Table Of ContentFRANTIC ASSEMBLY
Frantic Assembly have had a powerful and continuing influence on the
popularisation of devising practices in contemporary theatre-making. Their
work blends brave and bold physical theatre with exciting new writing, and
they have collaborated with some of the leading theatre-makers in the UK. The
company’s impact reaches throughout the world, particularly through their
extensive workshop and education programmes, as well as their individual
and collective impact as movement directors on landmark, internationally
successful productions such as Black Watch and The Curious Incident of the Dog in
the Night-Time.
This volume reveals the background to, and work of, a major influence on
twentieth and twenty-first century performance. Frantic Assembly is the first
book to combine:
• an overview of the history of the company since its foundation in 1994
• an analysis of the key ideas underpinning the company’s work
• a critical commentary on two key productions – Hymns by Chris O’Connell
(1999) and Stockholm by Bryony Lavery (2007)
• a detailed description of a Frantic Assembly workshop, offering an
introduction to how the company works.
As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before
going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners
offer unbeatable value for today’s student.
Mark Evans is Professor of Theatre Training and Education at Coventry
University. He trained with Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier in Paris and has
published widely on performer training and physical theatre, including: Movement
Training for the Modern Actor (2009), The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq (2016)
and Performance Movement and the Body (2019).
Mark Smith is a Lecturer in Theatre at the University of York. His research
examines the interplay between processes of devising, writing and physicality in
contemporary UK theatre. He has worked as a theatre director and dramaturg,
and he writes regularly for the British Theatre Guide.
ROUTLEDGE PERFORMANCE
PRACTITIONERS
Series editor: Franc Chamberlain
‘Small, neat (handbag sized!) volumes; a good mix of theory and prac
tice, written in a refreshingly straightforward and informative style…
Routledge Performance Practitioners are good value, easy to carry around,
and contain all the key information on each practitioner – a perfect
choice for the student who wants to get a grip on the big names in per
formance from the past hundred years.’ – Total Theatre
Routledge Performance Practitioners is an innovative series of introductory
handbooks on key figures in contemporary performance practice.
Each volume focuses on a theatre-maker who has transformed the
way we understand theatre and performance. The books are carefully
structured to enable the reader to gain a good grasp of the fundamen
tal elements underpinning each practitioner’s work. They provide an
inspiring springboard for students on twentieth century, contemporary
theatre, and theatre history courses.
Now revised and reissued, these compact, well-illustrated and clearly
written books unravel the contribution of modern theatre’s most char
ismatic innovators, through:
• personal biography
• explanation of key writings
• description of significant productions
• reproduction of practical exercises.
Volumes currently available in this series:
Robert Wilson by Maria Shevtsova
Etienne Decroux by Thomas Leabhart
Robert Lepage by Aleksandar Saša Dundjerovic
Frantic Assembly by Mark Evans and Mark Smith
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.
routledge.com/Routledge-Performance-Practitioners/book-series/
RPP
FRANTIC ASSEMBLY
Mark Evans and Mark Smith
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Mark Evans and Mark Smith
The right of Mark Evans and Mark Smith to be identified as authors of this
work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-03084-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-03085-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-02030-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Perpetua
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CONTENTS
List of figures vii
Foreword by Vicky Featherstone ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 BIOGRAPHICAL AND ARTISTIC CONTEXT:
A ‘FRANTIC METHOD’? 1
Introduction 1
B eginnings: the 1990s 2
Expanding dramatically: 1998–2012 21
Letting others in: 2012–present 36
Conclusion 41
2 KEY WRITINGS, PRINCIPLES AND IDEAS:
‘ALWAYS FORWARD, NEVER BACK’ 43
The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre 44
Collaboration 45
Physicality 50
Movement and gender 61
Movement and writing: developing the ideas 67
The value of text and movement 73
vi CONTENTS
L earning and training: Frantic Assembly
and education 75
Conclusion 80
3 IDEAS IN PRODUCTION: HYMNS
AND STOCKHOLM 82
Hymns: text reconstructed 82
Stockholm: text and silence 100
Conclusion: from friendship to family 116
4 PRACTICAL WORK: A FRANTIC ASSEMBLY
WORKSHOP 118
The context 118
Fundamental principles 120
Before beginning 123
Physical preparation 127
Group exercises 132
Partner work 134
Weight and contact 137
Lifting 139
Generating physical material 143
Workshopping the material: exploring the potential
of what is made 148
Winding up 149
The presumptions 150
Starting points for devising text 154
Performing/acting/making 157
Video 158
Placing practical work in context 159
CONCLUSION 161
International impact 162
Bibliography 166
Resources 179
Index 181
FIGURES
1.1 Scott Graham, Steven Hoggett and Vicki Middleton
on tour in Cairo in the late 1990s 4
2.1 F atherland by Simon Stephens, Scott Graham
and Karl Hyde (2017 Manchester International Festival) 52
2.2 Ignition 2017, directed by Neil Bettles. Stratford Circus
Arts Centre, London 79
3.1 H ymns by Chris O’Connell (2005 revival, Lyric Theatre,
Hammersmith), directed by Liam Steel, co-directed
by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett 85
3.2 H ymns by Chris O’Connell (2005 revival, Lyric Theatre,
Hammersmith), directed by Liam Steel, co-directed
by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett 96
3.3 S tockholm by Bryony Lavery (2007, Drum Theatre,
Plymouth), directed by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett 111
3.4 S tockholm by Bryony Lavery (2007, Drum Theatre,
Plymouth), directed by Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett 115
4.1 Group warm-up – stretching 129
4.2 Group warm-up – catching the ball, two lines 130
viii FIGURES
4.3 Slalom exercise – running around the chairs 134
4.4 Gavin Maxwell instructing partners in balancing
and taking weight in a lift 139
4.5 Gavin Maxwell and Emma Rowbotham demonstrating
how A lifts B from under the shoulder 141
4.6 Gavin Maxwell (left) and Simon Pittman (right)
demonstrate a side lift – balancing weight and lifting 142
4.7 Pairs working on sequences of movements based
on ‘hold’, ‘trace’ and ‘orientate’ 145
4.8 Performing the sequence in an unusual space 153
FOREWORD
Vicky Featherstone
L ooking over the impressive list of Frantic Assembly shows, I realise
I have seen virtually every single one. I was not even aware that I was
their number one fan. From their radical and surprising re-imagining
of Look Back in Anger in 1994, which I saw as an angry young director
myself, to the heart-breaking and world-dominating Things I Know To
Be True by Andrew Bovell, which I saw with my daughter as part of her
GCSEs.
It seems all great theatre companies should begin with Look Back
in Anger – it bodes well, but how could they possibly have known or
imagined that 28 or so shows later they would still be going? It has
seemed so effortless, following them on that theatre journey. I didn’t
even realise it was happening.
And I think that sums them up really, their work is so inviting, so
engaging, it always feels like a new discovery and has never felt tired or
predictable and is always surprising and brand new.
W hy have they been so enduring and influential when so many of
the other brilliant companies created by like-minded peers as they leave
higher education to venture into the real world have early major influ
ence and success but then sputter and die? What was the key that meant
that 30 years of making work is still shouting loud and clear?
In the beginning, Scott and Steven and their brilliant partner Vicki
spent a long time deciding what things shouldn’t be. Boring, traditional,
