Physical Theatre Piece
During N2C time, we worked with the Y13s in order to produce a piece of physical theatre. We had first begun to devise this during lesson time, when we built sequences in two groups.
This was the sequence we came up with. We wanted to create this sense of separation between Nisha's character and the others. Her movements take influence from the nerve breaker exercise that we learnt during our Frantic Workshop. In comparison, Nasifa and I were constantly connected in our looped sequence. We built this from the idea of each movements having to be influenced by her. This gave the piece the sense that the only person who had any form of control was Nasifa, who used this control to keep my character from the one thing she was trying to reach over and over again. For me, this creates ideas of the care system, of a mother who loves her child but perhaps wasn't capable of taking care of her. The moments of reaching present her desire and struggle to return to a daughter who, from the lack of eye contact, doesn't really remember her. I imagine Nasifa as the system itself, having to, by law, remove the parent from her daughters life, but also as a representation of the care worker's that are willing to bring them back together if the mother can solver her problems.
We presented this idea to the group, and then began to try and find ways of developing this into a larger piece of theatre. This was our final piece.
We decided to incorporate a table into our piece in order to create different levels and experiment with different surfaces, as we had done during the nerve breaker exercise. This created a parallel between Nisha's character, who's actions beneath the table were a constant, and the shifting position of the two above the table which was presented with the leaning movements. Running with the idea of the initial piece, this showed the idea of her bouncing back and forth between parental figures, until eventually she was alone again.
The particularly liked the idea of incorporating the paper aeroplanes into the piece. For me, they helped to show this de-personalised representation of the families that she was constantly moving through. She felt isolated from the families she was meeting, which would have begun as information on pieces of paper. I like the idea of these forms becoming paper areoplanes, as we get this sense of her youth and her lack of understanding of the situation. When she reaches for the planes, its out of a desire to latch onto something real and tangible, rather than just this idea of family that she has never properly experienced.
I also thought the direction of eye contact was really important in this piece. When Nisha chose to focus on the sequence taking place at the front, her eyes were on Nasifa rather than me. This gives us the sense that she knows the caregiving system better than she knows her mother, and suggests she isn't fully aware of the struggle taking place.
I think if we had had longer on this piece, I would have liked to create an ending where my character finally reaches Nisha. I liked the use of the gentle touch during our initial sequence. I think it would be powerful to end on this image of the mother within arms reach of her daughter, hand outstretched to touch her cheek- but ending it before she does. This would show the uncertainty and delicate nature of the moment, the mother wants to touch her daughter but isn't sure how she will react, and neither is the daughter sure how to react to the mothers touch. This space of stillness created by the uncertainty is a powerful image and would be a good pause to end the piece on.
The mother has found her daughter and therefore completed this part of the story, but the characters have no idea what will come next and so neither should the audience.
We presented this idea to the group, and then began to try and find ways of developing this into a larger piece of theatre. This was our final piece.
We decided to incorporate a table into our piece in order to create different levels and experiment with different surfaces, as we had done during the nerve breaker exercise. This created a parallel between Nisha's character, who's actions beneath the table were a constant, and the shifting position of the two above the table which was presented with the leaning movements. Running with the idea of the initial piece, this showed the idea of her bouncing back and forth between parental figures, until eventually she was alone again.
The particularly liked the idea of incorporating the paper aeroplanes into the piece. For me, they helped to show this de-personalised representation of the families that she was constantly moving through. She felt isolated from the families she was meeting, which would have begun as information on pieces of paper. I like the idea of these forms becoming paper areoplanes, as we get this sense of her youth and her lack of understanding of the situation. When she reaches for the planes, its out of a desire to latch onto something real and tangible, rather than just this idea of family that she has never properly experienced.
I also thought the direction of eye contact was really important in this piece. When Nisha chose to focus on the sequence taking place at the front, her eyes were on Nasifa rather than me. This gives us the sense that she knows the caregiving system better than she knows her mother, and suggests she isn't fully aware of the struggle taking place.
I think if we had had longer on this piece, I would have liked to create an ending where my character finally reaches Nisha. I liked the use of the gentle touch during our initial sequence. I think it would be powerful to end on this image of the mother within arms reach of her daughter, hand outstretched to touch her cheek- but ending it before she does. This would show the uncertainty and delicate nature of the moment, the mother wants to touch her daughter but isn't sure how she will react, and neither is the daughter sure how to react to the mothers touch. This space of stillness created by the uncertainty is a powerful image and would be a good pause to end the piece on.
The mother has found her daughter and therefore completed this part of the story, but the characters have no idea what will come next and so neither should the audience.
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