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Blog Entry Three - Flourishing by Dr Maureen Gaffney

What is the magic ratio of positive to negativity and what does it mean in the context of flourishing?

The idea of a magic ratio is the balance between positive and negative energy within a persons psyche. Imbalance can cause two things: flourishing and languishing. Flourishing is when there is too much positive energy and languishing is when there is too much negative energy. The idea is that we require a particular balance in order to “function normally” and stay in “normal mode”(Gaffney, 2011). If the balance is tipped towards positive energy, then you should flourish and live the best life you can whilst using your strengths to your advantage whereas if the balance was tipped negatively, you become depressed and unmotivated, unable to do things to the best of your ability.  

How might this be applicable to ensemble and group work?

In an ensemble, teamwork and understanding is extremely important and therefore I believe it is useful for the group to flourish. It will allow members of the ensemble to bounce off each other and spark creativity in ways they would not be able to if they were languishing. Flourishing allows for communication too, which is vital for an ensemble to work and to trust each other. A good magic ratio is required otherwise the group will fail as an ensemble due to conflicting magic ratios and they would struggle to find peace and ease within the group.

Of the groups that you have been in so far on this module, which one came closest to flourishing and why?

I believe my group for the Week 5 practical seminar was the group that became closest to flourishing. We all trusted and cared for each other with ease. We met up on multiple occasions to prepare for the task and in this time, began to build excitement for the task and communicated well. We wanted our presentation to flourish as well as the rest of our classmates. Our end product was much more informative and organised than my Week 8 group in which was less organised and communication was lacking. 

Bibliography

Gaffney, Maureen (2011) Flourishing. Dublin: Penguin Ireland

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Blog Entry Two - Practical Seminar

Question One: Provide a brief description of this book you studied and its aims?

My group worked on the book House of Games by Chris Johnston. Johnston is  a performer, director and, as this book mainly focuses on, a workshop facilitator. He worked in community theatre and improvisation. The book talks about using drama in the community and providing drama workshops for those who are disadvantaged. For example, he often worked with prisoners and those on probation in order to “...engage directly with issues of personal development and group empowerment.” (Johnston, 1998). Furthermore he believed drama could be used “...as a learning tool in the study of social conflict.” (Johnston, 1998) and it was a “...successful catalyst to community development.” (Johnston, 1998). Johnston liked to focus on the ensemble creating theatre rather than performing it as he believed that the collaborative devising of a theatre piece would help group members talk about their personal issues and growth.

Question Two: What did you find most interesting/surprising about the practitioner you studied?

What I found most interesting about the book was how simple and easy the activities and games Johnston provided were. In part three of House of Games, Johnston names various activities that were suitable for the ensemble. I had not thought too much about why we do all these different games in drama before, and by reading this book, I realised that there was always a reason as to why we did them. For example, I led the game ‘Fruit Bowl’ which I thought was just for fun. However, after reading Johnston’s explanation I realised that the aim of the game was to force concentration, bring attention to the room, get in the creative, focused mindset. Furthermore, the game is played in a circle which Johnston suggests “...helps the development of familiarity and trust.” (Johnston, 1998).

Question Three: How effectively did you work together to a) prepare this task and b) to deliver it on the day?

To prepare, we met up as a group a couple of time to bring together the notes we took when separately reading the book. This allowed us to bring our ideas together and successfully plan a thirty minute practical seminar. On the day, I feel our group led the session well although perhaps we could have presented the information about the book in a more interesting, engaging way. Despite this, I enjoyed the task and felt it went well. As Burnett Bonczek and Storck in their book Ensemble Theatre Making say, successful ensemble groups “…commit to each other, they support one another, they sacrifice for one another. They trust one another.” (Burnett Bonczek and Storck, 2013:16). I believe our group did this as we all put in the effort and trusted each other to do the necessary work and produce a fun, informative practical seminar for our peers.

Bibliography

Burnett Bonczek, R. and Storck, D. (2013). Ensemble Theater Making: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge.

Johnston, C. (1998). House of Games. London: Nick Hern Books, p.xii.

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Blog Entry One - The Ensemble

Question One: Define the term ‘ensemble’ in relation to theatre?

An ensemble, when talking about the term from a theatrical viewpoint, is a group of performers who collaborate and work closely together, creating a special and unique bond between the members, striving towards ‘...a common artistic goal...’(Burnett Bonczek and Storck, 2013:7) as Burnett Bonczek and Storck in their book Ensemble Theatre Making mention. Collaboration is key as the word ensemble itself alludes to being in sync and doing something at the same time rather than just a group or collection of people. The ensemble can work together through a hive mind. Usually an ensemble is seen on stage performing, singing, acting or dancing together.

Question Two: What makes a successful ensemble?

A good, successful ensemble should be committed not only to the outcome of the project, but to each other. There should be a strong bond between all the members, who not only understand each other but support one another. This bond means that the ensemble should become a family of sorts who rely on and trust each other with no questions asked. According to Burnett Bonczek and Storck, ensemble members ‘...commit to each other, they support one another, they sacrifice for one another. They trust one another. That’s the bond’(Burnett Bonczek and Storck, 2013:16). Members within an ensemble must be willing to make sacrifices and compromise their own individual goals in order to help the ensemble as a whole and its needs. With this understanding and ease around each other, an ensemble that knows each other infinitely and can perform and think in sync, will become a family that can learn and grow in unison and ultimately be successful.

Question Three: Can you give an example of an experience, positive or negative, that you have had working in an ensemble before and how did you deal with it?

In my higher level Theatre class in sixth form, there was an assessment where we had to devise a collaborative piece. There were five of us in our group and we had some issues with communication between members of our ensemble. This lack of trust and communication with each other began to harm our work ethic and the quality of the work we were producing. In order to get back on track and attempt to devise a piece of theatre that we were all happy with, we arranged a time to sit down and clearly talk through the various issues we were having and how we could fix these. I found that this simple means of talking between each other and suggesting solutions really helped enhance our piece and allowed us to advance in our devising.

Bibliography

Burnett Bonczek, R. and Storck, D. (2013). Ensemble Theater Making: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge.