CENTRIC
A WEST MIDLANDS COLLECTIVE TELLING STORIES NATIONALLY
Audience Feedback Written document.
Arena Collaborative Theatremakers
Tuesday 1st December 2015
Centric Theatre took part in the Arena collaborative theatremakers evening and they were excited to share ideas and extracts of Giants on the Hill. Their aim was to breathe life into the work with the audience’s help and contribution. The company led a Q&A session afterwards to try and gain some valuable knowledge about how the extracts were received by the audience. They also provided feedback sheet so that could be documented at a later date, this proved to invaluable and offered up some insightful and illuminating feedback for the company to use. Below is a breakdown of the feedback given to the Centric Theatre’s Giant’s on the Hill.
Use of sound and lighting
When asked on the feedback sheet ‘what did you like about the piece’ the majority of responses said the musical elements enhanced the narrative and gave the piece rhythm. The use of sound was something that most audience members commented on; they found this interesting and relative the piece. One audience member said, “I thought the harmonious singing by the trio of actors perfectly represented the sense of community and the instruments used gave that looming reminder of the wind turbines”. The use of voice, instruments and recorded sounds where particularly effective in the opening and ending scene. This excellent feedback has highlighted the audiences desire for more musical input and how effective it was when the actors generated the sound themselves, as it created links to other moment in the play. It was also said that we could explore this idea more with generating light on stage, this was briefly demonstrated in the extracts shown that night. During the question and answer session after the piece a member of the audience said “I liked the stage lighting powered by the cast as it focused the scene for me and added atmosphere to the interaction of the actors.” Generating sound and light on stage emphasized the use of energy verbally and physically. I also feel that this is valuable feedback for the company as the audience could relate the use of energy through the actor’s bodies and voice to the other energy sources that were discussed in the play.
As much as we all love to hear positive feedback it is also good to hear some constructive criticism as this will help in the developmental staging of creating work. The audience was asked ‘is there was anything to improve about the piece’, some suggested that we use less recorded sound and try to generate more sound through other means such as instruments and voice. The audience connected with this as they could relate the style of the piece with the theme giving them a more in depth understanding. At one point in the performance the actors asked audiences member to generate light using wind up torches. We came to the consensus however that this was a distraction as it also generated sound when winding them and therefore it would need rethinking. Another commented about the recorded voice being a distraction from the dialogue particularly in the scene where the actors are eating Christmas dinner. It was suggested that if the scene was structured then recorded sound could be timed for when the dialogue had stopped, however this leaves the question as to whether this would make the scene become static and to choreographed. With this been said the company can still explore this within rehearsal.
The use of energy on stage was the main talk of the evening and is clearly something that as a company needs to be looked at when developing the work. Movement, sound and lighting all played a part and gave an illusion of the wind turbines in motion. The repetitive motifs gave an intense atmosphere on stage, which was why it was effective within the debate scene with the villagers.
The Theme
In terms of the theme the audience found it interesting and they appreciated learning information about solar energy. Some audience members did find the beginning unclear but they put it down to the fact they were watching an extract and also said it became clearer as the piece developed. For most the theme was cleverly treated and enjoyable to be able to learn whilst watching.
An audience member said “The play invites us to become active and remain active, beyond the play we can only solve the challenges, if we do become active citizens.” Following on from this they said, “I like the different layers and the depth of the piece and I liked the fact that we as audience must engage and think. I found that there was an interesting connection made between our brains and the energy used when thinking, creating neuron pathways. The style of the piece suits the theme very well”. Again this connection was made between the discussion on energy and the use of energy the actors used on stage.
There was one scene in particular that the audience commented on in there feedback, the debate scene. They found this scene very engaging and interesting to watch. What makes this scene so thrilling is the suspicious character Tara; she at times seemed disingenuous and “not your usual green energy stereotype” as a member of the audience said.
This scene also explores multirole where two male actors become other village members by changing their body language and tone of voice. They also moved to a different chair each time they became a different character, this was simple yet effective. This technique was highly effective as it gave the scene rhythm and explored repetitive movement, one of which is to familiar for some living near wind turbines. This repetitive movement with the actor’s bodies became slightly disorientated but was intriguing to watch. “One audience member said, “I liked the movement and the use of space. The three handed nature of the extract presented a challenge to the audience which was captivating.”
This scene in particular was effective because it provided the audience with important knowledge, sound, movement and light in a fascinating and thought-provoking way. An audience member wrote “It was intellectually engaging”. The debate brought facts and information to the surface that the audience could understand and possibly relate to however they stated that they would have like to have heard more from the villagers about how the wind farm would affect them personally. An audience member stated, “As an engineer who studied wind farms for two years, I really liked all the against thoughts during the debate with the villagers”. An example of this could be, the affects for people that were born into the village may be different to the people who have just moved into the village recently. This raises many concerning facts about the effects of wind farms and makes you question, are the issues raised financial, visual or something else altogether?
Conclusion
Overall Centric Theatre received inspiring and extremely helpful feedback from the audience that night. It is clear to see that the audience enjoyed watching how Peter Cann (Director) explored the different uses of energy and how he intermingled all of these elements in with the dialogue whilst preserving the seriousness of the topic. An audience member sums this statement up perfectly, “It was a fun atmosphere over a serious tone”. This feedback is vitual and will provide us with some valuable insight into what the audience wants to see. Hoefully we can us some of the feedbcak to enhance and enrich the work within the rehearsal process.
Centric Theatre would like to say a massive thank you to all of those who came to watch and to all who stayed and gave some amazing feedback. One final piece of feedback given was “I can not wait to see the finished product”.
Thank you again.
Find Out More
After reading the feedback it was clear that the audeinec loved the use of live sound and lighting on stage, It was also clear that they would choose live over recored sound or lighting from the rigging.The generated sound added another layer within the performance and also created links with the use of energy and wind turbines. The If you wish you find out more about this then click on the link to my blog.
Click - The use of Energy on stage.Dialogue, Sound & Lights