USW Theatre and Drama Student: Daley Chapman

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We’re back!!

Hey guys! Back at it again, it’s Daley here! Just here writing, a blog regarding my research project this year whilst completing my final year on the Theatre and Drama course at the University of South Wales.

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My Final Project

Hey guys, welcome back to my blog. It been a while, but I can’t wait to be talking you through my next blog which is really excited and going to lead into a project that I can’t wait to complete. In May, I have the challenge of putting on my own production with a partner. A certain strong point of ours is comedy so we want to focus on the best experience for our audience and how we are going to make them laugh. But first for that we are going to need some help! So, I am going to be looking at my favourite’s practitioners in theatre now and the company has revolutionised the way we see comedy in theatre. We are going to look at the work they have done and how they form their ideas and skills and become incredibly successful in countries around the world including London’s west end and New York’s Broadway. After looking at their skills I really want to take a deeper look into my research project and how I can implement the skills I learnt from this company into my own devised production. I think you are going to love the company I have chooses as they are popular and incredibly funny. I suggest anyone should go and see one of their productions or even now available to watch on television, which is extremely rare within modern theatre, but these guys manage to pull it off every time.

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Mischief Theatre

My favourite theatre company Mischief Theatre. Mischief was founded in 2008 by a group of LAMDA graduates originally as an improvised comedy group. Which is a lot of their foundation today still as well. The first play Mischief produced was ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. Originally being formed as a one act version in the Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012 it caught the attention of the Trafalgar studios and moved there in 2013. The play began a UK Tour in January 2014 visiting 17 different venues from January to July where the tour stopped as the play got a permanent venue on the West End. The play then opened in the Duchess Theatre on the 14th of September 2014 where it has remained till this very day and still has tickets available until April 2022. However, it was announced just last week the play has continued a contract with the theatre for a new cast and crew to take over the current lot as they head out of the UK tour of the Play That Goes Wrong. Since then, Mischief Theatre has grown from strength to strength moving to the USA and Australia and producing more shows including, Groan Ups, The Comedy about a Bank Robbery, and hit new show working alongside Penn & Teller, Magic Goes Wrong. Mischief used Covid-19 to their advantage as theatres were closed as they took their shows to television writing the ‘Goes Wrong Show’ for two series on the BBC and also were strong advocates against the ridiculous rules the government were proposing before theatres could open back up in the UK in 2020 demonstrating how that would work on a children in need special in 2020 in of course, the most over the top way possible.

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The Play that Goes Wrong performing at The Royal Variety Performance 2015

The Play That Goes Wrong performance at the Royal Variety Performance

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Mischief and Theatre

Mischief is best known for their farcical tendencies and use of audience interaction with their plays. I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but I have seen the ‘Play That Goes Wrong’ only six times and one of my favourite parts is when the actors are running around the stage before hand speaking to the audience asking if they have seen the cast dog. I think this is brilliant as it immediately settles you as an audience but as a fellow actor and improv person myself, I love to speak to them and try and throw them off their job. Of course, these are west end actors so they will never fail but I have had a giggle or two out of some of them before. I have always found comedy better when spontaneous so the interaction with the audience before the show is sometimes the best and funniest part for some people. Live audience responses are exactly what Mischief use to help their actors stay sharp with their improvised lines and comic timing and effect. It is really unique, and Mischief do it incredibly well.

Comedy is subjective to many people however Mischief covers such a wide range of comedic areas it does appeal to a large market. Along side its improvisational comedy, farcical comedy and joke telling it has another comedy element that isn’t usually seen in shows. Physical comedy used to be very popular in the 1900s but drifted out with not many shows putting it in their shows however Mischief did the opposite, and it has proved hugely popular. Its this style of comedy that usually make an audience member laugh. We know we shouldn’t laugh when someone gets hit or hurt but we do and enjoy the show more so because of it.

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The official global site for Mischief, the award-winning comedy creators of Goes Wrong and much more

The link from the next post here for you here to access. The Mischief podcast. Read ahead to see what its all about!!

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My rehearsal process inspired by Mischief Theatre

During the rehearsal process for Mischief, I know they focus heavily on improvisation and how their actors deal with different situations. This can be seen on their hugely popular hit Mischief Movie Night In which ran from December 2020 to February 2021. Tuned to 60 countries around the world the cast would take suggestions from tuned in audience members and improvise a full movie in the time they were live streaming. The company bases themselves around improvisation and it is known that some of their plays created after the Play That Goes wrong all stemmed from improvised pieces of theatre which co-founders Henry Lewis and Jonathon Sayer discussed in a podcast, I was lucky enough to listen too. https://mischiefcomedy.com/our-work/mischief-makers/about My favourite part of the Play That Goes Wrong as I mentioned is the audience interaction before the show even begins. As an actor this is something I absolutely love as you are thrown right in the deep end and must sink or swim. I have been able to do this before for one production where I started acting in the foyer as people arrived and continued in the interval as part of my role. I took this to the director and asked to do it and I’m so pleased he was glad about the results I produced.

This is where my inspiration comes from with my production. I really want to focus on improvisation and audience interaction as each show you do will be different providing audience members with heir own unique experience. I feel as if more then one production from Mischief has influenced my idea. The improvisation of the Movie Night In, the audience interaction of the Play That Goes Wrong and comedy from all their plays has played a real part in the production of my play. I chose Mischief because they are my favourite company in the west end, and I love their work. Everything they do I love and embody as an actor. I have signed up to their workshops and sent their casting agency plenty of emails as it would be my absolute dream to play a role in many of Mischiefs productions. I am inspired more by them because of where they came from. Simple university graduates that formed a company and performed their first plays in a pub in London before being recognised and taking the world by storm. I have been lucky enough to have conversations with the founders of Mischief and I hang onto every word they say as everything they have and do is exactly what I want for my life and career.  

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My Research Project

For my project I want to use the different styles of comedy like Mischief do to perform an immersive play for an audience. I personally, love stories. From everyone. Anyone who has a story. And the more people you meet the more stories that come your way. The more stories that come your way the more characters are created. As such the idea I have at the moment I have titled Tales for Wales. It involves a half scripted/half improvised production where audience member will be immersed in the play set on a train that is travelling from one side of Wales to the other. On the journey the audience will get to meet and interact with several different characters and the train conductor. The train conductor is the only consist member of the cast whereas the characters we meet on the train will change throughout, converse with each other and improvise conversation with audience members immersed. This will be done with a cast of three people. One person will play the train conductor so he stays consistent and pulls the production along where the other two will play the several characters we meet (a minimum of six but undecided at the minute). As I said before some of the production will be scripted and shown as the characters interact with each other and with the conductor however, majority of the piece will be filled using a hugely popular technique of Mischief improvisation and immersive theatre.

With this production and the multi rolling we have decided to use the props, accents, and costume to show our audience which different characters we will be playing in the show. We must differentiate the characters. Props and accents will be the easiest way however it will be totally minimalistic. A simple change of a hat or jacket will show a change of character, but I would also be keen to make sure voices produced for different character are totally different to show a change. Whether that be pitch or location of where the voice is from. Mischief use voice very heavily in their pieces to show how a character is feeling. When a character is scared, they would usually have a higher pitched voice or trying to impress one of the female characters they may put on a female voice.

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Personal Rehearsal Process

In our rehearsal process we are going to try a lot of trial and error like Mischief as we can only control the scripted part of the production whereas all the improvised bits will mainly be to down to what happens on the night. We will be able to control the story line, but we cannot guess what we may be faced with when interacting with the audience. We also must make sure we have enough content to get through the whole period. If we rely too heavily on the audience interaction, then we may fall short if we don’t get the interaction we need. It is going to be tough to put together but a challenge that I am not worried to undertake.

A workshop I find will help elevate my final performance is called Call and React. To do this workshop, the actors will stand in front of an ‘audience’ and will ask the audience to shout out any random word. One of the actors will then tell a story/anecdote that they will link to the word given to them by the audience. The actors will then, without discussing, perform an improv scene based on this anecdotal story. This helps the actors work on quick characterisation but also improving their improvisation. I will also encourage my actors to deliver their anecdotes in different accents just to make the multi rolling easier in the rehearsal process but also see what accents would suit each character.

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The official global site for Mischief, the award-winning comedy creators of Goes Wrong and much more

Workshops with Mischief Theatre

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Rehearsal Period Timetable

Date

Time

Plan

11th March

10am-1pm

Mind mapping idea for character

14th March

10am-1pm

Mind mapping idea for character

16th March

5pm-9pm

Mind mapping idea for character

18th March

10am-1pm

Mind mapping idea for character

21st March

10am-1pm

Formulate a script

23rd March

5pm-9pm

Formulate a script

25th March

10am-1pm

Formulate a script

28th March

10am-1pm

Formulate a script

1st April

10am-1pm

Work on imrpov

4th April

10am-1pm

Work on imrpov

8th April

10am-1pm

Work on imrpov

11th April

10am-1pm

Work on imrpov

15th April

10am-1pm

Work on imrpov

19th April

5pm-9pm

Put script and improv ideas together

20th April

5pm-9pm

Put script and improv ideas together

21st April

5pm-9pm

Put script and improv ideas together

22nd April

10am-1pm

Put script and improv ideas together

25th April

10am-1pm

Run final performance

5th May

5pm-9pm

Run final performance

9th May

10am-1pm

Run final performance

10th May

5pm-9pm

Run final performance

11th May

5pm-9pm

Run final performance

13th May

10am-1pm

Run final performance

16th May-27th May

 Final Performance

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Over and Out!

Well, I would love to thank all of you out there for following my journey through the Applied Theatre module. My Applied Theatre workshop has been the highlight of my 2021 so far after spending a second birthday, today as I am posting, in lockdown but we keep our spirits high for the future. 

I hope you have seen the incredible time I have had producing this work and potentially learnt something along the way as well. Thanks for following this leg of my blog. Applied...Out!  

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Sorry for the delay with the video everyone. Due to a technical difficulty, it has only just been released now, and since, I have created and completed my workshop but I hope you enjoy and gain some knowledge regardless. 

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How can a company that works so hard and produce amazing results have a weakness in their practice I hear you ask!?

Well, I wouldn’t say they have any weaknesses at all but referencing back to what I said earlier with, no workshop will ever be perfect, means there is always room for improvement in all areas of applied theatre. ‘imagine if’ have done incredible work in prisons, visiting over 26 around the UK and US and working with over 4000 prisoners in and outside the system. However, I do have a question with reference to a quote from ‘The Ethics of Applied Theatre’ on page 76 which states, “Might Applied Theatre be motivated by some superior urge to have community members conform to a mainstream standard, or for them to behave according to preordained policy?” My question for you to answer is are ‘imagine if’ working with the prisoners for the benefit of them and to help improve these convicts as people. Or are they simply providing a service that we hope will change the outcome of these prisoners when they leave and have to return to mainstream standards at the click of a switch because society says so. This leads our ethical consideration in two totally different directions and makes us re-consider if these criminals signed up voluntarily or were told to do the practice in an attempt to bring them back to these ‘standards’ 

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But Daley, what are the strengths of their practice!?

‘imagine if’ have the massive strength in their back pocket of being inclusive and using theatre to bring people to the forefront of productions allowing them a voice. I firmly believe they follow the philosophy that is put before us in ‘The Ethics of Applied Theatre’ on page 98 of; “If theatre was only a skills training method for probation clients to practice roles that they could then perform in later life, we (potentially lose) the complexity of the theatre workshop and performance process as a dynamic, difficult, rich moment in itself” (Thompson, 2000).  When working with their participants, ‘imagine if’ use their workshops to focus on a central principle and to produce ambiguous moments the participants can take away from the process. In their last project which had been delivered in prisons, the principle was showing the value the arts have on changing people’s lives. They used theatre techniques to help improve interpersonal skills, communications skills, employability and personal narratives to combat risk factors for criminal behaviour.

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Chesca Joy – Founder & Artistic Director Chesca is the Founding Artistic Director of imagine if Theatre as well being a writer, social change maker, performer and producer. Chesca founded Imagine If in 2014 and has grown the company from its initial inception to a fully operational theatre company and registered charity raising over... View Article

‘imagine if’ have incredible values which truly stand out in their statement but also in the work they do. The company as a whole has such fine integrity, with the ability alongside this to be humble in their practise when working alongside people who may not have empathy within everyday society. They take into consideration the disadvantage in the people’s lives that they work with but still treat these people how they expect to be treated with respect and a level of trust between each of the parties involved. It is always endearing when looking into applied theatre companies and how accepting each different one is and ‘imagine if’ is no exception. To work in certain environments and to treat all with equality and receive that back just demonstrates how applied theatre can affect people’s lives for the better.

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The who, what, where, why and when!

The company I chose to look at that work in an applied theatre context are a registered charity from Leeds called ‘imagine if’. They were founded in 2015 by Francesca Joy who determined it to be her mission to instigate change into people’s lives through theatre. The key purpose of ‘imagine if’ is to actively improve disadvantaged people’s lives. They usually work predominantly with prisoners and people with convictions who have a range of disadvantages including mental health issues, homelessness, victims of abuse, low literacy levels, unemployment and low socio-economic backgrounds. Their mission statement is very strong and clear. They simply work endlessly to place those in society without a voice at the forefront of ‘imagine if’ productions.