BREAKTHROUGHS AND DISCOVERIES IN THEATRE REHEARSALS: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF CLOSE QUARTERS ROBERT MICHAEL JAMES (MARSDEN) BA (Hons), MA, SFHEA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. December 2019 This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Robert Michael James (Marsden) to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date copyright is owned by the author. Signature……………………………………….. Date……17th December 2019…………….. 1 ABSTRACT This thesis contributes to the emerging field of rehearsal studies by examining the seldom-analysed (yet oft-referenced) moments of a text based theatre rehearsal where breakthroughs occur that advance the creative process. This thesis presents an original framework through which text-based rehearsal breakthroughs which concentrate primarily on the dynamic between the actor, director and text can be viewed, categorised, and ultimately analysed as ‘The Four Lenses of Breakthrough’. An ethnographic methodology is utilised to analyse data collected from a case study observation of the breakthroughs in the rehearsal period of Kate Bowen’s new play Close Quarters (2018). This thesis sharpens the language used to articulate these moments by creating a practical framework for rehearsal observation and analysis. The Four Lenses created are: (1) individual and small recognition moments that occur; (2) individual discoveries for actors and directors; (3) collective discoveries shared by actors and directors; (4) and, finally, a ‘wow’ moment shared by all, where all the variables coalesce. This thesis builds upon the work of scholars and practitioners whose objective has been to demystify the rehearsal period and to break apart the myth that the rehearsal room is a place of magic, and a mysterious place. With the expansion of rehearsal studies as a field within Western theatre, as well as performance studies since the 1970s, this thesis sits within the critical field of rehearsal studies, and argues for the importance of examining moments of breakthrough in rehearsal. The thesis attests that breakthroughs are unpredictable in a rehearsal period. Even with their ubiquitous occurrence in rehearsals, there is nevertheless a paucity in the literature of explicit analysis of breakthroughs; this thesis also draws together the extant literature as well as offering a new method of analysis. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my supervisors Professor Ross Prior and Professor Paul Johnson for their unwavering comments, incisive suggestions and creative and critical reflections, which have allowed for specificity in my thinking. Artistic Director Kate Wasserberg and all at Out of Joint and Sheffield Theatres. Paul Christie and students involved in The Good Hope at Staffordshire University. Plus, for supporting information from work and interviews, Dr Andrew Filmer, Tamara Harvey, Gay McAuley, Katie Mitchell, Ken Rea, Dr Kate Rossmanith, Tiffany Stern, Michelle Terry, and Ivo van Hove. Simon Sladen and the archivists at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The Society for Theatre Research (STR) and Wolverhampton University for support in the funding of research. Deans Dr Astrid Herhoffer and Professor David Hawkins at Staffordshire University for providing time and financial support. Dr Kelly Jones and Richard Cheshire for lending me their ears and support, and for providing wine. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 TABLE OF FIGURES 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 9 1.0 THAT’S IT! 9 1.1 DEFINING A BREAKTHROUGH 10 1.2 LOCATING A METHODOLOGY 14 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND CRITICAL FRAMEWORK 17 1.4 REHEARSAL STUDIES 1: A CRITICAL FRAME 18 1.5 REHEARSAL STUDIES 2: AN EMERGING ACADEMIC FIELD 25 1.6 ORIGINALITY 29 1.7 LOOKING AHEAD 32 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 35 2.0 INTRODUCTION 35 2.1 INSIDER vs. OUTSIDER ACCOUNTS 36 2.2 THE ‘AHA’ MOMENT 44 2.3 FLOW, ‘AHA’ MOMENTS, AND THE CREATIVE STATE 54 2.4 BREAKTHROUGHS IN REHEARSALS 58 2.5 BREAKTHROUGHS AND THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH 66 2.6 DIRECTORIAL FRAMES AND RULES GUIDING BREAKTHROUGHS 70 4 2.7 ACTORS AND THEIR ARTICULATION OF BREAKTHROUGHS 81 2.8 PLAY, RISK TAKING, AND LETTING GO IN AIDING A DISCOVERY 85 2.9 DISCOVERIES WITHIN THE MISE-EN-SCÈNE 87 2.10 THE PRODUCTION MEETS AN AUDIENCE 90 2.11 SUMMARY 91 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH APPROACHES 93 3.0 INTRODUCTION 93 3.1 AN ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH: OVERVIEW 97 3.2 PRIOR TO THE OBSERVATION 108 3.3 ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS 109 3.4 INTERVIEWS WITH OTHER PRACTITIONERS 117 3.5 APPROACHES TO ANALYSING THE DATA 118 3.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN USING ETHNOGRAPHY 120 3.7 DATA MANAGEMENT 128 3.8 SUMMARY 129 CHAPTER 4: CONTEXT AND FRAMES 131 4.0 INTRODUCTION: A RETURN VISIT 131 4.1 THE GENESIS OF THIS OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 132 4.2 THE COMPANY: OUT OF JOINT 133 4.3 THE PUBLISHED PLAY: A BRIEF SYNOPSIS 136 4.4 DRAFT UPON DRAFT 138 4.5 THE ACTORS 142 4.6 PRE-REHEARSAL FRAMES ESTABLISHED 143 4.7 REHEARSAL SPACES 151 4.8 THE LENSES OF DISCOVERY 158 5 4.9 SUMMARY 160 CHAPTER 5: THE REHEARSAL PROCESS 1 - INDIVIDUAL BREAKTHROUGHS 161 5.0 INTRODUCTION 161 5.1 LENS ONE: INDIVIDUAL MOMENTS OF RECOGNITION – BIRTHING NOT BUILDING 161 5.2 LENS TWO: ‘AHA’ – AN INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY MOMENT BY AN ACTOR OR DIRECTOR 185 5.3 SUMMARY 215 CHAPTER 6: THE REHEARSAL PROCESS 2 - COLLECTIVE BREAKTHROUGHS AND ‘WOW’ MOMENTS 217 6.0 INTRODUCTION 217 6.1 LENS THREE: ‘AHA’ – A COLLECTIVE DISCOVERY MOMENT 217 6.2 LENS FOUR: THE COLLECTIVE COMPANY ‘WOW’ MOMENT 234 6.3 SUMMARY 246 CHAPTER 7: ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS 247 7.0 ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS 247 7.1 WHAT COUNTS AS A BREAKTHROUGH? 247 7.2 WHEN MIGHT BREAKTHROUGHS OCCUR IN A REHEARSAL PROCESS? 249 7.3 HOW, WHY, AND FOR WHOM MIGHT IT BE ASCERTAINED A BREAKTHROUGH IS MEANINGFUL? 258 7.4 WHAT LEVELS OF AWARENESS OF BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS MIGHT 6 PARTICIPANTS HAVE, BOTH DURING THE REHEARSAL PROCESS AND UPON REFLECTION? 264 7.5 HOW DO BREAKTHROUGHS SHAPE AND INFORM THE ONGOING THEATRE- MAKING PROCESS AND THE FINAL PRODUCTION? 268 7.6 SUMMARY 272 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER STEPS 276 8.0 INTRODUCTION 276 8.1 ORIGINALITY 276 8.2 IMPLICATIONS AND POTENTIAL IMPACT 280 8.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 284 8.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 286 8.5 A FINAL SUMMARY 290 BIBLIOGRAPHY 293 APPENDICES 312 APPENDIX A: CLOSE QUARTERS FULL PLAY SYNOPSIS 313 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORMS 317 APPENDIX C: UNIVERSITY ETHICAL CONSENT APPROVAL DOCUMENTATION 319 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 ‘The Four Lenses of Breakthrough’ (table) 31 Figure 2 Page 50 of the Field Jottings 96 Figure 3 The actors of Close Quarters 144 Figure 4 Model box of Close Quarters 149 Figure 5 Max Jones discussing the model box with the company 150 Figure 6 The groundplan for Close Quarters 153 Figure 7 The rehearsal room at Out of Joint 154 Figure 8 The Lyceum rehearsal room 156 Figure 9 The thresholds of the Sheffield rehearsal room 157 Figure 10 O’Reilly’s actioned script 179 Figure 11 O’ Reilly’s script, with notes 199 Figure 12 Melville’s script 202 Figure 13 The five-day timeline of events in Close Quarters 227 Figure 14 O’Reilly’s script, with timeline 229 Figure 15 Re-teching Scene Three 245 Figure 16 ‘The Four Lenses of Breakthrough’ (pie chart) 250 Figure 17 Frequency of breakthroughs 251 Figure 18 Collins’ Interactional Ritual Chain 267 Figure 19 Mapping Wood’s breakthrough moment onto Csíkszentmihályi’s breakthrough model and IRC 274 Note on Referencing: All references from a text or secondary source materials are indicated with ‘p’ for page number e.g. (Alfreds, 2007, p.9). All references from a transcribed interview with participants of the study, or the field notes are indicated with ‘l’ for corresponding line number in the transcribed notes e.g. (Wasserberg, 2019. l.450). 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.0 THAT’S IT! Dylan Wood [actor] asks where to put the emphasis on the line “Do you think I’d tell?”, Kate Wasserberg [director] doesn’t give a line reading but gives context: “You’ve really liked, secretly really liked her for a year. You’d never ever betray her trust. But this is so special.” This has a knock-on effect; Wood starts playing around with the emphasis and then plays on each word of the line and hits the emphasis on the word tell. Suddenly Wood shouts “Yes!” He jumps into the air. Bethan Dawson [deputy stage manager], Wasserberg and Jessie Haughton-Shaw [assistant director] simultaneously cry out using words such as “yeah” and “yes”. Wood (beaming and grinning): “I heard it... I heard it… I heard it”. (Field Notes, 2018, l.1556-1563)1 This thesis examines and analyses the role of breakthroughs in the rehearsal room of Close Quarters. Above is just one of numerous examples of a breakthrough transcribed from field jottings of the ethnographic observation of Out of Joint Theatre Company and Sheffield Theatre’s 2018 co-production of Kate Bowen’s play Close Quarters, a fictional account of the first British women soldiers on the front line of combat. The genesis of this thesis lies in a practical problem encountered on the rehearsal room floor whilst I was working at a drama school in the United Kingdom in 2011.