Words: David John
Geoff Page had a crazy idea.
The classic film, Nosferatu, was coming into the public domain. What if we performed a play with live music, subtitles and no speaking?
Interesting.
I went away and thought about it. Then I thought about it some more… and some more. The concept infected my brain… I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was in turns enthusiastic and terrified. I couldn’t stop myself.
We had to do something, so we invited a group of actors together to workshop the concept a bit in order to see if it would be a disaster or if there was really something there. We started by figuring out what Act One might look like without any words. Kerri rigged up some lights and a couple of projection screens, and Emlyn had some of the titles and images from the original film ready to project. Geoff improvised some piano music, and under Lesley’s direction, we all set to work.
I took a couple of hours to warm into this wordless way of working. We were lost, and finding our way. Then suddenly things started to gel. The ideas started to flow. The music, video and storytelling were actually coming together.
When we reached the end of our session (about five hours later), we asked people what they thought. The enthusiasm completely outweighed the terror. We had a concept. We had a partial cast. We had a story… a story with no spoken words.
Now, actors are experts at bringing stories to life, and words are an integral part of the storytelling process. We were just about to take them away, so I felt like we needed to enlarge our physical and emotional vocabulary to compensate for this loss of a spoken vocabulary.
It was time for a second workshop!
Will and I got together and we planned and we planned. We thought about movement, about building ensemble, and about creating an atmosphere where people felt free to experiment and play. We also thought about Frantic Assembly, Complicité, and other companies that use movement as part of their storytelling. We incorporated all of these different elements into what we hoped would be a coherent day of workshopping and learning.
This time, we let go of the Nosferatu story completely. No lighting, no video, no subtitles, no musicians… we just focused on the movement. This was another moment of terror in the process. Actors are not dancers, and nor should they be. We would be taking these actors way outside of their comfort zone. I was filled with all sorts of judgments and doubts… the morning of the second workshop, I was sure that this was probably going to be a disaster.
So what happened?
Magic.
We did exercises involving pure movement. We used simple rules to devise random movement sequences without any words. We added layers, we gave and took direction, and then, out of nowhere, stories started to emerge all on their own. They weren’t written down, and they weren’t memorized, but they were there.
There were stories dealing with heartbreak, anger, love, friendship… I don’t know the details of the stories, but I could feel them. The emotion and connection was palpable and it just came out of the actors as a natural part of the process. That’s what happens when you bring such a talented group together, and provide a supportive and judgment-free environment. They just made it work.
Today, we’re only in the very early stages of this process. It could still be a disaster. The feeling of terror has not left me, but I have more moments of excitement and inspiration than of fear. We’ve started creating our shared physical vocabulary. We’ve started developing a feeling of ensemble, and a process where there is no shame and no blame… just free experimentation and creativity.
What will the next steps be in this process? I’ve got no idea, but I’m loving the journey.
