Reflective Practitioner: Structure and intentions

We now have the performance structure entirely fixed, it is simply a case of rehearsal now-the devising has come to an end for part one of the process. I just wanted to pause for breath before the madness of dress tech and public shows to reflect on what we have created and our intentions in doing so.
In part one of the show structure, Undressing-dressing down, and our intention is to set up the themes that we want to discuss with the audience and the ways in which we have addressed and played with that theme. We hope that this opening part will present the performers to the audience and begin to tell some of our stories and relationships with her. It is my hope that this will warm up the audience to the concept of woman and trauma.

In part two, telling tales-like it is, we invite the audience to participate in a devising/improve session based around a single question…why is she crying? I am hoping that by structuring the audience’s participation through the participation toolkit, they will feel that it is a safer way to become interactive and engaged with the material and the audience. I am hoping the rules will operate in the same way that they have during our process and will ease anxiety and push for investment and involvement in a comfortable and non-pressured way.

In section three of the performance, Playing-with you, we will invite the audience to play a game of musical chairs. Again this game should be a familiar structure and I hope that in playing a game that is comfortable and fun, they will forget themselves and can invest and generate material just by applying the rules of the game. The winner of the game decides which text will be performed for the audience. Although the audience do not have creative control over the actual material and their choice is not an informed one, they will actually be making the performance by participating in the game of musical chairs and creating the presence of the absent her in their responses to the offer of telling us a secret each time they get eliminated from the game.

Our performance of one of the prepared texts is a gift to the audience, an offering of possible stories that we have prepared for them to make something of. It is out thank you to them for helping us to play and our offering of her/she to them…our possibilities of her/she.

The re-dressing element is about turning full circle and the suggestion that this is a fluid process that can be repeated and will be repeated but for the sake of difference rather than to repeat as the same.

These are our intentions and it is not until we get an audience in and participating that we will get an understanding of the success of our intentions and our methodologies. I am still really concerned about the space and I really hope that it does not set up the wrong impression and create a separation between the audience and the performers. I now have no control over that and will simply have to ask the ushers to make sure that everyone is seated in the semi-circle rather than letting them go into the raked stalls.