The Eternal Stretch - A2 Drama, Devised Piece Review
The Eternal Stretch
Review written by Rachel Hooper
Piece devised by Peter Barnett-Jones, Jodie Davis, Rachel Hooper, Abbie Moyes.
In an effort to communicate how your past moulds your future, Peter Barnett-Jones, Jodie Davis, Rachel Hooper and Abbie Moyes created a striking piece of theatre which was performed at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre, Taunton on 19th November. The set consisted of four chairs in a row upstage posing questions about their significance for the audience. Through the use of symbolism and physical theatre the company created an atmosphere of oppression which was conveyed through their physicalisation of their characters. Their characters were genderless and representative of humanity in order to communicate to the audience that they too could place themselves in such positions.
The piece followed the present situation of four characters, Want, Need, Tick and Tock, who all desire. Beneath the superficial desires of life, such as love and lust, they all desire to be free. They believe ‘the book’ to be the key which will release them from the barren location - perhaps the location is in the mind? That is for the audience to decide. The book has the capacity to make them remember about their pasts which they so desperately need to learn from.
The audience witness Tock, an apathetic character, re-living the time when it left a girl to die in order to save itself. Negating responsibility on the voice outside dragging it away, the voice being its own selfish desire. Tick also experiences the pivotal point where the voices in its head leaves it abandoned to make it’s own choices and the silence draws near. Tormenting Tick.
The company aimed to communicate that decision in life can only be made by oneself and not for you by others therefore you need to contemplate your motives. Furthermore, the audience witnessed the journey of Want where its life was full with everything - money, success and power. But desiring one thing – him – doesn’t mean Want could have him. This pushed Want to breaking point. Shortly followed by a monologue from Need about the fine line between Want and Need being madness. Suddenly, Need grasps the purpose of being in this location. You have to turn back in order to move on. In a desperate struggle Need cries out ‘Take me back, take me back’ which launches the characters into a wrestle for the book where shockingly Need flings the book off the edge of the stage into the audience. Symbolically representing how change is unattainable through just remembering. You have to change from within.
The process of devising began with the stimulus ‘enlightenment’ and the company endeavoured to communicate their statement ‘desire tempts mistakes’ Through the use of recorded voices and heartbeat soundtracks they aimed to add another layer to their devising in order to further impact the audience adding a sense of weight and destitution. ‘The Eternal Stretch’ was the opening piece of the night. The company took a risk and chose to be on stage whilst the audience entered the auditorium in an effort to open the minds of the audience and take them into the location. Whilst feedback suggests that the storyline, at points, was not clear some may take this as a criticism. However, the company aimed to enable the audience to interpret as they wish hoping they would search within themselves and not take the obvious answer. Therefore, the company chose not to have a clear narrative and to use physicalisation, through physical theatre, to symbolically represent their statement.
