Fragment Theatre Company first met on Tuesday 24th January to begin discussing production roles, names for the company and ideas for the show. Although the lessons hadn’t started yet we thought it would be beneficial to get a head start, having created the group two months previous.
Once production roles were decided we began to think about potential areas of exploration for the show. Amongst discussions of mental health, we also quickly became aware of the political and social climate that currently exists. I was very aware however that we were in danger of joining a long list of companies focusing on political turmoil or cultural disruption and so we instead looked at alternative ways of looking at these issues that were perhaps more subtle.
First meeting to discuss ideas (Nixon, 2017)
It was at this point that we decided to focus on the individual and what makes us all different. This in turn led us to the idea of Fragment for the name which is defined as a part broken off or otherwise detached from a whole. This idea will carry on throughout our company’s manifesto and mission statement that we will create over the coming weeks.
Rather than focusing on the politics that we all felt overwhelmed by, we decided to use this as context and focus instead on the notion of how we escape when we feel trapped. We spoke at length about the power of music and its ability to help us get away from situations by either cheering us up or helping us cry and ideas included having a soundtrack which we handed to the audience as they came into the auditorium. After a discussion about how each of us escaped however we soon realised that there was a greater variety to the topic and that it was a broad area for us to explore. We discussed having various themes linking together through some kind of story arc and also shared a common desire to create a show that was aesthetically pleasing, discussing the use of TV’s, projection and shadows amongst other ideas.
My Personal Story of Escaping through Childhood (Joe Turner, 2017)
I think my role as director will take the form of two primary roles within the devising process. Initially I think I will be a facilitator between the devising that will be created as a cast and the refining and writing that will be done by the ‘creatives’ (the writers of the piece). I then think, later on in the process, my role becomes more authoritative when the devising stops and rehearsals become focused on perfecting and refining material to make it the best it can be for the final show.
Works Cited:
Joe Turner (2017) My Personal Escape. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbgemA8fwJA&t=1s [Accessed 26 May 2017]
Nixon, E. (2017) First Meeting to Discuss Ideas.
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