Saturday is virtually sold out, but if you can possibly make it on wednesday thursday or friday nights please do! it's a great show, talented bunch of students and i am really proud of the design.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
collaborating and writing
the rehearsals for 'the old hotel' are getting very exciting, although at the moment we are still devising rather than really rehearsing. We have decided to have just one actor in the site, telling stories one-on-one to audience members, whilst the performers online act as ghosts or memories for those stories. We are focussing one story in particular which was devised by Jonny during the perforamnce at 'Sitelines210407', which was about a relationship which focussed around visits to seedy old hotels and eventually deteriorated. jonny made the story really interesting by talking about the hotel rooms as if they were a character - perhaps his lover - in the story.
suzon has been producing some fantastic graphics which allow us to do some really exciting stuff wth the webcam, with the 'subject' in different positions in relation to the camera, coming up close, moving further away disappearing behind 'walls' and re-appearing in windows. During the performance, the camera will be on the actor and he (and the on-site audience) will be able to respond to the online performance as it will be projected onto a wall in the site. We need to work out how what the actor is saying will be fed into upstage, as there is no sound element with the webcam bit.
my paper is well underway, a couple of thousand words to go. I feel like it is a bit muddled and less coherent than last time, so am looking forward to getting to the end so i can go back through and organise it better. Although I felt very restricted by last time's 5000 word limit - and even make a habit of compaining that 10,000 is too short (what a geek) - am finding it tough to expand without waffling, having packed what i felt were my most important ideas into the smaller word count for last time. Have tried re-structuring and hope when i read back through it will be ok... hmmm...
the rehearsals for 'the old hotel' are getting very exciting, although at the moment we are still devising rather than really rehearsing. We have decided to have just one actor in the site, telling stories one-on-one to audience members, whilst the performers online act as ghosts or memories for those stories. We are focussing one story in particular which was devised by Jonny during the perforamnce at 'Sitelines210407', which was about a relationship which focussed around visits to seedy old hotels and eventually deteriorated. jonny made the story really interesting by talking about the hotel rooms as if they were a character - perhaps his lover - in the story.
suzon has been producing some fantastic graphics which allow us to do some really exciting stuff wth the webcam, with the 'subject' in different positions in relation to the camera, coming up close, moving further away disappearing behind 'walls' and re-appearing in windows. During the performance, the camera will be on the actor and he (and the on-site audience) will be able to respond to the online performance as it will be projected onto a wall in the site. We need to work out how what the actor is saying will be fed into upstage, as there is no sound element with the webcam bit.
my paper is well underway, a couple of thousand words to go. I feel like it is a bit muddled and less coherent than last time, so am looking forward to getting to the end so i can go back through and organise it better. Although I felt very restricted by last time's 5000 word limit - and even make a habit of compaining that 10,000 is too short (what a geek) - am finding it tough to expand without waffling, having packed what i felt were my most important ideas into the smaller word count for last time. Have tried re-structuring and hope when i read back through it will be ok... hmmm...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
moving on
so, the next stage of 'the old hotel'...
i have started collaborating with artists Suzon Fuks and James Cunningham (www.igneous.org.au) who are based in Australia and Liz Bryce, based in New Zealand. We are meeting regularly in online stage software Upstage (http://upstage.org.nz) to devise a performance for the Upstage performance festival 070707. The piece will be based around the threads of stories that began to be told at 'Sitelines210407'. The online element of the performance will be projected back into the 'real' space of the old hotel, like a ghost of the building and a live performance will take place in the space with two actors simultaneously with the online performance. The performance in the space will be feed back into the online performance by means of webcam.
We have been trying out different ways of using still and moving (animated/webcam) imagery in upstage, its all pretty exciting. I have had a tutorial with Vicki Smith from Avatar Body Collision (http://www.avatarbodycollision.org/) on using the webcam. Here's some screen grabs from my experiments with it:
so, the next stage of 'the old hotel'...
i have started collaborating with artists Suzon Fuks and James Cunningham (www.igneous.org.au) who are based in Australia and Liz Bryce, based in New Zealand. We are meeting regularly in online stage software Upstage (http://upstage.org.nz) to devise a performance for the Upstage performance festival 070707. The piece will be based around the threads of stories that began to be told at 'Sitelines210407'. The online element of the performance will be projected back into the 'real' space of the old hotel, like a ghost of the building and a live performance will take place in the space with two actors simultaneously with the online performance. The performance in the space will be feed back into the online performance by means of webcam.
We have been trying out different ways of using still and moving (animated/webcam) imagery in upstage, its all pretty exciting. I have had a tutorial with Vicki Smith from Avatar Body Collision (http://www.avatarbodycollision.org/) on using the webcam. Here's some screen grabs from my experiments with it:
Friday, April 27, 2007
its all over... for now at least
phew, what an adventure. Having spent all of saturday saying to myself "i'm never doing this again. No really Cherry, never do this again, don't do it to yourself!" I have spent the time since saying "that was great, let's do it again".
It was nerve-racking and incredibly hard work, but we pulled it off and "the old hotel" went without a hitch (more or less) - although that's not to say i would do exactly the same again - so many interesting problems and ideas raised... where to start...?
First, the performers. They did their jobs perfectly. It was really interesting to see the difference in the two pairs (Rich and Jonny (A&B) and Ming and Mel (B&C)), as they had rehearsed separately and gone about it in two completely different ways. Rich and Jonny had worked very quickly, getting through the entire text once or twice in every rehearsal. They came off the book later in the week, but had gone much deeper into the thoughts behind the words and how they might use/subvert these. Because of this they were able to be very flexible with audience intervention and general presence/noise. Mel and Ming, on the other hand, worked through each scene much more slowly and thoroughly and focussed on accuracy rather than flexibility. The result on their side was a quieter more crafted approach to the scenes, which seemed to draw the audiences just as effectively as Rich and Jonny's energetic approach. I hope I will be able to work with Mel and Jonny for the next stage of this project too, so we can keep building on what we have rather than starting from scratch again (Rich and Ming will be working on their own performances in July).
The audience. Something you can never quite predict. How interesting to see how people's reactions changed over the course of the night. At first people listened intently, but by the 4th installment (there were 15 'scenes' spread across 90mins with 3-4 minute gaps between each), they started to realise that their full attention was neither necessary nor expected and began to drift off into groups, just catching bits here and there. Some parts went completely unnoticed - just a conversation amongst the crowd, others had people shushing and straining to hear. One thing that was common to every part was that as soon as a 'performance' was recognised, the audience drew back to a 'respectful' distance - and then complained that they couldn't hear!!! One brave audience member asked me if she could ask the performers questions, I said 'of course' and she walked straight into the middle of a conversation between rich and jonny. What was really wonderful about this was that not only were the performers able to answer some of her questions, but then other audience members asked her what information she had gleaned from them - so a lovely organic process of gossip/rumour was begun.
The space. Well just look at the pics on the website, absolutely amazing. with the layout of the old rooms still marked on the floors and the crumbly bricks...mmmmm... It was really exciting at the beginning of the evening when some students turned up outside the site; I asked if they were there for the exhibition and they told me they used to live in the old hotel! So I invited them up and they looked around the space, tracing out the positions of their old rooms etc. It was exactly what the piece was all about. The performers watched them closely! Sadly they couldn't be convinced to stay for the performance.
The text. I was really pleased with how the performers brought the text to life and made their own stories out of it. I hope the text will be the vehicle for developing the stories further in my collaborative work for 070707 Upstage festival (see news and events on my website). This time, however, I want to expand the text to include imagery as well as words, and perhaps use my website as a 'script' so it can be constantly in flux rather than a static object.
Enough for now. More retrospective thoughts when I come back from my camping trip and am all relaxed!
phew, what an adventure. Having spent all of saturday saying to myself "i'm never doing this again. No really Cherry, never do this again, don't do it to yourself!" I have spent the time since saying "that was great, let's do it again".
It was nerve-racking and incredibly hard work, but we pulled it off and "the old hotel" went without a hitch (more or less) - although that's not to say i would do exactly the same again - so many interesting problems and ideas raised... where to start...?
First, the performers. They did their jobs perfectly. It was really interesting to see the difference in the two pairs (Rich and Jonny (A&B) and Ming and Mel (B&C)), as they had rehearsed separately and gone about it in two completely different ways. Rich and Jonny had worked very quickly, getting through the entire text once or twice in every rehearsal. They came off the book later in the week, but had gone much deeper into the thoughts behind the words and how they might use/subvert these. Because of this they were able to be very flexible with audience intervention and general presence/noise. Mel and Ming, on the other hand, worked through each scene much more slowly and thoroughly and focussed on accuracy rather than flexibility. The result on their side was a quieter more crafted approach to the scenes, which seemed to draw the audiences just as effectively as Rich and Jonny's energetic approach. I hope I will be able to work with Mel and Jonny for the next stage of this project too, so we can keep building on what we have rather than starting from scratch again (Rich and Ming will be working on their own performances in July).
The audience. Something you can never quite predict. How interesting to see how people's reactions changed over the course of the night. At first people listened intently, but by the 4th installment (there were 15 'scenes' spread across 90mins with 3-4 minute gaps between each), they started to realise that their full attention was neither necessary nor expected and began to drift off into groups, just catching bits here and there. Some parts went completely unnoticed - just a conversation amongst the crowd, others had people shushing and straining to hear. One thing that was common to every part was that as soon as a 'performance' was recognised, the audience drew back to a 'respectful' distance - and then complained that they couldn't hear!!! One brave audience member asked me if she could ask the performers questions, I said 'of course' and she walked straight into the middle of a conversation between rich and jonny. What was really wonderful about this was that not only were the performers able to answer some of her questions, but then other audience members asked her what information she had gleaned from them - so a lovely organic process of gossip/rumour was begun.
The space. Well just look at the pics on the website, absolutely amazing. with the layout of the old rooms still marked on the floors and the crumbly bricks...mmmmm... It was really exciting at the beginning of the evening when some students turned up outside the site; I asked if they were there for the exhibition and they told me they used to live in the old hotel! So I invited them up and they looked around the space, tracing out the positions of their old rooms etc. It was exactly what the piece was all about. The performers watched them closely! Sadly they couldn't be convinced to stay for the performance.
The text. I was really pleased with how the performers brought the text to life and made their own stories out of it. I hope the text will be the vehicle for developing the stories further in my collaborative work for 070707 Upstage festival (see news and events on my website). This time, however, I want to expand the text to include imagery as well as words, and perhaps use my website as a 'script' so it can be constantly in flux rather than a static object.
Enough for now. More retrospective thoughts when I come back from my camping trip and am all relaxed!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
oh, it's such a hard life
rehearsals for 'the old hotel' (my performance piece for the sitelines exhibition) began last friday with a picnic on the south bank and a session of gossip in waterloo station. Mel and Ming are working as a pair - so i saw them for a long session on friday - and Rich and Jonny met with me on sunday. i am really excited about the way its all going. the dynamic in each of the pairs is completely different, it's really interesting what can happen with one text. was also fun to see how people on the south bank (see pic of jonny and rich below with woman watching in background) and in waterloo station, reacted to what we were doing. Mel and Ming rehearsed with me on site last night and i will be doing the same with rich and jonny tonight. Its exhausting, but the beautiful weather helps to keep everyone's spirits up.
i love my actors, they are all wonderful. I am, of course, terrified about saturday night, but at least i know that they will put everything they can into it, i just hope i can support the hard work they are doing - it's tough when you are not an actor yourself.
in the meantime, i've put more stuff on the website, and will do so again on thursday or friday. and here are some pics from our first rehearsals:
rehearsals for 'the old hotel' (my performance piece for the sitelines exhibition) began last friday with a picnic on the south bank and a session of gossip in waterloo station. Mel and Ming are working as a pair - so i saw them for a long session on friday - and Rich and Jonny met with me on sunday. i am really excited about the way its all going. the dynamic in each of the pairs is completely different, it's really interesting what can happen with one text. was also fun to see how people on the south bank (see pic of jonny and rich below with woman watching in background) and in waterloo station, reacted to what we were doing. Mel and Ming rehearsed with me on site last night and i will be doing the same with rich and jonny tonight. Its exhausting, but the beautiful weather helps to keep everyone's spirits up.
i love my actors, they are all wonderful. I am, of course, terrified about saturday night, but at least i know that they will put everything they can into it, i just hope i can support the hard work they are doing - it's tough when you are not an actor yourself.
in the meantime, i've put more stuff on the website, and will do so again on thursday or friday. and here are some pics from our first rehearsals:
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
i wish someone would write me letters like this!
“You seem the same as always, and being you, hate every minute of it. Don’t! Learn to say ‘Fuck You!’ to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, gasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, rumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting, nit-picking, piss-trickling, nose-sticking, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eying, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding grinding grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO.
From your description, and from what I know of your previous work and your ability, the work you are doing sounds very good. ‘Drawings—clear, clear-cut but crazy like machines, larger, bolder, real nonsense.’ That sounds wonderful—real nonsense. Do more. More nonsensical more crazy more machines, more breasts, penises, cunts, whatever—make them abound with nonsense. Try and tickle something inside you, your ‘weird humor.’ You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you—draw and paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as ‘to decide on a purpose and way of life, a consistent approach to even some impossible end or even as imagined end.’ You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO! I have much confidence in you and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try to do some BAD work. The worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell. You are not responsible for the world—you are only responsible for your work, so do it. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be. But if life would be easier for you if you stopped working then stop. Don’t punish yourself. However, I think that it is so deeply engrained in you that it would be easier to DO.”
—letter from Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse, c. 1964/1965 when she was living in Kettwig, Germany, with her marriage failing and creative spirit debilitated
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
at last
the website is up: www.cherrytruluck.co.uk/sitelines.html
still a few technical glitches to iron out and lots of info to add, but it's there, there are a few things to look at and after the easter weekend there will be a few more!
I have finished writing the text for my performance piece and now just have 10 days or so whilst the actors learn their lines. rehearsals begin the week before the exhibition. Was really worried as writing it has been a really stressful experience and i was too scared to show it to anyone before i gave it to the actors, but have had a really encouraging e-mail from Ming, which has cheered me up no end and got me all excited about it again.
Now am beginning to look at my research paper again. Am going to post my last draft on my website and would appreciate any comments etc. Have been looking recently at ways that people create web-based performances outside of the framework of 'art' or 'theatre' - such as www.justin.tv, as well as ways in which the internet is used in conjunction with other technologies to create a more interactive/physical experience of cyber-performance - e.g. http://www.diggriver.com - a community news site which texts stories to your mobile and flash mob actions - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228162337. All suggestions welcome.
Finally have been building these crazy little models for a bit of pocket money (last paid job before i become a full-time scrounger). They are so cute, had to post a picture:
the website is up: www.cherrytruluck.co.uk/sitelines.html
still a few technical glitches to iron out and lots of info to add, but it's there, there are a few things to look at and after the easter weekend there will be a few more!
I have finished writing the text for my performance piece and now just have 10 days or so whilst the actors learn their lines. rehearsals begin the week before the exhibition. Was really worried as writing it has been a really stressful experience and i was too scared to show it to anyone before i gave it to the actors, but have had a really encouraging e-mail from Ming, which has cheered me up no end and got me all excited about it again.
Now am beginning to look at my research paper again. Am going to post my last draft on my website and would appreciate any comments etc. Have been looking recently at ways that people create web-based performances outside of the framework of 'art' or 'theatre' - such as www.justin.tv, as well as ways in which the internet is used in conjunction with other technologies to create a more interactive/physical experience of cyber-performance - e.g. http://www.diggriver.com - a community news site which texts stories to your mobile and flash mob actions - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228162337. All suggestions welcome.
Finally have been building these crazy little models for a bit of pocket money (last paid job before i become a full-time scrounger). They are so cute, had to post a picture:
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
sitelines
its full steam ahead on this exhibition, i have four actors and am really excited about it. the piece has become very site specific - the site itself is fantastic. there's been loads of issues to deal with in terms of organising the exhibition, but i think it is working itself out. I plan to get the website up and running this weekend: www.cherrytruluck.co.uk
Its been a stressful term as far as available money and time are concerned and i am really sorry that i haven't been able to support everyone else's work, but from now on I will be much better. I have taken a whacking great loan out (which i will no doubt regret later!) and from now until September will only be working one day a week except for the odd little bit of freelance work. Other than that i will be fully committed to the course and will be around a lot more. In September I will win the lottery and set up a grant-giving fund for poor MA students!
see you all at the TBW private view on Friday night.
its full steam ahead on this exhibition, i have four actors and am really excited about it. the piece has become very site specific - the site itself is fantastic. there's been loads of issues to deal with in terms of organising the exhibition, but i think it is working itself out. I plan to get the website up and running this weekend: www.cherrytruluck.co.uk
Its been a stressful term as far as available money and time are concerned and i am really sorry that i haven't been able to support everyone else's work, but from now on I will be much better. I have taken a whacking great loan out (which i will no doubt regret later!) and from now until September will only be working one day a week except for the odd little bit of freelance work. Other than that i will be fully committed to the course and will be around a lot more. In September I will win the lottery and set up a grant-giving fund for poor MA students!
see you all at the TBW private view on Friday night.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
by the way...
have been working on my own project too... at last have managed to find some time - unfortunately it meant quitting my main job, so now am stony broke and have to move out of my very convenient house-sitting arrangement in ladbroke grove. so back to brighton and those hideous train fares, eek.
so i'm doing this 'show' at the end of march in a building site in hammersmith. i'm really excited about it. it's going to be at about the same time as the interim show and will link to the website i am building for that (i'm not going to be physically present at the interim show, but my website will go live at the same time - am using it more as a deadline than an actual show). Anyway, the one in hammersmith... it's going to be a group exhibition with two painters and maybe a video artist, so i don't want to do a very theatre-y performance thing. So its going to be quiet a subtle intervention-type thing and i'm going to use bluetooth and mobile phones to continue this idea about fragments of stories and dream/memory spaces. the exhibition is a one-night only thing, which suits me, so am just waiting for a definite date and then i will let you know.
in the meantime am trying to organise a seminar from these people - please check them out: http://www.avatarbodycollision.org/ and http://www.creative-catalyst.com/
have been working on my own project too... at last have managed to find some time - unfortunately it meant quitting my main job, so now am stony broke and have to move out of my very convenient house-sitting arrangement in ladbroke grove. so back to brighton and those hideous train fares, eek.
so i'm doing this 'show' at the end of march in a building site in hammersmith. i'm really excited about it. it's going to be at about the same time as the interim show and will link to the website i am building for that (i'm not going to be physically present at the interim show, but my website will go live at the same time - am using it more as a deadline than an actual show). Anyway, the one in hammersmith... it's going to be a group exhibition with two painters and maybe a video artist, so i don't want to do a very theatre-y performance thing. So its going to be quiet a subtle intervention-type thing and i'm going to use bluetooth and mobile phones to continue this idea about fragments of stories and dream/memory spaces. the exhibition is a one-night only thing, which suits me, so am just waiting for a definite date and then i will let you know.
in the meantime am trying to organise a seminar from these people - please check them out: http://www.avatarbodycollision.org/ and http://www.creative-catalyst.com/
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
two storm wood and other ventures
wow, i haven't blogged for ages, how lax of me. Actually, i haven't even written a thank you letter to my grandad for my christmas present, that's how busy i've been! I've gone straight to the bottom of his favourite grandchildren list. Am going to write a grovelly letter, just as soon as i've finished this blog... hmmm... not sure if my priorities are quite right there...
so thanks for the huge support for the play! only kidding, i know how it is - i've been equally crap in supporting VLP in general recently. Anyway, it went ok. Bit weird, we got a new director 4 days before opening (long political story) and half my set got scrapped, so although it looked ok, it didn't really make any sense. My friends who came to see it assured me this didn't matter, that they thought it looked cool anyway and that they probably wouldn't have been that influenced by the design concept anyway, which made me realise just how futile my job is! Hours of obsessing over how to achieve my vision of oversize children's play-blocks which doubled as packing boxes were clearly well spent, and my genuine horror of creating a black box space with a single 'dramatic' focal point was realised. But such is life, these things happen. Overall the play - which, by the way, was genuinely a really wonderful piece of writing - was well received and got a pretty decent write up in the Daily Mail. Lets just hope it transfers somewhere and i get to redesign it.
pictures:
wow, i haven't blogged for ages, how lax of me. Actually, i haven't even written a thank you letter to my grandad for my christmas present, that's how busy i've been! I've gone straight to the bottom of his favourite grandchildren list. Am going to write a grovelly letter, just as soon as i've finished this blog... hmmm... not sure if my priorities are quite right there...
so thanks for the huge support for the play! only kidding, i know how it is - i've been equally crap in supporting VLP in general recently. Anyway, it went ok. Bit weird, we got a new director 4 days before opening (long political story) and half my set got scrapped, so although it looked ok, it didn't really make any sense. My friends who came to see it assured me this didn't matter, that they thought it looked cool anyway and that they probably wouldn't have been that influenced by the design concept anyway, which made me realise just how futile my job is! Hours of obsessing over how to achieve my vision of oversize children's play-blocks which doubled as packing boxes were clearly well spent, and my genuine horror of creating a black box space with a single 'dramatic' focal point was realised. But such is life, these things happen. Overall the play - which, by the way, was genuinely a really wonderful piece of writing - was well received and got a pretty decent write up in the Daily Mail. Lets just hope it transfers somewhere and i get to redesign it.
pictures:
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
everthing is 300 miles per hour at the moment, my (very organised but very annoying) calendar on my phone beeps at me every 5 minutes to tell me i should be somewhere else. But its great (except for the lack of sleep). Am loving working with Shotgun, have made the scary decision to have quite a minimal set, which is great if it works, but otherwise looks like i didn't do much work. There's some nice graphics going on and a big black tree, but otherwise its just giant building blocks and a seventies sofa. Am not going to show you any design images before the show - as i hope you'll all come and see it, but here's the flyer, to give you a taster:
my own work is on the back burner, but ever-present in the recesses of my mind... thinking lots about text and layers and stories... anyway, not enough to tell you about at the moment. exciting news of the day is that (through Shotgun) I went to meet a young theatre designer called David Farley (http://www.clarevidalhall.co.uk/clients/david_farley/cv.htm) this morning. He went through my designs with me and we chatted about his work, it was really fun. Nice to see someone actually surviving quite reasonably in this field (he has a studio in Fitzrovia - lovely)! I should have googled him before my visit, but my phone didn't bleep me early enough and i ran out of time, but have checked him out since, he has done some nice stuff, check out this interview with him - http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/education/productions/macbeth/setdesign.shtml - mmm, I do like a bit of Louise Bourgeois.
everthing is 300 miles per hour at the moment, my (very organised but very annoying) calendar on my phone beeps at me every 5 minutes to tell me i should be somewhere else. But its great (except for the lack of sleep). Am loving working with Shotgun, have made the scary decision to have quite a minimal set, which is great if it works, but otherwise looks like i didn't do much work. There's some nice graphics going on and a big black tree, but otherwise its just giant building blocks and a seventies sofa. Am not going to show you any design images before the show - as i hope you'll all come and see it, but here's the flyer, to give you a taster:
my own work is on the back burner, but ever-present in the recesses of my mind... thinking lots about text and layers and stories... anyway, not enough to tell you about at the moment. exciting news of the day is that (through Shotgun) I went to meet a young theatre designer called David Farley (http://www.clarevidalhall.co.uk/clients/david_farley/cv.htm) this morning. He went through my designs with me and we chatted about his work, it was really fun. Nice to see someone actually surviving quite reasonably in this field (he has a studio in Fitzrovia - lovely)! I should have googled him before my visit, but my phone didn't bleep me early enough and i ran out of time, but have checked him out since, he has done some nice stuff, check out this interview with him - http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/education/productions/macbeth/setdesign.shtml - mmm, I do like a bit of Louise Bourgeois.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
collaborative response etc.
CONGRATULATIONS to you all on a mammoth effort. I was so impressed by Eleven:Fifty-seven (by the way why was it called that?). It was beautiful, truly, The little room and the dangly chairs and the trees... and the PUPPETS, which were sooo fantastic. The costumes were great, nice and subtle but lovely, and very in tune with the overall design. All in all, you never would have guessed there were so many people involved, the design was very coherent.
I thought Magda's role was wonderful and tied the whole thing together, she was also very good at shepherding us all around - although perhaps this didn't need to be quite so military at times!? The projections looked really professional, my only criticism is that perhaps they were sometimes used unnecessarily (or maybe it was just that the content was too obvious?). There was a lot going on in a pretty short time period and it did cross my mind that some of it was there just because members of the group had the relevant skill-sets, but nonetheless, it didn't seem disjointed or confusing. it goes without saying that the actors were great, and I particularly enjoyed it when they managed to get the audience moving without having to herd us, this was a lot to do with the lighting as well, which was very good. I wasn't always completely taken in by the text - but i think this was mostly improvised, perhaps just needed more rehearsal time (i know this was limited). thought the most powerful bit was mr north's moment of quiet at his mothers grave. particularly loved the (very eerie) child puppet with spooky twins controlling it!
I'm only being critical because it wouldn't be very useful for me to just flatter you all, but I really did thoroughly enjoy the show and am looking forward to seeing what everyone does next!
CONGRATULATIONS to you all on a mammoth effort. I was so impressed by Eleven:Fifty-seven (by the way why was it called that?). It was beautiful, truly, The little room and the dangly chairs and the trees... and the PUPPETS, which were sooo fantastic. The costumes were great, nice and subtle but lovely, and very in tune with the overall design. All in all, you never would have guessed there were so many people involved, the design was very coherent.
I thought Magda's role was wonderful and tied the whole thing together, she was also very good at shepherding us all around - although perhaps this didn't need to be quite so military at times!? The projections looked really professional, my only criticism is that perhaps they were sometimes used unnecessarily (or maybe it was just that the content was too obvious?). There was a lot going on in a pretty short time period and it did cross my mind that some of it was there just because members of the group had the relevant skill-sets, but nonetheless, it didn't seem disjointed or confusing. it goes without saying that the actors were great, and I particularly enjoyed it when they managed to get the audience moving without having to herd us, this was a lot to do with the lighting as well, which was very good. I wasn't always completely taken in by the text - but i think this was mostly improvised, perhaps just needed more rehearsal time (i know this was limited). thought the most powerful bit was mr north's moment of quiet at his mothers grave. particularly loved the (very eerie) child puppet with spooky twins controlling it!
I'm only being critical because it wouldn't be very useful for me to just flatter you all, but I really did thoroughly enjoy the show and am looking forward to seeing what everyone does next!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
so much to think about at the moment.
first of all the play at richmond, which (although doug hated it!) went really well. It was definitely my most conventional set to date, but that said it was probably about as unconventional as that play could cope with. Kirstie and I got loads of positive responses about the design and an exciting offer of potential work to look at which i'm thrilled about.
secondly, my own stuff. am thinking about a few themes at the moment which came out of my workshop. i was really inspired by rich's suggestions on my blog and have started thinking about random meetings between strangers and conflicts between the drama of theatre and everyday life. I have also been looking more at the way people present themselves and tell their own stories through the internet. i've become a real myspace addict in the process. i had a really interesting conversation with my friend mel about how long someone could continue to 'live' in cyberspace after they had died for real, assuming no-one knew...
i'm also organising a site for my next mini-project and i am so excited about it. don't want to give the game away so am not going to give too many details, but lots of possibilities for projection and playing with scale again... now to bring all this together much more coherently than i managed last time!
finally i have been working on my paper which is becoming much more focussed and looking at myspace as a kind of theatre and perhaps this idea of virtual life and death. am really getting back into theatre after a while in the wilderness. it's just a name after all and doesn't mean my work has to be restricted... i think i've been disallowing myself to have fun and that is officially going to stop right now!
first of all the play at richmond, which (although doug hated it!) went really well. It was definitely my most conventional set to date, but that said it was probably about as unconventional as that play could cope with. Kirstie and I got loads of positive responses about the design and an exciting offer of potential work to look at which i'm thrilled about.
secondly, my own stuff. am thinking about a few themes at the moment which came out of my workshop. i was really inspired by rich's suggestions on my blog and have started thinking about random meetings between strangers and conflicts between the drama of theatre and everyday life. I have also been looking more at the way people present themselves and tell their own stories through the internet. i've become a real myspace addict in the process. i had a really interesting conversation with my friend mel about how long someone could continue to 'live' in cyberspace after they had died for real, assuming no-one knew...
i'm also organising a site for my next mini-project and i am so excited about it. don't want to give the game away so am not going to give too many details, but lots of possibilities for projection and playing with scale again... now to bring all this together much more coherently than i managed last time!
finally i have been working on my paper which is becoming much more focussed and looking at myspace as a kind of theatre and perhaps this idea of virtual life and death. am really getting back into theatre after a while in the wilderness. it's just a name after all and doesn't mean my work has to be restricted... i think i've been disallowing myself to have fun and that is officially going to stop right now!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Just to clarify, a response to rich's comment:
Hi rich, just read your comment on my blog – then re-read my blog.
I realised it sounded like I was complaining about your ‘puppet show’, which I didn‘t intend at all. Just wanted you to know that! In actual fact I found it fascinating how much everyone got into it, and was particularly intrigued by the interaction with the model, which I had only thought of as a stationary thing previously. Even though this playful interaction made me feel really quite awkward at the moment when it came up against a painful memory, I think this was possibly the most valuable moment of the whole workshop because it was the point where the personal element was exposed for me.
If the whole experience had been really easy and fun for me I wouldn’t have got anything out of it and I am thrilled (and a little bemused!) by the fact that everyone else found their own way-in to the project as well!
I think I’ll stick this on my blog to clarify things
See you thursday
cherry
Hi rich, just read your comment on my blog – then re-read my blog.
I realised it sounded like I was complaining about your ‘puppet show’, which I didn‘t intend at all. Just wanted you to know that! In actual fact I found it fascinating how much everyone got into it, and was particularly intrigued by the interaction with the model, which I had only thought of as a stationary thing previously. Even though this playful interaction made me feel really quite awkward at the moment when it came up against a painful memory, I think this was possibly the most valuable moment of the whole workshop because it was the point where the personal element was exposed for me.
If the whole experience had been really easy and fun for me I wouldn’t have got anything out of it and I am thrilled (and a little bemused!) by the fact that everyone else found their own way-in to the project as well!
I think I’ll stick this on my blog to clarify things
See you thursday
cherry
Monday, November 20, 2006
workshop
phew its over! so many issues and interesting bits 'n' bobs raised by it, what a worthwhile experience. hmmm... where to start, probably with the whole thing of me framing it as a 'workshop', which I did for my own comfort really (so i didn't have to call it a show). What I hadn't really considered was that the word workshop automatically assumes a higher level of interaction than i had imagined. i had thought of it as a workshop for ME, not everybody. But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the level of involvement that actually occurred, although in the end i felt a bit jealous and protective over 'my' drawing, hmmm... that's interesting too...
It's taken me a few days to be able to really think about it rationally because it all became rather personal, which i hadn't altogether expected. There was one particular point when Ming re-wrote one of my own memories and handed it to me and it was a really nasty memory so it was quite hard to keep drawing with everyone watching and rich's puppet show going on behind me. I've had a couple of comments from those of you who made it to the workshop (thanks by the way, I was amazed by the turn-out!). I find it really odd when people say it was 'good', I can't imagine thinking about it qualitatively like that, I can only think about the list of things I got out of it. These comments (not all 'good', also 'f***ing odd' and 'very you') have rather taken me by surprise and made me realise just how selfish i was in the planning of the workshop - I hadn't expected anyone else to get anything out of it!! So, looking forward to getting feedback from all the VLP people soon, thank you all for coming and thank you to the wonderful Ming who kept it all moving and was generally amazing. Here's some pics:
phew its over! so many issues and interesting bits 'n' bobs raised by it, what a worthwhile experience. hmmm... where to start, probably with the whole thing of me framing it as a 'workshop', which I did for my own comfort really (so i didn't have to call it a show). What I hadn't really considered was that the word workshop automatically assumes a higher level of interaction than i had imagined. i had thought of it as a workshop for ME, not everybody. But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the level of involvement that actually occurred, although in the end i felt a bit jealous and protective over 'my' drawing, hmmm... that's interesting too...
It's taken me a few days to be able to really think about it rationally because it all became rather personal, which i hadn't altogether expected. There was one particular point when Ming re-wrote one of my own memories and handed it to me and it was a really nasty memory so it was quite hard to keep drawing with everyone watching and rich's puppet show going on behind me. I've had a couple of comments from those of you who made it to the workshop (thanks by the way, I was amazed by the turn-out!). I find it really odd when people say it was 'good', I can't imagine thinking about it qualitatively like that, I can only think about the list of things I got out of it. These comments (not all 'good', also 'f***ing odd' and 'very you') have rather taken me by surprise and made me realise just how selfish i was in the planning of the workshop - I hadn't expected anyone else to get anything out of it!! So, looking forward to getting feedback from all the VLP people soon, thank you all for coming and thank you to the wonderful Ming who kept it all moving and was generally amazing. Here's some pics:
Monday, November 13, 2006
oh and by the way...
i went to see 'blue on blue' at the latchmere (theatre pub in battersea - i think its also called theatre 503). It was put together by The Shotgun Theatre Company, one of whom is Tom Hardy who used to be a student at the drama school where I work. So I went with the director of the drama school and some of the students.
it was really good, which was so lovely because, to be honest, i wasn't expecting much. I know tom's a decent actor, I've seen him on tv in a few things, but i didn't know what he'd be like as a director. So nice to be pleasantly surprised. It was written by Tom's father - Chips Hardy and was a really dark comedy about 2 guys with all kinds of psychological problems who become involved in various ways with a hungarian nurse, leading to a kind of examination of their rather sick co-dependant relationship. What a terrible description. Anyway, i think this one is sold out, but if Shotgun do anything else, would recommend trying to catch it.
i went to see 'blue on blue' at the latchmere (theatre pub in battersea - i think its also called theatre 503). It was put together by The Shotgun Theatre Company, one of whom is Tom Hardy who used to be a student at the drama school where I work. So I went with the director of the drama school and some of the students.
it was really good, which was so lovely because, to be honest, i wasn't expecting much. I know tom's a decent actor, I've seen him on tv in a few things, but i didn't know what he'd be like as a director. So nice to be pleasantly surprised. It was written by Tom's father - Chips Hardy and was a really dark comedy about 2 guys with all kinds of psychological problems who become involved in various ways with a hungarian nurse, leading to a kind of examination of their rather sick co-dependant relationship. What a terrible description. Anyway, i think this one is sold out, but if Shotgun do anything else, would recommend trying to catch it.
thought for the day...
a man who can understand Buddha and has an intuition of the heaven and hell of humanity ought not to live in a world ruled by 'common sense' and democracy and bourgeois standards. It is only from cowardice that he lives in it; and if its dimensions are too cramping for him and the bourgeois parlour too confined, he lays it at the wolf's door, and refuses to see that the wolf is as often as not the best part of him. All that is wild in himself he calls wolf and considers it wicked and dangerous and the bugbear of all decent life.
steppenwolf - hermann hesse
a man who can understand Buddha and has an intuition of the heaven and hell of humanity ought not to live in a world ruled by 'common sense' and democracy and bourgeois standards. It is only from cowardice that he lives in it; and if its dimensions are too cramping for him and the bourgeois parlour too confined, he lays it at the wolf's door, and refuses to see that the wolf is as often as not the best part of him. All that is wild in himself he calls wolf and considers it wicked and dangerous and the bugbear of all decent life.
steppenwolf - hermann hesse
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
bad theatre, good food
i went down to salisbury at the weekend to see my mum and go to the theatre. salisbury doesn't have a lot going for it unless you're a japanese tourist, but the theatre is the one reason i still go back occasionally. For a provincial theatre, it does some pretty cool stuff, I remember particularly an amazing production of the Bacchae by Kneehigh Theatre Company. However this weekend it let me down! We went to see 'A Woman of No Importance' and even setting aside some unfortunate blips that couldn't be helped (lines fluffed, bits of set falling down), it was really crappy. They tried to throw in some bits of experimental dance stuff, which (even if the actors hadn't looked like they would rather take off their clothes than do them) seemed so completely out of place in the middle of a classic Oscar Wilde comedy. This was compounded by the, frankly bizarre, set design, which just couldn't make up its mind if its was 'period' or something completely different and ended up being just messy. the costumes were very nice but dull. Altogether it was really confused and rather disappointing. The saving grace was that a couple of the actors were really really good. Don't have any pictures to prove my point, could only find the poster image on the net - perhaps they're embarassed!
On the upside i had a very english pub meal of fish and chips and bread & butter pudding in the village pub on sunday and put on about 3 stone in one sitting. yum yum yum.
i went down to salisbury at the weekend to see my mum and go to the theatre. salisbury doesn't have a lot going for it unless you're a japanese tourist, but the theatre is the one reason i still go back occasionally. For a provincial theatre, it does some pretty cool stuff, I remember particularly an amazing production of the Bacchae by Kneehigh Theatre Company. However this weekend it let me down! We went to see 'A Woman of No Importance' and even setting aside some unfortunate blips that couldn't be helped (lines fluffed, bits of set falling down), it was really crappy. They tried to throw in some bits of experimental dance stuff, which (even if the actors hadn't looked like they would rather take off their clothes than do them) seemed so completely out of place in the middle of a classic Oscar Wilde comedy. This was compounded by the, frankly bizarre, set design, which just couldn't make up its mind if its was 'period' or something completely different and ended up being just messy. the costumes were very nice but dull. Altogether it was really confused and rather disappointing. The saving grace was that a couple of the actors were really really good. Don't have any pictures to prove my point, could only find the poster image on the net - perhaps they're embarassed!
On the upside i had a very english pub meal of fish and chips and bread & butter pudding in the village pub on sunday and put on about 3 stone in one sitting. yum yum yum.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
I HAVE REJOINED SOCIETY
i have finally got a computer! hooray! no more sneaking onto Alan's when he's not looking or blogging at work when i should be drawing...no actually, i'm sure i'll still do that. am also very excited to discover that it seems that the wifi on the train from brighton is free (it says for a limited time - but doesn't say how long), i'm a bit suspicious but i'm not going to complain.
the preparations for my workshop are going well and i am actually beginning to look forward to it. thanks to those who have sent me train stories, keep them coming - there's no limit on how many you send!!
have been reading 'naked lunch' by william burroughs, it has completely blown my mind, i don't really know what to say about it, i am simultaneously revolted and overawed by it. am fascinated by this episode about 'senders' and 'factualists', which is all about use and abuse of technology:
"Artists will confuse sending with creation. They will camp around screeching "A new medium!" until their rating drops off..."
made me feel very small and stupid for a while... i think that's probably a good thing.
i have finally got a computer! hooray! no more sneaking onto Alan's when he's not looking or blogging at work when i should be drawing...no actually, i'm sure i'll still do that. am also very excited to discover that it seems that the wifi on the train from brighton is free (it says for a limited time - but doesn't say how long), i'm a bit suspicious but i'm not going to complain.
the preparations for my workshop are going well and i am actually beginning to look forward to it. thanks to those who have sent me train stories, keep them coming - there's no limit on how many you send!!
have been reading 'naked lunch' by william burroughs, it has completely blown my mind, i don't really know what to say about it, i am simultaneously revolted and overawed by it. am fascinated by this episode about 'senders' and 'factualists', which is all about use and abuse of technology:
"Artists will confuse sending with creation. They will camp around screeching "A new medium!" until their rating drops off..."
made me feel very small and stupid for a while... i think that's probably a good thing.
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