Ideas are everywhere
Provocations and Inspirations
Kneehigh’s inspirations are eclectic, ever- changing and growing. They have included:
- Silent movies, particularly Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd
- David Lynch
- Nina Simone
- Circus Archaos
- Quentin Tarantino
- Footsbarn
- Akram Khan
- Frida Kahlo
- Talking Heads and David Byrne
- Nick Cave
- Kae Tempest
- Wes Anderson
- William Kentridge
- Paula Rego
- Italo Calvino
- Jan Švankmajer
I'm a massive believer in dressing up. Always have been. I think everybody changes the minute they dress up, but you have to make sure that the clothes fit. Teachers need to find things that make people less body conscious. You need big, funny clothes because if you're asking people to lose their inhibitions, the last thing you want them to do is to try and squeeze into trousers that don't fit.
I always think trying to have a way of making a space dark is good because I think acting, creating and improvising is very exposing. If you can black out the windows and just have torches, that’s great. If you haven't got a lighting rig, you don't need it. You can have electric candles, you can have torches. You can have your iPhones on, you know, whatever you might have to see if you can take the edge off so that people don't feel exposed. I think that's 90% of what I do with actors.
I take the pressure off actors by playing music underneath what they're doing, which is encouraging them not to use words all the time, to work physically, to take it out of the face and into the body. Think about all the things that make you feel exposed: being yourself, being strongly lit, feeling like you have to fill a silence. Take all those fears away, and people will surprise you. And then once they're discovering things, then you can take away the crutches. I think normally people build the other way round: rehearse in raw daylight, and then put the lights down. Do it the other way around, rehearse in the dark, and then bring the lights up when people know what they're doing.
Scrapbooks and boxes
Many of the Kneehigh creative teams kept scrapbooks - for specific productions or as sources of inspiration. Keeping a ‘live’ scrapbook into which goes postcards, note about snippets of overheard conversations, photos from magazines or newspapers, Polaroid photos, images found online, extracts from text: there’s no wrong way to make a scrapbook. They become a handy tool for finding ideas, provoking thought and making connections between ideas.
Drama teachers might choose to create a generic box of ‘stuff’ - again, there’s no prescribed way to do this. It could be a paper based box file, it could be a larger box into which goes unusual items found, discarded or donated: anything which inspires a sense of play.
Both the scrapbook and the ‘stuff box’ don’t need to be costly - aim to avoid buying anything new.
Books, films, stories and music
- Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales. Penguin, 2000
- Brothers Grimm: The Complete Fairy Tales, Vintage, 2007
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short stories
- Ladybird books
- The novels of Louis de Bermiers
- The films of Quentin Tarintino, David Lynch, Emir Kusterica, Roy Anderson, Yorgos Lanthimos, Jacques Tati, Monsieur Hulot and Jour de Fete
- Films and silent movies starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, and the Marx Brothers
- Playlists curated by you and your students
- Stories for children and/or adults that you find in charity shops, or on explorations of bookshops
- The work of John Berger
- Plays by Brecht that have a political message that you can relate to
- Percussion instruments
- Old hymn books or books of songs sung in primary school
- Traditional folk tales from different areas in the UK
- Books and poems by Charles Causeley
- Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
- Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre and Impro for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone
Other resources available online
- Emma Rice’s Essay for BBC Radio 3 on theatre directing (2011)
- Interview about The Tin Drum with Carl Grose, Mike Shepherd and Charles Hazlewood
- Mike Shepherd talks through his scrapbook for Dead Dog in a Suitcase
- Mike Shepherd describes his rehearsal process and talks about games and how to use them in rehearsal.
- Anna Maria Murphy describes writing Tristan & Yseult
- Bill Mitchell talks about his work with Kneehigh, and his work in theatre
- A sneak peak at 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, adapted from the book by Michael Morpurgo.
Storytelling elements
Theatrical Devices
Examples of where Kneehigh have done this in their work
Cross gender casting
Lydia in The Red Shoes is scripted as transvestite
Storytellers in The Red Shoes, androgynous, shaved heads, vest and underpants
Removal men in Midnight’s Pumpkin dressed in brown caretaker coats and flat caps
Staging and set
Used in rehearsal from the very beginning, set is integral to the performance.
Devil in The Wild Bride observed from the top of the tree – like a storytelling ‘zone’ from which to narrate.
Similar to the observing storytellers in The Red Shoes as they watched the action.
Time period
Often set in the past to create a full world that the audience can escape to.
Elements of European fairy tale settings also help remove us from the real world.
Casting
Not necessarily ‘traditionally’ trained actors: performers classically trained musicians, gymnasts/acrobats, storytellers etc.
Mike and Emma looked for the right ‘fit’ of people for the ensemble, look for their naughtiness.
A key element to Kneehigh’s work is the nature of the ensemble, of which the audience should also become a part.
Choice of music
Eclectic. Much of it is written for the company by Stu Barker.
Cultural references enhance the sense of nostalgia.
Whatever music is chosen, it must provoke an emotional and physical response for the audience.
Creation of effects such as blood
Use of red socks for mutilated feet in Midnight’s Pumpkin
Red ribbon and paint for mutilated feet in The Wild Bride
Puppetry
A wood and willow puppet in The Wild Bride
Character function/interpretation
Many are archetypal and fulfil the usual function as seen in stock characters of fairytale etc.
Dance and live/recorded music
Folk dance-style choreography in The Wild Bride
Aerial ballet in Midnight’s Pumpkin, and the audience was also taught a dance for the two balls that took place. The Prince and ensemble sang live.
Live band in Don John
Recorded music to create nostalgia and emotional responses in Steptoe and Son
House music is also very important to create a particular atmosphere. In Brief Encounter, ‘ushers’ sang and played instruments
Use of classical music is also key
Use of props and costume
Non-naturalistic, and often surprising.
Mice in Midnight’s Pumpkin, reminded us of community theatre (white dressing gown, cardboard teeth, socks)
Umbrellas as geese (in The Wooden Frock)
Storytelling/community theatre/ poor theatre influence – evidence of the view of looking for opportunities with props rather than having the actual item. It’s much more interesting!
Larger than life characters (the Vicar in The Red Shoes) – almost cartoon/caricature. Colour is important, and slightly vintage/retro look to a lot of characters, e.g. thick rimmed glasses, socks and sandals etc.
Strong visual imagery
Red paint for the cut off hands in The Wild Bride
Moon in Steptoe and Son
Pear tree in The Wild Bride – magicians’s lightbulbs which had been adapted slightly
Letter writing scene in The Wild Bride: 3 characters standing at 3 points of triangle, one holds a letter in their hand. By sleight of hand they hide it behind their back. The character to whom they are sending it then brings one out from behind their back (much easier to demonstrate practically!) with a whoosh noise. Done very quickly, very effective
Storytellers as observers
The Red Shoes and Tristan and Yseult.
The Love Spotters in Tristan & Yseult spoke to the audience, often in unison “We are the unloved, we are the Love Spotters”, with a short physical routine. The 2nd act starts with exactly the same routine, “we are still the unloved…”
Breaking the 4th wall
Many Kneehigh pieces start with interaction between audience and actors: removal men in Midnight’s Pumpkin, ushers (who also sang) in Brief Encounter, birdwatchers in Tristan & Yseult. Two main characters in Brief Encounter sat in the front row of cinema as audience entered auditorium
Narration, talking to the audience, ad lib etc
Creation and use of performance space
Many touring venues are traditional proscenium arch but use of auditorium space is important. The Devil in The Wild Bride walked through the auditorium and then back on to stage – it’s important to find a way to connect.
Naughtiness/tongue in cheek
‘Yoga’ scene between prince and bride in The Wild Bride
Prince’s bath scene in Midnight’s Pumpkin, dropping of the towel at the end
Phallic balloon modelling in Brief Encounter!
