THE STIMULUS/ RESEARCH
As a group, we listened to our stimulus 'Let me off Uptown' by the Gene Krupa Orchestra and Anita O'Day to provoke an initial response- collecting ideas to build upon in attempt to make a piece of physical theatre lasting around 30 minutes (5 minutes of physicality for each 10 members of our group). We listened to the track three times; 1 for our first response, 2 to get ideas flowing and to become more familiar with the piece and 3 in order to interact with others and see what the music makes us want to do (so most of us wanted to dance as we felt the urge to).
My first ideas revolve the thought of the Great Depression and the small joys provided by jazz/blues. In addition, the piece reminded me of gangsters of New York in early/mid 1900s as the tune is upbeat and swingy, a popular type of music for the time. We then researched our initial and developed ideas- jazz roots and The Great Depression being my first thoughts.
JAZZ ORIGINS
During my research, I found that Jazz originated in African American communities in late 19th/ early 20th century USA, emerged in the form of independent traditional music and popular music styles. These all linked by common bonds of African and European American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz also spans a period of over a hundred years, encompassing a range of music from ragtime to jazz-rock fusion of the 1970s and 80s, and has been proved to be difficult to define.
STYLES OF JAZZ
New Orleans Jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, french quadrilles, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation.
In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-orientated swing bands (much like the Gene Krupa Orchestra) evolved and Kansas City Jazz (had a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational style) and Gypsy (a dark, chromatic style of jazz started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt) were the prominent styles.
Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music towards a more challenging "musician's music" which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION FACTFILE
The first thing that came to mind when listening to 'Let Me Off Uptown' was the time period- the 1920s and 1930s coming to mind as the music reminded me of John Steinbeck's novella 'Of Mice and Men' as the song came across jolly and playful yet I couldn't think that there wasn't a deeper hidden meaning behind it (as Of Mice and Men told the story of two friends during the Great Depression and weakness was a reoccuring theme that was expressed in the characters and locations). I say this because, as well as it is a dated song, it came across a tad eerie and creepy. However, I persued My Great Depression idea and found some key facts:
- The Great Depression played a key role in the lives of those in 1930s America as a severe economic depression hit and Unemployment rates rose rapidly, with a quarter of the country out of work.
- It started on September 4, 1929 in the US due to a fall in stock prices
- A stock market crash followed on October 29, known as 'Black Tuesday'
-Primary and Secondary industries such as mining and logging suffered the most
- Itenerant workers roamed America in search for a job and would earn low wages (normally just to be spent on prostitutes)
- Not all countries recovered quickly from this worldwide economic downfall (as most did by the mid-30s) and took until the beginning of the Second World War to achieve economic stability.
CATHOUSE POTENTIAL SCENE
Collectively, my group came up with a range of weird and wonderful ideas ranging from a 1940s cat house to a mental asylum; both of which we put into practice. We started improvising a strip joint/cat house scene where Yasmin came up with the idea that each male (seated) would be allocated a girl and we should start trying with some round-by-through or chair duets (but in this case chair solo as, rather than two chairs put together with the two interacting, this involved only one person being seated and the other being put more in control) but at the same time make it look as if a strip dance is occurring for each of the boys. To ensure this, I stated that we could all change our physicality to match our feelings toward the other person (eg. More abrupt movements, change in facial expression) as I thought it may appear more affective. Furthermore, we had spread out the chairs in order to make greater use of space and in doing so widened the performance area, providing us with more room to experiment in.
MENTAL ASYLUM POTENTIAL SCENE
The second scene idea was led by James and involved mental asylum inmates responding to the stimulus playing in the background. I thought maybe we could then set this piece at the time of the music, however made a group decision that it would provide a more eerie atmosphere if it'd been set in a modern day asylum as the music serves as a dark pointer as it symbolises that we are almost "behind times" and scared of change.
Each person created their own character with a disorder so that we could improvise how the scene would briefly pan out; for example, I developed a character touching on bipolar disorder/ schizophrenia and would, during our first run, change the way I felt towards the music using facial expressions and abrupt movements.
In order to emulate our enthusiasm towards this scene, we included the energy states and how we could all have different methods of dealing with them according to our chosen "illness". We could incorporate this into the energy states by how our character would react in the location; I would show this from changing how I would react towards the others and repeat these actions, steadily building up to standing in unison to the sudden halt of the music- replaced by static as we all stand with our heads down.
We made great use of proxemics as we spread out in the space we provided ourselves with to reflect how "apart" and "disbanded" we felt from society and one another. However, we felt that we should not portray these characters in time to the music as it felt too long- so we started from a minute towards the end and provided a more visually satisfying result. In addition, we received constructive criticism from Karen involving the build of tension- stating that we should collectively make a build up to the static clearer and more defined so the audience could follow the vague storyline.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION POTENTIAL SCENE
Our next idea put into place was based around my idea of the Great Depression. Pau led the idea with me as we thought he could also bring his initial thought of the mafia/ gangsters as they were around the same time period. We admittedly struggled trying to adapt this into physical work so we attempted to tell a basic story of the Great Depression through a series of tableaux (with one person going into the performance space initally with people then joining them, improvising a freeze frame); each one establishing the everyday struggles of those affected by it.
Our first tableau included Logan standing tall in a pivotal position; holding a coin with others circling around him- in awe of just the sight of money as it was harder to come by during that point in time. The second involved James in the foetal position on the floor with Pau standing over him (perhaps to represent the metaphoric power the rich had over the poor) and the rest of the group had a choice whether to stand up to or join Pau to take their place in the social hierarchy- also making great use of levels as the higher you are, the higher your status. Finally, our third tableau saw Pau sit, clicking his fingers with James and Logan happily standing with him doing the same- linking to my other initial thought of Jazz roots as well as representing the (forced?) happiness during this time period, no matter how miniscule it may have realistically been. In contrast, Chloe and Mike in the scene are perhaps seen as the realism behind the 'mask' of fun- the fact that people are still living hopelessly without money and are unable to hold down a job. This we thought was effective as it shows the divide of how people responded to something so clinical in their lives.
SECOND RESPONSE/ GANGSTER BAR SCENE
Prior to our next session our group were paired up to create a mimed physical piece to your second response to the stimulus. For this, I was paired with Becky and we created a small piece based around the antics of the character Arlecchino from Commedia dell'Arte to capture the fun and light hearted side of "Let me off Uptown".
The short sequence saw me in action as Arlecchino (in mask) and Becky as my dance/ fitness instructor; presenting classic slapstick as Becky would provide various moves in time with the music and I would do my best (worst) to reciprocate these.
I felt our scene was enjoyable to watch judging by audience reaction and feedback as I especially thought that we provoked the response at the correct moments (for example when the conflict between mine and Becky's character heightened to the point of us swearing at each other).
We then reassembled as a group and tried to create an original scene inspired by this activity; my first thought was that we could use Pau's previous idea of an idea around the Mafia/Gangsters of the 1930s/40s and set a scene in a typical 40s bar (perhaps with the stimulus in the background serving as a reminder to the audience that these are stories from the piece of music AND is also relevant to the setting).
Pau led the idea that the guys should take part as the mafia (besides James as he is treated as an outsider in the scene- to show the brutality and dirty habits of the mafia) with the girls as waitresses; this is shown through the use of masks- with Logan, Mike, Pau and I wearing what we would percieve as 'strong' and 'physically capable' trestle masks to emphasise our togetherness and authority over the rest of the characters as they show high status.
The idea was that James, an innocent man, would walk into the bar which is "owned" by the mafia and how the mafia would react to this with him almost "waltzing" into hostile territory- with a build up of tension through movement into Berkoff-esque Clockwork in attempt to broaden our group's use of practitioner-based work and to provide the scene with quality in the pivotal moments. Our first thoughts were that 'The Mafia' would gang up on James and have a fight scene between the five of us; however we did not have enough time to put this in action and it is likely that we will come back to it in the near future...
LECOQ INSPIRATION/ FORCED COMMEDIA POTENTIAL SCENE
Before our last session of the week, we were thought the 6 energy states of Mime Practitioner Jacques Lecoq, which included:
1. Exhausted (limited body movement, close to the floor/laid down)
2. Neutral (walking normally without telling a story- no facial expression or funny movements)
3. Alert ( likened to the characteristics of a dog- very high energy and aware of surroundings and use of facial expressions should reinforce this)
4. Tragic (as if the worst thing possible had happened- melodramatic approach to this scenario/ distraught shown through rather over the top or minimal movements)
5. Laid back ( "hippie" like movements- loose and fluid with no real purpose or inhibitions)
6. Passionate (walking with purpose and pronounced posture to a distinct place in the room, likened to lovers from Commedia dell'Arte)
This helped me understand more about mime techniques and how to put them in action. We then decided that we would create a scene incorporating this idea and combine it with Commedia dell'Arte as it links in Lecoq's states and is very similar in the aspects that they are both creating comedy through physical theatre. Therefore, we improvised using different Commedia characters in the style of Lecoq to immerse ourselves in performance. Firstly, it started with James addressing the audience of the 'Murder Mystery' genre we were also keen to explore and thought it the perfect time to establish this, where the others (in character) would approach and correct him about his statements. However, James felt this awkward and that it would be hard to convey the characters due to this. So, we then tried combining Lecoq and Commedia with Forced Entertainment as it would then enable us to experiment with more improvisational skills and could perhaps interact with the audience. This worked well besides a few hiccups during our first few runs, however, after setting the basics on storyline, this changed as events in the piece became more fluid and Karen praised us on our efforts in managing time well around our newly developed idea.
CATHOUSE SCENE PART 2
Today we began to revisit there being included a 'Cathouse' scene- except with a more choreographed approach. Yasmin again led the session and thought we could develop the physicality in the scene and the character connections, suggesting the girls this time could go from one seated guy to another to implicate that it is in fact a strip club and character connection is minimal. Furthermore, this gave the group the idea that we could create our own couple scenarios and stories between us as we had five of each gender, which made this a likely storyline.
In addition, this gave us a basis to work on in this scene as the connection between James and Yasmin as a couple could seem strenuous in it as they could explore the sadder aspects of love. Therefore, we thought it suitable for the guys (besides James) in the scene to wear masks to show their unison perhaps against James or the fact that he has a connection with an 'object' in their eyes. On top of this, we also felt very awkward and restricted in what our reactions could be when the girls perform their erotic dances around us, so we thought it safe as we could also play off the masks and infuse with character.
'TAG' BASED SCENE
Next, we experimented with games in order to give us inspiration for a scene. Therefore, we played the traditional children's game 'tag' as it requires high energy to play right in my opinion. The idea based around it was that we could perhaps tell the story of lovers from when they were little to present day. However, we thought this cliché and decided against it. Additionally, we thought this would introduce the performance well as it would immediately gain the attention of the audience and interest them in the rest of the performance.
PAIRED WORK
As our group decided to divide into pairs, we challenged ourselves to create a scene about the different aspects of love; and with two couples already covering affairs and unrequited love, I wanted to do something on the darker spectrum of love. Domestic Abuse sprung to mind when Becky and I were first put together as I thought we could easily adapt the subject to make it physical as it is physical in itself- combined with the fact that we are both strong performers and work well together. Initially, we thought that we could have a transition into the scene where I would drag Becky on to 'I don't care' by Fall Out Boy as it has an upbeat tempo, which would match the tension entering the scene. My first idea for the actual scene involved playing it naturalistically, therefore creating a major contrast towards the rest of the performance. I thought this would be effective as it would serve as a shock to the audience- both visually and in resonance (thinking we could include some harsh lighting to complete the full contrast between the other scenes). However, it came to my attention that many spectators saw it as too much of a contrast and would, as a result, drag the piece down. Therefore, Becky and I changed the tone of the piece to match the rest of the performance; dropping the transition and performing simply through movement.
COURT SCENE
For our last scene, my group and I wanted to leave the audience in suspense and therefore required us to accommodate a significant ending to the Mafia after their capturing in the last scene. In order to create the tension we wanted, we thought it best if the scene did not include any sound effects or music as it simply makes it us facing the audience. Additionally, to symbolise how members of the Mafia are now disgraced, we showed their significance and authority through the use of masks- and when the charges are read out, they are taken off depending on which one applies to them (this is decided on what their character has done throughout the duration of the performance). For example, as I fought with Becky in our paired scene and helped do the same to James in the clockwork scene, my mask was taken off when the assault charge was read out.
Furthermore, to apply greater intimacy between us actors and the audience, the idea was that the girls would disappear with the masks and then return to just beyond the stage and look outwards, saying 'guilty' whilst doing this. Us guys then draw the curtains, enclosing the space between performers and audience, then we bond hands in unison until James says 'guilty' out towards the audience, triggering the rest of us to exit through the theatre doors. However, this idea was changed as we felt something was too awkward about it; this time the girls drawing the curtains (leaving the guys behind) and lining up through the theatre stairs. Next, each member of the Mafia is then shown to be forced from the curtain into the enclosed performance space, taking a stance to represent our crime (Logan and James separated yet looking for each other, Pau looking disturbingly at audience members with Mike and I clenching our fists menacingly). The girls would then demote this sense of pride by 'getting their own back' as it were, and slap us; this creates a powerful atmosphere as it seems the Mafia have lost all that they had at the start as the audience witness a dramatic fall from grace.
PERFORMANCE NOTES
We were able to perform our piece to
the rest of the class and acting year 2's and their responses
included positive feedback along with some constructive criticism;
they said:
- We had a great opening scene as it was lively and would engage any age group due to its constant energy and focus
- The 'Slip' couple scene between James and Yasmin was excellent- described as 'beautiful' to watch, however mixed opinions followed as it was said to be 'clunky'
- To tidy up fight scene as it looked to all be set in one small part in the stage whereas we could use the whole thing in future
- We could adapt the club scene so that it appears Berkovian as it may bring more meaningfulness to the scene as it lacks it slightly
- To choreograph clockwork scene to make it less reliant on music (change walking pattern an option)
- Match each others speeds when it comes to slow motion- otherwise it looks badly rehearsed
- Fight scene intro and movements were outstanding and provided a good transition into the Benny Hill chase scene
- Overall, that we had utilised a full range of materials based around the stimulus and made good use of provided examples given in class
