CPR has invited some of the most exciting and diverse Wales based and international theatre directors to Aberystwyth for an intensive participatory project that offers a rare opportunity for both experienced and emerging directors to gather and share the methods, approaches and skills of professional directing practice via laboratories and presentations, demonstrations and dialogue.
The exploratory started with an introduction by Mike Pearson to his work and his approach 'in all languages'. He discussed working on a past production where the different elements of the production had been split apart. Text, Action, Scenography, Soundtrack and Technology were all worked on on their own without reference to the others. The piece was divided into small dramatic sections where everyone understood what the core of those would be. Work was then developed individually on those and then merged at the end. A process which requires trust in all members of the team but which could throw up interesting results.
The need to find independant physical activity led to 'In All Languages'. This process is a result of examining a huge array of different physical exercises and realising that they can all fundamentally be served by this process. It had three levels. Firstly - physical actions: this was divided into solo, duet and group types. Secondly - Articulation: which could best be described as variants on the type of movement. So if you have a gesture (the physical), you could do that smaller or larger, take more time, do it at only 50%. The third aspect is Mediation which may add something into the action such as a prop or change the environment of the action (ie, putting it into a smaller space or against a wall).
After this introduction the group split into two performer groups and observers. The two groups, one with four people and one with five, were then guided through the process by Mike.
Mike will be directing a production of 'The Persians' for the National Theatre of Wales soon and wanted to use the technique to look at how a chorus could work. The two groups created movement sequences based on the 'in all languages' technique and then tried doing the same movements using more time, doing only 50%, 10%, 2% etc. Finally one group was given newspapers and another umbrellas and did the actions again with these items being taken into consideration. They then tried to repeat against a wall, under a table or using chairs.
It was fascinating to see the way each addition changed the impact of the movement. The articulation elements changed the feeling and quality of the movement while the Mediation introduced extra aspects which created different dramatic effects. It was easy to see how this movement could be developed for performance.
Finally the two groups did a different exercise based on recreating scenes from a collection of artwork. The group recreated several of these scenes and then linked them together as a repeating link. Articulation effects were added and mediation ones discussed.
The session concluded with a presentation from a phd student working on how this sort of physical work can be documented and the different issues and challenges with this.
The exploratory started with an introduction by Mike Pearson to his work and his approach 'in all languages'. He discussed working on a past production where the different elements of the production had been split apart. Text, Action, Scenography, Soundtrack and Technology were all worked on on their own without reference to the others. The piece was divided into small dramatic sections where everyone understood what the core of those would be. Work was then developed individually on those and then merged at the end. A process which requires trust in all members of the team but which could throw up interesting results.
ReplyDeleteThe need to find independant physical activity led to 'In All Languages'. This process is a result of examining a huge array of different physical exercises and realising that they can all fundamentally be served by this process. It had three levels. Firstly - physical actions: this was divided into solo, duet and group types. Secondly - Articulation: which could best be described as variants on the type of movement. So if you have a gesture (the physical), you could do that smaller or larger, take more time, do it at only 50%. The third aspect is Mediation which may add something into the action such as a prop or change the environment of the action (ie, putting it into a smaller space or against a wall).
After this introduction the group split into two performer groups and observers. The two groups, one with four people and one with five, were then guided through the process by Mike.
Mike will be directing a production of 'The Persians' for the National Theatre of Wales soon and wanted to use the technique to look at how a chorus could work. The two groups created movement sequences based on the 'in all languages' technique and then tried doing the same movements using more time, doing only 50%, 10%, 2% etc. Finally one group was given newspapers and another umbrellas and did the actions again with these items being taken into consideration. They then tried to repeat against a wall, under a table or using chairs.
It was fascinating to see the way each addition changed the impact of the movement. The articulation elements changed the feeling and quality of the movement while the Mediation introduced extra aspects which created different dramatic effects. It was easy to see how this movement could be developed for performance.
Finally the two groups did a different exercise based on recreating scenes from a collection of artwork. The group recreated several of these scenes and then linked them together as a repeating link. Articulation effects were added and mediation ones discussed.
The session concluded with a presentation from a phd student working on how this sort of physical work can be documented and the different issues and challenges with this.