The First Devising Workshop "Paths"

JANUARY 14th Legend II HAPPY HIGHWAYS DEVISING  SESSION
Theme: PATHS
Jon will first introduce the project then we will open a conversation about what paths and highways mean to us and share ideas they might provoke.  For the conversation we will break up into smaller discussion groups and after twenty minutes or so we will return to the larger group to feedback our thoughts and ideas. It would be useful if you could bring pencils/crayons/paper to take notes and/ or make sketches during the discussions to share with us, but there is no pressure to do so.
 
PROVOCATION ABOUT PATHS
There is a lot of literature about paths, you might want to bring an example, or have some thoughts prepared.  Our play is likely to be a journey around the paths of Happy Valley. The audience will meet characters and fellow traveller en route.  Perhaps Robert Frost’s might be one of them. His poem “The Road Not Taken” has many possible interpretations. Two roads diverge so he needs to make a choice as to which one to take. Some people may see it as a poem of regret, i.e that he wished he had taken the other road/path. Others may see it as hopeful in that he is glad that he took that road because of where it led him.  The poem can be interpreted as paths/roads in a literal or metaphorical sense, as can our own views on what paths and travels may mean to us.
 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost. Poet

HIGHWAYS DEVISING GROUP
NOTES ON OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT PATHS
18th January 2021

Present: Julie Madden, Paul Fulton, David Brett, Gilly Bladen, Kate Sargent, Sally Sugg, Lucy Edkin, Jill Scott, Richard Sylvester, Jane Stroud, Polly and Phil Byrne, Bernard Madden, Paul Fisher, Alison McKenzie, Liz , Jeremy Woodruff, Cathy Brown. Jon Oram

Prior to going into breakout rooms Jon talked about path‘s
Jon 
You could talk paths in relation to what they mean to you actually and naturally in your community and in the landscape. Also metaphorically what are paths? Think about life paths. Paths that lead to your door. The paths that brought you to here. Paths  in literature like Robert Frost’s that starts “Two roads diverge in a wood,” often misunderstood I think, taken for gratitude for the road that has brought you to where you are and for all you have. The clue is in the title ‘The road not taken’  regret for the past, missed opportunities? It was originally written for Frost’s poet friend Edward Thomas, he described the poem as a joke for Edward Thomas, they used to take walks together. 

The group then broke into breakout rooms for 25 minutes and returned to give feedback. Paul Fulton spoke for the first group

Breakout Group 1  Paul Fulton, Julie Madden, David Brett 
Paul  
We started talking about the geographic paths that got us here. David moving down from London, Julie and Bernard moving from Groombridge to Hartfield. We moved on to talking about desire paths, the natural path’s created by people who want to go from A to B. That moved us onto thinking about paths created by different historical cultures particularly the Romans who drove straight paths through the landscape, did they ignore the paths made by prehistoric people that drifted around contours - we don’t know if there was a clash between desire paths and control. David brought up wonderful thoughts about aboriginal song lines, the land triggering thoughts bringing up memories, how the whole culture and history is held in the land and paths ancestors took as they moved through the landscape. 
Jon 
if I could interrupt just for a minute but just listen to some of the beautiful lines that are coming up like ‘desire paths’ and ‘song lines’. Listen for lovely phrases that you like, that catch your attention not necessary for any particular reason but that you like the sound of them, could you write them down and send them to me. It also prompted me to think about badger paths so if other things come to mind again I’d like to hear them.
Paul 
In light of that we moved from Desire path’s to drovers path’s and as David said one of the expressions for those was Goose paths - along which they drove geese to market. One of my favourite words for these is ‘avenues’. The prehistoric men and  builders of Stonehenge created marvellous circles but if you actually look one of the tings you will see are promenade paths or processional avenues between them. There are avenues between Stonehenge and Woodhenge, and going on to Avebury. Much of the ceremony would’ve been done down these avenues. They would have processed down these avenues to the circles, where major events would’ve taken place. Avebury for instance is a beautiful circle but also also  has a magnificent Avenue, which is a mile or two long. I like railway lines where you can walk on flat ground without having to go up inclines, because there is no gradients deeper than 1:20 or something. Robert McFarlane  (The Old Ways, Ghostways, Underland among others)   and Bruce Chatwin, Songlines, were mentioned. That brought us into Ley lines.
Breakout Group 2. Paul Fisher , Alison McKenzie, Jeremy Woodruff
Paul Fisher
We talked about Paths that lead somewhere and metaphorical path‘s, paths of life, we talked about emotions jobs education; paths designed to perplex, like mazes and labyrinths and what lies at the centre: be it mythical beast, Minotaur, or something in the psychological sense like our real selves whatever that means. We had an interesting historical reference to Happy Valley the refugees journey, exemplified by Belgian refugees during the First World War who came to Tunbridge Wells in 1918. A Belgian woman who kept a diary made a reference to walking in Happy Valley. This lends itself to a scene of some sort around the theme of refugees and the paths they take ending up in Happy Valley. Again historically there is a chalybeate spring, baths, something around that;  who found it, built it, used it? We also talked about the pathway to names. It would be interesting to know why it was called Happy Valley. Where did that come from?  The Road Through the Woods by  Kipling was mentioned  (See below).
Jeremy
The thing about the paths is that if you don’t capture them (remember them) they disappear
Alison
That comes through the Kipling poem doesn’t it? And we also talked about the paths we only see in retrospect. Travelling backward down the path as well.
Breakout Group 3 Bernard Madden, Richard Sylvester, Jill Scott
Bernard
We talked about the choices we have and what paths we take. I think Richard and I thought we had a lot of choices in our youth, Jill not so, she pretty much thought her father laid things down while she was a child and growing up. I think I had more choices than I should have, they would ask me to make decisions at the age of eight or nine, and quite drastic  ones about where I lived, and things like that. Choices you are given depends a lot on the circumstances and the times you live in. Jill thought  it was a lot easier now for women to make choices and it was in the past. Then I thought the times were much easier for us than than they are for the young people of today. In the late 60s when I was in London, we could get a new flat easily when you didn’t like where you were. It was easier to get a new job too. I got Jobs for which I had no experience whatsoever. You could just walk into a job, basically. I got a job in a children’s home for instance with no qualifications or experience, which would not be possible today. We thought about the sense of achievement you get from your choice, following a chosen path to achieve satisfaction or fulfilment from it. Also I like the unexpected particularly  remember waiting around and discovering  Elton Palace which was quite magical. We talked about unofficial paths, those paths through the park that people have made straying off the official paths. Not wanting to go the way the planners had laid out for you to follow. Then we thought about paths made by animals. (Many winding country lanes follow old badger runs)
Jon
I love the group mind. No one of us would possibly ever come with all of this on our own. It’s just wonderful.
Breakout Group 4 Sally Sugg, Lucy Edkin, Cathy Brown
Sally
Cathy got us started telling us about walking the dog, having an idea of the way she wants to go but the dog leading her astray into brambles and bushes and places she didn’t intend to go. That led us onto talking about taking the paths in life that  we feel are perhaps ones we did not mean or expect to take, or perhaps we have the an idea of a destination but things come along that take us off in a different direction. We asked how much of what leads us is choice and how much circumstance, whether the paths were better or worse the original or other one. Then we talked about just setting off with no thought of a destination or where things lead. We talked about about risk and seizing new opportunities;  perhaps if you are risk averse you miss opportunities. It’s a process of first seeing the opportunity in the first place, recognising the risks,  and deciding to go with it or turn back onto your familiar track.
Lucy
We spoke about how people review the life paths they have taken, seeing in different ways, putting it down to fate or chance, or simply the decision-making process you took. At the end of the discussion with talked about how we like to make or tend to make decisions with our head or our heart. Some of the things that came up for me when  we talked about goblins and gremlins pulling you off the path, made me think of the idea of stories of being spirited away. And I also thought because I love hearing people’s life stories whether it would be possible to incorporated them not necessarily into the play itself but perhaps written down in letters, so that people can find them.  (A number of noises of approval from a number of people)
Paul Fisher
I was reminded we did a role play at Saint Barnabas school.  There was a suitcase set as part of a crime scene which held clues for children in the role of police detectives read to solve the crime. Perhaps the audience could discover a suitcase with all these letters within it.
Breakout Group 5 Phil & Polly Byrne, Jane Stroud, Liz
Phil
We talked about Netflix we went off topic a little bit. We talked about paths that can be a little bit monotonous if you stick to them. If you walked  the dog on the same route every day it would become quite forgettable but if you take a different route you remember that route. Nice to break up a path or a route that you take every day and  try  and find new ones, Little  deviations take you out of the monotonous funk that you are in. I Imagine walking down the path and coming to a place where you would interact.  Jon will some of this will be improvised so the audience can join in the conversation?
Jon
I think for those who feel comfortable with it, yes. We could do little improvisation or storytelling in preparation, or rehearsal, tractors can draw on a story that they have lived or a story that they have improvised which they can retell in their own words we don’t have word learning. 
PollyWe were thinking audiences could walk down different paths and have different experience to each other. So they have a choice. An audience member could even come on different nights and make different choices by taking different routes.
Phil
Polly didn’t want to be given words to speak. We thought we could dress up as a giant arrow. She could guide people through the pathways.
Jon
I’ll work on that Polly because I think you have the most amazing voice.  You might be more comfortable talking one to one, no really I’m not going to push anyone
Paul Fisher
Yes he is.
Jane
Polly had a really good idea about ‘what if?’ Meaning you get the chance to go back on a decision and take the second option you rejected first time round. Not something you can often if ever do in life. You come to the point where you can make decision about taking this path all that path; but you could actually follow both the paths; experience both decisions. Take a one route one night and come back and take another route the next night. Get the audience coming back for more as it were. Tempting offers of alternative ways of being, life choices and alternative ways of thinking. They can have little interactive improv encounters as they walking along. It made me think about The road not taken - or that film Sliding Doors where there were two different stories dependent on whether she caught the train or not. They are quite interesting themes in relation to paths and the decisions we make in life. There was an episode of black mirror - you know the Charlie Brooker thing where the people who were watching it could take control over what happened next in the film. In life we don’t feel we have that control, to take a decision see the outcome and go back and try the alternative we have that changes the outcome. 
Jon
Hindsight scenes
Jane
Exactly we don’t get that opportunity do we. I love that idea. We don’t get that crystal ball opportunity do we? To actually give it a go, except in our imaginations.  Talking about Alice in Wonderland as well. 
Polly
Yes I was thinking about not necessarily the style, but the idea of things popping up, not things obviously like a rabbit, Think that leads you down this path
Phil
Yes the fork in the road
Paul
Why not a rabbit?
Polly
Yes I could dress up as a rabbit.
Jon
I thought you were going to say something about led up the garden path. I wonder where that comes from
Phil
Where did it come from?
Jon
I’ve no idea. Someone needs to do a bit of research. Is that everybody. I think it’s ours now
 
Breakout Group 6 Jon Oram, Gilly Bladen,  Kate Sergeant
Jon
We began with life path‘s, we talked about how much we’ve discovered in lockdown,  related it to places of rest on a journey - the Hobbit stopping to sit round camp fire, the local inn, periods of reflection on past regrets or looking ahead before continuing the journey. Choices we make, should we regret, it is what you did. The Road less travelled who knows what outcome of taking the other road would have been. You do what is right at the time. Forgiving your younger selves. Dennis Potter said you should look back at you younger self with tender contempt. Regret alongside forgiveness. You can only plan and prepare with what you know at the time. Planning for the worse and long for the best. Sliding doors. I told the story of how Becca’s parents Anna and Tony met by chance on a train, had they not met, Becca wouldn’t have been born, I wouldn’t have married her and none of us would be sitting here planning a play. The ripples of small decisions and chance meetings can be wide spread. The butterfly effect. Kate told us about Happy Valley, possibly named after it being a place were liaisons happened, people met for ‘pleasure’. A pleasure Garden, people promenading. Taking a constitutional, an image of smart Victorian dress and parasols, where you could meet ‘your people’. We began to think of the people who walked here before. The adjacent graveyard is full of people who would have walked these paths. HG Wells had walked here and included it and Toad Rock in a novel. What if the ghosts still walk here and we could walk alongside them - what conversations would that bring up?  Kate pointed out that villages around are all on average three miles apart, an hours walking. People walked everywhere.