Tuesday 14 June 2016

Connecting Dramaturgy III: Rachael Esdale and Barry Henderson



Connections is the National Theatre’s annual festival of new plays for youth theatres and schools. 

The 2014 Connections cycle involved:

10 Writers
230 Youth Theatre Companies
5,000 Young People
684 Performances
26 Partner Theatres
25,000 Audience Members


BARRY HENDERON, DIRECTOR, ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND, PERFORMING WHAT ARE THEY LIKE BY LUCINDA COXIN

 What was the inspiration for this performance?
As this was the first year of the new RCS Company it felt like an opportunity to engage with NT Connections and offer the new company something challenging to work towards. The selection of the play (What Are They Like, by Lucinda Coxon) was a decision based on the makeup of the group and the challenge for young people to portray parents on stage and tell the stories in the play with a youthful energy. As an ensemble the group found the text itself very inspiring and decided that the approach to making it should involve play, physical performance and exciting storytelling. 

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
At RCS we have a fantastic range of degree students who are always looking for ways to engage with the emerging performance community and to collaborate on exciting projects. The Short Courses department is always looking for ways to engage with different departments and provide students with opportunities to develop their skills and enhance their practice. Robbie Gordon, our co-director, is a final year Contemporary Performance Practice student and emerging director. We asked him to be involved in this project because of his performance background and both he and I have a similar way of working which involves applying devising principles to work with young people. Similarly, our LX Designer, Daniel, is a current Production Technology Management student and Conor, our Costume Designer, is a 6th year short courses student who is interested in pursuing this as a career and was offered the opportunity to come on board to put his skills into practice.

Many of the young people in our company are a mix of students from our weekly drama classes and some who have come on board just for this practical performance experience. They travel far and wide to come along to our sessions and have been a fantastic ensemble to work with.

How did you become interested in making performance?
I trained briefly in acting and then after some consideration I decided to take a more contemporary route and studied on the CPP course at RCS. This gave me the interest in creating new work which seeks to challenge and is always new. I have since directed for 10 years applying my own interest in devising and creating new work with a great number of young people. The devising process allows young people to be instinctive and honest in the theatre they make and ignites a level of freedom in them within performance, which I love. I then use this freedom to create work which sometimes (not always) uses existing texts and provides a way to present them in entirely original ways. 

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
The process involved a lot of physical work and devised based playing in the space. I worked with a limited number of objects/costumes and sounds which would be put into the space for the cast to play with and hopefully find interesting moments of performance. Through a process of creating choreographies based on the text we would improvise the text/sound/objects and most importantly the energy and creativity of the cast. After a few rehearsals, I reviewed some of the material made and as an ensemble we began to shape the show from there. The text allows for real visual storytelling to take place and so the combination of playing and text allowed me and Robbie to pull together all of those elements to create the piece. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
I hope they will experience a really engaging mediation of parenthood and a performance which keeps them engaged throughout. It is a show which doesn't settle for too long on any one idea and keeps moving and changing, which I hope makes the piece feel exciting.  I also hope anyone watching, either parent or child will find a connection with the stories being told. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
I ensured throughout the devising process that the show remained as constantly energetic and stimulating show. The show is text heavy and I felt strongly that I had to support the text with images and physical performance which would keep the ball in the air throughout the show. I worked with each cast member to ensure the delivery of the stories and the portrayal of the characters was truthful and also that the lighter side of the stories was remaining present. The script has a lot of comedy writing and I wanted to make sure that was delivered to its full. 

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
I think this piece sits well within the tradition of devising physical and visual work with young people. It brings together my devising and creating contemporary work discipline also with script work. 



RACHAEL ESDALE, PRODUCER LYCEUM YOUTH THEATRE, PERFORMING ECLIPSE BY SIMON ARMITAGE

What was the inspiration for this performance?
As the Lyceum Youth Theatre has been taking part in Connections for many years I was keen to select a script which stepped outside our usual style. Eclipse offers us beautiful poetic lines about an event, told in flashback, which unravels throughout the performance. It makes the audience make a decision which we have to facilitate. All of these factors give our young people a chance to take control of their creative journey and final product.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
Our cast auditioned to take part in Eclipse. Each person was cast into a certain role which allowed us to explore their skill set, develop their strengths and increase their performance knowledge. 
Kirsty Rennie, the Assistant Director, is an LYT Intern and Paul Rodger is our Production Manager who has worked on Connections with LYT since time began. Having a mixed team of new to this industry and years of experience has created a crucible of artistic input from which this show was created.

How did you become interested in making performance?
 I initially trained as a performer, and quickly realised I could not fore-go my own creative ideas for that of another. I had spent years in Youth Theatre and knew the value of inclusive performance opportunities offered to young people, and I feel passionately about drama being an chance to develop as a performer, and as an individual. I trained as an Assistant Director with Perth Youth Theatre before moving into the Youth Theatre sector. I have recently become the Producer of LYT which has allowed me to Direct but also build opportunities and projects for young people.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
The ambiguity of Eclipse allowed for us to debate the storyline and timeline of the characters and what their relationships, background, and future would be shaped liked. We spent time working out our individual opinions on each character and then worked out how best to portray these different outcomes. As each character is double cast, (one set on the beach and another, 7 years their senior, in a police station), we had to develop character traits and reactions which would span across both performers to show a clear link, whilst also showing a clear age difference. This lead to experimentation and constant development of the production as a whole until we arrived at a place which every performer agreed their character was established. Once we had the tools in place to tell the story, we tackled the abnormal nature of the poetry, which the script picks up and drops throughout, in order to clearly tell the story.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
I hope the audience will experience a production which they are pulled into. I hope there is a character which each person can see a little bit of themselves in.  I hope it leaves the audience feeling like they know exactly what happened, until they discuss it with the person sitting next to them.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
Whilst exploring the text we each decided on what we thought happened and who/what we thought Lucy Lime is/was. We debated and, sometimes, argued our own points. In the end we had to agree to disagree. To carry this feeling of ambiguity and certainty into our audience, each person is performing towards their own outcome, what they believe their character did or didn’t do and how they would then interact with the other characters on stage. 

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

I would like to think my work gives young people a voice, an opportunity to share their passion and knowledge on stage and leaves them with something to be proud of. To achieve this I think my tradition is to change my traditions to find the best way to work with each group and each piece I take on.  

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