Jessica Bark

 

Final Blog Submission

Forming the Company

We decided we want to be a comedy-company. That was something we weren’t willing to budge on. One person suggested we look at doing theatre for young audiences which was received with an explosion of laughter. We are a group of people who just like to laugh, make people laugh, or laugh at people… So we decided to play to our strengths!

Reading Arts Council England’s guidance on how to build a successful mission for a company, allowed us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a company that best suited us. Furthermore it allowed us to understand how we can use our strengths to create performance that would entertain others. The most important thing when creating our mission and manifesto was to ensure clarity.

As director, I ensured the show we  put on matched our mission and manifesto.

The development of our name came from a cast member stating that we had to be “full frontal” with our comedy. The idea behind the name comes from the fact that we do not want to change the world, but rather take on historical events that traditionally are associated with tragedy and find the comedy within them. Our mission states that we want to “peel away the skin of seriousness and reveal the core of comedy” therefore ‘exposing all’ like being “full frontal.”

Taking on the role of Director, I knew I would have to lead the rehearsal process. How I went about it would effect the overall outcome of the show. However, I chose to make rehearsals a joint discovery. Rather than dictating how and where I wanted actors to move, or how I wanted to say lines, I wanted them to discover it for themselves. This was based on something I read in John Abbott’s The Acting Book.

“Rehearsals should not be an attempt to ‘get things right’ and make scenes run smoothly.
And performances should not be about trying to repeat things exactly the same way each night.
All rehearsals and performances should be voyages of creative discovery.”
(Abbott, 2015, 139).

Throughout this process, I have tried to make our company communicate a vision that suited us as a group, as opposed to me as an individual.

After reading McCaffrey’s Directing a Play it helped me with organisation. Myself and the Stage Manager created rehearsal schedules for each week which outlined exactly which scenes would be worked on. It also helped the actors prepare day to day. Having a large cast meant it was difficult to get everyone in at the same time but we managed to work it out. As McCaffrey states “The rehearsal process is the backbone of any theatrical project” (McCaffrey, 1988, 36). I wanted to communicate politely and effectively with the cast, taking into consideration other things they had to do. This is outlined by McCaffrey also, that a director should “respect cast-member’s busy lives away from the theatre and they will work harder for you in the production” (McCaffrey, 1988, 36).

It didn’t take very long for us to decide what to name the show. Knowing that the writers were creating a piece based on the attempted assassination on Margaret Thatcher, we knew we had to get a reference to her in the title somehow!

 

So I suggested the name: Magpie.

 

I knew that many people refer to Margaret Thatcher as ‘Maggie’ and sometimes ‘Magpie.’ The symbolic importance of this goes much deeper, however.

Generally associated with bad luck, Margaret Thatcher being labelled as ‘Magpie’ takes on the superstition that Magpie’s are bad luck. Furthermore I wanted to include this in the title as a signal not only of the Iron Lady, but as a symbol of a “bad omen.” Almost as if the audience are told from the start that the events of the play would be met with obstacles and bad luck. These obstacles and situations are what create farcical comedy!

Later, the writers decided to name the show The Magpie & The Yorkshireman.  Extra symbolism. Yes! Having the Magpie and the Yorkshireman beside each other in the title is representative of the North vs. South divide that Margaret Thatcher caused.

I must note, however, that these symbolic connotations were not in order to make our piece have political connotations, but I am a firm believer that any design, name or piece has to have some sort of meaning.

Research and Development

Based on the advice of Mike Alfred’s Different Every Night I divided the rehearsal process into two strands. “The world of the play, on character and on text” (Alfreds, 2015, 159).
When dealing with ‘the world of the play’ I, and the cast began researching into everything from politics to fashion in the 1980’s. I asked everyone to read newspaper articles online from the 80’s, and experience the culture by watching 80s films, listening to music and reading up about culture of that time. This is because “the world of the play is created by the Given Circumstances which “spring from the time and place of the play along with the conventions, attitudes and manners behind and around it” (Thomas, 2005, 28).

 

I organised meeting with our Designer, Sam and we began looking into 80’s magazines to examine the fashion, and apply it to the shows costume.to I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Vogue from the summer collection of 1985. We flicked through the pages, not only looking at the style but also what advice was given to women of the 80’s about presenting themselves. Each cast member was encouraged to speak to people who lived through the 80’s to get a real verbal opinion of what it was like. I hoped this would really help the cast embody ‘the world of the play’ and I explained this was in order for them to begin “Getting to know it, experiencing it, embodying it and making it effective”(Whyman, 2013, 51).

Something I repeated to the actors was “be true.”

I asked the actors from the beginning to refer to Mike Alrfed’s Different Every Night and use actioning, objectives and uniting as a technique to aid them in their character development. For me, to create a successful comedy, each character has to be totally convinced of their own situation in order for it to be properly communicated to an audience.If an actor doesn’t take into consideration the circumstances they are playing out then they are performing “without any connection to real life” (Thomas, 2005, 28). Even with blocking I wanted to ensure that the actors understood why their characters were entering and exiting from certain locations.

 

 

I arranged for every cast member to have a character meeting with me. This was based on advise I read in Abbott’s The Acing Book where he writes that rehearsals are  “time for the actor to get creative. Try things out. Make things up. And be inventive” (Abbott, 2015, 85). With this, I asked the actors to fill in Abbott’s Questionnaire and be as inventive as they liked. It allowed basic characteristics to emerge,  meaning the actors could begin embodying their characters giving them “a lifetime of experience, which in order makes a character truly believable” (Abbott, 2015, 86). Furthermore, it would aid them in their scriptwriting.

I asked the ‘couples’ to think of how they may have met. This would aid them in the final production as their relationship would need to be believable, and need to have a backstory.

 

I wrote out three scenarios, folded them up and placed them at the front of the stage; In the pub; In the park; In Annie’s House.

 

 

We realised through the improvisation which scenario suited the actors better. “In Annie’s House” lasted for much longer than the others and led to Lee discovering facial expressions and gestures which were kept throughout the entire process. It also led to Sam discovering that her character, Annie, could talk very quickly! This led to the writing of lengthy speeches in the final show, and led to her character causing comic reactions from the other characters.

Another exercise I did with the actors was “Going out in Character” (Abbott, 2015, 51) in order to help them fully embody their characters. I asked the characters Jean, Phyllis and Annie to meet me at a bar and I set the following tasks in character:

 

– Order a drink at the bar

– Ask a passer-by what the time was

– Speak to each other for fifteen minutes in character

The strangers believed that they were who they said they were, as they kept in character totally. As Abbott points out, it allows actors to “realise that quite extreme characterisations can be readily accepted” (Abbott, 2015, 51).

In terms of movement and body language, I gave two John Abbott exercises to the cast:
The first was experimenting with energy states.

Another exercise we tried today was John Abbott’s different energy states: I asked each cast member to assign one of these energy states to the opening scene to see how it played out. For example, Jones was ‘lethargic’ and Harold was nearing ‘hysterical.’ Pairing these with different objectives allowed actors to create the appropriate level of urgency required for a fast-paced farce.

I am a firm believer that before you rehearse anything, you need to warm the actor’s up. A favourite game the cast played was Zip Zap Boing. I decided to put a twist on it though. The I applied John Abbott’s Chapter Five “Mannerisms” to the game, meaning the actors could warm up, literally in character.

Firstly, each character found a line in the script and read out their action. I asked them to attach a mannerism, which should come naturally to this action. I then asked them to find a line in the text, and pick the strongest verb. I asked them to embody this verb, give it meaning, asking why is was important in the scenario. Each line and mannerism replaced “Zip”, “Zap” and “Boing.”

Something that was very important was the entrances and exits being snappy. I told the actors keep in mind where they had just been, and where they were going next. This would help add urgency to the scenes. An exercise I had them try out is Abbott’s Entrances and Exits. The first task I set was “Imagine are on your way to the hotel. What happens? How do you get here?”

Ellie and Danny improvised this for Jean and Brian.

 

I then set the next task of “You have arrived at the hotel, and are about to enter. What happens?”

Again, Ellie and Danny improvised this.

This tied in perfectly with their opening lines (heard off stage) of
BRIAN: Get them bleedin’ bags out that bleedin’ car!
JEAN: I’m fuckin’ gerrin ’em!
This exercise allowed them to clearly define and inform their first objectives when entering the space, giving them the sense of urgency required for this type of comedy.

Set and Design

The original script featured six different locations, meaning this would be difficult to stage. So after meeting with the Dramaturg, we settled on just three; The Hotel Lobby, A Garden and a Bedroom. I wanted the set to be very clearly laid out in order to create a sense of reality.

 

This is the first drawing our set designer came up with, narrowing it down to three locations. A pub garden, a hotel lobby and a bedroom. We decided we could show the changing of the bedroom through different bed sheets. However, this later changed to a “Bar” instead of a garden area, and was joined onto the lobby. I felt that set needed more simplicity in order for the audiences to concentrate on the circumstances, and follow the story easily.

In terms of colour – our marketing team had already developed a poster featuring a magpie and a blue backdrop. I felt for continuity purposes that the palette of the set should be the same. Furthermore, myself and Sam, the set designer, noticed it’s symbolic connotations. The set being blue suggests “Torie.”

 

I had seen something on Pinterest called “watercolour walls” which looked very similar to the poster’s blue design. Therefore I asked if we could experiment with this and create the same effect for the hotel lobby.

.

One thing we couldn’t have in our set due to budget was a carpeted stage, however we managed to get past this by using rugs which were much cheaper.

 

“The Forbidden Black Door”
We had a free-standing door in the set. The idea behind it was in order to firstly represent downing street, and second of all to almost ‘take the mick’ out of Farce, which has so many doors! It took a large proportion of our budget as we had to buy a brand new door, but I think it created a great effect. It functioned in the sense of metatheatre, which is something I encouraged throughout the rehearsal process.

Upon reflection, I feel my role as Director wasn’t so much someone to tell the actors what to do, but rather lead them into a research project about the world the play, their own characters, and comedy as a whole. I feel our mission to simply “make people laugh” was fulfilled judged by the amount of laughter I heard in the showing of The Magpie & The Yorkshireman. In the future I would love to continue this mission, experimenting witch different genres of comedy and guiding actors into discovering their own characters.

Until next time,
The Research Leader.

Works Cited

Abbott, J. (2015) The Acting Book. 2^nd ed. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.

Alfreds, M. (2007) Different Every Night Freeing The Actor. Great Britain: Nick Hern Books.

Johnstone, K. (2013) Improvisation And The Theatre. London, UK: Methuan Drama.

McCaffrey, M. (1988) Directing a Play. Oxford, UK: Phaidon Press Ltd.

Morrison, H. (1973) Directing in the Theatre. London, UK: Pitman Publishing Ltd.

Thomas, J. (2005) Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers. 3^rd ed. Oxford: Focal Press.

Exemplary Reading List
Cannon, D. (2012) In-Depth Acting. London: Oberon Books.

 

Miller, B. (2012) The Actor as Storyteller An Introduction To Acting. 2^nd ed. Milwaukee: Limelight Editions.

O’Brien, N. (2011) Stanislavski in Practice: Exercises for Students. New York: Routledge.

Thomas, J. (2005) Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers. 3^rd ed. Oxford: Focal Press.

Unsworth, T. (2014) Becoming an Actor. London: Nick Hern Books Limited.

Whyman, R. (2013) Stanislavski The Basics. London: Routledge.

 

In the beginning…
Session One as a company.
“Who the hell are we and what the bleedin’ hell are we gonna do?” (Ellie Mchale, 2016).

28th January 2016

Our first session together.  Roles were basically set in stone prior to this. I knew I was the Director.
So what kind of theatre do we want to make? Shakespeare would be an easy go-to, which I put forward as an idea. But rather than just basic Shakespeare, something updated and comic? Something a bit artistic? Something that student-audiences would enjoy? It is a bit overdone. Filter Theatre had a huge success with their Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre in 2014. It was new, student-friendly and fun. I can’t lie though, I was not a fan. I wanted to avoid doing something like this like the plague!

We started toying with ideas about comedy plays; The Importance of Being Earnest, The Country Wife… I am a huge fan. Especially of Earnest. For me, nothing says a good piece of theatre like well rehearsed scenes with actors who have an excellent understanding of comic timing. I saw exactly that in 2005 when Connall Morrison directed the play. All the characters in this version were played by men, adding extra hilarity to the play text!

The Importance of Being Earnest. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/PA
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/aug/08/theatre

Although I loved this version, and I love the play. I just didn’t feel enthusiastic about mounting it in our company…
I want something new, something that had never been directed before which would give me freedom for direction, but also give the actors freedom to perform!

 We’ve decided to sleep on it, and we will see what ideas we all have tomorrow.

One day later…

Mission Impossible? How do we Manifest O’selves?

“No, seriously lads what are we doin’ then? Comedy, yeah? That’s our mission innit?” (Ellie Mchale, 2016)

29th January 2016

We decided we want to be a comedy-company. That was something we weren’t willing to budge on. One person suggested we look at doing theatre for young audiences which was received with an explosion of laughter. We are a group of people who just like to laugh, make people laugh, or laugh at people… So let’s play to our strengths!

Reading Arts Council England’s guidance on how to build a successful mission for a company, it allowed us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a company that best suited us. Furthermore it allowed us to understand how we can use our strengths to create performance that would entertain others.
The most important thing when creating our mission and manifesto was to ensure it was clear. ACE outlines that clarity is key if your company is to be properly communicated.

• How well is our vision understood?
• Have we included our learning and/or participatory programme?
• We have a written vision statement that clearly outlines our artistic and organisational aspirations for the future.
• Our vision informs everything that we do.
• The community in which we work understands and, if appropriate, has contributed to our vision. (artscouncilengland.org.uk, 2016).

 

With this we began bullet-pointing what we all wanted to achieve, how it could be carried through in the future, and what audiences we were trying to reach.

We came up with:

– Satire, it makes people laugh.
– Questioning the validity of comedy.
– Pieces of comedy with flexibility in order to adapt to all audiences, venues and places.
– Socio-political.
– Stripped back.
– New writing, based on key historical events.

By this point we had a rough idea that comedy was the way forward…but we hadn’t sorted a specific mission or manifesto. We decided to meet a few days later, after we’d all had a think! 

Finding our name
In the nuddy? 
“We’ve got to be upfront with our comedy, like full frontal with it” (A company member, but won’t be named as two people think they said this, 2016).

29th January 2016

Today marked the birth of our company name:
“Taboo Troupe!”

Well it nearly was, until someone in the cast (who I won’t name as two people think they said the same thing) said “We’ve got to be upfront with our comedy, like full frontal with it.”

Admittedly I replied with “what? you want to get naked? NO!” 

Thus emerged the name we would go on to be known as…
Full Frontal Theatre 

Later on that day… not only did the company give birth to a healthy baby name, but also a healthy baby manifesto.

“In the beginning there was a vision,
A force,
Something to be reckoned with.
A human desire to perform;
To perform stories;
To perform comedy,
To make people laugh.
We set out on our adventure,
With our vision in mind.
To demonstrate the arts.
To demonstrate comedy.
To demonstrate the power of laughter.
And in the end…
We couldn’t find the M25.
Ah well, we’re a Torie government anyway…
World’s gone mad.”

We know it is a rough copy, but overall it shows that all our company wants to do is to perform comedy and make people laugh with no real incentive to ‘change the world.’

 

Week Two
Who am I? 
“Mein Fuhrer” (Will Mortimer, 2016).

1st February 2016

Week one had explained each role in the company. Being a director wasn’t new to me, but it would be the first time I had directed adults!

We each passed around a sheet and everyone had to write what they thought a Director’s role was within a Theatre Company.

This is what was written (word for word):

– Cohesion with squad.
– Makes everyone scared but also snaps.
– To warm up the cast with fun games.
– To instruct actors.
– Liaise with producer.
– Control artistic aspects.
– Visualize the script.
– Take control of rehearsals and lead performers.
– To  make mission a reality.
– To make tea and coffee.

Seven out of nine were helpful (the ones in bold), and confirmed what I had suspected that I needed to do.

In order to properly define how I should fulfill my role I read Hugh Morrison’s Directing in the Theatre and Michael McCaffery’s Directing a Play.

 

 

Enough talk, let’s do!
Getting something up on its feet!
“All I want is to play Kanye…” (Danny Smith, 2016).

4th February 2016 

One week in and we still do not have a solid idea of what our show will be. Instead of having meeting after meeting, I gathered everyone into the studio with the instruction that the session would be all physical, with no ‘sit down chats.’
I took this advice from Johnstone, who states that in the rehearsal room we should “banish aimless discussion and transform the meetings to enactment sessions; it was what happened that mattered, not what anybody said about it” (Johnstone, 2013, 9).

The previous session we had toyed with a couple of ideas such as:
– World War 1 bunkers
– Yorkshire Farmers meet Southern business people
– Teachers staff room
– West Country Pub
So I split the company into teams and assigned each of them one of these topics, telling them to just improvise.

We found that the funniest was the Yorkshire Farmer meeting the Southern business man, and it seemed to spark interest in our writer’s minds.

The session continued, and I asked everyone to pick a well known person from history. I then instructed each actor to think about that persons voice, mannerisms, gestures and movement. I then set the scene around a dinner table, and all had to improvise for five minutes. Of course Danny dominated the table, playing Kanye West!

We realised as a company, just from improvising instead of talking, that creating something based on history could prove very funny.

The writers went away to create a masterpiece!

Week Two
The Final Concept
“30th July 1966…” (Danny Smith, 2016).

6th February 2016

Today we all met, and I was excited to see what the writing team had developed within the last 48 hours. Danny, Will and Lee explained how they had read about the Brighton Bombings, conducted by the IRA in 1985 in an attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher. Danny then read aloud a monologue, which should start the show. I was so impressed!

As the meeting went on, we realised that the show we were going to produce would be a Farce, and this was the framework the writers were going to stick to!

A personal reflection
Something my Dad introduced me to when I was probably too young to be watching was Monty Python. At first, I didn’t appreciate it. I saw little point in the sketches. It was when I turned 20 that my mind changed. I loved  that there was no point. Monty Python functions simply to allow it’s viewers to laugh. How brilliant! I don’t think the theatre needs to be about changing peoples opinions or making them question this and that. How tiring. No. Rather it should be about enjoying yourself.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8RIEQH7zA

For example, the oh-so-famous “Parrot Sketch.” It takes a well known situation – like buying a pet from a pet store – and turns it into comedy. We see the man return with his parrot which has died. In another context, this would be sad circumstances. But the bombastic characterisation of John Cleese’s character changes the circumstance, making it comic

With this our mission statement emerged:

“We intend to challenge comedy and what can be considered funny by presenting and reviving historical events.We want to peel away the skin of seriousness to reveal the core of comedy theatre with special emphasis on the power and relationship of text and the author. We intend to explore and challenge comedy by using what we as a company find funny and what can be funny.We don’t want to change the world, we just want people to laugh at it.”

Enter, talk, exit, enter, talk, exit, enter…talk, enter, exit, bow, end.
My experience with Farce.
“Very flat… Norfolk” (Coward, 2000, 39)

7th February 2016

I now knew that I would be directing a farce, so I pulled together all of my previous knowledge ready to tackle it.

I began with a simple google search: “Define Farce.”

“A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.” (oxforddictionaries.com, 2016).

I have always loved  comedy. Especially stand up comedy. I appreciate the power of one person who can stand on the stage and just perform to make people laugh.

I knew Farce was different to this, however. As Hodge and McClain advise:  “Only occasionally do we have farces that depend on language as one of the major emphases, and in these cases, the fun is still in the acting, for it is the actor’s sense of timing in line delivery that will provoke the laugh.”
(Hodge and McClain, 2010, 267).

I remember in 2009, just by chance, a friend dragged me to see a show Our Man in Havana at the Nottingham Playhouse. I had read the novel, and thought there was no way a story of a man accidentally recruited by MI5 could be turned into a stage production.

But the exaggerated circumstances, the desperation of the leading actor and the urgency of all the characters made a show so fast pace, exciting, bombastic and hilarious, I was hooked! Later I found out that what I had witnessed was a farce.

Until this point I had been a firm supporter of classical theatre; Medea, Hamlet, Richard III, Dr Faustus… sort of tied in with my love of history I suppose.

I began hearing about classical plays that had been adapted into farces: For example I watched Taming of the Shrew whilst the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2011 be played as a farce.

Further to this I got to experience being in a farce in 2014 when I played Amanda in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. I learned that the comedy came from the absurd situation that she should meet her ex-husband on her honeymoon with her new husband. I also learned from my Director that all farces should be fast pace, bombastic and exaggerated. I would transfer this information into our show.
Reflecting upon this, I realised that anything could become a farce as long as the movement, blocking and overall characterisation was adapted. The movement would need to be exaggerated, but not melodramatic, the entrances and exits would have to almost overlap and the characters and their situations would have to be true. Without them being true, an audience would not believe the situation, thus meaning no comic value in their circumstances.

Our show is called…
Discussing baby-names.
“IRON MAN LADY 3” (Lee Meachen, 2016).

11th February 2016

It didn’t take very long for us to decide what to name the show. Knowing that the writers were creating a piece based on the attempted assassination on Margaret Thatcher, we knew we had to get a reference to her in the title somehow!

Me being a stereotypical Director, I love to lace symbolism into everything I do. Even if no one else notices, I will point it out so I can see them go “oh yeah!”

So I suggested the name: Magpie.

I knew that many people refer to Margaret Thatcher as ‘Maggie’ and sometimes ‘Magpie.’ The symbolic importance of this goes much deeper, however.

Generally associated with bad luck, Margaret Thatcher being labelled as ‘Magpie’ takes on the superstition that Magpie’s are bad luck. Furthermore I wanted to include this in the title as a signal not only of the Iron Lady, but as a symbol of a “bad omen.” Almost as if the audience are told from the start that the events of the play would be met with obstacles and bad luck. These obstacles and situations are what create farcical comedy!

Later, the writers decided to name the show The Magpie & The Yorkshireman. 
Extra symbolism. Yes!
Having the Magpie and the Yorkshireman beside each other in the title is symbolic of the havoc caused by Thatcher closing the mines, a huge aspect of this play’s text.

Writing, writing, writing!
“Yeah we’ve written something… it’s alright… look we tried our hardest!” (Samantha Foster, 2016)

15th February 2016

Much of the sessions have been dedicated to developing the script. All of our writers have broken into teams to develop their characters and potential comic scenes. I have been sitting in on some of these in order to grasp where the concept may be going. I have also been working along side Will, the Dramaturg to see what his vision is with the editing. I would like to understand this fully. My main reason for being there is to ensure the writing style, and execution fits our mission statement and manifesto. So far so good!

I have instructed all writers and actors to engage in research into the 1980’s in order to make sure we can fulfil the “recreating of historical events” as it states in our mission statement. The writers need to make sure the world they are creating fits in with the 1980’s, and the actors need to have a good understanding of the circumstances of this era in order for them to successfully portray to the audience that this is the era they are from.

Costumes from 1980
What did people wear?
“My left nipple has a piercing? Is that 80’s?” (Sean Micallef, 2016).

21st February 2016

I am a huge fan of eighties music, fashion, television, hair… you name it. But I and the rest of the cast had to engage in extensive research about the eighties in order to create a legitimate recreation of the time period.

And in answer to William Mortimer’s question, no I didn’t, but I wish I had have!

Today I met with our Designer, Sam, to begin our research into 1980’s costume, hair and makeup. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Vogue from the summer collection of 1985. We flicked through the pages, not only looking at the style but also what advice was given to women of the 80’s about presenting themselves. Overall we found it was good for an overall context, but a little too ‘high-fashion’ for the characters in The Magpie  & The Yorkshireman.

So instead, we both went and spoke to people who had lived through the 80’s, our parents! My mum dragged out some interesting pieces of clothing, and made me try them on… but it gave me a good idea of how to dress each of the characters. Sam’s parents had done the same for her and we were confident that we now had a strong grasp on the ‘image’ of the 1980’s.

Researching the era.
Understanding the 1980’s.
“Didn’t you grow up in the 80’s Jess, you old b*tch?” (Will Mortimer, 2016).

 23rd February 2016

Today I have set all the cast of choosing a favourite song from the eighties. I have asked them to then go away, have a look at the music video on YouTube (If there is one) and report back what they discovered.

One of my favourite songs from the 80’s and one that actually featured in the opening prologue to the play is Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round. I knew I wanted this song to feature in the play somehow, along with other music to set the 80’s theme.

I have also encouraged everyone to read into newspaper articles that can be found online about the 1980’s.

 

For example the BBC offered an extensive timeline which would help the actors discover their dramatic situation in the present but also in the past:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/present_timeline_noflash.shtml

I also asked them to look at different newspapers; some right wing, and some left wing – for example:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/17/bang-history-britain-1980s-review

And in answer to William Mortimer’s question, no I didn’t, but I wish I had have! 

 

Making a Rehearsal Schedule
Keeping Organised
“There’s never any bloody rooms available!” (Alys Brown, 2016)

After reading McCaffrey’s Directing a Play it taught me that in order to succeed, I had to be organised. So I began working alongside Alys, the Stage Manager to arrange schedules for all. Alys made a spreadsheet which outlined every cast members availability from today until the show. From that we could see who was available on what days. Having a large cast meant it was difficult to get everyone in at the same time but we managed to work it out. As McCaffrey states “The rehearsal process is the backbone of any theatrical project” (McCaffrey, 1988, 36). Myself and Alys also decided that all calls for rehearsal would be put out no later than Sunday afternoon for the following week. We had to leave it late due to other module commitments, to ensure we were actually available! I decided this because a Director should  “respect cast-member’s busy lives away from the theatre and they will work harder for you in the production” (McCaffrey, 1988, 36).

So each Sunday, after Alys had booked rooms, I would allocate specific times to each day for actors. For example:

 

We have our characters!
God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another…
“Jess please shut up with the Shakespeare quotes, no one gets them” (Ellie McHale, 2016).

5th March 2016

The biggest piece of advice I will give to the actors of Full Frontal Theatre is “be true.” I believe that the only way to make an audience believe a character’s situation, and furthermore laugh at it, is by the character seeming real. Therefore a lot of my direction will be based upon what the actors themselves discover through character work.

I base this on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski who outlined that the road to a good performance comes by doing the following:

– Analyse the text and examine the details so you know what the writer had in mind.
This part was particularly great as the actors were also writers, and I got to have face to face meetings with our Dramaturg to see what he was thinking!

– Create a character that both the actor and the audience can believe in.
Super important in comedy especially!

– Then perform the play was truthfully as possible, with all the actors listening and responding to each other.

(Abbott, 2015, 3).

Today I arranged for every cast member to have a character meeting with me. This was based on advise I read in Abbott’s The Acing Book where he writes that at this stage “It’s time for the actor to get creative. Try things out. Make things up. And be inventive” (Abbott, 2015, 85).

It was a long day! Each actor had an hour alone where we discussed John Abbott’s 85 Questions from Chapter 5, Then an hour was dedicated to “the couples.”

I should explain… The script has emerged and it involves four couples:

Harold and Phyllis (To be played by Sean and myself)
Brian and Jean (To be played by Danny and Ellie)
Jack and Annie (To be played by Lee and Sam)
Jones and Tina (To be played by Will and Hayley).

Filling out the questionnaire allowed basics to emerge, and along with Given Circumstances (which I asked all to outline during the writing process) it meant the actors could begin embodying their characters. It is important for actors to understand what it is like being somebody else, therefore I thought this exercise would be particularly useful. Not only would it help with their writing process, but it would give the actors a sense of “a lifetime of experience, which in order makes a character truly believable” (Abbott, 2015, 86).

Exercise 1

I asked the ‘couples’ to think of how they may have met. This would aid them in the final production as their relationship would need to be believable, and need to have a backstory.

The example I use here is my session with Lee and Sam. (Jack and Annie).

I wrote out three scenarios, folded them up and placed them at the front of the stage.
– In the pub
– In the park
– In Annie’s House (tricky one!)

The actors upon reflection decided that the pub scenario didn’t work, and I agreed, as Annie has a given circumstance that she doesn’t drink alcohol. The park was nice, but it seemed too ‘normal’ and didn’t leave room for much comedy.
However I timed the improvisation of the scenario “in Annie’s House” which went on for eight minutes! Jack explained to Annie that he was “in her house doing a plastering job” – appropriate, as his character within the show is a plasterer. It also meant that the two characters who were from very different backgrounds (Jack being a labourer and Annie being the daughter of a well-known MP) could meet in an absurd situation! The improvisation led to Lee embodying Jack and discovering facial expressions and gestures which I have asked him to keep in mind as we continue on this process. Furthermore it led to Sam discovering that her character, Annie, tends to go off on a tangent and chat away. I have also asked her to keep this in mind for the future.

More Improvisation!
Getting scene ideas up on their feet
“But we just play for laughs don’t we?” (Lee Meachen, 2016)

13th March 2016

By now each scene had a shape, but the writing had not been completed. So I decided, capitalising upon Johnstone’s advice again, to get everyone in and to physicalize things!
I began by splitting the cast into two teams: the boys and the girls.

Sam, Hayley and Ellie had to improvise with their first entrance onto the stage. The overall shape is that they enter, all meet, and have to introduce each other. The plot twist being that somehow Jean (Ellie’s character) ends up drunk, with a drink poured down herself.

Danny, Will, Lee and Sean had their beginning scene also. Their first arrival at the hotel. I asked Sean to improvise as the hotel owner, and play to what he thought a Brighton hotel owner would be like. What came of it was a sexually ambiguous character, who made Brian (Danny) feel uncomfortable.

Not all of this was successful, but hopefully it visually aided the writers so they were able to take something away to work with.

Let’s talk about Set baby.
Set design
“A carpet costs how much!?” (Jess Bark, 2016)

23rd March 2016

Looking at the scenes that had already developed, the production team met to discuss how the set should be laid out. The play had six different locations; The Hotel Lobby, The Bar, The Pool, Two Bedrooms and a Pool. Myself and the set designer Sam, came to the conclusion that this would not be practical, especially not for a Farce. We knew the set had to be very clear in order to create a sense of reality.

This is the first drawing our set designer came up with, narrowing it down to three locations. A pub garden, a hotel lobby and a bedroom. We decided we could show the changing of the bedroom through different bed sheets.

In terms of colour – our marketing team had already developed a poster featuring a magpie and a blue backdrop. I felt for continuity purposes that the palette of the set should be the same. Furthermore, myself and Sam, the set designer, noticed it’s symbolic connotations. The set being blue suggests “Torie.”

I had seen something on Pinterest called “watercolour walls” which looked very similar to the poster’s blue design. Therefore I asked if we could experiment with this and create the same effect for the hotel lobby.

We passed all of this information on to our Stage Manager Alys, and she has confirmed that this will fit the budget!
One thing we felt that definitely wouldn’t fit the budget, however, was having a carpeted stage. We decided to see how much money we’d have left after buying everything else, but £198 for onlinecarpets.com’s basic cream pattern beige carpet tiles didn’t seem plausible!

“The Forbidden Black Door”
We have a free-standing door in the set. The idea behind it was in order to firstly represent downing street, and second of all to almost ‘take the mick’ out of Farce, which has so many doors! Alys has spoken to Martin about how to fix it in place and how it will work. We have found out though that in order for it to be black, we will have to buy a brand new door! Hopefully there is enough money in the budget.

Entrances and Exits
Getting the show blocked
“Well why can’t I enter from Z?” (Lee Meachen, 2016).

12th April
Today marked the first day of beginning to block the script! How exciting! All actors gathered with a draft copy of the script and we just went through scene to scene, discussing why each character might enter from which entrance, and why they might leave through which exit! My Stage Manager had informed me that there would be four pathways for actors to enter and exit.
I informed the actors that they need to take into consideration where they had been previously, and where they were going to get initial blocking in place.
I found it incredibly difficult to do this and be in the show, I am in talks with the Dramaturg to see if Phyllis’s character can be cut.

Particular scenes have needed more intricate blocking, in order to get comedy from the movement. I also had to work out today how we could stage the Flashback scene without it looking like Jack and Jones had just gone and sat in the lobby. I thought of three things; mainly technical, that would aid this.

“How to stage the pub scene

• Pub furniture physical brought on by actors
• Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round to play to link with the opening monologue

Sepia lighting as if “an old movie” or old memory.”

I passed this on to the Stage Manager, Alys, and our Lighting Designer, Hayley. They said that this was possible!

Plot Twist!
Cutting a character
“Tina-y problem with the character” (Hayley Spindler, 2016).

 23rd April 2016

I haven’t blogged in a while. This is due to dissertation commitments but mainly because in the last blocking session, myself and the producer noticed some inconsistencies in the text. So today we had a meeting with the Dramaturg and discussed it.
The character “Tina” who was supposed to be an ‘undercover assassin’ was causing too many plot holes. In order to do character work with Hayley, there needed to be a consistent character, who had set Given Circumstances at least. I was struggling to see how this extra plot would unfold as a Director, and I feel Hayley as an actor would have a lot of difficulty in materialising “Tina” into something truthful.

Therefore today the decision was made to cut Tina’s character. It was very simple actually. Hayley will still be performing, but be taking on the role of Phyllis. I have arranged character meetings with her for the upcoming days.

Warm up games
They can be fun and productive!
“Little Sl*g” (Will Mortimer, 2016)

24th April 2016

Now everyone has a good grasp on their character (with the exception of Hayley but that’s not her fault!). I am a firm believer that before you rehearse anything, you need to warm the actor’s up. A favourite game the cast played was Zip Zap Boing. I decided to put a twist on it though. The ‘homework’ for this session had been for the actors to read John Abbott’s Chapter Five regarding “Mannerisms.”

 

Firstly, each character found a line in the script and read out their action. I asked them to attach a gesture, which should come naturally to this action. I then asked them to find a line in the text, and pick the strongest verb. I asked them to embody this verb, give it meaning, asking why is was important in the scenario. We then got to a “sound” to describe it.” We played it out through “Zip Zap Boing.” It’s confusing to write down, but the video below describes it better. Each line and mannerism replaced “Zip”, “Zap” and “Boing” meaning the actors could still warm up, but in character!

Another Abbott Exercise
Energy States
“I haven’t got any bloody energy, I’m still tired from earlier” Ellie McHale, 2016).

24th April 2016

Another exercise we tried today was John Abbott’s different energy states:
– Catatonic
– Lethargic
– Laid-back
-Efficient
-Neutral
-Alert
-Passionate
-Ecstatic
-Hysterical
-Rigid

I asked each cast member to assign one of these energy states to the opening scene to see how it played out. For example, Jones was ‘lethargic’ and Harold was nearing ‘Hysterical.’

I asked them to consider these energy states when doing runs of the show, in order to reach the maximum energy level needed.

Hayley’s character Meeting
Let’s get Phyllis-ophical
“Alright new-wifey?” (Sean Micallef, 2016)

25th April 2016
Today I ran exercises with Hayley, and focused a lot of my time in helping her develop Phyllis. Firstly we repeated John Abbott’s Questionnaire from The Acting Book but in addition we looked into physicality. I asked Hayley to look at Sibyl Fawlty from Fawlty Towers. Phyllis’s character was based upon her by the writers, so it would make sense to examine her mannerisms and gestures. I hoped this would aid her in connecting with Phyllis as a character, as of course it was very new to her! I took advice for this suggestion from Abbott who writes that “a person’s physicality is closely connected to their inner life” (Abbott, 2015, 91) so if an actor examines that body language it enables them “to get an understanding of that inner life, by adopting their particular physicality” (Abbott, 2015, 91).

Later on today I asked all of the female members of the cast to meet me at a bar. I wanted to experiment with an exercise called “Going out in Character” (Abbott, 2015, 51).

By now the male cast members were well on their way to understanding how their character’s behave. However, due to the cutting of ‘Tina’ it meant that Ellie, Sam and Hayley had lost some time. So, they met me at a bar and I gave them specific tasks to perform… in character. They were:

– Order a drink at the bar
– Ask a passer-by what the time was
– Speak to each other for fifteen minutes in character

The strangers believed that they were who they said they were, as they kept in character totally. As Abbott points out, it allows actors to “realise that quite extreme characterisations can be readily accepted” (Abbott, 2015, 51).

 

 

No Scripts allowed
The First Run Through
“But can I have my script?” (Alys Brown, 2016).

28th April 2016

Today is the day I set as the deadline for everyone to be off script! I have been strict as I know I need to dedicate these last three weeks to doing full runs if we are to achieve the pace needed for communicate a successful farce.

We were booked into Studio Three for the whole day, meaning we had lots of time and lots of space. I warmed the actors up with the Line and Gesture Zip Zap Boing Game, and told everyone to take a moment, ready for the run.

Everyone seemed nervous, so I explained that Alys was on book and if anyone didn’t know a line, to simply shout “line.”

I was very impressed that they all got through it! Notes  read like this:

Prologue (Danny)
Excellent use of ‘pointing’ to signify “Mr Chadha Petal” and “Little Jenny” – Danny.
We will spend some time on this to polish it, but objectives are coming through well.
Maybe incorporate you sitting back down and finishing the pint at some point? We will see if your objectives allow for it.
Mind your diction at points.
Projection is excellent.
Don’t be afraid of pauses, if that’s what you feel is natural then go for it!

Scene I (All Cast)
Hayley mind your diction, losing words such as “rodgering.”
I can see some “Sibyl Fawlty” coming out, but I think push that even more.
When Harold shows you the booking, Hayley, make sure you read it.
More urgency and pace for Phyllis, Hayley – remember your objectives. If you are trying to leave don’t be afraid to really go for it, make us believe you want to get out of that door!

Sean I love the pause you’ve put in before “Yorkshire” I feel it’s a little too long, however.
Excellent reaction Sean when Phyllis asks “Have you had another accident” can see objective change.
Watch your diction with the Welsh accent. It’s a brilliantly funny change, but if we lose the words we lose the jokes.

Danny, good entrance but more urgency. Remember what you’ve arrived at the hotel to do.

Ellie – Good entrance, needs to be much quicker however.

Lee and Will – the speed you entered at was excellent.

And so on…

Entrances and Exits
Where have you been and where are you going?
“I don’t think he’s done anything, maybe had a poo?” (Sean Micallef, 2016)

10th May 2016

It has mainly been line runs for the last couple of days, and all actor’s are off book! It means the scenes with intricate blocking have developed massively. For example the scene where everyone appears in the bedroom and discovers Brian’s true intentions has had to be moved into the Lobby. This means that the characters can pass the bomb around freely with more room!

One thing that was still lacking, however, was the pace of the entrances and exits. So I did an exercise with the cast in order for them to imagine where they had just been. I hoped it would give them motivation and inform them more of their feelings when entering the space.
The first task I set was “Imagine are on your way to the hotel. What happens? How do you get here?”

Ellie and Danny improvised this for Jean and Brian.

I then set the next task of “You have arrived at the hotel, and are about to enter. What happens?”

Again, Ellie and Danny improvised this.

 

This tied in perfectly with their opening lines (heard off stage) of
BRIAN: Get them bleedin’ bags out that bleedin’ car!
JEAN: I’m fuckin’ gerrin ’em!
This exercise allowed them to clearly define and inform their first objectives when entering the space.

Tech Day
We see the set for the first time
“This bar is the same bloody size as me!” (Ellie McHale, 2016)

12th May 2016

Today was the cue to cue and Alys, our Stage Manager did her thing! We all gathered in the auditorium ready to build the set for the first time. It looked fantastic!

Hayley, our sound designer, Alys and I all went through scene to scene, with the actors stood in place – sometimes running entrances an exits in order for us to determine lighting states, and when we would need music.
Hayley asked everyone to remember their favourite 80’s tracks from weeks ago, and has collated them ready for house music. Although I originally wanted a ‘sepia’ tone for the flashback scene, I found this was far too similar to the general wash for the hotel lobby. So instead, Alys programmed some lights with a neon blue and a central spotlight, in order to give it an ‘other-worldly’ feel.

So far so good!

SHOW DAY!?

19th May 2016
We have rehearsed every day for the last week, doing at least one run a day. I am feeling super confident about the show. The actors all know their lines, in fact so well I am allowing adlibbing, it is pacey and I’m excited to see how the dress run goes. And an extra piece of good news – there was money in the budget for the black door. I spent 5 hours yesterday painting it, but it’s so worth it. It looks great!

We have just finished the dress run, and there was a last minute blocking change. We realised that there is a scene where Brian has to go from his black out in the lobby into the bedroom, but in order to do that he has to go through the free-standing door.
This causes a delay as Brian wouldn’t have enough time to run all the way round! So instead, we simply changed the lighting to a snap off and snap on, and Danny just steps into the bedroom. Voila!

I am about to gather the cast for the last warm up, and a pep-talk. I am incredibly proud of them all!

In the end…
The show is finished!
“Ha! Jess cried, you pussy!” (Will Mortimer, 2016).

20th May 2016

The show is now finished! I am incredibly proud of the actors and I truly feel we maintained our mission and manifesto! I was overwhelmed by how much the audience enjoyed it. There was so much laughter. That informed me that we had achieved what we wanted. “To make people laugh.” My Director’s Statement featured in the programme outlined this also, so the pressure was on.

The cast were great. It was the best run they had ever done. Their energy was through the roof and all of them remembered the notes I had given them in the past. They delivered The Magpie & The Yorkshireman with exaggeration, energy and they were bombastic! The audience gave us a standing ovation at the end, and yes I cried!