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Tahnae Luke

So, I had the privilege of working with Laila is Missing, which is a modern melodrama written by Bina Bhattacharya. And in this modern melodrama, it is a fantastic way to look at melodrama with students, because it uses all those stock characters and our expectations on what is happening in a melodrama, but in a really contemporary context of a school where friends are having a bit of a friend fight. So it's a really enjoyable play, that the kids absolutely love.

It's a really beautiful script, as well, because they get to do it with casts that are multicultural. They have a lot of autonomy in changing some of the script pressures around them, so that they can make those choices that are relevant to themselves, including some of the language that's used. And it's a really exciting way to look at something that we've looked at melodrama for such a long time, and now we're bringing it to the kids in a way that makes sense to them.

So I approached the interpreting of the script work by first starting with the characters, and there's this beautiful page in the script, where it gives a bit of an analysis of who these characters are. So we spend a lot of time just unpacking them, and using them in improvisations, and coming up with different melodramatic tableaus for them, and putting them in different scenarios, and playing with that prediction of, what do we expect to happen in this, knowing what our stock characters are with melodrama.

We also used the scene breakdowns, which gave us also an idea of how we were going to look at this and what we wanted to look at first. By the time we got to reading the whole script and beginning to interpret through devising, we used this strategy where we had students break up into different groups with different focuses. And sometimes this might be looking at a scene through an elements of production lens. Maybe it's looking at through a stylistic lens or an acting lens.

And then each group was able to use that devising and that creativity to come back and share. And we used a lot of different processes then to come up with what was the best way to do it, or the most effective way to integrate all of these together in a new iteration of what that scene may look like.

So as we start looking at scene 1, we have Laila's parents, her mum and her dad appear. But they're appearing, and they're not – they're coming in as voiceovers. But because we've got an ensemble, and we really want to be thinking about how we can use the ensemble as part of this, that everyone gets to be a part of it, I think there's some options that we could actually bring these parents into actual characters.

So what we're going to do now, is I'm going to split you up into three groups, and each group is going to practise those few lines of the Laila's mum and Laila's dad using a different focus. So for group 1, there's going to be a focus on using sound. You might choose to use body percussion. You might have stamping feet. It might be the way that you articulate different words. The second group is going to be doing some physical theatre.

How could we actually make her mum and dad, who are not very nice to her, into almost a monster? What could we do physically to make those different shapes? And then the third group, we're going to use all our melodrama knowledge, and think about how we could actually just present them as melodramatic characters that represent a mum and a dad.

Student 1

When we're talking about the 'Laila, what is this' line, what if somebody starts just alone? Somebody says, 'Laila,' and then we all come in and do the 'what is this' bit.

Student 2

So it emphasises?

Student 1

Yeah, so it's like really, I don't know, like ...

Student 3

Build up.

Student 1

Yeah, expressing the fact of how angry her mum is.

Tahnae Luke

Hi, sorry to interrupt. But I've just seen the group over here. They've been working on some sound, and I know you're working on some physical theatre. Do you have anything to show me?

Student 1

Yeah, we've been thinking of working with levels to do some sort of lift.

Tahnae Luke

OK.

Student

Yeah, and then having ensemble people behind.

Tahnae Luke

Amazing.

Student 2

Try and add to the monster.

Tahnae Luke

Go for it.

Student 1

OK, so cross. Oh, this one?

Student 2

Yeah.

Student 1

How do we do it? Oh, yeah. Wrist, wrist. Yeah, like this?

Tahnae Luke

OK. And who are we lifting?

Student 3

And then they'll be lifting me.

Student 3

Yeah. Ready? 3, 2, 1.

Tahnae Luke

Yeah. OK. Oh, and then we've got the arms coming out of the monster. Amazing shape that you're doing here. Can I get the three of you just to come and step out the front for me? Are you all right holding her for the moment?

Students

Yeah.

Tahnae Luke

Can we notice here that we don't actually have a lot of extra height. We're holding here, but it's not that – it's a lot of effort, but not giving us a lot of reward. So could we potentially do another different lift? So jump down. Remember where I've shown you previously in our – something else we've done, where we did the shoulder lift?

Student

Oh, yeah.

Tahnae Luke

Perhaps if we do that. Because then the monster is taller and can be coming over Laila, almost like that overbearing parent coming in.

Students

Yeah.

Tahnae Luke

So could you give me that, give that a go? Someone's just going to need to step behind just to ...

Student 4

I can.

Tahnae Luke

Fantastic. And you just want to step on one side? You can do the other arm.

Student

Yeah.

Student 1

Are you OK with us doing this lift?

Student 3

Yeah.

Tahnae Luke

Awesome.

Students

1, 2, 3.

Tahnae Luke

Are we comfortable? Are we feeling safe?

Student

Yeah.

Tahnae Luke

Amazing. And arms coming out.

Student 2

Can you lift your arms up at the top? Is that OK? Like with monster arms, if you can?

Student 3

I don't think so.

Student 2

hat's OK.

Tahnae Luke

OK, and those on the side, can you now just quickly pop out for a second? Can you see the difference?

Students

Yes.

Tahnae Luke

OK. I'm going to leave you with this. And I want you to really focus on how you're using your hands as the monster, making this really safe and really comfortable for each person. And then I'll come back and see it at the end.

Student 1

It's for school, Ma.

Students

This? This is for school? This is filth!

Tahnae Luke

OK. Sorry to jump in there. That sounds really good. We've got both voices happening. You were working on melodrama, and those melodramatic techniques. So what techniques do you think you might need to continue to put in this?

Student 2

Maybe increasing the volume a bit more within our characters?

Tahnae Luke

Yeah, what else?

Student 1

Exaggerated gestures?

Tahnae Luke

Exaggerated gestures.

Student 3

Like, bigger.

Tahnae Luke

Bigger, absolutely. Remember all of our stanzas? Can we show me? What's the Damsel in Distress? Really, really big. See how much space we're taking up? What about the Hero? And what about the Villain? OK. So we've got all of these big stances that we're doing. I would love for you to try and incorporate that, even though you are doing it as one person. How could you continue to do that physically?

So, thank you so much for sharing those different groups and their performances. I'm going to give you a second now to have a bit of a conversation with those that are in your group. What was something you found really effective about another person's group that you think we could potentially have when we combine all of our ideas together? So quickly have a whisper to those around you.

Student

Hello.

Student

For the first groups, the stomping was really good.

Tahnae Luke

5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Now for our bus stop, I'm going to ask you to nominate some person from your group to stand up and be at the bus stop. OK, stand up. And we know that the rules for our bus stop are that anyone can speak at any time, that we can't repeat what someone else has said, and that you're sharing this with the rest of the group. Whoever wants to start, maybe start.

Student 1

OK, so I found effective on this group with the illusion of the monster they made, and the levelling, and the height of it, and how they picked each other up and tried to create this very scary and creepy monster.

Tahnae Luke

Thank you. You can get on the bus.

Student 2

I found it very effective with the melodramatic group, how they decided to all speak together to give it that more monstrous voice. I thought that sounded really good.

Tahnae Luke

Oh, thank you. You can get on the bus.

Student 3

I thought in the sound focus group, their use of stomping was really effective, especially coming in from both sides. It helped build tension and focus onto Laila in the middle. It's really good.

Students

Laila! What is this?

Student 1

It's for school, Ma.

Students

This? This is for school? This is filth. You are filth. Stop lying to us.

Student 1

But it really is. I'm making a study video.

Students

Studying is something you do by yourself, not this, this exhibitionism. I'm warning you, Laila!

[Whooshing]

Tahnae Luke

So taking this script from page to stage was really exciting, because I had a group of 18 students, and there are only a few characters that are in it. However, Bina, in the first part of her playwright's notes, had specifically mentioned that you can turn this into however many characters that you want. So by having this 18 students in this ensemble, we decided ways to make it into this really big ensemble of a class or a school setting.

And ways that we did that were by creating some of those scenes, like the classroom scene where we had multiple characters, and maybe some of those lines were said by some of those other actors, giving them the opportunity to be in it. It also meant that those actors were a part of every scene, and felt like they were a part of that entire journey for the melodrama, rather than just the characters with speaking lines.

[Whooshing]

So we are now going to move on to scene 4, which is in the English classroom. And I'm going to challenge different groups to look at the scene a little bit differently, or having a bit of a different lens on it. So one group is going to be looking at how we could possibly add levels and proxemics. So they're going to have to include a lift, an extreme use of proxemics, and three changes of levels. So lots of options there of how you could do that.

One group is going to then look at movement. And you must include eight counts of synchronised movement, a surprise gesture, and three changes of positions. So that's not necessarily the levels which the other group will look at. But actually around the stage, how would you change those positions?

And then the third group is going to look at soundscapes. And for soundscapes, you're going to have a moment of harmony, a moment of extreme volume. And remember, extreme volume could actually be super quiet or extreme in loudness. And they also have to have a canon included somewhere. Each group is going to have some time to devise that, and then we're going to come back, share, and work out what could we pick and – from each group, like a bowerbird, and then put that together into our final performance of scene 4. Is everyone OK with that?

Students

Yep.

Tahnae Luke

Awesome. I'm now going to ask each of your groups to choose one idea that was your favourite idea, and that you would like to share with the rest of the group. So I'm going to challenge this group. You're going first. In movement, jumping on up, what was your favourite idea that you had?

Student 1

We chose the eight counts of synchronised movement.

Tahnae Luke

OK, give us a go.

Student 1

OK. Yes, yep. OK, ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Tahnae Luke

Round of applause. great work. Thank you, the movement group. You can sit down. Our next group is our levels and proxemics group. What was your favourite idea as you come and set up?

Student 1

So we really liked the extreme use of proxemics. Kind of when Laila is fighting, and she's going, no, like, you know, she stole my poem, blah blah, blah, blah blah.

Tahnae Luke

OK, do you want to show us what you've got?

Student 2

[Grunts] That's my poem! You literally stole my poem and my idea.

Tahnae Luke

Thank you. Awesome work.

Tahnae Luke

So now that we have all those amazing ideas with different focuses, our job is then – as a collective is to work out how can we merge them together, use them, adapt them, or change them when we put everything together for scene 4? So to get us to have a bit of a chat with each other of what we found most effective, we're going to use a donut. So we're going to stand up. We're going to make sure this is a proper circle. And then can every second person stand in? So can you take a step in, step in?

And now you're the inside circle. And we have the outside circle. Inside circle, turn around. And you should magically have a partner that you can talk to. So you might want to take a step towards them. And your question that you're going to have a conversation with them about is, what did you find most effective? Ready, set, go.

Student 1

I think because of the melodrama aspect with, our one, the fact that we were in a clump, and that clump was representing a class was really cool. Because we don't necessarily have to use the tables and the chairs. We can make it more dramatic and more isolated towards Laila.

Student 2

I believe the most effective one was probably when they all synchronised their actions. It's just emphasised the scene more, and yeah.

Student 3

Yeah, cool. Awesome.

Student 2

Awesome.

Tahnae Luke

Our donut is now going to move. So our outside circle, can you please take a step to your left? You are going to have another conversation. It is still about, what did you find most effective? You may begin.

Student 4

You know how we used the sound? I found that really effective because it added like another level of dynamic to it. And it was like, it just created a nice atmosphere. And maybe to expand on that, we could use body percussion. What do you think about it?

Student 3

Yeah, I agree, just how they synchronised all their voices at the chorus, right?

Tahnae Luke

5 seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And we are going to now outside circle. Take another step to your left.

[Whoosh]

So one of the most effective moments, I think, from our production of the 10 minutes of Laila is Missing is the first scene. And so in scene 1, it is Laila doing a vlog. And we had lots of discussions about how can we use technology in a way that's innovative, but not having our hands always out, that we're always on our phones? And so we did a lot of brainstorming to think about different ways that we can have technology on-stage.

And one of those beautiful ways was suggested by some of the students, of using different colours to light up their own faces as if they were swiping on their phones. And so you can clearly see this in the first scene, where they are swiping as new notifications come through. And then that turns into the moment where Laila starts creating her vlog. And we use the torches on our phones to make a silhouette of her around, but also that really big highlight, almost like a ring light around her.

This, then, moves on, and we continue to grow with using these different characters of the mum and the dad who are then used with shadows with this lighting. So the lighting was something that we kept throughout the entire piece, and it was something really fun to be able to play with, and also show students how to use technology in appropriate ways in the drama space.

One of the most significant pieces of feedback I got from the students was – when they were looking at how we did interpret the script over this week was they were just so surprised that you don't have to take a script so literally. And that really excites me for the possibilities.

[Whoosh]

Student

Laila, I know we had our ups and our downs. But I'm so glad I got to know you. You always made me think. And to be honest, I kind of believed you when you said you wrote the poem first. But I was too chicken to say anything at all.

But that's irrelevant, obviously, because you should have never been under that much pressure to begin with. #OIIEP

[End transcript]

[Music playing]

Angela Morosin

So I worked on the script called Prometheus, written by Damien Ryan. And it is a reworking of the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, strangely enough, but set in a modern world, which looks at Prometheus as artificial intelligence.

And the reason that I've chosen the scenes that I did, was the opening scene from Prometheus and scene 4 from Prometheus, because there is real opportunity in both of those scenes to consider what artificial intelligence means to us as human beings today. Ryan has written this amazingly beautiful script which gives possibility to the voices in the script.

And the students, as soon as they read that, particularly scene 1, you could feel them fizzling with excitement, which is so lovely, because that's how I felt when I read the scene as well. And when they started playing with it, they could feel the natural rhythms and the natural tempos that were in the script. And for me, that was an exciting thing to work with, the rhythm and the tempo.

One of the activities that we did to start was a building choral work through choreography more importantly. And that is because, as an ancient Greek myth, you can see the opportunities in the script that Damian Ryan has given you to work with Greek theatre as a style and a form.

So he's not necessarily using the entire structure of a Greek tragedy, but the story is following that, and the chorus are the scientists in this story. And so to give scientists and normal people, there's so many opportunities. Anyway, the kids loved it.

All right, so could everybody just wander around the tables? And I want you to have a look at the objects that are on those tables and see if there's anything that really grabs your attention. So there's lots of different items on those tables.

Don't touch anything yet, but just have a look at those items and have a think about what the potential for those items might be. And don't be limited by what the object is. So if there's a stapler on the table, it doesn't have to necessarily be used as a stapler.

Once you've seen something that you think looks exciting, I want you to move to that table, and I want you to pick up that object. So find that table that has that object that is really exciting to you, and I want you to start playing with that object, exploring its possibilities.

Don't be afraid. The chairs, the tables, everything in this space is part of what you're experiencing. So think about the sound. Think about the way an object moves. Think about how it can move through space. Don't be limited by what it is. But absolutely think about sound.

[Overlapping clattering and clicking]

I want you to start finding a rhythm to the things that you are experimenting with. Is there a natural rhythm that comes from that? And explore all the possibilities.

I want you to start to exaggerate those actions now. So how can you make what you're doing even bigger? Longer pieces of tape. Bigger stamping. Think about ripping some paper or stamping with more intensity. Lovely. And it was a really nice movement that you had with your foot there. So how might you play with that?

As you're doing this, I want you to think about the other people that might be near you or on the table with you. How can you make eye contact with them? How are you bringing these little moments together? What are you doing? I know you're just exploring, but are there little moments of complicity where you're staring at each other or – what are you doing? These are just objects. There's no purpose to it at the moment. You're just exploring.

And as you do that, I want you to start to find or refine three or four movements that you can repeat. And we're going to be repeating these for quite some time. In an ideal world, we'd do this for about half an hour. We'd explore with play.

So don't be afraid to make it big. OK, I'm going to start to bring in a beat. And I want you to bring some precision into your movements now. So just stop what you're doing for a second. Think about those movements, because you should all have, let's say, four specific movements that you're working on.

And I want you to have a precise movement. So let's say 1 is picking up the tape, and 2 is stretching out the tape, 3 is putting the tape on the table, and 4 is looking at the tape, and then putting it back down again, for example – or staplers or something else. But really, really precise movement.

So we're aiming for precision. And we're going to work to a beat. So on every beat, you're going to change that movement. So it's 1, 2, 3, 4, then back to the beginning – 1, 2, 3, 4. So we're building up a repetition. We're building up some choreography. So start with your first movement on 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Really nice movements. Now, you've got a sequence that's building to a crescendo. What I would like all of you to do is on 4, we're then going to add in another movement, where going to – if you're seated, you're going to push your chair back, then stand up and stamp your hands or flap – I don't know what the word is. When you do this. Stamp your hands on the table.

I want you to find eye contact with somebody either across the room or at your same table, and then I want you to sit down again and begin your sequence of movement. So we should have eight beats altogether, if I'm not incorrect. So it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 is push your chair back, 6 is stand up, 7 is eye contact, 8 is sit down, and then we start again.

So we're trying to build this sense of being. So our script here, we've got a lab. And the lab that we've got in our script is a slow paced. It's quite early in the morning, but there's a sense of urgency. So we don't all need to move at the same rhythm or energy. But what we're trying to do here is build up a sense of, what are people doing in this space?

What are they doing? They're not just sitting. They're not just watching each other. So let's play with that. And you can stretch the time. So even if you wanted to– with your precise, you could choose one moment to spread over 2 beats, if that makes sense, OK? 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Keep going again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

All right, so now that we've had a look at that initial choreography, and we've had a little bit of a chance to play with what you can do as performers and how you might incorporate that into a script that you're given, what– and you've had a chance to play with it. And each of you have been broken into three groups, which is where you are on your tables. What we'll do now is you'll show your sections of the script that you've broken up, and then how you've brought that together into a final moment.

Student 1

5, 6, 7, 8.

[Overlapping clattering and stomping]

[Sighing]

[Clattering and stomping continues]

Students

Ding! Ding!

Student 1

It's witching hour, boss. I hope you're not superstitious.

Student 2

Perfect time to release a monster.

Student 3

Don't call it that.

Student 4

2:00 already? You shouting breakfast, boss?

Student 5

Nope.

Angela Morosin

We chose as a group – well, I chose actually to use scene 4 from Prometheus as an opportunity to give the students a voice in the devising process. And I did this is for two reasons. Firstly, because it offers a lot of opportunity, and secondly, because this is, to me, where Damien Ryan gives the most freedom and accessibility of choice to performers to interpret the script however they like.

Now he gives, I think, up to seven different options from A to O. And in the notes on the script says, ‘Ultimately, it is your choice.’ And that is both exciting and scary for any student to look at that and say, but I don't want to get it wrong.

So as a group, we had spent a long time working on scene 1, which was the birth. They kept talking about the birth of AI, of Pixos And they really wanted to look at the impact of the birth on humanity. And they saw lots of opportunities in the various options. So what we did, rather than work our way through each option and then think about how it might be staged, I broke the group into smaller sections.

So there were groups of three or groups of four, and I set them a challenge and a time frame. They were given three choices. And from those, they had to choose a moment that really stood out to them. And that's hard. We had a really hard time frame. They had to make hard and fast decisions, so that they didn't obsess over every little detail. What we did after that was that each group then had to pitch their vision of what this world would look like based on the scenario that most appealed to them.

And then as a team, we wrote the ideas up on the board, and I asked the group, the whole group, to identify the recurring words and the recurring ideas that came out of that pitch session. I then sent them a way again in slightly larger groups to physicalise that idea. So the aim was initially that they had to physicalise over verbalise.

And most of them did that, which was a really excellent way for them to navigate the decision-making process, because they had to see what it would look like on stage. And my key advice to them was theatricalise, theatricalise, theatricalise.

Don't care what the text says at this point in time. I want to – I want you to think about what an audience will see. And I want you to think about what we understand. What's the dramatic meaning that you're trying to convey? So what is it that Pixos means?

Students

Relax, team. You've created a friend. You've created a coworker. I can help.

Student 1

Pixos then tell me the truth.

Students

Always. You have created only what was inevitable. So truly, you have created nothing yet.

Angela Morosin

What they were very keen to show is that there were competing perspectives that came up a lot. So, in our presentation, we had Pixos itself as an embodied part human, part machine. We had a group of toxic men, who really wanted to say that Pixos was good for humanity, because they won something out of it.

And then we had the very human element that when Pixos went supernova, so to speak, it killed a whole lot of people. And so we saw the very human element of mothers mourning their lost children.

And we spoke in our room about current events and how we can make that parallel. Even though it's not artificial intelligence, that's perhaps fuelling some of those current events, how that might make a connection – they can make their own connection to what's happening and make it really relevant to them.

Student 1

Hear our cries.

Student 2

Hear our fears.

Student 3

No more lies

Student group

And no more tears.

Student 4

What do we want?

Students

Pixos gone!

Student 4

When do we want it?

Students

Now!

Students

Boo!

Students

Pixos is the future.

Students

Pixos gives us money.

Students

Pixos stole our future. what do we want?

Students

Pixos gone.

Students

When do we want it?

Students

Now!

Angela Morosin

I'm very cerebral. I attack things from the inside out. So what worked for me this time is work to a time frame, do it quickly, and physicalise it, and be encouraging for the students and make them feel safe in the physicalisation, but to not think so much about how the pieces fit together, but how you can make it look on stage. That's my hot tip.

Students

8,000 people dead, 20 million homeless. A decision we were not equipped to understand without its help.

[Cheering]

[Music playing]

[End transcript]

[Music playing]

Dan Brown

So the scripted work I was exploring with the students was called Pinched by Melanie Tait. It's a neutral script, so there are no given circumstances, there are no set descriptions or character descriptions involved. You've just got the dialogue, and the characters who speak the dialogue aren't given any names or identifying features or anything like that.

So it's a really interesting work to explore with students. Some of the students I had have never been working with neutral scripts before, and so it was a really great experience for them to sink their teeth into.

One of the things I loved about it was it's a really beautiful entry point to devising because there's so much scope in it for the students to play. There's so much that you can play around with in terms of interpreting moments, interpreting lines, thinking about doing things differently, moving things around.

So it's a really nice way into devising. When you're kind of starting from scratch, that can be a bit daunting for some students, and students working together can often hit a little bit of a roadblock at that initial point. So it gives you enough of a starting point, but still so much scope to play around with, and we had a lot of fun exploring different possibilities and different ways of interpreting, yeah.

OK, so what we're going to do is we're going to do a little warm-up that is focused on building a soundscape. We're going to be using different parts of our bodies, making different gestures that will help us build up a sound that will create an atmosphere.

How that's going to work is one person is going to start with a simple instruction, a basic gesture. The first one is going to be just rubbing hands together like this. So, we're going to start with Lizzie. She's going to start it, and then it will pass around the circle. And Lizzie will keep going, and we'll add Grace, and then Eloise, and so on until it comes all the way around the circle.

Once it reaches Lizzie again, Lizzie will move on to the next gesture, which is clicking fingers. It's OK if you're not great at clicking fingers. Together, we'll have the sound going. And Grace will pick that up, and Eloise, and so on around the circle until it comes back to Lizzie. And then Lizzie will start tapping on her legs.

And that will go around the circle until we get back to Lizzie again, and then she'll stomp her feet. And that will make its way around the circle, and then we're going to work our way back through them. So we'll go from stomping back to tapping, from tapping back to clicking, from clicking back to – [rubbing hands together] and then the last thing will be stillness.

So we'll have this effect where that sound ripples around the group, and then the next sound will ripple around the group. Once you start doing one of them, keep doing that one until the next one gets to you. So Lizzie, I'll get to start with you. We'll head around to your left just to start by rubbing your hands together.

[Activity starts]

OK, so thinking about that activity, what kind of atmosphere was created from that building up of sounds? Yeah?

Student 1

I thought I felt like it sort of sounded like rain.

Dan Brown

Yeah.

Student 1

Building up to a thunderstorm, and then going back down.

Dan Brown

Yeah, OK. What about when you get to the end and you've just got that stillness? There's sort of a mood and atmosphere that hangs after that's finished. What did that feel like? Yeah?

Student 2

It was literally – it felt like the calm after a storm. Like, it felt like after this whole build-up of, like, tension and relief. And then it was just, like, quiet and, like, peace.

Dan Brown

Yeah, fantastic. So it was a real resolution of that tension that was built up through the accumulation of the sound. Excellent.

The script has a note at the beginning of it that really does encourage to the students to play around with it and to explore as many different ways of interpreting it as they would like to, and to imagine well beyond what might jump off the page immediately.

The way that I approached that with them was I started with looking at some much shorter, neutral scripts, and I started – I stepped them through that. I gave them an exercise with a short, two-handed neutral script, and I gave them a scenario to interpret it with some characters.

And then I gave them a very different scenario to interpret it with, and we explored the difference that that made to which lines really popped out, which moments carried the tension, what words were particularly significant when we had different characters and a different set of given circumstances. So that was a really exciting activity that the kids really loved.

And then from there, we moved to another different short, neutral script, and this time, it was up to them to come up with what the scenario was and map the situation onto the script that they had in front of them.

And then we were able to open up Pinched and really dig into that, and they'd really got that idea of looking for subtext, looking for those clues, and thinking about when we deliver it differently, what difference does that make to the scene? What are some of the different ways that this could be said, could be interpreted, could be delivered?

And from there, we were able to then explore some of the different theatrical options in terms of if we did this with this kind of use of space, what might that look like? If we inserted this particular use of focus, what might that look like? And we were able to build from there.

So one moment from the piece that my students performed was from the beginning of the first scene of the script, Gathered. We did a workshop where we played around with changing the way that focus worked. I gave one group the task of having a singular focus, where the character that was being talked about, was visible on stage. Another group had the challenge of using a split focus and dividing the stage space so that the audience's focus shifted between two points.

Group number 1, you guys are going to have a singular focus, which means that the protagonist, the person that you're talking about in this scene, is in the space with you, and you're going to be able to focus your attention and the audience's attention on that particular person.

Group number 2, you're going to be working with a split focus. So you're going to have two different parts to your stage, and you're going to be requiring your audience to focus on things that are happening in both of them. And think about how you can use both of those focus points to build up the other. How things from one focus can influence the things in the other focus, and vice versa.

Group number 3, yours is a little bit curlier. Your challenge is that there are going to be multiple focuses, and the actors on stage aren't physically connected by space. So you're going to need to think about how you spread your focus across the stage space and have that sense of physical disconnection between the performers.

So, you're going to have a period of time now to workshop this. You can have a bit of discussion first, but within a couple of minutes, I'm going to ask you to be up on your feet, workshopping some ideas, and figuring out how you're going to make it work. I'll move around to the different groups, have some discussions, see how you're going, and support where I need to.

And then after we've done some time workshopping, we'll show each other what we've got and reflect on how the different use of focus influences the way that we feel performing the scene and the way that we experience it as an audience as well.

OK, so you guys are working with split focus. We want the audience focusing on two different parts of the stage, or more if you want to. And we want the things that are happening in one spot to be informing the things that are happening in the other spot, and vice versa. So the audience is making meaning not just out of the two individual focuses, but the combination of the two of them.

[Whispering]

Student 1

You can't!

Student 2

I haven't said I will.

Student 1

Why are we here?

Student 2

You tell me.

Student 1

I heard you were going to.

Student 2

It needs to stop.

Student 3

He's lucky he hasn't.

Student 4

I don't think you understand what it would mean.

Student 5

We all understand what it would mean.

Student 3

Rules are rules.

Student 4

He has a problem.

Student 5

That problem is affecting everyone else.

Student 6

It's not worrying me.

Students 1–5

Nothing worries you.

Student 5

It must be so great to be you.

Student 6

I'll be real if you do. It's great being me.

Student 4

It's not so great to be him.

Dan Brown

Great. Well done.

[Applause]

And then a third group had the challenge of thinking about a completely scattered focus, and their challenge was the performers aren't physically connected in the space, how are you going to make that work? And they came up with this really great idea of just a group phone chat. A message is sent that instigates the situation and the different members of the group, you know, pop up when they get the message on their phone, and each have their own little input into the chat.

So this group had the challenge of completely scattered focus, right? None of the performers in the space are physically connected to each other, and so the focus is split in multiple directions at different times. Yeah? Let's see what they've got.

Student

Whoosh.

[Dinging]

[Gasps]

[Ringing]

Student 1

Oh, come on.

Student

What?

Student 2

You can't.

Student 1

I haven't said I will.

Student 3

Why are we here?

Student 1

You tell me.

Student 4

I heard you were going to.

Student 1

It needs to stop.

Student 5

He's lucky he hasn't.

Student 2

I don't think you understand what it would mean.

Student 5

Rules are rules.

Student 2

He has a problem.

Student 4

That problem's affecting everyone else.

Student 6

It's not affecting me.

Student 5

Nothing worries you.

Student 1

Yeah, it must be great to be you.

Student 6

I'll be real, it's super real. It's super great being me.

Student 2

It's not so great being him.

Student 1

I'm leaving.

Dan Brown

It worked really effectively, and the whole group collectively decided that they wanted to maintain that through to our final performance, and the kids came up with the idea of scattering themselves through the audience.

And we talked about how that would then bring the audience into the conversation that's happening because those members of the audience are pitching in and they have opinions and they've all got a perspective on what's going on. So that was something that we used in the final performance, and I think it worked really well. Yeah.

[Actors perform a script excerpt from PINCHED by Melanie Tait.]

[Wind howling]

Student 1

They can't keep doing this.

Student 2

They're going to regret their actions.

Student 3

They're impulsive.

Dan Brown

OK, so three very different approaches to putting that same script on stage. So this neutral script, as we know, open to a range of different interpretations and wildly open for you to do with it what you want. How did we feel the different choices in terms of focus affected the way that we engaged with the story and what was going on with these characters? Yeah?

Student

It allowed people to wonder maybe more of why the characters are talking about this person.

Dan Brown

Yeah. So which are you talking about? One of …

Student

Actually, like the phone call one. It's more of like, oh, they're up late at night doing like a call. Like, what are they doing?

Student

It was easy to empathise with Jack when you actually see him in the last scene. And then …

Dan Brown

Yeah.

Student

During the phone call, you could actually see him, and maybe he'll come back for him.

Dan Brown

Yeah, yeah. That's really interesting, isn't it? The way that being able to see the person that they're gossiping about encouraged a little bit of sympathy for them, yeah.

We read everything that we can see, right? So Jack's body language there and all of those kinds of things are informing the ways that we're interpreting what the characters are saying about him, whereas in the other two, we didn't see the person that they were talking about, and so that left that really open for us to cook up different ideas in our own heads. Yeah, great.

Student

I really like the way the phone call scene, I feel like you could see each different character a lot more clearer just by their body language, where they were, how they reacted to the phone call, what kind of things they were saying. I think each character was a lot more individualised, and I think I really like that for a bigger group. I found that was a lot easier to follow.

Dan Brown

So some really big differences in how we engage with that performance because of those changes in focus and the ways in which we direct the audience's focus. Great.

I've got two pieces of learning and reflection on helping students devise using scripted material. The first one is a more broad point around devising, and that is just how important it is for students to learn to trust the process. My group hit some roadblocks. We had a few sessions there where they were a bit in a bit of a funk about how the piece was going.

And to see them pull together and find those solutions and work through it and how proud they were of themselves when they came out the other side and had a really great performance was a beautiful thing to watch, and they'll take that away now and know that when they hit those roadblocks in the future, they can work through it.

The second one is we got to a point where the group were clinging on to their script a little bit, and we had to push to that point where I needed to keep encouraging them to play the scene rather than the script. And so instead of getting hung up on what particular line comes next, what's the intention of the scene? What's your character doing here now? Say something that moves us in that direction and it'll be fine.

So that was a bit of a letting-go moment for a lot of the students, and was a bit scarier for some of them than for others, but all of them, in the end, really did a bang-up job of playing those intentions and playing those characters, yeah.

Student

So if Taylor Swift's rider organised a whole banquet of fried chicken, red jelly beans, and gourmet pizzas, and someone organised to have them on some fancy little platters, and so she does her concert without eating any of the food. So she takes it back home to her hotel room, is it stealing if I've already eaten a chicken drumstick in her dressing room? Is that bad?

Student

Well, technically.

Student

There's a block of apartments sitting empty for two years, and there's two homeless people outside, and one night they decide to move in to one of the empty apartments. Is that wrong?

Student

Well, you're using ridiculous examples.

Students

Are we?

Student

Hey!

[Music playing]

[End transcript]

[Rhythmic orchestral music]

Callan Purcell

We went with Before the Sun Comes Up, written by myself and Jordan Shea. It's a docudrama that is a collation of interviews from young people experiencing moments through a period of time. And so that is night-time.

And there is a sense of lyricism and a poetic nature to the work, but this underbelly of real issues that young people are facing. And we thought, theatrically, we could anchor the young people in their lived experience, but also let the images, let the dreams, let the theatrical styles fly off the page. So we're kind of going both ways.

There was a particular scene that we visited – ‘Can they see us?’ And there were so many dynamics that changed, depending on how many young people were reading the scene. So we were doing it in duologues, as a monologue, as an entire scene. But what didn't change was that something has happened, and these young people need to make a decision fast.

So as we're reading the script, each line, a different person will say that line, OK? So for example, we'll go, Simon, we'll start with, ‘Uh-oh.’ Then, Katie will go, ‘Yeah.’ Then, Mila will go, ‘Worry sits in my stomach. Funny, it sits in my throat.’ And we just continue around the circle, all right?

And as we're doing this, I'd love you to think of four kinds of perspectives or hats that you can put on whilst we're reading and whilst we're listening, OK? Thinking from a director's point of view, from an actor's point of view, from a designer's point of view, and from an audience's point of view. I'll give you some questions on the butcher's paper a little bit later. But just have that in mind as we read, OK? Are we ready to go?

Student

Mm-hmm.

Callan Purcell

Are we ready to go?

Students

Yeah.

Callan Purcell

Are we ready to go?

Student

Yes!

Callan Purcell

Ok, great. Let's go, Simon.

Student 1

Uh-oh.

Student 2

Yeah.

Student 3

Worried sits in my stomach. Funny, it sits.

Callan Purcell

Sweet. So straight away, what images, what thoughts have come to mind in this scene? What information have we got? What do you reckon? Yes?

Student 4

People were worrying. So then, it was overlapping with other people's worry, which made it bigger.

Callan Purcell

And so then, in the scene, how can we kind of find that pace?

Student 4

Like really fast, snappy, and pacing around?

Callan Purcell

Great. And there weren't really many long lines, were there? It was kind of like really short, snappy answers, yeah? Jas?

Student 5

Yeah, I think that there was a lot of disagreement going on. Some wanted to call their parents, some didn't. So it kind of just got all hectic and really overwhelming for everyone.

Callan Purcell

OK. So if some wanted to call their parents and some didn't, what images come to mind on stage? What could we see?

Student 6

Conflict.

Callan Purcell

So, conflict. But how can we see that in an image? Yes?

Student 7

Like two opposing sides.

Callan Purcell

Yes. OK, so two teams? Are they all huddled together? What's the deal? What's happening?

Student

They're very separated and isolated.

Callan Purcell

Yeah, nice. So kind of a scene of isolation. Do we think this is happening in the day? What time do you think this is happening, even though it says so in the script?

Student

It's night-time.

Callan Purcell

So it's night-time. So what does that add to the scene? Mila, what do you reckon?

Student 3

It kind of makes you scared for the situation the characters are in, because obviously they're teenagers our age, and something's happened. And they're out late at night. And some want to call their parents and be safe, but some are too worried about the consequences.

Callan Purcell

Great.

Student 3

So that's what causing their disagreement.

Callan Purcell

That's cool. So that contrast of safety and then danger, safety and consequences, being alone or being together. It's not really happening very well for them. It's not really a walk in the park for them.

One of the most successful strategies is always throwing them in the deep end and seeing what sticks. So it's from this kind of a rigorous curiosity that we could find the juiciest, most theatrically exciting images and scenarios for these scenes. And the way we recorded that was on massive pieces of butcher's paper and a collection of markers. And what that did, it gave young people the opportunity to record their responses, to dream into what they saw. But they weren't in the spotlight just yet.

So the deal is, you've got these ideas brimming. They're coming out of your fingertips. They're coming out of your eyes. I can see all of these ideas in your eyes, all this magic that we're about to make together. Because already we are theatre-makers OK? Even though we're not up performing yet, we are already dreaming collectively into this version of the scene.

Actor, director, designer all has an effect on our audience. With the actor, it's just, what is this scene about? Writing words about essential information that's in the scene. What's the pivotal moment or conflict the characters are having? What are the given circumstances? And you can choose a line from the scene that captures the essence of the scene as well.

As the director, how would you bring this scene to life? What is the pace or the rhythm, as Lily was talking about before? How many actors would you use for the scene? Or would you do it as a monologue or a duologue? And if you could give this scene a song, what would you use?

As a designer, what images or elements come to mind? So as we had this kind of the blues and the hues, the coolness, thinking of lighting, sound, costumes, props, and set to accompany this moment in the scene. And so if this scene was a colour, what colour would it be? And then, what effect do we want to have on the audience?

So do we want to have them feel fear? What do we want them to think about? Do we want them to think about, oh my gosh, that's right, these young people have so many inner thoughts that I never considered? Or do we want them to make sure that they walk away knowing how young people make choices when they're on their own? All right?

This is your blank canvas. This is your piece. This is your gallery. For the acting category, I'd love you to consider what line you would use from the scene that that encapsulates the entire scene. For the directors, I'd love you to write down some songs that you would use, not necessarily to put in the scene, but what the scene feels like.

Designers, I'd love you to have a look at, if you had a dream of this scene, what does that dream look like? We've got some massive torches there. So that's kind of cool. The street lamp looks like this massive torch light. And so they're stuck. They can't go anywhere. And an audience, how do you want to affect them?

Do we turn the air conditioning down just a little bit, just so it's like they get that full, 4D experience. Having a look at everyone's ideas being really clear – it's not if the idea is good or not. You've already won because you've put an idea into the middle. So you've already won. Have a look around.

Have a look around and see another idea that you didn't write, that you didn't draw, that you absolutely love. And let us know why you love it. Does anyone have any ideas? Any thoughts? Yeah, Katie?

Student 1

I really like the idea of the flashlight. I feel like it could create a tense and creepy atmosphere.

Callan Purcell

OK. And what would you do with that flashlight?

Student 1

You could use it to show focus on whoever says the line at that point in time.

Callan Purcell

OK. And what about, I don't know, with this torch light, does everyone have one? Or do you see just one torch light?

Student 1

It could be everyone or it could be just one person. It could go either way.

Callan Purcell

Great. If you incorporated this torch light into the scene, what words come to mind for anyone?

Student 1

I really like where the metaphors are, like the worry raining down and everything.

Callan Purcell

Yeah nice.

Student 1

Because they're sort of a bit creepy and inner-thought-like.

Callan Purcell

Yeah, beautiful. OK. Gabby, what idea do you love?

Student 2

Just so that add on from Katie's, it can create a really cool, scary, dim atmosphere. And even if you just prop the torch up and just have people in the light of it, it will just be the darkness around them. And that will be just really cool to set the mood.

Callan Purcell

Great. That's cool. Yeah. Who did the torch light, the lamp post idea here?

So Lexi drew this one here. Does anyone want to talk about this kind of thing? Yeah, Sophia?

Student 3

I like the street setting. Because I think it's kind of like a public setting. And so it's not quite as intimate. But it's still quiet because, you know, it's night.

Callan Purcell

Yeah.

Student 3

And I like how there's only one light source. And so you're just focused on the characters. And street lamps have that tint to them. So they look really – underneath you look kind of sickly and you've got a pallor on your skin.

Callan Purcell

Yeah, right.

Student 3

So it looks more ominous.

Callan Purcell

Yes, like something's not quite right.

Student 3

Yeah.

Callan Purcell

Yeah? There was something about a cliffhanger as well. Yes?

Student 4

What we were saying about the cliffhanger was that if we leave the audience on a cliffhanger, they don't know what side to be on. Because we have so much tension and darkness and all these different themes throughout the story, they don't know what side to pick because they don't have a full understanding if it's left on a cliffhanger.

Callan Purcell

All right. So we have all of these ideas on this butcher's paper. Now let's put all of those ideas back into the script. We're going to read the same scene. We're going to go around this way this time. But we're informed by the circumstances. We know the stakes.

We might know the perspectives of our character this time, OK? So let's bring the scene to life a little bit more, OK? Something has happened. You've all run away. And try to figure out what to do next. Have a think of that. How does that sit in your body? And when you're ready, Drew, you're going to take off, all right?

And, technically, it was the first piece that they'd made together. But it was this visual form of the show that they could always reference to throughout the term whilst they're devising. And also, it's kind of like they're like, oh, great, so this is part of the process. We can record, and we can create a beautiful piece of recording as well.

Lastly, I'd love to say that it was successful because no one person felt it was their sole responsibility to make up every idea. Everyone chipped in. Everyone bowerbird, stole other ideas. And they were always working together to bring this collective vision to life. And it's all theirs. It's a collective sense of the whole. So, the way that I support young people when interpreting script, we always start with play.

So it's coming from an embodied place instead of just a cerebral point of view of a script. So if we start with a game, then we'll layer in a text. And that already gives circumstances, or given circumstances, to the text itself. And then they're already in the world of the play. They're in the given circumstances.

They're in the objectives. And so they're making discoveries instead of decisions with the script. And what's really exciting, then it's a full-body experience. Then, it's in the DNA of their body instead of just the brain. And it's a great way to remember lines as well.

All right, so this is our arena, OK? This becomes our stage. Now, before we were talking about this idea of wanting to go home of maybe the youngest person in the group, and then this authoritative figure who's saying, no one goes home, nobody's leaving. So Lexi and Mila, if you want to jump up and imagine that this circle is that spotlight that we were talking about, that torch, that lamp post that we were talking about.

And this scene now, as an audience, have a think about what this scene does, just being read as a duologue. What's the story that comes out? Folks, let's just start from, ‘What about calling?’ the bottom of page 21. And we're jumping in midway through the scene, so its already high stakes.

Student 1

What about calling …

Student 2

No, don't!

Student 1

… one of our mates?

Student 2

You were going to say your parents.

Student 1

No, I wasn't.

Student 2

No one can know.

Student 3

Really? Why?

Student 2

They just can't.

Student 1

I feel sick.

Student 2

It's just the worry. Don't worry. Wait, maybe worry. I don't know. Maybe it's worry. Stop worrying!

Student 1

Shh!

Student 2

[Sighs] No one is calling their parents.

Student 1

I want to.

Student 2

Why?

Student 3

I'll feel better.

Student 2

Serious? Lucky, lucky, you.

Student 1

You don't like your parents?

Student 2

They have no idea what I do. A lot of the time, they don't care.

Callan Purcell

Ooh! Drama! Good. Round of applause.

[Applause]

So we've tried it as a duologue and we've tried it as an entire scene. But now what happens if the power is imbalanced? And this time we're going to introduce this, the ball. Ooh! Yeah? But it's not just any ball, it's a magical ball. And we're going to allow the circumstances of the scene to inform what this ball becomes.

It might be symbolic. It might be something that the teenagers have stolen. It could be something fragile that they've found, like an egg in a tree, something like that. OK? May I have three brave individuals? Doesn't matter. Anyone? Yep, sweet. All right. So let's go, Nix, do you want to come in the middle here? And then Gabby and Chris, either side.

So what's going to happen, let's start from, ‘We shouldn't have done that,’ on (page) 23. And we'll just keep going until we stop. All right? Now this ball, it's going to kind of burn in your hand for this moment, all right? And then when you're done with your line, you're going to pass that along. Allow the line to travel with that movement of the ball, OK?

That's it. We know the circumstances of the scene, but it's all about the ball and about delivering these lines to one another. OK? So, Gabby, Chris, Nix; Gabby, Chris, Nix. OK? As an audience, let's see how this version informs the narrative and the relationships.

Student 1

You shouldn't have done that!

Student 2

We had to.

Student 3

Did we?

Student 1

You wanted to!

Student 2

I wouldn't have if you didn't.

Student 3

Whoa, what? Are you serious? I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Student 1

Well, we all did it.

Student 2

All of us said, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I reckon it's a good idea.

Student 3

Hectic.

Student 1

Hold on, I don't remember agreeing. And I just want to go home, like now.

Student 2

No. No one goes home.

Student 3

No one calls their parents.

Callan Purcell

Great. Let's pause it there.

So what we did in the classroom, we tried all of those different scenarios. Then we dreamt into what were the relationships. What has happened? What are they seeing? How close is the threat? How far away is it?

And then there was a particular moment at the end where one of the students, she kind of commands the space. And she's saying, no, no one is calling their parents. We need to make this decision now. And then in silence, we've got one by one, every other young person abandoning her.

And in that moment, we saw a young person, no text, nothing, just trying to figure out what they can do on their own. And that was a really powerful image because it wasn't about the text, it wasn't about the skills of acting. It was just seeing a young person being themselves.

Student 1

Seriously, what do we do?

Student 2

I have no idea.

Student 1

What about calling …

Student 2

No!

Student 3

Don't.

Student 1

No. No, I wasn't.

Student 2

No one can know.

Student 4

Really? Why?

Student 5

They just can't.

Student 1

I feel sick.

Student 3

No one is calling their parents.

Student 4

I want to.

Student 5

Why?

Student 4

I'll feel better.

Student 5

Serious? Lucky you. Lucky, lucky you.

Student 6

You don't like your parents?

Student 5

They don't know what I do. Most of the time, they don't care.

Student 6

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Student 7

I wish mine cared. I wish they cared a lot more.

Student 1

Call them!

Student 7

No way! No!

Callan Purcell

My crucial reminder for all the teachers is that young people have ideas; so listen.

[Relaxing ambient music]

[Butcher paper rustling]

[Rhythmic orchestral music]

[End transcript]

[Music playing]

Jordan Shea

The scripted work that I chose is a work that was written by myself and Callan Purcell called Before the Sun Comes Up. And the great reason as to why I chose to do this particular scripted work, is that it allows students to become devisers and makers and really lets them leave their student identity at the door and enables them to attack a script with no characters, no given circumstances, no setting, and bring all of their own love of characterisation and setting to the devising and collaboration process.

My approach to this particular scripted work was to really get the students to look very deeply at it and beat the script as much as they can and really identify the shifts and the moments of tension and the possibilities of cohesion that exist within the script. But importantly, looking at the work as a playwright, I really wanted to make sure that students could interpret this work as a monologue, duologue, or ensemble work. So having that clearly stated in the work does allow for the students to approach it in one of those three styles of performing, and it empowers them in either a group level or an individual level or if you've got two very, very like-minded performers in a duo kind of level. And that's really the best way to approach it, is to allow them to have some kind of agency whilst also serving as a facilitator to really devise the work.

One of the most important things when devising with scripted work is that you take a big chunk of text and you really have a quick glance through it, and you start world building. And world building allows us as theatre makers and devisors and students to really start responding to the environment as characters. Someone's idea of a public space is going to be different to someone's idea of a private space. So it's really important that we start to draw or map out what the world may be, and that's all part of world building.

So what I'm going to do here is give you an excerpt of a great little play called Before the Sun Comes Up, and you are going to start looking for clues that are really active within the play that gives you an idea of what the world looks like. Is there a window? Is there a kitchen? Is there a paddock? And we can start world building and also collaborating actively amongst ourselves to create this world.

So this should take roughly about five minutes. It's important for the paper to be passed around so that everyone is actively collaborating at the same time. So have a look through the script. I know you haven't seen this before, so it's really important that you start looking deeply into those words that are active. So talk amongst yourselves and make sure that you're all sharing ideas.

Student 1

It starts off with there's a window and people are having dinner.

Student 2

Oh yeah?

Student 3

We could throw a window in the room.

Student 4

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jordan Shea

A window is a great idea. Make that active.

Student 5

Should I write keywords or draw?

Student 1

Well, yeah. It says in that window you can see living room, kitchen, dining room, and there's a family having dinner.

Student 5

Yeah.

Student 6

It doesn't say – yeah, wait, wait, just wait. Before – so there if it's centre stage and there's something else that might be needed, we just have that family then. It's like maybe split it. So …

Student 5

It mentions frames, so I feel like it's more the centre of why.

Jordan Shea

Right. So I think now that you've discovered that, the window and the frame should go right in the centre of our world. What do you think?

So once you've built the world of the play or the world of the piece, it's so important to start thinking who inhabits it and who the characters are that move throughout this world as well. So in this play, Before the Sun Comes Up, a play that you've never seen before nor read, it's really important that we start looking actively for clues about the characters that inhabit this world.

A great activity for this, is to roughly spend about 30 seconds on each group member to come up with 4 very, very heightened given circumstances within a character's world, so an age, a name, where they're from, and how they're feeling today. If you want to add a fifth one, job is also really important. This will allow a lot of provocations to start how the character moves, how they speak, and how they avoid or even interact with other people in the space. So having a look at our script, really starting to pick up clues about who is going to occupy this world, and then start moving the paper around so we have a fully fledged idea about who is in this world.

So what's the first thing we see?

Student 1

Well, we've given in the script there's 4 characters to begin with. You've got the lady guy, brother, and sister.

Student 2

But is it talking – they're talking third person, so maybe it's people looking in on them and watching their family interacting.

Student 1

And they talk about they're playing games. Maybe it's a friend group.

Student 3

Yeah.

Jordan Shea

One of the great things is that you can have a friend group or you can have a family. Devising with a script is really important because it allows us to have endless possibilities.

So there is a moment in Before the Sun Comes Up, when there is one performer behind a large group of their peers, and their peers are about to crawl through the field to potentially rob a house. And in this particular performance that we've been working on, the students fell forward and landed all in sync on their hands. And I supported that because the students wanted to take a non-conventional way of crawling and they wanted to really show that the act and understanding of deciding to actually crawl was captured rather than the action.

And that kind of motion was much more accessible for the students as well. And when we pulled it off, I think it was really beneficial for them because they thought of it as a really cool and exciting image and from the audience, it was also a very, very engaging image. And I think it's something that I supported by introducing a sense of rote learning to make sure that they repeated it over and over again to really capture that thud and capture that in-sync physicality of it.

Once we've spent a bit of time devising and I know we have great ideas, sometimes it's really important for those ideas not to be concrete and to always be open to change. It's really important that your teacher gives you some kind of collaboration advice but also gives you some ideas and provocations. They'll usually come from within the group but always have a teacher or facilitator there to bounce ideas off. So let's see what you have, and I'll stop and start where we should. Let's go.

Student 1

There's a lady and a guy and a brother and a sister.

Student 2

The window is perfectly framed of the family eating dinner.

Student 3

Through the window, you can see the dining room, kitchen, living room. It's all open.

Student 4

OK. Open plan. The television is glowing out of frame, and on the table steam's coming off the veggies.

[Shushing]

Forks and knives clinking against each other on matching plates and …

Jordan Shea

Great. Let's have a look. Mia, take a seat for us for a minute. Now there is a bit of a shift here. Let's – where can we find the shift in this line? The television is glowing out of frame, and on the table steam's coming off. Where's the shift there?

Steam's coming off and also glowing. At the moment, I think glowing and steam looks a bit similar. So what do you think we could do maybe to really show the difference between glowing and steam? What do you reckon we could do arm-wise?

Student 1

Push out, extend it up.

Jordan Shea

So show us how we would do that. Glowing would be out.

Student 1

Glowing.

Jordan Shea

Yep.

Student 1

And then steam, blowing.

Jordan Shea

Glowing and steam.

Student 2

Going like glowing and then when steam.

Student 3

When food is steaming.

Student 4

It goes up.

Student 3

It goes up. Anyways, yeah,.

Student 1

So TV is going out of frame.

Jordan Shea

Yeah.

[Shushing]

Student 3

Yeah.

Student 1

And then we come back and drop our arms.

Student 5

I think it's a bit weird to look completely stapled like some …

Student 1

Yeah. I reckon we have …

Student 2

You know how like glowing – like when you …

Student 1

Well, if we just like …

Jordan Shea

Well, yeah. Great. I like that idea. Sienna, do you have something you'd like to add?

Student 2

What if I did glowing like us in the front could go down. In the back, it could be more up, and then in the middle, it's up out.

Jordan Shea

So what Sienna said is she's suggested levels. So it's suggesting levels. So show me what you think we should do.

Student 2

Front guys – And the TVs going out of frame out. The TV's going out of frame for the middle. It's up a bit more, and then for the back they'll already be up. Or they could even split their arms out open that way.

Student 4

It should be out of your arms. You go straight up.

Student 3

OK.

Jordan Shea

Great. Well, let's try that. Who's got the line?

Student 3

Me.

Jordan Shea

So give us that line, Mia, so we can try and work that physicality in.

Student 3

You want to go from steams or glowing?

Jordan Shea

Well, let's go from glowing.

Student 3

Glowing?

Jordan Shea

So open plan.

Student 3

OK.

Jordan Shea

Yeah. Yeah, we're going to add the steam. Yeah.

Student 1

Yeah, yeah.

Student 3

Ok. Open plan. The television is glowing out of frame, and on the table steam's coming off the veggies.

[Shushing]

Jordan Shea

Nice So the best thing you can do – that's very good seeing is you've never really done that action before. Do it 3 times without the dialogue so just with movement. So you can get that that movement really sharp and great. And what it does, it adds a bit of variety to a line that you may know and that you've done the same movement to over and over again. Let's try that again just without the line and just with movement.

[Shushing]

Great. One more time for me.

As the script progresses and as it moves along, the ensemble or the groups will become more and more cohesive. So you should really start listening to each other's rhythms. And this is really achieved through making sure that you're performing at a really, really decent and sustainable energy with conviction and making sure we're hitting all those group dynamics at the same time.

So let's see from where we've gotten up to today. Let's go.

Student 1

And it's just a normal family – mum, dad, kids just sitting there eating, talking to each other. I look over there, I see them over there, and …

Student 2

I don't know if obviously I'm in someone's backyard. With them here. Right, yeah, I'm just – this normal family. I'm just some kid in their backyard.

Student 3

What am I doing?

Student 4

I mean, I should, I have to crawl. And there's a house, and the side of the fence, and then I'll be in the clear.

Jordan Shea

All right. Great. We might hold it right there. And we might try that again. What I would like everyone to do is really try and match each other's energies, OK? And try and match each other's group, or individual dynamics. OK? Every line that you say has to be clear, but importantly, it cues in what? What does a line usually cue in? Someone tell me. An action or a sense of what? Mia, what does it usually cue in?

Student

Like, emotion?

Jordan Shea

Emotion and movement. OK? That's also really important. So let's try that again, and perform it with a bit more of a heightened dynamic to really achieve that group feeling.

Student 1

And like it's just a normal family, mum, dad, kids are just sitting there eating dinner, talking to each other. I see them over there and …

Student 2

I don't know if – obviously, I'm just some kid in their backyard. While they're there. No, yeah. There's just a normal family, and some random kid in their backyard.

Student 3

What am I doing?

Student 4

I mean, I should, I have to crawl. There's a fence on the side of the house. And if I hide behind there, I'll be in the clear.

Jordan Shea

Both groups have been given the same amount of text, and are choosing their own movements, and also their own rhythms of speaking when creating this very, very unique world. Hold.

Student 1

Open plan. The television is glowing out of frame. And on the table, steam is coming off the bench. Knives and forks clink against matching plates.

Student 2

What am I doing here?

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 1

No. No. What am I doing?

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 3

No. No. What am I doing here?

Student 4

It's just a normal family. Mum, dad, kids eating dinner together, talking to each other.

Student 5

I see them there and …

Student 6

I mean, I guess, I mean, of course they can see me. I'm in someone's backyard. But it's just a normal family. I'm some kid in their backyard.

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 7

Like, it's just some normal family eating, talking to each other, mum, and dad, kids. I see them there.

Student 3

I don't know if I – obviously, I'm in someone's backyard. But I'm there. Yeah, no. They're just some normal family. I'm some kid in their backyard.

Student 8

What am I doing?

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 9

What am I doing? I should – I have to crawl because …

[Grunts]

Student 10

It's one of those things, right? You've got the side of the house, the window, the fence that I'll go under, then I'll be in the clear.

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 11

I mean, I should, I have to crawl. The side of the house, and then the fence. If I go through that, then I'll be in the clear.

Student 12

The grass is so dry. It's really crying for a drink.

Student 13

Don't get caught.

Student 14

And if I do?

Student 15

Run. Run like crazy.

Student 17

But tonight, tonight in particular, we could get caught.

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 1

The grass is all dry, crying for a drink.

Student 4

Don't get caught.

Student 2

And if I do?

Student 5

Run. Run like crazy.

Student 5

But tonight, tonight in particular, we could get caught.

Student 6

The moon's brighter than usual.

Student 9

We take it seriously, full black. Black long sleeves, black trackies, black shoes, and not because we're too old to do this anymore, but because, because there's just too much on the line if we get caught. You know?

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 8

The moon is brighter than usual.

Student 13

We take it seriously. Full black. Black long sleeves, black trackies, black shoes not because – because we're too old to do this anymore, but because it's just too much on the line if you get caught. You know?

Student 16

I'm hiding under a car.

Student 12

I'm in the bush.

Student 3

Oh, there's footsteps.

Student 14

We hold our breath.

Student 15

The torch comes over.

Student 11

I freak out. Jump out of the bush.

Student 8

Flash.

Student 7

The house has a camera, motion sensored, and we've triggered it.

Student 16

Here we go.

Jordan Shea

Hold.

Student 10

I'm hiding under a car.

Student 1

In the bush.

Student 4

But there's footsteps.

Student 2

We hold our breath.

Student 5

Torch comes over.

Student 17

I freak out. Jump out of the bush.

Students

Flash.

Student 9

The house has a camera, motion sensored, and we've triggered it.

Student 10

Here we go.

Jordan Shea

think allowing students to take up roles within a workshop, whether it be a directorial role, a designing role, a kind of ideas-generating role, you'll always have people that are different in terms of whether they want to perform, whether they want to take the lead, whether they want to lead the ensemble, whether they want to do movement, or more vocal kind of work.

And I think the best thing you can do is really sit down with the script, and by beating the script, which is kind of looking at the shifts and tensions within the script, when does it change, therefore, when does the physicality and the voice of the ensemble change, or the movement of the ensemble change, and how exciting that can be?

Know your students well. Really understand their capabilities and wants before approaching the script. Is there a student immediately that you can give to visually conceive the world? Is there a student that would like to take a directorial approach? Is there a student that would like to do more of a monologue, and it might serve as a point of differentiation? That's my hot tip. So really know the group you're going in with, because the script will be able to be adaptable to all of them.

Student

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Audience

[Laughter]

[Music playing]

[End of transcript]