2. Beginnings - How and where to start

• P.25 In the early stages of devising, it is important for a company to explore and experiment with a range of stimuli, to understand how the group operates in different situations. Group practical work and 'getting to know each other' exercises are vital to that exploration. Exercises in communication, concentration, trust, sensitivity, movement, voice and improvisation are all required for group development.


• P.26 I [Oddey] am keen to encourage students to 'workshop' ideas with the group, so that they gain practical experience of investigating content as well as group dynamics. At some point in the process, a director or 'outside eye' is needed to edit or discard material, make technical decisions and lead the group overall.

Why devise?

• P.27....is part of the making of a theatrical experience, not an interpreter of something already written. This desire to create an original piece of work brings an enormous freedom that is both terrifying and liberating at the same time.

Stimuli

• P.35 [Annie Griffin's collaboration with Laura Ford, a sculptor / painter, and Nicholas Bloomfield, a musical composer / director] Styles of play were improvised with some performers experimenting or trying out ideas throughout the rehearsal period. The performers' involvement in the creation of their roles varied with each individual artist, but was inspired and focused by Griffin's ideas of characterisation.

Multi-vision

• P.35 Forced Entertainment Theatre Co-operative is a company whose starting points for a new show arise out of the previous one. Tim Etchells, a writer and director with the Sheffield-based company, suggests that devising is about not starting from a single thing. Etchells likes the possibility of input from anywhere or anyone within the company.


• P.38 Form is an important initial consideration for Forced Entertainment, underlining the company's approach to structure as having to satisfy a basic meaning in addition to developing a clear, articulate structural architecture made up of many removed and complicated ideas. Form is also a central preoccupation for any company devising a site-specific piece of theatre. Implicit in the choice of a performance space is an immediate, clear starting point with the location itself. The nature of a site-specific performance demands that thoughts is given to a varying combination of form, content, and audience from the beginning.

Environment

P.41 As a general theory, I want to conclude this chapter by highlighting the questions that can be asked by any group or company starting work together:

1. What is it you want to devise, and why? What kind of theatre do you want to create?
2. Who are you devising for, and why?
3. What are your initial aims and objectives as a company for the project?
4. Is your content or subject matter the starting point for the work? What are the source materials?
5. Is that form or structure an important preliminary area for exploration?

Oddey, Alison. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. New York: Routledge, 1994.