Using a history as starting point is proving quite useful in terms of devising.
Usually when you start devising, it's hard to know where to begin and a structure is usually one of the last things that comes together, but working from a timeline has made things so much easier.
There are a number of timelines available online for Guernsey. (even comparing them to see what events have more importance or are indeed left out altogether, can be an interesting exercise all on its own)
Printing them out and then seeing it in one long line makes its so much easier to visualise the flow of the overall story.
We've sat down and discussed each period and broken them down into roughly 10 different blocks. (it doesn't take amazing maths to calculate that if each block were five minutes long, we'd already have fifty minutes) Then placed in that timeline are all the extra bits that people have asked about or we have found in our research and having a rough plot line makes it easier to see where we can insert them.
We have already devised some of the blocks, now it's time to refine those and magnify the staging. Then we'll piece them together with a through line, which may already be developing through the devising process.
Although improvisation is my first love, it's exciting to be creating something and developing those ideas both theatrically and by adding research. The thrill of improv is immediate but often the wonder of the stories you've just pulled out of thin air are then lost to the next moment/thrill. But with devising you have the space to return to interesting stories, go away, learn more then add to them and the luxury to stage them in a way that will tickle the eyeballs not just your imagination.
Monday, 27 April 2015
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Premiere Announced
Tickets available from
www.guernseytickets.gg
Gathering the questions
Guernsey's history is so vast and sometimes it can feel that the recent (as in last 100 years worth of) history does dominate the narrative a bit. Especially since the occupation is still fresh enough that there are people who are still alive to tell the tale.
How do you gather information about the past, but not limit it to person recollections so that the whole of history can be encompassed. I came up with the idea of asking a simple question to people,
"What is your favourite bit about Guernsey's history"
This has extract some useful directions of enquiry that we can explore in devising the piece, but what I've noticed is people feel reticent to add something because they feel they aren't experts. They feel they don't know enough about Guernsey's history to add anything. but this precisely the point. This play should be a way of igniting curiosity about Guernsey and not intimidating them.
So the question has been adapted to help ignite their interest. Do you have any unanswered questions about Guernsey's history. Some of the questions so far have been:
How do you gather information about the past, but not limit it to person recollections so that the whole of history can be encompassed. I came up with the idea of asking a simple question to people,
"What is your favourite bit about Guernsey's history"
This has extract some useful directions of enquiry that we can explore in devising the piece, but what I've noticed is people feel reticent to add something because they feel they aren't experts. They feel they don't know enough about Guernsey's history to add anything. but this precisely the point. This play should be a way of igniting curiosity about Guernsey and not intimidating them.
So the question has been adapted to help ignite their interest. Do you have any unanswered questions about Guernsey's history. Some of the questions so far have been:
- Why isn't Guernsey French?
- Why are Guernsey people referred to as Donkey's
- When was the first tomato grown in Guernsey?
- Where there really witches or were they just gossiping women gathering on the street corner.
- What is a potato peel pie?
From these we can research the truth and also extrapolate answers to some of them.
How did it start?
It's not everyday that you decide to create a brand new piece of theatre from scratch and take on the entire history of a clutch of islands in the middle of the channel, but that's exactly what I've done.
It actually all started with a citizenship test. [For those of you who don't know since 2002 those wishing to gain indefinite leave to remain or british citizenship have had to complete and pass a citizenship test.]
In Guernsey you are required to answer questions relating to the Bailiwick which makes sense given that even now my local husband doesn't quite get his head around the relationship between Guernsey, the UK and the Queen (our Duke).
Just reading the bullet point history of the bailiwick was fascinating. Pirates, smugglers, exiled literary giants, occupation, tomatoes, grandmother mehnirs, civil war intrigue, matyrs, witches and even dragons jumped out at me.
I'm a storyteller and theatre is my medium so from that moment I kept having glimpses of these amazing stories reimagined onstage and I knew that it was the project that would be perfect to launch a new era of original Theatre created in Guernsey.
Last year I put together a proposal for the Guernsey Arts Commission and convinced them that this was a project worth supporting.
Gathering the right people with a similar passion for creative physical theatre was actually quite easy because running the Guernsey Improbables has meant that I've been able to gather the working professionally trained actors on the island together on a regular basis. Oliver and Dave are part of the Improbables and Elizabeth has worked with me on Arts Commission projects.
It actually all started with a citizenship test. [For those of you who don't know since 2002 those wishing to gain indefinite leave to remain or british citizenship have had to complete and pass a citizenship test.]
In Guernsey you are required to answer questions relating to the Bailiwick which makes sense given that even now my local husband doesn't quite get his head around the relationship between Guernsey, the UK and the Queen (our Duke).
Just reading the bullet point history of the bailiwick was fascinating. Pirates, smugglers, exiled literary giants, occupation, tomatoes, grandmother mehnirs, civil war intrigue, matyrs, witches and even dragons jumped out at me.
I'm a storyteller and theatre is my medium so from that moment I kept having glimpses of these amazing stories reimagined onstage and I knew that it was the project that would be perfect to launch a new era of original Theatre created in Guernsey.
Last year I put together a proposal for the Guernsey Arts Commission and convinced them that this was a project worth supporting.
Gathering the right people with a similar passion for creative physical theatre was actually quite easy because running the Guernsey Improbables has meant that I've been able to gather the working professionally trained actors on the island together on a regular basis. Oliver and Dave are part of the Improbables and Elizabeth has worked with me on Arts Commission projects.
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