Stockholm Resource Pack - Frantic Assembly

3 The fight
A well known theatre critic with an open agenda to rid the
world of physical theatre recently wrote that his heart sank
when in a production depicting a riot they suddenly burst
into stylised movement.
I know how he feels. And I often find myself in agreement
with our fiercest potential critics. I heed their words and
keep them close to me always.
Our hearts would sink if we felt that we had given you a
dance instead of a fight in Stockholm. There have been
times in rehearsal where it has looked like we were doing
exactly that. At times the choreography became too
obviously choreographed. It was not telling the story of the
situation. It felt like an interlude. It felt like something
placed there instead of the fight. We had to break it apart
and remind the performers of the story that needs to be
told within it and help them tell it.
We have choreographed something that we want to be as
brutal as any fight you could imagine. What complicates
this further than the depiction of a riot is that this is two
people who love each other, who frustrate each other. It is
the quest for annihilation on one side and the denial of
violence on the other. It is not all out war. If it was then
you would think Todd would win.
I guess it may still fall foul of certain critics but hopefully to
most people it will feel true and complex and not just the
kind of thing Frantic Assembly feel compelled to do as a
crowd pleaser.
of hot hobs, hard surfaces and knives lying around. We had
to progress steadily so that the performers felt comfortable
at each stage and that every possibility of risk was taken
into consideration.
I think our gradual approach to this scene took the pressure
off the performers. They did not go into it knowing they
were making the 'big fight'. They were not given an
unreasonable amount of time to finish it. We worked on it
off the set until we felt we had enough material and then
took it on set. From here we all worked together at finding
a way to put it into its physical context.
4 Putting food away
This is a very simple scene born of a very simple desire.
We wanted a glimpse of their domestic perfection. We
wanted to see where they operate well together.
We imagined them putting away their shopping with an
unspoken slickness, not that suggests the automaton or the
monotonous but hints at a conscious pleasure in each
others company and how they fit together.
We presented them with two bags of shopping containing
cereal, fruit, vegetables and just got them to play at this
slickness. We watched, noting what worked and what did
not. We then had a palette of physicality and tricks to
work from.
(Hmm. Is there some truth in this Interesting...)
Our way into the fight was to ask the performers to make
some ballroom choreography. It was made without them
knowing where it might be used. It was to be the start of
an attempt to create a fight that had many layers to it. If
we had started making pure 'fight' moves then we would be
completely tied down in boring stage fighting practicalities.
We wanted our performers to feel safe in each others arms
before we asked any more of them.
Once they had these moves we looked at how we could
brutalise them (the moves, not the performers!). We did
this also with the stop start material we employed in the
Tea Towel movement section.
We worked a little on it each day, fully aware how
dangerous the final scene might be to perform in a kitchen
Georgina Lamb and Samuel James
Photo Scott Graham
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