Mistake in devising...

Over the past few weeks I have witnessed some of the best and most consistent devising I have ever seen and it’s been happening throughout the work of all of my companies.  There has been so much fantastic stuff that has delighted not only me but all of the audience who were lucky enough to witness it.   Workshops, whether they have been exploring farcical comedy or the lives of the fictional street we have created, have produced theatre of a truly excellent quality.

I spend a lot of time in these sessions pointing out the things that were good about the work.   I concentrate on what was done successfully as I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement being the most powerful force in education and development.   However I thought I’d use the opportunity of this weeks blog to highlight a number of mistakes that can stop devised work reaching it’s full potential in the hope that it might enhance our work in this field even further…I hope you’ll take them in the positive spirit that they are offered…

1.  Not listening – a pretty obvious mistake but so easily done.  When you’re devising in groups there are lots of voices, all of which deserve to be heard.  Once you have heard all of the ideas you can pick the ones that will make the best combination and therefore the best scene.  Married with this thought is that in order you to be listened to you need to give voice to your ideas, don’t have a great idea and not be brave enough to say it.  In fact you don’t even need to think it’s a great idea…a half good idea can be the starting point for a great scene.  Once the ideas are out there and the decisions have been made don’t be precious if this time your idea doesn’t make the cut.

2.  Not allowing the story to progress - I see this quite a lot, it’s a common mistake.  It happens in a number of ways…an argument between two characters that goes round and round, a character that goes against everything that other characters suggest, a scene that takes too long with the exposition and not enough time on the action.  Filling the scene up with a load of unnecessary tangents that add nothing but clutter and get in the way of the audience engaging with it.  Like a story a devised scene needs to move forward towards the finish line whatever that might be…everything in it needs to help it to this in some way and to some extent.

3.  Not considering the audience – this connects with the last one…although to be fair all of these aspects of devising are interlinked.  As you build, recap and develop your scene take care that you are thinking about how the audience will engage with it…this can be a good way to avoid some of the above mistakes.

4.  Not being aware – The best actors are sensitive to the space, the significance of their words and actions, their fellow performers, the environment, the audience, the subtext, the cultural climate…everything…the more sensitive the performers the better the piece…as long as point 5 is taken into consideration at the same time.

5.  Not being brave – too much sensitivity can suffocate you into inertia without a good helping of bravery.  Try things, experiment with character, approach, genre, structure…work practically as soon as possible so you can audition as many of your ideas as possible.  Once this is done you can start the process of refinement.  Much better than sitting there trying to come up with the perfect idea.

6.  Not having a clear structure – the basics of a beginning, middle and an end are key to presenting your work.  When you’re given your 5 minute call before sharing starts this should become your priority…ignore this at your peril!

7.  Not performing what you rehearsed – it can be so tempting to go off on one, do something in performance that didn’t happen in the making and the rehearsing…rarely does it end well…see point 6 as a way of avoiding this temptation.

So there you go, some top tips of things that can trip you up when devising…hope they help…it would be interesting to hear your thoughts…is there anything I’ve missed, anything you agree with or disagree with…? Leave any comments on the facebook wall, I’d genuinely like to know…