TiE Today in Wales, Author: Edward David Humphreys, University of Chester

core material around the central idea; whether it be about the relationships, the
themes, an image or a piece of narrative. After these initial improvisations, a
repertoire of material is created. The company will reach “a certain point, [where] it
fails to imaginatively provoke and inspire in the way it did before” (Johnston, 2006,
p20). It is from this point onwards that the editing takes place and works towards the
final product. Once this has been achieved, a script will not have been formed, but a
solid structure in which the company can improvise in, linking back to Johnston’s
fixed and free theory. This structure sets boundaries for the devising process, but
enables the freedom to explore until all avenues have been exhausted by the
company. Interviews and meetings with police officers, education officers and
professionals who work in law, allow a greater breadth of knowledge for John to work
with, and introduce rules to improvisations when back in rehearsal rooms. John’s aim
is to show how the criminal justice system intervenes and handles particular cases;
therefore it is important that during the development process, John stops
improvisations which contradicts his research. The research acts as a boundary to
the actor’s improvisations. By adding boundaries, “like a theme or a restriction or an
objective”, the improvisations begin to “anchor participants’ energy” (Johnston, 2005,
p25). By doing this, as well as removing any errors in facts, it also means that the
performers “don’t just collapse exhausted” but are “fired up again by remembering
the structural components of the [performance]” (Johnston, 2005, p25).
Ultimately, the results of this playful development process is the construction of a
structured programme, whereby activities are interwoven into the scenes. By
allowing the participants to ask questions to the characters and to discuss matters of
the programme in specific moments, the “plot enabled the actor/teachers to move
seamlessly from performance to facilitation” (Nicholson, 2009, p32) resulting in
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