Spatial Awareness

Play and Improvisation

 

 

 

 

The session on ‘Play & Improvisation’ was the first practical session the group did as part of this process.  In this video the group are taking part in an exercise with a mix of improvisation and play. In the centre of the circle there were props and costumes that the group had picked, and the circle around them formed the performance space. Any member of the group could enter the circle at any time and use as many props or costume as they wish; they could continue what they are doing for as long as they wanted until someone else entered the space and tapped them on the shoulder and they would leave the performance space. This continued until the rules were changed to add a second performer into the space to create a new improvisation.

It was interesting to see how people reacted to each other in the space and to see how they could improvise on the spot. The mood was interesting; it seemed to be slightly comic with some people (at some times unintentionally) entertaining the group. Play and improvisation is a big part in Forced Entertainment’s process when creating performances, when they do these sessions they record them and watch them back and pick certain moments which they consider useful. Looking at this clip we could find certain moments the group could possibly use for a future performance. This exercise was very relevant to what the group did in the later weeks of the process. It will also be very handy when the group begin to create ideas for a show. This exercise would tie in very nicely with a time and duration piece due to that fact it could continue for a long time with performers constantly rotating with their peers and continuing what they were doing or trying something different.      

Later on in the session we were given some new rules to play with. These rules were to choose a prop, costume or object and a placard, then go to the front of the performance space and run on the spot with them. We took turns holding them up with a big cheesy smile and exhibiting them until we were told to stop. We always had to have two people in the space; but we kept swapping to keep the energy going. People also swapped objects or wrote new placards and put them in the space. The main thing was to keep the energy going in the space, keep renewing and constructing or deconstructing and letting the experimental manipulations take place. We used this kind of technique because it is typical of Tim Etchells. Etchells sets rules for the performers and then lets them play for a duration of time to see what happens.

 Another extension from this exercise or another rule given was that two people had to remain in the space and hold hands whilst two other members held up placards behind them. This was interesting to watch as it created a new level of reality, risk taking and the theatre became renewed yet undone due to the rules changing, also minimising the play in the space made the audience really focus on what was happening whereas before the space got a bit messy and was harder to pick out the interesting bits.  In this exercise, the atmosphere in the room came alight as everyone naturally started to feel more comfortable and welcomed into the space and not judge each other, letting the play and improvisation develop and blossom to create some really interesting yet controversial moments as Forced Entertainment would also do.

 One moment that was particularly memorable was when two performers were holding hands in the space and the two placards that came up behind them were ‘Immortal’ and ‘Death’ both of which have a link yet contradict each other. It’s these ‘happy accidents’ or moments that make the play more interesting and exciting to build and watch as an audience member.  If this was to be used in performance, the next step would be to think about how we could develop the play by possibly using more objects, music and physicality to push limits.

Towards the end of our ‘play and improvisation’ session we played a series of games involving chairs. These games were examples of Forced Entertainment’s methods of improvising using games with straightforward rules. The rules of the first chair game were simple; one person had to stack the chairs, while the other had to try and unstack them. The players were told ‘You are not allowed to talk, you are not allowed to discuss it, you are not allowed to do anything else, not allowed to act or anything. Just do your job.’

The result was a fast-paced and comical sequence. However, when two different people played the game the dynamic was very different; the movement was still fast-paced but rather than comedy the mood was darker and the players seemed more desperate to complete their goal of stacking/unstacking the chairs. This reflects the potential of the improvisation to create many different possibilities for performance.

If we were to incorporate this improvisation into a performance it may work well as part of a durational piece, as the high-energy activity would affect the physicality of the performers over time and the simple rules allow the piece to be developed easily. For example, an new rule was added in which anyone in the audience could shout ‘freeze’ and go into the space to hold up a placard with a descriptive word on it (for example ‘recently widowed man’ or ‘smells like gone off tuna’). Forced Entertainment use this type of sign often in order to add layers to their performances without imposing a specific narrative.

 When we played this particular game there was only two people in the performance space. An interesting way to develop this exercise would be to add more people, working in teams stacking and unstacking chairs, and note how this changes the mood of the performance. If we were to use this in performance, a next step would be to think about how costume and music would affect the performance.