Makers Diary: Toolkit

I have had a really good think about how I can help the performers find exciting and challenging ways of bringing the audience’s material to life for them. This is such an important aspect of the work, in fact it is the heart of the work; all of the other elements of the performance are designed to enable this engagement between the audience and the performers. If I give the performers a choice of the ways in which to approach the material, I think that they will be feel less anxious and actually feel more freed up to be creative. I am going to call this their participation toolkit.

I have devised five different strategies for approaching the material that the audience provide them with: storytelling, soundscape, freeze frame montage, abstract movement machine and naturalistic. I have designed each one so that they are either a game or a task and can be approached as an interaction between activity and their performance personas. I have used some of the elements of playback theatre in order to create these tasks and games- only with a more aesthetically responsible view in mind than you would usually find in any playback session. I have combined elements of playback theatre with some of the warm up exercises that we have been using in our sessions to date.

Storytelling: One of the performers has to start by choosing a chalkboard that they want to address. Once they have chosen this, they will start by saying Once upon a time there was a woman……they have to keep going with telling a story that is based on the chalkboard until another performer interrupts them and then continues the story or changes its direction. This continues indefinitely until a performer calls stop and then that scenario is over.
Soundscape: One of the performer’s chooses a chalkboard that they want to use and respond to. They will start to produce a soundscape that tells the story or responds to the chalkboard suggestion. Once they have started the other performers will join in to build on it. It stops once one of the performers calls stop.
Freeze Frame Montage: Once the board has been chosen, the performer will take up a position and then the others will join them to create a freeze frame. Once they have held the first freeze frame for five seconds, the starting performer will call change and take up the next position; this process will be repeated until the starting performer calls stop.
Movement Machine: Once the chalkboard has been chosen, the starting performer will begin to make two repetitive movements in succession accompanied by a sound. The other performers will join in until they form one single unit- a machine.
Naturalism: This is fairly self explanatory really. The starting performer will begin a naturalistic improvisation and the others will join in until the starting performer calls stop.

I am really hoping that it will be useful and can’t wait to take it into a devising session. I suspect we will have to refine these games but I hope we can do that as part of the process.