Frantic Assembly Lesson

What are we seeing in the video?

First Video (Chair Duet) - In this video me and Adama are performing a chair duet, this is a duet with performers in which they are are sat, it involves a series of touches, embraces and rejections. 

Chair Duets were developed by Frantic Assembly to help establish the relationship between two or more of the characters on stage.

When creating our piece we went through a process created by Frantic Assembly, we took it in turns to create three touches, embraces or rejections to then end up with 15 counts of movements, we didn't set out an established relationship or storyline for our piece as this allows the audience to decide this for themselves and interpret what they see in their own way. 

What are we seeing in the video?

Second Video (Group Work) - In this my group are performing an ensemble Frantic Assembly piece in which we are using the touches, embraces and rejections similar to our duets, however this time Rosy is the centre person to our piece and each of us move around her and embrace her as she rejects us. For this piece you have to ensure each movement flows seamlessly together one after another.

What was my previous knowledge of Physical Theatre?

I have previously learnt and worked on some elements and techniques of physical theatre in terms of devising a piece when I did Drama GCSE, in which we used physical theatre to tell and express emotions of the characters and the storyline of our piece.

Physical Theatre is the use of physical movement used as a way of storytelling in theatre, physical theatre can be really effective and can completely change the dynamic of the piece. Physical Theatre is very interesting to watch and eye catching for an audience, it takes the traditional form of storytelling usually seen on stage and changes this to create a physical piece that can convey and express emotions through the whole body and not only the face, it heightens emotions and portrays them through all elements of body movements. Physical Theatre can be very useful for portraying emotions and stories on stage as the emotions are able to be seen clearer by the audience.

How did I find some of the Frantic Assembly practises and their approach to creating theatre?

I really admire Frantic Assembly's approach to creating theatre and their ability to leave a large impact on their audiences, I have enjoy practising their techniques and understanding the purpose behind what they do. Their ability use their body's to show emotion and tell a story is an element of theatre I am wanting to improve on, so working on some Frantic Assembly techniques has been very helpful and I will definitely be adding them to my acting tool kit.

Given more time, what elements of the lesson would I like to develop further and why?

If I was given more time to work and develop on the techniques of Frantic Assembly I would develop on two things I believe I could use more time focusing on, first is the fluidity of my movements and how I move my body to create a fluid performance, especially in group pieces as I perform a movement as soon as the person before me has finished there's, the second element is the focus on my face during the piece, for example in the chair duet sequence you should face forward and have your eye contact forward as well as you perform the movements, this again creating a fluid piece.