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Leading from the inside
Emma Gersch Bath Spa University
The context/situation/challenge
Bath Spa University Drama Department, BA (Hons) Performing Arts, Semester Two Third year Reinvention project, October-December 2007. The project culminated in a full scale multimedia production of Complex:Electra. Practical devising project that involved 4-8 hour daily workshops, 5 days per week for 12 weeks.
What were the particular characteristics of the situation that engaged you in an immersive way?
As Director/Facilitator of the 12 week devising project, my objective was to immerse the company of 30 acting students fully into the world of the story of Electra. The project requires the final year students to develop a deepened and more profound connection with the material with which they are working, to discover their own artistic voices and personal connection to the work. There is great freedom for the students to find their most articulate expressive mode in order to absorb themselves as fully as possible into the story, in this case of Electra. Following an intensive process of ensemble building so that the company felt safe and brave enough to explore fully, we began to investigate how we as artists felt about the world around us, what we wanted to say, how we responded to society, politics, our environment. Students described this part of the process as ‘switching on a light’, heightening their awareness and sense of their place as artists. They became immersed in their ensemble, learning how best to listen, share, build ideas together.
In week 4 of the project, the material was introduced. Students placed themselves at the heart of the story of Electra and were asked simply to make a personal connection with one element of the story. They spent an intensive time exploring this personal dimension, by way of music, dance, film – any mode that would bring them closer to the connection to the story.
In week 8 these personal connective moments were fused together, and as a company we set to work to write, devise, choreograh and edit the final performance. The company created every aspect of this multimedia production.
What forms of learning / personal development / change emerged from the situation?
In post production plenary, evaluations and feedback, students involved spoke of learning more over the course of the 12 week project than they had in the previous 2 years of their course. They felt their horizons were broadened, they were challenged to step outside of their comfort zone, and their connection to the ensemble was greater than experienced before. Each student’s development was profound and significant, they grew as human beings and as young artists, Given room to explore, and to deepen their personal connection to the story, they developed their expressive range and personal truth and honesty as actors. They became more generous, spirited, committed and engaged. The process was intensive and demanding.
They attributed the depth of development to the extent to which they were plunged or immersed into the project. As a facilitator I created a world for this project to exist, we went on adventured together, made picnics, listened to each others’ personal stories, drew pictures, danced, sang. The precedent was set that no contribution was the wrong contribution and they grew in their ability to explore and trust. The final performances were hugely successful, rendering very positive responses from audiences as a unique, charged and hugely impacting production. The company were overwhelmed by what they had been able to achieve.
The company learned that the extent to which they invest and commit results in the quality and detail of the produced work. The sense of ownership and pride in the final work was staggering, and as I director and teacher I was most proud of this sense of shared achievement, ownership and responsibility for the work. The work is so cherished, we now plan to tour and develop a future life for this production (beginning in London on January 22nd).
What words/concepts/feelings would you use to describe the immersive experience?
Profound artistic discoveries, ownership, pride, power of the ensemble to enable the individual within it, commitment, turning challenge into opportunity and strength, trying something different, not end-gaming a project.
What principles or lessons can be drawn from this story?
As a director/teacher it is very easy to become pre-occupied by the end result, thus limiting the creative process. In this project, we were brave to explore and change right up to the last days. The voices of the artists involved were key – and had I been concerned with ‘end-gaming’, I may well have missed some of the very precious and personal contributions from the cast which coloured and characterized the final piece.
I also learned how important it is to involve myself fully into the work; it would not have been possible to remain on the outside of this work in any way. I led from the inside, immersed myself into the journey alongside the company.
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