This portfolio analyses and evaluates the collaborative piece of theatre my group and I devised, centring the negative portrayal of women in the media. This project allowed me to explore the dual roles of director and book writer, meaning I was responsible for shaping the narrative structure, whilst also bringing it alive on stage. I also aim to show the considerations made surrounding, for example, the shows budget, and how this influenced the decisions made on certain elements of the musicals financial process.
Elsie pitched the original idea of a musical to the group in one of our first ‘Creating your own work’ sessions; ‘The Ex Wife of a notorious man is beat down by other women in the media, her life falling apart with no one around to help her.’ The show was to explore the themes of misogyny, the power and influence of the media, truth vs narrative and the loss of reputation through the style of an 80s/90s pastiche musical. Once this idea had been pitched, our group was formed, made up of an all female creative team bringing authenticity and depth to the musicals original idea as the story was shaped by the lived experience of women growing up with social media, rather than an outside observation. As book writer, I knew my biggest challenge would be to transform a broad theme into a cohesive narrative, as although our earlier workshopped ideas had strong material, there was a distinct lack of contrast in character and dramatic arc. At the beginning of our devising process, once we had distributed our roles within the group, we knew we had to ensure that we were all on the same page throughout the creative process. This is something that can be difficult to stay on top of, even in a group of five, and so we began to organise group meetings in a shared group chat in order to guarantee collaboration across all creative fields. From our initial meetings, we were then able to create a schedule for the full rehearsal week.
Rehearsal Schedule.
At the beginning of the writing process, Elsie sent out a draft of the key plot points, and a character breakdown, which led me, Izzy and Priya (the book writers) to our first two major queries surrounding the plot; Should the show be set later than the 80s/90s? And does the antagonist have to be a man? After bringing these questions to the group, and arranging a zoom call with Mathew Bugg, we came to the conclusion that in order to show the invasive scrutiny and unrealistic standards set against women in the media, the 2000s tabloid culture was a better reflection of the themes of reputation damage we aimed to show through our musical. We also had a discussion about the character who was originally named ‘Greg,’ being a woman, and how this would change the shows dynamic. We discussed how rather than placing all oppression on an external male figure, which is seen in most feminist lensed musicals, why don’t we create the idea of internalised misogyny, with the hatred between these women being based on patriarchal standards— she’s playing a ‘mans game’— rather than feminism being about women coming together in unity to oppose a man. When taking on my role of director, I really wanted the audience to be confused at the start of the show as to wether they trust the now character of ‘Samantha,’ or if she’s just manipulating us into believing she’s a trusting female mentor for the protagonist Kerry. Although these decisions were consecutive amongst the group, I found it challenging to shape the new relationships, motivations and dialogue between the now all female characters, not wanting to show immediate rivalry between the women, while also making sure they each have a distinct characterisation. To overcome this, I decided to keep the majority of the writing of the first scenes I had drafted the same as it was with the male antagonist, but allowing the tone of the words to change when later taking on the role of director, making Samantha sound overly enthusiastic and sweet.
First draft of scene 2 with male antagonist.
A big part of our planning involved estimating the affordability and cost of a musical. Many musicals start out with a small budget, and despite not being assigned the role of business production, I found the thought process surrounding this to be eye opening. My main contribution was surrounding the discussion of cost efficient casting. As a group, we decided that we would keep the shows cast to a size of 5-6 performers, meaning if a character wasn’t on stage, they would perform as the ensemble in other numbers and scenes. Originally, we had asked a first year to step in to play the role of ‘Greg,’ our initial antagonist, however, as our vision changed, we decided to play these characters ourselves, allowing for complete connection to the roles as a reflection of the work we had put in. As the production hypothetically operated with minimal financial resources, we made sure to use simple set designs and props, meaning most of the world building came from our own physicality, and how we utilised the stage. We moved the set ourselves during scene changes, removing stage hands from our budget, and created sounds like ring tones and recording devices ourselves using the piano provided in the space, rather than having them on a backing track. The lack of extravagant set design allowed for the audience to fully immerse themselves with the performers on stage, taking away any unnecessary visual distractions while allowing for dispensable income to be used elsewhere in the show, for example, piano backing tracks for each number. For the final showing, we made sure not to use any props or set that didn’t add to the space, by utilising what we already had around our homes or in University. Although this process demonstrated financial constraints, it also encouraged creativity when finding budget friendly ways around casting and world building.
We also looked into possible funding bodies and investors for our musical that would support our finances. One that I brought to the group was the Arts Council England (ACE), which offers grants up to £100,000 for individuals and organisations. The Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) was another possible choice, as they specialise in supporting new work and nurturing British musical theatre. With help from these, we can limit creative risk, particularly when using taboo topics or a politically driven narrative.
As we delved into the world of budgeting surrounding our piece, we also began to discuss how we would market the show. The marketing of our production would primarily be conducted through social media platforms, something that is accessible to a wide range of audiences. From a financial perspective, social media provided us a more cost effective way to bring engagement to our show, as we distributed promotional materials such as rehearsal clips and a ‘Meet the Team’. I had the task of creating a ‘Day in the Life of Off The Record the Musical’. This video consisted of short clips from one of our rehearsal days as we began to put the musical on its feet. This was a fun way to visually engage our audience, allowing them an insight on what we had been up too, whilst also leaving them wanting to see more. However, it took a while for us to get the page on its feet, as there was a lack of consistency in uploading content due to one of our group members becoming unavailable. Because of this, the responsibility over social media was not clearly defined until the week of rehearsal, and so although our strategy was cheap and effective, a more consistent approach from the beginning could of strengthened audience engagement and overall impact. Attached below is the video I created.
Having never written or directed a piece of theatre myself, I was apprehensive at the beginning of the process as to how much justice I would bring to the content that Elsie had originally provided. This feeling was mutually shared between the other book writers, Priya and Izzy, and so as we began to work on the opening scenes, we had not yet adopted a collaborative approach, leaving each scene feeling a little disconnected. To combat this, Priya and I decided to work on act one together, writing our own scenes and then editing the others work. After our first draft of act one, we workshopped some scenes as different characters, allowing us to get a feel for the relationship dynamics and the personalities of each role. For example, Priya read in for ‘Nancy,’ a chatty, innocent young woman as opposed to my character, ‘Kerry,’ who’s collected and alert. In doing this, we where able to get a feel as to how the characters sounded when interacting with one another. The development of the project requires tangible skills that can be transferred to a range of employers, and so as I worked on each scene, I was sure to be open to adaptation and change in order to demonstrate high level problem solving skills. In future, I know I need to justify and define creative decisions in order to be a better writer and director in professional environments.
During writing, we were also sure to get feedback from Lauren and Elsie, who were working on lyrics and composition, as once Elsie had finished writing a song, it often changed the feel of the scene. For example, one of the most significant stages of the writing process was the opening number, establishing the themes and tone for the rest of the musical. Priya and I started by writing some headlines that would be spoken over accompaniment, setting up the idea of ‘tabloid culture’. This idea came from a group conversation held around the opening number, in which we decided that there would be a flash forward from the end of Act one, opening the first song with the conflict to grab the audiences attention. When directing this scene, I was playing the role of Kerry, and so I improvised the words of abuse that we wanted as the opening lines, and after some tweaks, we eventually wrote them into the script. The interaction between directing and book writing allowed me to have a lot of creative control over the piece, allowing for a more cohesive artistic vision, however, the duel responsibility also created hardships as I balanced both in my workload. In order for the process to feel efficient, Izzy and I had to ensure complete collaboration when directing the scenes, often taking notes and discussing them with one another at the end. This structured way of management was extremely positive for both actors and directors, as it provided a brave space in the rehearsal room to try things in different ways. Each scene, for both directing and writing alike, began with improvisation. Priya and I would often improvise lines, shown in our original drafts, which were then later polished and written around the music. Similarly, during rehearsals, I would often ask the actors to try whatever felt right to them when reading the scene. This led to a more natural, truthful performance, uncovering subtext and occasionally a scene re-write if we found that something worked better than what was originally written. However, despite being a useful tool to encourage collaboration, it frequently created time set-backs, slowing down the already tight schedule. In the future, I would still explore variations of a scene, while adding some of my own prompts at the beginning to allow the actor and director to feel as though they are aligned.
Headlines Draft 1- Left.
Headlines Draft 2- Right.
I felt the RnD performance was hugely successful. From audience feedback, they demonstrated engagement and enjoyment throughout the showing, expressing connection to the themes and narrative of the musical. In the beginning, I was apprehensive about how well I would focus on the project, however, as I began writing, and then directing, I found myself understanding more about how the creative process works and how many practical elements go into devising your own musical. I understood the way other creatives worked, and how much you have to adapt and change scenes accordingly as the rehearsal process goes on. If I were to undertake a project similar to this, I would aim to balance my time more efficiently between both mediums, refining each character and creating a clearer emotional journey through the show. I feel this process has broadened my skill set and will allow me to perform my creative roles more confidently in future projects. While the process exposed limitations in my creative abilities, I also feel that my contributions to financial decisions, marketing, writing and directing were well reflected when performing in the final showing. Ultimately my storytelling skills, time management and engagement to the musical demonstrated that the hard work is not only shown through the performance, but equally in the process.
