First of all, we were in TDCA and spoke about Farm Boy- the performance we went to watch last night at the Connaught Theatre. What was interesting about Farm Boy was that it was a duologue- only 2 actors: The Boy and his Grandad. The boy played 5 characters- younger version of himself, grandad as a boy, grandma, farmer and Harry. Grandad played just 2- himself at various ages and his dad.
It had a very minimal set which was actually very effective. There was simply 5 props/set: tractor, tool box, photo, chair and a pillow/cushion. Each piece was used simply yet effectively. For example the tractor didn't come alive until the end although it was used throughout, the tool box was simply used to sit on and it was also used to take the photo out. The photo was of the boy's grandma- his granddad used the photo to explain stories about his wife; the boys grandma. The pillow/cushion was used to take on a different character and the chair was used to sit on but also to depict a horse and a plough!
The sound used in Farm boy was minimal. It had a recorded piano accordiament every now then to support the acting. I felt as if the music wasn't particularly important as the acting was strong enough to tell the story on it's own. The acting built it's atmosphere on it's own. The use of the tractor sound at the end was particularly effective as the tractor had sat on stage throughout the whole performance but it hadn't done anything. At the end when it started working- the tractor sound signified that it was working and it gave the tractor life.
The lighting was simple but effective. They used blue gels (up to 6) to help create atmosphere. There was also a single light bulb hanging in the middle of the stage to show the only light in the barn. There were lights above the front of the audience and then just infront of the stage and then above the actual stage. What I liked about the lighting was that every time the scene changed, so did the lighting. Much like the sound used in Farm Boy, I feel like the lighting was simply there to support the acting- the lighting wasn't especially important as the acting and storyline was great- the actors would've been able to tell the story without lighting or sound!
The actors used voice and movement very effectively- particularly voice. When the play starts the boy has a Leeds accent (we learn that he grew up in Leeds because his father didn't like the countryside) and the grandad has a west country accent (he's lived on a farm his entire life). The boy used giggling and a higher pitch to show himself as younger and used fidgeting and a craning neck (staring up at grandad) to show the younger version of himself to be immature and young. He also used a higher pitch and faster pace when he was showing his Grandad's Mother. This was effective as it was completely different to any other voice he had used in the rest of the play and his 'small flappy hands' and feminine body language emphasised the fact that he was now playing a woman.
The Storytelling in the play was effective despite the fact is was non-linear. Despite having lots of different 'scenes' and telling the story in a jumbled up order, it was easy to follow and clear to understand.
The play was clearly aimed at an older audience as it used old fashioned humour and made references to war, sherlock holmes and tin tin. However, I feel that through the boy going to Australia and University, it was clear that they also wanted the younger audience to be interested too. I think this was effective as it broadened the audience.
Overall, I thought the Farm Boy was a very nice play. I liked the fact that it had just 2 actors and that they told the story through movement, voice and using props. I liked the simple approach used to perform the play- particularly the lighting and sound! I'm very glad I went to watch!
After an hour in the TDCA discussing Farm Boy, we went back to the drama studio where we were shown Frantic Assembly's chair duet techniques. These techniques involve two or more actors sitting on chairs next to each other and incorporates human manipulation. The technique works in counts of 3- so each part of the piece had to incorporate 3 movements which needed to include manipulation! In pairs, we put together a 24 count movement sequence. The moves that me and my partner Emily included standing up and walking round the chair, arm movements/manipulations, leg movements/manipulation, floor work, hand movements/manipulations AND we even included manipulation by using my leg. We then put all of the different pair's work together and added transitions to make it look professional. For example, mine and Emily's transition onto the stage involved pushing the pair behind us off stage sideways and then putting one leg on the chair and then twisting onto the chair. Our leaving transition was Max and Beth grabbing our arms and pushing us off stage in a way that made us twirl round- so we left the stage spinning. We had one run through in the group and then it was filmed. Learning the Frantic Assembly's chair duet technique was effective as it made us realise that we could involve this in our piece. We watched videos of this technique being used/performed professionally and it looked great! It gave us ideas which helped us when we split into groups to put the technique into scenes that we had already put together.....
My group of me, sarah, max, matt, abbey and lizzie had already put together The Finn lady scene in another lesson but we now had to put Frantic Assembly's technique into it! We did put our own twist on the technique as it wouldn't had fit in with our piece otherwise. The first time we used this technique is when Max enters the finn lady's house. They sat next to each other on the chairs and portrayed her force feeding of him. Lizzie (who plays Finn lady) used quick fast manipulation and puppetry to emphasise her nature. We used the technique to show the Finn lady's aggression and and anger at the fact Max wont eat her stew as it tied in with the background story we had created- that she gets incredibly angry- sometimes kills you, if you refuse to eat her stew. Me, Matt, Sarah and Abbey also used the technique, although it was more of a movement sequence- I feel like we could have done it more effectively. To start with, we decided that we should stay in a grid shape to make sure that we don't move too far away from the chair duet technique's 'stationary' element. However this didn't go completely to plan although it did at the beginning. We used the technique to show how no one wanted to go into the Finn lady's house as they were scared. They pushed each other in front and twisted them to make it look more effective. We also used cannon as well as the manipulation. If we were to do it next time, I believe we could come up with a way of incorporating actual chairs into mine, sarah, matt and abbey's part as I feel like we strayed too far away from the original concept of Frantic Assembly's chair duet technique!
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