Frantic Assembly

Frantic assembly is a production/theatre company which focuses on physical theatre, mixed with naturalistic acting. They use relationships to bring across a story which uses physicality, collaboration, minimalism and music. The company focuses on never having a set story, with many workshops, to create episodes and sequences which are then mis-matched to create a story. They use collaborations, where the actors themselves have a very large say in what is performed and what is spoken about, so when someone has an idea, they try it out.

Their style:

Physical theatre:

• They use physicality as the primary storyteller, being choreographed with contact work to present emotions, tension, and relationships.
• Their performances usually feature stylised movements; fluid movement, jumps, lifts, and original techniques created by the company.
• The physical sequences are always tied to emotions, where each sequence can change mood, even with a change in the music. The physical language is largely used to enhance the emotional aspects of the story.

Collaboration

• This is used heavily, from the performers' physicality to the overall production of the piece. A very prominent technique used by the company is called workshopping, where ideas of episodes and sequences are put into physical pieces, using improvisation, and choreography. This is used to not only create material for the production, but for the actors to explore their characters on a deeper level, as well as the interactions between characters.
• Another use for collaboration is to create an atmosphere of creativity, and spontaneity to discover fresh emotions and dramatic intentions, where it keeps the devising period mouldable, and never permanent.