Elizabeth Payne - Blog Task 3

1. Rules are needed to create any form of theatre be it scripted or devised. They help structure and create not necessarily restrict what is developing. For Porto the scheme of RSVP has been used which is Research, Score, Validate and Performance

’ Central to the devising process is the creation of performance personas who will inhabit the stage world and give rise to its action’ (Oddey: 1996: 92)

This is in essence the research stage of the creation of Porto. Each performer as now created their character using their bodies and arsenal of techniques that where learnt, and now occupies the world of the stage and Porto in their own way. Each character has developed relationships with other characters as well as each performer discovering more depth about their character. As rehearsals have continues Porto is entering and developing the score stage of the process. This scoring can now only happen as all of the performers have found a comfortable existence and relationships with others in the world. Scoring is the editing and ordering of the sections that have been created. To do this less play will happen amongst the characters, even though there is always room for development and change, but more structuring of the performance.

2. Now the scoring process has begun and all of the material has been created for Porto, even though some may still change, it is evident that some individual stories that have developed are now being arranged into a narrative.

‘Story is the raw material of the events, narration is the way those events are organised’ (Callery: 2001: 185)

Though they are not necessarily lineal and do not relate to each other the obvious narratives of Nicola and Jay and Blake and Amy do express the underlying idea behind Porto of it being the place between the beginning and end of journey an that we are all stuck. To concentrate on one, Nicola and Jay’s relationship; Nicola struggles with herself and Jay attempts to protect her from anyone else such as Gavin who gets pushed away when he rests his head on her. Later we see Jay attempting to free Nicola from her hood by pulling it down only for her to be stared at by the other performers, to this Jay’s impulse is to protect her again. This then leads to the ending of the performance and the escape from Porto. There are many other narratives being conducted in Porto, each of which can be decoded by the audience as they please and with scoring these smaller narratives will become greater in the environment of Porto.

3. My own character has changed and developed considerably, most of which has happened towards the end of the research phase of the work. My character still relates to the item in her bag but is no longer alone. For the majority of the development of Porto she was alone until other happy characters emerged from the group. She felt like she could not relate or create a relationship with the sad characters as she didn’t have the impulse to help or care just to watch from a distance and stay away from situations even though she is very curious. From the outset my character was curios as to what was out there but did not fear it. This comes from the initial letter writing task. Physically my character has become more dependant on my two friends, as they are seen, Alex and Richard. We lean on each other and are dedicated to being within the three and when this is threatened of being split, with my character going away with Luke, she gets dragged back into the group. Only with scoring Porto has a narrative for my character developed, she now has and feels a close relationship that she didn’t have through most of the process.

Bibliography

Oddey, A, 1996 Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook Routledge; London

Callery D 2001 Through The Body Nick Hern Books: London