Stockholm Resource Pack - Frantic Assembly

Last minute discoveries
We were rehearsing one of the final scenes in the kitchen
and all was not going well. We were struggling to find the
logic of the moment when Todd claims he has had enough
of it all and the frustration and tiredness of long hours of
hard work were beginning to show.
We felt the only thing to do was liberate the performers
from anything we had set before. It was looking like they
were trying to join the dots to make a picture that would
please us rather than find a truthful way through the scene.
We told them to forget anything they had done before and
just have a go at it. Just them, the words and their instinct.
The results were so refreshing. They were not perfect. They
were certainly not polished. Some of it was clearly wrong
but when you are trying so hard to get something right you
can become blinkered and obsessed only in getting it right.
Sometimes if something isn't working it may simply be that
it is wrong. Bashing a square peg into a round hole does
nobody any good.
This exercise was liberating and exhilarating. It reminded
us that there is more than one possibility to a scene and
that the quest to get a particular approach right can
sometimes make us forget this.
come to us. As the performers ran this scene Sam spat out
the words with a real vehemence at times directly at the
audience. He really needed us to know that enough was
enough. Moments later as he succumbs to Kali's genuine
remorse, he basically tells us we will never understand
them unless we were in exactly the same situation.
The overall dynamic of the production was beginning to
take shape. A couple invite us to see their house, to see
their life together. We go with them. Things turn nasty and
they become less self conscious and self destruct in front of
us. We are then asked to witness the provocation and
understand that this is the final time it will happen.
The last twist is us being dismissed as we would never
understand.
This push and pull is a useful dynamic for the performers
to bear in mind. The lesson for me is to always look for this
within any production. Something I have always been
aware of on this production and have always been asking
myself is 'why do they speak to us How did we get here at
their most intimate moments.’ I was clearly reminded that
they invited us here and they will send us on our way. The
final scene is their perfect smokescreen.
The task unearthed another valuable insight. I have spoken
about the dynamic of not talking to the audience in every
moment. I said by doing this we will find out when we really
need to open out to them and when we can allow them to
Kali
They had one of their rows!
They're both very strong individual characters...
(p.76)
Samuel James
Photo Scott Graham
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Georgina Lamb and Samuel James
Photo Scott Graham