Finally It All Makes Sense- Introducing Kurt Weill !!!!

Well... I am so excited to discover the genius Kurt Weill- it all makes so much sense now, I understand my passion for this sound, I have always been very inspired by The Doors, Jim Morrison has always hit the nail on the head, but now I understand his inspirations- Kurt Weill, of course, with his interesting chord changes, he is most definitely the foundation for music, a seminal composer. Listening to all the music that inspires me from Kate Bush who is very theatrical to The Door, it seems to me that they would have also been inspired by Kurt Weill.
This might sound insane but I have always believed I was around in the 1920's era, I never knew exactly why, but now after discovering Brecht and Weill it makes sense why I feel so connected to this era… it all began here, the art, the music, the expression, the gruesome sense of humor that I adore and finally the messages.
Being Jewish and listening to this music almost brings back a sense of remembrance, the kind of music that is heard in the synagogue, the kind of music the Rabbi sings; it's a very exciting feeling for me.
It has so much passion; it's almost religious in a way.
Now to also to discover Lotte Lenya, who was married to Weill, a fantastic quirky singer, I love her voice, the tone is so distinctive, she is another inspiration, like Liza Minnelli, who is so fantastic in Cabaret- she is so quirky, she was not classically beautiful but so striking and even more eye catching.
Over all I am very excited for the new project ahead, Brecht, Weill- here we come!

 Left is Kurt Weill.


Above - Lotte Lenya- Quirky Singer- Married to Kurt Weill.

 Liza Minnelli

Introducing Bertolt Brecht.

Brecht : 1898-1956, he was a German poet, playwright and theatre director.
Many people thought of Brecht's work as political and unemotional, this was not the case, he had a strong passion for politics but due to human conditions, this is what led him to write challenging and truthful pieces of theatre.

He would mostly focus on themes such as crime, drink, rape, murder, prostitution, and mob violence- over all, Humanity.
 From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist, this developed into his works.
He worked very closely with Erwin Piscator and together they developed epic theatre, introducing film on the stage.
Piscator loved technology and early film, he would use projection whilst Brecht would compliment with banners and placards.
The two together called it " agit prop" which came to describe any kind of leftist politicized art.

Brecht had a motive and this was to engage with an audience, showing every day to day life, reflecting, pushing, nudging, he wanted people to think about themselves and their every day to day life.
He was confrontational and showed reality.

Brechts was a very early post modernist, a theatrical magpie, he would steel bits and pieces of life, from news papers, theatre, people and their every day to day lives, in order to create his work he would show not the black and white but the grey of people and life.

Brecht has influenced artists and many theatrical productions of this time, he is a true genius and has made a huge impact on theatre and the arts of today.

Bellow-Bertolt Brecht

Character Analysis

I feel my character was totally in the moment, especially when my Que for drinking water, only to discover that the props for this were not set on the table, James and I had to improvise and I felt totally convinced with James' and my reaction to this, there was tension added which made the scene more interesting.
Vocally it started well, however towards the end of the performance the vocal could of been a little more louder. Physically I did look and feel vulnerable.
The audience was in the moment with us, I do feel I could of fourth walled a little more than I did.   
I do feel there was a definite truth between the characters. It was very emotional and any improvisation that need to happen was done with complete conviction.          

The Performance!

The final performance was taken place at the Arts Depot Studio Theatre on Monday 15th November.
We stared the day with some technical rehearsals, allowing the lighting department to find the right light for each performance. After everyone had a tech run we ran a rehearsal which in my opinion was not very heart felt, It was difficult to channel into my emotions and I was slightly nervous, which did not help my performance.

Now for my real performance, in front of an audience, I had to really focus all my energy on Nina and become the character she is. In order to get to an emotional state I had to cry before going on stage which I found rather draining, I do believe I did not protect myself, going back to past painful memories is not an easy thing to do, however I had to reach a vulnerable and slightly delirious character, I do feel I did get to this place before stepping on that stage.

I do believe I was in character and feel the audience responded to this.
Unfortunately there was some hick ups, due to nerves and being over emotional I forgot some of my script, however this was not noticeable. Over all I do feel I through myself into the character and channeled my emotions well.

 

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Poster- Final Draft

For my poster I decided to go for the art approach, I looked up 1800 art and came across many types of images.
I initially had an idea for my poster, the meaning, the reason behind naturalism... Bare Your Soul.

I took my search further, I looked up naked women 1800 art, that's how I came across my choice of image. 

Using the technology was challenging, I did have an idea for ghostly images which was when I had to delve further with photoshop, it did take several times to develop my piece but after experimenting over all I was extremely happy with the results.

How you Look at me by Cloud Meranda & The Paraguayan Harp

How you Look at me by Cloud Meranda & The Paraguayan Harp

I wrote this song a while back- I feel it relates to Nina....

Final Poster!

The main message for my poster is 'Bare your Soul'


I do feel naturalism can make the actor feel vulnerable, the naked lady symbolises this vulnerability, however she is baring herself, showing all she is, you can see her, she has nothing to hide. I do feel in naturalism there is such a fine line of believing or not believing what the actor has to say.
The actor has to believe every word, the actor has to tap into it's own experiences to reach a true emotion, if the actor does so the audience will believe the actor, the actor has to dig deep, even if it's hard, that's the challenge of acting, to be true to yourself to reach a true emotion, therefor to ' Bare Your Soul'.

The inspirations for this piece comes from the ghostly images in the top left corner of the poster, Chekhov, Ibsen and Churchill.

Hot Seating.

Definition- Hot seating is where a character has been put under a spot light and is asked questions from the audience and must stay in character.

This was a great exercise and really allowed me to be free within my character, it was challenging to answer some of the questions, and I found myself relating my own emotions with what Nina is going through in scene 4.

Having to project a nervous, heart broken and slightly delirious character was interesting, with all the questions being thrown at me, I found myself getting emotional and felt a little on edge, however I kept my strength and my truth alive, I believe Nina would of done the same.

Nina is the future within this play which shows a huge sense of strength here.

Forced Entertainement- The Thrill Of It All! Eeeeek!

This performance was sadly disappointing, it felt like a children's party show, after hearing good things about FE I was very excited for this new production, however I did not enjoy it.
Searching blindly for gags and trying without apology to make a ridiculous concept seem meaningful. Indeed the only thrill here is leaving after two long hours.
The stage is bare only filled with fake palm trees and a collection of sparkly jackets on a rale in a corner- giving off the impression that there will be a costume change- well there wasn’t!
The show starts with a dance routine that is full of energy but very shabby; not very charismatic.
This sloppy performance never seems to end; dance routine after dance routine projected like they had run out of creative ideas to fill the empty space and time.
From time to time they would break into random speeches using microphones that had been dubbed with a squirrel like voice effect for the girls which makes them all sound the same and for the boys a sound that bores with low tones of depression. I can see the idea here, however it did not add any dynamics to the performance, if anything it became boring and I found myself falling asleep.
I found the show production transparent and not very clever.