Reflective Practitioner-the audition plan

I just wanted to go through my proposed audition plan and reflect upon the reasons that underpin my decision to undertake those particular games and activities.

Physical Warm Up
This serves a dual purpose; as well as getting the performers bodies warmed up, it will give me the opportunity to asses their general level of fitness (the project is quite physically demanding) and body awareness. It will give me the chance to see their physicality and the performance presence that they generate. It will also allow me to asses their level of commitment and concentration. The ability to generate a presence by undertaking tasks rather than becoming a character in the traditional sense is a fundamental aspect of Siren Song and so the warm up allows me to see the performer’s level of concentration in doing tasks. Commitment is an obvious and vital requirement for this project.

Vocal Warm Up
In the same way that the physical warm up will afford me the chance to assess presence and physical character, the vocal warm up will enable me to gage their vocal production and vocal skills. In exercising their breathe production and control, I will be able to asses their vocal range in both tone and character at the same time as warming them up for the exercises to come. I will be looking for versatility in their range. The performers will be utilising their voice and body in the performance to create the work and I am not going to have time during the process to develop these skills with the performers, so I am looking for a certain level of vocal competence (to produce soundscapes ect).

Devising Warm Up
Follow the Leader- This may seem like childish simple game but it is extremely useful in affording the opportunity to assess a performer’s ability to be imaginative, to take risks and to be engaging, (the all important BIE). Although this is a child’s game, it gives the leader a chance to be creative and find innovative and imaginative ways of generating motion. I will be looking out for performers who do not make the obvious or easy choices but instead choose to really think outside of the box, push their physicality to its limits and take risks. The leader in this game has to think on their feet, show initiative, creativity and physical prowess. My hope is that it will spark an element of playful competition, each leader trying to ‘out do’ the previous leader-this would be a healthy and insightful response to the task set. This task requires risks to be taken by the performers; they have to step up and put themselves under scrutiny not only by me but through necessity, the other performers also. It asks the followers in the game to invest; they have to give themselves over voice and body to the whims of the leader. In this sense it also requires an engagement with each other and a level of trust between those taking part in the game-I am really interested to see how the performers auditioning respond to this particular task.
Follow the Leader, requires all those taking part to have a connection with the others who are also playing the game. Each player (except the leader) is reliant upon the person previous to them in the line, for the followers to accurately mimic the leader, they have to have a connection with the person in front of them, and they have to be aware of each other to be successful. I am looking for performers who have the ability to connect with others. In Siren Song, the work will depend very much on the people who make it and it is really important in this respect that I select the right people.

Etchell’s offers up some really insightful comments about this type of collaboration:

‘Is collaboration this: the 12 years’ endless proximity to other people, physical, vocal, all day and into the night, watching people fade in and out of coherence and concentration-an intimacy that approaches that of lovers who no longer bother to close the door whilst shitting?’ (Etchells: 54)

We do not have 12 years or even 12 weeks, which is such a huge concern for me but can we build or find the level of intimacy and collaboration that Siren Song needs within the timescale that we have? I don’t know but I really hope so. I hope that some of the exercises tomorrow will highlight any potential connections between performers. I have no delusions that we will achieve the level of intimacy that Etchell’s is discussing here but in the auditions I will be looking for sparks and connections to build on. Some of the undergrads will have worked together for the last 2/3 years and so may already have built up relationships that can be utilised. Matthew Goulish also talks about the process of devising in terms of its relationship with time and it does not afford me any comfort at all:

‘We had no idea where this would lead us, or when it would lead us there. We simply agreed to begin’ (Goulish: 9)

I am not going to have the luxury of time to develop and time to discover, so I am just hoping that tomorrow I discover some brave and ferocious performers.

Machine- (One person starts a series of two repetitive movements with accompanying sounds and then the other performers can jump in when they feel ready. Their movements must compliment and accompany the starting performers’ and so it goes on and builds until the whole group are working as a single intricate machine. This is a device to see how the performers use their imaginations and engage and collaborate with each other as an ensemble. This game is all about working as an ensemble and they will have to be completely aware of each other and work together to produce something bigger than themselves as individuals. They will have to become part of a whole. It will also show me which performer’s respond imaginatively and are able to express themselves through task driven activities. I will also be looking for investment. I want to see which performers take up the task and invest in it wholly and earnestly.

Trust- I will be asking the performers to work against their natural instincts to protect themselves and ask them to catch each other in pairs and ask the group to keep a single performer upright in a tight circle. This is all about taking risks and putting your trust in the other performers. This is an integral aspect to devising and making theatre in a collaborative environment.

Intro’s- I will ask the performers to introduce themselves in any mode or medium of expression that they feel best gets across to the group what they wish to share with the group about themselves. They will get 10 minutes to prepare their intro. In asking the performers to share something about themselves with the group, it will give me a sense of their imaginative character and the performance tools that they rely on. It will give them a chance to display their performance skills at the same time as presenting their performative self. It will give me the opportunity to assess the performance personae that they have to offer. This is a crucial for me, as they will be playing a performative version of themselves during the Siren Song experiments.

Auslander considers the importance of the performative personae as a postmodernist performance practice in the work of the Wooster Group and in this extract quotes Willem DaFoe, one of their key performers and founding members:

‘I’m this particular guy who has to go through these particular paces. It’s not so much that I’m putting forward my personality, but because of the various actions that I have to do, I’m presenting my personality in how I field those actions’ (Auslander 1997: 39)

I am concerned with seeing how the performers present themselves in this task.

Audition Tasks
Confessions- I will set up a circle with the performers and give them the task of making confessions about ‘Her’. One person will start by stepping into the circle and will have to keep going until someone else steps in and takes over by saying “stop”. This exercise is one that I hope will be key to generating material in the devising process. I want to do this, to see how the performers will field this type of material generating task. It will be useful in helping me to assess how the performers will invest in a task, generate imaginative material and negotiate themselves in the activity of the tasks. This type of task/activity/game will be the corner stone of our process and I want to see how far they will take it and run with it. It is really vital that the performers take up this particular activity and attack it with creativity and rigour.
Improv Situations- I will set up the circle and give them a stimulus-this could be a word, a sentence, a statement, a sound. Once they step into the middle of the circle, they are then in the performance space and can respond to the stimulus in anyway that they choose. They are free to step in or out of that space anytime they like once the improv has begun. I will let the improve runs until they collapse or run out of steam. This again, will be a device that we will use during the devising process to explore the themes of woman and trauma and will assess the same things as the Confessions exercise. The confessions circle is about how they handle themselves in a task but this exercise assesses how they marshal those things as an ensemble. It looks at the way in which they engage and collaborate with each other to devise and create.
Read through- I will be asking them to read through a small section of the Woman text in groups of three. The texts are one of the key starting points for the process and I want to see how the performers will approach them and respond to them. It is really important that the performers have a keen sense of the themes and can express them in exciting and insightful ways. The texts are a useful way into the themes and feel of the project.
Black liquid- this is a floor work, relaxation exercise. This is just a way of helping them to relax and clense their bodies of anything that we have done during the session. I hope that it will relax and reinvigorate the performers before we have our discussion about the project.
Discussion- I will go through all aspects of the project with all of the creative and housekeeping issues that need to be addressed. I will take any questions that the performers might have. I will give them a quick handout to look at during their break with all of the details on it.
Decision- I will make my casting decision, give feedback and give texts to all of the performers who I will be working with. I will also organise a provisional rehearsal schedule based on their availability.

Again, I really hope that lots of people show up for the audition tomorrow.