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.