Devising Workshop #1 - Making Monsters
The first devising workshop in our creative development of THE DREAM focused on two key components: The theatrical style of non–naturalism, and the process of devising collaboratively.
Non-naturalism is so ubiquitous in our secondary and tertiary education system (and elements of it are so evident on stages both main and minor) that it can feel strange to pause and isolate the conventions of it that we take for granted. Mime and comedy, fragmented time, transformation of space and object, exaggerated movement and gesture and speech, the use of masks and symbols - these are things we see on stage all the time. They’re essential to the look and feel of contemporary modern theatre; part of a language we all speak and understand. And yet they have their origins in the very earliest iterations of what we’d come to recognise as “theatre” - in the streets of Renaissance Italy, the courts and temples of Sengoku-era Japan, and the ancient Athenian Festival of Dionysus.
Context is everything, so the first third of our workshop was a mini history lesson, whisking our devising team through the ways these three cultural schools of theatre - Classical Greek, traditional Japanese, and Italian commedia dell’arte - landed upon unexpectedly similar ideas and methods for telling stories on stage. What unified them artistically, despite the breadth of time and space between them? How did they use conventions of mask, stock character, mythic storytelling, and narration to tell stories on stage - and why do those conventions endure today?
Big questions! And our devisers rose to the challenge, sharing their existing knowledge with the communal pool and keenly attending to the lengthy (but enthusiastically-delivered!) exposition on all things theatre Italiano-est-Japanese, delivered by Scintilla’s resident Commedia and Kabuki nerds, Genelle and Jack.
This history lesson, though, was merely scene-setting for the workshop’s main focus: Making monsters! As a mashup-sequel to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and numerous Greek myths, it goes without saying that creatures of every stripe - both real and imagined - will make an appearance in THE DREAM… but how, exactly, does one bring a monster to life on a non-naturalistic stage? There’s a hundred different ways! A hundred thousand ways, even! As many solutions to such a theatrical problem as there are actors, directors, designers, and audience members the world over. Monsters are imaginary; they aren’t real; they’re not creatures of flesh and blood. No matter how artfully realised - in puppetry, prosthetics, or CGI - they exist only in our minds. A theatrical monster exists at the edge of our suspension of disbelief - that place where, even if it’s just for a moment, we believe absolutely in the reality of unreality.
So what makes a monster “a monster”? What makes them live on stage, in that space where the audience both disbelieves and believes simultaneously? Our hunch is that it’s the innate humanity of theatrical monsters that makes them so appealing to us. The building blocks of theatre is, after all, the human body… so why not show the human behind the monster?
This is the task we set our devisers. Starting with a blank mask of a human face, they proceeded to transform, deform, and deconstruct it into something monstrous using a limited set of craft materials, a strict time limit, and their hands. Perfection was not the goal - possibilities were what we were after. Their mask would be the start of thought, a story, and idea; its life would come from them, as a performer, as we took them through a series of Laban movement techniques and transformed their physical energy into something less than human…
The results, as you can see from the photos, were spectacular!
A malignant march of monstrous malcontents. Do they intend wickedness, or is their bark worse than their bite…?
Lochie, Angus and Rarnee (assisted by fractions of Ben and Ayesha) close in for the kill…
Sam has a narrow escape from Lochie’s monocular gaze.
Reflection from Genelle | Scintilla Facilitator
Genelle instructs the monsters in the finer points of “the clump”.
The reason why we love Scintilla workshops is the opportunity to PLAY. We ask our participants to do a very mature thing: To trust the process, leave ego at the door, and be willing to take risks with us.
Something that I found really impressive in this workshop was our collective ability to take the bare minimum, and create something that had meaning. A mask… A movement exercise… Some music… And all of a sudden we’re making the viewer feel scared, intimidated, bemused, intrigued by the creatures that appeared in the humble rehearsal room.
Tik Tok loves nothing more than to take the piss out of the drama activity “walk around the space”... but what does Tik Tok know? NOTHING! What started with neutral actors moving through the space with focus and purpose, transformed into a horde of grotesque, curious and intriguing creatures. Our participants worked through Laban Efforts to transform their physicality to align with the incredible mask designs they created themselves - wring, flick, stab, glide…
So sure, it started with a movement exercise. Walk around the space. But it turned into something truly magical to witness. What happens if you manipulate your posture, lower your centre of gravity, hold your arms out in dynamic positions?
And we got there by starting with a simple mask. A movement activity.
The devising team take a moment to connect with their creations.
Reflection from Jack | Scintilla Facilitator
Ben’s pestilent creation, cracked open and oozing black yarn.
I agee with Genelle: One of the most startling things about theatre, as a creative artform, is how simple it can be. There’s definitely minimalism in mediums like painting, film, and poetry, but it’s genuinely remarkable how little theatre needs to conjure a character, evoke a feeling, and transport an audience. It comes down to two things: An actor, and their audience; the observer, and the observed; someone to listen, and someone with something to say. The only limit is imagination.
In less than an hour, our devisers transformed some blank cardboard masks, a few rolls of masking tape, a couple of sheets of crepe paper, and the odds and ends in the kitchen craft draw… into creatures of pure fantasy. Each one had a different story - some were tormented, some were timid, some bore sinister grudges, some were benignly benevolent - and they wore it on their faces. Their designs suggested poses, postures, ways of moving and shambling and prowling and crouching. Each was totally, theatrically unique. And once they slipped their masks on, they came alive.
No longer random craft room junk, these were fully-formed, expressive, and completely animalistic beings… here, in the room, watching us, stalking us. In less than sixty minutes, our devisers had made themselves into monsters.
Reflection from Tom | Scintilla Theatre Technician
Reflection from Antuon | Workshop Participant
Antuon and his monstrous creation.
First workshop definitely sparked my love for the Theatre again! This helped me realise how much I missed it. At first I was nervous and shy but by half way through the workshop all of my nerves and shyness had gone away and I was filled with joy, laughter and confidence.
In the workshop we were learning about masks, which then we had to create our own masks of our monster and then bring that monster to life through the language of our bodies. It was really fun creating and bringing our monsters to life. Each of the cast members' monsters was different and unique, it was cool seeing everyone's creativity through their masks and movement choices.
I enjoyed seeing our Master Monsters - Brydie, Angus & Ryan being created and how the rest of the cast members were drawn to a certain master and creating our own dynamic families. I'm really looking forward to learning and creating more fun and interesting things with these amazing members.
Reflection from Ayesha | Workshop Participant
Ayesha, unmasked, is menaced by her fellow devising team.
Yayayayay what fun times!!! The first time you meet a new, large group of people can be really nerve-wracking, and it was, but I was surprised at how safe and comfortable I felt to really immerse myself in the workshop and not be concerned at all about how I’m being perceived by others. This is a testament to everyone for creating such a safe and beautiful environment for us all to play in.
I loved working collaboratively with different people and being able to toss around ideas with everyone. Everyone’s masks and monsters formed such distinct characters, and I haven’t been able to stop watching the final video created. I’m so excited for the next few weeks to continue to flesh out and develop the show!
Reflection from Jemma | Workshop Participant
I loved being in a room of self-professed theatre kids, unashamedly nerding out to the intricacies of mask work and bringing other worldly creatures to life with just our bodies! I felt so fulfilled in carving time out in my week to really focus on what I love! It made it all the more special after pushing aside my love for theatre away for the past 3 years in favour of the capitalist rat race of work and hustle culture!!
Brydie, giving eldritch-forest-god.
I loved Brydie’s physicality and narrative behind her character, specifically how she used stillness to evoke a sense of hierarchy and power amongst the other monsters. I also really loved Heather’s gliding motions on the floor, I was obsessed with the fluidity of her movements and how snake-like they were!
The actual best, creating theatre with others is still one of the most magical things I’ve ever experienced and reminds me of feeling it doing our ensembles in highschool. I feel like theatre spaces are the only places where you can truly leave your ego at the door because we totally inhibit something other than ourselves in a world of play and pretend… It’s giving post-structuralism!
I found the physical aspect of writhing around as monsters a bit challenging. I don’t feel as fit as I used to be and I was really reminded of the whole body exertion of theatre because it requires mind, body, soul, awareness of others and so much more!!
Apart from EVERYTHING, I’m really looking forward to delving into different aspects of the performance and finding things I connect with each week and most importantly, building bonds with people who share the same love for theatre as me in a safe, scaffolded and secure environment. I also love seeing Archie each week!!
Jemma, in full goblin mode, stalks for snacks of an undoubtedly unsavoury nature…
Key observations, reflections, take-aways:
Monster masks don’t have to be perfect or “complete” to be effective. In fact, the more DIY and “under construction” they are, the more abject and monstrous the monster appears!
Visual cohesion of the monster troupe was achieved more through the uniformity of their mask’s materials than their designs. Each monster was unique, but each was made of the same white paper; same-same, but different.
The mask might be the initial spark for making the monster, but it was the actor’s body - and their relationship to other actors’ bodies - that truly brought them to life. There was tremendous power in watching them interact as individuals, in pairs, or monstrous clumps, and seeing their interpersonal dynamics emerge organically.
Phew! This was a big one - but it was such great fun, and so much good work, that we had to write about it all!
Until next time… See you in THE DREAM!
G & J and THE DREAM Devising Team
