Today was the first session with the cast of the project. The session started with a wonderful in-depth contextualisation of the whole idea behind the project by Emma Whittaker. This included a look at some of the material from the test project designed for Ashburton.
Then it was over to me :-)
I started with a brief explanation of my role in the project. I said that I would mainly be working with them on the creating and devising process for the next few weeks. I had planned a few short exercises to the get their creative juices flowing.
1. Improvisation Game - Park Bench - Participants are given strange personalities and sent to sit on a park bench one by one. They will interact with their fellow actors to create a scene
2. Linking Game - Film Styles - Based on the "Whose Line is it Anyway?" game. Two participants act out a simple scene. They will then be made to re-run the scene in the style of a film (e.g. Western, Musical, 20's Gangster, James Bond)
3. Devising Exercise - Scene from a Stimulus - Participants are split into groups. They are given an object, a word or phrase from which to devise a short piece of theatre. They are given about 10 minutes to create a piece
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After Lunch, we had an hour session to start thinking of ideas for the content. I explained in a little more detail the ideas I had thought of beforehand. I also showed the cast a picture of the area that we would be focusing on in Totnes.
It was clear from this early stage that people had a lot of interesting ideas for both the recording content and for a possible theatrical accompaniment, and as such were keen to make the project their own.
As an initial devising task, I asked the cast to conduct a little of their own research into Totnes. This would include looking into possible locations, as well as researching any interesting local legends or stories on which to base the story.
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Overall, the first session has left me feeling very positive about the future of the project. The quality of the devised pieces that were created in such a short time was truly astonishing - A very heartening sign indeed!
With the second session promising a visit to Ashburton to test the audio, I hope that the cast will have a good idea fixed in their heads about how the project will work. Until then, its back to the research!
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