Post Four Nicole Dixon

1. 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 the devising phase of Porto many different themes began to surface. But it was not until the Performance stage, where the dominant themes were highlighted and become stronger. Something which emerged and it was very hard to deter from was conformity. This was evident from the start of the Performance. Despite every individual entering Porto with their own story and journey they need to take. The first Ensemble piece is a clear example of how easy communities conform; with the majority of the community performing synchronised movements. Although there was a sub-group who originally went against this, they were soon overwhelmed by the majority and conformed also. This may not have been genuine compliance, just the need to seem to belong. This notion of conforming in order to belonging became very apparent throughout the performance. This psychological issue has a strong substance in both Porto and in real life. This is clear through Edward’s character. His character will conform to society to belong, but under the surface he is very bitter and mocks society, as seen in his Parade with Roxanne’s character; and when he wants to know to contents on Lauren’s bag. But it isn’t until the society go against him in Ensemble two, that his realisation sets in that he needs to belong in order to gain acceptance and without this acceptance he is nothing and has no-one. To some people this may not seem like real life, but in reality, if you deviate from the social norm, you are seen as an outsider, and seen as not to belong.

“In a simple society people belong to relatively few groups, each of which is then quite important in defining the self. The collective self flourishes in adapting to these memberships, and the need to conform to the group tends to stifle the private self.”
(Lerner & Millon, 2003, p344)

Which leaves us to question, are we ever really ourselves?


2. 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)

“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone is watching him, and this all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” (Brook, 2008, p11)

Porto is not a space, Porto is a place. The transition between the studio and theatre was only made difficult by ourselves. If the ensemble remembered that Porto was a place then I think the transition would have been a lot smoother. ‘How the space is organised and structured for performance is part of the developing process […]’ (Oddey, 1996, p17)
For me if anything moving into the theatre space was the best thing for my character. Whilst being in the studios I could only visualise what Porto looked like, as I felt I was on the journey there whilst being in the studios and developing the piece. So in terms of characterisation, I was very much guessing how my character would react when I finally reached Porto. When we got into the theatre I found it very easy to adapt because I felt I had found one destination in my journey and felt my character had found another layer of herself, whether that was a good thing or bad thing. I settled quite comfortably into Porto.
‘Not all decisions that are made in making a piece have completely thought-through reasoning behind them. Intuition and personal preferences come into it too.’ (DV8, 2008) When we moved into the Theatre space a lot of new growth occurred this was both a strength and weakness for all. New relationships were formed; original relationships grew apart, characters developed. For some it was due to being in a new space and just having to adapt to the new, but for others it was actually finding Porto and realising what they truly needed in order to grow and developed their own individual journeys. I found that relationships I built up in the studios were lost in the theatre. Some people could see this as tragic, they have lost the connections with people they have spent so long building them up with, but for me again, I saw this as growth, I might have thought I needed these people in order for me to develop through Porto. But in actuality I didn’t. When we reached the theatre I realised the people I needed and wanted to share my journey with.



3. 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)

Even before the final three shows I was very dubious about the strength of the shows, especially the Thursday evening show as we had a matinee performance as well as an evening performance. The cast had already proven to lack in concentration and drive in other rehearsals. But I have to admit that each show every cast member went into it a fresh, and with as much energy if not more as the previous show.
Each show for me was completely different, with my character continuing to grow throughout each. The first show for the first time throughout the whole devising process, and rehearsals within the Theatre; I found myself very emotional I found myself crying whilst Sarah P was doing her walking sequence over Sandy’s scene. Something inside of me felt so torn at her walking away from me, and every time she looked at me, I could see the hurt in her eyes and eventually I couldn’t even look at her, because I was hurting so much inside. Some people believe that ‘such an “emotion” cannot be expressed; it can only be induced or simulated.’ (Hjort & Laver, 1997, p122) But as my character was and extension of myself, I consider this to have been an innate emotion surfacing from within.
After each show we were given feedback on improvement, so that in itself allowed the performance to grow more, as each person was given something to work on. By each person taking on their feedback and converting it positively into their role, allowed the performance to grow considerably each show. For my character I had built up such a strong relationship with Sarah that by the end of the third show I was depended upon her and I felt I needed her to support me, and lead me out of Porto. With each show after my section we both built up the strength and confidence to push away our bags, but by the end of the third show I detested so much my bag, what was inside of my bag that managed to cause me so much pain, and what it represented, that after I took it off I couldn’t bring myself to touch it again. I felt that the one thing that was holding me back, if I touched it again I would never be able to get rid of it. So Sarah had to push it away for me. After my section in the periphery I couldn’t even bring myself to look at Sarah, she had managed to hurt me so much without even realising. When she hugged me, she wasn’t just hugging me she was holding me. This was due to the intensity built up between our characters, even though we had both reached similar points in our journey through Porto we now relied upon each other.
Although in the final performance stage, the RSVP model still applied throughout, as the performance continued to change. Different elements effected the growth of the piece ‘[…] there's the interplay of ideas and meaning between all the people involved, including the audience. It's an exploration that continues even after the show is made.’ (DV8, 2008)

NICOLE DIXON

Bibliography.

BROOK, P. 2008. The Empty Space London: Penguin Modern Classics
HJORT, M & LAVER, S. 1997. Emotion and the Arts Oxford University Press
LEMER, J. M & MILLON, T. 2003. Handbook of Psychology: Personality and social psychology John Wiley and Sons.
ODDEY, A. 1993. Devising Theatre London: Routledge.

Other Sources
DV8 (2008) FAQ [WWW] Available from: http://www.dv8.co.uk/faqs/faqs.html#one [Accessed 12 May 2009]