Residency overview
The team from Improbable commenced their residency wanting to explore moving in and out of boxes, breaking down the barriers that separated them in their previous Zoom performance work. They sought to create a spacious open space to speak from and to identify and explore what they described as “the fun, the creativity, the outrageous, the intimate, the beautiful, the human, the theatrical, the unexpected and unlikely”. Reflecting on what was technically possible whilst maintaining their original dramaturgical approach, they developed a handmade tactile aesthetic that uses the technology in a unique way, whilst maintaining the attributes of live theatre.
“I really wanted it to still feel like theatre, and to me it did! … This really opened up a world for us, that we could use different techniques that felt real … ‘you could feel the set wobble’ you know, that's what I really liked about it. … It felt really right with the type of work that we were developing.”
The company brought a unique improvisation style of research and development to the residency. They explored concepts and techniques by continually evaluating their progress and discussing their direction and making preparations for the following sessions, as well as regularly meeting outside the residency online to discuss the script and scene ideas. The team also included an experienced video designer and animator, contributing to the scenography throughout the residency, as well as a technical stage manager assisting the performers with their green screen setups.
Techniques and solutions
The Improbable residency combined improvisations and scripted scenes with animated sequences and transitions, to create a world of shared autobiographical storytelling. Their scenographic techniques imaginatively juxtaposed digital settings with physical backgrounds, as well as using novel visual effects such as full-body live action sequences being framed by close-up shots of hands that create scenes in real time by moving physical layers.
Reflections and outcomes
The Improbable team brought a wide range of skills and experiences to the residency, including directing, acting, making, design and stage management. Their unique style of research and development resembled a jazz improvisation ensemble, working together in unison and riffing off each other to develop ideas, and compositional scenes and dialogues. Their residency resulted in a rich and original layering of scenography, animation, painting and live action in their final 20-minute performance, entitled Outside the Frame.
