Theatrical Rock Artist BEN CRAIG
www.bencraigmusic.com
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Hitting the music scene with captivating show !
#pureentertainment #theatricalrock
London
Monday, 17 June 2013
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
On Reflection... After the performance
Having 24 hours to reflect on the performance and over all experience I have gained some clarity over this experience.
After feeling so disheartened, it became clear to me that with all my intense emotions being built up, the only way to win in a situation like this was to put in every single piece of emotion into my performance... So I did!
Looking back at my rehearsals, I was very frustrated and felt unmotivated during this time, on reflection perhaps this was to do with me not mentally being able to channel my emotions into this play for the subject was far too hard hitting for me to reach. Having not being shown as a class a 'way in' made me feel unconnected to my fellow classmates, which frustrated me. However I have come to realise that although everyone wasn't fully aware of the subject, we still performed our best yet, and I felt very proud. I also felt justification and it made me proud to show a glimpse of what really happened during the Holocaust and to the Jewish people. It made me understand that this play did illustrate this horrific time in an important way, for to give a spectator any experience of what happened, what best way could be done than to throw an audience in from the beginning. The way the audience was led in by James and Cassie who played the Nazi soldiers was powerful, ordering the audience to sit in an abrupt way made them feel instantly uncomfortable. The theatre was also cold which made things worse. I asked my Mother how she felt after viewing the performance, and she said, “Why are you doing this?” with the response of my boyfriend Ben saying, “It’s important”
Those two reactions said so much; my Mother felt like it was too painful to watch to the point of getting frustrated as to questioning, why put this play on? With the response of my boyfriend reminding her that people need to remember what happened not so long ago, this sad humiliation on humanity.
Through all this I gained so much appreciation to the Jewish people, being Jewish myself, this truly struck a chord inside of my soul and I became suddenly enlightened the next day. It’s also made me understand that through any role I play, I need to be %100 committed. This isn’t easy. I have come to realise how important acting is, reliving history is imperative, and to give to an audience will only fulfil to a greater level. However to reach this point of understanding takes time and the only way to get to this level, is to go through it. From my experience of this performance, I totally went through, and now have come out the other end, I feel revitalised, and I feel proud and honest, and true to what I performed. I embraced every second of it. I’m sure this will be one of the most difficult subjects for me to reach, but having reached this, I feel strong. I’m not sure how many times I could perform a show like this, and that makes me appreciate actors even more. There are so many hard hitting subjects to reach, and for those that do reach and perform them to people, be it on screen or on the theatre, what we must remember is that, if we as an audience feel, then the actor will feel if so a greater deal more. To re-live that feeling again and again is astounding and extremely difficult. I would love to deep down try and challenge myself again and again, though only time will tell as to whether this opportunity will rise once more during my life… Let’s hope.
Below are a few images of the live performance, performed at the Arts Depot.
After feeling so disheartened, it became clear to me that with all my intense emotions being built up, the only way to win in a situation like this was to put in every single piece of emotion into my performance... So I did!
Looking back at my rehearsals, I was very frustrated and felt unmotivated during this time, on reflection perhaps this was to do with me not mentally being able to channel my emotions into this play for the subject was far too hard hitting for me to reach. Having not being shown as a class a 'way in' made me feel unconnected to my fellow classmates, which frustrated me. However I have come to realise that although everyone wasn't fully aware of the subject, we still performed our best yet, and I felt very proud. I also felt justification and it made me proud to show a glimpse of what really happened during the Holocaust and to the Jewish people. It made me understand that this play did illustrate this horrific time in an important way, for to give a spectator any experience of what happened, what best way could be done than to throw an audience in from the beginning. The way the audience was led in by James and Cassie who played the Nazi soldiers was powerful, ordering the audience to sit in an abrupt way made them feel instantly uncomfortable. The theatre was also cold which made things worse. I asked my Mother how she felt after viewing the performance, and she said, “Why are you doing this?” with the response of my boyfriend Ben saying, “It’s important”
Those two reactions said so much; my Mother felt like it was too painful to watch to the point of getting frustrated as to questioning, why put this play on? With the response of my boyfriend reminding her that people need to remember what happened not so long ago, this sad humiliation on humanity.
Through all this I gained so much appreciation to the Jewish people, being Jewish myself, this truly struck a chord inside of my soul and I became suddenly enlightened the next day. It’s also made me understand that through any role I play, I need to be %100 committed. This isn’t easy. I have come to realise how important acting is, reliving history is imperative, and to give to an audience will only fulfil to a greater level. However to reach this point of understanding takes time and the only way to get to this level, is to go through it. From my experience of this performance, I totally went through, and now have come out the other end, I feel revitalised, and I feel proud and honest, and true to what I performed. I embraced every second of it. I’m sure this will be one of the most difficult subjects for me to reach, but having reached this, I feel strong. I’m not sure how many times I could perform a show like this, and that makes me appreciate actors even more. There are so many hard hitting subjects to reach, and for those that do reach and perform them to people, be it on screen or on the theatre, what we must remember is that, if we as an audience feel, then the actor will feel if so a greater deal more. To re-live that feeling again and again is astounding and extremely difficult. I would love to deep down try and challenge myself again and again, though only time will tell as to whether this opportunity will rise once more during my life… Let’s hope.
Below are a few images of the live performance, performed at the Arts Depot.
Friday, 24 February 2012
On Reflection... Prior the performance
On Reflection of the professional drama practice I feel disheartened about the whole process. I feel that a lot of time has been wasted on warm ups, such as plastics and yoga positions, which in reality have no meaning towards this play. I understand that Michael has chosen to move in the direction of Grotowski’s style play, however as a class I do feel this is a little far fetched. I believe that in order to reach a point of Grotowski’s work, one must experience and encounter an understanding of deeper emotion towards any subject that is being worked on. This is a terrible flaw that has only now, after two weeks of preparation and rehearsals, has been acknowledged by myself. I feel like this project has not been thought about enough in relation to an actor and an audience. I find myself questioning Michael, for he wrote this play, that he describes as Jews fighting for Hitler, Jews against Jews, which to me is a massive statement that wasn’t even discussed emotionally. There has not been a single conversation/discussion about justification on the subject, and as a class we have not connected together on this intense, hard-hitting historical event. I ask myself, why did Michael write this? Did he write it to teach his actors and his audience something? For if that was his purpose, I believe there has been a lack of realisation and individual personal connection to the play by the class, which is not the classes fault, it’s the directors and creators of the play’s mistake, as there has not been one single discussion about characters, emotional depth or any true understanding of the subject. There are so many ‘ways in’ to connect to this subject, even if you are not Jewish, there will always be a way to reach this hard-hitting emotion, of what the Jews went through. This is not just about Jews, it’s a bout how the human race and everyone can relate to it, in one way or another if they are shown, which unfortunately was forgotten about. Which leads me to reflect on the audience and their experience of the play, will the spectator really have a ‘real’ sense and understanding of what went on in these Camps if the actor doesn’t understand and connect fully? I believe that in order to write a play, the message must be clear to everyone not just the writer; and I feel that Michael might of written this for himself without realising as it has been proven that he has forgotten about the main purpose of art and theatre. His research may be accurate and true, but the teaching hasn’t been true to the subject for an actor on an emotion level. I also feel that Jon as a director also has forgotten about reinforcing the emotional aspect for the actor, for he has not once commented on how we should speak our lines and project our emotions, and asking us, why are feeling these emotions? Perhaps this is because he may not connect to the play and lacks passion for the subject. Which in reflection is a great shame and loss as it’s uninspiring to a bunch of young adults who may know very little about the Holocaust, or perhaps have taken little time to truly feel an emotion for what really happened back then. When I hear people speak their lines, I feel like they are empty or forced, this is not the actors fault, for they are only young students who merely know as much as a teacher, which I believe gets forgotten about. Being Jewish myself and also being older than my class mates I can relate to this subject, and today I find myself after two weeks of these rehearsals waking up crying about what really happened in Auschwitz and in other camps, I think about my Grandma and her family that died during this horrendous time, and for me to start crying and feeling something, I can’t ever imagine what it really felt like to be in those camps, and as Sabrina say’s in her speech ‘licking urine off the walls in order to stay alive’, (which unfortunately isn’t been projected perfectly due to lack of emotional reinforcement that should be provided by the directors) this line is so hard-hitting, that when I truly think about it makes it hard for me to breathe, I feel so ashamed and disrespectful that I have only now reached this point, and that I didn’t bring this up earlier and tell Michael how important it is for the actors to really relate to this like I do, in their individual way. Part of me feels like I don’t even want to perform this show, but as a professional of course I will. I do feel proud that I have reached this point, but feel sad that this show is now looking to be quite surfaced and a little bit throw away, as we didn’t get a chance to fully connect as a class and a bunch of professional actors performing a piece of theatre about the Holocaust.
Through this I have learnt that if I was to direct a play, the first and most important thing I would do is discuss the emotional connection to the subject, perhaps watch a film together as group and a build a sense of unity in relation to the project to create a deeper performance, which will please an audience and allow the spectator to gain a further emotional connection through the actors that truly feel something real.
Through this I have learnt that if I was to direct a play, the first and most important thing I would do is discuss the emotional connection to the subject, perhaps watch a film together as group and a build a sense of unity in relation to the project to create a deeper performance, which will please an audience and allow the spectator to gain a further emotional connection through the actors that truly feel something real.
We're nearly there, but are we?
Thursday was the first day where we ran the whole play, piecing all the scenes together.
It turned out to work OK, however I feel there is a lack of emotion that has been forgotten about. This may be down to the fact that we still have not really focused on any true emotions in relation to the characters in this play or to this hard hitting subject. We have mainly been focusing on the action rather than a deeper feeling. We discussed the line up of the play, seating arrangements for the audience and set design. The last week few days have been working towards finishing off the scenes, each day we have been working on warm ups, such as plastics, which on reflection I feel has been a little bit of wasted time in relation to this subject.
We worked on our torture scenes again, me being partnered with Liza on this one, we had to dismiss the chair we used and work away from using any large props, a rope is what we will use to add to this scene. We also rehearsed our individual dialogues where Rosie, Christina and myself are grouped together. This dialogue scene that we are performing will be at the the scene before the end scene. As we say our lines the others will be performing a death sequence, where they will perform their repetitive deaths. It will start off a silent and slow death and gradually grow faster and faster and more intense with the progression of moans and groans.
Soon myself and Christina will join this death sequence. During this rehearsal I took myself out of the scene and looked at what was being performed, through this I found myself slightly irritated as I felt this scene was not that great. I made this quite clear to Jon, and suggested to perhaps change this scene, suggesting that maybe we could be getting ready to go into the gas chambers, and someone saying "It's just a shower", I felt this would have created a greater tension, as in relation to this unfortunate time, the camp prisoners had no idea that they we're going to be gassed, the prisoners did actually think it was just a shower. I feel this would of created a deeper emotion, as now the audience know the truth of what really was going to happen. I feel this would be far more hard hitting to an audience rather than just recreating a death scene, which to be honest is very average and the easy way out for creating a scene. It just feels a little unthoughtful and surfaced to an audience. My point wasn't taken too well, and it seemed to unsettle Jon, as he took me out the room to say that I said this in bad timing. I think he feels a little uneasy as there is a lot of work to do, but my argument is, if we hadn't waisted so much time on learning a song that will now not even be in the show, and doing these plastic warm ups that have no purpose towards the subject, we might of had more time to create deeper emotional rooted scenes, that project this seriously intense subject.
On a lighter note it does seem that we will have a play to perform Monday at the Arts Depot. Everybody has learnt their stage directions, lines and individual scenes, I just feel a disheartened that the emotion is missing, and that the directors forgot all about this. It seems a little strange as I though that's what is the most important thing about art, to reach a deeper emotion in relation to a subject that is being presented.
It turned out to work OK, however I feel there is a lack of emotion that has been forgotten about. This may be down to the fact that we still have not really focused on any true emotions in relation to the characters in this play or to this hard hitting subject. We have mainly been focusing on the action rather than a deeper feeling. We discussed the line up of the play, seating arrangements for the audience and set design. The last week few days have been working towards finishing off the scenes, each day we have been working on warm ups, such as plastics, which on reflection I feel has been a little bit of wasted time in relation to this subject.
We worked on our torture scenes again, me being partnered with Liza on this one, we had to dismiss the chair we used and work away from using any large props, a rope is what we will use to add to this scene. We also rehearsed our individual dialogues where Rosie, Christina and myself are grouped together. This dialogue scene that we are performing will be at the the scene before the end scene. As we say our lines the others will be performing a death sequence, where they will perform their repetitive deaths. It will start off a silent and slow death and gradually grow faster and faster and more intense with the progression of moans and groans.
Soon myself and Christina will join this death sequence. During this rehearsal I took myself out of the scene and looked at what was being performed, through this I found myself slightly irritated as I felt this scene was not that great. I made this quite clear to Jon, and suggested to perhaps change this scene, suggesting that maybe we could be getting ready to go into the gas chambers, and someone saying "It's just a shower", I felt this would have created a greater tension, as in relation to this unfortunate time, the camp prisoners had no idea that they we're going to be gassed, the prisoners did actually think it was just a shower. I feel this would of created a deeper emotion, as now the audience know the truth of what really was going to happen. I feel this would be far more hard hitting to an audience rather than just recreating a death scene, which to be honest is very average and the easy way out for creating a scene. It just feels a little unthoughtful and surfaced to an audience. My point wasn't taken too well, and it seemed to unsettle Jon, as he took me out the room to say that I said this in bad timing. I think he feels a little uneasy as there is a lot of work to do, but my argument is, if we hadn't waisted so much time on learning a song that will now not even be in the show, and doing these plastic warm ups that have no purpose towards the subject, we might of had more time to create deeper emotional rooted scenes, that project this seriously intense subject.
On a lighter note it does seem that we will have a play to perform Monday at the Arts Depot. Everybody has learnt their stage directions, lines and individual scenes, I just feel a disheartened that the emotion is missing, and that the directors forgot all about this. It seems a little strange as I though that's what is the most important thing about art, to reach a deeper emotion in relation to a subject that is being presented.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Day 4- Further , devising small sequences ...
Today we started the morning with a warm up, this included working on forward and backward rolls, also practicing to hold each others weight with flow movement , another exercise was for everyone to lie on the floor - sardines as Jon would say, then for us to roll at the same time, on top would lie a person and we would roll, soon the person would have moved from one end to the next.. It was fun!
'Sardine Roll'
We also worked on Grotowskis plastics for a short time, focusing on our elbows. This is very challenging and needs lots of practice to master. After a break we worked on placing ourselves in a pile to represent a pile of bodies, this is a very strong image that is recognized in the holocaust camps.
Original photo of a pile of bodies in the Holocaust camps
As we worked on this I began to smell people which wasn't all that pleasant , however it gave me a better feeling of discomfort to add to my emotion , I could never compare it as to what actually happened in these camps as these bodies where rotting and naked in a way I would rather not describe.
Soon after we had to come to life after Being thrown on a pile, holding hands and working on rising in a tight group. In pairs We had to devise a sequence of how this would work and create a style of movement , a kind of dance ish sequence , imagining we were stuck behind walls trying to get out. I did this with Dominique and shakira.
A picture of Liza's group performing their short sequence.
Soon we had worked on how Cassy and James would drag us into a pile of bodies , for they are the guards in the play. After we adapted our small devised structures to rise and move together, trying to escape the walls.
After lunch we rehearsed the song, Shakira and myself have been given the task to arrange the song as to who will sing each part.
Later in pairs we devised a small torture scene. I did this with Liza , working from images that we sourced through the Internet it allowed us to grow our scenes into further tortured sketch. We included whipping with belts, using a chair to be tied up on, and moving towards the floor for a further tortured positions.
Below is Dominique, James and Cassey rehearsing their torture sketch.
We ended the session with performing each sketch to each other. Jon has instructed us to devise a thirty second repetitive death sequence , this will be performed whist Rosie, Christina and myself will be performing our scripted words.
We also to source plain white pyjamas for Lauren, our wardrobe/stage/ prop manager to create a stripy pyjama look costume.
Here are a couple of original photos of Holocaust victims in their clothes 'pyjama clothes'
'Sardine Roll'
We also worked on Grotowskis plastics for a short time, focusing on our elbows. This is very challenging and needs lots of practice to master. After a break we worked on placing ourselves in a pile to represent a pile of bodies, this is a very strong image that is recognized in the holocaust camps.
Original photo of a pile of bodies in the Holocaust camps
As we worked on this I began to smell people which wasn't all that pleasant , however it gave me a better feeling of discomfort to add to my emotion , I could never compare it as to what actually happened in these camps as these bodies where rotting and naked in a way I would rather not describe.
Soon after we had to come to life after Being thrown on a pile, holding hands and working on rising in a tight group. In pairs We had to devise a sequence of how this would work and create a style of movement , a kind of dance ish sequence , imagining we were stuck behind walls trying to get out. I did this with Dominique and shakira.
A picture of Liza's group performing their short sequence.
Soon we had worked on how Cassy and James would drag us into a pile of bodies , for they are the guards in the play. After we adapted our small devised structures to rise and move together, trying to escape the walls.
After lunch we rehearsed the song, Shakira and myself have been given the task to arrange the song as to who will sing each part.
Later in pairs we devised a small torture scene. I did this with Liza , working from images that we sourced through the Internet it allowed us to grow our scenes into further tortured sketch. We included whipping with belts, using a chair to be tied up on, and moving towards the floor for a further tortured positions.
Below is Dominique, James and Cassey rehearsing their torture sketch.
We ended the session with performing each sketch to each other. Jon has instructed us to devise a thirty second repetitive death sequence , this will be performed whist Rosie, Christina and myself will be performing our scripted words.
We also to source plain white pyjamas for Lauren, our wardrobe/stage/ prop manager to create a stripy pyjama look costume.
Here are a couple of original photos of Holocaust victims in their clothes 'pyjama clothes'
Monday, 6 February 2012
Rehersals and growth in day 3 of professional drama practice.
We started the day with a morning active session, warming up and working on our usual yoga form positions. We also worked on our slow motion, finding emotion and meaning to our movements which still can be challenging on a Monday morning ;0)
However the session went well and towards the end of the session we practiced six potions that represent anguish, which had been previously worked on last week whilst Makeda, Shakira and myself were learning the Patriot song. Rosie taught us the six positions and after as a whole group we performed them and experimented with the flow of each position to the next. After a break we returned to the last session of scenes we had worked on and rehearsed, and slightly changed a few scenes. We discussed a few different idea's as to what else should be included during the work camp and guard scenes. I had remembered from a film I watched about the Holocaust, there was scene of camp victims running round in a circle naked so that the guards would see who was fit and who was not and would therefor be removed from the camp by a shotgun. Through this we decided to recreate a similar scene and placed ourselves in a circle running whilst James and Cassy who are now to be the official 'guards' in the play would shout and scream at us whilst running,I become a victim of near to death when I fall and James shoots me in the shoulder. Soon after an almost dream like slow motion occurs, all the camp victims gather strength to kill the guards - 'the uprising scene'.
After a lunch break we worked on the scripted text, we have now been split into 6 different groups, with each group portraying a different emotion, one group would almost be robotic another may be mad, another would be tortured... This represents different side effects to anguish and depression from a horrific event, in this case the Holocaust. My scene along with Rosie and Christina is as if we are in the electric chair, not wanting to speak but are made to by the electric shocks.
At first I found this difficult, but as we watched all the other groups act out their scenes it soon became clear of what my role is a about. I had the idea for my scene to be the three of us sitting in chairs with the electric helmets on there to be three electric chairs with each chair on a projector to give it a further visual effect, to compliment that with strobe lighting.
My research for character building work will be to find out about the electric chair, to Google on YouTube people in the electric chair, to study their reactions. Also to watch a film based on the Holocaust that will allow me to connect with a character on film, through emotional struggles and individual journeys.
However the session went well and towards the end of the session we practiced six potions that represent anguish, which had been previously worked on last week whilst Makeda, Shakira and myself were learning the Patriot song. Rosie taught us the six positions and after as a whole group we performed them and experimented with the flow of each position to the next. After a break we returned to the last session of scenes we had worked on and rehearsed, and slightly changed a few scenes. We discussed a few different idea's as to what else should be included during the work camp and guard scenes. I had remembered from a film I watched about the Holocaust, there was scene of camp victims running round in a circle naked so that the guards would see who was fit and who was not and would therefor be removed from the camp by a shotgun. Through this we decided to recreate a similar scene and placed ourselves in a circle running whilst James and Cassy who are now to be the official 'guards' in the play would shout and scream at us whilst running,I become a victim of near to death when I fall and James shoots me in the shoulder. Soon after an almost dream like slow motion occurs, all the camp victims gather strength to kill the guards - 'the uprising scene'.
After a lunch break we worked on the scripted text, we have now been split into 6 different groups, with each group portraying a different emotion, one group would almost be robotic another may be mad, another would be tortured... This represents different side effects to anguish and depression from a horrific event, in this case the Holocaust. My scene along with Rosie and Christina is as if we are in the electric chair, not wanting to speak but are made to by the electric shocks.
At first I found this difficult, but as we watched all the other groups act out their scenes it soon became clear of what my role is a about. I had the idea for my scene to be the three of us sitting in chairs with the electric helmets on there to be three electric chairs with each chair on a projector to give it a further visual effect, to compliment that with strobe lighting.
My research for character building work will be to find out about the electric chair, to Google on YouTube people in the electric chair, to study their reactions. Also to watch a film based on the Holocaust that will allow me to connect with a character on film, through emotional struggles and individual journeys.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Professional Drama Practice- A new project.
We have started a new project which will be lead and directed by an outside director called Jonathan Grieve - we call him Jon.
The Monday morning started with warm ups and icebreakers to get us in a creative space, soon after the session was led with discussions about varied social issues, and how important these social issues were, how relevant they are to us and what we thought of them, how we regard ourselves related to these social issues. For example, how important is music to you, on a scale from 1-10 10 being the highest, how religious are you? Are you an atheist or regard yourself as spiritual? Do you feel woman and men should be equal, or does each person have certain roles?
Through this exercise It was interesting to see how every person has different views on these social subjects and has individual personal views.
We also ran a series of still imaged frames, using the space, one person would have to pose in a certain way, whilst another would add to this pose to create a scenario. It was amusing of what might come out of nothing into something.
We also tried a few other specific scenarios, such as the recent riots, each person took on a character to create a freeze frame, shortly in slow motion we had to act out the next five seconds, then the freeze, then the next five seconds, then rewinding back ten seconds.
During these exercises it's important to be controlled with the slow motion so that the viewer gets the full effect. This can be challenging as an actor and therefore needs to practice to achieve this effect.
Later that day Michael and Jon handed out the stimulus script and text for the play that we will be performing on February 27Th. The idea is focused on The Holocaust and Jews that fought for Hitler. (Sounds controversial I know). The scripts consists of a series of scenarios, scripted text of a scene being placed in a court room with a judge , several witnesses and various other characters. There is also a poem by Samuel Beckett. Shortly after reading the script together, Jon taught us a song called Patriot which is a kind of chant, army song.
The next day, we warmed up with some games and some challenging yoga positions, following that we started practising our slow motion movements, using desperate emotions to reach a ball that was laid on the ground further away from us, the aim was to move towards this ball as if it were terribly important to us, to find meaning for our movements was the key aim in this exercise.
The next part of the session was mostly focused on creating the similar freeze framed and slow motion scenarios that we where introduced to us on the first day. This time these scenarios were based on the script, the scene was set to be at a work place of a Holocaust camp. We had to take on the characters of guards and work victims, soon we had to change the scenario by switching work camp victims in becoming aggressive and soon there was to be a revaluation, this was acted in slow motion, back and forward using the same movements to distinguish each part of the scene.
Later that day Shakira, Mackeda and myself had the task of learning the the full Patriot song and teaching it to the class, the song is a little challenging to learn for the timings are not of western rhythm nor flow. Before learning the song I led a vocal warm up which was fun!
The Monday morning started with warm ups and icebreakers to get us in a creative space, soon after the session was led with discussions about varied social issues, and how important these social issues were, how relevant they are to us and what we thought of them, how we regard ourselves related to these social issues. For example, how important is music to you, on a scale from 1-10 10 being the highest, how religious are you? Are you an atheist or regard yourself as spiritual? Do you feel woman and men should be equal, or does each person have certain roles?
Through this exercise It was interesting to see how every person has different views on these social subjects and has individual personal views.
We also ran a series of still imaged frames, using the space, one person would have to pose in a certain way, whilst another would add to this pose to create a scenario. It was amusing of what might come out of nothing into something.
We also tried a few other specific scenarios, such as the recent riots, each person took on a character to create a freeze frame, shortly in slow motion we had to act out the next five seconds, then the freeze, then the next five seconds, then rewinding back ten seconds.
During these exercises it's important to be controlled with the slow motion so that the viewer gets the full effect. This can be challenging as an actor and therefore needs to practice to achieve this effect.
Later that day Michael and Jon handed out the stimulus script and text for the play that we will be performing on February 27Th. The idea is focused on The Holocaust and Jews that fought for Hitler. (Sounds controversial I know). The scripts consists of a series of scenarios, scripted text of a scene being placed in a court room with a judge , several witnesses and various other characters. There is also a poem by Samuel Beckett. Shortly after reading the script together, Jon taught us a song called Patriot which is a kind of chant, army song.
The next day, we warmed up with some games and some challenging yoga positions, following that we started practising our slow motion movements, using desperate emotions to reach a ball that was laid on the ground further away from us, the aim was to move towards this ball as if it were terribly important to us, to find meaning for our movements was the key aim in this exercise.
The next part of the session was mostly focused on creating the similar freeze framed and slow motion scenarios that we where introduced to us on the first day. This time these scenarios were based on the script, the scene was set to be at a work place of a Holocaust camp. We had to take on the characters of guards and work victims, soon we had to change the scenario by switching work camp victims in becoming aggressive and soon there was to be a revaluation, this was acted in slow motion, back and forward using the same movements to distinguish each part of the scene.
Later that day Shakira, Mackeda and myself had the task of learning the the full Patriot song and teaching it to the class, the song is a little challenging to learn for the timings are not of western rhythm nor flow. Before learning the song I led a vocal warm up which was fun!
The Performance... It's Show Time!
There were two performances, the first for me was in my opinion was a better overall performance, I think that the nerves were in the right place and the energy was high but controlled within the right focus.The 'Grid' at the start was very much enjoyable and I totally through myself into it, I lost all fears and immersed myself fully, laughing, crying, screaming, all these emotions truly took place within the space and my space too... I feel that Liza and I connected during this time on stage which was inspiring. There was also a great energy between all the actors on stage, the downfall was that unfortunately some of the group members were missing due to illnesses, however we pulled through. It seemed like it went by so fast, which means that I was totally in the zone and focused.
The second performance was a little more difficult, more people were missing for the second night which gave a kind of, lets get this over with kind of feeling. Rather than fully enjoying an immersing myself into the show, I found myself thinking of what I was doing rather than just doing and being in the moment. There was also a couple of stage direction changes and an extra scene put in about an hour before the show, which in a way without realising threw me a little. In this case, a distraction on my acting which I let get hold of me. However the show was finally over and I do believe that I was totally committed for the first night. On reflection, I think it would be beneficial to find sometime alone to build an energy for myself to help my focus.
The second performance was a little more difficult, more people were missing for the second night which gave a kind of, lets get this over with kind of feeling. Rather than fully enjoying an immersing myself into the show, I found myself thinking of what I was doing rather than just doing and being in the moment. There was also a couple of stage direction changes and an extra scene put in about an hour before the show, which in a way without realising threw me a little. In this case, a distraction on my acting which I let get hold of me. However the show was finally over and I do believe that I was totally committed for the first night. On reflection, I think it would be beneficial to find sometime alone to build an energy for myself to help my focus.
Preparations before the show
A lot of hard work is needed for a show and due to the fact that the show was performed at the Bull Theatre in Barnet, the frame that we built needed to be disassembled, transferred to the Bull Theatre from the Arts Depot and reassembled there. It was important to work as a team and to arrive at 8:30am for a full days work prior the permanences. Together we worked to achieve the target, Rosie and myself also had the job of stitching some of the holes in the frame a little smaller as they had stretched quite a lot during rehearsals and therefore needed to be adjusted for the perfect effect.
By around 4pm however we were still due a technical run and an extra rehearsal. The tech run ran smoothly, Rosie was working with Michael and Grant (a first year student) with the lights and effects. However as a group of performers we did not really put our all into this run, and Nick was getting angry as the show was not looking great. He made a point of how we as performers were selfish and not giving enough to an audience. I have to agree with all these comments, it's vital that an actor/performer gives %100 at all times, for if he/she doesn't then the result will be false, which is the complete negative to true acting and a true performance. This did result in me reflecting on my performance and my aim as a whole performer in general, to bring truth is completely important to me, it's kind of a spiritual goal for me and is one of my strongest morals in life. Through this conversation, Nick had inspired me to work harder on my focus in order to get my very much purpose result. As Grotowski would say... 'The result is freedom'
My answer to this 'I will only feel free once the truth is released'
Below is a picture of Shakira playing Shakalaka in a red cape, this shot was taken from the light and sound technical desk.
By around 4pm however we were still due a technical run and an extra rehearsal. The tech run ran smoothly, Rosie was working with Michael and Grant (a first year student) with the lights and effects. However as a group of performers we did not really put our all into this run, and Nick was getting angry as the show was not looking great. He made a point of how we as performers were selfish and not giving enough to an audience. I have to agree with all these comments, it's vital that an actor/performer gives %100 at all times, for if he/she doesn't then the result will be false, which is the complete negative to true acting and a true performance. This did result in me reflecting on my performance and my aim as a whole performer in general, to bring truth is completely important to me, it's kind of a spiritual goal for me and is one of my strongest morals in life. Through this conversation, Nick had inspired me to work harder on my focus in order to get my very much purpose result. As Grotowski would say... 'The result is freedom'
My answer to this 'I will only feel free once the truth is released'
Below is a picture of Shakira playing Shakalaka in a red cape, this shot was taken from the light and sound technical desk.
A well deserved rewrite!
We are coming so close to the performance date, it seems crazy to rewrite the script, however after performing the original play to Nick and Michael, it became clear that a lot was missing, therefore things must change. At the beginning of the play a form called 'The Grid' will be performed for ten minutes, this will be rehearsed and partly improvised, the rehearsals will develop our skills of improvisation for the 'The Grid', total focus is essential within this piece and every movement must have purpose and reason and must not be false in any way. This can be challenging when all you have are is a grid to walk and play with in a sense, however feeling off others can improve an energy and a vibe.
Another major change to the play was to instead of basing the show around everyone and how everyone is feeling, it has been decided to base the play on three main characters, which will played by Rosie, Mario and Chris, they start by being out side the play 'Frame' whilst everyone else is inside the play playing 'their' mind, with each different character and phrase, mine being unsettled,others being useless, animated, unreliable, detached and so on... However the three main characters still adopt their phrases which are bitchy for Rosie, afraid for Mario and semi-detached for Chris. This enables the 'frame' to pick on these words and to create question and answers. For instance, my line would be to Rosie, "Are you unsettled?" or To Mario, "Maybe your unsettled, that's why your afraid?"
All these sentences put together from each person in the 'frame' to the three characters on stage creates a self analytical scene that confronts and disturbs one self.
The song that was sang originally by everyone on stage is sang in the frame by 'The Frame' characters, until guided out by a character called 'Shakalaka' played by Shakira, who is to be some kind of mystic fortune teller, prediction queen in a sense, a guide of some sort, a controlling force in the play. She leads us to the stage into a trance and speaks the words of "words, thoughts, people," until we start loosing ourselves in one place, as she continues with her chants, we start hallucinating, going mad for our thoughts might misguide us and send us crazy. This scene is called 'The Ritual', when this is finished we leave and the audience find Rosie, Mario and Chris in the 'Frame' scared, confused and alarmed, like they are in their own minds, a scene plays.
To continue with the changes, Chris and Rosie end up being the perfect people dummies for the 'Labelling Scene' rather than James and Lucy who were the original characters. Whilst this 'labelling' commences, Mario stays in the 'Frame' and watches with confusion, frustration and is 'afraid' which is his phrase. The rest of the 'Frame' characters arrive on stage with a cover over their heads, typing on phones at the back in a line. Soon 'Shakalaka' presents the perfect people and leads the original 'Frame ' characters back into the frame joining Mario, soon each person end the show with a sentence in a robotic voice, for example "I'm not unsettled, my name is Jones" and like dominoes each phrase follows. Mario ends with "My name is Mario"
The show is till only thirty minutes long, however it does have more purpose and focus to it.
Below is an image reheating the "Labelling scene'.
Another major change to the play was to instead of basing the show around everyone and how everyone is feeling, it has been decided to base the play on three main characters, which will played by Rosie, Mario and Chris, they start by being out side the play 'Frame' whilst everyone else is inside the play playing 'their' mind, with each different character and phrase, mine being unsettled,others being useless, animated, unreliable, detached and so on... However the three main characters still adopt their phrases which are bitchy for Rosie, afraid for Mario and semi-detached for Chris. This enables the 'frame' to pick on these words and to create question and answers. For instance, my line would be to Rosie, "Are you unsettled?" or To Mario, "Maybe your unsettled, that's why your afraid?"
All these sentences put together from each person in the 'frame' to the three characters on stage creates a self analytical scene that confronts and disturbs one self.
The song that was sang originally by everyone on stage is sang in the frame by 'The Frame' characters, until guided out by a character called 'Shakalaka' played by Shakira, who is to be some kind of mystic fortune teller, prediction queen in a sense, a guide of some sort, a controlling force in the play. She leads us to the stage into a trance and speaks the words of "words, thoughts, people," until we start loosing ourselves in one place, as she continues with her chants, we start hallucinating, going mad for our thoughts might misguide us and send us crazy. This scene is called 'The Ritual', when this is finished we leave and the audience find Rosie, Mario and Chris in the 'Frame' scared, confused and alarmed, like they are in their own minds, a scene plays.
To continue with the changes, Chris and Rosie end up being the perfect people dummies for the 'Labelling Scene' rather than James and Lucy who were the original characters. Whilst this 'labelling' commences, Mario stays in the 'Frame' and watches with confusion, frustration and is 'afraid' which is his phrase. The rest of the 'Frame' characters arrive on stage with a cover over their heads, typing on phones at the back in a line. Soon 'Shakalaka' presents the perfect people and leads the original 'Frame ' characters back into the frame joining Mario, soon each person end the show with a sentence in a robotic voice, for example "I'm not unsettled, my name is Jones" and like dominoes each phrase follows. Mario ends with "My name is Mario"
The show is till only thirty minutes long, however it does have more purpose and focus to it.
Below is an image reheating the "Labelling scene'.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
My Name is Jones.... The Devised Play
We have been working on this show now since October and it is now January, as one can imagine, devising a piece of theatre with 17 other people can become very stressful. We have come close to the end and the show will be performed next week. Extra rehearsals have proved to be extremely beneficial, however there have been lots of hiccups during these rehearsal. Focus is the key point and unfortunately this sometimes lacks in the group and can drag out the rehearsals. The frame has also been developed into a further more impressive piece, however it is very challenging to perform as it's very claustrophobic and is not at all comfortable. Though the frame is very impressive and I believe is something 'fresh' to a piece of theatre, the concept is brilliant.
The show has been changed now, it is still about identity but is now based on three characters, the frame represents the characters minds, in which the different personalities a mind can take on. I feel like this piece of theatre has got a lot of potential and I am excited about the concept, however I do feel a little uninspired about the characters journey and the overall meaning of this story. If I had it my way, I would base the script on one single character, going through life with his mind distracting him, helping him... All the things our minds do, let it almost be semi naturalistic flowing story based play, but styled themed, for the frame will always be the constant focus of the play, playing the characters mind, the same as it is doing in our show 'My name is Jones'.
I do feel like this play lacks in wit and humor, which it did initially have, but now it has been thrown away due to some changes, I do feel like this has disheartening the class and therefor has caused distractions.
Below are some images of the new Frame...
Still I will put all my efforts in to make it as impressive as it can be.
The show has been changed now, it is still about identity but is now based on three characters, the frame represents the characters minds, in which the different personalities a mind can take on. I feel like this piece of theatre has got a lot of potential and I am excited about the concept, however I do feel a little uninspired about the characters journey and the overall meaning of this story. If I had it my way, I would base the script on one single character, going through life with his mind distracting him, helping him... All the things our minds do, let it almost be semi naturalistic flowing story based play, but styled themed, for the frame will always be the constant focus of the play, playing the characters mind, the same as it is doing in our show 'My name is Jones'.
I do feel like this play lacks in wit and humor, which it did initially have, but now it has been thrown away due to some changes, I do feel like this has disheartening the class and therefor has caused distractions.
Below are some images of the new Frame...
Still I will put all my efforts in to make it as impressive as it can be.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Inspiration from Grotowski... A Few Words !
Everyday we are faced with challenges, everyday something occurs.
We must face the day, face the time and live in time.
Only a few of us do so, only a few of us face the day, face the challenges, learn about them and go through them.
We can get distracted, this happens, we don't realise, only do we realise, when, we get back to our original matter of truth... Which in itself is a challenge.
Life is magical and I don't want to miss a thing...
We must face the day, face the time and live in time.
Only a few of us do so, only a few of us face the day, face the challenges, learn about them and go through them.
We can get distracted, this happens, we don't realise, only do we realise, when, we get back to our original matter of truth... Which in itself is a challenge.
Life is magical and I don't want to miss a thing...
Introducing Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski was born in Rzeszow, Poland on the 11th of August 1933 and sadly died in 1999.
He was a Theatre Director, Actor Trainer and Theorist whose work was split into 5 phases:
1)Theatre of Production- (1957-1969)
In 1958 Grotowski moved to Opole where he was invited by the theatre critic and dramaturg Ludwik Flaszen to serve as Director of the Theatre of 13 Rows.There he began to assemble a company of actors and artistic collaborators which would help him realize his unique vision. He explored the actor's and audience's relationship, and developed his methods and idea's of what an actor and theatre should be. After a few of his productions it was then his realization now known as Grotowski's notion of 'poor theatre.
Stripping everything away from the actor and stage, to the point of no props, no make up and simple costume was something that Grotowski believed to be real theatre, the bare truth in a sense.
2)Paratheatrical phase- (1969-1978)
Grotowski did not perform after his theatre of production, during this time he took his journey towards self discovery within himself and other actors and groups, there was no audiences during any of these meetings. It was more of a training process in a sense, in search of the truth beyond theatre, where only creativity was sought, asserting the purity of nature and openness and opposing the falseness of society. This phase is known as the 'Paratheatrical' phase of his career because it was an attempt to transcend the separation between performer and spectator. Grotowski attempted this through the organization of communal rites and simple interactive exchanges that went on sometimes for extended periods, attempting to provoke in participants a deconditioning of impulse.
3)Theatre of Sources- (1976-1982)
During this phase Grotowski returned to working with small groups, this helped for his continuous research in human self discovery.
He travelled far and wide across the world, intensely through India, Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere, seeking to identify elements of technique in the traditional practices of various cultures that could have a precise and discernible effect on participants. With the help of good friends helped Grotowski managed to settle in the US, where he taught at Columbia University for one year while attempting to find support for a new program of research.
4)Objective Drama- (1983-1986)
This phase of research was characterized by an investigation of the psychophysiological impact of selected songs and other performative tools derived from traditional cultures on participants, focusing specifically on relatively simple techniques that could exert a discernible and predictable impact on the doer regardless of her belief structures or culture of origin.
5)Art as Vehicle (1986-)
Grotowski was invited by Roberto Bacci of the Centro per la Sperimentazione e la Ricerca Teatrale to shift the base of his work to Pontedera, Italy, where he was offered an opportunity to conduct long-term research on performance without the pressure of having to show results until he was ready.
Here he reached into the past to find old ritual songs that had a deep imp[act on the heart, the head and the body. He wanted the ancient history to connect back to man today and to reach the truth through original rituals.
A quote By Peter Brooks.
"It seems to me," Brook said, "that Grotowski is showing us something which existed in the past but has been forgotten over the centuries; that is that one of the vehicles which allows man to have access to another level of perception is to be found in the art of performance."
Below - Jerzy Grotowski
He was a Theatre Director, Actor Trainer and Theorist whose work was split into 5 phases:
1)Theatre of Production- (1957-1969)
In 1958 Grotowski moved to Opole where he was invited by the theatre critic and dramaturg Ludwik Flaszen to serve as Director of the Theatre of 13 Rows.There he began to assemble a company of actors and artistic collaborators which would help him realize his unique vision. He explored the actor's and audience's relationship, and developed his methods and idea's of what an actor and theatre should be. After a few of his productions it was then his realization now known as Grotowski's notion of 'poor theatre.
Stripping everything away from the actor and stage, to the point of no props, no make up and simple costume was something that Grotowski believed to be real theatre, the bare truth in a sense.
2)Paratheatrical phase- (1969-1978)
Grotowski did not perform after his theatre of production, during this time he took his journey towards self discovery within himself and other actors and groups, there was no audiences during any of these meetings. It was more of a training process in a sense, in search of the truth beyond theatre, where only creativity was sought, asserting the purity of nature and openness and opposing the falseness of society. This phase is known as the 'Paratheatrical' phase of his career because it was an attempt to transcend the separation between performer and spectator. Grotowski attempted this through the organization of communal rites and simple interactive exchanges that went on sometimes for extended periods, attempting to provoke in participants a deconditioning of impulse.
3)Theatre of Sources- (1976-1982)
During this phase Grotowski returned to working with small groups, this helped for his continuous research in human self discovery.
He travelled far and wide across the world, intensely through India, Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere, seeking to identify elements of technique in the traditional practices of various cultures that could have a precise and discernible effect on participants. With the help of good friends helped Grotowski managed to settle in the US, where he taught at Columbia University for one year while attempting to find support for a new program of research.
4)Objective Drama- (1983-1986)
This phase of research was characterized by an investigation of the psychophysiological impact of selected songs and other performative tools derived from traditional cultures on participants, focusing specifically on relatively simple techniques that could exert a discernible and predictable impact on the doer regardless of her belief structures or culture of origin.
5)Art as Vehicle (1986-)
Grotowski was invited by Roberto Bacci of the Centro per la Sperimentazione e la Ricerca Teatrale to shift the base of his work to Pontedera, Italy, where he was offered an opportunity to conduct long-term research on performance without the pressure of having to show results until he was ready.
Here he reached into the past to find old ritual songs that had a deep imp[act on the heart, the head and the body. He wanted the ancient history to connect back to man today and to reach the truth through original rituals.
A quote By Peter Brooks.
"It seems to me," Brook said, "that Grotowski is showing us something which existed in the past but has been forgotten over the centuries; that is that one of the vehicles which allows man to have access to another level of perception is to be found in the art of performance."
Below - Jerzy Grotowski
The Frame
The Frame is the opening scene to our show, it starts with one person speaking and we all one by one interact with this person using a word that sums up what we are feeling. However we are using this word as if to say that they are feeling this, for instance my word is unsettled, my question is " Are you unsettled?" the purpose of this frame is showing how other people can bring out another emotion that you may be feeling, or pushing on there own emotional conflict with themselves onto someone else. It's a very random conversation that leads to self discovery... Or does it?
Each person came up with a word from truth, the word came from a long process of devising our truth. We had to go through a lot of different exercises to reach this truth. One exercises was to draw a picture of ourselves with our eyes closed, another was to write about how we see ourselves, who we are and what helps us through life. All very personal and all that comes from truth. Below are some pictures of the strange picture I drew of myself with my eyes closed, also an idea for the frame!
Each person came up with a word from truth, the word came from a long process of devising our truth. We had to go through a lot of different exercises to reach this truth. One exercises was to draw a picture of ourselves with our eyes closed, another was to write about how we see ourselves, who we are and what helps us through life. All very personal and all that comes from truth. Below are some pictures of the strange picture I drew of myself with my eyes closed, also an idea for the frame!
Monday, 28 November 2011
Devising- The Progress
We have been working on a piece called 'The Ritual of the Lost Souls'
It starts with us being spread out, using our bodies to create levels, We are as still as can be, slowly reaching out for something, hoping it may the truth, something that makes sense to each individual. We have in our mind set something that we are truly searching for, this allows us to keep focused and give an honest performance.
The further we reach the harder things get, or the more frustrated we are in not finding our truth. Some people get extremely vocal whilst others use their facial expressions to show their emotions. During this whole ritual there is music played throughout, until suddenly it turns off, everybody gets back to the real world , and start sweeping things under the rug, which will symbolize how people don't always take the truth , or in finding it well...
It starts with us being spread out, using our bodies to create levels, We are as still as can be, slowly reaching out for something, hoping it may the truth, something that makes sense to each individual. We have in our mind set something that we are truly searching for, this allows us to keep focused and give an honest performance.
The further we reach the harder things get, or the more frustrated we are in not finding our truth. Some people get extremely vocal whilst others use their facial expressions to show their emotions. During this whole ritual there is music played throughout, until suddenly it turns off, everybody gets back to the real world , and start sweeping things under the rug, which will symbolize how people don't always take the truth , or in finding it well...
Friday, 11 November 2011
Devising for the 45 minute piece- the process!
So far things have turned out to be rather emotional, in order to create real theatre we must find the truth, the truth inside ourselves. This for some has not been an easy exercise and for me personally was also hard, however it's very satisfying to speak about true emotions, fears and secrets.
This process is 'A Way In', in helping us with the devising process. It also allows us as actors to be real and comfortable with our emotions on stage. Letting go only allows an actor to be more free. Lots of improvisations have been part of this process too. We have been learning about 'Plastics' which is a full body movement, using our bodies to show emotions, a training method of Grotowski. We used plastics whilst listening to music, reacting with impulse which too allows us to free our minds. In other lessons we had to write a few paragraphs to express our thoughts and feelings about our lives, how we get by, what are morals may be, how do we guide ourselves, etc... Through this exercise we used a few lines from each written piece to form a small piece of theatre. This whole process developed into something a little more interesting. Each day we are building new pieces of work, it seems so far that our play will be about identity and will be short pieces interlocking rather than a full flowing 45 minute piece, however things do change.
This process is 'A Way In', in helping us with the devising process. It also allows us as actors to be real and comfortable with our emotions on stage. Letting go only allows an actor to be more free. Lots of improvisations have been part of this process too. We have been learning about 'Plastics' which is a full body movement, using our bodies to show emotions, a training method of Grotowski. We used plastics whilst listening to music, reacting with impulse which too allows us to free our minds. In other lessons we had to write a few paragraphs to express our thoughts and feelings about our lives, how we get by, what are morals may be, how do we guide ourselves, etc... Through this exercise we used a few lines from each written piece to form a small piece of theatre. This whole process developed into something a little more interesting. Each day we are building new pieces of work, it seems so far that our play will be about identity and will be short pieces interlocking rather than a full flowing 45 minute piece, however things do change.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
2nd Year so far... :o)
Second year so far has proven to be a joy! After so much time away from uni I feel inspired and ready to go.
Our first day was spent at 'The Tate' to get some inspiration from the poetry and dreams exhibition.
Below are a few pieces that I loved.
It was interesting to see and I guess in a way it did inspire me in preperation for our first module of the year. After being out of a creative environment for some time, being surrounded by art most definitely opened up my mind, which gave me an idea!
THE IDEA - where it came from!
Sitting at lunch with Dominique... I get a call from my boyfriend, he starts rambling on about how he had to stay up ALL night sending some music files to a producer. He had the files ready to send in a minute format but as soon as he loaded them up to send he accidentally DELETED all the files! The consequences were for him to stay up all night to re bounce them into this one minute send format, thank goodness he had backed up the original files! This got me thinking...
This gave me an idea about how reliant we are on technology, what a shame if you loose all your work! What a shame if you didn’t back up, I mean it's kind of a crisis these days if we loose our valuable work.
Dom and I discussed this and came up with a few ideas.
We needed to come up with a proposal in order to show off our ideas.
Below reads the proposal, ideas, etc!
THE BIG EYE!
The idea is to find the meaning of cyber world.
How far do we actually live inside it?
Are we dictated by cyber world?
Do we live in cyber world or the real world?
We’re we more real in the 60’s?
Was that the ‘REAL’ revolution?
Is cyber world a dream or reality?
Passwords
Trapped
Life without a phone documentary
Can we trust cyber world?
They know my mother fucking bank details!
Bugs
Viruses
Research- finding the true emotion-How did Nick (teacher) feel when his computer got stolen?
Iphones
Cyber world- this is my life, this is your life
Facebook statuses, gather our statuses to create a script,
Do we want to live forever- does cyber world enable that? Is that why we are so obsessed?
You do live forever; is that our subconscious speaking? Are we scared of ending? Dying?
We want to speak, be heard, and see our name in lights, on screen.
In cyber world we are heard, or do we just want to hear ourselves? Remind ourselves?
Why, what, where, and who are we with?
It’s a way to speak to the word, but it’s not THE WORLD it’s cyber world!
It makes us feel bigger…rather than the small speck we really are.
Back at The Arts Depot :)
Meeting the new 1st years was really nice, and now every Monday it has been decided that both 1st years and 2nd years will share a morning class exercise, which involves, stretching, warm ups and generally getting HOT!
The games we play allow us to forget about the weekends and concentrate on the days to come.
Having Michael as a new teacher is also proving to be a success, he has set the class some interesting challenges in order to get our creative minds thinking.
We started with an exercise called 'The Grid'.
The Grid is basically an imaginary basic grid that we follow, using sharp moves to turn and change direction. We started walking the grid in silence, then eventually, naturally, took on characters and tasks, which only involved ourselves. This grid carried on for around 2 hours, people could jump in and out of the grid to watch, or could carry on the grid task to see where it would lead... After some time it seemed that the grid had disappeared and soon was a piece of theatre, where people were connecting and interacting, however no words were spoken. Though so much was said.
At some points of the exercise, it seemed like you could of been in some mental hospital, people lost there inhibitions and went... well slightly mad!
I took myself out the grid to shoot videos of some moments...
click on link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhiHvzQOPE
Our first day was spent at 'The Tate' to get some inspiration from the poetry and dreams exhibition.
Below are a few pieces that I loved.
It was interesting to see and I guess in a way it did inspire me in preperation for our first module of the year. After being out of a creative environment for some time, being surrounded by art most definitely opened up my mind, which gave me an idea!
THE IDEA - where it came from!
Sitting at lunch with Dominique... I get a call from my boyfriend, he starts rambling on about how he had to stay up ALL night sending some music files to a producer. He had the files ready to send in a minute format but as soon as he loaded them up to send he accidentally DELETED all the files! The consequences were for him to stay up all night to re bounce them into this one minute send format, thank goodness he had backed up the original files! This got me thinking...
This gave me an idea about how reliant we are on technology, what a shame if you loose all your work! What a shame if you didn’t back up, I mean it's kind of a crisis these days if we loose our valuable work.
Dom and I discussed this and came up with a few ideas.
We needed to come up with a proposal in order to show off our ideas.
Below reads the proposal, ideas, etc!
THE BIG EYE!
The idea is to find the meaning of cyber world.
How far do we actually live inside it?
Are we dictated by cyber world?
Do we live in cyber world or the real world?
We’re we more real in the 60’s?
Was that the ‘REAL’ revolution?
Is cyber world a dream or reality?
Passwords
Trapped
Life without a phone documentary
Can we trust cyber world?
They know my mother fucking bank details!
Bugs
Viruses
Research- finding the true emotion-How did Nick (teacher) feel when his computer got stolen?
Iphones
Cyber world- this is my life, this is your life
Facebook statuses, gather our statuses to create a script,
Do we want to live forever- does cyber world enable that? Is that why we are so obsessed?
You do live forever; is that our subconscious speaking? Are we scared of ending? Dying?
We want to speak, be heard, and see our name in lights, on screen.
In cyber world we are heard, or do we just want to hear ourselves? Remind ourselves?
Why, what, where, and who are we with?
It’s a way to speak to the word, but it’s not THE WORLD it’s cyber world!
It makes us feel bigger…rather than the small speck we really are.
Back at The Arts Depot :)
Meeting the new 1st years was really nice, and now every Monday it has been decided that both 1st years and 2nd years will share a morning class exercise, which involves, stretching, warm ups and generally getting HOT!
The games we play allow us to forget about the weekends and concentrate on the days to come.
Having Michael as a new teacher is also proving to be a success, he has set the class some interesting challenges in order to get our creative minds thinking.
We started with an exercise called 'The Grid'.
The Grid is basically an imaginary basic grid that we follow, using sharp moves to turn and change direction. We started walking the grid in silence, then eventually, naturally, took on characters and tasks, which only involved ourselves. This grid carried on for around 2 hours, people could jump in and out of the grid to watch, or could carry on the grid task to see where it would lead... After some time it seemed that the grid had disappeared and soon was a piece of theatre, where people were connecting and interacting, however no words were spoken. Though so much was said.
At some points of the exercise, it seemed like you could of been in some mental hospital, people lost there inhibitions and went... well slightly mad!
I took myself out the grid to shoot videos of some moments...
click on link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhiHvzQOPE
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
The Radio Script Workshop
The year is nearly finished and soon I would have completed my first year of Uni! I am very pleased to say that I feel very proud and excited at the same time... For the last few days at Uni we have been working towards a radio drama recording, we have written our own scripts and soon will be recording them.
I have been working with Mario and so far the process has gone smoothly. We have sound affects organized and the script is complete.
We have written the script in radio drama format.
You & I
By
Kate Meranda & Mario Hitra
The Characters, The Boy (TB), Little Girl (LG) & Mum
SCENE 1
THE SOUND OF A TAP DRIPPING, ECHOING THE ROOM
SOUND OF HEAVY BREATHING
BOY: I feel so stupid
GIRL: Why do you feel stupid?
BOY: I am stupid:
GIRL: Stupid
BOY: I can’t believe we’re back here again, back to square one
GIRL: I though we we’re gonna get out?
BOY: We we’re supposed to get out, but we’re back here again
Pause… Breathing
GIRL: Think I’m growing- Do you think I’ve grown?
Pause
GIRL: I’m starving, I need to eat, cant focus
BOY: Not sure we can eat right now
NOISES OF SCRATCHING OF THE WALLS
GIRL: Stop doing that, you always do that, I’m sick of that noise
BOY: I’m sick of these walls, I’m sick of this place, I’m sick of this situation we’re in
GIRL: What we gonna do?
BOY: Shut up! Sound of scratching of the hair… Just give me a minute
Pause
GIRL: Why are you being like this? You promised me we’d get out of here, I can’t go on my own, I need you… Are you even listening to me?
BOY: (loud) Alright, Alright shut up
GIRL: Why have you stopped listening to me? We used to be a good team You & I… If you start listening to me again… we’ll be out of here in no time!
BOY: (angry) Without you we wouldn’t even be in this situation, you’re always in my ear, (shout) just shut up for once
GIRL: Shhhh , don’t shout, they might hear you !
SOUND OF HEAVY FOOTSTEPS
INNER VOICE: BOY: It’ just a black hole, I haven’t seen the light in days
GIRL: Could be weeks, could be months.
BOY: I keep hearing the same noises, over and over again; we’ve been down here for days,
GIRL: Could be weeks, could be months…
A DOOR OPENS
MUM: (OFF) Darling what are you doing? We have to go now; we’re going to be late.
GIRL & BOY: OK I’m coming
I have been working with Mario and so far the process has gone smoothly. We have sound affects organized and the script is complete.
We have written the script in radio drama format.
You & I
By
Kate Meranda & Mario Hitra
The Characters, The Boy (TB), Little Girl (LG) & Mum
SCENE 1
THE SOUND OF A TAP DRIPPING, ECHOING THE ROOM
SOUND OF HEAVY BREATHING
BOY: I feel so stupid
GIRL: Why do you feel stupid?
BOY: I am stupid:
GIRL: Stupid
BOY: I can’t believe we’re back here again, back to square one
GIRL: I though we we’re gonna get out?
BOY: We we’re supposed to get out, but we’re back here again
Pause… Breathing
GIRL: Think I’m growing- Do you think I’ve grown?
Pause
GIRL: I’m starving, I need to eat, cant focus
BOY: Not sure we can eat right now
NOISES OF SCRATCHING OF THE WALLS
GIRL: Stop doing that, you always do that, I’m sick of that noise
BOY: I’m sick of these walls, I’m sick of this place, I’m sick of this situation we’re in
GIRL: What we gonna do?
BOY: Shut up! Sound of scratching of the hair… Just give me a minute
Pause
GIRL: Why are you being like this? You promised me we’d get out of here, I can’t go on my own, I need you… Are you even listening to me?
BOY: (loud) Alright, Alright shut up
GIRL: Why have you stopped listening to me? We used to be a good team You & I… If you start listening to me again… we’ll be out of here in no time!
BOY: (angry) Without you we wouldn’t even be in this situation, you’re always in my ear, (shout) just shut up for once
GIRL: Shhhh , don’t shout, they might hear you !
SOUND OF HEAVY FOOTSTEPS
INNER VOICE: BOY: It’ just a black hole, I haven’t seen the light in days
GIRL: Could be weeks, could be months.
BOY: I keep hearing the same noises, over and over again; we’ve been down here for days,
GIRL: Could be weeks, could be months…
A DOOR OPENS
MUM: (OFF) Darling what are you doing? We have to go now; we’re going to be late.
GIRL & BOY: OK I’m coming
Monday, 6 June 2011
The Tech Run and Live Show All In One Day!!!!! Crazzzzyyyy!
The tech run went rather well but at the same time was all very stressful, as we only had one day to do a dress rehearsal and a tech run due to having the bank holiday Monday off. This whole process was a lot different from any tech run I had ever done because this time we were the visionaries and directors of the pieces. This entailed writing the scripts and then translating the written word into action on stage. To also aid the effect of the pieces, we were responsible for light, set, props, costume and sound.
I had a meeting with lighting technician so I could discuss with him all the lighting ideas I had and make notes of all the cues. We settled on use of a spotlight at different points, strobe lighting and different coloured washes to evoke a haunting atmosphere on stage. I specifically liked the idea of flipping between strobe and coloured washes to show the tension and inner conflict of the main character; washes representing the beauty of his art and strobe to reflect his destructive strive for ultimate perfection.
Sound was also crucial in defining the message of my piece to the audience. The piece started with a heartbeat, leading into ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Architects Dream’ by Kate Bush and ending with ‘Skinny Love’ by Birdy. Extracts of all of these songs had been previously comped together to create one long stream of music. This made it easier for the soundman, as all was required, was pressing play at the outset and allowing the track to run. These songs were selected on three criteria; their lyrics, rhythm and worldly production. ‘Big Sky’ has a tribal pattern throughout, creating a ‘world-music sound’. This was very important to me, as I did not want my piece to be set in any particular part of the world, or in any particular time. My main character and his message were both timeless and international. I also loved the lyrics; the idea of reaching for the ‘Big Sky’ mirrored my main character’s desire to reach his own ‘Big Sky’, which sadly seemed forever out of his grasp. ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about an artist’s journey, in this case a painter and ‘Skinny Love’ was about the breakdown of a relationship, which is how my piece concluded.
In the way ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about a painter’s process of creating his art, my subject onstage was creating his art through building and decorating a huge, entwining plat. I had constructed this at home out of three large sheets of white polyester, which I platted together and then embellished with different coloured and textured materials. My subject’s action onstage was to continually construct and destruct this plat, striving to make it as beautiful as humanly possible. This plat represented any artist’s work, or in fact any person’s desire to be the greatest they can be, both to their advantage and also to their downfall.
I made sure that I wrote out all the light, sound and projection cues clearly in the right order according to the script, I felt it was important to be organised in order to run the light box with confidence and professionalism.
Costumes were very important, and also needed to be timeless and non-fashion specific to any country or decade. I wanted the costumes to portray the different personalities of the character’s wearing them. These characters had strong individual traits and I chose to dress them with hints of different animals that mirrored their characteristics. One was dressed in feathers across her upper body to be an owl, representing the wise and the thoughtful, one in vibrant reds and yellows to represent the lion, strong, aggressive, the Alfa Male of the jungle, the third had feathers sprouting from her head and was in a dull grey body, to represent a bird, timid, afraid
and introverted. As well as these characters representing external figures in his life and the different types of personalities people have, they also represented his inner conscious and opposing personalities he had in his own head; his inner struggle.
The timeless and international message of my piece being mirrored by the choice of music was also reflected in the worldly tribal movements the girls were doing. This is the point where strobe lighting was used to enhance the tension in the girl’s dance. When choreographing the girls, I made sure to tell them that their facial expressions were just as important as their bodily movements. I wanted their faces to be wild, eyes to be wide open and expressions to represent their individual animals choice.
We also had a big job setting up the stage for each piece, which meant it was very important as a class to work as a team to help make sure that the whole show ran smoothly.
There were a few hic-ups with setting up the stage, luckily it was a dress rehearsal and from this experience allowed us to understand how important it was for everyone to make sure that they are helping back stage.
We finally finished our dress rehearsal and only had about 45 minutes to collect ourselves together before the live show began. We also made sure that all the props were positioned correctly side stage.
The live show was an amazingly enjoyable process and I felt very much in control of what I wanted to achieve during my time in the sound box. I felt my communication skills were strong and I was not afraid in being direct with the sound and lighting man. Overall I was pleased with the performance however on reflection of the live show, if given a second chance I would push the girls further with their movements and make sure they had a specific thought process throughout their dance, so every move was a direct result of an internal emotion. I would also do this again with the main character and his lover with their emotional love story so their emotions for each other were more real. I would achieve this by ‘Hot Seating’ the actors asking them different questions outside of the given circumstances of the piece, so they could build a true picture in their heads of what, why and who their characters really are, and what they mean to each other.
I had a meeting with lighting technician so I could discuss with him all the lighting ideas I had and make notes of all the cues. We settled on use of a spotlight at different points, strobe lighting and different coloured washes to evoke a haunting atmosphere on stage. I specifically liked the idea of flipping between strobe and coloured washes to show the tension and inner conflict of the main character; washes representing the beauty of his art and strobe to reflect his destructive strive for ultimate perfection.
Sound was also crucial in defining the message of my piece to the audience. The piece started with a heartbeat, leading into ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Architects Dream’ by Kate Bush and ending with ‘Skinny Love’ by Birdy. Extracts of all of these songs had been previously comped together to create one long stream of music. This made it easier for the soundman, as all was required, was pressing play at the outset and allowing the track to run. These songs were selected on three criteria; their lyrics, rhythm and worldly production. ‘Big Sky’ has a tribal pattern throughout, creating a ‘world-music sound’. This was very important to me, as I did not want my piece to be set in any particular part of the world, or in any particular time. My main character and his message were both timeless and international. I also loved the lyrics; the idea of reaching for the ‘Big Sky’ mirrored my main character’s desire to reach his own ‘Big Sky’, which sadly seemed forever out of his grasp. ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about an artist’s journey, in this case a painter and ‘Skinny Love’ was about the breakdown of a relationship, which is how my piece concluded.
In the way ‘Architect’s Dream’ was about a painter’s process of creating his art, my subject onstage was creating his art through building and decorating a huge, entwining plat. I had constructed this at home out of three large sheets of white polyester, which I platted together and then embellished with different coloured and textured materials. My subject’s action onstage was to continually construct and destruct this plat, striving to make it as beautiful as humanly possible. This plat represented any artist’s work, or in fact any person’s desire to be the greatest they can be, both to their advantage and also to their downfall.
I made sure that I wrote out all the light, sound and projection cues clearly in the right order according to the script, I felt it was important to be organised in order to run the light box with confidence and professionalism.
Costumes were very important, and also needed to be timeless and non-fashion specific to any country or decade. I wanted the costumes to portray the different personalities of the character’s wearing them. These characters had strong individual traits and I chose to dress them with hints of different animals that mirrored their characteristics. One was dressed in feathers across her upper body to be an owl, representing the wise and the thoughtful, one in vibrant reds and yellows to represent the lion, strong, aggressive, the Alfa Male of the jungle, the third had feathers sprouting from her head and was in a dull grey body, to represent a bird, timid, afraid
and introverted. As well as these characters representing external figures in his life and the different types of personalities people have, they also represented his inner conscious and opposing personalities he had in his own head; his inner struggle.
The timeless and international message of my piece being mirrored by the choice of music was also reflected in the worldly tribal movements the girls were doing. This is the point where strobe lighting was used to enhance the tension in the girl’s dance. When choreographing the girls, I made sure to tell them that their facial expressions were just as important as their bodily movements. I wanted their faces to be wild, eyes to be wide open and expressions to represent their individual animals choice.
We also had a big job setting up the stage for each piece, which meant it was very important as a class to work as a team to help make sure that the whole show ran smoothly.
There were a few hic-ups with setting up the stage, luckily it was a dress rehearsal and from this experience allowed us to understand how important it was for everyone to make sure that they are helping back stage.
We finally finished our dress rehearsal and only had about 45 minutes to collect ourselves together before the live show began. We also made sure that all the props were positioned correctly side stage.
The live show was an amazingly enjoyable process and I felt very much in control of what I wanted to achieve during my time in the sound box. I felt my communication skills were strong and I was not afraid in being direct with the sound and lighting man. Overall I was pleased with the performance however on reflection of the live show, if given a second chance I would push the girls further with their movements and make sure they had a specific thought process throughout their dance, so every move was a direct result of an internal emotion. I would also do this again with the main character and his lover with their emotional love story so their emotions for each other were more real. I would achieve this by ‘Hot Seating’ the actors asking them different questions outside of the given circumstances of the piece, so they could build a true picture in their heads of what, why and who their characters really are, and what they mean to each other.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Rehearsal Discovery... The Changes
Today was our third rehearsal, which went pretty well, it was performed to Nick and Michael, which was a good thing as they both had some great constructive criticism.
The most important thing that was noticed was that the connection between the actors was not strong enough and the emotions of each actor are not on display. The thought process was being lost and it soon becomes just a piece of dance that has no relevance to acting. As a director I have been trying to encourage the whole 'bringing on the emotion' however it still has not sunk inn, so it seems. The solution is to go through the whole performance without any dance moves, basically to act it out, there are no words so it will be purely using the face, body language and feeling the emotion. Once this is achieved, the audience will have a deeper understanding as to what this piece of theatre is saying.
The Changes:
Through this rehearsal some changes were made and they are as follows.
1- Chris will be taking things off the Plat bit by bit in scene 3.
2- Chris will be stage left along with the Plat, rather than being centre.
3-Chris will not be hunched down, he will remember to keep his back straight.
4- As the girls start the ensemble dance, Lucy will not want to be part of it at first, then the others invite her and she slowly joins.
All in all I am happy with this rehearsal and I am excited for the next one.
Here is what Lucy may be wearing for the show... It's very bird like ;)
The most important thing that was noticed was that the connection between the actors was not strong enough and the emotions of each actor are not on display. The thought process was being lost and it soon becomes just a piece of dance that has no relevance to acting. As a director I have been trying to encourage the whole 'bringing on the emotion' however it still has not sunk inn, so it seems. The solution is to go through the whole performance without any dance moves, basically to act it out, there are no words so it will be purely using the face, body language and feeling the emotion. Once this is achieved, the audience will have a deeper understanding as to what this piece of theatre is saying.
The Changes:
Through this rehearsal some changes were made and they are as follows.
1- Chris will be taking things off the Plat bit by bit in scene 3.
2- Chris will be stage left along with the Plat, rather than being centre.
3-Chris will not be hunched down, he will remember to keep his back straight.
4- As the girls start the ensemble dance, Lucy will not want to be part of it at first, then the others invite her and she slowly joins.
All in all I am happy with this rehearsal and I am excited for the next one.
Here is what Lucy may be wearing for the show... It's very bird like ;)
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