The Style of Blackout

The play has many styles involved in it. Some of these include ensemble, thrust, stream of consciousness, physical theatre, chorus, no set or props, narrator, change location very quickly and the three unities. Some of these styles were new to me.

Ensemble and chorus - this is when a company perform together as one instead of having different roles. In our play the main character, James, was performed by all of the company, not just one person. At points it was performed by just one person, but the actor changed throughout and at points we were all James. Ensemble is an unusual way to perform and a way I wasn't aware of. However the style of the play worked well using this technique. As James was changing constantly, both in mind and body, place and people, it was appropriate to change the actors throughout. I also think this technique helped the group perform well as we were allowed time to bond and work together, not just in small groups. Chorus meant that we said some lines together either to give more emphasis to the lines or put more emotion into them. 

Thrust- this was our chosen choice of staging. The audience was on three sides and it worked well alongside the theme and story line. I personally think it worked well because there was a sense of entrapment; there were obstacles at every turn, much like Jame's life. Also it allowed us to develop skills in spacial awareness and how to use the audiences position to our advantage. 

Stream of consciousness- the play was very emotional as it tackled emotional topics. This technique added to the emotion. You feel like you are following James and are part of his mind and therefore feel you are some what responsible for his actions. As the play was very detailed and complicated, it allowed the audience and indeed the actors to keep up as this technique gave a certain flow to the play.

Physical Theatre- the play was mainly a physical play using techniques such as sequences of movement, lifting and using the body to form props needed. It was quite taxing because you were constantly using your body to form objects on the stage. I used mine to form a sofa and a staircase and it was a technique that looked good, if perfected. It was also emotionally draining so both of these put together was hard. However using physical theatre that was sharp and clean made the play pleasing to the eye and interesting to watch. As we used so much physical theatre we had no need for props on stage meaning the audience were always drawn to the action on stage. This was needed because of the detail in the play. 

Change of location- "One of the best ways to make a bad play is to have bad transitions." 
Transitions are key to a good performance and therefore we spent a lot of time perfecting them and getting rid of any lulls in the performance. They were needed to keep the energy of the performance up and to keep the audiences attention. The energy of a performance to keep going up and never falter. Otherwise the audience will lose interest and the flow of the play will be lost.

(Refer to previous post on The Three Unities.)