What is devising?
Devising (also called collective creation) is making a new play together. There is no playwright at the start. The actors, and often a director, designers and musicians, are all writers of the piece.
A devised piece has an artistic intention: what you want the audience to think or feel. Every choice should serve that intention.
Developing your own ideas from a stimulus
A stimulus is a starting point. It can be a photo, a poem, a song, an object, a headline, a painting or a theme such as 'freedom'.
- Ask questions: who, where, when, what happened before and after?
- Brainstorm: write every idea on a big sheet or sticky notes. Do not judge yet.
- Pick a clear theme and an audience: who is this for, and what should they take away?
Research and rehearsal methods
Research
Find facts, real stories, interviews, images and music linked to your theme, so your work is truthful.
Rehearsal techniques
- Improvisation: acting without a script, either spontaneous (on the spot) or prepared (planned for a few minutes).
- Freeze frame / tableau: a still picture made with bodies, showing levels, distance and facial expression.
- Thought-tracking: an actor in a freeze frame speaks the character's inner thoughts.
- Hot-seating: the group asks a character questions, and the actor answers in role.
- Role on the wall: an outline of a body with what the character shows outside and feels inside.
- Physical theatre and soundscape: bodies make objects; voices make the sound of a place.
Collaboration, structure and refining
Good groups share roles fairly, listen, and agree on decisions. Choose a structure:
- Linear: events in time order.
- Non-linear / episodic: flashbacks, flash-forwards or separate short scenes linked by a theme.
- Cyclical: the ending returns to the opening image.
Refining means improving: cut what is weak, sharpen transitions, add lighting, sound, costume or a key prop, and check that each moment serves the intention. Ask an outside eye for feedback, then try again.
The working notebook (devising log)
A working notebook records the journey: the stimulus, research, sketches and photos of freeze frames, decisions and the reasons for them, feedback received and how you changed the piece. Write in the first person and explain why, not only what. For example: 'We moved the ending to the start so the audience knows the boy is lost before they see why.'
Key formulas and definitions
- Key term: stimulus = the starting point for ideas
- Key term: improvisation = acting without a script
- Key term: freeze frame (tableau) = a still stage picture made with bodies
- Key term: structure = the order of scenes (linear, non-linear, cyclical, episodic)
- Key term: artistic intention = what you want the audience to think or feel
Worked examples
1. Your stimulus is a photo of an old suitcase. Give three ideas a group might brainstorm.
A family moving to a new city; a soldier's letters found inside; a child leaving home for boarding school. Each idea links to the theme of leaving.
2. How would you use hot-seating while devising a piece about a flood?
One actor sits in role as a rescue worker. The group asks: What did you see? What scared you? The answers give details and feelings to put into scenes.
3. Your scenes are: arrival, argument, storm, rescue. Make the piece non-linear and say why.
Start with the rescue, then flash back to the arrival, argument and storm. The audience knows the people survive, so they watch to learn how and why, which builds sympathy.
Common mistakes
- Choosing the first idea and never exploring others. Brainstorm widely before choosing.
- Writing a full script on day one. Devising grows from improvisation; fix the words later.
- Losing the artistic intention. Check that every scene serves what you want the audience to feel.
- Writing a notebook that only lists what you did. Always explain why you made each choice.