Devising - Taking ideas for a hop, skip and a jump

Devising is hard, it needs improvisation skills which take time to develop, it needs a generosity and, somehow, a joy of creation. It seems to be increasingly hard to keep fear and anxiety at bay but I believe that we have to strive to do so, as fear and anxiety thwart creativity.

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In this section, Mike Shepherd explores devising - a process which he calls taking ideas for a hop, skip and a jump.

“Devised theatre? Is there a definition? A collaborative process where a theatrical work is created from scratch by a group of artists rather than relying on a pre-existing script, often involving improvisation and collective exploration of ideas.

Devised theatre emphasises team work and collaboration, with all members contributing to the creation of performance.

Both of these definitions are allied to the ways Kneehigh often worked but it’s not the whole story!

We always respected the individual artist within the collective and there were times where actors, artists, creative team worked collaboratively but then the specific skills of writers, designers, composers, directors were given autonomy to develop collective ideas without everyone “chipping in”.

More often than not we would arrive at a script as we developed ideas in rehearsal but not always! Galton and Simpson’s scripts for Steptoe and Son were a starting point alongside Emma Rice’s adaptation of the sitcom into a piece of theatre. Shakespeare’s script of Cymbeline was a starting point for Carl Grose’s adaptation alongside Michael Vale and Emma Rice’s design concepts. Design can lead the process - as can music, visual imagery and even lighting design. When creating Dead Dog in a Suitcase and Tin Drum, lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth, who is part of the creative process from day one, was a vital part of the process as we discovered the form and the way of staging the action and storytelling. In other words…

There is no formula, no set method but there are a strong set of shared beliefs which inform and fuel activity.

What do I do ?

I like to take ideas for a hop, skip and a jump. Ideas are everywhere, I don’t judge these ideas as good, bad or indifferent. I don’t analyse these ideas...I explore them.

There seems to be an increased pressure to have a ‘good’ idea which will then translate into a successful product. Don’t let having to have a good idea hamper your creative freedom.

Be inspired, find inspiration in people, places,simple interaction, the horizon,your online activity,your latest playlist (dance to it regularly) bookshelves, exhibitions, gigs,events etc..etc..inspiration is everywhere, ideas are everywhere.

I can devise completely from scratch, discovering themes, characters and opportunity but have rarely developed this into a show.

I suppose Blast (2007) is one of the closest examples of devised theatre I’ve done. My starting point for this show was the realisation that, as someone who had been brought up in Cornwall, I had been taught the English version of Cornish history and that the Cornish version of events was very different. I never knew, for example, that Cornwall had been the richest kingdom in the world, tin was more valuable than gold and Cornwall was at the centre of world trade routes. I never knew it had its own Parliament and the first university in the UK, the first steam-powered locomotive,wireless and satellite communications.I never knew about the raids on Cornwall ordered by Henry VII which destroyed the Parliament and University, the crack squads murdering rebellious Cornish and demanding the end of the Cornish language.

Cornwall has both led and changed the world with its resources and invention - not just a tourist destination with disgruntled “locals” who can no longer afford a roof over their heads.

I wanted to tell this story of Cornish history.

I wanted it to be angry and funny, I wanted it to be both informative and entertaining. Devising this show for village halls came at a time when it was expected that shows should be gentle and delightful . It was also a time where there was a significant increase in terrorism. I wanted it to be about the past and about now: the show we devised was daring, provocative and a bit outrageous but not gentle or particularly delightful! It became very popular but I wonder if we could make it now ?!

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Blast featured Carl Grose and Kirsty Woodward as a kind of Sid and Nancy, or Romeo and Juliet.  The pair are homeless and travelling when they arrive at the village hall where Colin Pickering, an incomer recently arrived in Cornwall with his wife Janet, is delivering a talk on the history of Cornish hedges. They kidnap him and announce to everyone that they’re going to blow themselves up in protest at what Cornwall has become. It’s a homemade explosive device which, when triggered, is mistakenly set to explode in 60 minutes rather than the planned 60 seconds. They lock the doors to the village hall while they tell the “true” history of Cornwall in 60 minutes.

In devising Blast we had a starting point which the skills of the performers took for a hop, skip and a jump through improvisation to develop a kind of map that could be crafted. We arrived at a flexible script through Carl’s brilliance.

Devised theatre needs strong directing where the director is also “writing” through structuring and developing the form.

In summary - the devised theatre definition above is only a part of the process we used to create theatre shows. Work with the collective imagination and work collaboratively but then let the individuals in the creative team fly with their individual brilliance. You also really need a director to pull together and craft the beast you’re likely to create!”

• Devising from Scratch
• Exploring archetypes
• Stories Myths and Texts
• Writing
• Games and Warm Ups 

Devising from Scratch

Devising from “nothing” needs you to find starting points to begin with!  Mike describes the process, inspired by Dorothy Heathcote and developed in Kneehigh’s own style.

“I liken it to swimming in a wild, scary river. To dive, flip over backwards, practice all your favourite strokes, invent new ones. You need a series of stepping stones to return to, to find your way across the river.

Exercises I use:
I went on a workshop with Dorothy Heathcote once...she rolled out, on the floor, a sheet of lining paper and everyone gathered around it. We were given crayons and told to draw “what’s important”. Don’t ask any questions, don’t concern yourself with the quality of your drawing: just make a mark on the paper. She then asked us to talk about what we had drawn while she pulled out themes and scenarios, decisions were made without too much discussion. In this instance the group had agreed that a hospital was the most important, suddenly Dorothy picked up an imaginary phone and answered a call from the emergency services, there had been a fire...we had to prepare for the survivors’ arrival, we became doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and patients with Dorothy running the hospital in simple role play. I remember it as a remarkable session which generated a wealth of individual stories.

I use the roll of lining paper and crayons to generate starting points. I ask people to draw what “floats their boat” or “gets their goat” There is a limited time, work fast, you have 8 minutes to make marks on that paper!

We then talk about the drawings, taking care not to analyse, instead following hunches, making single word notes. I look to find themes, collect them all, put them into ‘families’, or categories, and then select and edit, finally deciding on three themes.

They might be Corruption-Love-Loneliness or Nature-War-Tenderness or The Wild-Domestic- Longing or whatever else floating your boat or getting your goat might reveal ! These are your starting points to find character, situation,story through improvisation.”

The accessibility of music via our phones is a brilliant resource. I make playlists, sometimes chosen , sometimes random, sometimes themed i.e melancholic, furious, joyful, etc. I use music a lot to lift improvisation and to take the pressure off talking. It will also suggest dance and simple choreography or inspire song writing or poetry.

You need a strong theme to then take it somewhere. We never just took a play off a shelf and performed it as it was written.  We have done plays like Cymbeline, and Steptoe and Son , we honoured them and didn’t wilfully subvert the text but we opened everything up to a world of possibilities viewed with fresh eyes.

When you're devising, you are going to create a fair bit of chaos.

Exploring archetypes

We talked a lot about archetypes, which is where mask work would come in: through masks you could distill an archetype. Then the real detail of that work was to do contra- archetype, so you could show a victim and a bully at the same time, for example.

Archetypes are a typical example of a person.  Rather than just being a standard stock character, however, archetypes are considered universal versions of the people we might meet throughout life.  Exploring and playing with those archetypes, and their opposites, can generate fantastic drama and storytelling.

Character archetypes: 

• The Innocent
• The Everyman
• The Hero
• The Outlaw
• The Explorer 
• The Creator 
• The Ruler 
• The Magician
• The Lover
• The Caregiver
• The Jester
• The Sage (or Mentor)
• The Hermit

These archetypes are present across cultures, genres and time periods.

As well as character archetypes, we also see archetypal plots throughout folktales, drama and literature. These include:

• Reversal of fortune (or rags to riches)
• The hero’s quest or journey
• Coming of age and rites of passage
• Victory of the underdog
• Revenge
• Forbidden love

Stories, myths and texts

Whatever story is your source text, remember it’s a starting point! Any story can be told from different perspectives. All texts silence some characters who might need a chance to tell their side of the story!  Kneehigh’s playfulness means that no text is revered or put on a pedestal: whether it’s a fairy story or a play by Shakespeare, there’s always room for naughtiness and playfulness.

With the writer or writers, we talk and dream, we map out the structure and the overall shape of the piece. They go away and write collections of poems or lyrics or ideas. Each writer works in a different way but what none of them do is to write a script or a scene in isolation.

I find Ladybird books quite useful! Simple books which give you the structure and the story, but they also give you lots of opportunity to open the story up without being consumed by 125 pages of script.

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Writing

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Emma commissioned both me and Carl (Grose) for Tristan and Yseult, writing a series of poems and dialogues, rather than a full script. She said, “Anna, I want you to write the voice of the unloved and the tragic lovers and Carl the voice of the court”, which was in iambic pentameter. I wrote for the Love Spotters and Whitehands and Brangian, and Carl wrote King Mark and Frocin. Sometimes we overlapped. My references for that included a lot of film references that Emma had, but there was also the scandal about Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton happening, so I wrote about the corridors of power.

At the risk of seeming over-simplistic I always remember Miss Hibbs even when approaching something as dense as Gunther Grass’s Tin Drum or Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. It helps me understand narrative structure.

Task: Write a 50 word story of your idea/story or practice with a well known story, or a story that you particularly love, It can be anything from Romeo and Juliet, Noughts and Crosses, Little Women, etc. The process helps to get to the very meat of the story.

I try to write the bits that come easily first, like the best bits: the bits that feel like they're already almost there. I'll tackle the bits that I can already see. That's quite a good way of playing around with what the story is. You think, “let's try this bit in the middle, and let's try the ending, and then let's try this other idea”. Then you have five minutes of material to start you off.

In discussions and workshops, we end up with bits of paper taped, like big PostIt Notes™. Each bit of paper might be particular images that we like, or a key moment of the show or story. For example, there's going to be a butterfly that lands on a flower, because that symbolises how lost she's feeling. You've got all those things, and then you're placing them in different orders. So that kind of level of detail and just sitting at the laptop isn't from the beginning. The point where you’re sitting at the laptop is when you've got your bits of paper. You’re asking “What is the journey of the characters? What are the scenes that might happen?

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Games and Warm Ups

When rehearsing at the Barns, members of Kneehigh would often use a run across the cliffs as a physical warm up! Physical exercise elevates the collective energy of the group and increases stamina. Find a variety of different ways to incorporate playfulness to your warm-ups, and take collective responsibility for leading them.

A simple game of ‘keepy uppy’ can really help alertness, awareness of the group, sharpen antennae, focus and build ensemble. A good theatre show needs a good team actively practicing these qualities. Know where your teammates are, know where the focus is and always know what the story is otherwise the ball will run into touch.

I find that my brain works really well if I butterfly around an idea, and then I tend to land on something which isn't the thing itself, but it gives me a different map. It's what gives you a fresh view, and that personal map is what will make the piece unique.

Holding your nerve:

I think about it a lot in my work, which is that we're all scared all the time. Performing is a really scary thing to do, because you're not just scared, as we all are, but you're doing it in front of an audience that may or may not think you're any good, and have lots of ways of showing you that, whether it's reviews or clapping or leaving at the interval. So it's really, really scary. And then what happens when we're scared is, we hold on to what we think is our safe place. Of course, that safe place is useless to us as theatre makers, so you have to do a deal with yourself, which is, be scared. It's unavoidable, no amount of controlling or asking questions or buying time is going to get you out of that scary place so you might as well jump into it. We’d ask ourselves ‘What's the worst that can happen?’ And if the answer wasn't ‘death’, we'd have a go at anything.