How Do We Present a Story With the Respect It Deserves
TIHIMY is the story of our first meeting, our first time, our first love, our first heart break. It relies strongly on personal stories from the actors in order to correctly portray all the different emotional states present during these human interactions. Because the sharing of these stories often evokes a myriad of emotions from our actors, we have to be very careful to create a safe space where they can be shared. When it comes to presenting the truth of these stories on stage, not only do we have to act out that experience, but we have to relive it. To contribute a story is a huge personal investment. Watching the room empathize with elements of your story as you tell it can be both comforting and painful, but the support you get afterwards makes it feel safe. The directors of TIHIMY have gone above and beyond to tailor our rehearsals in a way that will make the actors feel comfortable sharing such intimate stories.
However, issues can arises when someone’s personal story is shared in its rawest form, and then re-created to speak to a larger audience. How do we present these stories with the respect that they deserve, showing both truth and emotional connection on stage, when what is being performed only contains specific fragments of the original story shared?
Sometimes when a story is shared, it’s just so rich in its rawest form that it speaks clearly by itself, and doesn’t need to be reworked to better encompass audience emotions. However, more often than not, the stories we share in rehearsal have the option to be enhanced to better connect with the audience. To not do so would put up a wall between the actors, and the audience, as not every audience member is able to relate to such a personalised story. With help from the directors, and the other actors, the story begins to grow into something else. When this happens, there is a need to respect that even though the finished product may not reflect the initial story exactly, every actor in the room can interpret the story in their own way, and build on it from their experiences in a similar situation.
When we devise, we delve so deeply into the emotion of the stories we share, that what we create is a new experience of that story. If we allow ourselves to create this new version of a story, then we have the opportunity to draw from all the actors experiences’, to create a performance that portrays a wider span of emotions and experiences. Thus, we build a stronger, and more relatable performance for the audience. TIHIMY explores the many emotional states and experiences felt during a relationship of any kind, and presenting stories that are relatable to our audience is our most important endeavours.
Everyone is a Performer
Everyone is a performer!
All people, in the routine of day to day life, can be seen as performers. In everyday life we as people do not ‘put on’ or ‘act’ out our lives in same sense that performers do, but rather we act without pre-planning our actions. We perform subconsciously everyday because the same principles behind what constitutes performance on stage apply to everyday life.
A performance is something that has been planned. We (attempt to) plan our lives from the moment we begin to comprehend the possibilities of the future. There does not need to be a huge spectacle to be considered performance, “sometimes performing in everyday life is casual… a change of clothes, a tone of voice…” We plan how we will dress, who we will talk to, how we will talk and interact with people. This is all part of our performance.
A performance is rehearsed. The daily routine of getting ready is rehearsed time and time again every morning when we wake up to the moment we go to sleep at night. This repeated action is done because society has passed it down as a tradition or practice that should be followed by members of its community. We are in essence, training ourselves as actors, constantly learning how to present ourselves, dictated by how we believe we are supposed to be seen.
Finally, a performance is staged. Every moment of our lives is a carefully calculated move, intended to show the world around us how we wish to be perceived, how we wish our lives to be staged. All this careful planning, all this rehearsal, is dictated by society. Our society dictates how we plan our lives, how we train ourselves and how we may perform. We are all subconsciously performing in a play written by society.
Regardless of the scale of what is being done, all elements of everyday life can be seen as a performance. All these actions share the same intent of making a statement to an ‘audience.’ Even small and subtle actions that could be missed as someone performing like when a parent ‘talks down’ to a small child or the child raises the pitch of his voice in order to ask for ice cream are still making a statement to their intended audience. It may be more accurate to describe performance as a ‘relationship’ between the performer and their observers. Every single one of us is a performer because we are all actors in the social ‘script’ with which to abide by.
A Dragon’s Tail is a fairytale gone wrong, that is currently in creative development, and after four months of devised work, it is now stepping into the writing phase. As one of the writers, I’m looking forward to working with other members to strengthen the lore and story of the fairytale.
TIHIMY explores first meetings, first loves, and first heartbreak. It’s really exciting working in a style where our personal lives can be explored and used for stimulus. Throughout the process we’re going to be collecting stories from people around us to help shape the work, and working with verbatim techniques will hopefully help us portray the diverseness and overall essence of first meetings, and everything that is encompassed in them.
The DIY Festival celebrates independent and emerging artists by providing a platform for innovative and original works of art. It’s a challenge jumping into such a ambitious undertaking, especially considering we ourselves are emerging artists, but one that is providing all of us with a quick and effective learning experience. I am very eager to see how the DIY develops, and hopefully it will become a recurring event.
I’m looking forward to seeing where all these projects go. Stay tuned for more updates in the future!