As Four Ways to Speak Out came from the Validation stage to the performance stage of devising, the overall theme of the piece was vulnerability,mystery,domestic violence and how oppressive love can be as dangerous as physical abuse, “Domestic violence and abuse can happen to anyone, yet the problem is often overlooked, excused, or denied. This is especially true when the abuse is psychological, rather than physical. Emotional abuse is often minimized, yet it can leave deep and lasting scars.” (http://helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm) and this bled into the basic fabric of the piece.
This theme of oppressive love became an overruling theme, and this was portrayed through the diary entries as well as the physical action. In particular the last entry “I couldn’t breathe in his embraces, I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel a thing for him,or me, or us.” ( Mitra,R. Diary entry 3) This final entry helped to enforce this theme of oppressive love through to the finale where Andy became caged by his own actions of love towards the woman. This technique also helped to enforce the pieces concept that not all domestic abuse is physical, and although our woman suffered terrible abuse, it was the overwhelming love that finally pushed her to leave the man. This theme throughout the piece I feel helped the group tie together because the entire of the piece felt like a battle between head and heart for the character of the woman, “The funny thing is that despite all of this I loved him. Even though I spent many a night in tears I never considered leaving him.” ( http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-A-Victim-Of-Domestic-Violence/980557) There seemed to be a constant “Should I stay or should I go” mind set, and this conflict between your emotions and your brain is one that all the cast could relate to in one way or another. Another theme which helped the cast bond together I feel is that the woman left of her own accord and she wasn’t killed due to the violence. It left the piece with a positive message that escape is possible and this strong message which went against the stereotypical portrayal of domestic abuse allowed us to connect to the woman in a new and refreshing way and it enabled our characters to be stronger individually and as a unit. This strength was shown along the vulnerability of each cast member during ensemble two, which really allowed the entire cast to embrace the emotion of the piece, tying us together further. Personally I tried to pull upon my emotional memory, using memories where I had felt betrayed or misguided, to link to how my character felt she had been treated by not only Andy’s character but the woman herself. The idea of each individual needing to rely on someone else for support is an emotion which is easily identifiable in both cast members and the audience and this theme of community ran through the fabric of the piece to give the overall sense of loss at the disappearance of the woman.
With the movement from the studios to the Arena theatre space, it bought challenges and opportunities for the piece and the cast. As a cast it was similar to entering a new “street where the woman had lived” and as characters and actors we had to re- familiarize ourselves with the space as a whole before we could begin to create our show in the new area. “Commanding the stage demands a control of the space. […] the actor has to read the space. But in order to do this s/he has first to really ‘see’ it, to create parallels of attention so that the whole space becomes their field of vision.” (Callery, D. 2001 p.79) As an ensemble the first problem we encountered came simply from the dynamics of the space. The theatre was much deeper than the space we had been using in the studios, and about the same width. There were many adjustments that needed to be made in order to fill the space for the entire piece, but most of these were done throughout the piece its self and the cast being aware of the space that they had to work in. As well as the size and shape of the space, a weakness lay in the scenography that had been created within the space. We had not worked with the real bed or bar before and certain movements had to change within group work. For example the “funny bar group” had to alter a jump onto the bar into a twirl, due to the height of the real bar on set. But changes like this showed a strength of the performers to adapt their movements swiftly. This strength was also demonstrated through ensemble two, where it became apparent the couples would be much closer together than in the studios and had to be reconfigured, but I feel this happened smoothly overall once members had removed the idea that you only get seen when you’re standing at the front of the stage; this became an issue in ensemble one, when the street needed to be long and slim and not a large bunch of people, in order to represent the right image of a road. This also became a small problem for the cast as a whole. We all appeared to have developed a selfish outlook on spacial awareness when performing, but when we realised that the stage was lit right to the back of the stage and you could be seen at all angles of the stage, we began to spread out and fill the space much better. An example of this for me personally is during the bedroom scene, when I sat at the back of the bed by the post and continued to interact with Dawn and Emma whilst they were trying to read the diary, and by the end of the scene I’d allowed them to look through it with me, as I felt I had developed a bond with those two people in particular during the piece. And although I had positioned myself at the back of the stage I still felt as involved in the action than I had through the entire piece. Another difference from moving from the studios to the theatre was using the real life props, from cigarettes to clothes, drinking shots to three diaries. Transitioning to using the real props, liquids in particular made the entire cast more aware of certain movements. For example being careful during the second ensemble with four pint glasses of apple juice on the side of the stage. As well as the overall movement of the piece from studio to theatre, as cast members a strength lay in our ability to relate back to our characters. As the warm up became more intense and character based, although we were in a new environment, we explored it and were still able to feel the space and each other within it, and the ensemble counting and stop/start took longer to accomplish in the beginning, but we achieved it by the third show particularly well.
Over the three performances in the theatre I feel as though the piece grew from strength to strength, with the final show being the most intention driven and energetic of all. For me personally I feel as though my character developed a lot quicker and more intensely within the theatre space than it had within the studio. I feel this is because I was able to use the set and felt apart of the life of the woman. This then allowed me to feel much more of the community than I ever had before, reacting genuinely to the action going on around me and to the emotions of others. An example of how my character developed up to the final performance was during Hayley’s attempt to leave. Through out most runs and rehearsals I had felt connected to this scene and Emma Gill’s role to me at this moment, but it wasn’t until the final show that I really allowed Emma to console me in my grief for the woman. Along with the lyrics in the “and then you kissed me” and the effective movements I allowed myself to be completely lost in the action that was taking place and found myself fully in the mind set of my character witnessing what she could have potentially helped to stop. I was over come by a sense of guilt and helplessness and it was this emotion I gained from the interaction with Emma that fueled my intention throughout the second ensemble, and created the most, i feel, dynamic second ensemble of all three shows. I believe this is true for most of the cast in the final run of the show. Emotions were running high and we were all connecting not just to each other but the environment and space we’d all come to feel like home and we were “ constantly experimenting with the performance environment” (http://www.motionhouse.co.uk/about.htm) This secure environment allowed us to try slightly new things within each show creating a different emotion, for example the suitcase fight between Andy and Dan. The intention had seemingly been lost from the beginning of the RSVP model and throughout the rehearsals and felt as though they were going through the motions, until the final two performances where not only did Dan and Andy really connect with each other and their intention behind wanting the suitcase, but also the rest of the performers really involved themselves in the action and responded realistically to the fight. Dan’s vindictive side was shown and Andy’s distress at the revealing of the items.
The RVSP model I feel still applied even during the final stages of the performance piece, because even right up until the final showing as a cast we were still learning and researching about all the different aspects that come along with domestic violence, as well as how the woman had been affected by the actions of not only her partner but her friends in the neighborhood. In turn this allowed us to continue to learn about our own character right through the process and I felt as though my character never stopped growing. This is because when moving from the studio to the Arena we had to re validate movements and intentions behind movements and clarify their importance and message within the story of the woman. The scenography of the space also enabled us to keep validating the piece until we reached the “P” to create the most successful performance we could.
As an ensemble, looking at the three shows it is clear to me that we may have peaked to early during the second full technical dress run, with this run going well with a high energy and level of emotion by the first show we were already feeling tired and by the second performance totally drained. We pushed through to try and maintain the energy and precision throughout the shows, but it was evident that after a long rest the final performance was both emotionally charged and exciting. We all felt more alive and with the knowledge of it being the last time we would ever perform Four Ways To Speak Out, we all pushed it to our limits and gave it all we had, to give the best of the three performances. With each show having different levels of excitement, precision and emotion it is clear that each show was different “it’s alive, it changes every night” (Huxley & Witts ,1996,p239) and potentially had a different effect on the audience, this is a common theme of physical theatre and the nature of the work, but overall I feel as though the performance had a positive message to the audience over all three shows and hopefully expressed the strengths and courage in sufferers to walk way from it all.
Bibliography:
Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body: A practical guide to Physical Theatre. Routledge. New York.
Huxley, M & Witts, N. (1996) The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader. Routledge. USA.
Mitra, R. Diary entry Number Three. (2010)
Domestic Abuse Help. [ Accessed at 24th April 2010] http://helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm.
Motionhouse dance theatre. [Accessed 24th April 2010] (http://www.motionhouse.co.uk/about.htm
Victims of Domestic violence. [Accessed on 24th April 2010] ( http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-A-Victim-Of-Domestic-Violence/980557
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