Throwback Thursday : Outside The Box

We can't believe it but it's not long before we start devising again for our yearly performance at The Chelsea Theatre. The RA group have been reflecting on our last piece, Outside The Box, which explored LABELS as a concept. Some reflections from Russell Actors students:


''Creating Outside the Box was a really enjoyable process. There’s something satisfying about working in an effective and efficient ensemble. The process started by exploring what ‘Identity ‘ meant to the group. Many ideas were brought up from this discussion! Members of the cast felt such things as their race, sexuality and class would identify them; stereotype them. By this stage in the process we had something tangible to make theatre from. Experiencing what it’s like to make theatre from the ground up in this way was a learning curve; it’s nice to be able to work in an environment where this is possible. Challenging stereotypes, explored earlier in the process, became a large part of rehearsal. We devised scenes each week that would fit into the play named ‘Outside the Box’. Being a part of a theatre company, exploring ideas and staging them, discussing them was an enlightening experience and I was really proud of what we made together. I observed how an ensemble works together to devise theatre by discussing themes, sharing ideas ect. I found it really rewarding,''
-Jack, RA Seniors

''Outside the Box has to be one of the most fun pieces we've devised since I started at Russell Actors. The creative process behind outside the box was amazing. Very early on we decided we didn't want it to be a linear story; that gave a lot of freedom to us as actors to create the stories which we felt needed to be heard - the stories we felt closest too. There was definitely some struggle at points during devising where we wanted to create very light-hearted pieces but the topics were quite tragic; I do think that we successfully created quite a funny performance which left people questioning their environment and their own attitudes at the end.''
-Louise, RA Seniors

​