A Seanchai is a traditional Irish storyteller/historian who would be part of a group know as a clan, and they would be know as the 'Village Storyteller' who would tell all of their stories a traditional ceremony's and events in their villages. Some of the Seanchai's were not part of their own clan, so they would travel round to other communities to tell their stories and offer their skills in exchange for food and shelter for the night.
The main characteristic of the Seanchai is that their stories were never written down, and were just passed down all of the generations and then they would go around telling the stories, as the stories were never written down, they would change over time, so lots of different stories were formed from the original. The Seanchai's were highly respected in the villages and would act as servant to the chiefs of the tribes and they kept track of all of the important information for their clan.
The modern day Seanchai are now members of the Celtic Revival such as the Padraic Colum who took a great interest in the traditional art of the Seanchai, and all of the stories that had been told were then written down and the published and passed around to a global audience. The storytellers that still preserve the stories and the style of how the Seanchai spoke continue to share the art while competing for awards at local festivals. Eamon Kelly was well known for the art of storytelling and went on to perform a one man show in Dublin where he shared the stories to others.
Who were the Fianna?
In Irish mythology the Fianna were a small independent warrior band, that featured in many of the stories of the Fenian cycle, the leader of the bands was called Fionn mac Cumhaill. The stories were all based on historical groups of men known as kerns (A Kern is a Gaelic Solider in the middle ages.) The Kerns were groups of young men and women who had no land, this was usually due to them not inheriting their families estate yet. If you were part of the Fianna you were known as a Fennid and the leader was known as the RigFennid which meant 'King-Fennid'. The group had a war cry that was known as a Diord Fionn they would use this during and before battle, either as a way of communication between the group of to put fear into their enemies. The groups had to follow three mottos:
- Purity in our hearts
- Strength in our limbs
- Action to match our speech
The leader of the Fenian Cycle was Oisin that is why the cycle was also known as the Ossianic Cycle, The cycle was a group of short stories and verses all about a mycological hero named 'Fionn mac Cumhaill' and his army who were known as the 'Fianna'. This cycle contained lots of stories about other famous members of the Fianna, telling stories about their adventures, some of the characters that were very popular were; Diarmuid, Cailte, The Leaders son Oscar and the Enemy Goll mac Morna.
The Fianna was formed by the high king of Ireland 'Conma mac Art', they were formed to protect their kingdom. One of the most famous stories about the Fionna's were where they were dominated by Clan Bascna which was led by Cumhaill and Clan Morna, lead by Goll. After the big battle Cumhaill was killed by Morna and Clan's wife and son ran away. This story was told the local villages and was well known by all.
Frantic Assembly
Frantic Aseembly are a fast paced, energetic devising company. They are mainly aimed towards new and younger audiences due to the non-naturalistic style. A lot of Frantics work is responded off of scripted text, like their current production of Orthello, where they use the current script and bring it up to date, while bringing their work to life with music and choreographed movement.
Music is a massive inspiration to Frantic and they use music during the rehearsal and devising period and respond off it to help get the emotion and tone of the piece and scene. The rehearsal period is kept short as the team feel that they work best with a short time period and work well off of the intensity and not having the time to work on things for to long helps keep their work fresh and new. They devise using the trail and error method where they work through things and see what works the best, and what doesn't.
Some of the texts that they work from are pre-written scripts like old texts like Orthello, where they would stick close to the plot and the idea, and just add their style to it through the music and performance skills. The other way they would use a piece of text is they would have a writer come and listen to their ideas and the they would write their material around it. Another medium they respond off of is music and they would have it playing in rehearsals from the beginning rather putting it in towards the end in technical rehearsals. They would use it to help spark ideas and help with movement sequences.
In some of their productions they would take inspiration from the set and design elements of the show, and movement and ideas would be worked off of how they can use the set to create interesting shapes and sequences.
Kneehigh Theatre Company
Kneehigh started in the 1980's and they started off performing in marquees and village halls, they often use mythological tales as a base story for their performances. They are primarily a touring theatre company, where they would go to other theatres and education centres. They also have there own performance space, which they call the Asylum, which is a purpose built tent which can be adapted to 5 different styles to best suit the production.
Kneehigh don't have a set way in which the produce a production but it always starts with a well known story, such as fairy tales and myths. They never want to form a barrier between the actors and the audience, and they want the actors to understand how the audience feels from the reactions that they get and that this should effect the play and how it goes.
Long before the rehearsals begin the creative team all sit down to go over books, films and make sketches, to begin to create a idea of the production and where its going. this helps to create a world of the play for the actors to live in, as the more detailed world of the play gives more meaning and narrative to the story. Once they have a solid idea of the feel of the piece, the music director put together a musical track for the show and all the writers go off and write a collection of poems, monologues and ideas. They then all come together to what they have, one thing that they would not write is a script or polished scene. Once all the design, music and words are ready, they go into the rehearsal room.
From here on they work as a team and all discuss their ideas towards the ideas and write down their views on a big board and then use this to think of their own experiences to get the real feel for the characters and stories. From day one the music is used to help give a feel for the world, and the writers are present in the rehearsal room and are there to inspire and use the poetry and lyrics into the plot. Along the rehearsal process the foundations are lost but they believe the with a good team and great concept the show with create a life in its self.
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh is a British film director and writer. He began as a theatre director in the 60's but went on to do films in the 70's. He is well known for his alternative style of directing. He is known for is extended rehearsal and devising process and his improvisation techniques with all his actors. He is known to work with the same actors for most of his films, as he feels that they know how each other work and can respond off of each other. He does this long process to create depth into his characters and narrative to the film.
He always begins the process without a script, he would start with a strong story line or a ruff idea of where he want to explore, which he would develop with a lot of improve and growth of characters. He starts the process with a one to one with the actors, where he would ask the actors to create a list of lots of people that they know or have known. They should be varied with people that they are close too and people that they have been acquainted with, this is then condensed and the eventually these peoples characteristics are used to create the character, where they can take on their characteristics, vocals and movement. This can be a long process where the character can change a lot over time, this gives a big detailed character where they almost become an alter ego to the actor.
Once all of the characters are made, they are gradually brought together and then start to do some improvisations together and to see if any relationships form and help to build the world around them. At this point in the process the actors know nothing about the piece other than them selves in it. after a while the actors would go out in the street and interact with other character and strangers. This helps to see reactions of the character and how there characters deal with things. This type of improvisation would go up all the to the recordings.
Leigh would then write outlines of the scenes in the film and themes for the characters to follow. The characters then improvise around these written scenes, the best lines and moments from his is scripted, this is where the shooting for the film would begin. Hours and hours of film are shot of improvisation and prompted scenes, then all of this is whittled down into the final product, and all that's the audience see's in the highlights and the best moments of the filming, where as the actors would have done much more. This then creates a film where even the smallest of characters are so in depth that they could have had a whole plot of their own.
The practitioner that appeals to me the most is Knee high as I love to work off an idea but still be able to add in my own ideas to it. Where as Frantic Assembly are given a text which maybe restricting to the way that you work. But the way that Kneehigh works creates a completely fresh and new feel to the piece, but with a story that is known. I also like the detailed character work that comes along with Mike Leigh's devising methods, and the way the characters all have their own lives that we know about outside the play.
Eamon Kelly's Storytelling
The story that Kelly was telling was about a man that went round selling tea too the locals of Ireland. He would go around selling all day but as the day drew in he came to a small house, as strong storm came in and he had no other option then to take shelter in the house. The wife came into the house with a freshly baked cake, the smell filled the house and they could see that the tea man craved a bit, when the wife went to cut him a bit, the husband shouted "NO"... and that he wasn't aloud a bit and that he was just to be there to shelter from the rain. In this small house there was only one bed and this was taken up by the husband and wife, the husband worked through the night, so had to go to and from the bed during the night. The wife slept up against the wall and then the husband in the middle and the tea man on the end. When the husband had to go to work he would place the babies cradle in the middle of them, so they would remain separate, as if he didn't trust his wife. When he came back he would put the cradle back on the floor, and get back in bed. He did this a few times during the night but when it got late in the night, he forgot to put the cradle between the two sleeping. Once he had gone the wife turned to the tea man and said "Quick, while he is gone, you have your chance....have a bit of the cake!"
The parts that I found the most comical in the story was the unexpected and where I minds think of one thing and another thing happens, this is what makes us laugh to most comical moment to the story. I think because we don't see something happening, we come shocked then we turn that into comedy.
