Photos from '100 years!'

Rehearsal process/Evaluation of 100 Years!

Straight after Common Ground's first week of productions finished, we got stuck in rehearsals for our whole strand piece for physical theatre, which was to be called '100 years'.

It was difficult because a lot of time had lapsed between our physical theatre pieces, duets and solos, and trying to work all of our devising into one piece. We had been busy rehearsing for Common Ground, and then we had the shows, so it felt like we'd forgotten everything we'd done, but with lots of hard work, and focus we set to putting the piece together.

We included pieces from each class, Tim's, Jack and Simon's. Simon's group was the women in war, and the position they held, and we included their waltzing sequence, and reading the letters aloud. Jacks group consisted of the soldiers, so from their pieces we included men at war, three duets, and their lives after the war. And our group were the couples, wives and husbands during the war.

I think because the performance felt so unprepared and rushed because of how soon after Common Ground it was, we all thought it wouldn't go very well, but interestingly enough, I found myself really immersed and engaged during our first performance, and also very emotional as I reflected on the First World War, and the last 100 years.

I found all of it very beautiful to watch, even though I'd seen it a lot of times, and this proved what a great piece it was. After so many rehearsals, still, on the last performance of this piece, I found myself totally gripped by what was happening on stage. During the women waltzing, and them reading the letters, it made me think about how lucky we are, and how difficult it must have been for them.

I think the music really helped our performance feel alive. Below are some of the pieces we had playing in our piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li2z1jlOYHk

That is Sigur Ros' 'Saeglopur' which played during a section where Tim's group were on the floor, and we had to explore the space, and one another's bodies, which included rolling over one another, and 'losing' our partners, and having to reconnect and find our husband/wife. This bit felt quite strange rehearsing at first, if a little weird and embarrassing but the rest of our peers told us it visually looked beautiful, so with confidence and focus, we made sure we took it seriously and I think it was a really successful part of our overall piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGD6I8usrT4
Above is the link to a song also included in our piece called 'Recurring' by Bonobo. This is actually one of my favourite songs, and I was thrilled Tim chose to use it in our piece. It started to play after the recording of 'What war means to me' and it began our duets on stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOSuObRNBUA

This also played in our piece. Kasabians 'Club Foot' was when we were doing our duets, after Bonobo 'Recurring' played, and the men soldiers from Jack's group came in and started doing their soldier duets, on the chairs, and we had to back away, scared.

 

Watching the performance on that platform was interesting because we could see everything, almost like we were exposed to it, forced to see what was happening.

 

I feel like our physical piece of '100 Years' went so well, and I'm thoroughly proud of everyone in our strand; it was sad because it's the last time we were ever performing together as a strand, and that meant a lot to us. I believe we set out what we achieved to, which was to make the audience reflect on the upcoming centenary, and the 100 years that have passed since those brave soldiers, and families went through such a traumatic time, and it gave us time to reflect on how much has changed since then.