Alex Blower blog post 3

1.
During the Process of devised work it is imperitive to organise work into sections so as to work cohesivley in the construction of a piece. Firstly as a company we had to enter the research phase of the process, this consisted of gathering knowledge through academic rescources as well as the more physically based workshops and ‘play’ sessions. The importance of this phase in the creation of a performance is outlined in Jane Millings book Devising Performance, A Critical History ‘At the core of all devising or collaborative creation is a process of generating performance’ (Milling,2006, Page 3) giving emphasis to the importance of this phase in relation to the final perofrmance as a whole.
Secondly as we enter the scoring phase, involving blocking out the devised material so the different scenes come together smoothly and effectivley. It is interesting to note that, although it is true the pieces are more refined than they were in the research phase, changes are still happening and new ways of working still being discovered. As a performer and colaborative deviser it would be be a valid comment to make that that the research phase of creating a performance is never truly left behind but rather used as a tool in the scoring phase to help smooth out links between scenes and morph the process into a complete performance.


2.
With regards to the structure of Porto, as the scoring phase is being more heavily implimented there is a clear beginning and end becoming apparent, it is interesting to note that both of these sections are ensemble work with key characters either implimenting or resolving issues. At the beginning of the piece it is abundantly clear to the audience that Blake and Nicola are outsiders in Porto as the ensembles work is fluid and clean until either Blake or Nicola move and attention is focused on them. However at the end of the piece a feeling of resolution is achieved with Nicola as Jay finally manages to reveal the true character by the lifting of the hood. As this is happening the ensemble moving in syncronisation around them supports the changes that Nicola has experienced throughout her time in Porto.
In the productions middle section however things are not quite so clear, whilst it is true each section has come a long way since the research phase there are no clear links between scenes. It will be interesting to see at this point how the benefits of keeping the research phase open as we got on with scoring will prove to be an advantage.
3.

It would be fairly accurate to say that at the end of the research phase of Porto I was feeling wholly uncomfortable with my character and the intentions behind it. I had the idea in my head that my character was young however there was an element of seriousness there that went against my characters youthful and exuberent side. As a result I found myself in a state of limbo, not quite engaging with other characters as the mix of emotions were very different from the other characters in the community’s idea of the norm. However as we moved into the scoring phase there was a link between scenes in which I found a character that was very similar to mine in the Porto community. As I have a comic book as my item and they had child’s Pokemon cards it was suddenly very easy to concentrate on my characters immature, playful nature, in turn allowing a bridge to be built and further work to develop from it.
It is also interesting to note here that although I have an established character and personality now, at the start of the scoring phase I did not, perfectly illustrating the fact that the research phase is never one which is left behind, but is instead carried through to support the development of the later devising phases.


Bibliography

Milling Jane, Devising Performance, a critical history, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006