April 2018 – Sherbet Lemon Theatre

April 30, 2018Emelia Hutchinson No Comments

Bleeding Edge

This past Thursday (April 26th) together with our fellow theatre company, Bleeding Edge we each presented to each other a work in progress of our performances in order to give each other effective critical feedback. First they presented their performance: Inka and we followed with The Truth About Bedtime…

It’s been a highly effective to get detailed and critical feedback from Bleeding Edge and since discussing it as a company we have decided that it is feedback we are keen to add into our performance and already we are seeing the effects of this work in progress ahead of our showback to those who gave us sections of verbatim.

The showback came at a time when we were all beginning to lack confidence with our performance and the feedback from Bleeding Edge has given us so much to work on and improve. Similarly, the feedback we gave to Bleeding Edge has given them a lot to work on.

As two companies it has been important to both groups that we maintain a strong working relationship. They have been such a valuable asset throughout our creative process ad know exactly how to compliment and criticise in equal measure. I’m certain the Bleeding Edge are a company we will continue to have a strong relationship with should we decide to continue.

(Regan, 2018)

E.H.

Works Cited.

Regan, M. (2018) Inka [photograph]. Lincoln.

Regan, M. (2018) Insomnia [photograph]. Lincoln.

April 26, 2018Lucy Alice Farrell No Comments

Props where it is needed

I’ve mention costume in my last few posts, but my role also includes sourcing all props used throughout our productions. Within theatre this role is usually known as ‘Property Mistress/Master’. It is suggested that in theatre “we often underappreciate stage props and prop design” (Todd, 2012).

I recently watched a production called, ‘Education Education Education’ at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. I was inspired by how much the production relied on props to convey the narrative and personality of each character. There was a scene where the actors were playing teachers in a staff room and each character held a prop, such as a newspaper, clipboard and a tea mug. Each prop was used subtly, not to distract the audience or steal the attention, but help the audience understand the group dynamic. The clipboard helped to convey, that the character, had a more authoritative role.

In our upcoming production ‘The Truth About Bedtime’ we rely heavily on props because “props assist imagination and play” (Todd, 2012). Throughout our production props help enhance the energy and fun throughout the scenes. As Sherbet Lemon Theatre, we like to offer a little bit of sweet and sour. Props really support us in delivering that sweetness and laughter that we hope to provide our audience.

This photo is from our exercise scene, in which I sourced neon sweatbands for, they help to reinforce the fun and energy we hope this scene provides.

The role also involves clear communication with our Stage Manager, Director, Set Designer and Producer. Developing good working relationships will maintain continuity throughout our devising process.

As we have a lot of props it is vital that they fit in with our set. This is to ensure the performance area does not look messy when the audience are entering, and also to ensure the safety of performers and audience, so that they do not trip over anything. Therefore, all our props will either be on the performer themselves or in a laundry basket, that fits into our set, ready for the performer to collect when needed.

L.F.

Works Cited

The Wardrobe Ensemble. (2018) Education Education Education [live performance]. Performed by The Wardrobe Ensemble. Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 16 March.

Todd, B. (2012) Time to give props to theatre props. The Guardian, 15 May. Available from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/may/15/theatre-props-stage [accessed on 18 April 2018].

Figures

Exercise Scene Rehearsal : Sherbet Lemon Theatre (2018) Exercise Scene [image]. Available from https://www.instagram.com/p/BgMpY8FhQ53/?taken-by=sherbetlemontheatre [accessed 18 April 2018].

April 25, 2018Lauren Jade Randles No Comments

The Importance of Filming Material

With such a busy schedule as ours, it wasn’t always guaranteed that movement rehearsals would follow one another. Sometimes there would be several rehearsals in between teaching choreography for the same scene. With this in mind, I decided that at the end of each movement rehearsal the movement that had been created would be filmed and posted on our private Theatre Company page. This enabled the ensemble to have easy access to the video that they could look over in their spare time, so as to not forget any choreography I have taught them, and to enable a smooth transition from one movement rehearsal to the next. In addition to this, it was also an extremely useful way for me to take an outside perspective on the movement that I had created. The inspiration to film any created material came from Frantic Assembly’s video camera in rehearsal technique. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett explain how “the video camera is not just for capturing and documenting what you know is there. It is also for capturing all the possibilities that emerge by accident” (2014, 26). As I was in most of the movement sequences, this was an opportunity for me to see what it actually looked like, whilst still being able to rehearse with my peers. If there was anything that needed adapting, filming the sequence meant I was able to pinpoint these moments, and allows me to see how I could change material in order to improve the quality.

L.R.

Works Cited

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2014) The Frantic Assembly book of devising theatre (Second Edition) New York: Routledge.

April 20, 2018Lucy Alice Farrell No Comments

The use of Verbatim Theatre

Our show ‘The Truth About Bedtime…’, will consist of verbatim theatre. “Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre which is based on the spoken words of real people” (Drama Online, undated).

Sleep is for everyone and everyone needs sleep in order to survive. Yet, everyone has different experiences of sleep, it is personal. This meant we are able to speak with everyone and anyone and involve their words and their experiences within our performance. Simply using our own words, would mean we could not have reached into a wider range of sleep experiences, as within our company we are all women, all students and all roughly the same age and therefore we would not be representing sleep issues as widely as they are. I have never realised how complicated sleep is, I have a fairly good relationship with sleep, although I never truly understand why I need sleep, so this process has taught myself a lot and made me realise and become more understanding to other peoples issues regarding sleep.

As a performer, I have the responsibility to learn and deliver the verbatim speeches we are collecting. This does require great focus, as in order to be truthful to the people who have helped us, we will need to make sure we understand the meaning of what they are saying. This will help ensure that our delivery will be as truthful as possible, therefore we must also must include the ‘um’ and ‘ah’ from every person, to indicate they thought process, possible nervousness and even regular speaking, which will reflect on severity of the verbatim sections of our production, The Truth About Bedtime…

L.F

Works Cited.

Drama online (undated) Verbatim theatre. Drama Online. Available from http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/verbatim-theatre-iid-2551 [accessed 20 April 2018].

April 20, 2018Lauren Jade Randles No Comments

Bringing ideas to life

Getting ideas up on their feet was quite a time-consuming process, I had to accept that things may need to be changed or altered slightly in rehearsals. It was also important to “be prepared to change direction if the moment calls for it” (Graham and Hoggett, 2014, 88), realising that everything I had choreographed may not be achievable with the performance space or physical abilities of the company. Therefore, in rehearsals I had to be quick on my feet to provide the company with alternatives to the choreography, many of these I took upon myself to think of before the rehearsal started, should the need to edit choreography occur. Majority of my creative scenes stemmed from the verbatim dialogue, collected by dramaturg Eloise White. Consequently, it was my responsibility to merge movement and dialogue together. Arts Council England state that they “champion, develop and invest in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives” (2018) and it is my opinion that the decision to use verbatim theatre was an enriching choice. Audiences were made aware that the material we had created came from real words from real people, some of those who were amongst the audience. For the participants to see how they had an impact on our creative work has the potential to be highly rewarding.

John Wright suggests that “the conventional approach when rehearsing a scene is to ask: ‘What’s your objective?’ In other words, what do you want at this moment in the action” (2006, 33). I kept this at the forefront of my mind when I was creating new material, constantly making sure I knew exactly what it was I wanted to say from a particular piece of movement. I wanted my movement to be true to the words of the participants, so this technique of knowing my objectives was extremely helpful to make the movement as accurate as possible, especially when dealing with verbatim language.

L.R.

Works Cited

Arts Council England (2018) About us. England: Arts Council England. Available from https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us-0 [Accessed 18 April 2018]

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2014) The Frantic Assembly book of devising theatre (Second Edition) New York: Routledge.

Wright, J. (2006) Why is that so funny? London: Nick Hern Books Limited.