Creating A Concept

Using the mundane scene from last lesson, we decided to expand this by introducing the contrasting setting of night time. We experimented doing this using a split stage, looking at the character running in-between these two different worlds.  We created a nightlife scene within a tiny area, and this emphasised a sense of a crowded bar without the need for loads of people on stage. The two actors made a physical sequence which explored the different areas of the bar that you would use on a night out. The fast pace and close movement emphasised the heightened atmosphere of a night out and formed a really nice contrast with the repetition of the mundane scene.

By creating this split staging, we began to think about this journey the main character made from one side of the stage to the other and this introduced the idea of this in-between place. We decided that rather than being a physical space, we wanted to link the two extremely contrasting worlds by this area where we could explore the mind of the character. We considered this as a place for exploring his feelings, memories and perhaps the addiction itself.

Splitting up, we were able to explore two of these things. Two of us created a memory, looking at a relationship between the main character and someone from his life. We decided it would be interesting to first have the character pass between the two worlds without stopping in this “in-between” so we included the entrance of the main character in this sequence and decided that he should almost be surprised to find this memory waiting for him. We then created this frantic style chair duet to show him passing through this memory and expressing a sense of the relationship he shared with the other person we cast as their younger sister.

From this we began to think of how perhaps his addiction might be linked in a way to forgetting certain events, and how, as he becomes sober, he is forced to live in moments outside of the real world which he would rather forget.

One of us also chose to explore a solo physical piece looking at addiction. They chose to explore this metaphorically using one of the departments wooden boxes to represent the addiction. It was interesting how they chose to build up their dependency for this object through touch- beginning with only contact through the fingertips and then eventually picking up the box and carrying it with him. One particular moment that stuck in our minds afterwards was when they carried the box around in a circle and steadily it seemed to become heavier and heavier until it brought him down to the floor and he wrapped his entire body around it. I think this illustrated well the idea of addiction being a circular, almost endless process of addiction, to recovery, to addiction. This, as much as the addiction itself, has the power to way you down and make it easier for the addiction to take control. It also seemed to reflect the spiral of addiction and showed how quickly you can lose control of something you thought initially that you could carry.