Initial Ideas
For the past few weeks, we have been creating Artaud style monologues, duologues, and group work. Myself and Izzy decided to create an Artaud style duologue based on mental health because of Artaud's time spent in various mental institutions that provided the basis for much of his work. With additional research we found that Artaud had 52 rounds of electro-convulsive therapy which may have also impacted on his work, hence why we decided to include a section showing ECT (or thereabouts) in the piece. Moreover, I pulled inspiration from a GCSE Artaud piece I saw in Y10 where they said something along the lines of "At 11pm I will slit my wrists. At 12pm I kill myself" which I thought was really effective and allowed for more mental health type issues to be seen.
Our initial idea was to have two opposing personalities inside the same person's head, something which becomes evident at the end of the piece, and for the audience to see a 'typical' day in the life of this person (inspiration of "a day in the life" taken from GCSE criteria and from The Beatles song "Day in the Life"). We decided to have little to no speech so that we could focus on the stylised movement element of the piece, although the words and phrases that we did use, as I will explain in the performance analysis below, were effective and not overused.
We decided to use a traverse stage and have the audience members standing up so that they would become uncomfortable physically within the piece. Our initial idea was to have an in the round stage with people stood up, however, we thought that not everyone would be able to see the action on stage and miss vital parts of the piece. A traverse stage allowed the audience to see all the key parts within the piece and allowed for the filming of the piece to be much easier.
Performance
Entrance - 0:00 - 1:04
At the beginning of the piece we had the audience stand outside so that we could bring them into the performance space. We did this so that the atmosphere would be immediately made tense, which was enhanced by our stoic, emotionless faces. We wanted the audience to hold hands so that they feel somewhat comfortable when they initially enter the space which would contrast with the loss of comfort and touch after we split their hands later in the piece which allows for more uncomfortableness. One thing that we needed to be more aware of was the amount of people in the audience and who we were bringing to which line. This was brought to light when we accidentally forgot to add Miss Starbuck to a line, which I then had to go out of my way to rectify by going to the end of the line to connect her hand to Joel's. After linking the audience's hands outside the performance space, we brought them into the space and set them up as a traverse stage. Another slight negative of this was that the audience clumped together and didn't immediately go into the lines that we wanted. We had to spend a few seconds spreading them out which we didn't expect when we first came up with the traverse stage idea.
Our initial idea for this scene, when we had the audience in the round was that they'd already be stood in the circle and have myself and Izzy not in the room. This would have allowed for more tension within the beginning of the piece but the logistical side of how we would get them in the standing in the circle in the first place would have proven to be an issue. I think that the traverse stage was the best way to stage this piece because it was easier to bring the audience into the space and also meant that they could see the other people's emotions in the other line opposite them.
Stylised Movement - 1:04 - 1:44
We used ideas from the Frantic Assembly workshop that I went to in the summer. We used the idea of hands following one another because it shows that the character's are connected in some way as they appear to be mirror images. This was the starting point for the whole piece when we first began to devise it. The grabbing of my head by Izzy and the subsequent rolling and stomping shows the conflict between the two states of mind and also shows that Izzy's character is more in control than the state in which my character is in. The lift that we use when I 'ran' in mid air could show my character/state of mind trying to break free from the control of Izzy and her state of mind. As I am on Izzy's back and being restrained on her back, this could show that Izzy is again much more in control that my character is at this point in the piece. When we both bang our heads, this is trying to hint to the audience that the whole piece is taking place in someone's mind and that they are struggling with the two contrasting personalities/characters that are present in their mind. It could also show that the two characters are destroying the mind in their struggle for control. When I drop to the floor, I think that this could show the start of Izzy slowly losing control of the host mind and that I am beginning to the main personality within the mind. However, Izzy gains back this control when she pulls me into the middle of the stage.
Waking up - 1:44 - 2:10
This is the first section in which we use words which makes the scene have much more of an impact. Izzy's tone initially is a happy and soothing one which may make the audience think that the scene is getting somewhat less cruel, especially as Izzy comes to touch my face lovingly. This is immediately contrasted when she shouts in my face which is the only loud thing that we had in the piece thus far. The puppet like movement after shows that Izzy is still in control of the mind and of my character which is why I 'wake up' as Izzy instructed. I think that this could also show the mind set of people with a mental illness such as depression whereby they struggle to get out of bed or find anything that spurs them to do something.
Going to work - 2:10 - 2:56
Initially for this section of the piece, I was going to sit on Izzy's back and pretend to be working. This links back to or first Artaud lesson when we gave everyday objects the ability to speak. However, this wouldn't have achieved the same effect as Izzy's screaming and also seems natural (whereas Theater of Cruelty is very unnatural). The contrasts of my "bored" 's to Izzy's screaming is great, and shows how the person may feel on the inside but hides their emotions on the outside. This is why when Izzy is screaming and using physical movements, she can't touch me and is acting as though there is an invisible box around me. I tried to make my "bored" 's in time with the clock ticking sound effect so that is shows just how slowly the time at work is going. As Izzy collapses at the end of this scene, the power is seen to be shifted from Izzy to myself, something which can be seen in the next scene when I'm the one that introduces the next part of the day. We are on opposite sides of the stage in this scene so that both sides of the audience have access to an important part of the performance due to the aforementioned shift in power.
Going to therapy - 2:56 - 3:48
This section alludes to what I mentioned before about Artaud's ECT. In some ways this could link to Anatomy of a Suicide due to the ECT scene in Anna's story. Before the piece I forgot to put a pen on the floor that I should have used to poke members of the audience to see if they'd react to the ECT in the way that Izzy would. Instead, I had to touch members of the audience which in some ways was creepier than if I had poked them with a pen which they may have reacted to by flinching which wasn't the action that we wanted.
Stylised Movement 2 - 3:48 - 4:24
We did another physical movement scene here to initially show the effects of the ECT but it then developed into the same section from the physical sequence before, showing that again the two states of mind were fighting for control. During this sequence we did the running action again but this time both of us were doing the action because it showed that we both couldn't run from the mental illness that was ravaging the mind. We pulled from Brechtian influences here with the silent scream which is from "Mother Courage and her Children" but this can be turned into Artaud as shown here due to the use of exaggerated facial expressions, again linking back to the first Artaud lesson. When we ran to the edge of the traverse stage and were pulled back, this represented how we couldn't escape from the mind during waking hours and were pulled back into the repetitive fight for control. The repetition of this section and indeed the whole idea of having a day in the life, could suggest ritual, an Artaudian technique.
Dreamscape - 4:24 - 5:18
We used a dreamscape here to contrast between the harshness of everyday to the relief that dreams and sleep provide from society and world news. We deliberately changed our demeanor from a bored, sullen, blank feel, to a happy yet dreamy tone to highlight this. I think what made this section more uncomfortable was that we touched the audience members faces. This was to show that dreams are much more caring and could link to how Izzy was going to stroke my face in the waking up scene which could be a remnant of the dream state that happens every day. One thing that was an issue in this section was when we tried to disconnect the audience's members hands. We did this to show that dreams allow people to feel safe, however, many of the audience members were gripping onto each other's hands quite tightly which meant that it was difficult to separate them. I again used inspiration from GCSE when we went to the doors to escape from the dreamscape and from life (in the GCSE piece that I saw the actors shouted whilst banging on a door "Let me out! I don't want to be a part of this exam anymore!" which allowed for a stilted feel to the piece, anyway, I digress). I think that this was effective because audience members may think that the performance is over but may be shocked when we start screaming and creating a small soundscape. When this happens, we were trying to show that dreams aren't something that people can escape with as they will ultimately end and leave the person stuck in the real, dreamless world.
Death - 5:18 - 5:52
This is the key moment where the audience realise that myself and Izzy are the same person as we say the same words, kill each other and die at the same time. The phrase "At 12pm I kill myself" is quite a shocking thing to hear, as the words that we've said so far had been quite tame and didn't allude to this ending.
Props
During this performance we didn't use any props, but during rehearsals and during the piece, I was meant to use a pen for the ECT so that myself and Izzy had something to grab during the following stylised movement sequence.
Sound
The soundscape above is the one that we used throughout the piece. We started off with the clock ticking and then moved onto the slowed down music which then stopped after the end of the dreamscape. By using a soundscape we made the audience feel more uncomfortable and on edge from the beginning of the piece.
Lighting
The lighting initially was quite dim with only a thin strip in the middle of the space being lit. This was to show how trapped and restricted the mind may feel by reality. In contrast, during the dreamscape, the light became lighter which showed how much freer the mind feels in dreams as there are no responsibilities to be faced.
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