Research & Methodology

Physical Theatre

Physical theatre is commonly known as non- text-based work. In some cases, physical-based work enables practitioners and actors to explore in far more depth the actions behind the spoken word and what is trying to be said. The body is a tool in physical theatre. A physical theatre is a basic form of storytelling and yet the actors explore into more depth through the body, movement, and meaning of the actual piece. “Franc Chamberlain explored between actors with physical theatre and general tasks- a playwrights text, and the actor/ performer who becomes part of a creative partnership in authoring the emergent theatre piece in question” (2007 page: 17). This meaning that physical theatre can be defined by what it can produce as well as provoke in the theatrical space.

Can I take your order please would have had a physical theatre section we want to use it show a different element in the performance as our piece is so high energy and it is about what we say and we feel that you can say something without speaking at all. In our piece, we planned to use the physical theatre movement on the sofa either fighting over a box of chocolates or takeaway menus. We started to look into company’s that have used physical theatre whilst being sat down this is when we discovered chair duets by Frantic Assembly. It seemed like the perfect match as it revolves around the chairs and two people.

Murray, S.D., Keefe, J. (2007) Physical Theatres: a critical introduction, Routledge, New York;London.

Free style rapping/ Rap Battles

As we wanted to put an original rap into our performance we started doing some research into rapping, at first it was just free-styling techniques to help us learn how to rap and rhyme. Freestyle is a style of improvisation with or without instrumental beats, in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure. It is similar to other improvisational music, such as jazz, where a lead instrumentalist acts as an improviser with a supporting band providing a beat. As we started watching videos we came across a popular TV show called ‘Drop the Mic’ where people would battle using rap to try and our rap each other. Rap battling is a type of rapping that includes bragging, insults and boasting content. Battling can occur on recorded albums, though rap battles are often recited or freestyle spontaneously in live battles. We were in two minds what to do with this technique as we could battle against each other to decide on a takeaway or whether to just rap about food.

Parody Element

A parody of something is a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for a comedic effect or ridicule. So, in other words, a ridiculous imitation. I think this applies to the theme of our show food when people first hear it they think food how silly, however, we think … how smart it can be turned into an entertaining show and an easy laugh which is what parody is.

Parody I think is part of our performance, as we are using common songs and changing the lyrics to revolve around our food theme. Usually, With Parody, it means that you mock the original version of something or someone. In our case, we are mocking ourselves and people’s food habits We found lots of songs that have already been changed to fit the food category however I fell that it would make us more original if we made up our own. A good example of the kind of parody we looked at to understand why our show had a trace of parody was Dustin and Genevieve who create music video’s changing the lyrics to songs to mock themselves in a way that is comedic and relatable. This video gave us a lot of inspiration for our piece but also shown us what we could achieve.

Misheard lyrics

A mondegreen is a mishearing or miss- interpreting a phrase in which it gives it a new meaning. In songs cases it does exactly that, it appears in many types of performance, mainly comedians use it to interprets song in a different way, it is used to make people laugh or to mock the original writer of the song and the way they sing it to sound like something else. Shannon and I had the idea of using this in our performance, a basic idea we had was to listen to the radio to help curb our cravings but then popular songs that the audience will know involve our sound like it is talking about food. I think one example of this would be Peter Kay a famous comedian we found who uses misheard lyrics in one of his shows, Shannon and I were laughing the whole time and though that this would be great element to add in to our comedic performance .

The further we started looking the better it got. We actually found a video that uses songs but when you hear the lyrics it sound like different types of food.

Comedy Duo’s

Comedy Double acts have been around for what feels like forever, there are so many that it is hard to keep track of all of them, but no matter what generation that you are you will always remember Laurel and Hardy. These are still my favourite duo even though they are not from my generation I have always sat and watched them on DVD with my family and they will always be my favourite. I love the silly comedy and the way they act daft, it is probably the oldest comedy in the books but it still makes people laugh. Shannon and I have always wanted comedy in our performance since day one of rehearsals and we wanted to create a double act that the audience will enjoy watching and most importantly find amusing. With laurel and Hardy it isn’t about having the same comedy takticks that they use it is about their chemistry towards eachother that make them more hilerious a sort of ‘Ying and Yang’. If we could create this effect with eachother I think it will have a big impact on our performance and the audience.

Michelle Pearson

From searching duet performance we then started to research performances that were about food, to be more descriptive musicals and cabarets about food. Through doing this we came across a performer Michelle Pearson. She created a performance where she performs while serving her audience food. Comfort Food Cabaret is the creation of Australia’s singing cook, Michelle Pearson. Since its debut In February 2017, Diners are serenaded by the soulful songstress as she creates a delicious three course menu celebrating comfort food accompanied by the perfect playlist of jazz, rock and pop tunes.

She uses popular songs and changes the lyrics to fit what she is talking about and serving. From this performance we took the idea of serving food to our audience in the performance. We wanted to develop ways to get the audience more involved without bringing them out on stage. From Michelle’s technique of serving the food it is a clever way of breaking the fourth wall for our performance. We then started to look into changing the lyrics of popular songs this is a way of achieving the comedic aspect of the show. Her opening song uses a common song to introduce the show, she pulls her audience in straight away which I think stood out to us on this video its high energy and entertaining because it is unheard of it is something out of the ordinary.