Forced entertainment and Frantic Assembly

Forced Entertainment: 'Loaded with charm and integrity... At the sharp end of the nation's cultural self expression.' 

Forced entertainment was formed a good 10 years before Frantic assembly as Forced entertainment was formed in 1984 and Frantic Assembly was formed in 1994. Frantic Assembly was formed by their artistic director Scott Graham and helped by Steven Hoggett and Vicki Middleton.  They are both touring companies, but Forced Entertainment being based in Sheffield and performed or have been seen at various venues for example; Theaters, gallery installations, site-specific pieces, books, photographic collaborations, videos a mischievous guided bus tour. Frantic Assembly however have collaborated with some of today’s inspiring artists for example Abi Morgan, who is a British playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the films Brick Lane, The Iron Lady, and Shame. 

Below is Abi Morgan:

 Below a picture from a Frantic Assembly piece:

 Below a picture of a Forced Entertainment piece:

Some examples of work by Forced entertainment are:

The Thrill of it all

'It's bright under the lights, and hot, and frightening. Nine performers in grubby tuxedos and tarnished sequins play out a comical and disconcerting vaudeville to the strains of Japanese 
lounge music.' 'After the minimalism of Spectacular and the animated graphic novel of Void Story, internationally renowned innovators Forced Entertainment return with a large cast on a big stage, filled with ragged dances and distorted voices.' This particular piece of work shows some of Forced Entertainments style. For example in this piece they have incorporated music and voice into it, which is part of their style.

Void Story

'Void Story follows a beleaguered pair of protagonists on a rollercoaster ride through the decimated remains of contemporary culture.'

Spectacular

'Spectacular is about the now of the performance moment, the trembling edge of laughter, possibility and invention. It's about death and playing dead, about the strange contact between two performers on-stage and an audience caught between what they are watching and what they're being told.'

Some examples of work by Frantic Assembly are:

Stockholm: written by Bryony Lavery

After being successful, Sydney Theatre Company invited Frantic Assembly to remount their production of Stockholm with an Australian cast. The production then went on to tour to Brisbane and Parramatta.

‘ Originally produced by Frantic Assembly and the Drum Theatre, Plymouth.’

Underworld: written by Nicola McCartney

‘A ghost story for the 21st century with a breathtaking mix of touching realism and bruising physicality.’ ‘

 Underworld was an electrifying study into the realm of fear. When in shock, how do you make the distinction between the paranormal and paranoia? When four notions of truth collide, four women face the question, is someone messing with their heads or is something taking over their lives?’

Under world is an example of how Frantic Assembly uses their dynamics and how they use physical theatre into their pieces of work. Underworld is for a modern audience and uses dynamics like ‘Hard and fast’ to give it the atmosphere this ghostly tale needs.

Lovesong: written by Abi Morgan

‘Lovesong intertwines a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness. All relationships have their ups and downs; the optimism of youth becomes the wisdom of experience.’

 Frantic assembly usually focus on contemporary themes for their stimulus when devising. This sort of theme would fit nicely with a more current audience, this is shown in a quote from their website  ‘The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture’. Whereas Forced assembly have no rules when devising and get their stimulus from many different things for example a fragment of text, a certain object, a piece of music, a certain costume or even a scene from a particular film. 'Loaded with charm and integrity... At the sharp end of the nation's cultural self expression.' this quote shows how the company's performance work is intelligent and relevant now and that its work reflects modern day society's culture in an expressive way which is thought provoking.

Both Frantic and Forced are funded by the Arts council England, especially Frantic Assembly as it is part of their national portfolio organisation. A quote from their website is ‘In the financial year 2012/13 we will receive £196,096 in funding from them, which represents just over 30% of the income needed to deliver our planned activities in theaters, found spaces, classrooms and community settings across the UK and beyond.’  This quote shows how they are always in need of rehearsal space, can’t continue without funding and how some of its funding comes from successful ticket sales. Forced Entertainment says ‘Income comes from touring activity, particularly internationally, performance fees and commissions from abroad’. 

Forced Entertainment record their rehearsals to keep track of progress and to see what works well and what doesn't. This shows commitment and passion to keep work as professional as they can. By recording their rehearsal they can decide what they like and what they don't like, and whatever that is they can either discard it or develop it to improve it.  Forced Entertainment also play games to either get the actors energy going or simply to get the minds thinking when coming up with a new and creative idea. An example of a game they play is Quizoola which consists of people asking and answering each others questions.