Critique

      This essay sets out to critically reflect upon the final performance of ‘Unplugged’, a physical theater performance I choreographed based on the layering process studied throughout the length of the course. The main focus of this critique is the character development, physicality, theatrical clarity and the choice of music. The concept of the piece is a development of the formative solo assessment I previously created earlier in the course investigating a recently discovered condition of a nomophobia. The topic explores the subject of mobile phones, primarily focusing on smartphones, nomophobia and the effects it has on individuals as well as social interactions between people.

      Nomophobia is a recently established term deriving from the combination of the words no, mobile and phobia. According to Tim Elmore (2014), it is a term describing ‘the fear of being without a mobile device, or beyond mobile phone contact’. He states that there is a growing percentage of people that text or tweet instead of actually talking to others. A study conducted in 2010 by the UK Post Office commissioned research organization YouGov, discovered that ‘nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage’ (Elmore, 2014).  According to Victoria McHugh (2013), physical symptoms of nomophobia can include 'panic attacks, shortness of breath, dizziness, trembling, sweating, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, or nausea’. As Madeleine Stone further explains, it could also result in not being able to focus on conversations and/or persistent checking for notifications (Stone, 2012, p.1).

      ‘Unplugged’ is a physical theatre piece aimed to examine the effects of nomophobia and how can they be translated into movement in a theatrical setting. It set out to provide the audience with a visual journey that provokes a deeper consideration of a social matter. Beneficial to stimulate the audience into getting further individual experience, the piece was created as a physical exploration rather than following a direct narrative plot.

The initial concept of nomophobia itself, provided a basic structure to the piece whilst specific physical effects of it, served as a stimulus for generating movement material. Therefore, it was very important to focus on the intention of the performance in terms of exploring emotional and physical symptoms and to ensure that it conveys the intensity of the emotional journey each character was undergoing. Creating the piece based on Four Basic States allowed to develop individual characters, distinctive enough to represent various types of people as well as establishing the physicality of the piece as a whole. Each character having different movement vocabulary clearly signified diverse personalities, they were embodying. It has also allowed a clear demonstration of their individual journeys within the piece, through different aspects of the effects of nomophobia. For example, in the opening section Richard’s character is moving very slow with a strong focus on his hand gesture which was indirectly symbolizing his attachment to texting. Embodying that relationship in a more abstract way was engaging and intriguing to watch signifying the importance of the gesture without revealing the meaning of it. In this way an audience member was instantly engaged and curious of what it actually symbolized. The speed, minimalistic movement and strong focus drew more importance to the character’s state of mind. As the piece progressed Richard’s movement quality was getting sharper gradually increasing the speed. It was clear that his character’s state of mind is growing and expanding resulting in much bigger movement towards the end.

Distinctiveness of each character has also been successfully complemented by the variety of costume styles. As a character, Richard, who was wearing a smart shirt and trousers, clearly symbolized a different social group than Christine who showed more of a casual, ‘hippie’ style of clothes.

     The development of each section could be sustained more as most of them did not progress enough and seemed slightly too long at times. Each scene was initially choreographed to theatrically as well as physically build up more what seemed to be lost in the final performance. The structure of the piece as a whole as well as individual scenes have been finalized to late into creative process putting a lot of pressure on the performers. Working with performers of less physical background has proven to progress much slower than anticipated therefore the final structure of the performance has been established in the final days before the show. Individual scenes required a lot of performance memory in order to achieve the build they needed. Due to the final formulation of the piece happening so late, performers did not feel confident with remembering all the required details. Although sections lacked of satisfying progress at times, performers seemed confident within their characters at all times not allowing potential uncertainty to show.

           

     The choice of music, an edited combination of musical pieces ‘A Political Sickness’, ‘The Raven’ both by Ryan Amon and ‘This is Our Legacy’ by Zack Hemsey worked well by adding an additional layer to the performance as a whole. Strong, intense soundtrack complemented and sustained the intensity of the piece. Already mentioned before, lack of progression of some scenes at times, contributed to the potential feeling of the music overpowering the staging at times. Yet again due to a very limited amount of time for the creation process, music was introduced relatively late similarly contributing to restricting the development of the final details of the piece.  Overall, the musical score complemented the tone of the piece and served as an added source of empowerment for the performers.  

     In conclusion ‘Unplugged’ resulted in being an interesting, powerful and thought-provoking performance. It sustained the intensity and challenging use of physicality pushing the performers to the limits of their abilities, throughout the length of the piece. Despite the lack of required build up in some scenes, it definitely has a potential to be developed as an even stronger socially- driven performance that will provoke the further debate of the issue in the future.

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Bibliography:

• • ·  Unknown. "Nomophobia" Collins Dictionary. n.p., 2015. Web. 26 Mar 2015.
  • ·  Elmore, Tim. "Nomophobia: A Rising Trend in Students"Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 18 Sept 2014. Web. 9 Jul 2015.
  • ·  McHugh, Victoria. "The Risks of Nomophobia" The Bottom Line Online. College Media Network, 9 Feb 2013. Web. 9 Jul 2015.
  • ·  Stone, Madeline. "Smartphone Addiction Now Has A Clinical Name" Business Insider 31 Jul 2014: 1. Web.
  • ·  Wrenn, Eddie. "The biggest phobia in the world? 'Nomophobia' - the fear of being without your mobile - affects 66 per cent of us" Mail Online. Daily Mail, 8 May 2012. Web. 26 Mar 2015.

Relationships

As the piece was based around the issues surrounding smartphones and their effects on social interactions, the piece intentionally lacked of physical relationships between the characters. In this way I aimed to exaggerate how people are becoming more and more attached and dependent on their mobile phones often substituting actual physical contact with one another. i felt that phones, initially created to connect people have started to disconnected them on a more physical level. Throughout the piece, each character experienced an individual journey through the effects of nomophobia eventually building up into a trio section. It has then lead the audience into the unison section, in which no physical contact was used, in order to portray they have all been trapped in the attachment to a phone being stronger than the need of human contact.

Use of Vocals and Text

In the beginning of the creative process we used text to describe feelings and aspects of the effects of nomophobia in order to further inform characters and the development of their physicality. In the actual performance, I decided not to use text as i did not feel it was relevant and necessary. I aimed to stimulate the audience creating a thought-provoking performance in a more indirect, abstract context and it felt that adding could shift the piece as a whole in a different direction. As the piece progressed, the sounds and breath were essentially developed by the level of physicality. It added more significance to the internal struggle each of the characters was experiencing throughout the piece.

Four Basic States

    The main focus of the course were so called Four Basic States of working. It is a tool used to develop physical characters as well as movement vocabulary for a theatrical performance.

Four Basic States:

State of Mind,

Feeling,

Quality,

Intention

    Each movement task I set to my performers, was based on those states. Learning about this tool was very useful for me as it gave me a clear directory to follow in order to achieve theatrical clarity when creating performance. Having this tool as a base, allowed me to make sure that everything we developed throughout the process derived from the same place, weather, for instance,it was a feeling of anxiety or a physical quality representing it.

    In order to create individual physical characters, tasks were based on working with a feeling of being dependent or attached, (in one way or another)to a mobile phone device. Each character was established exploring different, individual aspects of relation to a mobile device. Development of the material was based more on a state of mind. Feelings initially used were gradually developed into their extreme forms so correlating state of mind could be achieved. We used feelings of anxiety, panic, deprivation, loss and desperation all relating to the effects of nomophobia. Once feelings and states of mind were established in a physical way, different interrelating movement qualities were added to further direct character building process and the development of movement material.
    I primarily used intention in order to develop a trio. Task was based on a narrative where Vickie's and Christine's characters take Richard's phone away. Being deprived of his mobile phone, Richard's intention within the trio was to desperately try to get his phone back whilst girls' intention was not to let him have it. In order to physically connect with their intentions, we used a pack of tissues serving as a 'phone' to develop movement material that was truthful. I think this way of creating helped performers to physically relate to the task allowing us to establish a well developed travelling trio. At the final stage I asked them to perform the material travelling in circles representing a vicious circle of being trapped in an extreme attachment to one's mobile device. 

Developing Physicality

Deriving from a dance background myself I found it very challenging to choreograph on performers with less physical experience. It was very difficult to find the balance of their bodily abilities and the complexity of the movement I have envisioned as a choreographer. Generated movement material was not challenging enough for what I felt was required to sustain the audience's attention. In order to make sure the choreography had my personal twist to it, we went through a long process of refining the details of it.By changing and adding different dynamics, accents and pauses within their phrases, I pushed them to their limits in order to develop the maximum level of their physical abilities. The feedback I have received from my dancers as well as observers of the process have proofed success. Performers themselves voiced the fact that they have never been so physically challenged during the creative process. The observers were surprised with the level of physically we have achieved in such a short period of time. As a dancer myself I strongly feel that being physically and creatively challenged is very important in order to develop and grow as a performer. I was satisfied with the end results although I wish we had more time to make sure the choreography was cleaner.

Theme, Intention and Physicality

   As a creator I find it crucial to lead the performers into finding the aspects of the piece and their characters, which they can relate to, throughout the creative process. Those personal links and individual details will form the base for the connection, each of the performers will establish within the piece.

Discovering those final details allows the performer to truly become the character he is asked to create.

   I began the choreographic process by introducing the topic of nomophobia to my performers. It was very important for me not to reveal too much information at this stage as I wanted to allow them to play with their own ideas surrounding the topic first. Often during the research and development phase of creation we find that our ideas grow in a different direction to what we have planned depending on the performers we work with. Sometimes we find new ideas or solutions that can take the piece in a different direction. Having been given too much information can limit the creative process by not allowing any room for such artistic discoveries to happen.

     

   First, through various physical tasks, I aimed to take performers on a journey back to the time where the mobile phones were not the central point of our everyday life.

I asked them to imagine certain aspects of their lives prior to having a mobile phone allowing these memories and feelings to dictate their physicality.

Think of the time when there was no mobile phones.

What do you remember being different and how?

How did you spend your free time?

How did you communicate with other people?

What were the social interactions like?

Was there anything different about public places to what it is now?

 I then set improvisational tasks based on their thoughts about mobile phones now.

What is your relationship with a mobile phone now?

How much are you dependent on it?

It is just a useful device?

How much time do you spend on your phone now?

Do you feel that your mobile phone dictates your social interactions?

How would lack of having a mobile phone affect your life now?

    My observations of the above tasks brought me to very interesting conclusions. Physicality of each performer was much bigger, more free and open when stimulated by the memories of life without a mobile phone. Their actions and movement quality became much more restricted, sharp and content when based on their relationship with a phone now.
    Building up on that, they each had to think of 3-4 features of their mobile phones they were most dependent on and create a gesture representing each of these aspects. For example, the most important feature for Richard was texting as it allows him to stay in touch with his family at all times throughout the day. Therefore gesture symbolizing it was based on the hand action of imitating him texting. With each performer creating 3-4 gestures we build the motive movement vocabulary for each character individually as well as the piece as a whole. Based on those movements as well as the states of mind in which they  find themselves when restricted access to those features they each created a solo material that served as a base for their characters. The final stage was for me to define the dynamics and details of the choreography they generated in order to establish a personal style of movement of the piece as a whole. 
   Through manipulating generated material by changing the quality, speed or levels we have developed a unison choreography so it derived from what we have already created.  

Nomo what?

'Unplugged' was created based of the formative solo assessment I did earlier during the course. This is an extract of a programme note which informed and inspired further development of the topic.


Nomophobia; A combination of the words no, mobile and phobia. A recently developed term, as stated in the Collins Dictionary, is defined as ‘a fear, caused by having no access to or being unable to use one’s mobile phone’ (Unknown, 2015). According to Wrenn (2012) in the Daily Mail, we check our phones up to 34 times a day and often take it to the restroom with us. Nomophobia affects 66% of us and is growing to be one of the biggest phobias in the world. A recent study conducted by SecurEnvoy shows that the numbers are rising. The most addicted to their phones tend to be young adults aged between 18 and 24 with up to 77 per cent unable to stay without their phone for more than few minutes. Those aged between 25 and 34 followed at 68 per cent (Wrenn 2012).


    According to Madeline Stone (2014, p.1) symptoms can include anxiety, panic attacks or desperation when separated from a mobile phone device. Furthermore, it could also lead to being unable to focus on conversations and/or persistent checking for notifications (Stone, 2012, p.1).