“In the early twentieth century drama started to signal its dissatisfaction with its defining processes. For example, Chekhov’s plays distinctly refused to engage with ‘action’ in favour of atmosphere and mood[…] Post dramatic plays differentiate themselves from representational theatre by offering actors and audiences theatrical experiences that are not tied to the vicissitudes of either character or plot but seek to investigate broader issues, free of drama’s limitations” (Dramaonlinelibrary.com, 2017). As a company it became quickly evident that we enjoyed making jokes on the stage and interacting with our audience straight away, which is when our show took a post dramatic approach, making it easier for us to do this. So for example on the stage we have created an ‘on/off’ position, This term was given to us in Alexander Kelly’s workshop, a workshop that myself, Brodie, Joe and Ben attended and has inspired us through out our creative process.
(Odonell,S.2017)
The chairs at the back of the stage represent the ‘off’ positions for the actors. Meaning that when an actor is sat here they are just being themselves and not having to put on a character. The person sat on a chair will continue to be themselves until told otherwise by the ‘hosts’ of the show. as well as this within the show they was a constant blur between process and product. An example being in ‘the creation of Laura’ scene. As the actors brought Laura to life using lines such as ‘she loves mayo on everything’ and ‘Laura has a credit card with a high interest rate’. This is something that was played with in the process but then brought to life on the stage.
which links in to another element running throughout out show and that being ‘Metaphysical’ through the show characters would continuously jump in and out of character. Our show contained many ‘metaphysical’ elements as will be explained.
As Atraud states “What takes place in the theatre is an imitation of the “performance of being” which is taking place in nature. The theatre imitates this performance not by referring to it but by doing it”(Atraud,A,1958) theatre is traditionally used to produce a whole new imaginary world for the audience, however our show does not do this. Through out ‘Exit this way’ we make our audience completely aware that they are in fact watching a show. This is done through many means such as the costume, the actors upon the stage all wore their fragment theatre shirts, on the back on which stated our production roles, reminding the audience that we are just a normal group of people in a theatre company. we also used line within the script such as ” A show, within a show” (Atkinson, 2017). This is a portrayal of metaphysical theatre. See below a photo of us breaking from our normal show, into another show, becoming ‘Cake girls’
(Odonell,S. 2017)
Another main aspect that influenced our show was the idea of D.I.Y theatre, meaning do it yourself. Anyone that came to see our show will see that some of our props were badly made with cardboard and things that were lying around on props day. See Below images our home made props.
(Odonell,.2017)
by doing this it helped us to bring alive the ‘fun and silly’ aspect of our performance that we wanted our audience to enjoy with us.
Citations
Artaud, Antonin, The Theater and Its Double, trans. Mary Caroline Richards. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1958.
Dramaonlinelibrary.com. (2017). Post-dramatic theatre – Drama Online. [online] Available at: http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/post-dramatic-theatre-iid-2516 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].
Odonnell, S. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company. Lincoln: SO Photography.
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