“How can a devising company overcome obstacles to accessing the imagination?”
To become aware of the imagination, one must first fully understand it. The definition of the imagination is “The faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.” The fact that it is not present to the senses is one of the first problems in accessing the imagination. It is a company’s duty to take away the ineffability of their ideas by putting them into actions and words. This can be done in many ways; writing poems, creating monologues, establishing set etc. By creating something, no matter how small or unimportant, can lead to a great waterfall of ideas.
A pitfall to which many devising companies descend into is the fact that their imaginations are not stimulated. With prior access towards articles, documents, portraits, pictures etc. it is achievable for the company to recognise the external factors away from the play, giving a superior understanding of the machinations of the outside world. “Thomas Paine came to believe that the “three great faculties of the mind” were memory, judgement and imagination. “We are far today from accepting that to imagine is as important as getting on with the theoretical practicalities of life.” (Saul J.R, 2001) By understanding all three of these methods of thought it is possible to enhance the use of imagination; To be able to suspend other trains of thought in favour of imagination.
“Related to this is a belief that the imagination, and the use of the imagination, is fundamentally romantic. This is one of the most dangerous mechanisms of marginalization. If we say imagination is wonderful, essential even, but its source is limited and unstable, then the door is opened wide.” (Saul J.R, 2001) This point is quintessential in theatre-making. Whereupon many thoughts and ideas can be formulated through imagination, it is easy to get lost in the beauty of it, leading to ideas which are impractical and do not ameliorate the piece at all. This does not mean that these ideas are invalid, but one should be able to navigate the imagination and, in effect, use it as a creative tool. It is important to recognise the importance of the imagination in group work and that it is not used to “colour” plays but to structure them instead.
“Transcending the self is about imagining the other; not to weaken the self but to be capable of reaching beyond it. No convincing argument has yet been made which limits you or myself to our self-interest.” (Saul J.R, 2001). This was in important quote for our group because it was very easy for us to be caught up in self-interest. The self seemed to become a very big obstacle within the group. When we realised the world outside of our craft we became much better as actors for it, we were not confined to reality but immersed in imagination.
Imagination can be said to be one of the hardest methods of thought to tackle due to how innate it is. There is no book you can study to further its progression. However there are simple safeguards you can perform to ensure its success.
SOURCES:
Saul, J.R. (2001) On Equilibrium. London: Penguin.
Kallenbach, U. (2018). The Theatre of Imagining. pp.50-82.
WITCHES! 