Development of Ideas

We found our four themes could be separated into groups:

-          Lack of diversity and absence of personality, and

-          Liminal and Sonder

Lack of diversity and absence of personality:

Berkoff’s style was heavily influenced by Kabuki theatre. This implies he focuses mainly on physicality as opposed to voice, due to the fact that Kabuki actors would assume monotonous tones of voice, and convey emotion with body language. This has inspired the idea of using masks. We are considering the use of masks during transitions as, whilst there may be no speech, we will still be able to evoke a strong reaction in the audience.

Also with Kabuki theatre, the topics ae usually centred about a deep moral conflict. This combined with Berkoff’s Marxist influences has encouraged our ideas surrounding societal expectations and the discriminatory behaviour that can sometimes result from this. Berkoff’s theatre often has misogynistic elements because, as Berkoff says, “there are a lot of sexist people”.

Berkoff often uses ritualistic, exaggerated, repetitive movements; which would fit well with our idea of physicalizing compliancy.

Liminal and Sonder:

We felt like a liminal setting would support Berkoff’s style due to the shock he aimed for the audience to experience. Being in an in-between setting implies a generalisability to the performance. We were considering a sea/ river or crossroads setting.

In regards to Sonder, we have interpreted it as an extreme empathy, which we may pursue within our performance or as what we want from the audience.

Mrs Gibling Practical