Punchdrunk Reflection

 How, in the group rehearsal and performance, did you explore the process of bringing to life a classic text using contemporary techniques (250-word limit)

We saw a short film of 'A Doll's House' in a contemporary setting, this involved the same cast that were in the stage performance that we saw in the naturalistic style. This gave us some visual ideas of how the characters could appear within the piece and how the overall setting could be. Originally, we wanted to set the piece in a 1950's style, so we began by discussing staging, costumes, props and music; however over time we moved away from the 1950's aesthetic and more towards just a modern feel for everything. However, we did still include elements of this with the music to show a contrast between the simulation and the outside world. We developed this idea of a simulation to portray a state of warped reality from a movie that used a concept of keeping people within a simulation to keep them subservient; we felt this worked incredibly to be an overarching metaphor of the distorted reality that Nora is in early on within the story of ‘A Doll’s House’ and how by the end where she leaves Torvald, she is much more self aware and sees Torvald for who he is. We applied this to the simulation, with Nora becoming self aware by stepping out into the real world. 

 

What skills have you synthesised into this final performance process? How did you decide if these were appropriate skills and techniques to implement or not; likewise, which were left out of the process and why?

One of the skills that I feel is vital for punchdrunk is the ability to improvise. This is due to the uncertainty of the audience members, whether they will be in your path while you are performing a scene or pick up a prop that is involved in that particular scene. This uncertainty requires you to either have contingencies in place or be able to improvise in the moment to make the scene still make sense and fit within the story. If a prop is taken that is incredibly important to your character’s motivations within that scene, it may require you to change your motivation or goal in a very short space of time. 

Another skill that I feel is very important is the use of projection. This can be vital in bringing audience members into your scene and making them interested in the story you’re portraying. This is also a required skill due to the size of the spaces that we were performing in and the majority of the audience’s tendencies to stick to the outside walls of the room which as a result might make it difficult for them to hear what you’re saying if you’re performing a scene in the centre. 

For many of the scenes, we also decided to not write a script for them. We felt that this may take away from the motivations, emotions and goals of our characters in the moment if we constricted ourselves to a rigid script, instead we had a general idea of the scene and we allowed the tone created by the atmosphere to decide on what was said in the moment. We also feel that this made arguments and conversations more realistic if they weren’t entirely defined and rehearsed lines. 

Reflecting on the rehearsal process, what went well? (250-word limit)

I feel that we were incredibly successful in what we created considering the drastic changes that our group had throughout the process, with a member leaving and in turn requiring us to change a large portion of our story in order to account for this. This change came quite late in the rehearsal process too, which in the period caused us a great deal of stress, however we were able to really come together as a group and work together to create a piece that was incredibly successful despite all the changes that we had. We also had a few disagreements within the initial weeks that caused everyone to not be on the same creative wavelength which made it difficult to work together to begin with, however over time we did begin to work together a lot better with some guidance from Claire at first but then we very much found our creative rhythm as an ensemble and we used this to bounce ideas off each other and we began creating scenes. I think we really found the confidence to work together and not be afraid to put out ideas that may get turned down. 

Reflecting on the performance, what went well? (250-word limit)

Overall, I feel the performance went extremely well. We were able to make lots of improvements from our dress rehearsal and we were able to adapt to the space and the audience members being there incredibly well. The performance was very exciting and quite different to anything I had been apart of before, being so close to the audience and having to work around them was quite a daunting task as none of us were prepared or knew quite what they would do; however despite this I feel that we worked incredibly well in order to adapt around them in the few moments where they blocked our path. There was also a specific moment in the piece where a member of our group forgot which room she was in for a scene which left me with a few minutes where I had to improvise and create a scene and something for my character to be doing. I feel that was certainly a strength of the whole group, as we were able to adapt incredibly quickly to instances where things didn’t quite go to plan. I think we also did really well to engage with the audience, handing out secrets to certain members and adding little secrets that required them to come very close to us and the set pieces in order for them to figure out. 

If you could rehearse and perform the piece again, what would you change? (150-word limit)

If given the chance to rehearse and perform again, I would have liked to have spent more time within the specific performance spaces; perhaps having more after school rehearsals earlier on within the process in order to fully understand what it would be like performing the scenes in those spaces and moving between them. Having more time to work on the piece in the full space would also allow us to improve on our timing as this was something that we were not entirely confident with. I also would have changed how went around creating material in the initial weeks as I feel this was something that may have stunted our progress in the beginning. 

What did you learn from this performance/process and how will this inform your future development as an actor?

I have learnt a lot from this process, I have grown a lot as a performer and a member of an ensemble. In high school, I was often left to do many projects on my own due to my classmates having a lack of interest in the subject. As a result, I got very used to doing almost the entirety of a piece myself and this was something to begin with that I struggled with as I wasn't super used to being able to rely on others while working on a piece with a long development process as this. I also was able to come to terms with the fact that not everything is necessarily in our control and that as a result it isn't something to stress over because that wastes my own energy. 

Overall, I definitely feel that I have improved a great deal as a performer and as a member of an ensemble and it has made me excited to perform as a member of an ensemble again taking forward some of the very important lessons in which I have learnt.