Frantic Assembly Workshop - 12th July

Awesome.

One word: Awesome.

At the heart of frantic assembly's method is collaboration in a collective creative process (hence assembly) and it's about conjuring energy, experimenting, learning and sharing. This was telling from the start, Maggie emphasised how Frantic Assembly is about the group effort and how they were interested in your best effort, not the best in the room. I love this, my best experiences in acting have always been ensemble casts rather than ones where you feel there's a hierarchy, even if you're at the top, it adds a level of experience unmatched by any other style of drama, a shared energy.

After the warm-up (which killed my abs) though also at the same time part of the warm-up, we had a slalom which we individually run around at first, which seemed benign but through this Maggie emphasised the need for energy and focus using Caitlin and Megan's run as an example as their focus made it enjoyable to watch. Employing this, we then developed it through making eye contact with others in a relay slalom which was hard to get used to at first, but helped increase sharpness, focus and cooperation. It was also surprisingly enjoyable to watch.

After the full warm-up, all our muscles thoroughly used, we began the method of touch movement thing, where a connection between people allows them to know how to move. This was first used in this session in partners, one hand on top of another, guiding the other simply by the pressure of the hands on each other. No gripping with the fingers, all through pressure from the above hand on the lower to determine the direction they move. This was fun to take part in, especially when I closed my eyes, as it felt freeing to concentrate on one area alone without making decisions or inferences about where to move, relying solely on the area of pressure from the partner's hand. It was actually more stressful being the guide with the eyes open than it was being guided with them closed. All about trusting the other person to get it right.

Using this idea of contact again, the next exercise had the sides of our bodies in complete contact and leaning against each other so that when we both raised the central leg, we were completely reliant on the other person for support. Again, this involved a lot of trust, and was pretty hard for me and Megan because she's quite a bit smaller than me, but we eventually got there.

Then began the revelation of the lift. Oh! I was flying! Though Megan was smaller than me, she didn't like being lifted and my is she strong! So I let her lift me - the first time in forever, I've always been one of the biggest, strongest or heaviest, so always been the lifter, now I was the liftee and it was glorious. I think I squealed in delight every time I got lifted. First was one where we stood side by side, she put her arm around my waist, my hand pushed down on her shoulder and she stepped taking the opposite leg of the ground sending me into the air. We developed on this, adding a little spin to do a 180 turn.

Then we did a lift where the person lifting puts her hand around the liftee's waist from the front whilst they put their hands on their back pushing down and they should twist around the lifter's body. We weren't quite so good at this lift, something about the way I was pushing into her back, but we eventually got a couple of good turns in.

Next was a lift where it was up to the person on top to support their weight, going into a plank position on the other's shoulder with the heels of their palms into their waist. The first part was easy, but I struggled when they started to raise the legs into the flat position, partly because I have no ab strength, and because every time I felt like I was being pushed forward by Megan's hands, we got nearly there and reckon I could have gone flat if we had had more time.

Next on the agenda were pressure duets. First, we had to find three points on our partner (now Jenna) where we would gently squeeze, I chose her left wrist, her cheek, and her right ankle. We then devised movement around the body between these points, then put them together, one point at a time each which confused our already devised movement, but allowed us more opportunity to create more interesting transitions between the pressure points. Finally, we added parts where the partner could manipulate the other's body to reach their pressure point, or even use the lifts we'd learnt earlier. I used the shoulder lift to spin Jenna around 180 degrees, then manipulated her body and head to turn her around. I liked our little sequence whilst devising it and found good moments where we connected, moved slower or forced movement around. Watching everyone else's, I was amazed at the range of different sequences, the beauty and the talent displayed by each partner. I would make special mention to the trio, Hannah, Megan and Charlotte who had a beauty and coordination in their sequence which seemed quite professional.

Having learnt duet lifts, we then began to learn group lifts. The first one had a rock on which the liftee lent whilst two people support the shoulder so that the liftee can lean all their weight on them and kick their legs in the air so others can catch and lift them up, arms locked in position above with the liftee in a plank position. I had a go at this, and that was when I truly felt amazing, not quite as awesome as the last lift, but a revelation. It was also another trust exercise, for me at least, not used to being lifted. 

This was followed by one inspired by the Calipso where the liftee has two rocks on whom they lift themselves up whilst a group rush in to take their legs and lift them up. This felt less stable than the other ones, so a little scarier both lifting and as the liftee, requiring more coordination and balance.

Last lift of all, was one where the liftee leans down with the rock's hand on their back, then they push back into it, and others rush in to lift them up into the air on their back, the pressure of their movement determining where people hold them, tested when Caitlin (when lifted) did a roly-poly. When I was lifted, it felt very free and full of adrenaline.

We then did a quad game, where we were lined up in rows and to music, jump up and down to a beat of eight and on the eighth beat turn 180 degrees to face someone behind. It was surprising when it didn't go perfectly first time, as when someone jumps to face you, you want to jump to face the one behind you also. Furthermore, we reduced the beat to six and jumped back around on six, then four, then two, then one. Then we added things such as an arm lift on two, then a 'whoop' 'yeah' on one and two, getting more and more complicated requiring us to control our bodies from doing impulse movements. 

The final exercise of the night, we split into two groups and combined all the skills we learnt to create a big final sequence with one person at the centre. We had a duet lift at the start, the one with the spin around the body, then Sarah (central girl) walked to another point and on the way, I trip her up put my hand on her back and lift her up with the rest of the group, the walk her a way before putting her down where she is budged by someone and the rest of the group run in to do the Calipso move making her walk in the air then finishing with a squeeze thing. In feedback, we were told that it looked a bit like Sarah was getting bullied, so in the next five minute rehearsal we developed our sequence to make it look more like we were bullying Sarah. 

I loved devising all the sequences and discovered a love for being lifted, and physical theatre. I hope I have the opportunity to get involved with Frantic assembly again some day.

Frantic Assembly

They're a physical theatre company founded in 1994 by Scott Graham, Steven Hoggett, and Vicki Middleton. They were students at Swansea University, none had studied theatre, but were fascinated and willing to learn. Taking inspiration from the likes of the company DV8 they wanted to create something different to anything seen before, and created a style based on movement, music, design and text to create energetic, memorable pieces.

They believe strongly in the idea of collaborative efforts in the creative process, an ensemble production, trying new ideas through trial and error, learning and sharing. They have number of devising techniques, beginning achievable and building upon it to make the creative process easier to handle so that more ideas are formed.

Reviewing the Situation

For the whole term, I think not only did our group produce a quality piece of drama, but we worked really well together and each contributed to the creative process, (though hats off to Hannah for an amazing effort in every respect). I think we were pretty lucky to get the funniest and least harrowing part of the monologue, but we took advantage of this to produce a very humorous and energetic piece. I personally loved choreographing in a Berkoff style, although tiring, it has a hella lot of energy and fun with it (though I don't think I'd want to do a performance longer than fifteen minutes).

Perhaps we could have made our piece more defined and mimetic as within it there was maybe a little too much fluidity of movement. I also think we could have worked more on transitions to make them more eye-catching and synchronised. Although the passing of the voice was very good for the first half, I think we lost the focus achieved there in the second half of the piece. Finally, we could have reacted more to each personality, perhaps creating a certain manner of reaction from the group each time a certain personality took control, nothing big, but an indication.

I think all this would have come with a longer rehearsal period considering we only blocked the full piece two weeks before the performance and did a considerable amount of refinement as it was, and so for the time we were given, our piece was pretty good. I loved devising and performing, and hopefully improved my expression, physical movements and memory for choreography, though that is yet to be tested.

The Performance

The big day!

Of course the duration of the day entailed pre-performance nerves and paranoia sure you'll forget a vital line and freeze still and idiotically on-stage as Chipp pulls what's left of his hair out of his head, or I'll make unfortunate bodily noises at really inopportune moments. An
d the constantly thudding racket in your rib cage, sickly butterflies winging your stomach into a mess of unease all the while stupidly excited for the adrenaline fueled night ahead.

The first thing on the agenda for the final rehearsal was the transition between the two groups' sections (the third left out due to Sarah's terrifying quarantined contagion) where we had music in the background as we marched on stage in a mirror order of personalities and took their place. Then in a smooth canon move we peel off and go to the back where we move the riser lid and riser further back. After just a couple of run-throughs it was pretty smooth, and looked effective.

We had a couple of run-throughs, the first one slow to remember everything before we picked the pace up. We didn't adapt much as we didn't want to panic ourselves before the performance. I think the only things we changed was the direction I jump down from "Yes, Chair" to get into position with Caitlin: instead of facing forwards, facing sideways, as the audience can see what I'm doing much more clearly. And also, after "little explosions of love" the "Whoosh" Charlotte joins in to turn herself around to face the audience. Everything else, we kept the same and ran through, refined and tried desperately to remember cues.

Then it was the long process of everyone getting costume and makeup on before we did a dress run-through. 

Here are some pictures of our development through the hour:

With all the makeup done, and costumes on, we did a run-through with the lights, and someone taking photos. The run-through all went well, no-one forgot lines or cues etc. here are the photos (some):

And so... following this came the dreaded and awaited hour: the performance.

Watching the other group smash theirs with a sledgehammer (it went very well) nerves jangled and we boogied our way up to the front. Sadly, the placing of the riser went wrong and it was slightly wonky for the rest of the performance. To be honest, I can't really remember what happened, it's all a bit of a blur, all I can really remember was starting and what felt like two minutes later reaching the end. From what I can remember, it went really well. We hit our cues, for lines and movement, no-one went wrong and we put all our energy into it. Basically, I thought it was a fantastic performance. Well done gang!

Monday 3rd July

Today was time to experiment with the make-up. Or more precisely, my make-up (which I did not apply, thank god).

We began with a white mask-like base to create the mime-effect. I thought the white mask was spooky enough, it looked I had no real features, just blank… and ghost-like… I think it reminded me of my own mortality…

On this white mask we just decided to apply a hella lot of black paint, beginning with the lips which were coated in a nice thick layer of black (black face paint does not taste nice it turns out, just for anyone who was curious) which made me feel well threatening and mysterious. Then around the eyes, lots of black eye liner stuff, and for the finishing touch, underneath the eye a line of black paint then watery black paint running down to look like mascara tears. As many class mates commented, I looked like a member of kiss.

After an awkward minute of being aware of Chipp doing his judgemental stare, my restraint burst and I asked what his problem was, and he pointed out that rather than enhancing facial expressions which Berkoff make-up should do, mine ironically masked my expressions. Therefore, my group developed the makeup into big quizzical eyebrows, extending the lips into a creepy permanent black smile and deciding to next time, paint subtler tears. I for one loved the new make-up, especially the stark contrast between the black tears and the creepy smile, really reflecting the mental state of my character (a mentally unstable psycho). Furthermore, the make-up really enhanced my facial expressions, so mission complete!

Following the make-up escapade, we decided to do a run-through. This was sick! Smooth and energetic with a hint of spicy sexual innuendo (or more explicit than a hint). Excited for the performance on Wednesday, I think our group have created and will achieve a well-deserved rousing performance.

My only problem came at the end when I struggled for ten minutes trying to get the black smudges off my face before I returned back to the real world.

Sunday 2nd July

Nerds that we are, our group decided to meet outside of school to 1. pick up a costume from the high class retailers, Primark, and 2. rehearse in our newly purchased costumes. Not even yet met up and disaster struck… I couldn't meet them in town!

So a simple solution was drawn up where they would just buy mine and I'd pay them back. Sorted.

After some very nice flapjack and a visit from Hannah's mum exclaiming about a baby ladybird she had discovered in the garden, we got to work in Hannah's sitting room (surrounded by her embarrassing family photos he…he…heeee). Must admit, not wholly comfortable with the costume, for one, it's probably the most feminine thing I've worn all year, and it is a little revealing for my tastes, displays my gorgeous tan lines and just doesn't sit well with me. However, the combined effect of all four of us wearing the exact same outfit in my opinion made it all the more effective especially in portraying the idea of a single entity with multiple personality traits.

The only problems found with the costume was that the flimsy cheap socks began to tear as we moved around in them, and due to the smooth material, at the point where I lift Caitlin and she wraps her legs around my waist and leans back acting as the 'penis' to Charlotte's bellybutton, she began to slip a little. We quickly adapted to this situation I think by just being a bit more firm in our hold, a little less vigorous with the thrusting. Other than that (and general uneasiness) the costumes were fine and fit the bill.

With the costumes successful and all fitting adequately, we began our rehearsal. We began to slowly run through it, looking at places to iron-out faults pointed out at the last Wednesday rehearsal, such as rising with more purpose and in-sync, working on my "STOP! That really shocked him." and most importantly, diction.  The main problem with this rehearsal was the lack of head space especially with Hannah's chandelier-like light, and the small replacement for the riser, plus feeling a little self-conscious with Hannah's mum nearby and the nature of our play so speaking the lines with a little less volume or passion.

We spent a while on the section which had caused a momentary pause on Wednesday. It was after my line of "Oh it was awful! So was the hundredth time come to that." followed by Hannah's "Find out?" Questioned to the other person in the conversation. This was awkward because as a group we kept forgetting to lean forward in acknowledgement of the imaginary person in the conversation, so we tried to work out a way for either all of us to remember a simple movement after "hundredth time come to that" or to just have Hannah acknowledging and questioning seeing as it's her line following. In the end we decided to have Hannah going "hmm?" and us just putting on confused expressions as she says this (this was after a number of trial and errors including us all in-sync tilting our heads and going "hmmm?" which resulted in an impromptu canon performance).

After ironing out a few moments where we can move or get up in sync, we did another full run without stopping which went very smoothly and was a positive start to the week of the performance. I think we'll kill the performance and bury the body…

Had to stop after the last run else I'd miss my train.

Make-up and Costume

We had many conversations concerning make up and costume.

One of the ideas was to have the same make-up but with different costumes for each personality, me perhaps with ripped clothes, or a leather jacket, Hannah with a conservative motherly outfit, Charlotte with an apron and a scarf tied around the neck (50s housewife-esque) and Caitlin obviously in red, fishnet tights etc. but we thought people might just see this as four different people.

The next idea was to have the same make-up and similar costumes, so say a white shirt and black trousers, I could have mine ripped and muddy, Caitlin buttoned down and tied at the bottom to show some skin, Charlotte tucked in with the top button undone, maybe with an apron or scarf, and Hannah tucked in and buttoned all the way to the top. But we weren't sure we like this and wanted to look at having nightwear on as she's meant to be in pajamas or nightie.

So we decided on having the same pajamas, going to Primark and buying a top then wearing black leggings underneath. And to show the different personalities, we went for different make-up and hairstyles, me with black lipstick and eyeliner, Caitlin rouged cheeks and big red lipstick, Charlotte pretty, prim make-up and Hannah mostly natural. The hairstyles would reflect this also.

We looked at images of Berkoff make-up and found that most had white mask-like face paint, with exaggerated expressions.




So on Monday, we experimented with makeup (on me) using the guy on the right above as quite a heavy influence for the final result.

First attempt at face, but wasn't expressive enough.

Last face, using the guy above as inspiration to extend the ends of the lips and enlarge the eyebrows, but we may make the tears smaller for the performance.

The first part just showing how we created the tears.