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Bibliography

QUOTES (Alphabetical Order)

Antonin Artaud, Page 50, Oriental and Western Theatre

Antonin Artaud, Page 52, Oriental and Western Theatre

Augusto Boal, 1991, Page 11/12, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Preface to the First Edition: The Fable of Xua-Xua, the prehumen woman who discovered theatre, London: Routledge

Augusto Boal, 1991, Page 15, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Preface to the First Edition: The Fable of Xua-Xua, the prehumen woman who discovered theatre, London: Routledge

Ken Dancyger & Jeff Rush, 2013, Page 7, Alternative Scriptwriting: Beyond the Rules

Michael Carklin, Page 83, Spontaneity

Patrick Bateson and D, Nettle, 2014, Pages 219-222, Playfulness ideas and Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Patrick Bateson and D, Nettle, 2014, Pages 219-222, Playfulness ideas and Creativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

S, Graham & S, Hoggett, 2014, Page 2, The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre, Hoboken: Taylor and Francis

S, Graham & S, Hoggett, 2014, Page 2, The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre, Hoboken: Taylor and Francis

AUDIOFILE

Doug Paterson, 2017, A Brief Biography of Augusto Boal [Available at]: http://ptoweb.org/aboutpto/a-brief-biography-of-augusto-boal/

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Quotes

“Phrases like ’overdramatising’, ‘making a scene’, ‘playing it up’ are used to describe situations where people are manipulating or exaggerating or distorting the truth. In this context, theatre and lies are synonymous. But in it’s most essential sense, theatre is the capacity possessed by human beings - and not by animals - to observe themselves in action. Humans are capable of seeing themselves in the act of seeing, of thinking their emotions, of being moved by their thoughts. They can see themselves here and imagine themselves there; they can see themselves today and imagine themselves tomorrow.” (Boal, A, 1991)

“Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are actors (they act!) and spectators (they observe!). They are Spect-actors” (Boal, A, 1991)

“In Western theatre, words are solely used to express psychological conflicts peculiar to man and his position in everyday existence” (Artaud, A)

“The Balinese Theatre was not a revelation of a verbal but a physical idea of the theatre where drama is encompassed within the limits of everything that can happen on stage, independently of a written script.” (Artaud, A)

“The element of surprise is important in a screenplay. Whether it refers to plot or character, unexpected revelation - no matter how trivial - maintains our interest.” (Dancyger, K & Rush, J, 2013)

“[M]y feeling is that sanity is actually a pretence, a way we learn to behave. We keep this pretence up because we don’t want to be rejected by other people - and being classified insane is to be shut out of the group in a very complete way.

Most people [I] meet are secretly convinced that they’re a little crazier than the average person. People understand that their own sanity is a performance, but when confronted by other people they confuse the person with the role.” (Carklin, M)

“Playful play is undoubtedly fun. Even so, many people think, incorrectly, that as they get older, they are no longer capable of such frivolous activity. They should heed George Bernard Shaw’s advice: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” (Bateman, P & Nettle, D, 2014)

“Many composers, artists and scientists, famous for their creativity, were also remarkably playful. Pablo Picasso was once filmed painting onto glass. The onlooker saw the picture emerge, but viewed from the other side. Picasso started by quickly sketching a goat. Other shapes appeared and disappeared; colours were mixed and transformed. By the end of the film, the goat had long since gone. Picasso had been playing - probably showing off - but clearly enjoying himself hugely.” (Bateman, P & Nettle, D, 2014)

“We always retain the right to change our minds as we become aware that inspiration could come from the most unexpected places and take the most unexpected forms.” (Graham, S & Hoggett, S, 2014)

When running workshops, we are always at pains to point out to participants that the most important part to take away from the workshop is not the creative end point we might have reached but the means by which we got there.” (Graham, S & Hoggett, S, 2014)

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Audio File

https://soundcloud.com/nia-pitman/big-loop-audio-file

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Video Essay Script

In this video, I will be discussing my journey I have taken with Big Loop over the past few weeks. I will talk about play and playfulness in performance and the tasks I have taken part and how they have been beneficial to me.

The first task we took part in with Big Loop was ‘Rediscovering Objects’. We were instructed to clear our minds of any knowledge and then were given a random object and see how we reacted to it. The object that I was intrigued to the most during this process was a straw hat. I feel I was quite sceptical at the start, but once I’d established that the hat was safe, I then picked it up. I feel this is part of human nature, that if you are unaware of what something is, then you are going to be more cautious around it until your instincts tell you that you are not in harm’s way. During this exercise, I noticed that I was constantly using the hat wrong, I was hitting it and putting it on my face, smelling it. I used all my other senses to figure out what this object was. When we later developed this technique, I had to interact with the other people in the room. Because we didn’t know how to react to people, interesting ways of communication were displayed. For example one of my peers threw their object at me to get my attention. Once we interacted with fellow students, I realised that they were also using their objects incorrectly, and were just using trial and error to discover how their object worked. This was a very interesting and unusual task and think it is a great form of play.

In the scriptwriting session with Big Loop, I learnt a lot about what can spark ideas for a script. One of the exercises we did involved us writing in time constricting circumstances for 2 minutes non-stop. We didn’t have to have a pre-composed story or idea, we just had to write whatever came to mind in that moment, which made our pieces very random and weird. This is an example of what I wrote: (Read example) I feel this is an effective way of using play in performance because it forces the writer to come up with work on the spot. If the writer was given time to create an idea for a script then they may not get any work done, thus wasting precious time.  And even though it may not make sense or be any good, it could potentially spark ideas for a future script.

The final task we did with Big Loop was a 40-minute improvisation session where we were given a character and we had to completely indulge ourselves in that character and interact with each other. The character I was given was a blind jeweller. I tackled this by not reacting to things as well and not looking anyone directly in the eyes and letting mine wander. From taking part in this exercise I noticed that different characters segregated themselves and formed into groups according to which characters they felt comfortable with and who they believed their character would most likely interact with. Also, other characters gave you scenarios that you could bounce off or run with to create depth to your own character. An example of this is when my character was put in a situation with another character who claimed he was Jesus. During this brief encounter, Jesus tried to heal my blindness, but sadly failed. I really enjoyed this task because the more time we were given, the more you learnt about and developed your character.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Big Loop and learnt a lot from the techniques they have taught us and will definitely use them in the future. When looking back on my time with Big Loop, I have discovered that all of their techniques include elements of improvisation and spontaneity in them, which is the core of play and playfulness. All of their tasks are form of play which proves that play can and does stem into theatre on a regular basis. Thank you for watching this video and I hope it was insightful and enjoyable.

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Video Essay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaVEYvKxQbA

(Big Loop Video Blog)

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Photo credit: Ace McCarron

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Technical Theatre Review

After a long discussion with my group we decided to create a train crash plot. We came up with the scene of a platform by using pairs of shoes to represent people. We also laid abandoned train tickets on the floor to inform the audience that they were at a train station. The lighting used for this scene was a faded-out orange and white centre light to symbolise the morning sun whilst also creating a dynamic effect. The second scene was two chairs facing in opposite directions just like the set-up of train seating. The lighting used was two diagonal rectangular white lights that we flickered, alternating between the two to demonstrate the train going through a tunnel. Also, we added a train and crash sound-effect. The final scene, we created chaos by knocking over our props and used a red light to show the audience that serious problems had occurred.

If myself and my group had more time and a wider range of props to choose from, I feel our outcome of these three scenes would differ to our actual final piece. This would be due to us going into more detail by most likely adding more props, sound and lighting. For example, if given more time and more props, my group and I discussed using actual train seating to make the scenes more effective. This was not possible with the time and limited props given. We would want to do this to enhance the piece and to make it easier for the audience to identify what the scene was portraying. However, I believe if not completed to a high standard, this could potentially ruin the scenes and make them over-crowded or too much to take in. Thus, becoming less effective than our actual final outcome.