Such a great day today. This morning I attended the performance making workshop run by the DIG collective at MU. To begin, I discovered that the person leading the workshop was a post grad VCA animatuer whose work I saw last year. It was nice to be able to connect her to her work so that I felt I had a understanding of where she was coming from.
We did a lot of fun stuff, with a focus on some Le Coq techniques. This was exciting for me because I had heard about Le Coq, but I hadn't been able to find out many specifics when I Googled. We did this brilliant changing faces exercise where you respond to a face being pulled, but you do so by turning away from the person, coming up with an answering face before turning back to them. It turns into a really interesting non-verbal conversation, that is very considered.
The second main element we looked at was the 7 stages of excitability - super relaxed, relaxed, pragmatic, neutral mask, excitable, operatic, and rigid. My favourite was relaxed. It is kind of like you are drunk. I seemed to knock a lot of people over whenever I was in super relaxed and relaxed. I also managed to injure my wrist in operatic. I was running away from a tsunami and fell on the floor and slid into the wall. Please note that I did not for a single minute break the pose. That is dedication!
Of course, now I have a black bruise on my hand and a lot of trouble typing the letter 's'. Actually, I hurt all over, but it is my own fault. I don't have anything else I need to achieve today though, so it is relaxation and recovery time now. I hear a cup of tea and a book calling my name...
Saturday 30 November 2013
Thursday 28 November 2013
The Art Of Compromise
Progress, progress, progress. I had a very important meeting today regarding the Brecht. I went into the Union House and had a chat with Clynton about what was happening in our performance week and what the limitations would be. They are quite severe, but as we all know, restriction enhances creativity.
I had this stunningly brilliant idea of placing the seating on the stage and performing on the seating tiers, giving us a vertical space to work in. Unfortunately, this is not going to be possible because we will be sharing the space with possibly 2 other groups, so I will have to use the stage. This is significant because it changes from a verticle space to a horizontal space. There isn't really anything I can do about it though. The other problem is that because it is a shared space I can't really erect anything to create a vertical space either. Oh well. I will save the tears for later. Right now I have to reimagine my concept.
I spent a bit of time in the space and did some visualising. In the end I think it will still work, and you never know - some gem may appear that would never have been possible working vertically. Maybe the river scene will be more powerful? It also means I can try challenging the actors to work vertically rather than relying on the space.
Clynton has agreed to the use of two 1.2x1.2 rostra, and I have permission to tape the floor up in a design if I choose to, so that might be the way to go. We can still use a drop for some shadow puppetry, and I had this brilliant idea on the way home where we can then pull the cloths down and then they become flags behind the judge for the final scene. Quite exciting really. And as I write this, I realise that I can bring my fascination with Vorticism into this in the tape design. It is the right era and has the right energy. Mmmmmmm. I think I might get to some sketching now:)
I had this stunningly brilliant idea of placing the seating on the stage and performing on the seating tiers, giving us a vertical space to work in. Unfortunately, this is not going to be possible because we will be sharing the space with possibly 2 other groups, so I will have to use the stage. This is significant because it changes from a verticle space to a horizontal space. There isn't really anything I can do about it though. The other problem is that because it is a shared space I can't really erect anything to create a vertical space either. Oh well. I will save the tears for later. Right now I have to reimagine my concept.
I spent a bit of time in the space and did some visualising. In the end I think it will still work, and you never know - some gem may appear that would never have been possible working vertically. Maybe the river scene will be more powerful? It also means I can try challenging the actors to work vertically rather than relying on the space.
Clynton has agreed to the use of two 1.2x1.2 rostra, and I have permission to tape the floor up in a design if I choose to, so that might be the way to go. We can still use a drop for some shadow puppetry, and I had this brilliant idea on the way home where we can then pull the cloths down and then they become flags behind the judge for the final scene. Quite exciting really. And as I write this, I realise that I can bring my fascination with Vorticism into this in the tape design. It is the right era and has the right energy. Mmmmmmm. I think I might get to some sketching now:)
Friday 22 November 2013
Meeting Meyerhold
What an interesting and rather fantastic day it was today.
The first and possibly best bit of news is that I have been offered an interview for the solo artist residency at VU. It is scheduled for 26th November which is only a couple of days away, so I had better get my thoughts together and gather some materials to show that I have a plan! I guess that is my weekend sewn up for me lol.
I also watched the final two Masters of Writing for Performance readings today. Overall it has been a pleasant series. Only one reading I wanted to walk out of. I might have if I hadn't been sitting right next to Rob Draffin and if Raimondo Cortese hadn't been in the house. It didn't improve and I will never get that hour and a half back. I learnt a lot about performance structure watching the various readings - about what works and, more importantly, what doesn't work. I had some fun too. There was a horror piece called 'Dead Twin' which was fun. Mainly for it's genre, but fun anyway. Also, 'Virgins and Cowboys' had me laughing out loud a lot.
Probably the most productive part of my day, however, was my research into Meyerhold's Biomechanics. I am looking into it because I want to incorporate it into the production of 'The Exception and the Rule' because Brecht was really into his work. When I was a student at VCA I had a research assignment into Stanislavsky and I first met Meyerhold there. I have to confess that I had very little understanding of what he was trying to do or how it fit in with Stanislavsky's work. Today, I realised that the whole point is that it didn't. It was actually a reaction against realism and naturalism. I watched a lot of YouTube and saw some great examples and analysis. I saw one clip, though, that really opened my eyes about how it works in performance. A group of actors at a University in Iowa spent months researching biomechanics and then performed Meyerhold's first play 'The Magificent Cuckold'. I soooo get it now. It actually falls into a school of story telling which includes Commedia and Farce amongst others. It is highly exagerated and incredibly specific, and kind of works like a moving tableau over which the text is layered, rather than starting with the text as you would with realism or naturalism. I can see this is going to be fun.
My next step is to have a look at Chinese Theatre because Brecht really liked that too, and I want to incorporate some mask work which I think will be informed by this.
The first and possibly best bit of news is that I have been offered an interview for the solo artist residency at VU. It is scheduled for 26th November which is only a couple of days away, so I had better get my thoughts together and gather some materials to show that I have a plan! I guess that is my weekend sewn up for me lol.
I also watched the final two Masters of Writing for Performance readings today. Overall it has been a pleasant series. Only one reading I wanted to walk out of. I might have if I hadn't been sitting right next to Rob Draffin and if Raimondo Cortese hadn't been in the house. It didn't improve and I will never get that hour and a half back. I learnt a lot about performance structure watching the various readings - about what works and, more importantly, what doesn't work. I had some fun too. There was a horror piece called 'Dead Twin' which was fun. Mainly for it's genre, but fun anyway. Also, 'Virgins and Cowboys' had me laughing out loud a lot.
Probably the most productive part of my day, however, was my research into Meyerhold's Biomechanics. I am looking into it because I want to incorporate it into the production of 'The Exception and the Rule' because Brecht was really into his work. When I was a student at VCA I had a research assignment into Stanislavsky and I first met Meyerhold there. I have to confess that I had very little understanding of what he was trying to do or how it fit in with Stanislavsky's work. Today, I realised that the whole point is that it didn't. It was actually a reaction against realism and naturalism. I watched a lot of YouTube and saw some great examples and analysis. I saw one clip, though, that really opened my eyes about how it works in performance. A group of actors at a University in Iowa spent months researching biomechanics and then performed Meyerhold's first play 'The Magificent Cuckold'. I soooo get it now. It actually falls into a school of story telling which includes Commedia and Farce amongst others. It is highly exagerated and incredibly specific, and kind of works like a moving tableau over which the text is layered, rather than starting with the text as you would with realism or naturalism. I can see this is going to be fun.
My next step is to have a look at Chinese Theatre because Brecht really liked that too, and I want to incorporate some mask work which I think will be informed by this.
Monday 18 November 2013
A New Beginning
It looks like 2014 will be a year of new beginnings. This is kind of the automatic result of endings, but to be honest, I think this should all work out okay. I was made redundant from my job last week. Normally this would be really upsetting, but my boss was a narcissist and a micro-manager so it was a bit of a nightmare working there anyway. It has also freed me up to look at the direction my life is taking and make some positive steps into the future.
Positive step #1. I just got given the opportunity to direct Brecht's 'The Exception and the Rule'. So exciting in many ways. Firstly, I haven't directed anything this year, so this is a great opportunity to get back on the horse as they say. It is a really exciting play. Strong, political, polemic writing very suited to my rather outspoken political views. Really relevant to the times we are living in with Abbott as Prime Minister too! I have some great ideas and am looking forward to realising them.
Positive step #2. I have applied for a year long artistic residency at Victoria University. I have a plan to explore Vorticism next year, and how it might be applied to performance making. I am going to do it on my own anyway, but if I can do it in a supportive environment and with free studio access all the better!
So, as you can see, I have bright hopes for 2014 and the year is going to start with a bang. Superb!
Positive step #1. I just got given the opportunity to direct Brecht's 'The Exception and the Rule'. So exciting in many ways. Firstly, I haven't directed anything this year, so this is a great opportunity to get back on the horse as they say. It is a really exciting play. Strong, political, polemic writing very suited to my rather outspoken political views. Really relevant to the times we are living in with Abbott as Prime Minister too! I have some great ideas and am looking forward to realising them.
Positive step #2. I have applied for a year long artistic residency at Victoria University. I have a plan to explore Vorticism next year, and how it might be applied to performance making. I am going to do it on my own anyway, but if I can do it in a supportive environment and with free studio access all the better!
So, as you can see, I have bright hopes for 2014 and the year is going to start with a bang. Superb!
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