Frantic Assembly Masterclass: Building Blocks for Devising

I'm Scott Graham and I'm the artistic director of frantic assembly and today I'm going to be looking at devising processes and creating choreography with actors personally I'm very very interested in in movement within theater and by that I mean how it tells stories how it helps tell stories today I'm going to be working with performers from my ignition company an ignition is a program where we find young male talent from across the country and bring them to London to create a show in five days so I want to take the take these guys through some processes where we workshop storytelling and meaning through physicality and choreography round by through it's very very simple you stand opposite your partner so you can kind of stand here for now okay and you're just going to make a very very simple string of material and we call it round by through because those three words will always help you you don't have to do it in any particular order but round could mean I go around yep through could mean I go through here by you know I'm just standing by and it doesn't really matter that's just there to help so if I do say three three or four moves and Johnny does say three or four moves will slowly build up a string so if I go through here and turn Johnny and then I'm going to stand here just very very simple building blocks that's all it is let's keep it simple and we'll add complexity okay what you're going to do is now give give a little bit of weight to that Tony will give a little bit of weight which means I have to work a little bit harder yeah that that door will close when I come through we made it a bit heavier what we're going to do is squeeze a bit of the air out of it as well get a little bit closer so I'm here I have to squeeze my way through I'm much closer to him now okay one minute squeezing it together okay now if I go through here what I've got to recognize is that there is real good contact happening now so actually I can do it I could I can move them around just by that it is about presenting opportunities for communication there's more to it as well if I go through here and here so I recognize them in the right position to do a lift try and find those opportunities for lifts and shifts and moves okay can I just stop your second it's um it's important to make sure that a lift happens and it pushes forward the narrative there's a very very simple principle that you should always be thinking about in making choreography and that is that at any one time there are like three universes okay one is the moment before the touch one is the moment of the touch and one is the moment after the touch and they should all be different there's something you guys are doing when you move into it one position to another where your hand wraps around each other yeah well as an event between two guys that is a fairly major event let's see your moves here hold on that's your first touch there yeah if a stranger came up to you like that and brushed your arm that'd be an event wouldn't it so come back a bit Mike also stranger is here and then closes down this space this is the world before the touch and that works we won wait a minute you know what's happening here this this is being squeezed so this becomes an event and that becomes a decision yeah okay so recognize it don't throw any throw away any moment this is where the complexity of the storytelling starts to emerge okay nice and slow you you good - something very surprisingly tender and it could easily just have been you - as big brutes throw on each other around which it still can be but you found this n stivity as well choreography itself doesn't necessarily possess meaning it's the context with which that choreography is presented that presents the meaning I'm going to show you the devising process called hems hands because we're using the show called hymns and it uses your hands it's very very simple some very simple rules okay just going to stand facing each other it's about placing hands on the body just on the trunk really okay and you can use your own hands or you can move somebody else's okay back to the beginning okay stop there stop there right can just have a look at yours okay let's just try something Johnny could you make eye contact with CJ wherever he goes you keep looking at him look at him it's interesting about still being able to do the moves and not caring about it or still been in the relationship while thinking about somebody else yeah or still being able to look like you're in the relationship and keep somebody away from him protective whatever whatever that is that's three complex stories starting to emerge from this this physicality okay let's I'm going to push that a little bit further then can you come into the center whatever look at yours thank you guys so we're going to do is do the same choreography but as slow as you can and the only difference this time is that as you do the moves I want you to look at the hand that's doing it okay and then the next move only to watch until it's complete and then the next move okay so both of you are watching the only hand that's moving okay stop there you're looking at that in a different way you're seeing the quality of the touch you're seeing the weight of the touch we're not taking anything for granted before we worry had this rhythm to it added up yeah they're touching each other but this time each touch was dangerous each touch was exciting each touch was new it's the three world isn't it the four universities rather you know before the touch the moon of the touch than the moment after the touch and they're all different right well done guys that was excellent really lovely work what was great about the end product there was that was so much communication but what I ask you to remember is just the simplicity of the building blocks that's what you need to remember because you can apply them to anything

Channel: National Theatre

Views: 316,290

Rating: 4.8944707 out of 5

Keywords: ntdiscovertheatre, National Theatre, NationalTheatre, theatre, theater, London, play, show, stage, drama, Master Class, Frantic Assembly, Ignition, Scott Graham, movement, movement direction, physical theatre, Devised Theatre, devising

Id: gUqZPfGIX6U

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2015