New Poll - Ensemble or Mixed Bag?
Wed, 30 Apr 2003, 12:47 amcrgwllms7 posts in thread
New Poll - Ensemble or Mixed Bag?
Wed, 30 Apr 2003, 12:47 amNew Poll topic - Ensemble casts.
One of the recommendations to Government of the WA Alexander Report is that funding is made available to allow a company (new or existing) to operate as an ensemble company in Perth.
An ensemble company employs a team of artists (not just actors - ensembles can include designers, choreographers, musos, directors...any artist really) for a long term contract that spans over a full season of productions.
Obviously it's pretty good to be employed in an ensemble, and have a long period of guaranteed work. Similarly, it's not good to be left out and have reduced opportunities to join the team until next year's auditions. But I guess that depends a bit on whether the team functions well or not.
Artistically, there are benefits to having a team work together and develop a style and process over many projects rather than have to start from scratch each time with new blood. But there's less freshness and variety; and perhaps the best choice for a single particular role is overlooked in favour of a Jack of all trades who can fill several roles in a year.
Traditionally, most local amateur groups tend to have ensembles, where the same pool of people are used over and over again each production. Opportunities for individuals to grow within a group are pretty high...again, important to get the right group.
Professional companies with high degrees of specialisation (Bizircus, Spare Parts, Barking Gecko) often operate from an ensemble basis or something close to it, supplementing their casts with the odd newcomer as required. And individual directors will often have preferences for working with certain groupings of people. True professional ensembles have continual contracts though, rather than employing casts one show at a time...this can be expensive up front, but it kind of forces them to be continuously developing product.
Poll question is: As an AUDIENCE MEMBER ...what do you prefer?
Do you enjoy seeing a regular group develop new plays together and come up with something different each time? Or are you sick of the same old tired faces and want to see someone else have a go?
Cheers
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]
One of the recommendations to Government of the WA Alexander Report is that funding is made available to allow a company (new or existing) to operate as an ensemble company in Perth.
An ensemble company employs a team of artists (not just actors - ensembles can include designers, choreographers, musos, directors...any artist really) for a long term contract that spans over a full season of productions.
Obviously it's pretty good to be employed in an ensemble, and have a long period of guaranteed work. Similarly, it's not good to be left out and have reduced opportunities to join the team until next year's auditions. But I guess that depends a bit on whether the team functions well or not.
Artistically, there are benefits to having a team work together and develop a style and process over many projects rather than have to start from scratch each time with new blood. But there's less freshness and variety; and perhaps the best choice for a single particular role is overlooked in favour of a Jack of all trades who can fill several roles in a year.
Traditionally, most local amateur groups tend to have ensembles, where the same pool of people are used over and over again each production. Opportunities for individuals to grow within a group are pretty high...again, important to get the right group.
Professional companies with high degrees of specialisation (Bizircus, Spare Parts, Barking Gecko) often operate from an ensemble basis or something close to it, supplementing their casts with the odd newcomer as required. And individual directors will often have preferences for working with certain groupings of people. True professional ensembles have continual contracts though, rather than employing casts one show at a time...this can be expensive up front, but it kind of forces them to be continuously developing product.
Poll question is: As an AUDIENCE MEMBER ...what do you prefer?
Do you enjoy seeing a regular group develop new plays together and come up with something different each time? Or are you sick of the same old tired faces and want to see someone else have a go?
Cheers
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]
Re: Poll results - Ensemble or Mixed Bag?
Sat, 31 May 2003, 07:22 pmThis poll's been up for a month...haven't had a chance to update for a while, sorry.
120 participants:
only 22 (18%) prefer to watch ensembles
43 (35%) said they'd prefer a changed cast each time
55 (45%) don't have a preference.
Topic generated some good discussion, but it seems in general ensembles aren't seen to be preferable.
(Pity for me; both Barking Gecko and Cutsnake Comedy draw a lot on the benefits of ensemble...mind you, in the Perth professional world, almost any show you do seems like an ensemble, usually the same few battlers).
And then again, the poll didn't differentiate between a group that continually trains and creates together and benefits from progressive experience ...and a group that simply uses the same faces all the time. Maybe it's still a rare beast that's not been observed enough to comment on.
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]
120 participants:
only 22 (18%) prefer to watch ensembles
43 (35%) said they'd prefer a changed cast each time
55 (45%) don't have a preference.
Topic generated some good discussion, but it seems in general ensembles aren't seen to be preferable.
(Pity for me; both Barking Gecko and Cutsnake Comedy draw a lot on the benefits of ensemble...mind you, in the Perth professional world, almost any show you do seems like an ensemble, usually the same few battlers).
And then again, the poll didn't differentiate between a group that continually trains and creates together and benefits from progressive experience ...and a group that simply uses the same faces all the time. Maybe it's still a rare beast that's not been observed enough to comment on.
The Poll-tergeist
[%sig%]