Fractured Narrative Analysis

Presentation and Explanation of Concept to be Investigated One of the beginning cornerstones in this devising theatre challenge was the concept of fractured narratives, referring to the idea that a story can be told through non complete chunks or scenes which, when strung together, convey a story. Fractured narratives can be used in several ways: for example, scenes where multiple conversations are being held at once may use fractured narratives in jumping between conversations, without including context or the full exchange between two people, but grabbing just enough information from it that the audience is able to fill in the blanks themselves. Fractured narratives can also be used in short theatrical pieces that need to cover a long span …show more content…
The devising process was arduous at first, it was difficult to choose and develop a topic. Eventually, the scope of the project was narrowed to the idea of post truth, the idea that public opinion is shaped more by opinions and beliefs than by facts and evidence. The idea of social media was floated around, the idea of deciding someone’s fate based on personal opinions was presented, but nothing stuck until someone offhandedly asked opinions on an argument they had with a friend: whether or not a cat was still considered part of the ‘black cats are unlucky’ superstition if it wasn’t entirely black. This led into a discussion about what qualified as a black cat and a discussion about to what lengths people believe in and adjust their behavior according to the superstition. Eventually, the dissemination of fake news, public reactions to that news, social media, and the black cat debate were combined and the piece began to …show more content…
The only sound and light changes are during the transitions, during which the lights are dimmed and a sound mix of a generic news broadcast opening theme and a rapid fire of news headlines is played. The actors are present during the transitions, acting as neutral characters reading newspapers. The transitions gradually get more hectic as the black cats story gets wilder - it begins with the actors stationary and reading papers and quickly evolves into chaos with the actors running and sometimes trading papers until the last transition, where the actors get fed up with the black cat story, state of the union, and lack of adequate media coverage and throw away the