Illyria - Post Performance Evaluation Questions
2A.D1 - How have you explored, developed and shaped performance material with focus, insight and imagination?
Primarily, I think the first few weeks were essential to ensure that we collectively collated our ideas and were able to come to a consensus as a cast about our aims for the play and what we all wanted from it. Initially, analysing the text was a very important stage in the process as we were able to break down lines and discuss characters, but most importantly, I think we all were given opportunities to collaborate as a company in order to give our ideas of how we would stage the play from analysing the text, which were then recorded by each other. As well as this, we were sub divided into various groups where we then had to showcase our ideas on allocated scenes and this helped us work constructively with other people to come up with unique and thoughtful ideas, while being encouraging and optimistic about the play at the same time, altering other people's ideas or using them for our own inspiration.
Part of the initial process also consisted of having a group discussion about what Illyria was and the actual context of the setting in the play and this was vital to the understanding of the play that we all eventually gained, affecting our character portrayals and interpretations and also giving us more of an incentive to come up with perceptive ideas to serve the play. We discussed various ideas and concepts as to how Illyria became such a war torn and broken land and this definitely affected my preconceptions and impressions of each of the characters in the play, including my portrayal of my character, Madame. This discussion really brought across the idea that many of the people in the play, including even the more high status characters or those who seem more ruthless like the soldiers, are more human than you may initially assume, which in a war torn environment with a military dictatorship, is a very interesting paradox and was a theme reflected in the final product of the process.
Furthermore, we also established early on in the process that our piece was going to be a multimedia and very physically and experimentally based. The script that was provided by Bryony Lavery was only the building blocks of the final creation and the freedom that the playwright gave us helped us feel the need and incentive to explore our own imaginations throughout the process and work spontaneously. On reflection, I think the main ethos we adopted during the devising of material was the idea of trial and error. We became more playful as we played with different ideas and did different exercises, deciding if they were an asset to the piece and this was effective because it allowed us to all collaboratively participate. I do believe that at some times we did lose a lot of focus because we did have a lot of freedom and we didn't necessarily have a structured and monotonous rehearsal process so with this came a lot of exhilaration and a clash of ideas between different people which did create tensions in the group and difficulties with devising material quickly.
As we are a class who haven't previously explored this sort of theatre in our KS4 experience, we conducted a lot of research on directors such as Katie Mitchell who are prominently known across the Theatre world as having conducted and devised successful plays of this genre. This gave the entire company more inspiration on how we would shape the play and how the entire play work. With this, we tied in a lot of physical movement aspects into the play which worked in and around the basis of the script and helped to evoke and intensify the feelings and the specific moods created in the script to a greater scale.
We had many ideas that would tie into the multimedia aspect of the piece; for example, the ideas of having a David Shilinglaw style art piece drawn on the floor or wall during the performance, using a big sheet full of art to display as a backdrop behind scenes, using camera work which would be projected to highlight specific moments in the play; nevertheless, the final idea we stuck with was the inspiration from our research on Foley and abstract sound, which provided a whole new medium for us to work with sound and music to illustrate the world of Illyria to the audience by the performances in an alternative way that intertwined almost perfectly with the physical movement pieces that had also been devised. Aaron, Yolanda and Rio were in charge of the sound and were essentially 'The Foley Artists' of the group, working with a Macbook and a keyboard to add sound to the piece as we created it. We used sounds technically at moments in the play to fill in the gaps at moments where sound was needed to enhance the material, but we also significantly used sound (or no sound) to affect the audience at moments in the play. Having no sound or a very mellow, abstract soundtrack at a particularly harrowing or emotional point in the play really helps direct the audience's focal point to what we want them to focus on, and helps heighten their response emotionally to what the scenario is at that moment. Sound is like a shortcut to the emotions and hearing certain sounds that we make in our play, such as the helicopter sound or the sound of deodorant spraying, is almost relatable for an audience member and helps the actual reality of the situation of Illyria in the play a much more daunting and moving thought for audience members, as they are able to relate their experiences of perhaps spraying deodorant to the reasons and the context of how deodorant is being used in the play.
Overall, sound and the physical aspects of our play were one of the most key aspects of how we developed our performance material as they helped add an extra layer onto the building blocks that Bryony Lavery gave us as a stimulus.
With physical movement comes a lot of ensemble work and with this knowledge, we did a lot of ensemble based exercises and movement exercises which relied on other people. For example, I practiced a lot of lifts with Ruby which was eventually used in the final product of the play and we also practiced a lot of rolls and floor work in the first weeks of rehearsals, which helped personally develop my movement skills which definitely aided me in the weeks leading up to the shows and throughout the process. The ensemble attitude was definitely something we all had to embody in order for the show to be successful. One effective exercise I remember us doing was where half of the class trailed behind me and the other half followed Laila and we had to walk around the space turning slowly without seeing anyone behind us. This required the ensemble mindset as everyone had to move as one, listen to their senses and use their peripheral vision. Exercises like this were also involved in our process of trial and error when developing performance material, as at one point this kind of movement piece was in the play but was later cut as it was no longer effective or polished.
How have you used research findings effectively in the performance work?
Most of the research stages took place in the early weeks of rehearsals during February. We were all given various areas to look at in groups, which helped influence our visions of how we would approach the script and design our play concept. A lot of these had the similar themes presented in the play and also were linked to our multimedia genre. I conducted a presentation with the Foley /multimedia research group in which we did research on Jack Donovan Foley and his work and other videos which showed how Foley could be used to make certain sounds. We also did a lot of research on Katie Mitchell, a prominent multimedia director and we owe a lot of our inspiration for the piece to her as we were able to research ways in which themes in the play could be communicated to the audience through an abstract and interesting way. I found the political side of Katie Mitchell's work very fascinating (her feminist attitude and the backlash of the British theatre industry for some of her works, e.g her interpretation of The Seagull at The National Theatre) because it proved and highlighted the importance of pieces like ours which focus on very intense and emotional themes and how our own political beliefs can somehow be inputted into the play's construction to challenge the audience when they come and see the play.
Furthermore, research we did on different dictators such as Francisco Franco of Spain, Mussolini and the Spanish Civil War were helpful in our understanding of war torn environments such as Illyria and what it's like living under military dictatorships - therefore, we were also able to come up with our interpretation and concept of Illyria much more intelligently using evidence from our own research. I also found research on female war correspondents (relevant to Maria's character) and people living in war and devastation was very interesting for character research because this helped me work out the given circumstances of my character much more effectively and also have conversations with other people in the cast about their characters. We were able to apply our understanding to our portrayals of our characters, applying them to a real life context and not playing one dimensional, stereotypical and boring versions of our characters. I personally felt like this shaped my character of Madame as it gave me an incentive to portray Madame as someone who is unfortunately left so affected by war even though she is upper class that by the events in the play she has become dissociated and very desensitised to the concept of war and dictatorships, especially because she is the mistress of a dictator. It was interesting to consider this approach as I think the inner needs and objectives of a character are quite important to establish early on especially if it isn't directly written in the text. The research on female war correspondents also challenged me to consider a theme of our play and made me believe that Bryony Lavery was possibly challenging the idea of Western capitalism and the Western media in her play, as knowing the context of female war correspondents in reality and how Maria is portrayed almost suggests that the Western media are often hungry to use war torn and economically distraught places like Illyria for money and to indoctrinate citizens of the West in certain ways. When Maria sees and meets all these different people in the play who are affected by the war situation in various ways, it highlights in the script especially at the end of the play that Maria is the one who eventually will get to leave Illyria and go back home to her Western, economically developed society in which she can have a baby and carry on with her life.
In summary, having done a lot of extensive research really aided my personal understanding of multimedia theatre, the situation of the play and my own character's experience. It shaped the entire devising process because we used what we had researched from a real life context to apply political statements and embody our own opinions into the work, which gave it more authenticity.
2A. D2
How have you carried out preparatory work with effective application of rehearsal skills? How have you demonstrated a high level of commitment and input to the process?
The overall rehearsal process was quite tedious and often required a lot of patience because as I've previously mentioned, we had quite a spontaneous, trial and error mindset when it came to making material and rehearsing material. I personally tried to always work with a constructive and optimistic attitude when rehearsing although I wouldn't say I always kept this up particularly when our cast found it hard to co operate with contrasting ideas. Nevertheless, most of the time, this type of attitude ensured that I was always giving off positive energy and using it usefully and constructively in rehearsals to get the most productive outcome. I particularly used this mindset when I wasn't involved in the main ensemble pieces, particularly the ones where I am playing Madame and the set is being changed or physical transitions are being made during the play - I tried to find something constructive to do which wouldn't distract the people rehearsing, such as learning my lines in these spaces, rehearsing the beginning of a scene with Esme, Max and Laila with the help of Yolanda or re visiting the physical blocking that I had written on my script. When we encountered issues, such as casting issues, I tried to come up with casting solutions along with the rest of the class to ensure that the process was continuous and I was collaborating my ideas to the piece. Another problem that I encountered was when myself and Laila had to divide Madame's lines for our character, therefore we met up outside of rehearsals to sort these out and also conduct character research, which was really helpful to establish the given circumstances of Madame with another person.
I ensured that I was always demonstrating commitment and input to the process by being present to every rehearsal and having something to contribute to discussions, whether that was a creative idea, a solution or research. I believe that I was also dedicated towards rehearsals by having my lines learnt and therefore I felt more comfortable to commit to my scenes and play my character with spontaneity during rehearsals, even though it was initially quite nerve racking. I offered props during the dress rehearsal and brought in empty deodorant cans for the cleaners, personal props and my costume, which helped support other actors and amplify my character for the performance.
2B. D3
Discuss how you have taken part in the performance, demonstrating effective use of performance skills.
The performances took part on the 5th and 6th of April, where we had a 5pm performance and a 7pm performance. This enabled me to test my performance skills over two nights and from this experience I would argue that over the two nights, I demonstrated and developed my performance skills as I played Madame and also was involved in ensemble sequences.
As an ensemble member, I used my senses and peripheral vision to move as one with the rest of the ensemble, ensuring that I was always spatially aware so that I was doing my part in making the ensemble movements look quite at ease, yet full of energy. This required me to work as a unit with the rest of the cast which we already started to embody in the warm ups previously, doing the same actions as one and helping to populate the world of the play. I attempted to do this by testing my skill of mirroring the mood in the room by my body language and posture, therefore as an ensemble member I would be projecting the mood of the piece at a particular moment in the play through a larger scale and supporting the main actors at these points to tell the story to the audience. I had to really listen out for cues and certain lines or sounds created by the Foley team to guarantee that a continual energy and sharpness was added to my movement and so that I could move with everyone else in a clean and precise fashion.
Furthermore, in the ensemble, one of my aims was to have as much clarity and precision in the physical movement as possible therefore this would ensure that the communication to the audience of the piece would be more clear but also I could add an extra layer of depth to the portrayal of my character, so it wasn't stereotypical. I believe that my movement skills really supported me in this over the two nights, for example, when for a bit in the play I have to play dead, I tried to allow my mind to be very still and this really helped me relax into the floppy positions that a dead person would have. This physical clarity I had made it easier for Ruby to then pick me up and carry me over her shoulder, as well as dragging me along the floor and it amplified her story telling as a main focus in this part of the play. I wasn't necessarily the main focus at all times, I tried to have a very defined character by always having an opinion on stage and being committed in the ensemble to try and have a collective and unified response to the feelings and statements created by the main focal points of the play.
When I was playing Madame, my whole energy and body language had to change. As opposed to working with other people in the ensemble and trying not to upstage anyone else or stand out particularly, I had to do the exact opposite and embody a very domineering and extremely high status character, therefore when I was upstage and I changed into my shoes to represent a character change, I tried to use this as a transformation where I altered my body language, posture and mindset to get into the character of Madame. I also used this moment to think about Madame's given circumstances at her entrance in the play, her objectives and needs as well as her relationships with other characters.
I tried to play Madame with a sense of freedom by listening to my instincts and allowing her as a high status character to play with the space around her and use other characters to play her objective which was 'to dominate', 'to show off', 'to intimidate' - I think that this helped me immerse myself in the character because I didn't have to follow structured and monotonous blocking, but I was just playing and experimenting in the space as I had done in rehearsals. I noticed that the stage presence I had enabled other characters to react off my actions and my presence as Madame, with lower status characters maybe gazing at my character or contrastingly looking away. Certain actions like where I would be looking into my mirror or gazing at my shoes, I tried to direct towards the audience to ensure that the actions I was playing with were amplified and were more exaggerated to ensure that the effect of a very high status and domineering character was communicated.
Voice techniques I used to clarify my character were projection, in which I tried to use my diaphragm to project lines. I also used the vowels and consonants of the words in my lines to enunciate Madame's lines, for example, 'These are from Italy', 'these are made from wild deer hide'. Because these lines are used as part of Madame's objective to show off, it would make a lot more sense and add a lot more depth to her tactic if she said them with a lot of clarity and enunciation, pronouncing the emotional vowels of words more expressively.
Other skills I used throughout the performance additionally included adapting to change. At points in the play where lines were missed out, movements were skipped or cues weren't hit, it was the collective responsibility of everyone in the ensemble to continue telling the story and taking the new change with an open mind. I think that as a cast we did deal with this quite well during the play and the audience's immersion into the world of Illyria wasn't broken because a consistent flow and energy was established by the performances. An example of this was when myself and Laila mixed up the lines and therefore I went completely blank on my lines at one point. I tried to play this off by playing my objective physically instead of freezing and by this time, Laila had improvised my lines and said them for me, which helped the moment go unnoticed by the audience.
To summarise, I ensured that I was always playing an active and contributing role throughout the performance by consistently using my body language, posture, movement and lines to display my character's opinion of the events on stage and this helped me play my objective with spontaneity and flow throughout the two performances.
How have you made a significant contribution to the success of the piece?
I have workshopped my ideas, being a part of a presentation and also carried out extensive research which has been useful towards the Foley, the concept of the play and my own independent character research. During the performances, I have been committed and adapted to change with ease, acting as an ensemble member and as Madame in the play which has helped communicate the story of the play to the audience. I believe that my presence in the ensemble pieces contributed to the purpose of the ensemble as I was continually committing and bringing lots of energy to the piece throughout.
