Haste Theatre Company (Oyster Boy)

Oyster Boy (quoted from Haste Theatre website)

"OYSTER BOY is a dark comedy and tells the story of a boy who is born with an Oyster-shell-shaped head and his parents’ struggle to raise their extraordinary son. A bittersweet tale of the trials of love and what it means to be Other, OYSTER BOY reminds us that we should be careful what we wish for and of the delicacy of life. The fairy tale-like world of the show introduces us to a range of larger-than-life characters that are sure to entertain and delight audiences of all ages. Drawing on a range of theatrical and filmic influences, this peculiar story is told through a rich blend of physical storytelling, live choral singing, clown, dance and puppetry. With this colourful, multilingual production, Haste invites you into a sensitive, funny and surreal world.
CAST LIST: Elly-Beaman Brinklow (Chorus/Dr. Plumcock), Valeria Compagnoni (Jim), Elena Costanzi (Chorus/Molly), Jesse Dupré (Chorus/Polly), Anna Plasberg-Hill (Alice),  Sophie Taylor (Chorus/Anthony)"


Performance

- Use of music: ukulele gave a happy and jolly atmosphere accompanied by funny lyrics and rhyming couplets which would appeal to the younger audience as well as an older audience. The music gave an opportunity for scene transition as it distracted the audience and focused the attention on the lower stage rather than what was happening behind them.

- Costume: stripes gave an Italian theme and this was reinforced by the accents of some of the actors. Woman playing the man was made clear by the wig and the costume, (clear for a younger audience to follow)

- Mother giving birth: built tension as it was all happening behind the blue sheet and the actors would pop up with different facial expressions which again created humour. The Oyster Boy being covered up for a while after he was born continued this tension and we wanted to see what he looked like, making the audience more intrigued.

- First sight of Oyster Boy, the audience was shocked and it was also quite funny because of the large head in comparison to the body - very surreal and would again appeal to the younger audience because of this bizarre-looking child.

- The blue sheet was also used as the ocean which was very interesting and a good multi-use of a simple prop. The woman moving her arms to look as though she was swimming in the sea was clever and also created humour. Multi-prop use could be used in our piece.

- The ending contrasted with the jolly and fun themes used throughout; emotion was created but the ending was ironic and returned to the fun and humorous outlook on the story - "what would the next child look like?"

- Exaggerated physicality and facial expressions created humour and also made the story clear and concise for a younger audience. Expressed the emotions clearly and also related well to the light-heartedness of the quirky story.

- Nice contrast of emotional moments, themes of love, but made light-hearted and not too heavy by the physicality and jokes.

Workshop

- Becoming an animal and turning that animal into a personification - made us think about how to create humour and also how to think about characterisation in a different way. How can we compare our character to something more basic and build it up into a more complex character?

- Granny's Porridge - Freezing in funny positions, particularly when the props were introduced. Again demonstrated how we can create humour and make the audience laugh by being silly. In the form of a game, the task was given objective and this therefore made it more interesting and people would lose their inhibition to win the game, so the poses were more funny and unusual.
 

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre


Interesting Moments:

- Ensemble: symbolised her conscience and emphasised her confusion

- Running on the spot - Rhythmic and built pace, showed her progression and journey or alternatively, could have shown her running away, no stability.

- Opening the window - symbolic of freedom. When the windows suddenly closed, she was back to being trapped and deprived of freedom.

- Set - moving around the set to represent different rooms, which saved time in regards to set changes.

- Costume - clearly showed that the orphans were young children, which was accompanied by the way they shuffled around the stage, (childish movements). Also made them look identical which highlighted a lack of identity and no emotional connection, (not seen as human or important).

- Lighting: Red glowing foot lights symbolised a warm fire. As the cast all placed their hands in front of the fire, the shadow of the hands was visually very interesting and worked well as an ensemble. Flames: linked back to religion and how she was threatened to go to Hell. Passing lights between hands was very clever and showed Jane to be pacing up and down the hall - made the pacing more interesting and enhanced imagery of the hallway.

- Symbolic Lighting: Square of light over her represented claustrophobia and craving for freedom.

- Man playing the dog: created humour when the tail (belt) was slapping on the sofa. Also used that sound to provoke familiarity of that sound of a dog's tail. His sudden movements, panting and barking all helped to give him the physicality of a dog and this was clear for these reasons.

- Corset: represented her transition into a woman, accompanied by pinning her hair up to give her a more mature look. Made this clear to the audience.

- Cyclic nature - began and ended with the phrase "it's a girl", shows how life will continue and personally I felt that this was an emotional moment; Jane will use her past experiences to bring her daughter up as a strong and independent woman.

- Band calling out words or phrases was surprising and gave the music an extra dimension

- Singer: singing the song 'Crazy', she seemed to be taunting Jane throughout the play in the back of Jane's mind. When she turned out to be the wife, it was a moment of realisation.

- Multi-role of the French girl/Helen was interesting and she changed her voice, accent and physicality to become more child-like and also to show that she was foreign. Showed her isolation as a result of her language barrier, but Jane helps her overcome this.

- Death was represented symbolically by the trap door, which was interesting and more effective than a melodramatic death as it was more gentle and heart-felt when Jane was left alone on stage or in Helen's bed.

 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time


Space / Astronaut scene:

I enjoyed the moment when Christopher was lifted by other cast members and they supported him in the air as he moved in slow motion. Christopher's physicality was interesting as his slow arm movements whilst being elevated indicated that he was floating in space. Additionally, the slow and large movements created a 'dreamy' physicality. This was assisted by the ensemble moving him around which helped create this outer-space imagery. Stars were projected across the stage, accompanied by a dark blue wash; visually, the stage clearly represented Christopher's dream of being an astronaut. In a literal sense, the projected stars represented space. However, looking further into what stars often represent, they could have been symbolic of dreams and aspirations; Christopher was a high achiever/aspirer, and believed anything was possible.

Houses / Investigating the Street scene

When Christopher was investigating the death of Wellington, he investigated each house on his street. I enjoyed the use of blocks to create each house in a different way; sometimes the blocks would be used as a door, and other times they would be chairs, tables or a television. In particular, the family watching football was very visually exciting - they moved in slow motion, leaning forward in their seats and clenching their fists to show captivation into the match. This moment was more effective in slow motion, as the facial expressions were clearer and more exaggerated. I also felt this was effective contextually, as a modern audience can easily relate to a family gathering to watch a football match and therefore the facial expressions created humour and provoked familiarity.

The movement of the boxes is something I would like to incorporate into our final performance of TV People; the constant moving of the blocks completely changed the staging and therefore kept the audience engaged visually. Moving blocks to represent furniture or parts of a house is very simple and will be a good alternative to having props. As an audience member I found that the movement of blocks made the scene pacey as opposed to having to bring a door or a TV onto stage.

I also enjoyed the projection of house numbers. Not only did it make it clear when Christopher had moved onto the next house, but the use of numbers related well to Christopher's way of thinking and obsession with counting and order. This links back to his autism.

Grandma scene

Again, pace was used during the scene when Christopher visited the old lady on his street. The change in pace whilst the Grandma went to get the biscuits was very funny and also exaggerated the characterisation of both Christopher and the Grandma. As she walked away, she moved in extreme slow motion and this contrasted perfectly with Christopher moving in fast motion. Christopher's physicality stood out to me as being very exciting and unique - the way he looked at his watch and tapped his foot very quickly indicated how slowly the Grandma was moving in comparison to the rest of the world. This moment was my personal favourite.

Trains - motif

I found trains to be symbolic throughout the production - personally I found them to be symbolic of Christopher's journey and finding his independence. Building the train tracks around the stage led up to the moment when the train tracks came alive and the toy train went around it. This moment before the interval foreshadowed what Christopher planned to do in the second half of the production, (get on the train to find his mum). Additionally, I felt that the building of the train tracks was symbolic of his building his confidence and him working on his project, (finding out who killed Wellington and working up the courage to see his mother). He began slowly, but built up the speed over time - eventually he was running from different sides of the stage to grab sections of the train track. I personally found this to show his franticness and rush. Like the Grandma scene, I feel that Christopher was presented as an impatient character who liked fast results.

When Christopher jumped down onto the train tracks to find Toby, tension was built and the shock amongst the audience contrasted well with Christopher's calmness and obliviousness. This in turn showed his isolation and inability to be independent. But simultaneously, although he took a risk, Christopher was not hurt or effected, so perhaps he was more capable than the audience thought initially.

Other stand-out Moments

- Writing on the floor and this being projected on to the back screen: was visible for all the audience to see so the position in the theatre was irrelevant. Showed how he liked to map things out and draw things to visually show them - another insight into his brain and way of thinking. Diagrams were often drawn to reinforce this, also relating back to his mathematical way of thinking.

- Shevon: white clothing represented peacefulness and 'guardian angel', her narration symbolised how Christopher can rely on her to communicate what he cannot. The voice over showed that even in her absence, Shevon resonates with Christopher and this reinforces the idea of a guardian angel and trust. Links back to train scene, building the tracks whilst talking to Shevon could symbolise the trust-building in their relationship.

- Hand reaching out - human contact, comfort and only happened with his mum and dad to show unconditional love and understanding. (created emotion)

- Walking on walls (ladder) - great use of space, created a 'bird's eye view' which was visually dynamic and exciting to watch, making the possible impossible, (climbing on the walls and defining gravity).

- Ending "does this mean I can do anything?" - the question was left unanswered which allowed the audience to have their own interpretation. Christopher achieved so much despite his autism, so can he do anything? Or will his autism always hold him back? I liked the questions that were left for the audience to answer because it allowed the story to mean something different to everyone.


 

Exploration of 'TV People'

Tableaux

We created a series of Tableaux which were representative of the significant points in 'TV People', (see sheet). The Tableaux were useful as they allowed us to summarise the play and divide it into the most interesting sections, but also allowed us to develop the frozen images into scenes. We chose an office scene to begin with. The tableau consisted of the whole group forming a circle around one person in the middle. We all had blank expressions on our faces and held our hands out as if we were typing, (to suggest an office setting). The person in the middle signified the isolation of the protagonist as a result of his social anxiety and addiction to technology. The fact we were all looking at computer screens created irony, as it linked back to the theme of technology ruling our everyday lives.

 

To transition this tableau into a scene we began to think, in a general sense, how we could show social anxiety and isolation through our voice and physicality; we spoke in a robotic tone of voice, beginning with the phrase "how was your weekend?". This phrase was repeated around the circle, followed by a series of 'small talk' conversations. Not only did this create an unsettling and 'annoying' mix of various conversations, but it also created humour, as a modern audience are able to relate to typical small talk in a professional setting, (in this instance, an office). Phrases such as, "I have a tuna sandwich for lunch", and "oh my God, did you hear what happened to Michelle?" naturally gave each member of the group a sense of character. Personally, I saw my character as a sly and 'gossipy' woman, who likes to talk about others in the office. To explore this characterisation, I used downward inflection to drag out my sentences and appear ignorant and lacking of personality. Whilst creating a sense of an ignorant and self-absorbed character, the downward inflection also provided a robotic tone to my voice, which fed well into the context / message of the play, (being taken over by technology). This undertone of robotic conversations contrasted well with the silence of the protagonist in the middle, as it highlighted the intensity of his feelings when being surrounded by meaningless and annoying conversations on a daily basis.

 

We also experimented with the use of play, pause and stop, (manipulating the other members of your group through physical theatre). We remembered what was explored in the Frantic Assembly workshop - where we were asked to imagine we had a giant computer screen in front of us and had to select and discard objects through mime. We used this technique to choreograph a series of play, pause, mute and stop moments which were controlled by the protagonist. The person in the middle would point at another group member and they would either; stop talking and freeze, mute (so miming their words rather than speaking them), or raise/lower their volume. This was all dependant on the gesture appointed to you, (e.g. raising of the arm would mean you had to talk louder). I feel as though this worked successfully, as it related well to the use of technology, (TV or the use of a remote control to manipulate the television). Also, the raising and lowering of the volume was surreal and therefore created humour as the pointless phrases were delivered un-naturally and extremely loudly. This linked back to the Artaud workshop, where we had to exaggerate our physicality when meeting an old friend. By exaggerating voice and physicality to such an extent, the characterisation becomes heightened and thus, humorous and melodramatic. The constant manipulation of the tone, pitch, pace and volume in turn changed the rhythm of the scene. This frequent change made the scene engaging and allowed us to explore exaggerated voice and physicality.

 

At one point, we all turned to look at the protagonist as opposed to facing outwards. This made the scene more intense and was representative of his growing social anxiety, as if all eyes were on him only, (he could not ignore the presence of others in his office). This smothering and intense situation was unsettling for the audience and therefore played on Artaud's 'Theatre of Cruelty', as they were made to feel uncomfortable and understand what the protagonist is experiencing.

 

 

Medea

Medea

- The mother refused to comply with social norms and her characterisation was completely different to that of the other mothers. Her costume also reflected this inability to fit in, as she has black hair and wore plain, dark clothes; the other mothers wore brightly coloured, feminine clothes and wigs, so they appeared put together and 'motherly'.

- The group of mothers choreography was interesting as it reflected their need to copy each other. It almost presented them as clones of one another, which portrays a woman's pressure to be the 'perfect'  mother. I feel as though the protagonist's struggle to live up to her expectations of a mother was portrayed greatly through the group of 'yummy mummy's'

- Additionally, I noticed throughout the choreography that there were some moments when one character would fall behind and perform the moves a beat after everyone else. This may have been implying that no mother is perfect, as there were even faults in the group of 'perfect' mothers.

- The use of the stairwell was interesting, as characters would often exit through it, and the protagonist would lean over the banister and watch them walk down. This may have been representative of her wanting to exert power and take on a masculine role, as she would be on a higher level, as though she had won the argument. Particularly when the husband exited through the stairwell, he would become silent and she would be left screaming at him as he walked down the stairs. This could be interpreted that he may not have actually been present, and she was reliving old memories. Additionally, it could be said that the stairwell gave the arguments some kind of domesticity and their reoccurring relationship issues, as he left the room.

- Linking back to Jane Eyre, when characters walked downstairs to represent their death, I felt as though the stairwell may have been representative of a similar meaning. The characters walking down the stairs may have been foreshadowing the death of the children and how her husband is essentially dead to her, as the children were the only thing keeping them together.

- The digging was another interesting aspect of the production, as it signified the digging of a grave or the burying of her past. Her costume change into a more traditional dress at this point was also significant, as it implied that this aspect of the performance was not naturalistic/realist. Also, the change linked well to the context of Medea and it's original Greek background. Again, the grey, traditional costume showed the change into her character and made her appear more evil and surrealist in comparison to her t shirt and jeans. Overall, it created some kind of emotional detachment to her character, as she became somewhat more fictional and a sinister figure of the past, (showing her mental deterioration).

- The protagonist's mental deterioration was also portrayed through the children. Her shouting and arguing gave the impression that although she was suffering, she was able to shout and have an emotional outlet, (wasn't afraid of showing her pain). However, the children contrasted with this, remaining fairly quiet and reserved throughout. Personally, I felt that this showed how the children were suffering internally as a result of their parent's issues, but unlike the mother, they were unable to externalise these emotions. Perhaps this was a factor in their death / suicide attempt.

- The grandparents gave context to the protagonist's background without giving a direct explanation of her past; the bitterness of the grandmother's character showed how they never formed a good bond with one another. This gave a possible explanation for the protagonist's inability to provide and be 'good enough' for her children, as she never had a mother figure herself.

- "Getting used to you would be like getting used to Cancer" - this phrase was unsettling and shocking, particularly as it was delivered by one of the young children. I feel as though the phrase was playing on a typical bickering argument between siblings. By including this line, the bickering became sinister and un-natural, as comparing someone to a disease is shocking and drastic. This highlighted the struggles that the children were facing as a result of their parents; seeing things in a dark and sinister way at such a young age was unsettling and may have foreshadowed their suicide later on in the play. (Resonated with the audience)









 

'TV People' research

"Haruki Murakami is an iconic figure of postmodern literature known mostly for his unreal, humorous work focusing on the loneliness and empty mindedness of Japan’s work dominated generation." - http://www.famousauthors.org/haruki-murakami

This quote links to the themes in TV People, as it focuses on how technology affects us as a modern-day society. The phrase 'empty mindedness' is significant as it implies that technology can replace our ability to make conscious decisions and to communicate with others. This links directly to the narrative portrayed in 'TV People'; the protagonist loses sight of reality and his ability to communicate is diminished as a result of his technology obsession.

"Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan on January 12, 1949. Haruki probably inherited the passion for writing from his parents who were teachers of Japanese literature. Haruki, however, was never a big fan of Japanese literature and was instead under heavy influence of Western culture. He has been criticized on being overly westernized by the Japanese on several occasions. In 1968 Haruki attended Waseda University as a Theater Arts major student. Not very studious by nature, Murakami would spend hours reading film scripts at the Theater Museum at the university. He also met his wife for the first time in Waseda University and they married in 1971. Together they opened a Jazz Bar named Peter Cat in Kokobunji, Tokyo which was later shifted to Sendagaya, Tokyo, a quite locality." - http://www.famousauthors.org/haruki-murakami

 

Artaud Workshop

Facts about Artaud

- Artaud was 'counter-culture', which means he refused to comply with social norms at the time, causing controversy as a result.

- He was said to be 'ahead of his time', because he was a forward thinker. Unfortunately his plays weren't apprectiated at the time he was alive; it was only after Artaud's death that his work was fully appreciated.

- He suffered from mental illness, (depression for example); he spent the majority of his life in asylums, but ironically his time in asylums stimulated his creativity.

- He was a French Catholic and experienced a love/hate outlook on religion.

- He courted controversy by provoking real problems and often addressed the harsh truth - things that his audience didn't want to hear. By unsettling the audience, his plays were successfully thought-provoking. This was known as 'Theatre of Cruelty'.

Themes included: drink, drugs, sex, disease, death, religion, incest and disease. These themes clashed with one another to create intense theatre. His themes were also very provocative, considering the context, so the content itself often unsettled and surprised the audience.

- He died of an overdose at 51, (1948)

ICONIC = Realism
DEICTIC = Non-realist, response/reaction

Tasks explored in class

 

 

1) "Walk and greet" exercise involved improvisation and exploration of exaggeration levels; we were asked to choose a random person in the room and greet them as though they were an old friend we had not seen in a long while. Naturally, the general reaction was to hug the person and I used upward inflection to communicate my excitement. We were then asked to exaggerate this as much as possible, so the following time, I heightened the volume of my voice and jumped up and down to further exaggerate this excitement. I widened my face and used large hand gestures to melodramatise the scene. We were then asked to repeat this, but without using dialogue. This was challenging, as we could only use our physicality to communicate a narrative. To do so, I heightened my physicality and put my hands over my mouth to show shock, and then jumped around with Lady Pearl to show our disbelief and happiness. We had to repeat this task with a friend we had seen recently, (so naturally our physicality was less excitable), and also for an enemy. To communicate a negative relationship between myself and Nathan, I folded my arms and avoided eye contact as much as possible. I also twiddled my thumbs and shuffled my feet to show how I was uncomfortable and wanted to get away as soon as possible. We also kept a distant proxemic between us so further imply our dislike of one another. 

2) "Ring-of-Roses" exercise required us to interpret the nursery rhyme in a sinister, Artaudian way. To do so, my group lied down in a circle with our feet facing inwards. Whilst slowly humming the nursery rhyme, we raised one arm and used this to manoeuvre ourselves so that we were sitting up looking at the person opposite. From here, we stood up and placed one hand into the middle, we continued by circling around, (still humming the rhyme). Suddenly, I coughed - to communicate the contraction of the Plague - and the rest of the group continued. By breaking the circle and coughing near the audience, we were making them feel uncomfortable - as though they were at risk of contracting the disease. By doing so, we were utilizing Artaud's 'Theatre of Cruelty' techniques.  We came back to the centre with our hands in a prayer. We felt that the prayer was significant, as it feeds into Artaud's fascination with religion, but also conveys hope and childishness to communicate that we were children. We finished by using collaboratively delivering the line "we all fall down". I said this with slow pace and low tone, to deliver the line in a sinister and un-nerving way.

3) "Plague" exercise focused on instinct and being aware of those around you; we were asked to lay in a circle and collectively hum a note until it naturally faded out. After this, we would have to suddenly gasp and sit up, (as if we had awoken from a bad dream) - this part was challenging as it replied on impulse and for us to work collaboratively as a class to instinctively decide the right time to jump up. We then had to discover that we had a rash all over our bodies, but eventually it began to fade away and we went back to sleep. The exercise was interesting as it tested our collaborative skills, but also our ability to listen and use our senses to detect when to move.

4) "Symbolism" exercise required our creativity as a lone performer; we had to perform an iconic death, followed by an iconic eyewitness, and then a deictic, (symbolic) death. To perform the deictic death, I opened my arms wide and looked at the ceiling, (to communicate spirit and freedom), but then curled into a ball to portray how that person no longer exists. The exercise made me think deeper into the meaning of what I was performing, rather than how I can communicate it easily and clearly. Symbolic performance can often be more interesting and provoke more feeling than a iconic performance. This also linked to Artaud's theme of death, which was common throughout many of his plays.