Final Writing Frame – Devised Theatre

COMPONENT 1: Frantic Assembly

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

You should have a Header stating your FULL name, Candidate Number, School Name, Centre Number, word
count and Component 1 – Devising Portfolio on EVERY page.

Please also add page numbers at the bottom of each page.

Remember you have a total of 3000 words. Each sub-section should therefore be around 500 words in length.

YOU MUST SUBMIT AN ACCURATE WORD-COUNT WITH YOUR FINAL DRAFT.

The following SHOULD NOT be included in your word count:

 Any time you say ‘Frantic’ or ‘Frantic Assembly’
 Any quotations from the extract or from Frantic Assembly or from your audience questionnaires
 The title of the play which your chosen extract is taken from

This means that the most vital skill you will need to employ in creating this work will be a CONCISE and well-
structured writing style.

You can use diagrams, photographs or designs to support and enhance your work. It may be helpful to include
set diagrams etc.

EVALUATION is crucial in this work. Evaluation means ‘weighing-up’ what went well and what could have
been improved. It is vital that you suggest how your work could have been improved upon and how/why your
work was successful.

KEY PHRASES TO BE AWARE OF IN HITTING TOP BAND:

Personal reflection – how did YOU feel?

Analysis of personal contribution – what did YOU do?
Knowledge and understanding – what do YOU know about Frantic Assembly?
Evaluation – weigh up what worked well and what you could have improved
How impact is created – how did you craft the performance to create an effect for your audience?
Work and methodologies – what do you know about Frantic’s existing performance work (mention Lovesong, Curious
Incident, footage on youtube, other Frantic performances you have researched, productions you have seen in a
physical style, Frantic’s Emanuel Residency (and the one on youtube). Methodology is both in rehearsal and in
performance.
Sophisticated depth of research – you will need to mention, across your essay, a minimum of ten pieces of research
your group used to create your ideas – this should be varied (e.g. it cannot all be internet-based).
The key extract – your work has to be led by the stimulus extract – you should refer to it as much as possible, using
quoted lines/names of characters etc.
Context – you must show that your performance was devised for 2017 – how are the themes relevant? How has the
context of the extract influenced your work?
Remember that you are being marked on three different criteria – each one must be covered clearly to gain
the maximum marks:
It is vital that your understanding of the ‘Frantic Assembly’ style and methodology matches the exam board’s
expectations. The board state that this can be summed up with the following quotation:
Theatre is physical and grows out of the development of limitations. An idea leads to a text that leads to a space that
leads to a movement. Limitations create freedoms and breed creativity. Performers thrive when their imaginative and
creative input is shaped by an outside eye. Performance must be a product of experimentation between text, movement
and space. Movement finds meaning in context.
The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (S. Graham and S. Hoggett)

Elements of the Frantic Assembly style which you may wish to identify in your essay are:

Rehearsal Methodology:
 The importance of TRUST to create an ensemble
 The use of strenuous physical warm-ups to create energy and ensemble
 The use of a constant rehearsal soundtrack
 The idea that work should be watched from a number of angles as it is created to find interesting perspectives
 The notion that several people, from designers and performers to directors, should have creative input in the work
created
 The use of Building Blocks to create Movement Strings, including:
 Round-by-through
 Chair Duets
 Hymn Hands/On Blindness Hands
 Select Delete
 Villette Floor
 Push/Pull
 Leading Hands
 Picking Fluff/Oose
 Creating movement through the use of defined limitations for each rehearsal task
 Movement before context in rehearsal

Production Style:
 The use of physical theatre and physical language over words (or combined with words)
 Text/speech should not be altered by movement – the words should be delivered believably and not stilted by the
inclusion of movement
 Centred around contemporary themes – the way we live now
 Direct address or inclusion of the audience
 Use of monologues
 Episodic structure – lots of short scenes using building blocks
 Text-based techniques including:
 First-Person Instruction
 Personal monologue (the actor speaks as his/herself)
 Free-writing
 Questionnaire-generated verbatim
 Physicalizing the sub-text
 Performing lists/definitions

Design:
 Lighting highlights set/furniture and props used in the performance
 Lighting is often non-naturalistic – use of floods in particular
 Often use colour
 Often use torches and mobile lighting such as lamps on hanging wires
 Frequent use of projection
 Often use music as a starting point to devise from, so that the music is repeatedly played whilst creating the
piece, to stimulate ideas
 Use of a continual soundtrack in productions, so that any silences are highly deliberate
 Use of contemporary music – they have their own mixes created regularly
 Use of live amplification of sound through microphones (often hanging from the ceiling)
 Sound design happens early in the process and directly feeds into acting and movement
 Use of live music such as live vocals or instrumentation
 Costume not a priority – clothes to be practical
Divide your work into six sub-sections:
IMPORTANT: Research and your knowledge of Frantic Assembly must be embedded with evaluation in EVERY
SINGLE SECTION of your essay. It must be thoroughly clear that you used research and knowledge to generate
and develop all ideas.

1. Outline your initial response to the key extract and practitioner and track how it
developed throughout the devising process.

This question focuses on your initial thoughts and research into the extract you chose AND your initial ideas
about the methodologies of FRANTIC ASSEMBLY. As well as this, you must give at least two examples of how
these views developed during the rehearsals.

 Use 150 words to briefly summarise the extract you chose and what appealed to you – what were
your first thoughts – what did you notice about the style, form, structure and themes or characters
in the extract and why did you think they would lead to interesting devising ideas? How did you, as a
group, feedback and share your initial ideas? How did you finalise the ideas you would work on?

EXAMPLE:
When first given our chosen extract from Medea, I immediately saw its theatrical potential. The key themes of murder and motherhood
were two I was excited to explore, as the way in which Euripides writes poses important moral/ethical questions, particularly
concerning the patriarchal Grecian society. Furthermore, two features were particularly surprising to me: one being that, in an age
when all actors were male, a play would be written revolving solely around a woman (and with such emphasis on the
patriarchy), and that Greek audiences preferred the action to be offstage. While the world today is driven by media, including
games of warfare and news coverage of extreme violence, being able to bring the deaths of the Princess and Medea's children
onstage was exciting.

 Use 50 words to refer to one way in which your extract links to the WHOLE TEXT. What is different
about it? What newness does it bring to the text? Is it interesting in terms of style or content
compared to the rest of the play? This section should make a point about the CONTEXT of the play
(e.g. looking at why it was a ‘product of its time’ and If there are any differences in 2017. Think about
social, cultural and socio-political themes in the full text. What do you think the message or moral of
the play was intended to be?

EXAMPLE:
The extract is perfect for invoking catharsis; it outlines the key question in Medea - is Medea a monster or a victim? The extract comes
at the pinnacle: Medea kills those she feels hinder her, and is ultimately rewarded by the Gods. Earlier sections of the play establish
her as a hopeless woman ceaselessly attempting to overthrow the certain male power controlling her, but here we see her
breakthrough, as she gains some form of recognition and power within her society.

 Use 150 words to discuss your initial thoughts about FRANTIC ASSEMBLY gained during our
workshops. You should give a BRIEF factual introduction to the company and their style, but then
move on to your own thoughts about their ideas, gained through practical exploration. Were there
any building blocks you were intrigued by? Why do you think physical theatre is so powerful? Which
elements of their rehearsal methodology and ideology appeal to you and did you feel you could make
use of these in the devising process?

EXAMPLE:
In our introductory workshops I was excited to learn the fundamental facet of Frantic’s ideology which centres around
the idea that movement can both precede and generate context. This was a new way of devising for me as previous
devising work has been character-led. However, as we rehearsed we realised that this idea could generate powerful
physical sequences which could then be adapted to suit our message. I was also intrigued by the notion that text could
be personal and generated from the self. At first in our exploration it felt strange to use questionnaire responses and
personal anecdotes to create meaning, but as we rehearsed I noted the power of directly addressing the audience in
the first-person, which created rapport and intimacy, allowing them to empathise.

 Use 150 words to offer AT LEAST TWO, but preferably three examples of how your views on the
extract and/or Frantic Assembly’s methods/ideology altered throughout the devising process, based
on a concrete example of something which happened. The key here is to express how you have
LEARNT and DEVELOPED through the process.
EXAMPLES:
At first I was wary that we would lose a lot of our devising time if we started each lesson with a warm-up. Scott Graham
states that highly strenuous physical warm-ups are vital in establishing ensemble-focus and energy. During the process
I have learnt that our rehearsals were indeed more productive when started with an intense energy and our best work
seemed to be generated after our most exciting warm-ups.

In our introductory workshops we briefly investigated the notion that the music used in the rehearsal space would
influence the performance work developed. I had not previously considered how vital aural choices were in devising
physical theatre, but it was evident that when we found the right track to accompany our ideas, we found it easier to
generate material. An example is the use of ‘Run Boy Run’, which instantly gave us energy when devising the leaving
home scene. This led to us utilising more active building blocks in this scene.

On initial reading, the extract appeared to centre on the notion of betrayal. However, when developing our ‘lust’ scene
we analysed the choices the playwright had made in the language used and we noted that there were a number of
words relating to love. This led to interesting devising work based on research into extra-marital affairs – one way in
which love and betrayal are linked.

When reading the extract I was excited by the potential to investigate the ideas of mental illness brought out by the
character of John. I felt in our early discussions that the physical boundaries and limitations presented by Frantic’s
building blocks would be well-suited to the ideas from my research into OCD as they could create repetition. However,
I had not considered that we could also apply the idea of ‘rules’ to the use of stage space. When we incorporated this
into our falling scene it clearly gave an atmosphere of entrapment which was necessary in the scene.

The idea of trust is essential to Frantic’s ideals. Graham states that building trust between performers should be a
‘main priority’. On discussing the extract in our brainstorm sessions, we recognised that the notion of ‘trust’ was also
evident within the text. This meant that trust became a central recurring motif within our work and as our trust in
each other grew as an ensemble, we were better able to appreciate the lack of trust in the relationships we were
developing on stage.

2. Connect your research material/s to key stages in the development process and to
performance outcomes.
A useful structure to approach this area of the portfolio is:

1. Give a clear example/evidence of research

2. Detail how that research was used in rehearsal (key stage)
3. Explain how the research had an impact on the development process and performance outcomes

You should aim to discuss three/four examples using this structure within the 500 words.

 We want to see that you have researched into your theme for each scene and what you have learnt
from this research.
 We want to see that your initial research was not the only research you did, but that you researched
throughout the process.
 We want to see that you have carefully researched the work of Frantic Assembly and used this to
inspire your work.
 We want to see that your research can be directly linked to the final scenes you created.
 We want to see a variety of different research: Books, Magazines, News Articles, Play texts, Internet,
Interviews, Poems etc.
 IDEALLY – combine past productions AND your research

EXAMPLES:
A key part of my research was into Lust, starting with a mind map examining the different types of lust (lust for money,
power, fame etc.). However in terms of the deadly sins, lust regards sexual desire, and I looked at how the promotion
of sex has become a part of our culture. This led me to research its roots in the sexual revolution and exploitation of
females in the music industry today. However, our linking theme naturally led my research to the widespread use of
Tinder (including amongst people the same age as our audience). A Vanity Fair article entitled ‘Tinder and the Dawn
of the “Dating Apocalypse”’, explored this ‘hookup culture’ and how the nature of dating is changing thanks to the
app. I then used some of the interviews within the article verbatim and we applied these in rehearsal by using some
of the words to find sign language to inspire our Hymn Hands scene. The use of Third-Person Instruction was to show
how far removed dating today is from traditional romance and happy endings and to establish our impact for the
audience that the dating industry is cold, callous and commercialized.

At one point during the devising process we faced a challenging decision about the position of the audience in relation
to the action. We had planned to use an end-on staging formation but having read ‘Frantic Assemblies’ Guide To
Devising’ and researched a number of productions they have previously mounted, we established that a key part of
their style was that the movement should be interesting from a range of sight-lines. In their rules for devising, Scott
Graham states:

Have you looked at your work from anywhere other than the prime audience
location? Watch it from behind! From above, from the side! Do it now before it is too late!

In particular this was noted in their production of ‘Klub’ in 1998 which was staged in the round to allow the audience
to look down on the action. We experimented with several different staging options but decided that performing in-
the-round would give us the focus of ensuring we had considered the movement was engaging from all angles. This is
particularly effective in our ‘Bridge’ scene as each part of the audience sees the scene from a different character’s
perspective, seeing the other roles’ movement only as a back-drop and suggesting that the very nature of our theme
of individuality is about prioritizing the self.

As a group we watched ‘Lovesong’ by Abi Morgan, which was produced by Frantic Assembly in 2015. We were engaged
by a scene where a bed was used to capture the relationship between a couple at two stages of their marriage,
simultaneously (so that two sequences were performed at once). The idea of using one piece of furniture, but for
different storylines or relationships was echoed in the 2016 Frantic Ignition project, which also used a single bed frame
as a physical ‘base’ for movement sequences. In rehearsals we had been experimenting with ways to convey the
differences and similarities between familial relationships and this had been enhanced by my reading of ‘Families:
Making and Breaking’ by Susan Parker, in which the inherent rivalry and love found within families is explored. When
combining these two pieces of research, we decided to use a sofa in a similar way – so that both relationships would
be suggested through simultaneous chair duets which would overlap. At certain points both the parents and the
siblings are in unison, whilst at others the sequences deliberately juxtapose to convey the rivalry that is commonly
found between siblings and to enhance the idea that there is also rivalry between the parents in vying for their
children’s attention.

We found it challenging to represent envy in the final scene involving a therapy session where two of us both play the
depressive girl being treated. To overcome this, we looked at manuscripts for questions that therapists ask. I focused
on research relevant to my character and I initially started with looking up on the NHS website what the symptoms of
depression were; this included lack of energy, persistent sadness, anger and irritability. I was fascinated by the idea
that someone could be angry when having depression as it is normally associated with someone who is quiet and
monotone. I read another article written by Jerry Kennard who said that, ‘By denying something too uncomfortable
we protect ourselves from its potential impact’. This research helped me to understand that someone may feel in very
opposite ways to their mental illness and led me to come up with the idea of a therapy session involving two people
playing each emotion. I felt that we effectively conveyed these emotions through the use of Frantic’s ‘Dead Weight’
building block which is used as a representation of old age I ‘Lovesong’, as Julie’s character performed each movement
aggressively as she controlled Phillipa’s character, who was totally still and only moved when manipulated.

Throughout the process we had clearly delineated between movement sequences and moments of speech. This led to
a structure which was fairly formulaic and potentially uninteresting, but we only recognised this in the later stages of
devising as we began to piece our work together. In order to tackle this, we needed to research ways to clearly
link/combine movement with dialogue. I looked into Frantic’s views on this, where they state:

DON’T allow language to become strange when combined with movement. If you close your eyes and li
sten to a scene where you have combined language and
physicality and the language has strange rhythms and inflections you have just committed a grave sin
. Start again.

This meant that it was vital that we ensured that vocal delivery did not become stilted when movement was
added. We looked at an extract from ‘Things I Know To Be True’, where a monologue was delivered with emotion
and naturalism by an actor who was being physically manipulated, lifted and transported throughout. This
became inspiration for Susie’s monologue, which was successful in sustaining an emotional connectin with the
audience, through first-person instruction, whilst the rest of us were moving around and ‘through’ her in our
round-by-through movement string.
 3. Evaluate how your chosen role/s emerged and developed from initial ideas through to
the final performance.

This question focuses on the rehearsal work you undertook as a group for each part of your performance and
any individual exploration you did for your own role.
 We want to see that you have used rehearsal techniques – improvising then polishing your scenes.
 We want to see evidence that you have researched your roles in the piece and that you have worked
to develop and deepen your character – this must include a RANGE of different types of research
 We want to see explanations of ways you worked on your roles such as hot-seating, thought-
tracking, audience feedback, directing others etc.
 We want to see examples for each and every role that you played but you can offer more detail for
your MAIN roles
 This is the one part of the essay where you are likely to use ‘I’, not ‘we’ – it should be a personal
reflection on how you personally created, established and developed your own role AND/OR physical
theatre skills as a performer, through research and rehearsal.
 This section must be EVALUATIVE – how successful was the role you created in the final
performance? How could it have been done better/differently?

You should aim to create three/four paragraphs making different points about your role(s). You could break this up
into physical/vocal points. For each paragraph, the following structure could be useful:
1) What was your intention in creating your role?
2) How did your initial character ideas come about?
3) How did you then develop your ideas through research?
4) How did you then develop this further through a rehearsal exercise AND/OR at a key moment in the devising
process
5) How did the research AND/OR rehearsal therefore lead to the final choices for your role (using subject
terminology to discuss HOW you showed your role)
6) Was this successful in conveying the character to the audience and creating impact?

EXAMPLES:
For my role during the ‘envy’ scene under the stairs, we both used hot seating in order to better our understanding of
our own characters, and of each other’s. Although this was not my main role, I felt it was important to fully understand
my character in order to convey the message of the scene. The scene required heavy contrasting between my character
and X’s, yet some similarities, as we were both playing the same person yet twenty years apart. In order to understand
how time had affected the character, X and I were both hot-seated in character, and asked the same questions, but
gave varying responses. In order to show that time had changed the person, X and I both spoke giving opposing
answers, and I used my voice in order to portray a more mature character, while X used a childish tone in order to
present her young age.

I developed my role of the child in our step parent scene by researching how a young child can feel and react when
their parent re-marries. Heathlychildren.org very useful stated that ‘Children who have built a particularly close
relationship with their own parent during a period of single parenthood must now learn to share that parent’ and that
the child ‘may show signs of increased attachment to the parent who is getting married. For instance, she might not
want to leave the parent's side in certain situations or may express jealousy. This helped me use the appropriate body
language as the scene involved no speaking. I made sure to show my ‘jealously’ towards Judy clearly through frowning
and staring at her. I also clung to Judy at the beginning. This was particularly effective in the moment when Joe and
Judy’s hands are connected and I broke this to both physically and symbolically demonstrated my want for separation.
I then followed this by hugging Judy tightly.

A key skill for portraying my role in the street scene was precise gestural movement. This was vital as we needed to
convey to the audience that my character was obsessive and this would not be achieved if my movement was loose.
To develop this I researched obsessive rituals, by watching videos of scientists in laboratories as they undertake precise
experiments where the same action must be performed repeatedly in identical ways. To further this research, in one
rehearsal I conducted an exercise whereby I had to teach the rest of the group my movement string, only by precisely
describing each action, which in turn helped me to identify every element of the sequence. In the final performance I
was pleased with the way in which I performed the Hymn Hands with total clarity and extension of every precise action.
However, with hindsight it may have added to my portrayal of the role if I had also included precise facial expressions
with each action as one audience member stated that “It wasn’t fully clear whether Rosie’s character was happy about
having to perform the cleaning ritual.” A disconcerted facial expression, gradually moving to anger may have
portrayed my character’s feeling better.

The initial ideas for my role in the hotel scene were established after our brainstorm on power. We identified that
power was often held by those who have financial security and I took this further by researching a questionnaire
carried out by NatWest which states that “87% of people with an income of over £75k consider themselves happy,
compared to only 45% who earn less than £75k”. However, one challenge I faced was sustaining my inherent happiness
whilst applying physical theatre in the round-by-through style. I felt that I was often more focused on the choreography
than on the portrayal of my role. To tackle this, my group hot-seated me in a rehearsal, asking me to list why my
character had reason to be happy. They then created a circle around John and me as we rehearsed our round-by-
through string and called out the list on a loop. I found this helped me to move with exhilaration and to exaggerate
my facial expression, with eyes wide and a broad smile. I found that sustaining energy in each movement was the key
to the success of this scene and I was pleased with the eventual outcome, with one audience member stating “The
scene in the hotel was really upbeat.”

In the days leading up to our final performance I became concerned that the vocal delivery of my monologue did not
effectively convey my character’s sadness. This was vital because our intention was for the audience to recognise the
juxtaposition between my sadness and Jolie’s happiness. Consequently I completed further research into the role,
reading verbatim accounts of how it feels to be homeless. I highlighted key lines from these responses and read these
immediately before performing the monologue in a dress rehearsal. I found that this helped me to reach a slower
paced, more monotonous delivery, with pauses interjected to convey my distress. When performing in the final piece,
I tried to have these words in mind before presenting my monologue and I was able to engage emotionally, even
finding that when coupled with the adrenalin of the performance, I cried in role.

4. Analyse how your contribution was influenced by the selected theatre makers, and the
impact live theatre has had on your work
This question focuses on the ways in which your work has been influenced by Frantic Assembly AND by
productions you have seen (these do not have to be productions by Frantic Assembly).
 We want to see how the work of Frantic Assembly, both in rehearsal and performance style, has
influenced you (both personally and as a group)
 We want to see how you have researched Frantic Assembly and how this research (into their past
productions etc.) has impacted on your own work
 We want to see how you have taken ideas from live productions you have seen, or any other plays
you have studied (think about Equus, Lysistrata, The Kite Runner, your GCSE text or the GCSE text of
other groups, previous A Level productions, school plays, plays seen outside of school etc.)
 You can also take influence from styles of live theatre and discuss them in broader terms (e.g.
Episodic or site-specific theatre)
 You should talk about the influences in terms of intentions for the audience experience AND in
terms of the form, structure, content of the scenes
 We want to see influences for every individual part of the piece
 We want to see your concrete knowledge of drama e.g. “Frantic Assembly thought this…so we did
this…to try to achieve this…”
 Key words are INTENTION/AIM – this must be a PERSONAL response – what did YOU do?

EXAMPLE:

You should aim to create three/four paragraphs making different points on the different influences on your work.
1. Write two paragraphs on the influence of Frantic Assembly – ideally one on their rehearsal methodology and
one on their production/design style. Use page 3 of this document to ensure you are clear about what Frantic
Assembly believe, ideally supporting this with quotations.
2. Write two paragraphs on the influence of live theatre. Ideally one paragraph should be live theatre created
by Frantic Assembly (Lovesong, or, if you saw them, Curious incident/Things I know to Be True)

EXAMPLES FOR INFLUENCE OF FRANTIC ASSEMBLY:

We were influenced by the way Frantic Assembly use movement above language in order to convey a message.
Steven Hoggett staes that:

An audience reads the complexity of the situation through the movement of the performer, whether that is
a performer turning in their sleep or somersaulting across the stage. Audiences are incredibly adept at
reading physicality.

We were particularly inspired by this, discovering how we could create a piece without forcing a meaning onto our
movements. This was easier when we gave ourselves physical limitations which gave the movement purpose for its
own sake. Frantic state that:

We are firm believers that limitations can create freedom and spark the imagination.

Consequently, we began devising this section by allowing our bodies to dictate our movements, and then later adjusted
what we had done, keeping our focus on the movements rather than the context. We used this idea in our ‘lust’ scene
during the Character Assignment section. Our intention was to portray the ways in which ‘lust’ differs between men
and women, and how ‘lust’ towards men is becoming more acceptable. Using Round-By-Through, X and I abused X’s
personal space. We placed the audience in a circle around us, meaning that they all saw a different angle of the
routine. We focused on the idea of the ‘three worlds’, making sure to convey our physical connection with the audience.
We emphasised the ‘lust’ by keeping constant eye contact, creating a sinister atmosphere in order to portray the way
in which corporations mould and corrupt people in order to fit a ‘norm’ or in order to become what they want. The use
of Frantic Assembly techniques here was particularly powerful, as we had just ‘moulded’ our own audience, and the
change from naturalistic theatre into physical theatre, along with the music change, showed the physical manipulation
in a different way.

I was particularly intrigued by Frantic Assembly’s outlines for how Trust could be developed within the rehearsal space.
One of the key elements of this is identified as “Having a plan, but being prepared to throw it away.” Initially in early
rehearsals I found this challenging because I like to have a firm idea of where a process is heading. However, as the
process developed I found that some of my best work came by chance and was unexpected. An example of this is the
inclusion of a ‘Select/Delete’ string within my monologue. Initially I had planned to share my monologue with the
group, whilst filming it, and receive feedback on my vocal delivery, but as I was doing so another group was rehearsing
in the same room. When I watched the footage back, I liked the effect of the movement occurring in the background
as I spoke and therefore we worked on developing a sequence which could accompany my delivery. This coincided
with our aim for this scene of distracting the audience and showing them how easily social media can distract from
daily life. By ‘throwing away’ my initial plan, the scene was improved and conveyed a stronger message as the
audience were unsure where to place their focus as I delivered the monologue.

The Frantic Assembly style is one which uses physical theatre to explore themes in a non-naturalistic style, before
adding words. We used the company’s techniques of ‘Picking Oose’ to help create the labels sequence, as well as using
their practice of free-writing, where our group were asked questions about parties and wrote answers, from these
answers we created the textual base of our Party and Classroom scenes; in the Party scene, we were asked ‘what is
your worst possible party scenario?’ and ‘describe your perfect party’. In the Classroom scene, we asked ourselves to
‘describe a moment when a teacher damaged your confidence’. This technique made our scenes more relatable to our
audience, as our lines were genuine beliefs and experiences, and were therefore like those of our audience. We decided
to limit the words in this scene, so that we could focus on the physical aspect; we felt that this was important so that
we could highlight our message, by having all the actors moving in unison, and only breaking out to share their bad
experiences, we felt we were abstractly demonstrating the pressure in society to conform.

We initially chose a free writing technique to develop our party scene, often used by the company, with each of us
writing about ‘the perfect social event’ and ‘the most awkward social event’. We found from previous experimentation
it was hard to recreate a naturalistic party in the way in which our audience would perceive as either awkward or
euphoric. Consequently, we explored the concept of an abstract sequence, which allowed us to gear the scene more
towards an issue that we could highlight with distorted movements. ‘Frantic Assembly’ place equal emphasis on
movement, music, text and design within their work, using a technique whereby movements are generated from words
focused on the essence of a scene – in our case ‘drink’ and ‘move’. We constructed a repeated routine using their
techniques which added to the disconcerting and unnerving atmosphere we wanted to create for the scene as the
movements were an abstract take ‘normal’ actions and thus when we manipulated them to appear robotic, aiding the
unsettling ambience we wanted to create along with the lighting and sound.

As there were so many ideas from our initial research and given that the text focuses on the nature of the seven deadly
sins, we naturally moved towards an episodic structure, with several non-linear and unrelated scenes. We planned to
evoke a range of responses from our audience by juxtaposing scenes and by mixing comical mini-plots with more
serious scenes. This naturally suits the style of Frantic Assembly, as many of their performances, particularly in the
early years of their work, intersposed monologues with movement sequences or longer scenes, often using recurring
motif. In particular we chose to immediately follow the tense and morbid atmosphere for the lust scene with a more
upbeat, lighter piece on gluttony, in order that both mini-plots became more impactful due to the juxtaposition of
performance style, message and meaning. This meant that the audience saw in rapid succession the scale of sin and
how each sin, when taken to the extreme, is a crime.

EXAMPLES FOR INFLUENCE OF LIVE THEATRE:

Our piece was also influenced by Verbatim theatre practices, particularly the work of Alecky Blythe who uses
headphone recordings in performances. Verbatim is a technique where actors directly quote interviews on a specific
topic to create a performance around a theme. This links naturally with Frantic Assembly’s use of direct address and
self-monologue. After taking part in a brief course on verbatim theatre, I was inspired by how it conveys the reality of
what real people think and feel. In my experience of verbatim, I had only come across audio-verbatim. After
researching the National Theatre and the Hope Theatre Company, I discovered quoting texts written on the internet
also falls under the verbatim technique, like in Cease/Fire. Additionally, I learnt that it is within the style to take texts
and edit them slightly, so that transitions are smoother, this is done by directors like David Hare. This research can be
seen throughout our piece in the many extracts we have taken from the internet, but it can be seen best in the Verbatim
scene. In this scene, we have two texts which people wrote online, I adapted phrases so that there were fewer
Americanisms, and it was spoken in a more formally. Additionally, we have a section of audio-verbatim, where we
recorded an interview with our parents, using Frantic Assembly’s ideas for the use of questionnaires when devising,
where we asked them ‘what is the hardest thing about raising teens?’ and “what makes you proud of your children?”.
We used these recordings at the beginning and the end of our piece, creating the sense of a cycle and the overarching
message that no matter what issues teenagers are facing, their parents are still proud of them.

After watching Baz Productions’ site-specific version of ‘Dreamplay’ at The Vaults, I understood the impact which the
size of a performance space has on the emotional intensity of a scene. Some scenes suited large spaces as they were
more abstract, but those in small spaces felt claustrophobic: for example, the discomfort at being in a couple’s
bedroom whilst they were having an argument. We wanted to mirror this effect during the Date scene, as the more
uncomfortable the situation became the more humorous it was, so we staged it in the foyer which crammed the
audience together up against a wall. In ‘Dreamplay’ one actress also performed a monologue in a very small box
resembling a toilet cubicle, seeming extremely confined. I replicated this during my monologue, choosing to have the
four blocks around me, symbolizing a cage which I stepped into. This meant that my eventual escape to face the
billboards and ask them ‘do you know what I mean’ was more effective, as it symbolically showed an attempt to
liberate myself from the system: the inability of the other actors to answer me presented them as props, highlighting
the unaccountability of advertising in modern society.

We were influenced by “The Hotel” by Jackinabox Productions and were fascinated by their use of immersive theatre
which was initiated through the role of a very patronising receptionist, so we decided to begin our play with a secretary
of the State allowing us to use one-to-one theatre. This created a connection with the audience and gave each of the
audience members a different experience because some were welcomed enthusiastically (because they were “higher”)
and some were looked upon with distain and judged (the “lowers”). By immediately dividing the audience we hoped
to create an uneasy atmosphere that we wanted to maintain throughout our piece so that the audience could
understand the rigid hierarchy of our State. One of the scenes from “The Hotel” was an adaptation of Dr Faustus,
based on the Seven Deadly Sins. This was useful so see how a company had incorporated the sins into their piece,
which was based more on a biblical influence and how the sins closely link with each other. This overlapping of sins
can be seen in our Sloth scene as there were elements of Gluttony indicated by the leftover food packets. This was to
show that each sin is closely linked to one another leading to other greater sins.
After watching ‘Things I Know to Be True’, one thing which struck me was how much more I was able to focus on a
character’s thoughts and feeling, presented in a monologue, if the sub-text or implication of what they were saying
was played out concurrently. I consequently contributed the idea of us physicalizing Henry’s monologue in order to
make it more impactful. We developed this further so that we moved in slow motion which emphasised to the audience
that the thoughts in Henry’s mind were not clear or concise and was effective in conveying our aim that mental illness,
particularly depression, can cause people’s thoughts to be muddled. When coupled with the movement sequence, the
impact of the monologue was stronger and an audience member stated that “In Henry’s monologue I was able to see
why he was slurring his speech as it matched the background movement.”

5. Discuss how social, historical and cultural contexts impacted on your work
This question asks you to show an awareness of the current context of your piece and the ways in which this
may have affected your audience when they watched your piece. You should also compare this with the
context of the play from which your stimulus extract was taken.
 We want to see how the themes you explored in your work are viewed in contemporary society –
indeed what were your views before starting this piece?
 We want to see that you understand the relevance of the meaning of your piece in our British 2017
lives – are they relevant? Do people know them? How did you MAKE them relevant as you moved
into the message/meaning for your piece
 We want to see how you made each part of your performance relevant in creating meaning for a
contemporary audience – did you make any decisions specifically to refer to an era or a cultural
reference?
 We want to see what messages you were trying to convey in your piece and why? How did you
make these meanings clear to your 2017 audience?
 We want to know that you have understood any political context for your scenes and also that you
understand what political point you were trying to make
 We want to see that you have considered cultural trends in your work – are there any similar
programmes, plays, films etc. focusing on your themes or issues?

Firstly begin with a very brief summary of the socio-political/cultural context of the play your extract is taken from.
Then outline if/how views on your explored themes may be different since the play was written.

EXAMPLES:

The play ‘Brief Encounter’ was initially conceived in an era where marriage was very much for life and it was socially
unacceptable to divorce. My research tells me that in 2017, one in three marriages ends with divorce and one in five
marriages end due to infidelity. With the rise of programmes like ‘Cheaters Caught on Camera’ and ‘Married by Mum
and Dad’, it is clear that in 2017, the sanctity of marriage is not as severe as it was when our stimulus text was written.
This therefore became a central message we were keen to convey, and I feel we most successfully achieved this in the
first scene, where we voiced lists of reasons given on divorce papers in 2017.

Our stimulus text was written in 2002 and focuses on the disillusionment of the central protagonist, Mark, with his
mundane daily life on benefits. In 2002, a Labour government was in power in the UK and the Welfare State was well
supported, both socially and financially, yet still Mark was upset with his life. Our aim was to reflect that life on benefits
has relevance to our contemporary audience. I believe that the issue is even more prominent now, under Conservative
governance and austerity, where benefits, particularly for the young, are being cut (e.g. EMGs). I think the scene which
most prominently delivered this concerning message was the Pitch scene, which showed the aimlessness of teenage
life, through a chair duet, staged on the fence of the pitch.

You should then aim to create three short paragraphs making different points about social, political or cultural
influences on your work. ONE OF THESE must include reference to your stimulus text’s context.

EXAMPLES:
To make our piece relevant to our audience of teenagers we looked for contemporary examples they might have seen
in the news. Studying the very real case of Amanda Todd’s suicide following a cyber harassment alerted me to the
cruelty people are able to inflict when they are anonymous, and how girls as young as our audience members are
targeted. A study by the Pew Research Center stated that out of all the internet users surveyed, 19% admitted to
witnessing online sexual harassment. showing how Amanda’s tragedy is just one out of that statistic. In a wider
context, we wanted to show our audience how big corporations are all behind these apps and how they are able to
manipulate us. Ideas like ‘sex sells’ highlight how our propensity to sinful behaviour is being encouraged in order to
make money. I feel this was perhaps the least understood message as it is less obviously relevant to the lives of teens
my age.

To make our piece relevant to an audience of teenagers in 2017, we looked at president-elect Donald Trump’s
comments about women which were revealed during his campaign. We focussed specifically on those concerning
workplace sexual harassment, which we assimilated into the interview scene to make the girls in the audience realize
how their careers will be negatively affected as a result of their gender. We decided to have Hermione wear the letters
‘CV’ on her breasts, echoing Trump’s claims that his female rival Hillary Clinton was unfit to serve as president because
of the fact that she was sexually unattractive; an extremely topical political message, as our performance was only 3
weeks after his election. By initially portraying the scene as old fashioned before directly quoting Trump we wanted to
parody the absurdity of a situation in which such an outdated candidate has been elected.

I was shocked to find out that ‘1 in 10 children between the ages of 5 and 10 have a diagnosable mental health
disorder’. Nearly 80,000 young people suffer from severe depression in the UK and over the last ten years the number
of young people admitted to hospital after self-harm has ‘increased by 68%’ making it incredibly relevant to our
audience. During our Kate scene we tackled this unspoken epidemic of teenage mental illness to raise awareness;
these high statistics suggest it would also be a representation of what the teens in the audience may have personally
experienced. ‘Find Me’ was written in 1977, when the treatment of those with mental illnesses was very different and
often involved institutionalisation and when mental illness was less widely known about. Nowadays we are more
aware, with recent campaigns such as ‘Minds Together’, so our contemporary audience may view our central
characters illness with more sympathy than the 1977 audience could have viewed Verity. Therefore we made it one
intention of our piece to convey that the illness was not Chris’ fault and it was his poor treatment, similar to that which
Verity receives at the hands of the NHS, which was perpetuating his illness.

In a secular society people don’t feel their actions are being judged outside of society and the law, this means that if
their actions only affect themselves they aren’t harmful. However our Sloth/Gluttony, Lust and Envy scenes all aimed
to dispel this belief. For example, despite the fact that binge eating and not leaving the house to meet friends
seemingly only affects the individual, the availability of delivered food and online chats which make us feel as if we
are being social is breeding a culture of laziness and emotional distance. The use of apps such as Tinder means we
value people less and less as anything other than a sexual partner as we base our opinions of new people on a profile
picture. A study recorded that in February there was between 100 - 50 million people on this app alone. Furthermore
the emphasis placed on today’s youth to look a certain way has been magnified by the widespread use of social media.
The ability to alter and create an unrealistic profile creates an impossible ideal for teens to live up to resulting in
widespread dissatisfaction. More and more young people are basing their self worth on the validation they get from
a number of likes on a picture, over 1 million ‘selfies’ are taken a day, this is the same self obsession from classic tales
such as that of Narcissus but thanks to the encouragement of social media it is a phenomenon. When looking at the
context of our stimulus extract from ‘The Ash Girl’, we can see that the Step-sisters’ obsession with being “a the right
parties” and “looking the right way” supports this, though the play was written well before social media’s expansion
into our daily lives.

6. Evaluate the creative choices you made and whether or not they were successful in
performance.
This question asks you to evaluate your final performance in terms of how successful it was in conveying
meaning to an audience.
 We want to see that you have utilised audience feedback, but that you are also giving your own
personal evaluation of the performance
 We want to see how you faced any challenges in the lead-up to the final performance and what you
thought was successful
 We want to know if the audience responded as you hoped they would for each scene
 We want to know if there were any mistakes and how you overcame them
 We want to know how you performed in your own roles and how you felt the rest of your group
performed
 We want to know how you felt after the performance
 We want to know your thoughts, opinions and feelings, NOT what happened – do not describe,
EVALUATE
 How would you improve things, in hindsight?
 YOU MUST QUOTE DIRECTLY FROM THE AUDIENCE RESPONSES.
 You might justify your ideas by using Frantic Assembly’s ideals.
 1) Start by identifying the clear aim for your performance. What was your primary intention and was it achieved?
Did this piece of theatre aim to shock, distance, educate, confuse or amuse the audience? Did it encourage an
emotional or immersive response? How did you try to create the reaction you were after? Were you successful?

EXAMPLES:
Our primary aim in devising the performance to convey the central message that Envy is prevalent in the modern
society. Although, we had some constructive criticism about how clearly our aims were portrayed I felt like all of the
audience understood our overall theme of how envy effects modern society. Someone said our aim was: ‘everyone is
jealous and it leads to hatred’, ‘that jealousy and envy are controlling and can hinder yourself and your experiences’
and ‘that people are jealous of others and sometimes as a result people act on this jealousy, sometimes in a brutal
way’. I think we were successful in our overall aim as most people understood the severity of some of the consequences
of envy. I think that the combination of all of our scenes created an impactful piece.

We decided to focus our piece around entertaining the audience rather than having a clear, thought-provoking
message after every scene, as a circus is made for the audience’s enjoyment. Therefore it wasn’t necessary for the
audience to leave the ‘Gluttony’ scene with a moral impression, or to wholly understand the reasoning behind our idea
as it was the main “show” of Woodhill Circus and there to entertain. I feel we achieved this aim as the piece evoked
laughter, as well as intrigue from our audience.

Our primary aim was to convey the Seven Deadly sins through an abstract, fantasy-like and surreal setting, yet still
show how the sins are relevant to humans in everyday life, allowing our audience to identify and relate to each sin
that we presented. It was also important to us that the sins were displayed through an illusion, - which was the
circus – and as a result had a stronger moral message when the sins were identified by our audience. Although this
task was very challenging at times, we found that the scenes we based our own personal experiences on were the
most successful in regards to having a large impact on our audience, causing them to reflect on their own flaws and
weaknesses.

2) Move on to discuss your choices for the over-arching structure and style of the piece. Why did you make these
decisions and were they successful? Would you alter anything with hindsight?

EXAMPLES:
We decided that the structure for the piece would be episodic and non-linear, in keeping with some of Frantic
Assembly’s earlier works such as ‘Klub’ and ‘Skin’, as we wanted the scenes to each be individually impactful and mean
something different. We felt that this meant that the audience would be able to concentrate exactly on what the
message of each scene was, rather than trying to follow a linear plot. We also had a semi-cyclical performance; we
begin the performance by presenting the audience with me holding a mirror and then we ended the piece by also
holding mirrors in front of them. We did this because we wanted the mirrors to symbolise reflection and inspire the
audience to reflect on their experience which I think was effective.

As a group we decided that our piece would benefit the most if its scenes were connected in some way. We were
inspired to produce a piece consisting of different rooms but within a fairly small proxemics so that pace was not
dropped when moving between locations. Therefore we decided that the best way to link our scenes in an efficient
way was to base our scenes in a similar area rather than in disjointed rooms throughout the school. We agreed this
would be the drama studio, theatre, foyer and the various corridors joining them, allowing us to make the most of the
technical elements which was not possible if performed in the rest of the school. The use of lighting made our intended
messages defined and clearer, as the Wrath scene was physical theatre with no dialogue, thus the red lighting aided
the portrayal of our message as red is associated with outrage, fury and violence. However there were times when as
a group, we would get too caught up in the over-riding circus theme, which would then restrict our ability to generate
imaginative ideas and create pieces of drama using various performance styles.

3) Discuss one key scene that you were involved in. Why was it presented in the way it was? Think carefully about
any/all of the following and evaluate whether they were used successfully to achieve your intention for the
scene. Quote from your audience feedback when evaluating if you were successful.
 4) Discuss one key decision which you helped to make when creating a key scene (a different scene from the one
discussed above). Why was the decision made and did it result in a successful outcome. This might cover:
 the overall performance style of the devised performance
 acting style
 design ideas and realisation
 theatrical conventions and devices
 use of performance space, staging and audience configuration
 practitioner/theatre maker influence
 relationship between actor and audience.

The key here is to identify firstly your INTENTION, then how this was achieved, then evaluate its success, using the
audience feedback AND your own thoughts.

EXAMPLES:
In order to make a specific comment about gluttony in this scene, we used a news article published by the BBC in
relation to a world famine, and created cones, and gave these cones to the audience filled with food. As the audience
sat eating from these cones, the sequence of TV clips all made a mockery of food, and showed the way in which food
is sexualised in the media. We used this scene to portray ‘sloth’ as we had found our research prompted a lot of
questions about why people in the world don’t react to the issues around them, even though they are aware of them.
One audience member commented on how they felt the scene was the most obviously portrayed sin, and “how the
west eat for the wrong reasons”, with another commenting that “the clearly contrasting hunger and greed [made] us
feel sick”.

After discarding the Greed script due to its lack of significance and meaning, we decided that Greed fitted well with
Envy and that they are similar in many respects, for example one’s jealousy of another’s belongings can lead to them
actively taking these objects out of desire, rather than necessity. When brainstorming which scenes would have the
most effect in which space and order, we decided that Envy should be embedded between sins and at the heart of our
piece, as when reading an article on ‘Psychology today’ about intense emotions, I learnt that envy is ‘The Emotion
Kept Secret’. After establishing that Envy is associated with secrets and hidden truths we explored appropriate uses of
space, and found that to enhance our idea of envy as a ‘secret’, it should be performed under the theatre stairs as it is
an intimate, implicit space hidden away from an audience’s initial view. This decision of space proved to have a
successful impact on our audience, ‘due to the compressed set’ which enhanced our intended message of envy to be
portrayed.

The most effective scene in portraying our message was in our interview scenes. In one of our questionnaire’s someone
said, ‘I felt the most impactful scene was the interview scene because the juxtaposition between the two classes was
very effective and made me feel more empathy’. This was overfull our most ‘popular’ scene as people recognised the
message most clearly. We wanted the audience to feel a combination of guilt and empathy but also to reflect on their
attitude towards differences with state schools and how easy private school can be. The idea of reflection is what we
wanted them to walk away with, tying in to our reoccurring motif of mirrors. I felt our juxtaposition was enhanced by
the accents used, Felicity had an exaggerated stereotypical upper class accent, using Received Pronunciation, whereas
Yasmin had a typical cockney accent to create a clear aural difference and enhance the difference. I also had a
stereotypical voice of disdainful authority to show that I felt that Felicity was a better candidate as we were on the
same ‘level’.

You should aim to include a MINIMUM of eight quotations within your essay.

QUOTES YOU MIGHT USE:

 A successful production for us will be one where it is hard to distinguish which came first between, say, words
and movement or movement and music.
 We enjoy the intensity of the six week rehearsals and freely admit to being unable to sustain the interest or
concentration levels if our rehearsals stretched on for much longer.
 We use contemporary music because this is what tends to inspire us. We do not use it exclusively but we
are massive music fans and find that a lot of our ideas come from music.
 The word contemporary gets used a lot in reference to our company. This is surely because we make work
that reflects topics we are currently talking about, and are of interest to us. As we are inspired by the people
 and the world around us it is no surprise that the work is contemporary and made by contemporary means -
the music we are listening to, the designers who are exciting us, etc.
 Frantic Assembly’s work is often labelled ‘physical theatre’ and is often highly energetic but I believe it is
merely story telling through physical nuance. This physicality can be brutally explosive or minutely observed.
Each can have a dynamic and complex effect on an audience.
 We are firm believers that limitations can create freedom and spark the imagination. We are certainly not
for the suffering of the artist. We believe that one of the worst things we can do is enter a rehearsal room
empty handed. We would find a blank page terrifying and debilitating. Asking performers to improvise in this
void can be counter productive too.
 This Research and Development can be physically led, or it could be about developing story and text. We
might explore character work either textually or physically but all work will be within a clearly defined
parameters. We would have talked about our aims and created techniques to explore them, partly wanting
to be proved successful and partly wanting to be surprised by the outcome.
 We cannot understand the type of rehearsal where the music only arrives in the tech week. It is integral to
how we understand and communicate our theatre.
 Generally we want to work with highly creative practitioners in a collaborative process. This means we want
people for the skills they offer but also want them to be inspired by and comment on other areas of creativity.
We want lighting designers to engage with the choreography, designers to engage with the music and all of
this to happen as early as possible.
 Here was our manifesto; the direct address, here and now, warts and all style. It felt good.
 This positive thinking is often articulated within the rehearsal room with the motto ‘always forward, never
backwards.’
 Steven and I are both fascinated by the little, private and flawed lives of ordinary people. The telling of these
stories is what affects me.
 I think one of the things that motivate me to explore a physical kind of theatre is my fascination with the
poignancy of the unsaid (although I can’t believe I just said that!) I mean when theatre gets the balance
right, when it presents interesting people in interesting situations an audience will always want to know
more. It is this desire to know more that brings an audience forward in their seats and to really engage with
the lives in front of them. The physical exploration of these moments really thrill me. When an audience
reads the complexity of the situation through the movement of the performer, whether that is a performer
turning in their sleep or somersaulting across the stage. Audiences are incredibly adept at reading
physicality.
 Once in the rehearsal room we usually create work by giving the performers clearly defined tasks. This
liberates the performer from worrying about the bigger picture and allows them to concentrate on bringing
the most out of the task they have been set.
 Frantic Assembly create thrilling, energetic and uncompromising work…that reflects contemporary culture.
 As with film scores, we call our music a soundtrack. Frantic shows attempt to create a consistent sound and
in this way create an arc, in the same way one might create a narrative story.
 We draw our initial inspiration from events in our lives, from conversations we have been having. Things
that are on our mind.
 All of our devising is broken down into tasks. These remain as simple as they can be. They are bite-sized and
self-contained.
 A rigid sense of what theatre should be will always be the enemy of devised theatre. The ‘what might be’ is
essential.
 The practice of sharing is critical to the working dynamic. Openness is essential. We believe it sits at the heart
of our understanding and practice of devising theatre.
 Keep the end point out of sight to avoid falling into expected patterns of movement which can be too literal.
 Don’t allow language to become strange when combined with movement. If you close your eyes and listen
to a scene where you have combined language and physicality and the language has strange rhythms and
inflections, you have just committed a grave sin. Start again.
 Never define the context before you move. A love duet might have started out as a fight duet that got slower
and vice versa. This is how interesting material gets made.
A NOTE ON WORDS: Inevitably, your first draft will be over the word limit. However, you should not submit your
first draft to me until it is less than 3300 words – use the drafting time to create a concisely written document.