For the devising process we are using film-noir themes in a broad sense. The desperate and animalistic quality of the characters, their survival instinct and deluded nature, draws us into their underworld. By watching classic noir films such as Sunset Blvd. - including spin-offs by directors such as Scorsese and Cassavettes, we have acquired a feeling for the emotional journey encountered by a ‘typical’ noir character.
In improvisation each performer creates their own series of scenarios linked to emotions, objects and situations that form a stream; a non-linear narrative. The emotions, based on the ‘noir motives’ of greed, paranoia, seduction, fear, doubt and revenge are played out using guns, cigarettes, money, telephones and drink. Padded cushions are beaten up and the contents used for stuffing, bloating the characters into hideous, cartoon-like versions of themselves.
We find ourselves repeatedly questioning ‘why noir?’, ‘why use these clichés?’
The clichés of noir surface time-after-time in different guises because they have a ring of truth. In our celebrity-obsessed world we are fascinated by fallen icons – lost souls with big dreams, whose fate ends in the gutter. The naïve aspirations of the American dream no longer seem relevant, and the anti-dream/ anti-hero still holds strong because most of us don’t make it onto X factor.
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