Tag Archives: devising notes

Devising Notes/ WORKING ON THE TEXT 2

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Over 28 years of theatre making, Complicite has adapted, created and been inspired by a variety of texts from a Steve Bell cartoon to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

Working with the text was a major component of The Master and Margarita devising process, and often the most daunting part as in this particular case we were adapting an incredibly detailed novel with a cult following.

But the key is to just dive in. As scary as it may seem, there is no better way than to stage the chapter immediately after reading it.

  1. Put the text on its feet: Split the chapter into sections and give small groups different sections to stage. Thread these sections together and see what you get. Can you already see ways to make the story clearer, or the images more exciting? It is important for everyone to realise that this is not the definitive staging. These are just preliminary ideas. In our rehearsal room, we went through heaps of ideas. Some of these inspired other ideas, some came to nothing – it didn’t matter.
  2. Experiment with the text: In your initial attempts, notice how different readings of the chapter lead to different interpretations of the story. For example, give three groups the same chapter but ask them to focus on different things: one group stages just the dialogue; another just the narrative; and the last just the descriptions of people and place. Or perhaps groups could look at references to particular themes in the chapter, or a single character’s journey through that chapter. Completely different stories will emerge from the same bit of text – and again, no one of them is likely to be right first time, or perhaps at all. Think about how you might combine the most successful bits of each of these versions – be playful and bold.

Most importantly, don’t make decisions too early about what to keep in the show and what to discard. Keep digging into the text for different interpretations by doing as many exercises as possible. This will also be great training for your group. They will learn to create together, to use each other’s ideas, to be constantly alert and thinking about new ideas and storytelling devices. It doesn’t matter if at first the results of these exercises are unsatisfying. They will get better the more you do them.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ WORKING ON THE TEXT

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Over 28 years of theatre making, Complicite has adapted, created and been inspired by a variety of texts from a Steve Bell cartoon to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

Working with the text was a major component of The Master and Margarita devising process, and often the most daunting part as in this particular case we were adapting an incredibly detailed novel with a cult following. It sounds obvious, but the first thing to do when working with a text is very simple:

  1. Read together: It is vital that everyone has had a chance to properly read and think about the text you’re using, so there is nothing better than sitting down in a circle and reading it together. Everyone can take a page or a paragraph to read aloud.
  2. Talk about it together: Then it’s important to talk about what’s happening in the text. Even if someone thinks they understand everything about the text already, there will be unexpected insights in a group discussion, just by virtue of being together and thinking out loud. It is clear from Complicite rehearsals that the most powerful research is that which can be experienced and explored as a group. It is crucial that the group has a shared understanding of the central themes and images to be used.

As a starting point, we find this infinitely more effective than reading silently and alone.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ THE CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

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It’s essential to create an inspiring environment to work in when making a piece of theatre. This means getting together everything you can find to help yourself when it comes to the hard bit: pulling a show out of thin air.

This is why the Complicite rehearsal room quickly gets covered in research pictures, books, costumes, sound equipment, reams of script and masses of props.

Research 

When you’re making a devised piece, research is essential. Whenever there’s a silence or a blank, it’s incredibly useful to be able to go back to the research you’ve done and find more inspiration and stimulus.

When researching The Master and Margarita we did a few things which would be useful in any devising process.

  1. Collect pictures of the time period, the author, the author’s friends, family, the kind of clothes people were wearing, what the country looked like then, pictures of every place mentioned in the novel, and any props mentioned. We stuck these pictures all over the walls of our rehearsal room. They were therefore constantly on view for the actors and creative team to look at. Pictures can trigger all sorts of ideas and impulses. It’s essential to always be able to reference a collage of pictures.
  2. Read about the author. By reading the other books Bulgakov wrote, his letters and the biographies written about him, we were able to understand where some of his ideas in The Master and Margarita came from. We were then able to elucidate the more subtle passages of the novel and give them real meaning.
  3. Learn about the book’s context. Bulgakov was writing in 1920s and 30s Soviet Russia. As a group of theatremakers living in the vastly different world of 2012 London, we had to try and understand Bulgakov’s world in order to do justice to the book.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ Rhythm

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In a piece of theatre, the complex layers of meaning, emotion, sound and image should ideally create something as varied and magical as a symphony. Theatre and music have rhythm at their core and it is important to get a group to understand what rhythm is and why it is important from the beginning.

Picking up on cues

  1. Choose any dialogue between two characters, we’ll call them A and B. Get them to sit facing each other. Ask them to read the text once through.
  2. When they’ve read the text, ask them to do it again, but this time to run one line immediately into another leaving no pauses between each line. So as A finishes her first sentence, B will immediately start his sentence.
  3. Make sure they don’t speak too slowly or inflect certain words. This exercise is not about acting, it is simply about understanding the rhythm of the dialogue. Also, make sure they don’t rush their sentences. The audience must understand every word.
  4. After they’ve got the hang of this, look through the text and choose a couple of places to insert a pause. When they reach these points, A and B should pause slightly before picking up the rhythm they had before.
  5. Get the audience to comment on what they hear. Notice how the dialogue between A and B becomes much more charged and present when they pick up quickly on each other’s cues, even without acting the lines. Notice also how the pauses in the text relay a meaning to the audience that have  been unnoticeable when they were reading ‘normally’.

This exercise is a good way to identify what’s important in a text. It privileges the rhythm inherent in any text, so you could use it when a scene feels flat or lacks urgency.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ SPACE 2

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Space is the backbone of a piece of theatre. Learning how to use space is an essential part of the rehearsal process. The dynamic of an ensemble moving in space will create the atmosphere, narrative and emotions in the piece.

Complicite uses 6ft bamboo canes (gardening canes) in the rehearsal room as a tool for exploring the use of space. The bamboos should be as straight as possible and need to have smooth, unsplit ends.

There are a variety of games and techniques you can explore with bamboos. For example:

Bamboos  – space between performers

  1. Give out one bamboo between two people. Ask each pair to hold the bamboo between them using only their forefingers. A certain amount of pressure must be applied to do this.
  2. Ask the pairs to move around the room silently, avoiding other pairs and maintaining their contact through the bamboo. To do this, they must have eye contact.
  3. Explore possibilities of movement with the bamboo. Change direction and who’s leading by the exchange of pressure. The leader in the pair will usually be putting more pressure on the bamboo than the other person. To exchange leader, the pressure simply needs to swap.
  4. After you’ve got the hang of it, experiment with different positions and journeys around the room. Weaving in and out of other people, going very close to the floor, rolling, turning, getting faster and more daring. Make sure the bamboos don’t drop.
  5. To step it up a little, ask three pairs to become a group, joined by a bamboo on each person’s forefinger. Ask the group to move as one, interlace and create shapes using different rhythms. Can they create a story just by moving together in the space?

Practical application: devising from The Master and Margarita

In rehearsals, we used this exercise to develop the relationship between the Master and Margarita. Initially we worked with the bamboos, and then we took the canes themselves away, but retained the invisible connection, and the movement the bamboos had helped us create.

In one scene Margarita is the leader of the pair. As she walks round the room, she captivates the Master, speaking words from the novel he has written. The Master follows as if transfixed – keeping the same distance between them as if the bamboo was still there there.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ STATUS

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Status is key to understanding how characters interact with one another and how they behave on stage. Status indicates the relationship between characters; which character has more authority, who is at the centre of the story at this moment, which part of the story should be highlighted and given priority.

Status is another tool that conveys the narrative to an audience and is something the ensemble must learn to play with.

Status card game

Status is often confused with hierarchy or authority. While they sometimes go hand in hand, status is much more about confidence and presence. This is a simple game to help you explore status:

  1. Ask the group to walk around the room exploring varying status levels. Go from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest. When you are at status level 1 you should be shuffling around the edges of the room, silent, not making eye contact, trying to hide. Status level 10 owns the room and does as he wishes, shoving furniture around and shouting.
  2. After this initial exercise, take a pack of playing cards. Remove the King, Queen and Jack. The number cards will represent the levels of status 1 – 10 (ace is 1).
  3. Choose two volunteers, with the rest of your group forming the audience. Give your volunteers a playing card each, making sure that they keep the number secret. Next, ask them to imagine they are in an office. Ask them to walk towards each other along a corridor and greet each other, playing their status.
  4. The audience must then guess each volunteer’s status. This is helpful for both the audience, who see how status plays out on stage, and for the actors – who might think they’re playing an exaggerated status only to find that they’re not nearly clear enough.

Practical application: devising from The Master and Margarita                    Chapter 13, Enter the Hero 

In this chapter, the Master enters the story and tells Ivan all about his life. The story includes meeting Margarita, writing his novel, and then destroying it.

From our very first readings of the book, we knew this chapter was critical to the play’s narrative structure. We decided early on that we needed the whole ensemble to help tell the Master’s story.

The ensemble create the story as it’s being told by moving furniture, becoming characters in the Master’s life and by illustrating important events. In this way, the Master’s story is supported and lifted by the ensemble; it is given a high status and he becomes the focus on stage at that moment. Try this exercise with your group:

  1. Choose a section of Enter the Hero. Choose a narrator who will play the Master and will tell the story as it is written in the novel.
  2. The rest of the group is the ensemble. Find a way to help support the Master through his story, always focusing the attention on him but also keeping the storytelling dynamic and meaningful.
  3. Once you’ve established a basic pattern of events, try playing with the balance of status on stage. What happens when the Master is at 10 and the ensemble at 6, and then at only 2? And what about if they switch? How does that change affect the audience?

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ ENSEMBLE WORK

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For Complicite, the ensemble must be a water-tight entity; moving together, breathing together, using the same rhythm and tension, and always being aware of each other.

  1. Get everyone in the room to walk slowly and silently around the room without bumping into each other. Ask them to pay attention to the breathing in the room and make eye contact with everyone they pass.
  2. Ask the group to stop together without one person leading this stopping. After a few attempts, it should look like the group has decided silently to stop at the same time.
  3. Divide the group into smaller groups. Ask them to move together as one. From the outside, it shouldn’t look like anyone is leading the group. Ask the group to change speed and rhythm, but always to stay close and in contact.

Gradually, the group should feel as though they are leaderless unit, totally together in making the decision about where to move.

In our rehearsals, we used this group flocking technique to create communal spaces in Moscow, e.g. the streets and trams.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ SPACE

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Space is the backbone of a piece of theatre. Learning how to use space is an essential part of the rehearsal process. The dynamic of an ensemble moving in space will create the atmosphere, narrative and emotions in the piece.

Complicite uses 6ft bamboo canes (gardening canes) in the rehearsal room as a tool for exploring the use of space. The bamboos should be as straight as possible and need to have smooth, unsplit ends.

There are a variety of games and techniques you can explore with bamboos. For example:

Vertical bamboos

  1. Give everyone in the group a bamboo. Hold the bamboo vertically out in front of you, with its bottom tip about ten centimetres above the ground.
  2. Move around the space silently, being careful not to bump into other people, and keeping the bamboos upright and ten centimetres from the ground. The point of this exercise is to be very precise about keeping the same distance from the ground.
  3. Next, get into groups of three, doing the same thing but now moving as a tightly knit group. Change the leader of the group with each change of direction.
  4. Experiment with changing speed, rhythm, group formation. See what happens when the leader alters the position of their bamboo to create different shapes. For example, what happens when a group of bamboos moving slowly together in tight formation suddenly backs away from each other to create a gulf in the middle? What happens to the space they’ve opened up, and what does it suggest to onlookers?

This is a simple exercise that will build your understanding of space and movement. Bamboos are efficient and clear, but you can use any object. In The Master and Margarita, we substituted bamboos for chairs.

Practical application: devising from The Master and Margarita                    Chapter 4, The Pursuit

In this chapter, Ivan chases Woland and his retinue around Moscow, through streets, buildings and even a river. His journey is frenetic and quick. It is part of his descent into madness.

In order to stage Ivan’s journey, the company had to create all the environments and buildings he travels through on an empty stage. We used chairs for this, but you could use bamboos or any other collection of objects that are easily moved.

We split into four groups and each took a section of the chapter. Each group then worked out where Ivan was going and what was happening in that part of the journey.

In each group one person would play Ivan, with the others using the chairs to tell the story of his journey through Moscow. The important thing was establishing whether the space he was moving through was small or large, public or private, dangerous or easy to navigate. These distinctions helped us understand the emotion of Ivan’s journey.

Each group showed the result of their explorations and then we threaded each section together to create a single story. As a large group, we now added in Woland, constantly appearing and disappearing, but always just out of Ivan’s reach.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ GAMES 2

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Games are essential to Complicite’s rehearsal process. They are warm-ups, ice-breakers, outlets for the inevitable competitiveness and aggression we carry with us. Games help with concentration, with building a team – crucial in developing the ensemble – and, of course, games are relaxing. Although there’s often time pressure in a devising process, games are almost the only thing that shouldn’t be left out. We begin every rehearsal session – morning and afternoon – with a game.

Relatives on a train

This game is great training for improvisational reflexes – learning how to react to fellow actors and to unexpected events, and how to make the most of opportunities the action presents.

  1. Place four chairs in the space, facing each other as in a train carriage.
  2. Four actors enter the train one by one. Each actor plays someone in their family they know well: their mother, father, uncle, grandmother. They should adopt all their subject’s physical and vocal characteristics.
  3. The actors enter the train, and sit down in the four seats. But the train has been delayed and won’t leave the platform on time.

The reason we choose a relative is because it is someone we know inside out. The closer the actor sticks to the true characteristics of their relative – as opposed to trying to make the situation funny – the more playful and successful the improvisation will be.

This is a great tool for building character. Choosing someone you know well and examining how they walk, stand, talk and interact is essential when you move on to creating a character from scratch.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie

Devising Notes/ GAMES

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Games are essential to Complicite’s rehearsal process. They are warm-ups, ice-breakers, outlets for the inevitable competitiveness and aggression we carry with us. Games help with concentration, with building a team – crucial in developing the ensemble – and, of course, games are relaxing. Although there’s often time pressure in a devising process, games are almost the only thing that shouldn’t be left out. We begin every rehearsal session – morning and afternoon – with a game.

Volleyball

  1. Make a net in the centre of the room. The net can be made from a line of chairs, boxes, or even a rope of string tied like a regular volleyball net.
  2. Split the group in two. The simple rules of volleyball apply: you hit the ball over the net and if it touches the floor, your team scores. Each person in the team has a turn to serve.
  3. The ball must be touched by everybody in the team before it crosses the net. This is the most challengingpart of this game. But it’s an essential component as it builds awareness of the group and each member’s strengths or weaknesses.
  4. The first team to get to 11 points wins. Only the team that is serving can win a point. If the non-serving team scores, they win the serve. Then they can start winning points.

This and other ball games fed into The Master and Margarita rehearsals by helping form a strong ensemble. The ensemble in The Master and Margarita are constantly aware of each other and their actions in the space. They are quick to react and support a member in an improvisation. The fluidity and precision of their movements on stage is developed through playing games like this.

Words: Sasha Milavic Davies/ Image: Sarah Ainslie