Natural STUDY NOTES

Natural Theatre Company's Style & Production Process

Formed in 1969 as a collective of artists working in mixed media, Natural Theatre Company is now a professional touring group of anything up to 20 performers. We tour 'street theatre' (indoor and out) throughout the year, with occasional full scale indoor shows. These run not only throughout Britain, but also in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Indeed, we now regularly sell out in Hamburg at the famous St Pauli Theatre each time we appear.

We specialise in a particular style of street performance that we have made our own. It is a peripatetic form of theatre, using the environment and whatever is encountered as a part of the action. The work is always humorous, sometimes political and highly visual, a facet that emerges from the Visual Arts backgrounds of many of the performers. Our characterisations are often described as very 'British' and this is as much to do with the irony that we employ, as the figurative form of the pieces created. Our creative process is also unique - characters are mostly observed from life, then either magnified or understated and placed in extreme and sometimes hostile situations. This tends to heighten their 'absurdity'. If pressed, we would describe ourselves in artistic terms as 'absurdists'.

A great deal of our work involves gross self-mockery, of not taking ourselves 'seriously', although we execute these things in the most serious way we can. We make theatre on the streets to surprise and intrigue our audience, to make them stop their normal daily routine, to allow their imagination free rein. To make them laugh at us and thereby to make them laugh at themselves.

The Difference Between Creating Street and Indoor Work

The starting point for either type of performance often springs from a similar source. This may be an initial idea, thought or special interest of one or more of the creative team - that is to say, any one of our performers - and is, like any other starting point, a hard thing to pin down. The 'creative process' is often a collage or kaleidoscope of visual and cerebral notions, tempered with the practicalities of making them into physical reality.

The starting point for a new street piece can vary tremendously. At one extreme a performer may be suddenly inspired by such things as an item in a newspaper or TV or an encounter with an eccentric real-life character, to the other extreme of being commissioned by a booker to create a one-off character piece. Often however, such characters filter down into our repertoire of scenarios to be refined and adapted into 'hybrids', and in turn recycled into variations of the original. This is a constant running line that colours our work - the idea of 'variations on a theme'. As our street characters rarely perform a 'show' - that is, a set piece with a beginning, middle and end - but instead improvise around a theme, there is no need to give the pieces a narrative.

Our indoor shows, on the other hand, do demand such a 'story line', and we often start with the characters first, putting them into credible and incredible situations and noting down from workshop observations how they behave. The creative process here is much more refined and precise as we are of course under the twin pressures of time and results.

Recently, our indoor shows have also relied heavily on live music and song, so we have employed the services of a composer / musical director to be present throughout the rehearsal period. From improvisation we now self-pen all of our indoor shows as a matter of course, as our previous occasional use of outside writers proved unsatisfactory. We all became trapped within a too-rigid framework. Also, of late, our shows have featured real-life 'historical' figures, so we research them thoroughly and use real events as a basis (usually to work away from).

Ralph Oswick and Brian Popay are founder members of the company and are somewhat like 'Trustees of the Style'. They know instinctively what a 'Natural Theatre' show is, and, just as importantly, what it isn't. They will bring a pot-pourri of ideas, scenes, characters and situations to the initial concept and to the first outline draft of any new 'play'. These images and ideas are often inspired by the previous year's outdoor work, so can be mainly visual to begin with. It is through the improvising skills of the performers and director that a written script emerges. This workshop writing process usually takes half of the month-long rehearsal period allowed for a new indoor show. Once complete, it is never outside the bounds of possibility to make changes to the script and even the structure of the show when it is on the road. The show 'Nutcrackers' was being refined even up to its last performance - not because it was a bad show, but because the performers and director kept seeing exciting alternative endings to the piece.

How NTC's Work is Devised

Our methods for devising street theatre differ greatly from our indoor show processes. Firstly, the nature of the performers is different. We employ performers for our street teams who are not necessarily from the acting profession. Their skills include sculpture, painting, writing and all manner of other trades and professions and we therefore go about the creative process in various ways. We hold an annual workshop for street performers and it is often during these times that we sit down and throw new ideas around. These suggestions may be taken up and any props or costumes then made or found. At the end of the week, the piece will be 'tested' on the street in front of an unsuspecting public, with one group of performers trying it, while another group observes. We then discuss the work, suggest refinements or alterations and agree to either develop it later or to abandon it in to the dustbin of failed ideas. Our residencies at major Expos and Garden Festivals worldwide have turned out to be good proving grounds for new work and variations on existing pieces. These long periods spent in one place focus the minds of performers and allow them the freedom to indulge their imagination.

The Number of People Involved in the Creative Process

This is entirely dependent on who is around and / or employed by the company. Obviously, ideas do not only occur when performers are under contract. Our body of street performers has been built up over ten years or more, so people are in tune with the 'Natural' style and are constantly coming up with new twists and angles. Our main problem is to turn them into physical realities, mainly due to time and money considerations.

Our work patterns are determined by the availability of bookings throughout the year of course, so there are fallow periods both in terms of work and in terms of new pieces. Part of Brian and Ralph's job is to keep the company's pool of ideas topped up, and to encourage and collate ideas from company members. They are also responsible for identifying new areas for work that might be exploited, together with encouraging new people to get involved with the company.

Regarding Time Allowed for the Creative Process

An indoor show would typically be given one month's rehearsal, although there would have been several months of thought and outline scenario drafting before this. The show title and general description will have been created as much as one year in advance, simply to secure bookings for the show. The world of small scale touring theatre is ruled very much by budgetary considerations and forward planning, both on the part of the bookers and the company. The time scale for the creation of a new street scenario is far more open-ended, with constant refinements, changes, adaptations and variations happening throughout the preparation and indeed the performances themselves.

Whether A Show Or Performance Is Deemed Successful Or Not

The success or failure of the two different forms of our work is probably judged in similar terms. From our point of view, it is public approval, audience involvement and general satisfaction with the offering, together with a measure of critical acclaim from either the organisers, the press or others that go towards letting us know that we have a successful piece. These factors are considered alongside the performers' satisfaction with their own performance, and the piece as a whole.

In finer detail, it is probably easier to assess the success or failure of an indoor show as this represents the formal face of theatre. The street work is harder to criticise and analyse in standard 'theatrical' terms, as the focus and dynamic are constantly changing due to the nature of the outside environment. What might be successful in one place will sometimes turn out not to work in another. This makes for more excitement and danger, as one can never be sure exactly what is going to happen.

'William Tell' on the other hand, has been a universally acclaimed hit, which is a great pleasure to us. We, of course, knew it was good, but it was a case of waiting to read the opinions of others. These newspaper reviews have been of great value to us and will be crucial in selling the show for a second run. If we had not had such good press reports, then a re-tour of the show would have been unlikely. This is the central difference between indoor and street work - the indoor shows are almost entirely reliant on good press notices while the outdoor pieces rely mainly on testimonials from satisfied clients. This is probably due in the main to the preference of drama critics to review a show from the comfort of a good seat in a warm theatre, rather than stand and watch from a windy street corner in the middle of winter!