Non verbal communication - Chair Duets, Pedestrian Movement & Exercise-related performances: Beautiful Burnout

In two different lessons, we looked at exercises using non-verbal communication and linked it to the movement of Boxers and how they would move around during a match.

Chair Duet Performance
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTS7LV2utI&feature=youtu.be
On Thursday 7th November 2013, we looked at non-verbal communication using just chairs. We had to devise a short sequence in partners of movements that you would normally see someone do if they were sitting down, and we would have to interlink them together. For this activity, I worked with Georgie Cloke. I think overall, the whole performance worked  very well, I think that when Georgie pushed me off of my chair and pushed my leg off of my knee was very effective because it showed the audience that she had a problem with the way in which I was sitting. I also think that the part when Georgie stood up on her chair after being hit with my chair, and then me standing up on my chair was very effective because I think that it gave the audience a feeling that me and Georgie were about to square up to each other because of the height difference between the two of us. I think this could relate to boxing because it could show a height difference between two boxers that are squaring up to each other before a fight.

Pedestrian Movement Performance
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GjYPlJIzY&feature=youtu.be
In one of our lessons, we looked at something called a pedestrian movement. This was where we had to choose to be someone of a particular profession, and we had to make a sequence of movements in mime which the person of that profession would typically do in their day-to-day to routine. For this activity we had to be in pairs, and I was working with Tom Doughty, and we decided to make our profession window cleaners. Our sequence started with us picking up a bucket with our left hand and running about 10 yards to a ladder; we would then run up the ladder holding the bucket, before place in on the corner of the ladder; we would then wipe the window from left to right three times; we would then throw the bucket of water at the window and then wipe it from left to right three times again; we then came back down the ladder very fast, jogged backwards, before looking up at the window to see what it was like after it had been cleaned. We then had to join another pair and we would have to combine the two pieces together into one sequence. Me and Tom decided to join up with Lucy Parke and Megan Williams, who were both acting as a pair of spies. We then had to use some of our movements and some of Lucy and Megan's movements, and then combine them into one full sequence. I found it quite difficult when we were adapting our movements and Lucy and Megan's movements into one whole sequence, because we had to remember our movements as well as their movements too. I thought that the whole sequence worked very well, I thought that each pair performing their own sequence as a pair first, and then both pairs performing the sequences as one sequence in a one group worked quite well. I found it easy trying things in discussion and physically as well, because I found that some things were easier to discuss where as some things were easier to show physically.

Performance using Boxing techniques with Chandler Goddard
Before we used the 'School of Fish' method for the second time, we did another exercise which meant we had to get into pairs, and we then watched a video of a Boxing trainer showing a man the different punches used in Boxing. He showed the man 'the jab', 'the hook', 'the upper cut', and finally the 'cross'. Once we had looked at how to perform these punches, we had to devise out a little sequence of a boxing match. For this exercise I was with Chandler Goddard.

Beautiful Performance with Charley Bennett, Jamie Campion and Megan Williams
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spffKCFylWw&feature=youtu.be
In our last two lessons of the year we had to choose a scene from the script of Beautiful Burnout and perform it in groups. I was in a group with Megan who played Neil Neil; Charley who played Cameron Burns; Jamie who played Bobby Burgess (the coach); and finally I played Ajay Chopra. We chose to perform scene 4 which is the scene where Bobby is motivating the young boxers in a training session and also introducing Cameron Burns to the others in the gym. Everyone apart from Bobby and Cameron were training and practicing their punches with each other to make them look like more realistic boxers who are training.  

Exercises
Walk Around & Stop
We started off the lesson by doing an exercise which involved walking around the room in a straight line, and if it looked like we were about to collide with someone, we would have to make a sharp turn to avoid it. We did this exercise when we were studying the non-verbal communication of Rudolf Laban during the time we were looking at the play of 'Gotcha' by Barrie Keefe. Our teacher would tell us a number from one to five, one being extremely slow and five is practically speed-walking. This is linked to Laban's 'Seven states of tension' method, which is moving around at a particular pace. The whole class would be spread out around the room, and our teacher would just say a number and we would have to walk at the pace that number was. We would then do it together as a class. Our teacher would get us up to level 5, and we would have to work together as a class using non-verbal communication to get us back down through the levels to zero, which would be standing still, or in the term of the seven states of tension, 'dead'.

The School Of Fish
We did another exercise during the lesson called 'The School of Fish'. This exercise was where we had to stand close together as a group, and what ever way we were facing, the person nearest the front would be the leader, and every time the group changed direction, then person nearest the front in that part of the shape would be the leader. The leader's responsibility was to lead the rest of the group in the direction they were facing using a movement such as a jump for example, and the group would also have to copy what the leader was doing.

Playwright & Context: Beautful Burnout

Storyline
Beautiful Burnout is the story of a coach training up a group of boxers to become professionals. The boxers are Cameron Burns, Ajay Chopra, Neil Neil, and Ainsley Binney. But when Ajay is given his marching orders by Bobby; Neil Neil is hit by a car; and Ainsley isn't good enough in the eyes of Bobby; Cameron steps up to the plate to face Ajay in a fight. His mum goes from really disliking boxing to liking it and becomes more positive about Cameron going into the fight. One of the female boxers who isn't chosen to try and become a professional is Dina, and she feels really mad that this has happened to her. During the fight between Cameron and Ajay, Cameron suffers a blow to head and collapses in the ring. The blow to the head that knocked Cameron out and made him collapse in the ring, caused damage to his brain.

Main Ideas
The idea for 'Beautiful Burnout' came from a 10-minute visit to Gleason's Gym, a world-famous boxing gym in Brooklyn. Frantic also got the title from a song by Underworld from their album, Oblivion with bells, and they immediately looked at it as a potential title for the show.

Beautiful Burnout is in Scotland within the play, and Frantic Assembly spent a lot of time researching  into the boxing in Scottish culture.

Frantic Assembly Other Ideas & Thoughts:
- They approached Bryony Lavery because she knew very little about boxing, and they thought that she would bring "fresh, hungry eyes to a world where every story it can tell has probably been told".
- They gained experience and information from visiting gyms, professional bouts, amateur administrators, doctors and promoters.
- They had two development sessions; one was interviewing people and visiting gyms and tackle the potential physicality of the show, and the other was to look at the possible narratives.
- They brought in some highly physical dancers to spend 3 hours with them in a room trying to find out how far they could stretch the physicality of boxing.
- Frantic Assembly had no intention of shying away from the moral debate surrounding boxing.
- They thought that boxing presents a credible.
- Frantic Assembly struggled to convince people about the merits of Beautiful Burnout.
- They thought that talking about the typical themes of boxing sounds like some clichéd film you have seen before.
- They didn't want a title that sounded too sensational or provocative.
- The supporters that were called by Frantic Assembly referred to boxing as the 'noble art' and the 'sweet science'.
- Frantic Assembly felt inspired of giving the audience the same visceral, thrilling and conflicting experience as if they were watching a real boxing match.
 
Influence
The influence for this play came from the story of former English boxer Michael Watson, whose career was prematurely ended due to a near-fatal injury. On 21st September 1991, a rematch between Watson and Chris Eubank was arranged. In round 11, Watson was ahead on points and also seemed to be on the verge of stoppage victory when he knocked Eubank down with a right hook. Moments later, Eubank was back on his feet and connected with a devastating uppercut which caused Watson to fall back and hit his head against the ropes. Referee Roy Francis stopped the fight after round 12, after which Watson collapsed in the ring. A total of 28 minutes elapsed before Watson received treatment in a hospital neurosurgical unit. He spent 40 days in a coma and had 6 brain operations to remove a blood clot. He slowly recovered after over a year spent in intensive care and six years in a wheelchair, and he slowly regained his ability to speak and write.

So the inspiration for Beautiful Burnout came from the story of Michael Watson's injury in 1991, which he astonishingly recovered from. The story of what happens to Cameron Burns during the play is very similar to Watson's story, starting with a horrendous injury and ending with a slow but absolutely remarkable recovery.