Depicting real stories in an alternative light, refracting your view

When You See It – Sunday 17th May, 2015.

Laura Spaven / May 21, 2015May 25, 2015 / Laura S

Months and months equating to hundreds of hours’ worth of rehearsals, meetings and research was finally made worthwhile on Sunday night when Refract Theatre Company performed our debut piece, When You See It at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre.

For the first time ever, I was able to sit back as an audience member and watch the show take place without the need to scribble down notes or constantly be thinking things through from a director’s point of view. Of course, these things were hard to escape, especially when unexpected mishaps happened on stage that hadn’t before, as is the way with any live performance. For this, I am grateful that I adopted Theatre Workshop Director Joan Littlewood’s ambition of wanting “actors who were equal partners with her in the creative process, who could explore possibilities in rehearsal and be able to adapt to change, respond to interruptions from the audience and cope if someone in the company messed up during performance.” (Holdsworth, 2006, 48). Overall, I was confident that the actors were rehearsed enough to problem solve any unexpected occurrences on stage, and it was a pleasure to be able to just enjoy the show that was existing in front of me.

As a company, we have stayed true to the original intentions stated in our manifesto. Storytelling is still just as important to us as it was from day one, and watching audience members laugh, cry, be both haunted and comforted by the love story of Billy and Dolly meant that we had ultimately achieved our goal of taking them on a journey. A particularly poignant moment was when a long moment of quietness occurred as Billy comes to the realisation that Dolly has died (See image 1). Within quite a sound-heavy show, the sudden change in pace and style could have easily disengaged the audience had the story not been gripping enough to carry them through the more reflective moments. As Mudford notes, “the silence in the theatre when ‘you hear a pin drop’ is caused by the intensity with which that act of imagination continues; the audience is quite literally in a state of suspended animation” (2000, 47). There was a genuine interest in the two characters.

Image 1 – Lone Billy. (Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2015)

Unknowingly, towards the end of the process, the production had adopted one image in particular as it’s ‘mascot’ image. An interpretation of the two people shown in image 2 occurred during almost every scene, becoming a symbol of love, relationships, and also of life and death.

Image 2 - Falling, or Flying? — Image 2 – Falling, or Flying?

After discussing the image in detail by itself, assuming no previous knowledge, we came to realise that there are two ways it could’ve been interpreted; the people were either falling, or they were flying.

When You See It was a show that explored the personal, through Billy and Dolly, sandwiched in between large-scale universal images and events. It played with chance, coincidence and fate.

We have received excellent feedback for the show from lecturers, fellow drama students and local theatregoers of all ages, and are positive that, should the production be toured in the near future, it would be easily adaptable to any venue and appeal to a wide range of people.

Works Cited

Holdsworth, N. (2006) Joan Littlewood. Oxon: Routledge.

Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts. (2015) Refract. [online] Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/sets/72157653037257285. [Accessed 18 May 2015]

Mudford, P. (2000) Making Theatre: From Text to Performance. London: The Athlone Press.

The End.

Mark McCredie / May 21, 2015May 25, 2015 / Mark M

Well that’s it, after all the rehearsals, the build-up and the hard work, When You See It is finally finished. I don’t think any of us could have anticipated the response that we received from many of the audience members after the show. It was both exciting and rewarding to realise that our piece had moved people from laughter to tears as it had us over the past few months. Throughout the process of creating the piece, we have questioned and at times doubted our work but through rehearsal and development we increasingly grew to love all that it represented and therefore it was amazing to see other people loving it too. As the audience entered the auditorium, we sat on the stage and were able to chat amongst ourselves comfortably and happy in the knowledge that there was no turning back – When You See It would now be shared with an audience. It seemed that the experience of the whole show was over in a moment, and yet as we expected, the audience played such a significant role in enhancing the experience. To hear laughter after jokes where in rehearsals there had been silence, and to hear people whispering as they noticed things throughout the show really motivated and spurred us on. Personally, I feel that this energy really shone through in our performance.

Crow, P. (2015)

Forming and performing with the theatre company, Refract has been an invaluable professional experience for me. Not only has it allowed me to work with a great and talented group of people, which I have thoroughly enjoyed, but it has also given me an awareness of what it takes to create a successful theatre company. To work alongside peers taking professional responsibility for directing, lighting, finance and much more, has helped to highlight the effort that is required to produce a high quality company and subsequent performance and yet how rewarding it can be.

Having now had time to stand back and reflect, I am so incredibly proud of the piece that we were able to create and perform. It has truly been an amazing experience on which to end my university life…

Taking the Stage

Stephanie Newell / May 20, 2015May 25, 2015 / Steph N

17809514665_19f9ebfff6_o — Crow, P. (2015)

During our tech rehearsal, we had to adjust a few small things due to the larger spacing and lighting but our first dress run fortunately went rather well. This reduced any anxiety we had about the first performance. We fixed the few problems quickly and once everything was set in place. The only thing left to do was wait for the doors of the auditorium to open. We started the performance pre-set on the stage. Being able to see the audience as they came in only built my excitement. Previous to this point, we had only ever performed to each other, to the walls of our rehearsal rooms. I was excited for people to see what we have spent so long creating. I wanted to see their reactions and hear their responses.

The show ran reasonably smooth, it went so quick and I was completely engaged with the story we were telling. We took audience on our emotional roller coaster and used them as a source of energy to perform to our best ability. The feedback was incredibly positive. Hearing their response “One minute I was laughing and then I was crying” hearing them review the show only reassured me that we had done our job.

And then that was it. “Game over”

We have come to the end of our journey. It is strange to think a few months ago we did not even have a name for our company, we were just a group of people with a common goal: to create theatre. Now, we are Refract Theatre Company and we have finally took our first piece of theatre to the stage. We have put in a lot of work and spent many hours each week devising, creating and defining a performance we could all be proud of. The whole process has been thoroughly enjoyable and I feel fortunate to have worked with such a talented bunch of people.

‘Because when you walk together, you’re an army of humans’

Amy Houchin / May 20, 2015May 24, 2015 / Amy H

So When You See It has been performed and what a rewarding experience it was. I feel so lucky to have worked with such an incredible group of people. We combined so well together, ensuring a cohesive performance. The overwhelming feedback we received, including comments that ‘it was delightfully performed, conceived and staged’ and how ‘there were many quite beautiful moments, haunting, sensitive, moving, entertaining’ (Jordan, 2015), made our hard work worthwhile.

Performance wise, I feel our total connectivity with each other really shone through. Our commitment throughout rehearsals meant our scenes encompassing fluctuating emotions were performed confidently, captivating our audience. This allowed our sobbing and laughing audience to easily determine the famous images behind our refracted narratives but view them more personally, making our declaration ‘Refract is opening your eyes to new possibilities’ (Refract, 2015) triumphant. Our piece being primarily physical, I was concerned how effectively we would provoke an emotional response. However it is argued that ‘when the body is pushed beyond the normal limits… interesting articulations can be discovered’ (Govan et al, 2007, 172). Notably during the scene where Dolly lost her baby, its extreme physicality effectively conveyed Dolly’s emotional and physical state and provoked more of a reaction from our audience than perhaps dialogue would have managed.

As costume designer, I couldn’t be happier with how costume transitions went. We had one technical hitch which was so minor it didn’t jeopardize the performance. Minimal costume was all that was required to enhance the foundations of our story. For example, although I only added a shawl and pearls when my character, Dolly became old, these stereotypically old ladies’ garments alone were sufficient to impart ageing. The subsequent removal of these was again, all that was required to symbolise my demise and evoke the audience’s emotional response.

Being part of Refract has pushed me beyond my comfort zone, taught me the value of determination and persistence and, to quote one of Steph’s lines, has proved to me that when you ‘walk’ and work together, ‘you are an army of humans’.

Works Cited:

Crow, P. (2015).

Govan, E., Nichols, H. and Normington, K. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. 1^st edition. London: Routledge.

Jordan, A. (2015) Drama Subject Site (DRA-SUBJECT): When You See It. [email] University of Lincoln, 18 May.

Refract Theatre Company (2015) Manifesto. [online] Available from https://refracttheatrecompany.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/our-manifesto [Accessed 20 May 2015].

Direction is Everything, but Image is Still.

Thomas Hitchen / May 20, 2015May 25, 2015 / Tom H

And with the lights fading and the flute playing, the show was over. After months of exciting, enjoyable, challenging rehearsals our debut show was performed at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. A sense of adrenaline and excitement had filled the air. Not only were we extremely proud of what we had created as a company, but we were opening the week long festival of Theatre Company shows; with this comes an expectation to deliver an outstanding performance.

Crow, P. (2015)

Upon reflection, and the feedback that we received, I truly believe we delivered. The show we devised was funny, tender, moving, visually inspiring, collaborative, inventive and original. It has been such a rewarding experience to see this company, including myself, develop and grow as a group, as individuals and as ten graduating students. Throughout the past 5 months I have learnt and experienced so much and my view on what theatre is and what theatre should be has drastically shifted; that is, theatre does not have to appeal to the masses, it does not have to include everything you have your heart set on, it can change, adapt. Some of the moments we created on stage came from workshops, pieces of text, sound bites for example. These moments were developed into beautiful, visually impressive scenes for the stage. Thus, the devising process is inherent to establishing a well rounded performance which demonstrates a clear message for your audience. And with that it is worth taking a quick look at how our company functioned and the roles we embodied.

It is best to match each member of your ensemble with the nonperforming roles for which he or she is best suited. No one in the company has the luxury of simply acting; in order for the company to survive, much less thrive, each must perform other duties as well.

(Nelson, 2010, 103)

Our company gelled like glue. Everyone knew their place and what they were expected to achieve at a specific time and place. I had three roles throughout this journey and I wish I had more time (and words!) to write about each because they were all challenging in their own right. My role as Marketing Manager thrust me into some unknown territory. As a very customer focused person due to my role as a Team Leader in retail, I thought this role would suit me in terms of connecting with the audience, engaging with them and creating a buzz throughout our company. The design elements, however, proved more difficult. I created all of the externally facing materials with help from friends studying Architecture and Graphic Design. This experience has been such a learning curve and I can now use all the Adobe programs with ease and efficiency; something, I am sure will come in handy post graduation.

Alongside this major leadership role, I also performed. Performing in this show has been incredible. I think this collaborative group of individuals have pushed each other into discovering more about themselves as performers and even though Amy and I acted as the through-line there was no major principle characters; everyone was as much a part of the ensemble as each other. And I think it is this ethic of working, devising and performing that establishes our style and the type of work we produce.

As my third role for Refract, I acted as the company resident choreographer. From the ‘Falling Couple’ (9/11) contemporary routine to the gentle Waltz sequence to the reminiscent tap ‘Swansong’, I devised segments throughout the show which connected stimulus to our narrative and theme. As our piece flowed smoothly from one section to another, there were no clear ‘dance breaks’. As such, my role as choreographer was to work closely with our director in establishing a performance style, both aesthetically and in workshops; to act as a facilitator of the more advanced movement sections. I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Laura, and using images as stimulus has been eye-opening for my choreographic practice; it’s not always what it seems, its how much you can see, but most importantly, its When You See It.

Goodbye, thanks for playing.

Works Cited

Crow, P. (2015)

Nelson, R. (2010) How to Start Your Own Theatre Company. Chicago: Chicago Review Press Inc.