Frantic Assembly

Who are Frantic Assembly:

Frantic Assembly is a british theatre company founded by Scott Graham in 1994, the company focuses on its highly physical performances with moments of intense naturalism

on the 3rd of february we took part in a frantic assembly workshop with steve kirkham, where we worked and developed our physical skills, during the workshop we worked on lifts, hymn hands, home chairs and routines. the workshop was intense but very enjoyable. my favourite part was the door routines, especially when we went into groups of three and performed sections in unison as i feel that it escalated emotions as it was all done together.

during lessons we focused on different frantic techniques used during the devising process known as 'building blocks':

Round by through - a simple physical theatre sequences but when executed well is very powerful in conveying a message. simply one person goes around someone else stands by them and then goes through. for example I could rotate around someone (round), stand back to back (by) and then go under there arm (through)

Hymn Hands - a sequence developed through the devising process of frantic assembly's production of Hymn's by Chris O'Connell it focuses on actors moving together with joined hands, with one person leading and the other following, exploring space and levels.

chair duets - where two people sit side-by-side on chairs and create a physical scene through a series of movements, often using contact improvisation and a "call and response" style of movement

in pairs we created our own physical sequences based upon these techniques and from this we attempted to perform them to different types of music and from this we learnt how the speed and genre of music can affect the flow of our sequences and the overall message of our piece.