Workshop 3 - Creating story through pictures

To begin the lesson we were given five random pictures and asked to create a short story from what you see. It wasn't limited by restrictions so everyone had their own take on what Sarah meant. Most people took the pictures on face value, using what they immediately saw to form the story but Sarah later suggested the idea to look in the background, look into the small detail in the pictures, because this can often lead to more interesting, unique and imaginative work.  

                                  

I focused on each picture as a whole, not noticing small detail, and tried to create a linear storyline as I attempted to find sense in what was already peculiar. The question was posed to us that in experimental term, and theatre in general, why do stories need to make sense. For me I found this question interesting because I'd never really thought about it and found it difficult to not try and make sense of things. As humans in general we always need a definite answer which is shown science, which however suggests to me that within theatre and the arts, why should we have to comply to these ideas.  

This idea also suggests that the audience doesn't need to fully understand what's going on, able to make their own mines up and create their own interpretations. It means that they have to work hard, as in my opinion theatre is not just for entertainment and to make people think.

The following task was also rather difficult because again Mia and I struggled not to put the pictures into a linear story line. (The pictures below are laid out in the order of our narrative.) However not being able to detach from this idea we chose to focus on our portrayal of the story. The two of us behaved like a tag team, bouncing of the others excitable energy which gave it an improvised and spontaneous feel. This also meant the speech was reasonably fluid and maintained a good energy to keep the spectators engaged, although I did feel that some of it may have been too rushed, leading to some mumbling but with some more rehearsal time it could've been perfected and less improvised. I did also feel that as it's experimental term there could've been a more inventive and unique way of doing it, maybe not giving the explicit story and causing them to make up their own minds.

Watching the other's perform their short stories was interesting because everyone had different ideas and the random stories combined with the movements made it all quite experimental, in some places incredibly weird.

For instance, I mostly enjoyed the physical portrayal of the stories because it meant that as an audience member I had to work harder to understand what it meant, having to come to my own conclusion about what I was watching. Esme and Ivory were an example of this as they went along their timeline of pictures, re-enacting the story the story they'd created. This meant that I was engaged with what I was watching, although I know that watching pieces that included comedy also gave me the same willingness to watch.
An example of a comedic piece was the boys rap, which was predominantly funny because it was unexpected, however whether it would've been funny to an audience who didn't know them is another question. I personally find rap in play quite funny, especially when it's performed by people who wouldn't normally be rappers, although this is only my personal opinion.
I found the most interesting piece to watch/be apart of was the Chinese whispers, done by Eloise and Jasmine. I really like how it linked to their idea that stories get changed over time and I found I stayed engaged because I felt included and enjoyed the actor-audience interaction.

Mia and I's selection of pictures