The Entire City 3

This episode has taken me back to my theatrical roots, to Bilbao (Basque Country -Spain-) and in specific to my old drama school the BAI and my old collaborators and their company LaRessistens.






The process was intense, we only had less than two weeks to create a performance from scratch. We had talked and established before my arrival some ideas and concepts, but the main creative work was going to happen during this short period of time.



First day we look at the spaces available and decided which space to use and the setting for the show, once these decisions were taken, we started to built up the screen and rig the lights for the creative process to start.



For this performance I was equipped with a back projection screen of 4 meters by 2 meters. I just had to create the structure to rig the screen.
I decided to used stretchers. After positioning the top three stretchers I realised that it wouldn't be necessary to use any more.



The lighting system from that venue was limited to 12 channels, and there was an acute shortage of lamps and cable, so I had to reduce the lighting concept to a minimum, just to support the acting and the projection.




By the early evening of the second day, the screen was ready and we had a minimum of lighting that allowed us to start working.
We sat down and had a look to the videos I had in my video bank and selected the ones that we thought could give us possibilities to play with during the rehearsals, videos that could create interesting connections and interactions with the performer.
That night we draw the plan of action for the next few days and established a calendar until the day of the performance, thinking of it more like a guide but also as a path to follow and never to lose in order to complete the mission. We understood the limitations of time, and by following that calendar we knew that it would indicate when we were running out of time and when it was time to start simplifying.

From the next day we started to work on interactions and reactions from the performer with the videos, then creating scenes, then links and transitions between scenes and after we start to think on the structure of the piece. The idea behind this process, was to follow a logic path on creating from the smallest of the elements and then starting to combine them, to finish with the structure as the final element to create.

Along the creative process we realise the differences between parts and scenes, differences in atmosphere, intention and energy, we decide not to force the process by choosing a theme or structure on an early state, to leave it until when we could see that the parts were more concrete and consolidated by themselves, and then we could try to find a thematic or storyline. By doing this, we avoid to force the intentions and concepts of the individual piece towards an specific theme or idea, and to allow these intentions and concepts to become or to happen freely.

The whole process was very relaxed and felt natural and not forced in any moment. This is due to have a magnificent performer and the connection I had with the co-director due our previous collaborations.
























This experience was extremely enriching and had taught me ways of incorporating dramatical elements to my practice. Those dramatic elements had transformed and evolved The Entire City into a new and more complete performance.

Laboratory.

Tomorrow afternoon is the first presentation of the laboratory module.

For me it has been a quite painful and agonizing experience.

For weeks I have been desperately looking for ideas; the hardest I was reaching the farthest they seemed to escape from me.

Nothing seemed to be good, loads of little ideas came and went without inspiring me or indicating a path to follow.

Finally I came back to one of the first idea/setting that came to my mind during the process.

The interaction between projected media and performers.
Allowing the projected media to play the role of scenographic elements and/or performative elements (i.e. as characters).

One of the main interests in my practice is the evocation of atmospheres, feelings or emotions.

One of the most interesting elements of theatre is its evocative quality.
the pursuit of this quality is strictly related to the mastery and dominion that the creators have in their specific fields.

The research I undertook about the work of Josef Svoboda show how important is the practical experimentation and the taking risks in such experimental process.

Svoboda created an workshop for experimentation in the National Check Theatre, where a permanent team of technicians, chemists, engineers and others carried an extraordinary process of experimentation and investigation to find new ways of producing visually striking performances.

That is inspiring.


coming back to the lab...

This laboratory will allow me to try out some visual ideas and images I had in my mind for quite some time, and evaluate its effectiveness when trying to emote and transmit specific emotions or sensations.

It is quite unusual to have the chance to put up a setting as the one built for my laboratory, without the pressure of having to produce a show from it.

It is indeed a great opportunity for experimentation; whether the circumstances were not very favourable regarding to the time-scale and other inconveniences, it still a great chance for try outs.


My urgent questions on this occasion will be related to the performative qualities of the projected media elements or techniques.

The concept behind this experiment is the juxtaposition of performative elements created by Projected Media and the dramatic qualities resulting of this interrelation.

The feedback session that follows the performance is an idyllic place for the analysis of the efficiency of the experiment.

I will try to lead the session towards the emotional responses of the audience.
Since the performance lacks in purpose of story-line, the elements to analysis are:

If the performance's elements has engaged the audience towards the emotion intended.

The efficiency and versatility of the interaction between projected media's.

Does the does the group (interaction of elements) creates the unit (emotional response)?


For this project I have focused all my attention to the "projection" leaving the lighting design to a mere practical concept. To show what it needs to be seen and "hide" what needs to be hidden.


Wish me luck.