May 2017 – Page 4

May 15, 2017Hannah Marie DArcy No Comments

A bit about Budgeting

Too see the official budgeting sheet and what our money was spent on, visit the technical document page on the Blog.

I’m not going to write a lot about the budgeting in terms of Fragment theatre company, due to it being all evidenced on the budgeting sheet. However, due to the large beginning budget we had ( £575.75) it made this process quite easy. Most of the money within the budget was spent on props through out the process with a total of 53 props through out the show and a total of £290.73 being spent on these.

organisation was a skill I had to learn through out this process, making sure I kept every single receipt in my ‘producer’ folder was essential in order to be able to keep track on where all the money was going.

it was my job to designate people to buy certain props, giving them a budget in which they has to stick to, this was to ensure we did not go over the budget. Microsoft excel was a computer programme that became my best friend throughout being the producer of Fragment theatre company.

when keeping track of the money it was important to think about the quality of the purchase, as we intent to be a long running theatre company the props need to be a good standard of quality in order to last. meaning that the cheapest option wasn’t always the best.

I the end of this process I believe I successfully had control as to where the money was going, meaning that the whole show came in within budget. Including buying gifts for those that helped us along the way.

May 12, 2017Lucy Workman No Comments

How Do You End a Postdramatic Show?

A challenge we have recently faced whilst creating our show, which has now been titled Exit This Way, is how to end it. As the show has developed, we have become aware that it can be classed as postdramatic or postmodern. By this, I mean to say that our show fits into the theatre that Hans-Thies Lehmann ‘identifies as postdramatic [as it] […] focuses on exploring the usually unacknowledged anxieties, pressures, pleasures paradoxes and perversities that surround the performance situation as such’ (Jürs-Munby, 2006, 4). For this reason, we were adamant that the ending could not be generic. For example, an early idea for the ending of our piece was to have Rob and Brodie switch the lights off on stage and then start cleaning the stage space. When we became aware that our piece was showing aspects of postdramatic theatre, we knew that our ending needed to change. This is when we had a discussion as a company where everyone had their say on how the show should end. One of these ideas was to have every member of the company interviewed about how they think the show should end and for these interviews to be played on the TV screens that are scattered around our stage as part of our set. Hearing all these ideas from the ten different voices of our company coupled with this idea of interviews is what formed the ending to our show.

We wanted to ensure every member of the company played a part in the ending so I organised for a friend of mine, Jack Kirsop, on the Media Production course here at the University of Lincoln to film the interviews for us on Sunday 7^th May which he then edited for us too. Here is an example of one of the interviews.

Video of my interview that played at the end of Exit This Way (Workman, 2017)

We thought that to just play the interviews one after the other would get repetitive and boring, but also that it seemed too final. For this reason, we decided to have some of the interviews play through, then start having multiple interviews playing on different TV screens at the same time which would end in a cacophony of our voices which the audience would then walk out to when the house lights would eventually come up, with the interviews still playing. This fits in with the postdramatic feel of our show as it is us, as company members, talking as part of the show, about the show. We feel as though this is a ‘deep and thoughtful ending to a metaphysical piece on the world of escapism and human nature’ (Anthony and Atkinson, 2017).

Works Cited

Anthony, R. and Atkinson, B. (2017) Exit This Way [live performance]. Performed by Fragment Theatre Company. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 19 May.

Jürs-Munby, K. (2006) Introduction. In: H. T. Lehmann Postdramatic theatre. Oxon: Routledge.

Workman, L. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company Interview – Lucy – Exit This Way [onilne video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie6I4YAQJaI [accessed 29 May 2017]

May 12, 2017Chloe Catherine Goddard No Comments

Influences and Developments?

Whilst developing ideas and the story of our show, we discovered that the script was becoming more metaphysical than originally expected. This is because we decided it would be interesting to have all characters on stage at all times being themselves and then every time a section was picked so would an actor to portray the character in that scene. This contributed to the game show style that we wanted to portray as it suggests that each actor is a contestant on the game show who gets chosen for the chance to win.

Metaphysical theatre is the ‘physical fact of spectators watching the performer who is in the same room, while, there was also the sense that fictional spaces [are] being created’ (Power, 2008, 3). This is present in Exit This Way as both the actors and the audience know that there is a show happening and the characters that are introduced are fictional and don’t identify with them as they would in a conventional play.

Due to this idea, and after talking to the technicians regarding the set of the show, we decided to use a scaffolding type cage at the back of the stage and two smaller roasters at the front. This created an interesting allusion as the 5 actors on stage were placed under the cage at the back whilst being controlled by the two hosts. The messy style setting of the aesthetic also gradually got more and more chaotic throughout the course of the show which symbolised the failure and deterioration we wanted to show through our theme.

First Sets Initial designs of our set designed using TinkerCad software.

(Goddard, 2017)

Last Sets Final designs of our set after developments exploring metatheatre

(Goddard, 2017)

Photos of the final set on tech day

(Goddard, 2017)

This idea was also shown through the costumes we ultimately decided to use. We all had matching t-shirts with our logo and production role on them for fundraising purposes that we wore as part of marketing our show. Consequently, we decided to use these in the actual performance to emphasise the fact that the actors were themselves. As we wanted to make it obvious that we were ourselves, we added personal touches such as our hairstyles and coloured shoes that symbolised our personalities as the show had a personal element about it.

During the creation of each character throughout, we used the technique of layering the costumes on the actor. This creates the allusion the actor is now some form of character, and makes it apparent to the audience they are now not playing themselves. The audience are always aware that though the actor’s t-shirt is masked by a costume, simultaneously the actor is masked by a character and both the character and costume are easily removed at any time during the performance.

Along with metaphysical elements, our show also held a strong post-dramatic sense throughout. A post-dramatic piece of theatre is the idea of a performance that displays ‘the breakdown of dramatic conventions’ (Lehmann, 2006, 1), and one of the main themes throughout ‘Exit This Way’ is this prevalent idea of failure and deconstruction. This was an idea I wanted to show through the set of our show as we wanted to portray this world that looked like it had been made during the show, and letting the audience watch this development or deterioration allows them to understand the positive and negative influences that escapism can have on someone.

An example of the final costumes

(Odonnell, 2017)

Works Cited:

Goddard, C. (2017)

Lehmann, H,T. (2006) Postdramatic Theatre. Oxon, Routledge. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=63KBAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Postdramatic+Theatre&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Postdramatic%20Theatre&f=false [Accessed on 1^st April 2017].

Odonnell, S. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Power, C. (2008) Presence in Play: A Critique of Theories of Presence in the Theatre. Rodopi. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MbJzjYU10TsC&pg=PA135&dq=metaphysical+theatre&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=metaphysical&f=false [Accessed on 1^st April 2017].

May 8, 2017Phillipa May Strickland No Comments

Character inspiration and development

This week I saw the updated writing section of the script for mine and Emily’s main characters. It has changed drastically since the initial idea of Charlie and Rosie and the concept of online vlogging. My character is now called Alice and Rosie is an Author, the writers chose this path as it’s more relatable and shows escaping into fantasy worlds more generally through the use of stories. It deals with the idea that we can never achieve as much as characters in a fantasy world are able, meaning the real world can seem boring and empty compared to such fantasy worlds.

During the section of the play, Alice changes into multiple characters in order to escape from the dissatisfaction of her own life. She transforms into a range of characters including a private detective, knight, space scientist, and an awkward love struck girl who manages to find her happy ending, before returning to a distraught Alice who has realised she can’t have a life such as these. This is an exciting but challenging prospect for myself, as I need to create distinguishable characters between these different escapes.

In rehearsals we started off by simply experimenting, trying different movements and actions to see what was effective and what wasn’t, such as attempting different voices for each of the characters. Yet I needed to do more research to enhance my character development further. For example after a conversation with our writers and directors, I decided to watch old detective movies such as Sin City and The Maltese Falcon, focusing especially on the character of Sam Spade to construct the character of the private detective, through practising the movements and voices to create private Detective Joanna Andrews. For Arkon, the legendary knight of ferimor I’m using inspiration from The Princess Bride, specifically the character of Inigo Montoya. In particular i’m inspired by the arrogance and parts of physicality from his character, but I wish to make Arkon bigger and more over the top, in order to make it as contrasting as possible from the other characters

Joanna Andrews (Odonnell, 2017) Arkon (Odonnell, 2017)

For Doctor Kate Morrow i’m using characters such as Dr Brennan from Bones as inspiration, making her a strong and collected scientist. Yet her physicality is the hardest for me currently, as I’m finding it difficult to make her sufficiently contrasting from the other characters. In order to resolve this I am going to attempt to make her increasingly upper class, to provide a more distinctive feature from the other parts. For Sally, the final character I play, I am revisiting a part I previously played in college, that of a very nervous schoolteacher, as well as using the Sitcom Miranda. Using these sources, I am aiming to create a heightened sense of awkwardness and nervousness in order to add a comic value, as well as ensure a contrast between the character of Kate Morrow.

Kate Morrow (Odonnell,2017) Sally (Odonnell, 2017)

For Alice’s speech I am using my own experiences and emotions to bring her to life, as I think everyone at some point experiences similar emotions and worries about our dreams and wishes being unattainable.

Alice (Odonnell, 2017) Characterisation notes (Strickland, 2017)

Overall I want to create large characters that are comical and over the top. This is both for audience entertainment and to make the switch back to Alice and her breakdown meaningful and noticeable. It furthermore fits in with the post dramatic theme, with the quick character changes and the fragment T’shirts reminding the audience it isn’t real, enhancing the notion of the ‘manufactured’ performance.

Citations

Odonnell, S. (2017) Joanna Andrews. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Odonnell, S. (2017) Arkon. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Odonnell, S. (2017) Kate Morrow. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Odonnell, S. (2017) Sally. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Odonnell, S. (2017) Alice. Lincoln: SO Photography.

Strickland, P. (2017) Characterisation notes.