Task 2

1) One of the key strategies used in Porto is the layering technique used in most of the ensembles and solo pieces of the work.
The majority of people are noticing changes in their characters because every week, they are feeling different about it as I am. Our change in characters is due to the way we are feeling, or remembering certain aspects of the character we are creating from our personal and past experiences.

Also the trust in the group has grown much more in these five weeks, thanks to the exercises and workshops we have had, to strengthen the group’s dynamics and abilities to use their body steadily without injuring themselves.

Another key strategy in Porto is the use of each individual’s stimuli, as a starting point, which challenges other members of the group to engage with the stimuli and turn it into something,

‘...people probably learn that the creation of a work of art is not hacking away at a block of wood and hoping that it turns out to be the image that you want. It actually has to be well thought through, you have to have so many perimeters and some inspiration. It’s a lot of hard work and requires technical skill creating what it is you know you want’
(John Wood, Writer in Residence, Greenwich, Young Peoples Theatre)

‘Ultimately, it is about the group discovering a relationship between itself and the product it produces’. (Alison Oddey, Devising Theatre, pg 24, 1994)


2) My reason for choosing this particular character was because he was emotional and sensitive, this for me created opportunities in my mind to create a natural stimuli and to interact with people.
The first rehearsal for Porto went quite well. I had already started to create a persona and showed some sort of emotion the character needed, when everyone had to do their opening piece introducing their character. The first ensemble seemed to be easy because I was not engaging with another person at that moment. I noticed that when I tried to interact with someone it was not working.

Forced Entertainment draws on a variety of sources in creating a work. Its devising process begins with "an almost random pile of text, images, ideas and personal experiences" collected by company members, "out of which comes the subject matter for a piece" (87). (Alison Oddey, Devising Theatre, 1994; pp.254)

My personality in the character has differed from a majority of the people in the class, I may have had an exterior view of the performance as I still saw everyone as themselves and not their characters most of the time it may have affected my communication skills. Releasing the emotional context of my character is now helping me to progress in Porto



3) Going into my character consists of having a clear mind and not being distracted. As I go into my character I notice that the majority of my weight goes into the right hand side of my body and I tend to be more tense whilst I shift my weight left and right when I walk.

The characters weight and movement seems to get more relaxed and more focused on throughout the process of Porto, as it tries to communicate to other people. The accessory that everyone is supposed to have relating to the character has also helped, because it changes the way the body is moving. My body sometimes moves at a fast pace, which is sometimes unexpected, but this is naturally happening within the thoughts of my character and how he feels.

I sometimes do not understand why my body changes speed or how much weight it puts in and why.

Doing some research leads me to understand that the character interacts to the signifier as Ferdinand de Saussure says “The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary…”, (Keith Green and Jill LeBihan Critical theory and practice, pg 54, 1996) which means that I can only interact or connect with someone which gives me a sign to let me interact and will only find me normal towards them if that’s what they think I am.

‘You have to trust yourselves as artists’, trust your art. Allow a situation where the sub-conscious of the group is enabled to emerge’.
(Mark Long, founder of the Peoples Show).

My body gradually changes to what is happening in the particular context of the work, depending on what is going on around me. I try my best to let go of my own personal conscience and enter my ‘sub-conscious’ which is happening slowly with progress of the work.


Bibliography

Oddey, Alison; Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. (Published by New York: Routledge, 1994)


Green, Keith, LeBihan, Jill; Critical theory and practice: a course book (Published by Routledge, 1996)