It's been a ball working with students of Comedy Writing and Performance on their "Induction Escape Thingy Mabobby" - a play made in 24 hours.
(L to R) Ollie Briggs, Robin Macpherson, Harry Turner, Danny Mula, Andrew Blott, Seisha White, Issy Fedeli, James Cane, Cameron Simmonds.
All Images: Brainne Edge
I decided to use what I learned this summer - how to edit with Premier Pro - and tried to translate the steps of an editing process into a new devising process for this project. Inspired by a Lecoq-derived physical workshop with an amazing teacher, Norman Taylor, in June, I also offered the theme of escape to the group.
Image: (c) Performers Playground - RT in a workshop led by Norman Taylor
I wondered what students might be escaping by coming to university. They started by showing me some sequences consisting of five mini-scenes. Without too much discussion we boiled the 'meaning' of these sequences down to two ideas: what we want to do; and what we have to do. Comic situations could potentially come out of the conflict between these two impulses.
To begin with, we kept anything and everything we made and then shunted gestures, images and little moments together like a series of video clips in an editing timeline. We didn't think too hard about how well the 'clips' fitted together. Instead we focussed on the stage picture, as they used to do in the Commedia. The 'picture' - the clip - was like a thumbnail if you like, giving a very general sense of the accent or mood of the scene. Soon enough we ended up with three large sequences: ensemble scenes; narrator scenes and a very simple little morality tale with stereotypical characters. Ideas that we associated with the images in each scene were: escaping from a working routine, escaping from bosses and bossy dance teachers, being trapped in a lift, escaping a misunderstanding, and ... escaping execution (!),
(L to R) Louise Lefevre, Ollie Briggs, Ben Currie, Jae Macpherson, Harry Turner, Danny Mula, Andrew Blott, Seisha White, Issy Fedeli, James Cane, Cameron Simmonds.
Then we worked on simplifying each clip, removing psychological acting, using clear expression and focussing on how every action contributes to storytelling.
(L to R) Ben Holmes, Kira Collard, Taylor Berry
One student (no-one in these photos)
was uncertain about the course and feeling external pressure to study something 'more serious'. So I was reminded about Billy Eliot. In Billy Eliot (2000) director Stephen Daldry combined boxing and ballet, looking for common ground and contradiction. We looked for similar incongruity and surprising leaps of imagination or association. Daldry uses an unashamedly stirring soundtrack and I asked the performers to convey optimism, even in darker humour. We expelled any clever, ironic comedy, choosing instead a simple, direct way into laughter. They had to remember that theatre is about making believe, and that comedy often reveals the way we pretend, how we try to make it work.
Once we had three sequences we repeated the sequences over and over in different combinations, looking for a logic, to justify the combination of the three sequences.
Once a logical dramaturgy emerged we had to reinforce how each scene in isolation could connect with the audience. This is like going back into the detail in editing, seeing the clips afresh, looking for new information. And by trimming and trimming again we built a kind of punctuation and rhythm that helped to clarify intention. We used Jon Davsion's step-laugh exercise and linked this to the idea of physical script that the performer attempts to get through. Whether or not they can complete their scene, depends on the response of the audience. It's easy to talk about comic timing, or pace without being very clear what that means. In this process, comic timing was determined by the ability of of each moment to move the overall dramaturgy forward.
Daisy Jeavons and Kieran Seddon
I hope the students found a sense of purpose from this experience. Whatever they focus on next in their studies, I hope this gave them some techniques and approaches that will help each person develop their individual style as a practitioner.
(L to R) Kira Collard, Ben Holmes, Daisy Jeavons and Kieran Seddon, Robert Keen, Louie Lefevre, Ollie Briggs, Robin Macpherson, Danny Mula, Harry Turner, Ben Currie, Issy Fedeli, James Cane, Cameron Simmonds.
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