Immersive Arts 'Explore' project: AR / AV in Shakespeare performance, photograph by Henry Roberts
When we focus on 'industry' we forget our 'artistry'.
The Lazarus Engine Room is at the heart of our creative process, for us process is as important and at times more important than product.
The Engine Room is our place to test work, try new ideas, play, explore new collaborations, work in new ways, a space for cross pollination, to take risks and invent, and take the time to develop new work and future Lazarus productions.
Readings, workshops, research and development labs and sharing's take place throughout the year. If you would like to stay in the loop on all Engine Room activity, join our mailing list via Contact page at the very bottom of this page.
#LazarusEngineRoom
BRIEF:
1 day R&D reading of early modern play The White Devil
A chance to hear the play out loud - understand complex character web, how Webster explores race & gender thematically and within text / action, the use of disguise & practically understand the knotty / complex number of plots and counter plots.
ACTIVITY: Open discussion forum for all to share initial thoughts and insights and share an image they felt represented the whole play or an event in the play to begin to understand the play visually. Read of the play with reflection time, questions and conversation after each act with specific focus on Webster's use of time and location, colours, nature, illness / mental health / sickness in the play.
FINDINGS:
-Differing / problematic themes i.e misogamy & race / racism
-A real ensemble piece - not one through line, several equally balanced roles
-Text is rich and full of imagery but dense and at times often hard to lift of the page
-The disguise plot in Act 4/5 adds an awful amount of confusion, and momentum in a long Act 5 is lost
-Offers some fantastic metatheatrical moments i.e dumbshows
-With suggested edits play could be done with cast of 10
COLLOBRATORS:
Hamish Somers, Chirague M Amarchande, Darcy Willison-Sloan, Will Kerr, Jamie O'Neill, Lakesha Cammock, Sabrina Laurison, Rita Estevanovich, Simon Furness, Stephen MacNeice, Jamie Nowski, Bailey Brook, Adam Goodbody, Nikhil Girard, & Joseph Scatley
WITH THANKS TO:
ENGINE GALLERY
ENGINE ROOM BLOG
BRIEF:
1 day R&D reading and dramaturgical deep dive into early modern play The Revenger's Tragedy
A chance to hear the play out loud - explore casting / doubling chart, pull a part themes and events to begin the process of production planning
ACTIVITY: Open discussion forum to understand perspectives and observations. Dramaturgical exercises, scene deep dives and devising / research exercises.
FINDINGS:
-Differing / problematic themes i.e misogamy
-A real ensemble piece - ideal for us
-Text relatively easy to lift of the page - a real page turner
-Dramatic and theatrical, a real chance to stage something metatheatrical
-Requires a big company of actors - expensive
COLLOBRATORS:
Adam Boyle, Mylo McDonald, Michael Hawkey, Lakesha Cammock, Ingvild Lakou, James Jip, Sam Nafisi
Jamie O'Neill, Jordan Peedall, Amber Pursey, Tonya Cornelisse, Cal Champman, Will Kerr, Bailey Brook, Molly King, Sarah Dustagheer. With thanks to Elia Longo.
Photography: Henry Roberts
WITH THANKS TO:
ENGINE GALLERY
ENGINE ROOM BLOG
BRIEF:
1 day R&D reading and dramaturgical deep dive into Mark Ravenhill’s translation of Brecht’s A Life of Galileo
A chance to hear the play out loud - explore casting / doubling chart, pull a part themes and events to begin the process of production planning
ACTIVITY: 1 day reading beginning with open forum response to play, reading on it's feet using dramaturgical exercises to note and observe thematic, character and staging information.
FINDINGS:
-It's big!
-Although a strong performer required to play title role, it is an ensemble piece. (Strong multigenerational ensemble required with some playing up to 100 different characters)
-A clear performance / rehearsal device needed to define doubling "rules"
-Something about orbits - circles and spheres, a movement workshop needed here
-100% a play Lazarus should present
COLLOBRATORS:
Jamie O'Neill, Lavan Jeyarupalingam, Noelle Adames, Hamish Somers, Darcy Willison-Sloan, Mylo McDonald
Hannah Breedon, Tom O'Brien, Chirague Amarchande, Leonie Frazier, Simon Furness-Gibbon, Matthew Nolan, Edward Haines, Bobby Locke & Sorcha Corcoran
Photography: Charlie Flint
WITH THANKS TO:
ENGINE GALLERY
ENGINE ROOM BLOG
BRIEF: To explore a new adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie through the lens of gender, class & sexuality
ACTIVITY: Included table read of a pre existing translation of Strindberg's play, then a read of two sample scenes of new adaptation. Practical work included staging one of the new scenes in studio and on location using working kitchen (where play is set). Exploration of promenade / immersive staging.
FINDINGS:
-Changing genders revealed extraordinary new dynamics between characters
-Class / social status default lines seem to be entirely contemporary
-Immersive, 'on location' staging brand new to Lazarus - could this be a possible future avenue for our work.
COLLOBRATORS:
Jamie O'Neill, Mylo McDonald, Lakesha Cammock
WITH THANKS TO:
BRIEF: An in-depth, deep-dive investigation of Extended Reality (XR) technologies and their creative use in Shakespeare performance to breakdown barriers for artists and audiences.
To explore the groundbreaking creative potential of combining Shakespeare with Extended Reality technologies in order to find new entry points, breaking down barriers and encouraging audiences to experience and engage with Shakespeare’s language, characters and stories in previously unimagined ways.
ACTIVITY: 1 week practical workshop learning the basic technical elements of ER technology, testing artistic potential via practical application using Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as practical text.
FINDINGS:
-New perspectives immersive technology presents. Able to access positions, insight, data or detail is insightful and creates new ways to experience not only Shakespeare.
-Might this form of tech to create backdrops or worlds in which the audience are immersed work better on more fantastical plays like The Tempest. It seems crazy to attempt to create a really real world which your already in, in augmented reality, when you could just been in the real world – your already in. The tech needs to do something, be of service, not dressing.
-Performers need to be kept up to date with the tech and the rules of performing with it, where can and cannot they stand or move too when in an augmented world where what they might be seeing on headsets is not what the audience see.
-Forgiving what’s real Vs requiring imagination – when experiencing graphics via the tech or real things – they just don’t actually look as real as the real thing – so when you don’t believe the tech, you don’t believe the world or actors.
-Access – Mixed reality could be a game changer for access audiences – creative captioning for example could be terrific here. But a note of caution; certain devices prove quite inaccessible!!!
-Audience expectation of augmented / virtual reality – It could be quite hard to manage this depending on your target audience and their experience of it.
COLLOBRATORS:
Jamie O'Neill, Mylo McDonald, Jordan Peedell & Adam Lenson
Photography: Henry Roberts
WITH THANKS TO:
ENGINE GALLERY
ENGINE ROOM BLOG
