Frantic Assembly/Berkoff

This Wednesday in lesson we were very privileged to have a Frantic Assembly workshop with one of the Frantic Assembly members herself. I think that it was an incredible opportunity to grow out physical theatre knowledge and learn how to lift people in new and different ways, and how to devise exciting physical theatre in simple ways. I found that the Frantic style takes a lot of concentration, but the more you practiced a certain lift or move, the easier it got for everyone.

When studying Antigone, I first looked more into depth into Frantic Assembly and was fascinated by their techniques, and how easy they made hard physical theatre look. Here's a link to the blog where I talk more about Frantic Assembly : Physical Theatre/ Frantic Assembly

Here also, is a link to their website, which I found useful when looking up about the history of Frantic Assembly, and when making the blog post linked above: https://franticassembly.co.uk/about

Starting out the Workshop!

Talking to Maggie, the Frantic Assembly member who came to teach us, I also learnt a lot about how Frantic Assembly tends to work and how to learn from the different techniques of multiple companies and make them your own. She said something along the lines of, "it's impressive to be able to duplicate a technique, but it's even more impressive to be able to make that technique your own". She told us that in order for her to catch up and to learn different techniques, she had to work really hard and be dedicated to the craft. Once she and her associates would learn a technique, they would think about what makes up that technique or practice and tear it down in order to create something brand new and individual. It's amazing to see the different varieties of movement that can come from the same stimuli and techniques...it's all about making it your own.

What I've learnt from this workshop is that there is so many ways to make a certain lift or a certain technique work for you and the others you are working with. It's not about forcing things, but about letting the movements fall into place and feel natural.

Physical Theatre / Warm Ups

Physical Theatre can often take on a more dance-y like effect when it comes to it's overall structure. However, with Frantic Assembly's style, this is not always the case. They are all about letting the movements take on a structure that best fits the piece and that are functional, rather than showy. It's about being strong and precise in your movements and choosing when to be more dance like and fluid, and when to be more forceful. 

We first started off by doing multiple stretches and strength exercises to get our muscles warmed up and our bodies moving.

The first exercise that we did was to run a path that was set out for us, abiding to the rules that Maggie gave for us to follow. We were meant to a) always run on the outside of the chairs, b) run down the middle of the chairs and straight back to the beginning of the course, c) high five the person up next when you are done, and d) walk backwards along the wall so that you won't get in anyone's way who is on the course. I think that the whole purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate that being focused can make a piece of physical theatre so much better for an audience to watch and can make something that looks very hard, easy to implement...if you are completely focused.

We then paired up and did a sort of trust exercise with the other person, and this is how it works: person A puts their hand on top of person B's hand, person A's job is to apply pressure downwards and to guide person B around the room, person B's job is to apply pressure upwards -into the other's hand - and to close any gaps. We did this for a little while, but then, person B was asked to close their eyes and person A was asked to lead them around the room. We then did this again, but with person B leading person A. I think that this exercise was really interesting because it allowed for us to create a sort a relationship with the other person that required for us to respond to the other's movements and be hyper aware of their hand. It was amazing and beautiful to close your eyes and to only think about the other's hand...and nothing else in the entire world. Maggie wanted to demonstrate to us the different ways that bodies can move and how when we can see what the other is doing and where they are going, we can pre-think out where we are going to step next, or how we are going to move. However, when your eyes are closed, your body will respond in a different way because it cannot guess what is going to come next or where we are going to move. This creates a different sort of movement to the type that can be predetermined...for example instead of taking steps, the movement may become more of a lean. Here's a video of this exercise:

It was revealed to us that Maggie was trying to get us all used to each other and for the year groups to melt away. It's important for the body of people to be able to work together in unison when they will be doing semi-dangerous tasks and lifts. She also needed to get us all focused and made a point of encouraging us to give our full 100% when performing or doing anything in life; she said it's easy to see when someone isn't giving their all, and I totally agree. We need not think about what others may feel, if we are giving our all, the audience will not feel uncomfortable in any way for us (even if we mess up). If we mess up, we must own our mistakes and go with the flow. It's not the end of the world if a mistake is made!

We then were paired according to our sizes and started doing some lifts and exercises to warm up! One of the very important lessons that I learnt in being paired with someone who is slightly smaller than me is that I still cannot hold any of my weight back for her, it doesn't even help. When lifting someone, it is easier if a) the person being lifted holds back no weight, and b) the person doing the lifting keeps the person they are lifting close to their body -as close as possible. When doing this warm up exercise with Connie, pictured below, at first, I tried to hold my weight back a little bit because I thought that I'd knock her over, however, after awhile I got more confident and found that holding no weight back actually made it easier for the both of us:

Connie and I leaning on each other :)

Maggie using me to demonstrate a lift

In our groups, we learnt a series of lifts that would allow us to lift the other person easily, even if they were taller than us! Lifts:

• The first lift is one to the side of you in a starfish like manner. In this lift, the point of contact between the two people are incredibly important, those being: the shoulders, hips, knees, and feet. You must close the gaps between you at these points of contact, standing side by side, which can be easily done if you let your full weight lean into your partner. Also, it's important for both people to take a wider stance in this lift and bend your knees to get some leverage. 
• The second lift is one that can be used to transfer the other person from one side of you, to the other side. This one, again, you need to get a wider stance, but the person who is lifting needs to have a lower squat than the other person. Additionally, the person who is being lifted needs to push into the back of the other person, with straight arms.
• The third lift is a lift that requires person A to drop down and squat before person B, whilst person B puts their armpit onto person A's shoulder. Person B then takes hold of Person A's legs and lifts them...Person A should also eventually be able to let go and Person B should be able to support themselves.
• The last lift was having person B over the shoulder of person A completely, using person A's hip bones as a planking tool, person B will bend over person A's shoulder and put their shoulder into their gut. Person A will stand and person B will apply pressure on person A's hip bones. 

Here is video of us learning these assorted lifts, mostly showing the first lift and the last lift:

Squeeze Duets

We then were set on the journey of devising our own small physical theatre piece! We started out by learning about squeeze duets. Squeeze duets work like this: a) you are paired up or in groups, b) you choose three places to 'squeeze' your partner -may it be on their arm or their shin or leg or head...just three places, c) then your partner chooses three places to 'squeeze' you, and d) you alternate between these different 'squeezes' -your partner does one, then you do one- until you figure out a fluid way to transition from each position to the next. I think that squeeze duets are an excellent way to create pieces of theatre that are new an exciting, because no two people will react to each other the same way. Additionally, it doesn't require the introduction of a story to the sequence, but can be interpreted by the audience. Maggie told us to try and keep the things that we were doing simple, and to let whatever stories we may be developing fade away in our heads in order to let the class interpret the movements for themselves.

She then, adding onto what we had already started, asked us to do at least three lifts within our piece, in between the squeezes. She wanted us to experiment with the lifts themselves as well and look at how the different skills we had learnt could be changed slightly to make different variations of the same types of lifts. However, she didn't want us to force the lifts to happen, but to let the lifts happen where they were meant to naturally. Here is a video of our final squeeze duets:

Quads

After having a break, the first thing we did to warm ourselves up and get us focused and ready was to do some of what is called quads. How you construct a quad is get into groups of about five people, and have those groups line up behind each other. Then, create equal spaces around each person, so that another person could walk around you on all sides.

Maggie first had us start out but just nodding our head to a count of eight, as the song was a 16th beat. Then she had us jump in our groups to the beat, one after another. Eventually, she had us change the beats that we were counting at to go from 8 to 6 to 4, etc, counting down. The quads eventually got harder and harder for us to handle as a group and it became important for us to count out loud so that everyone could know what was going on and keep perfectly on beat. It perhaps is just better to show a video because I can't explain it correctly:

As you can see, we built upon our prior knowledge of quads, first mastering the simple, but eventually making it harder and harder for ourselves and getting more complicated. Maggie eventually added in arms and legs and a counter beat that we had to clap to. Here is how our quad session turned out:

Maggie explained to us that quads can be used for any sort of drama and planted that seed in our minds. For example, we could devise a piece where someone talks for 8 beats whilst jumping, then the next talks for 6 beats whilst jumping, etc...it doesn't just have to be jumping, it can be something else entirely, and to music or not to music. There are so many possibilities when it comes to this technique. Again, it's all about making it your own and being in communication with the rest of the group about what is going on. I think that using quads in future pieces would be incredible because they are so cool to watch because of their pace and quality...they look so hard but can be made so easily if you focus and give your all!

Group Lifts

Maggie put us all into two gigantic groups and taught us three different types of group lifts:

• The first and second lifts require: a) a rock, or a person at the head of the group that is strong, b) four others that are about the same size -don't need to be, just makes it easier, and c) someone who is willing to be lifted. The first one starts out with the person being lifted, leaning forward and holding the shoulders of the rock. Then two of the people who are lifting the person will take hold of the person's shoulders and hips. The person being lifted will lift up one leg and offer it to one of the people waiting to lift and give a little jump up -lifting their other leg, when everyone is ready. The lifters will then try and straighten their arms as quickly as possible, and as smoothly as possible; I've learnt that it is easier to hold someone up if your arms are completely straight. Lastly, when the person is coming down, it is essential that you put their feet down first. You can do this same lift, except with the person being lifted being on their back as well.
• The third lift requires: a) two rocks, b) three people in the front, c) three people in the back, and d) the person being lifted. The two rocks stand to the sides of the person being lifted and bend their knees -with a wide, strong stance. The other lifters stand three in front and three behind and grab the person being lifted strongly below the knee. The person being lifted pushes up on the shoulders of the rocks, as the other lifters push up -lifting the person off the ground. The two rocks then turn sideways and take hold of the bottom of the person's feet that are being lifted. 

After learning these foundation lifts, Maggie taught us different ways to make the lifts more complicated. One of the rules that Frantic Assembly is keen on is starting simple with their movements, perfecting those simple movements, before moving on and adding harder things to the moves -making them more complicated. I think that this is incredibly important because it both safer and more impressive if you can first perfect the foundation of a complicated lift. If you can't perfect a lift, and are not able to speed up and slow down the pace of you lifting the person, or not able to straighten your arms fast enough as a lifter for example...you will not be able to do your very best when it comes to the next added bit of complications. I appreciate that Maggie put a lot of emphasis on this because often the pressure can be to make a very complicated piece of physical theatre right from the beginning...but starting small and then building upon what you've already done, taking it step by step, seems like a simpler and more effective way of devising a piece.

So she then taught us a few more variations of the lifts...for example, how to lift someone in the first or second lift (listed above) and to roll them over in the air. Here is a video and some pictures of these assorted lifts: 

The first lift I was describing above

The third lift I was describing above

The second lift I was describing above

Final Piece 

For our final piece, we created a physical theatre outcome that combined all of the skills that we had learnt throughout the day. Everyone was divided into their two huge groups and the whole group was told to stand on the outside of the room in a sort of circle...then one person from the group was chosen to be lifted. I volunteered to be lifted by the rest of the group, because by the end of the day I had come to trust all of them to lift me and to be safe throughout the entire process. We have all been taught the same things and how to do everything and whilst it may seems scary to be lifted really high up, it's perfectly safe. Additionally, when you get lifted, it feels absolutely brilliant because it's exhilarating, but also requires a lot of focus and engagement of your core to stay upright (especially in the last lift). So I think I can speak for the whole group in saying, when a lift is accomplished correctly, everyone feels proud of what they've done, and from there we can push ourselves harder to create more complicated sequences. 

Maggie had me choose a few different spaces to walk to and a certain 'path' to take, as we did earlier in the warm ups. I had to choose about six separate spaces within our half of the room...then the group and I had to memorise this path quickly so that everyone knew where we were going. Next, Maggie told us to implement something that we had learnt in each space -be a it a squeeze duet or a group lift of some sort. We were also told not to attach any sort of meaning to what we were doing again...as when we came up with our squeeze duets...so that again, the rest of the class could try and interpret what was going on in relation to the music and other things going on -such as facial expressions and other characters being created through interactions between the person being lifted and other people. We were given about 10 mins to come up with this path and figure out where we were lifting, and where we were generally going when it comes to each space. It was important that everyone went to where they had practiced going so that I wouldn't be dropped and everything would look effortless. 

After, practicing this, Maggie put on some random music that we hadn't heard and asked each group to perform their pieces. This was the first run-through of our piece, without ever hearing the music beforehand: 

After hearing the music, our piece suddenly took on a life of it's own and was open to a whole new interpretation of something deeper than just going from one person to the next and being lifted. Many of the other group thought suddenly, that our piece was about bullying and standing up for yourself, even though it originally had no meaning attached.

Here's why it worked:

• the music fit so well, even though we originally didn't have a meaning attached to the movements. It seemed to suggest that I was being bullied or something terrible was happening to me...the world was against me. For example when its says, "and I get, what, I want", I got up into the lift and my fit synchronised perfectly with what was being said
• the interactions between me and the other people in the cast, such as when I'm bumped into by Caitlin and I walk away, defeated by her - really portrayed emotions that suggested some sort of bullying situation. Every time I bumped into a cast member there was some sort of interaction. 
• The height difference between Charlotte and I, when I'm lifted and stand against her is immense and breathtaking -it's shocking to hear it match so perfectly with the music as well. It shows me standing up against my problems. 
• The juxtaposition between me being pushed down and lifted up so many times, helped make this piece so meaningful

We were then given 5 mins more to develop our piece and it's meaning. We decided to stick with the same music for our final run through and added a few more bits and pieces, to really define what it was that was going on. Here is the video of our final run through and performance:

Here's a video of the other group's final piece, which I also really enjoyed watching:

At first, in their first run through, I thought that their piece had to do with some sort of magical stone or thing that everyone wanted, but after watching it again with some different music, I got a whole different vibe. It's amazing how just a few changes and music can change an entire meaning of a piece for an audience. After watching it again, I thought that the piece was more about a young girl, just old enough to go out and get boys -and about her leading them on with promises of different things, but her deciding not to do those things in the end (being vague for a reason).

It was a really well done piece and worked well for multiple reasons:

• It was fun and the interactions between Hannah (the girl being lifted) and some of the boys was hilarious. For example, one time a boy lifts her and then immediately pumps his fist afterwards like he's achieved something
• Other little things to do with reactions between Hannah and the others. Such as when Hannah looks back to see if they are looking at her and they turn away like they haven't been
• The throwing of the object that Hannah had, I think, was metaphorical of herself and the other's desires, rather than it just being some magical object as I first thought. This brought a deeper meaning to the piece for me. 
• They had a lot of impressive lifts that symbolised the power that Hannah had over them when she had the object and also her climb to that power

What Maggie taught us, is that with pieces like these, they can easily be developed into dynamic scenes within plays. For example one could be doing a monologue to the physical theatre as they are being lifted, rather than doing it to music, or there could be any sort of scene developed with regular lines but these lifts incorporated to give the speaker authority over others. It allows for proxemics between characters to take on a more metaphorical standpoint when it comes to staging, rather than staging it realistically.

I think that it was amazing also to work in huge groups and to come to trust those around you to carry you and hold your weight fully. It was wonderful to learn how to do all of these lifts and I'm sure we'll be using them a lot in the future for many similar pieces of drama. There's just so much variety to what you can come up with and the lifts create so many shapes that we never thought that we could do before. It's amazing what you can accomplish in such a short amount of time, and was really encouraging to come up with something that could so easily be developed into a scene or a stimulus for a play.

Frantic Assembly vs. Berkoff

It's when we first started to do the squeeze duets that I started to see the differences between Frantic Assembly and Berkoff. Although we hadn't had learnt the lifts that we did today, I'm sure if we wanted to, we could fit them into the Berkoff style of movement -fast paced and motivated by speech. However, with these squeeze duets for example, our movements were inspired the music that went with them, but when devising them, they were for no particular reason and not motivated by anything. They were simply an experiment, open to interpretation by those surrounding us. Whereas with Berkoff, everything must have a more defined and direct meaning and speech determines the movements that happen.

Another difference is that the Berkoff style of movement is staccato and fast paced, whereas the Frantic Assembly style is more open to any pace and movement -it can be staccato or it can be more fluid, you can experiment with speeding up and slowing down easily. I also soon learnt that Frantic Assembly tends to work on a much larger scale when it comes to some lifts and creating shapes and images...this comes with having a bigger cast, as with our Berkoff/ A Woman Alone cast, we only had four people. Having may people to help do lifts made everything a huge success when it comes to group lifts and quads later on.

Berkoff and Frantic Assembly's styles are in no way realistic. However, Berkoff uses movement to represent the script and what is going on around the characters; using onomatopoeia, ensemble, and defined beginnings and ends at a staccato pace. With Frantic Assembly, pace and movement and speech can be much more varied and open to interpretation and change according to the piece and the mood you would like to set.

Additionally, I found that there were harder bits to abide by depending on each performance. For example, in Berkoff's style, my group often found it hard to have defined movements that weren't too fluid and flowy at first - they needed to be staccato. We also had trouble with our set and incorporating it and making sure it was in the correct place. Whereas for Frantic Assembly, although Maggie made it really easy for us to learn and improve when things went wrong, I often found the lifts pretty hard the first time around. I even found balancing against Connie and putting my full weight on her incredibly hard because I thought I would fall over.

Relating to performance, what we came up with for Frantic Assembly as our final piece is completely different that what we came up with for Berkoff. With Berkoff, we came up with a more stylised and sharp piece and we found it hard to stage things correctly. However, with Frantic we came up with a much more interpretive outcome, that used lots of lifts and music to guide the story of what was happening. When coming up with the final piece for Frantic Assembly, I found that the hardest thing to figure out was which idea to go with, considering everyone had so many different ones!

Overall

I learnt so much from this experience and am excited to see where I can take the knowledge that I now have and put it into practice when it comes to drama. My drama group and I have already started talking about using the things we have learnt today in a short film one day!

The biggest things I will take away from this are:

• Be confident in yourself and always give 100%, because the audience can tell when you aren't giving your all. It's alright if you mess up, just own it!
• When being lifted or trying to balance, always put your full weight into the other person. Holding your weight back actually makes it harder for them to lift you...
• Keeping your arms straighter, and closing the gaps between you and the person you are lifting will make it easier for you to lift them. 
• Physical theatre, although it can be, is not always meant to be dance-y or showy, but rather a simplistic piece can have an even better effect in some cases. Start small and build upon the things that you have learnt from there -making the movements more complex. 
• Letting physical theatre take on no meaning at first can allow for freedom of movement and interpretation -creating images that may not have been created with an intellectual part to the stimuli. Meaning and interpretation can be added later on, with pace or music, etc. 

Thank you Frantic Assembly, and Maggie, for the amazing experience!