impressed with the organisation skills Blackman presented, especially before rehearsals began. Her idea of creating a spreadsheet with the contact details of all the company members is something I have done myself. This means if any cast member does not turn up for rehearsal without forewarning the director I have the necessary details to get in contact with them. Using spread sheets and tables is also helpful not only for the Stage Managers organisation but also for the company as a whole. As Blackman did I too drew up a rehearsal schedule and then I forwarded it to the company in advance to make everyone aware as soon as possible to when the rehearsals would be.

I have found this interview very thought provoking. It has underlined my opinion of the importance of communication and organisation within a company, which are skills I will continue to use throughout this production.

Thanks for reading,

Larissa

Xxx

Work Cited

Lynch, Kerry (2010) ‘Kerry Lynch ATC Blog. Stage Manger Interview’ New Zealand Journal of Research in Performing Arts & Education: Nga Mahi a Rehia; p.p 4-4

What Does It Take To Make A Theatre?

2 Replies

I attended a workshop led by playwright and actor Andy Smith where we discussed the question:

What does it take to make a theatre?

Three important elements that come to mind are:

-Enthusiasm

-People

-Location

All three are necessities when it comes to forming a theatre company and creating theatre. As a group we need to have a passion and an aim. Why do we want to create this theatre? We need somewhere to perform it and in most cases we need people to perform the work. The workshop explored various ways we could devise a piece of theatre. Though STAMP are working from a scripted piece we will still be creating a form of theatre which corresponds with our manifesto.

Andy suggested that theatre does not have to be a messy complicated mash of objects and people, but instead can be simplistic. He discussed with us the idea of reducing the content of the work and devising in a context of simplicity. Rather than saying we cannot do it and accepting the limitations that are in place, he suggested we break through the limitations and use them to create a piece of work that flourishes through them. Arguably this is a challenge but with our company’s ideologies we agreed that we want our theatre to be limitless. For us there is no correct practitioner or performance; this is to say that we can synthesise all practitioners or a few.

Andy introduced us to a piece of artwork entitled An Oak Tree. (1973) The piece suggests to me as an actor that performance works due to our audiences ability to accept the preconception that we are actors performing. As the ‘Answerer’ states in Oak Tree ‘One could call it anything one wished but that would not alter the fact that it is an oak tree.’ (Carig-Martin 1973, Online) The conceptual idea that as actors we could embody a character and invite the audience to agree with the notion that we are merely portraying an action or a story. In this way they can enjoy the piece of theatre and focus on the acting. It is something that STAMP wishes to explore. We want to escape the contemporary concentration on aesthetically pleasing performance and create a theatre that focuses on the audience’s connection with us as actors who create a story through acting.

Work cited.

Craig-Martin, M. (1973) An Oak Tree, The Tate Gallery : Online (Accessed 29/01/2013)

Smith, A. (2013). What Does it Take to Make a Theatre? Theatre Company Guest Workshop, Lincoln, LSPA