R&D Insights week 4: The Incredible Presence of a Remarkable Absence
The artistic team share their insights on week four of research and development for The Incredible Presence of a Remarkable Absence.
Photo credit: James Robotham. Dancers: Kai Downham, Joe Darby, Aya Kobayashi & Carrie Whitaker
We prepared for our sharing by putting the cast members into a "hot seat" and interviewing them as their character. Questions like "how old are you?", how do you feel about Aya?" , "who are you able to manipulate?", "who do you trust the most?" enabled us to dig deeper into the psych of the characters to discover more about their objectives. All of this is important to reveal the arc of the journey for each character and to become clearer about their all-important intentions. This is a complex process that has many layers, especially as we are trying to find organic pathways through narrative, as opposed to a literal translation.
25 "responders" came to our sharing to offer feedback. They ranged from professional dance and theatre specialists to students and promoters. Sacha Lee (The Point) kindly "hosted" the event in order to facilitate the feedback to make the process as useful as possible for us. The responders were generous in their opinions and offered direct thoughts about the work-in-progress that encouraged us to look at the work from fresh angles upon "regrouping" that evening. I find critical feedback sessions rather strange situations as it is far more clinical than the appreciation that is usually experienced after a show. But this process has made me clearer about what I am trying to achieve and I believe I have the "permission" to make stronger decisions abut the work following the feedback. This was perfect timing for valuable input- and I am eager to move forward.
It seems that every day in this process brings new revelations and "light bulbs". Working intensively is a weird and wonderful thing, you are able to achieve things that are impossible to achieve in any other working condition, but you also can gain very little retrospect. Sometimes it is necessary to bring in reinforcements just to affirm that the sky is certainly blue and will never be green no matter how long you stare at it or wish for it!
Abi
“It is interesting what happens almost a month into the process, questions arise that perhaps seemed unimportant a week ago or even answered and then suddenly “POP” big questions loom in the space... How? what? why?... Or maybe Joe’s monologue has become a jabbering epidemic! Questions are good though it pushed Abi and the cast to focus in on intention and begin to thread sections together. Aya, Joe, Kai and I were beginning to piece together the puzzle of our personal journeys and how they weave together; it’s interesting with this process because in many moments there are references to events/history beyond the time the viewer experiences with us and so bringing together our characters’ pasts and making them informative of the present moment in a relevant way is a performative challenge for the cast.”
…we all agreed to be patient to find a right construction of the piece. We might have to give up some of nice moments and have to make some more new stuff but all for good... When we discuss, I can feel that all of us think so hard and argue with passion, what a good team:)… We like certain images a lot but at times they kill the dynamic of actual material. Images are important but again we really look for the best quality of whole thing, an image doesn't live long enough.
Coming back after 2 weeks away from the process seemed extremely natural, for me the work had been swimming through my thoughts on a daily basis but with a sense of space for dreaming about the possibilities in a more fantastical way than a practical one (this was an indulgence that wasn't always possible when you are dealing with cogs of the work). For me something seemed clearer in my understanding of my place within the medley of personalities in our work. The vocabulary felt more present in my body and the detail more significant than ever.
We barely heard a peep from Dougie for most of the day today which may seem odd for a composer/musician but actually that means he is cracking on with an idea... He was hard at work headphones on crafting something inspired! The initial thoughts he played for Kai and my duet's soundtrack sounded gritty and accurate for the mood of our relationship... It sounded both full and empty... How do you do that Dougie?
Aya
“I invited Tim Scarlett, a cellist I have worked with on many occasions now, to come in and do some recording. What is unique about Tim is his ability to meet me halfway between the processes I work with in a dance environment and the compositional of contemporary music. In dance it is common for a choreographer to give dancers a fairly open brief to improvise on, and then work through some of ideas that came out, with the choreographer editing and tweaking their movement. Although there is a well-established improvisational heritage in music, a lot of classical musicians are still much more used to composers handing them a score than saying “how does his make you feel”. As you will discover, when you hear the finished soundtrack alongside The Incredible Presence of a Remarkable Absence, what Tim has contributed is breath-taking.
Day 2 was doubly exciting as Alice dropped off the finished costumes, and Jim came to take our photoshoot. The costumes look sensational, and to watch Jim completely transform the creation space with his lighting was inspiring.”
Photo Credit: Cover image and photo 2 by Sam Taylor, photo 1 James Rowbotham
