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Scratch

In the initial stages of this piece we decided that we had two major focuses/aims.
Firstly, to create a piece that allowed us to experience the business side of the
theatre. It was important for both of us, as practiced performers, to take the
opportunity this piece allowed us to look at the bigger picture. We know what goes
into a final product from a devising perspective and an acting perspective, but with
this piece we wanted to develop our skillset off stage and concern ourselves with the
logistics of what goes into the making of a show. We were even more focused on this
as we realized that the ideas we were coming up with would be useful in developing
and raising faith in our own initiatives when it comes to creating work, and also would
help us begin to develop our own network of connections outside of academia.
Secondly, it was important for us to make the piece beneficial to and integrated with
the local arts scene. This was important in our thoughts of networking with people
outside of our academic circle, but other reasons played a major factor. For instance,
we have spent a lot of time, throughout our education, partaking in travelling
workshops from local areas and watching performances, which were brought to us
from the same or similar local companies. We felt that as a new company it was time
that we used the experiences they have allowed us to give back. With both of these
focuses in mind, we developed the idea of organizing an arts showcase to promote
local talent.
Originally, the idea was to develop a showcase with a group of local companies and
individuals, each presenting short pieces which they are in the process of
developing, with little emphasis on the state of the pieces completion. It began as a

way of us showing the wide range of talent the city of Chester, where we are based,
has to offer.
The idea was based on our own, regrettable, lack of knowledge as to the kind of
work which was taking place around our own region. Our research, however,
revealed a vast array of talent. From the discovery of Tiptop Theatre Productions,
working out of Chesters own Forum Theatre, to Chesters own professional theatre
company, who runs a Shakespeare open air theatre in Grosvenor park each
summer, Chester Performs. There were numerous individuals working in and around
Chester creating important work which leads to things such as Chesters Mystery
Plays, as well as the well-known Winter-Watch and Mid-Summers Watch parades.
However, the more we considered the idea of a showcase the more we decided that
the idea needed development. One of the other major reasons that we wanted to
make people aware of the work taking place in the local area, was our own
apprehensions at the lack of opportunities to create and present work in our region
outside of educational necessity. We decided that, as a company, it was important to
us to lay the same apprehensions other artists, in the same position as us, might be
having to rest by giving them the opportunities they questioned they would find.
Giving other upcoming artists like ourselves chance to integrate and perform whilst
building connections alongside people who are in the same situations as
themselves, or have already been there and may be able to help. Thus, our original
idea of a showcase became a Scratch Night, aptly named Scratch.
DMV Theatre (2016) describes a Scratch night as, an evening designed to give
artists the opportunity to test out their material on a live audience. This is an
important step within any piece of work. It allows the artist to get feedback and

develop their own work in accordance to the reaction of their audience. However,
being able to show work like this as a new company or artist is not an easy feat, as
most companies will be working with minimal resources and minimal budget. Richard
Thomas wrote In the current climate of zero funding where rehearsal space alone
is way beyond the means of most struggling artists, BAC (a scratch night) is an
oasis. You get a chance. You might blow it; you might make it but at least you get a
chance. (2005) Trying to get a space in which to perform to a live audience halfway
through production is generally not a feasible option. This was one of the major
deciding factors that our piece would definitely be a scratch night as the companys
current links with the academic world allowed us budget concessions we may not
have been allowed otherwise and therefore allowed us to share our opportunity with
other actors in the same position.
The first set of skills we had to use was our communication and organizational skills
to find a venue. We knew we wanted to have people from outside our educational
circles take part as well as, if possible, some professional acts, therefore we knew
that the performance would need to take place on, for lack of a better term, neutral
ground. DMV Theatre goes on its definition of a scratch night to say, Scratch Nights
will see a whole variety of acts performed from stand-up comics, to new emerging
theatre companies, dancers, poetry readings/performances and live art performers.
(2016) From this we knew that the venue needed to be relatively informal as well due
to the fact that some of these performers would not be used to performing on a
theatre stage. It was important to us that, even though artists might be coming from
completely opposite ends of the professional scale, they all had an equal footing.
This also helped with the issue of some performances being polished and some still

in progress, each group would have to adjust their piece to the level of the venue
making it feel more like a showing, less like a competition.
After a few meetings we were able to come to an agreement with Alexanders bar in
Chester, who are well known for live entertainment but not a specifically theatre
geared venue. Therefore, fitting our requirements of being accessible to all artists
who may wish to partake, being informal and convenient to our minimal budget.
Our skills within social media also became important as we immediately created a
Facebook page and Twitter as a method of networking and keeping in touch with out
performers and also to promote the piece itself. However, in the social media climate
we live in we did tend to focus on this too much and should the opportunity for a
performance of a similar nature arise again, we would split our focus between this
and the classic flyers and poster to lead people to the social media.
Our reliance on social media did mean that, even though we attracted an ample
audience to the piece they were mostly academics and people who were already
brought to the company by word of mouth. If we repeat the process, we would make
sure to reach out to more professional companies, face to face, to allow us the wider
range of performers and audience members that we had originally hoped to attract.
For the actual performance night, we chose to be the curators of the event, rather
than taking part ourselves. In reflection, we would next time do this differently. It was
coincidence that caused us to run into technical problems of which we had to help
see to on the night, however, this did show up flaws in our system. It meant that as
our artists were arriving we were not necessarily there to keep the event flowing as
smoothly as it should have. In hindsight, we should have involved ourselves not as
host but as performers, perhaps getting volunteer front of house members, allowing

us to take care of the logistics of getting setup whilst our audience and artist are
welcomed properly, made aware of how the night is going to run and even given
information on us as a theatre company.
We also in hindsight feel that should we have done the performance again, we would
have begun and ended with some small pieces of our own. Not only to show what
we are about as a company, but also as solo artists. Also to bridge the gap of host
and artist, to show that we are just as willing and excited to take feedback as we are
to give it.
Overall the night was a success in many ways. Firstly, on face value it was a
success. All the performers and audience enjoyed themselves, we had a wide variety
of skills on show and feedback was gladly accepted. The opportunities that Chester
has were showcased, and those with the same apprehensions as us were able to
spend a night seeing that there are lots of opportunities for creating work in Chester.
We managed to develop our skills within the production side of a piece using our
communication skills and organizational skills to make everything fall into place.
Finally, the most important way the night was a success was its mistakes. Without
these mistakes we would not be able to improve. Even though we were not officially
a part of the scratch night ourselves this whole process had been a giant scratch
event for us. It has shown us what skills we need to improve on, how we need to be
able to split our focus and most importantly to have faith in our own intuitions and
skills. The rich array of work that we found in Chester is created from the belief that
opportunity is made, not given. This piece has gone a long way to help our own
apprehensions about making work, we look forward to doing something similar again

soon, as we have proven, the opportunity is always there we just have to work to
make it.

Reference links
Alexanders Bar (Venue) - http://alexanderslive.com/
Chester Mid-Summers Watch Parades- http://www.midsummerwatch.co.uk/
Chester Mystery Plays - http://www.chestermysteryplays.com/
Chester Performs (recently renamed StoryHouse) - http://www.storyhouse.com/
DMV Theatre- https://dvmtheatre.wordpress.com/scratch-nights/ (retrieved May
2016)
Thomas, R. (2005). I would have gone under without them. Retrieved from
www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/feb/24/theatre1
Tip Top Productions- http://www.tiptopproductions.co.uk/
Two Man Riot Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/TwoManRiot/
Two Man Riot Twitter Page- https://twitter.com/TwoManRiot

Bibliography
Furnace: Scratch. (2015). Retrieved from www.wyp.org.uk/events/furnace-scratch
Lecoq, J., Carasso, J., Lallias, J., & Bradby, D. (2002). The moving body: Teaching
creative theatre. London: Methuen.

McKean, B. (2007). Composition in theater: Writing and devising performance.


In International handbook of research in arts education (pp. 503-515). Springer
Netherlands.
Schrch, B. & Frassetto, F. (2002). Unpublished interview in Murray, S. (2003).
Jacques Lecoq. (p.121). Abingdon: Routledge.
Slater, J. & Russell, E. (2015). Why disseminate? C-DaRE Symposium: Performing
Process: Sharing Practice. Chester, United Kingdom. 2015.
Pierce, H. (2013). Scratch Nights: Useful? Retrieved from
www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/events/devoted-and-disgruntled-8/reports/scratchnights-useful/
William, C. (2002). Beyond Criticism: Lermans Critical Response Process in the
Dance Composition Classroom, in Journal of Dance Education. 2(3).

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