My role in the process was one of actor, director and facilitator. To how much I specifically directed in the process any more than anyone else I can’t say. I think this is the case for a four of reasons:
- The process was very democratic.
- I didn’t enter into the process with a clear understanding of what I wanted to achieve.
- It was very difficult to simultaneously act while maintaining that outside eye.
- Having never directed before.
I think my core problem was not taking the time I needed before beginning the process to develop a sense of what I wanted it to be or achieve; hence a vision. This is more than likely a direct result of never having directed before. On the other hand I entered into the process wanting it to be democratic, an ensemble creation. Does having a pre-conceived vision immediately impede this democratic process of an ensemble created performance? I could go either way on this but what I will say is that as director your role is as a leader in this democratic process and I probably should have presented this vision to the group before beginning the process. As difficult as democracy is, I’m still a very big fan. I think approaching it in future is just a question of how much democracy. What I plan to do in the future is to approach the group with my vision as well as all the research materials I have gathered. Get them to take this material away, do their own research and come back and respond to me and my vision and see where that goes.
These photos highlight for me the difficulty in being involved in the process at multiple levels and not being able to be that outside eye all of the time. It also shows the need for the group to be able to swap around and be involved t the level of outside eye.
Fundamentally I think the majority of my problems can rest on my inexperience. Reflecting now I can see that having an initial vision and more structured plan for the process rather than the organic approach that I took was hindering. Second to this is about being the leader, being decisive and making the decision when they needed to be made. I have learnt a great deal from this project especially about directing and the roles on takes in the process. People have more than likely come before and said similar things but it seems to be like a parent telling a child not to something because it will hurt them but the only way the will actually learn it to experience it themselves.
1 comment so far ↓
Yes, The images show the difficulty you face as actor and director – especially when your eyes are covered!!! It’s like you have to be able to view the work in porgress from the outside – thats why getting an outside eye in can be so important – even for a directed work when the director feels a bit close to it.
Can you even do the both things at once? Maybe what you have to do is shift from being part of the ensemble generating material at some times and then take on the shaping role of the director at others.
You ask some really good questions like – Does having a pre-conceived vision immediately impede this democratic process of an ensemble created performance? It would be interesting to ask your fellow actors about their thoughts on this and other questions about the process. The idea of making it clear to your group at the outset is a good one.
Are you getting ideas about how you want to go with the next project? I guess I’ll be reading a paper on that topic pretty soon.
As you say you are learning from your experience but I would say learning all the more because you are doing this kind of reflection on your practice. Better still, in light of all this refelction you now have a chance to make some decisions about how to approach a new performance project and try these new approaches out – you can see if some of the things you think might work do actually work.
Great stuff!!!
Jo
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