Today, we did our performance twice; once to a class and the other to our real audience. Both were very different and contrasted because of the audiences' ages and qualities. Also, we ran through all the different sections and transitions of the show so that we were all clear on what we were doing.
Practice Audience
The first audience had passed my window group on their way to the foyer for the show to begin, and we didn't realise it was them at the time until they had gone past and the initial surprise we wanted them to feel wasn't going to be there anymore. So when the piece began, they knew that we were there, but they still watched our part as a respectable audience would and moved on. When we ran through to get to our promenade line part, we didn't know how to get past the audience because we didn't want to go through the front and break the concentration they had on the locker people, so we squeezed behind them and had to use an alternative route to get to our places due to the fact that the audience were moving so much quicker than we thought they would have. So if we had gone up to our places via the stairs we planned to take, we would have had to squeeze past the audience and they would have seen us run to our places and start.
The transition from the promenade to the speed dating was smooth and went according to plan, but the speed dating didn't. The boys who sat down at my table didn't understand why we weren't replying to them and some of them got frustrated and left before the time was up. There were different approaches to trying to coax an answer out of us from gentle talking and guessing what we wanted to say to aggressive ways of asking where they were direct, quite rude about it and intimidating. The range of reactions I got were interesting because this is a situation which threw the actor/audience relationship for them and they didn't know what to do or how to react, so they left out of confusion and perhaps copying what all their peers were doing in an attempt to look 'cool'. This was one thing that I wasn't expecting so if it were to happen again, I was prepared.
Everything else went according to plan and the audience were very cooperative and helpful with feedback.
Proper Audience
The proper audience were a lot more cooperative and mature than the first audience because on the speed dating part, there wasn't anybody walking out or making comments. The men I had at my table for speed dating were actually quite sweet and they reacted how I had expected them to. I could see that they were confused and it might have kicked their self-esteem down a little bit but they understood that I wasn't talking because I couldn't not because I didn't like them.
The transitions were smooth, quick and lasted about 2 minutes. The audience didn't get in the way and some of them actually helped move the chairs. The gameshow went very well and the positioning was better than the first run-through because at first, the scientists and the panel were too close together and it looked like they were one whole panel. This time, they were separated and both in good lighting.
The chair transition from the gameshow to the dance and physical part was slightly more different because I wasn't expecting to have as big of an audience as we did. Some of us danced the chairs to their place and others danced the audience to the seats and those who were dancing the audience to their seats were only really meant to take one member at a time, but they had to take two people at a time by the hand. Some of the audience members went along with it and let themselves be pulled and danced to wherever, but some others weren't so sure of the actors and may not have trusted them so they were a bit more difficult to move. Otherwise it could have been because they're uncomfortable with physical contact from people who they don't know. People can be quite reserved with the hand holding but it worked and we got them to their seats quickly and it was fun for them.
I think on the whole, the performance went really well because nobody forgot lines, dropped the energy and the audience were always intrigued. If I were to perform it again, I would change where my window group come back inside the building to one of the two fire exits to avoid the audience: one behind the space, somewhere the audience wouldn't be accessing whatsoever or another fire exit which is in another corridor that is further away, but only by a little bit and it's right by the stairs.
Personally I think I did well because I didn't drop the energy, lose my physicality or character, my Australian accent was sturdy and it didn't falter into my normal accent. The only thing I would have improved about my performance is contact with the audience. Even though I was speed dating at a table, I didn't lead any of them to the chairs after She Loves Me She Loves Me Not and my eye contact went above their heads. I only looked a few of them in the eye.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
The Gameshow "She Loves Me She Loves Me Not"
This a gameshow that explores how complex a text can be. What does this mean? What does that mean? Are they into you or not? You find out in this show.
I assume many people have experienced the confusion of what a text from someone means, mainly from someone they fancy. This part of the performance explores that. We have Gavin as our presenter, Zach as Alfred Prufrock, Phoebe, Alex and Jordan as a panel, Alice and Amaya as the pretty ladies who reveal the text on the board, Nina, Catherine, Milly, Tiffany, Jesse and Katie and the singers who sing the jingles, intro and outros and Nina plays the guitar for them. Finally, we have The Scientists.
The Scientists consist of Gus (Dr Heinrich), Emily (Dr Higginsbottom), Holly (Dr schmaul) and me (Dr Boron). Our role in this is to analyse the text and give a final, concrete answer as to what this mind-boggling text actually means because we are the scientists of love. We each have our characters for this sorted and we're all wearing geek glasses in this to look more intellectual.
Gus is an old German scientist with a hunchback and he walks with his legs slightly bent. His voice is slightly high pitched with a squeaky tone to it.
Emily is a posh and articulates her words with yet again a squeaky but nasal voice. She has a bolt-upright posture at all times.
Holly has a casual posture and a casual voice but speaks very as-a-matter-of-factly. Everything she says is said in a way that says no questions asked. I'm right end of.
I am an Australian scientist with elegance and I glide in. I'm last in thee line but my scientist self will still attract attention. I decided on an Australian accent because I can't really be boring and alter my voice, I need to do something interesting and an Australian accent is one I am particularly good at.
The order of the show goes thusly:
I assume many people have experienced the confusion of what a text from someone means, mainly from someone they fancy. This part of the performance explores that. We have Gavin as our presenter, Zach as Alfred Prufrock, Phoebe, Alex and Jordan as a panel, Alice and Amaya as the pretty ladies who reveal the text on the board, Nina, Catherine, Milly, Tiffany, Jesse and Katie and the singers who sing the jingles, intro and outros and Nina plays the guitar for them. Finally, we have The Scientists.
The Scientists consist of Gus (Dr Heinrich), Emily (Dr Higginsbottom), Holly (Dr schmaul) and me (Dr Boron). Our role in this is to analyse the text and give a final, concrete answer as to what this mind-boggling text actually means because we are the scientists of love. We each have our characters for this sorted and we're all wearing geek glasses in this to look more intellectual.
Gus is an old German scientist with a hunchback and he walks with his legs slightly bent. His voice is slightly high pitched with a squeaky tone to it.
Emily is a posh and articulates her words with yet again a squeaky but nasal voice. She has a bolt-upright posture at all times.
Holly has a casual posture and a casual voice but speaks very as-a-matter-of-factly. Everything she says is said in a way that says no questions asked. I'm right end of.
I am an Australian scientist with elegance and I glide in. I'm last in thee line but my scientist self will still attract attention. I decided on an Australian accent because I can't really be boring and alter my voice, I need to do something interesting and an Australian accent is one I am particularly good at.
The order of the show goes thusly:
- Voice introduces "Dr Luuuurve" (Gavin) and he walks onstage
- Singers sing intro
- Dr Luuuurve introduces the show and Alfred
- Bring on Alfred (his theme tune)
- Alfred introduces himself and his problem
- Bring on panel (their theme tune)
- Bring on scientists (their theme tune)
- Pretty ladies reveal text
- Dr Luuuurve gets opinions of the panel
- Dr Luuuurve gets actual meaning off scientists
- Back to Alfred for verdict
- Tense wait
- Alfred still doesn't know
- Gavin ends show
The Ball/Waltzing
After the gameshow, we do the waltz as part of an exploration about dance cards and dances. At the beginning of this, Alice is talking to the audience about dance cards and how they worked. When she's finished, the girls choose a boy to dance with and start waltzing around the space. Everyone apart from Amaya, Jesse, Milly and Catherine who are particularly gifted at the waltz and chose one lucky audience member each to dance with. This pushes the audience/actor relationship because we are involving them in the piece and they are being danced with by actors. I'm hoping that they don't refuse and stay in their seat because not many people there have taken part in immersive theatre and will get worried about what we might do to them, they may not want to trust the actor. If this does happen, I'd be interested to see how it is handled by the actors.
Individual Lines In The Promenade
We were all given a line each from the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to say on repeat and come up with actions or something we could do whilst we're saying the lines. My line is "Let us go then, you and I" and the first thought that came to my head was a holiday that me and this person could run away to and I wanted to do something simple but effective. So I decided to make a paper airplane whilst saying my lines.
I decided on a paper airplane because airplanes are what I tend to associate with a holiday and once I finish my line, I could fly it then make another one and start again. I suggested this to sarah but then she said if I were to speak out my line I would have to stand up otherwise my voice would be projected to the floor and not to the audience. So she suggested a recording or just making sure the writing is big and bold so the audience can read it from a distance. I decided on making the writing bigger and more bold because everyone was using voice in theirs and I didn't want to make a recording then noone hear it.
The place I chose to perform my little piece is by the radiator because it's at a bit where the wall goes inwards so I would have space to write on the paper and the audience wouldn't have to go out of their way to make sure they didn't step on me.
I decided on a paper airplane because airplanes are what I tend to associate with a holiday and once I finish my line, I could fly it then make another one and start again. I suggested this to sarah but then she said if I were to speak out my line I would have to stand up otherwise my voice would be projected to the floor and not to the audience. So she suggested a recording or just making sure the writing is big and bold so the audience can read it from a distance. I decided on making the writing bigger and more bold because everyone was using voice in theirs and I didn't want to make a recording then noone hear it.
The place I chose to perform my little piece is by the radiator because it's at a bit where the wall goes inwards so I would have space to write on the paper and the audience wouldn't have to go out of their way to make sure they didn't step on me.
Monday, 18 February 2013
Use of Sign Language
We've decided to use sign language in our piece because it is another way of communicating but for those who have hearing impairments. It's a language you have to learn though, and if sign language is the only language you know, it can be frustrating to talk to someone who doesn't know how to sign because they don't understand you.
We use it after the physical part. We are split into two sides and are still, facing the walls. Just Rachel and Katie are in the middle talking to each other in sign language at first: Katie is saying "tell me how you feel" and Rachel is saying " I don't know anyone" then they start signing to the audience. Then one by one, we come in and start signing the same thing as Rachel or Katie, depending on which side you came from. We keep repeating ourselves and become more frustrated because nobody can understand us, and the audience would surely become unsure of what to do here.
We use it after the physical part. We are split into two sides and are still, facing the walls. Just Rachel and Katie are in the middle talking to each other in sign language at first: Katie is saying "tell me how you feel" and Rachel is saying " I don't know anyone" then they start signing to the audience. Then one by one, we come in and start signing the same thing as Rachel or Katie, depending on which side you came from. We keep repeating ourselves and become more frustrated because nobody can understand us, and the audience would surely become unsure of what to do here.
The Physically Unable To Speak Bit
At the beginning of the term, we were split off in 4/5 different groups and given a sequence of movements. These movements showed how it felt not to be able to talk or trying to tell someone something but you can't say it. It's the build up of anger and frustration from not being able to say how you feel. The movements can be punching your hands, nervously kneading (like what cats do or what you do to dough) or going to collect your heart from a previous lover and giving it to someone else only to get pushed away. We're dotted around the space in a ball at the start and we've all been given numbers so number by number, you get up and do your mmovements. Like a cannon. After that, we all start doing the same sequence of movements then gradually, one by one start leaving the stage. But as we do this, we have to have contact with Tiffany who is the last one remaining in the space. We can have physical contact and Sarah brought in eye contact too because us all making a swarm andd stroking her looked a bit weird.
For this bit, we have to use our facial expressions a lot too because we have to show emotion fully, both physical and facial to make it as real and relatable to the audience as possible.
For this bit, we have to use our facial expressions a lot too because we have to show emotion fully, both physical and facial to make it as real and relatable to the audience as possible.
"I Love You" in different languages
At one point in our piece, we say "I love you" in diifferent languages. We have it in: Italian, Welsh, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, German, French, Sign Language, Finnish, and other various languages. I'm saying it in French and it is "Je t'aime" (pronounced "juh tem". The "j" is gentle, like the 'j' in nicki minaj)
I like this bit because I get to speak french and because we say I love you in different languages including sign language because unfortunately some people don't register it as a proper language because it's not verbal. I think this part is at the end of the show because the words "I love you" are finally said to this person/audience and there is something beautiful about using all the languages because they all sound very different, but they mean the same thing.
I like this bit because I get to speak french and because we say I love you in different languages including sign language because unfortunately some people don't register it as a proper language because it's not verbal. I think this part is at the end of the show because the words "I love you" are finally said to this person/audience and there is something beautiful about using all the languages because they all sound very different, but they mean the same thing.
Promenade Bit
To start off our piece, the audience are picked up in the foyer by Harrison aka Alfred Prufrock and they walk into the other building, through the corridor, past the lockers, up the stairs through that upstairs corridor, walk back down those stairs on the other side and into the space where they are met by Amaya and Phoebe for the speed dating bit.
Anyway, the promenade bit. Like I said, the audience do a bit of walking around before they go into the space but the first corridor has windows all down one side of the wall and the ceiling, it reminds me of a greenhouse. On the other side of those windows are me, Tiff, Tian, Phoebe, Gavin and Alex and we are trying to tell the audience that we love them. The problem is that the windows create a physical and auditory barrier so we have to tell them we love them in a different way whether that be signing it or breathing on the window and writing it with our fingers or mouthing it. Anything we want, just get the message across to them.
I think this is useful for our piece because we are exploring the inability to say your feelings for someone, but it's more verbal than literal. In they outside bit we literally can't say "I love you" because they would be like "what? " and then we'd say it again and they'd be like "yeah I still can't hear you..." and it would continue. I haven't seen what our bit looks like from inside but I'm guessing it's interesting and slightly funny because when it was just us outside, people would walk past and do a double take when they saw us because nobody goes on the other side of those windows. Plus our bodies are hidden. We are literally heads and necks. Like Paul the Head Waiter (literally) from Corpse Bride.
We did have a few problems with this bit though. When we tried to get to the windows, we were faced with the plants which ranged from holly leaves to big leaves that dripped water down your neck to little stumps that hurt. Also, these plants were blocking us from getting to windows. There are six windows but some are harder to get to that others. So we might have snapped off a few massive leaves for our own convenience. As for those spiky holly leaves, we learnt how to dodge them. Also, the windows have webs on them and the texture of webs drives me insane so I need to avoid touching them because if I do touch them, my emotions go straight to my face. I can't be loving the audience one second and disgusted the next.
When the audience can no longer see us, we run into the building but slow down near the lockers or we'll attract attention.
Anyway, the promenade bit. Like I said, the audience do a bit of walking around before they go into the space but the first corridor has windows all down one side of the wall and the ceiling, it reminds me of a greenhouse. On the other side of those windows are me, Tiff, Tian, Phoebe, Gavin and Alex and we are trying to tell the audience that we love them. The problem is that the windows create a physical and auditory barrier so we have to tell them we love them in a different way whether that be signing it or breathing on the window and writing it with our fingers or mouthing it. Anything we want, just get the message across to them.
I think this is useful for our piece because we are exploring the inability to say your feelings for someone, but it's more verbal than literal. In they outside bit we literally can't say "I love you" because they would be like "what? " and then we'd say it again and they'd be like "yeah I still can't hear you..." and it would continue. I haven't seen what our bit looks like from inside but I'm guessing it's interesting and slightly funny because when it was just us outside, people would walk past and do a double take when they saw us because nobody goes on the other side of those windows. Plus our bodies are hidden. We are literally heads and necks. Like Paul the Head Waiter (literally) from Corpse Bride.
We did have a few problems with this bit though. When we tried to get to the windows, we were faced with the plants which ranged from holly leaves to big leaves that dripped water down your neck to little stumps that hurt. Also, these plants were blocking us from getting to windows. There are six windows but some are harder to get to that others. So we might have snapped off a few massive leaves for our own convenience. As for those spiky holly leaves, we learnt how to dodge them. Also, the windows have webs on them and the texture of webs drives me insane so I need to avoid touching them because if I do touch them, my emotions go straight to my face. I can't be loving the audience one second and disgusted the next.
When the audience can no longer see us, we run into the building but slow down near the lockers or we'll attract attention.
Speed Dating in Our Piece
At the start of our performance, we will be speed dating with members of the audience. The room will be split in half by a curtain and one half will be boys with the females of the audience and the other half will be girls with the males of the audience. The audience will sit at the tables with the performers and they will have cards with questions on them to help kickstart the process, but the actors can't reply. They can attempt to, but we're keeping the thing about not being able to say how you feel so the performers are muted, and not selectively.
This uses Artaud's value of pushing the actor audience relationship because in speed dating, interation is forced upon oneself and it's sufficiently awkward for both the actor and the audience member, more so for the audience member because they're not getting any replies. As it is still early days in our piece, the audience member won't understand why they're not getting any replies but later on they might understand why.
This uses Artaud's value of pushing the actor audience relationship because in speed dating, interation is forced upon oneself and it's sufficiently awkward for both the actor and the audience member, more so for the audience member because they're not getting any replies. As it is still early days in our piece, the audience member won't understand why they're not getting any replies but later on they might understand why.
Monday, 11 February 2013
The Dance Section
After the speed dating bit in our performance, we have an old-fashioned dance. By this I mean the girls are lined up on one side and they boys on the other, the girls have dance cards and choose a boy to dance with
Dance Cards
Dance cards were what the women or girls had and carried around with them all evening and they recorded the names of the boys or men who they wanted to dance with. It was like a bucket list of men to dance with and they looked like this.
The girls tended to go for the better dancers. So if you were a good dancer, you'd get most of the ladies. If you weren't up to scratch, then bless your soul you had a long night ahead of you.
The Types of Dances Done
In our dance, we're doing the waltz and that is the main type of dance that would be performed at dances. There would also be ballroom dancing and as Dances were started in the 1800s, there wasn't anything lively or energetic, it was all on the down low and sophisticated. However, later on when dances were becoming more common and teenagers were taking part, swing-dances were introduced and replaced the waltz and ballroom dancing.
Dance Cards
Dance cards were what the women or girls had and carried around with them all evening and they recorded the names of the boys or men who they wanted to dance with. It was like a bucket list of men to dance with and they looked like this.The girls tended to go for the better dancers. So if you were a good dancer, you'd get most of the ladies. If you weren't up to scratch, then bless your soul you had a long night ahead of you.
The Types of Dances Done
In our dance, we're doing the waltz and that is the main type of dance that would be performed at dances. There would also be ballroom dancing and as Dances were started in the 1800s, there wasn't anything lively or energetic, it was all on the down low and sophisticated. However, later on when dances were becoming more common and teenagers were taking part, swing-dances were introduced and replaced the waltz and ballroom dancing.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Experience pieces
We were all split into four groups and did our own total theatre pieces on the class. This included the audience travelling around the space and experiencing the piece through touch, sight, hearing and sometimes smell.In our groups, we had to pick what we wanted to do ours on and we had to include everything that total theatre was about, my group went first.
Our Total Theatre Piece: Homelessness
For our piece, we decided on putting our class through how it feels to be homeless because everyone looks down upon the homeless. You may try not to, but everyone does it. So our piece was starting with our audience being outside of the room and we would ask them to take off as many layers as they could so they felt cold. We then began our piece properly by telling them that there was no more space in our hostel and that they had to sleep outside for the night. Me, Jesse, Phoebe and Milly dragged them into the space as people who had driven them to homelessness. For example, a teacher telling them they're bad students who will never get anywhere in life. We decorated the space to look like a trashy street by spreading rubbish everywhere, a cardboard box for someone to hide in and Jesse's star projector which projects stars onto the ceiling. After we did that, we walked around shining torches in their eyes and giving them dirty looks then we became people walking around on our phones talking loudly about hair salon appointments, expensive trips and the rest whilst being aggressive towards the audience and being disgusted at their presence. Then to get them out, we took a broom (it was already in the room) and cleaned up the streets then told them they had to find somewhere else to go for the night.
On the actual day of the performance, we encountered a technical issue: the soundtrack wasn't working. We had a track in the background playing of an old man singing a song then an interview Jesse's friend did with a homeless man and the speaker in the space didn't have the correct jack for Jesse's phone. The space was the perfect place for our piece because it would be almost pitch black so the stars would be bright and everyone would be able to see them well. Thanks to the technical issue, we had to find another room and we went to 411 which had no curtains, so we used people's coats instead. It kind of worked but we couldn't block the top bit o the windowsso there was still light coming through. We shone the star machine into a corner where it was darker but you could only slightly see it, all the other props were fine but the music wasn't loud enough. The audience cooperated very well through this and I feel we did very well but when i tossed a newspaper at Emily so that she could use it as a blanket, I threw it too hard and it hit her in the eye. Not fantastic. The feedback we got was positive, but they said we could have done without the music, they could see the stars and the experience gave them an insight to the life of a homeless person.
Warzone
This experience started off with Gus coming outside to us and telling us about a plan to escape Nazis and the whole thing was an assault course with gunshots in the background. It was noisy and quite scary but it would have been scarier if there were guns being pointed at us. I like that they used wet leaves from outside in a part where we had to crawl to safety because it ws using the touch sense even though it wasn't pleasent to feel and it smelt rank. At the end there was a song playing that took the seriousness out of it all.
Mental Asylum
In this one, we came into the space and it was dark. Very dark.We were greeted by a doctor with a torch and he shone it on three people on nthe other side of the room who were dangerous, deeply disturbed people. One had a fetish for small children, another was a serial killer and the last one was called Project X who had been transferred from guantanamo bay and he was highly dangerous. Then they disappeared, the lights went out and all of a sudden they were either behind you, in front of you or approaching you. This was a fantastic experience and they played well with the sense of fear. The only thing that ruined it was that people opened a door to leave because they were too scared. That brought in light and took us back into reality, completely ruined it.
Happy Campers
In this experience, everyone was but happy. When we were waiting outside we were given blindfolds and told to hold onto the person in front of us' shoulders. We walked into the space but we were between the curtain and the wall and i think we all felt like it was meant to be scary. When we got into the space, we were told to find a seat and that was a challenge because we were blindfolded and everyone was everywhere and people were scared and screaming and we were being hushed, but no one was having it. After the fuss, everyone was sat down and we were told a story once again interrupted by people squealing because they had their legs or necks stroked by various individuals. When that was over we took off our blindfolds and found out that we weren't meant to be scared at all and they weren't expecting up to be screaming. We should have known this because they were talking in cbeebies presenter voices but I was picturing this happy camp being somewhere children are sent off to in the summer and either return dead or don't return at all.
Our Total Theatre Piece: Homelessness
For our piece, we decided on putting our class through how it feels to be homeless because everyone looks down upon the homeless. You may try not to, but everyone does it. So our piece was starting with our audience being outside of the room and we would ask them to take off as many layers as they could so they felt cold. We then began our piece properly by telling them that there was no more space in our hostel and that they had to sleep outside for the night. Me, Jesse, Phoebe and Milly dragged them into the space as people who had driven them to homelessness. For example, a teacher telling them they're bad students who will never get anywhere in life. We decorated the space to look like a trashy street by spreading rubbish everywhere, a cardboard box for someone to hide in and Jesse's star projector which projects stars onto the ceiling. After we did that, we walked around shining torches in their eyes and giving them dirty looks then we became people walking around on our phones talking loudly about hair salon appointments, expensive trips and the rest whilst being aggressive towards the audience and being disgusted at their presence. Then to get them out, we took a broom (it was already in the room) and cleaned up the streets then told them they had to find somewhere else to go for the night.
On the actual day of the performance, we encountered a technical issue: the soundtrack wasn't working. We had a track in the background playing of an old man singing a song then an interview Jesse's friend did with a homeless man and the speaker in the space didn't have the correct jack for Jesse's phone. The space was the perfect place for our piece because it would be almost pitch black so the stars would be bright and everyone would be able to see them well. Thanks to the technical issue, we had to find another room and we went to 411 which had no curtains, so we used people's coats instead. It kind of worked but we couldn't block the top bit o the windowsso there was still light coming through. We shone the star machine into a corner where it was darker but you could only slightly see it, all the other props were fine but the music wasn't loud enough. The audience cooperated very well through this and I feel we did very well but when i tossed a newspaper at Emily so that she could use it as a blanket, I threw it too hard and it hit her in the eye. Not fantastic. The feedback we got was positive, but they said we could have done without the music, they could see the stars and the experience gave them an insight to the life of a homeless person.
Warzone
This experience started off with Gus coming outside to us and telling us about a plan to escape Nazis and the whole thing was an assault course with gunshots in the background. It was noisy and quite scary but it would have been scarier if there were guns being pointed at us. I like that they used wet leaves from outside in a part where we had to crawl to safety because it ws using the touch sense even though it wasn't pleasent to feel and it smelt rank. At the end there was a song playing that took the seriousness out of it all.
Mental Asylum
In this one, we came into the space and it was dark. Very dark.We were greeted by a doctor with a torch and he shone it on three people on nthe other side of the room who were dangerous, deeply disturbed people. One had a fetish for small children, another was a serial killer and the last one was called Project X who had been transferred from guantanamo bay and he was highly dangerous. Then they disappeared, the lights went out and all of a sudden they were either behind you, in front of you or approaching you. This was a fantastic experience and they played well with the sense of fear. The only thing that ruined it was that people opened a door to leave because they were too scared. That brought in light and took us back into reality, completely ruined it.
Happy Campers
In this experience, everyone was but happy. When we were waiting outside we were given blindfolds and told to hold onto the person in front of us' shoulders. We walked into the space but we were between the curtain and the wall and i think we all felt like it was meant to be scary. When we got into the space, we were told to find a seat and that was a challenge because we were blindfolded and everyone was everywhere and people were scared and screaming and we were being hushed, but no one was having it. After the fuss, everyone was sat down and we were told a story once again interrupted by people squealing because they had their legs or necks stroked by various individuals. When that was over we took off our blindfolds and found out that we weren't meant to be scared at all and they weren't expecting up to be screaming. We should have known this because they were talking in cbeebies presenter voices but I was picturing this happy camp being somewhere children are sent off to in the summer and either return dead or don't return at all.
Monday, 4 February 2013
Response to The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot
Above, I have displayed the link that should bring you to the poem.
So, I read this poem and I found it quite sweet because he seems to want to be telling this girl that he likes her, but he can't get it out. He's beating around the bush and talking about other stuff and can't simply say "I think really like you". There were a few parts that I didn't understand, though. For example "In the room the women come and go talking of michaelangelo" I didn't understand why this was there or what it has to do with love, it makes no sense.
Throughout the poem, Prufrock brings up different things and says "we'll talk about that later" and he and his crush are walking through London, he wants to show her all the best things of London (cheap hotels). He talks about a man who looks sharp but has long thin arms, drinking coffee and life-altering. He mentions at one point that he had to tell someone something life changing, but he didn't. Then we get to the end of the poem where he finally gets to the point and says what he's been wanting to say, but it's about talking to mermaids, how we once lived in the sea. But by the end of the poem, we die because we're under the sea but we didn't realise this until the poem finished.
For me, this poem is about unrequieted love and the inability to declare one's feelings for another, and Prufrock may be slightly socially inept or anxious because he simply can't get to the point.
Finally, there is a paragraph in italian which translates to:
If I believed that my reply were
A person who never returned to the world,
This flame without more staria shock.
But for they never have to this fund
I have not been any live, s'i'odo the truth,
Without fear of infamy I answer.
From this, I understand that it is saying you should tell someone how you feel about them before it's too late. I can't understand it very well, but that's what I understand.
Above, I have displayed the link that should bring you to the poem.
So, I read this poem and I found it quite sweet because he seems to want to be telling this girl that he likes her, but he can't get it out. He's beating around the bush and talking about other stuff and can't simply say "I think really like you". There were a few parts that I didn't understand, though. For example "In the room the women come and go talking of michaelangelo" I didn't understand why this was there or what it has to do with love, it makes no sense.
Throughout the poem, Prufrock brings up different things and says "we'll talk about that later" and he and his crush are walking through London, he wants to show her all the best things of London (cheap hotels). He talks about a man who looks sharp but has long thin arms, drinking coffee and life-altering. He mentions at one point that he had to tell someone something life changing, but he didn't. Then we get to the end of the poem where he finally gets to the point and says what he's been wanting to say, but it's about talking to mermaids, how we once lived in the sea. But by the end of the poem, we die because we're under the sea but we didn't realise this until the poem finished.
For me, this poem is about unrequieted love and the inability to declare one's feelings for another, and Prufrock may be slightly socially inept or anxious because he simply can't get to the point.
Finally, there is a paragraph in italian which translates to:
If I believed that my reply were
A person who never returned to the world,
This flame without more staria shock.
But for they never have to this fund
I have not been any live, s'i'odo the truth,
Without fear of infamy I answer.
From this, I understand that it is saying you should tell someone how you feel about them before it's too late. I can't understand it very well, but that's what I understand.
Tuesday's lesson
Tuesday was different to our normal lessons because we had mini lectures on three different theatre practitioners for the first two hours and the other two hours, we were running our immersive theatre pieces.
Firstly, we had three half hour lectures/workshop on three theatre directors and one group will focus on one director and one of their poems. These directors were Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook.
First, we had a workshop on Grotowski. Jerzy Grotowski (August 11 1933 - January 14 1999) was a polish theatre director who came up with poor theatre and the theatre laboratory. His work was inspired by quite a few religious books and the books of a russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky who wrote about phycology, philosophy and religion. Writings at the time of Grotowski were all naturalistic with props and he wanted to strip theatre down so it was just about the actor(s) and the audience. He called this "poor theatre" and if you were to see a piece of poor theatre it would seem quite budget, bare and just the actor on stage. But that way, you can concentrate purely on the actor. Grotowski also wanted everything on stage to be genuine. So if an actor was meant to be angry, they were well and truly angry and they weren't just acting. He liked his actors to be fit, spiritual and immersive. So he took them running for three hours straight. Though this would leave them exhausted (it's a no-brainer. Nobody goes jogging for three hours for the lols), it's a benefit for them when they're onstage because when you're tired you can get upset more easily and you're vunerable so it's somewhat easier to be onstage. As the actors were being honest on stage (he called this type of actor the "holy actor") the audience and actor will form a bond which Grotowski called a "communion". His choice of words demonstrates his love for religion.
Secondly, we had Peter Brook. He's also the only one of the three directors who is still alive. He is based in France (though he was born in london) and founded the International Centre for Theatre Research which is in the Theatre des Bouffes, which Peter took over for his theatre company in 1974. Peter Brook has also directed films too.
Lastly, we had Antonin Artaud who is the director we are studying (see the post I wrote about him)
Firstly, we had three half hour lectures/workshop on three theatre directors and one group will focus on one director and one of their poems. These directors were Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook.
First, we had a workshop on Grotowski. Jerzy Grotowski (August 11 1933 - January 14 1999) was a polish theatre director who came up with poor theatre and the theatre laboratory. His work was inspired by quite a few religious books and the books of a russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky who wrote about phycology, philosophy and religion. Writings at the time of Grotowski were all naturalistic with props and he wanted to strip theatre down so it was just about the actor(s) and the audience. He called this "poor theatre" and if you were to see a piece of poor theatre it would seem quite budget, bare and just the actor on stage. But that way, you can concentrate purely on the actor. Grotowski also wanted everything on stage to be genuine. So if an actor was meant to be angry, they were well and truly angry and they weren't just acting. He liked his actors to be fit, spiritual and immersive. So he took them running for three hours straight. Though this would leave them exhausted (it's a no-brainer. Nobody goes jogging for three hours for the lols), it's a benefit for them when they're onstage because when you're tired you can get upset more easily and you're vunerable so it's somewhat easier to be onstage. As the actors were being honest on stage (he called this type of actor the "holy actor") the audience and actor will form a bond which Grotowski called a "communion". His choice of words demonstrates his love for religion.
Secondly, we had Peter Brook. He's also the only one of the three directors who is still alive. He is based in France (though he was born in london) and founded the International Centre for Theatre Research which is in the Theatre des Bouffes, which Peter took over for his theatre company in 1974. Peter Brook has also directed films too.
Lastly, we had Antonin Artaud who is the director we are studying (see the post I wrote about him)
Monday, 14 January 2013
Lesson numero un
The first lesson reminded me of a primary school sports day because we did a lot of running around and games that I used to play when I was still in primary school. These games were the following:
- The Wheelbarrow Race: this is a very simple game where you need at least 4/6 people. You split into pairs and one person is the wheelbarrow and the other holds the wheelbarrow's back legs so that the wheelbarrow has to move with their hands. You start at one end of the room and the first pair to get to the other end of the room wins.
- Bulldog: a terrifying game that got banned in primary schools because some children had bad reflexes and hurt themselves. This is where everyone is at one end of the room and one person is in the middle. Everyone has to try and get to the other side without being caught by the bulldog (middle person). If you are caught, then you join the bulldog and try to catch as many people as you can when everyone runs across to join your bulldog clan. This is very thrilling until you're among the last few people and there is a band of bulldogs, then you feel like crying.
- Stuck In The Mud: another very simple game. this is like "It" but when you've been touched by it then you stay still with your arms out and someone who isn't it has to run under them and then you're free. The teacher can randomly select who is it.
- Relay Race: This is again quite simple. you're in a group of six but there are three people on one end of the room and three on the other. There are several other teams who are exactly like this.This is complicated to explain but basically: the threes have to cross the room one by one and they have to cross in odd ways like on all fours or walking backwards. One person from one side goes to the other side and when they get there, a person from that side goes to the other side. If I've confused you, take a break and think about it.
- The Impossible Task: this was where you picked a task that was impossible, like becoming invisible or opening the windows (the windows in the room seemed to be forever closed) and spent 10 minutes trying to do this task that is already clearly impossible to do within the space. My task was to try and touch the ceiling and due to my height, it is impossible. I did succeed at first but it didn't count because I was stood on 6 chairs. So I tried doing run-ups, climbing up the walls and jumping but they didn't work and I pretty much gave up within the first 4 minutes of the exercise because in my head I knew it was impossible, so why bother? Anyway we were meant to be putting in our all and really trying like we could actually do this task and everyone was trying and putting in so much effort, but I was still slightly frustrated. I carried on trying but it was more of a half-hearted-run-and-jump-with-my-arms-flapping-around kind of thing. So the point of this exercise was to discover and experiment with our limits and boundaries. those being our mental boundaries and how our body and mind work together.
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