Frantic Assembly are a high profile dance/physical theatre company. They are best known for their energetic yet precise movements and an ethos of collaboration within the company. They started as three college students studying unrelated topics (a mixture of Geography and English Literature) who were entranced by Contemporary Physical Theatre. By their own admission, this experience helped them to decide that they wanted to be different, really different.
Frantic Assembly, in wanting to be different, use a diverse range of devising techniques. Hymns Hands and Push Hands are both forms of physical interaction, that are created to make the performer focus on the physical contact of the other(s) and help to create a bond of trust between the performers. The trust, which then exists between the performers, allows them to create routines in a way that other companies cannot. This trust also helps in the ethos of ‘collaboration’ and constant improvement (Kaizen).
Frantic Assembly’s artistic director, Scott Graham, has also created a stepping stone named ‘Frantic Ignition’. This initiative, using young, talented, male dancers allows them to create a performance over 5 days; the dancers are initially strangers. The first session is about creating trust (therefore using push and hymns hands techniques) this helps in creating a company that work together in a professional, creative manner.
I could use these techniques in my own work to motivate my performers and create a bond between them, thus facilitating strong team dynamics and cohesion; leading to a slick, well-rehearsed performance. I think the most effective of these would be ‘Push Hands’, this is technique in which two or more performers stand close to each other, one places their hand on top of the other and applies pressure, this person is the ‘follower’, the other performer must move their hand in order to create movement from the other. As the performers trust increases and become more comfortable with each other, other techniques can be introduced in order to change the dynamic or feeling e.g. closing the eyes of the ‘follower’, changing levels/dynamics and adding in lifts/jumps. As the performers progress, the movements get harder and the execution thereof becomes sharper, resulting in explosive, energetic performance flowing from a clear trust between the performers.
Frantic Assembly’s productions include; Stockholm, Othello and Beautiful Burnout. Behind each of these performances is a different basis for the story, for example; Stockholm was created from the ‘observation’ of a real life incident, Othello was created through re-contextualisation of a classic and Beautiful Burnout which was based on a personal experience.
Their production ‘Stockholm’ is based on their observations of an abusive relationship and the fine line they tread while around their friends. The idea came when this issue was brought up in a ‘house meeting’ and Stockholm syndrome was mentioned. This lead to the idea of the audience being the ‘friends’, being affected by the relationship, seeing the deterioration of the relationship and the people within it.
This particular devising idea could be very useful to me in the future when creating a production, as it would allow me to visualise exactly what I need from my performers. It would also allow me to really show the emotions, and emotional growth, of each character. The telling of the story to the performers, before allowing them to improvise and create movement, would, I think, be a strong way to maximise characterisation, projection and help them to understand the story, as I would want it told.
Othello, by Frantic Assembly, is a new take on a classic; Shakespeare’s original text is used in the production but is muddled up and changed in order to change the meaning of the story. Frantic Assembly were able to contextualise it for a modern audience by changing the theme to a story of racial tension and a broken Britain.
We, through our Historical Context module, were able to do this with Swan Lake. I believe this particular idea is brilliant as it can give an out-dated production a new lease of life; unfortunately, there is a serious risk of offending those who love the original by not doing the production justice. I found that it was a rewarding process and that, within a professional company, could work brilliantly, due to the creativity of the performers, the amount of collaboration it would entail and the inspiration of the original piece.
Beautiful Burnout is a production based on personal experience, Steven Hoggett, went to New York and was taken to Gleason’s Boxing Gym without any information on where he was going. He said that, “The sensory overload had a lasting impression” which, when production started, was the focus of his work.
In my opinion, the idea of using personal experiences, good or bad, for the inspiration of a production is fascinating; it can truly open up the creative process for the performers, the directors and the other people involved in the production. It can also become a much more powerful performance due to the personal nature, in turn engaging and moving the audience emotionally.
DV8
DV8 are a radical yet accessible physical theatre company. This company is all about taking risks within their work, both physically and aesthetically, with creation and collaboration being the driving force behind their performances; as opposed to financial gain, organisational gain or touring demands. Lloyd Newson, the artistic director of DV8, has fought heavily for funding, on behalf of DV8, in order to cover long periods of research and development with a view of maintaining quality and integrity in its artistic directory. DV8’s work puts traditional aesthetics and forms to the test and attempts to push the boundaries of these, and create space for discussion of wider and complex issues. Lloyd Newson has been in this role since DV8’s ‘day 1’ in 1986 and his work has had a dynamic and serious impact on the world on contemporary dance and physical theatre.
DV8 uses a form of theatre called ‘Verbatim Theatre’ which uses the idea that all the original text should be used as inspiration and in performance, as dialogue or other through another form. This allows DV8 to project more emotion through their work, due to the emotional state of the original motif. Thus creating a more relatable and intense production. Verbatim theatre is a very long process, the gathering of information and transcripts takes between 18 months and 2 years for DV8. The reason behind this is that it is all first-hand research, carried out by members of the company, for example; ‘The Impossible’ a film created about a Tsunami that hit Thailand was based on the events that happened and eyewitness accounts given by those involved. There is also then the problem of going through each interviews and transcript to find the hard hitting passages and the language barriers on top of that.
One of DV8’s pieces named ‘Can we talk about this?’ is based around the ideas of multiculturalism, censorship and freedom of speech. Once again using the idea of Verbatim theatre, information was gathered on the ‘Charlie Hebdo’ case in France, 2005, the murder of Theo Van Gogh and the burning of Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’. These were attacks based in prejudice and how multiculturalism isn’t working in modern day society. DV8 collected the opinions of 50 academics, politicians and community leaders who have had both first-hand experience of these issues and have helped others through similar issues.
Another piece of DV8’s work entitled ‘To be straight with you’ is based around the motifs of: tolerance (or lack thereof), culture, religion and sexuality. The inspiration of this work came from a gay-pride march Newson attended with his then boyfriend. This march took place in Brixton, a predominantly afro-caribbean, and he and his boyfriend were astounded at the amount of abuse and hostility that was thrown their way. Lloyd was shocked by the behaviour of these people; people that were in another subjugated minority, many of whom probably experienced serious racism in their own lives, and how willing they were to abuse another minority. His research showed a strong correlation between the Afro-Caribbean community and strong religious beliefs, especially those related to homosexuality.
There are, of course, both advantages and disadvantages to using Verbatim Theatre, for example, it helps to create a powerful, engaging performance due to how well it relates to society. On the other hand, it can be very difficult to read between the lines without hearing the emotion in a voice, this is of course dependant on how the information has been collected. This is all without mentioning the cost and how time-consuming the process of collating all the information is. I personally would use verbatim theatre in my production, but only if I had the time and money to be able to collect the information I really wanted.
Dancing in Halifax 