Final Blog - Edward Critchlow

As the creative process turned from the ‘V’ stage to the ‘P’ stage of devising, and Porto started to come together as one cohesive performance, what were the common themes and issues that were beginning to emerge through the basic fabric of the piece? Despite the individual journeys, what shared experiences tied the community together apart from their state of liminality? Discuss with clear and succinct examples. (300 Words)

Throughout Porto many themes and issues started to become apparent. Looking at characters individual journeys there was a visible theme of desire and obsession. From my own character, my initial desire was to see what was inside of Lauren’s bag; which shortly became an obsession. At the end of Porto my characters desire was to be loved and forgiven by Roxanne’s character due to the actions that occurred between mine and Lauren’s character. This idea of desire was also visible between the characters portrayed through Kelly, Rian and Sean; the girls desiring for his love. This theme of desire for love was also seen through the characters journey between Amy James, Sarah Evans and Gavin. Again, desire was also seen in Mikey’s characters towards Ellen’s, as his desire was to get an emotional reaction out of her. Lauren’s characters desire was to be liked or possibly even loved by all members of the Porto community. Other examples of desire were seen between Gina and David’s character and through Hannah’s character towards my character. ‘Who a character is will determine how he gets what he wants (his intentions). The social and physchological specifics of he space and circumstances will influence the action’ (Dennis; 2002: p.g.29).
The one shared experience between the ensemble that tied the community together was the theme of anxiousness, loneliness and the sense of the unknown. Upon entering the Porto space for the first time; although we were not entering the space at the same time, this gave a clear understanding o the sense of unknown that each character had upon entering the space. The other signs of the communities shared experiences were seen in the opening and final ensemble pieces. With the entire ensemble eventually doing the same repeated movements; this allowed the ensemble to join together and share the same feelings of confusion, anxiousness and frustration, while feeling trapped within the Porto space.


Critically evaluate the transition of Porto as the ensemble moved from the studio into the theatre space. What were the strengths and weaknesses of this phase and process? (400 Words)

The transition between the rehearsal studio and the theatre space bought up clear strengths and weakness. Upon running the show in the theatre space for the first couple of times, the sense of unknowing in the entrances for each of the characters were actually real because each character were entering a new and for many people an unknown space. Another strength that arouse from moving into the theatre space was the size of the performance space. As the depth of the theatre space was far greater than that of the rehearsal space, this allowed more freedom for the performers to ‘expand’ the work. However, although the space may have been a strength, it was also a weakness, as many performers didn’t use all of the theatre space when on the periphery. Also, with the wide open space of the theatre, as all stage curtains were pulled back, so all areas of the theatre space were visible, which allowed no hiding places; therefore all performers, that were on the periphery, were in constant view and had to be performing at all times. The idea of all areas in the theatre space being visible, was paying respect to the ideas created by Motionhouse Dance Theatre Company as they ‘are constantly experimenting with the performance environment’ (Motionhouse Dance Theatre http://www.motionhouse.co.uk/about.htm 2009).
Another weakness of moving from the rehearsal studio was the fact that the ensemble were leaving their comfort zone. This, many may see as a strength, but when you have been working solidly for 6 months in one rehearsal studio, it becomes a very scary thought of leaving your rehearsal space. Another weakness of moving to the theatre space was the idea of sight lines. All of our work had to be moved back, as members of the audience would not be able to see the floor work, an idea that was not a worry in the rehearsal studios. The biggest advantage of moving from the rehearsal studio to the theatre space was the space. Working in the rehearsal studio meant there was a lot les space to experiment with the periphery work. Working in a smaller space creates ‘a servire restrict[ion] [in] the time and training space’ (Zarrilli; 2002: p.g.92).
I also believe that moving into the theatre space made the cast of Porto realise that Porto was a real performance; so the cast started to take it more seriously and the performers became even more focused on the work.


Critically evaluate the growth of the performance over the three shows, with particular emphasis on your own role within the piece. Did the ‘RSVP’ model continue to apply even at this final stage of the performance piece? Discuss with concrete examples. (500 Words)


With each performance, every element of the performance grew. For myself, the main element that grew with each performance was my emotional connections to characters during the periphery work. Because my character was left by my only friend within Porto, my desire and sheer desperation to get Roxanne’s character to forgive me and to come back into my life grew throughout each performance. During the first performance, I felt my work was at a 90% level of desperation towards Roxanne’s character; however by the end of the performances run; I felt as though I was working at a 99/100% desperation level. With my breathing gaining in pace and starting to shorten in intake of breath, this was both a visual sign and an emotional feeling of my desperation. This grew every performance, even to the point where I felt as though I was going to faint by the amount of oxygen that I was taking in. However, working at a 90% level made me realise that I had to push it further as ‘the actor must be able to sustain the physical feeling (the body, the mood) at all times’ (Dennis; 2002: p.g.27).
The performance also grew over the 3 performances due to the different audiences at the performances. Because with each performance different levels of emotional intensity were given, this affected the initial rhythm and pace of the performance. ‘Arriving in front of [an] audience for the first time is difficult…finding a strong beginning enables the Jo, Ha, Kyu of the whole play to get off to a strong start’ (Oida & Marshall; 1997: p.g.33). Jo, Ha, Kyu is a ‘rhythm structure’ (Oida & Marshall; 1997: p.g.31). This rhythm, I believe, is affected by the audience that is in the theatre at that performance. This is why waiting in the wings to enter the theatre space and never leaving it throughout the performance, as Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall state ‘you must ‘smell’ what kind of audience you have that night. Then you can react appropriately. Even before making an entrance […] you should try to sense [the audience] (Oida & Marshall; 1997: p.g.84/5).
I believe that the ‘RSVP’ model was defiantly still working throughout the 3 performances, as new things were being found, developed and refined each night the ‘RSVP’ was in play, we just didn’t realise it. At the end of the performance, when we left the Porto space ‘the moment of clarification for the audience’ (Tufnell & Crickmay; 1990; p.g.196), I was left alone by Roxanne’s character; while at the same time Gina’s character had been left by David’s character; we then by accident make eye contact, something I tried to avoid; along with physical contact, throughout the performance. It was, at this point, I felt as though I was looking at an identical copy of my character, a mirror image. From noticing we both feel the same way, we embraced; something that only came about the rehearsal before the opening performance.
From being in Porto, you realise that the RSVP model does work even if you don’t realise it, as the performance is ‘constantly changing […] new movement by new movement […] no two performances are the same. The precise moment you are seeing will never be repeated again. (Oida & Marshall; 1997: p.g.33).

Bibliography

Dennis, A. (1995) The Articulate Body: The Physical Training Of The Actor. London. Nick Hern Books Limited.

Oida, Y. & Marshall, L. (1997) The Invisible Actor. London. Methuen.

Tufnell, M. & Crickmay, C. (1900) Body, Space, Image. London. Virago Press.

Zarrilli, P. (2002) Acting (Re)Considered: A Theoretical and Practical Guide, 2nd ed. Oxon. Routledge.

Websites

Motionhouse Dance Theatre (2008). Warwickshire: [Home Page] [cited 14th May 2009].

POSTED BY: EDWARD CRITCHLOW