"Just die." Said our artistic director today. Okay Steve... Obediently we all slid down the wall and died. Now that's authority for you.
At the London Buddhist Arts Centre today for clowning and movement. A-woohoo! Sadly I had to miss the first couple of hours in the morning, but Thea and I arrived around 12 and tried to catch up as quickly as possible. These monkeys move fast, particularly with Steve at the helm.
I was reliably informed by the lovely Hattie that Earth had spent the morning working on simple clown and when we arrived they were just beginning to put this into practice in a scene. So two people. The simple clown was sent out of the room, the idea being that when they entered they would have absolutely no idea what was going on. The 'straight character' was given the scenario and then just had to play the scene. Obvious comedy gold ensued but as we start building on all the basics we have learned so far, this clowning malarky is getting pretty tough. But everyone did an absolutely stellar job. Hats off to Max and Tash who went first. Next time my radiator is leaking I'm definitely calling Tash. Even if the charge is "somewhere between £50 and £500". Vicky was infinitely patient with the hilariously ineffectual hit-man Michaela, Sam Elson and Sam Adamson went to town when Sam E called simple-clown-prostitute Sam A over for a bit of fun, and Natasha, Jack and Lamb had probably the most stressful home birth in the history of the world. Legends all of them!
The most important thing we are told is to remember to PLAY. The simple clown's lack of comprehension is obviously very funny but it is so hard not to become vacant and I'm still trying to figure this one out. I need to have a good sit down and have a proper think and get my head round it. (Maybe not the best idea as the motto of the day seemed to be "stop intellectualising!" but there we go.)
We then stood in the obligatory drama-circle :) and the 'intelligent people' were asked to put their hands up. I abstained from this particular label (Friday saw my maths skills tested to their limit and I only had to count to three). These intelligent people then became 'boss-clowns' and had to boss us simple chaps about, and using things in the room build the Eiffel Tower. Steve seemed less than impressed with our attempt which included pot plants and a Buddha head, but there we go.
We then put the boss clown in charge of organising five (simple) employees to guard an expensive antique chair, the instruction being, DON'T TOUCH THE CHAIR! It is very difficult for the boss-clown to remain a clown, whilst being authoritative, again, need to have a think about it. We likened the boss clown to a horrid slightly senior person in a 24 hour tescos who has been left in charge for the night. This comparison pleased me greatly as I am a little bit cross with my tesco metro! They told me off for wearing my pyjamas! All I wanted was teabags. I felt the dressing down I received (no pun intended) was quite unnecessary. Anyway back to the warehouse, for us simple people the game seemed to become who was brave enough to touch the chair when the boss left the room.
It was hard to marry simple clown, tension states, archetypes, dropping, clocking, bewilderment AND play. That's a lot to remember and everyone produced some lovely, lovely stuff and once all these ideas have settled we are going to knock it out of the park!
Blimey we got through a lot today. So next up we moved on to pathetic clown. This is where Steve asked us all to get on with it and die. So. We had to slide down the wall (having just been painfully poisoned) trying to convince an audience that we were absolutely fine. We then looked at a little speech and slid down the wall of death once more, this time saying these lines. We were told to trust that the action of sliding down the wall would inform the audience that all was not well and just try to say the words normally. Watching these it really, genuinely began to upset me. Everyone was profoundly moving, especially Sam A. Continuing along this track, Tash and I then did an improvisation where our best friend had just died, but we were tucking into a delicious feast. Again, it affected me quite a lot and from my snatched glances at Tash she was being wonderful. We accidentally went into the land of naturalism a bit, but Maria and Sam E's death by drowning in a cave whist discussing interior decorating was brilliant, and again very moving. Turning something like that on its head, and playing the opposite is so, so watchable and very affecting. Max mentioned playing Hamlet's final lines in such a way, and I'm sorry, not to keep banging on about it but if you're interested, Michael Sheen WILL break your heart by doing exactly this -- I got up at stupid o'clock on Saturday and got a seat for the matinee to see it again. Because I'm cool. My new saying 'give it a bit of Sheen', or 'channel the Sheen-machine' has now been adopted by Georgia and Thea and we are finding it very helpful indeed! (I shall not mention the thrust action that accompanies both of these -- but Thea did a brilliant rendition of it walking into her Lamda audition this morning.)
We then we joined by the lovely Charlene for a bit of movement. Jolly, jolly fun ensued as we continued to explore the use of the breath and impulses. Partnering was the name of the game once more, and we began to introduce lifts; these were often not the most flattering of positions to find yourself in. It's a good job we all get on so well. Everyone is forgiving bums in faces and feet in mouths.
We continued to try to move our partners across the space using breaths and impulses, which progressed to closing our eyes moving each other alternately to the other side.
The afternoon came to a close as we all tried to make it across the space attached in some way to our partners... rolling. Seriously, we are so very lucky to be having such lovely playtime on a Sunday afternoon. Whilst my initial rolling attempt with Rowan went quite well, in a group of three this proved a little more tricky. We got rather hysterically baffled but made it in the end! Also, mental note to self, watch out for Maxine, she has some kind super-human-strength-thing going on! What a lovely bunch of people to be spending all this time with, and we are so blessed to have Steve and Charlene with us guiding us through it. All these lifts, eyes closed business, cheering each other on and countless pats on the back goes to show the level of trust and friendship that us Earthlings have with each other, and chatting to people on the walk to the tube, we're all feeling pretty merry.
Back home to Clapham where my housemates Hannah and Laura had made me a lovely, lovely, lovely dinner (so a MASSIVE thank you) and Hannah's homemade apple crumble, with lashings and lashings of coconut rum embarrassingly made me quite wobbly. The important issue of decorating for Christmas was addressed. Hannah and I registered our objections to 'colour coding', to which Laura groaned "it's going to look like we've just thrown up Christmas", which I thought was rather brilliant and got hysterical to the point where I disrupted X factor! A sin in 11 Poutney Road. I am in the dog-house but have stolen more crumble so all is well.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
... 'Um, can we make pictures?'
No. Not the words of a toddler. But a chorus of young adult monkeys. That's right. When asked what we would like to do next we maturely bleated that we would like to keep 'making pictures'. Wish granted. God bless Natalie.
6pm Friday. Lots of cold little monkeys gathered in a room with an oddly hard floor (bruises will follow. I have a lovely one that looks just like Jesus) at E15, for a final movement class with Natalie. For those of us who are in The Bacchae this is certainly not the last we will be seeing of her, but as a company we definitely made the most of our last session together. Despite half the group bent double coughing and spluttering, the other half unable to speak due to sore throats, poor Thea nearly being sick in a corner, and Em-J randomly exclaiming "Harry Potter" with an intensity that would put Alan Rickman to shame, we managed to muster an admirable amount of energy for such a motley crew.
What did I learn? That I can't count. A sad revelation at the age of 22 but there it is. The instruction, 'Have three points of contact with floor at all times', is surely not that hard. So there I was, flamingo like, standing in the middle of the room on one leg. Perplexed doesn't even come close. I can assure you I was suitably ashamed and immediately rectified the situation by slamming into the floor with my face. A quick lowering of my hand and hey presto! Three points of contact! And possibly some serious facial damage. But that's okay.
Working on elements, we (much to my relief) spent a lot of time with our eyes closed, and staggered about (in my case - I'm sure other people were very elegant), occasionally colliding with the walls or each other, seeing how it felt to move as if in a capsule of air, water, hot chocolate, fizzy lemonade (we all got a bit bubbly at this point), oil, soil and countless others. This then progressed to actually becoming these states, finding out what it did to your body, the resistance/lack of it, how you (blindly) encounter other people; how you move with and around them. Apart from getting blown straight into a wall when I was being a particularly flimsy pice of paper, and definitely smashing myself in a similar scenario when I was being glass, I had a grand old time. Everybody else seemed to be in a similar frame of mind.
Then... the world's most terrifying sentence.. (apart from when your poorly next door neighbour tells you their children - who you have kindly offered to take to school - have... scooters!)
"Open your eyes".
(Almost as bad as "keep an eye on them, they don't really understand stopping yet.")
We all joined each other on the floor and with slight trepidation began flitting about as china, trying not break each other as we clambered around. The eyes open thing is beginning to bother me very little actually, Hooray! (Just need to get over small children pelting towards roads on wheels now.) We again moved through different elements and then chose our own to finish. I plumped for velvet and had a super time gliding about feeling expensive before we had a little break.
We then returned to something we did in the first session, balancing the space, both actually in the space and with physical presence. So, as I am feeling particularly stupid today, simply, a very tall person, someone being very close to ground and someone being somewhere in the middle, making a tableau ( or picture, as we seem to have adopted) plus trying to create some kind of obvious relationship between the three people. The space was divided into 9 (imaginary) squares, three sections vertically, and three sections horizontally. No one could be in the same section, nor in the same position in the space. This odd game of sudoku/ naughts and crosses was then made slightly more complicated by the introduction of a movable chair. I think it's safe to say that we are pretty inventive when it comes to playing with chairs. Claudia even gave birth to Mai! Hat's off to Max, a great midwife.
Natalie then gave us the choice of continuing with 'making pictures' or moving on to something else. Not to sound unambitious but we all wanted to carry on with what we were doing. It was fun, and collaborative and delightful both to do and watch. We began to create stage pictures with all of us involved. One person began in the space, and slowly more people would join them until the entire company had created a balanced tableau. Once again, in a moment of stupidity, alone on stage I decided it would be an idea to take my pose hurdling over the chair (2012 here I come). Needless to say after about 15 seconds I was in agony and making involuntary groans (much like bikram) as my hurdling leg began to fail (2012 dreams dashed).
I had a moment in bikram this afternoon when I thought I was going to choke because I was trying not to laugh during a 'backward bend'. The concept of Bikram yoga suddenly struck me as ridiculous (although I hasten to add, I know it's not!). But all of us lot, in a baking hot room, 'backward bending'; something which frankly, I don't care what they say, nearly kills me every time I do it, with a (lovely) bloke then telling you to 'lean back, fall back, way back,'. Hold on. Really? I don't think I'd like to fall over backwards with my arms pinned to my ears. Thanks though.
Fortunately I got over this moment of madness quite quickly and got on with it; I put my hands under my feet, my elbows behind my legs, squeezed my face onto my sweaty knees, and attempted to straighten my legs (to no avail) whist ignoring the shooting pain in my calves and the pins and needles in my face. No questions asked.
The overriding memory of Natalie's class was laughter too. Not in a naughty, moment of silliness way but in a particularly engaged happy kind of way. Plus, people were producing funny stuff, Em-J and Jack have a particular genius gift for turning a scenario on it's head.
On the tube home, Max, determined to win free bikram lessons, donned his sweaty bikram shorts and posed bikram stylee in our swinging carriage (empty except for fourth monkey chaps). And as we all cheered him on (and he fell over) had another go and succeeded in getting his photo (legend), I felt very cheery!
No matter that I then attempted to open my neighbours door instead of my own and their dog Simba nearly gave me a coronary.
6pm Friday. Lots of cold little monkeys gathered in a room with an oddly hard floor (bruises will follow. I have a lovely one that looks just like Jesus) at E15, for a final movement class with Natalie. For those of us who are in The Bacchae this is certainly not the last we will be seeing of her, but as a company we definitely made the most of our last session together. Despite half the group bent double coughing and spluttering, the other half unable to speak due to sore throats, poor Thea nearly being sick in a corner, and Em-J randomly exclaiming "Harry Potter" with an intensity that would put Alan Rickman to shame, we managed to muster an admirable amount of energy for such a motley crew.
What did I learn? That I can't count. A sad revelation at the age of 22 but there it is. The instruction, 'Have three points of contact with floor at all times', is surely not that hard. So there I was, flamingo like, standing in the middle of the room on one leg. Perplexed doesn't even come close. I can assure you I was suitably ashamed and immediately rectified the situation by slamming into the floor with my face. A quick lowering of my hand and hey presto! Three points of contact! And possibly some serious facial damage. But that's okay.
Working on elements, we (much to my relief) spent a lot of time with our eyes closed, and staggered about (in my case - I'm sure other people were very elegant), occasionally colliding with the walls or each other, seeing how it felt to move as if in a capsule of air, water, hot chocolate, fizzy lemonade (we all got a bit bubbly at this point), oil, soil and countless others. This then progressed to actually becoming these states, finding out what it did to your body, the resistance/lack of it, how you (blindly) encounter other people; how you move with and around them. Apart from getting blown straight into a wall when I was being a particularly flimsy pice of paper, and definitely smashing myself in a similar scenario when I was being glass, I had a grand old time. Everybody else seemed to be in a similar frame of mind.
Then... the world's most terrifying sentence.. (apart from when your poorly next door neighbour tells you their children - who you have kindly offered to take to school - have... scooters!)
"Open your eyes".
(Almost as bad as "keep an eye on them, they don't really understand stopping yet.")
We all joined each other on the floor and with slight trepidation began flitting about as china, trying not break each other as we clambered around. The eyes open thing is beginning to bother me very little actually, Hooray! (Just need to get over small children pelting towards roads on wheels now.) We again moved through different elements and then chose our own to finish. I plumped for velvet and had a super time gliding about feeling expensive before we had a little break.
We then returned to something we did in the first session, balancing the space, both actually in the space and with physical presence. So, as I am feeling particularly stupid today, simply, a very tall person, someone being very close to ground and someone being somewhere in the middle, making a tableau ( or picture, as we seem to have adopted) plus trying to create some kind of obvious relationship between the three people. The space was divided into 9 (imaginary) squares, three sections vertically, and three sections horizontally. No one could be in the same section, nor in the same position in the space. This odd game of sudoku/ naughts and crosses was then made slightly more complicated by the introduction of a movable chair. I think it's safe to say that we are pretty inventive when it comes to playing with chairs. Claudia even gave birth to Mai! Hat's off to Max, a great midwife.
Natalie then gave us the choice of continuing with 'making pictures' or moving on to something else. Not to sound unambitious but we all wanted to carry on with what we were doing. It was fun, and collaborative and delightful both to do and watch. We began to create stage pictures with all of us involved. One person began in the space, and slowly more people would join them until the entire company had created a balanced tableau. Once again, in a moment of stupidity, alone on stage I decided it would be an idea to take my pose hurdling over the chair (2012 here I come). Needless to say after about 15 seconds I was in agony and making involuntary groans (much like bikram) as my hurdling leg began to fail (2012 dreams dashed).
I had a moment in bikram this afternoon when I thought I was going to choke because I was trying not to laugh during a 'backward bend'. The concept of Bikram yoga suddenly struck me as ridiculous (although I hasten to add, I know it's not!). But all of us lot, in a baking hot room, 'backward bending'; something which frankly, I don't care what they say, nearly kills me every time I do it, with a (lovely) bloke then telling you to 'lean back, fall back, way back,'. Hold on. Really? I don't think I'd like to fall over backwards with my arms pinned to my ears. Thanks though.
Fortunately I got over this moment of madness quite quickly and got on with it; I put my hands under my feet, my elbows behind my legs, squeezed my face onto my sweaty knees, and attempted to straighten my legs (to no avail) whist ignoring the shooting pain in my calves and the pins and needles in my face. No questions asked.
The overriding memory of Natalie's class was laughter too. Not in a naughty, moment of silliness way but in a particularly engaged happy kind of way. Plus, people were producing funny stuff, Em-J and Jack have a particular genius gift for turning a scenario on it's head.
On the tube home, Max, determined to win free bikram lessons, donned his sweaty bikram shorts and posed bikram stylee in our swinging carriage (empty except for fourth monkey chaps). And as we all cheered him on (and he fell over) had another go and succeeded in getting his photo (legend), I felt very cheery!
No matter that I then attempted to open my neighbours door instead of my own and their dog Simba nearly gave me a coronary.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
If Denmark is a prison... then THIS is a GOODLY one!
So the Royal Court is dark this week. I went home to earn some money riding baby horses. Tumbles are sadly an inevitable part of this, perhaps why it's a nice pay packet per hour (danger money, you see) and I took a nasty tumble on Tuesday night. I now have a shoulder that looks like an egg with a large speckled bruise to boot. I couldn't lift my arm up this morning, but after some hard core bikram I think I'm on the mend. And to cheer me up even more, the confirmation of the already established fact that...
Michael Sheen is a genius!
An absolute fricking genius!
So not strictly monkey business but worth a punt anyway. With the Royal Court being so quiet this week, I'm squeezing in as much theatre as possible. Tonight...I saw... HAMLET at the Young Vic. If you have read any less than favourable reviews (they do exist-although God only knows why) then I urge you to ignore them. At least until you have seen it. Quite simply it is one of the best performances and productions I have ever had the privilege to see. Hat's off to Ian Rickson too. How brave. And completely justified. In my (very humble) opinion as impressive and rich as Jerusalem.
If anyone comes close to being a purest in Shakespearian land perhaps I do. By this I mean I believe in the text. That it provides you with all you need. I don't believe that this is reductive. The last thing you want to do is place shackles on this stuff. But rooting yourself in the text IS liberating because of it's richness. Often actors find an affinity with a certain line and run with it, and that's exciting and what a great way to begin. For instance Ralph Fiennes' starting point for creating Prospero was the repeated line 'No Harm', you hear of Richard III's based on 'bottled spiders' and 'loathsome toads'. And it seems that this production picked up and ran, literally, with the concept of Denmark as a prison; 'A goodly one in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons...'
Taking the rotting state of Denmark to heart we are based in a mental institution throughout (although this is surprisingly not intrusive) and lends itself to the frankly stunning performances from the company. Madness takes on a new significance, and Polonius' normally endearing rambles and amusing bouts of forgetfulness, now have a sinister quality as one becomes concerned with his senility in such a place.
As with many recent productions (most obviously Gregory Doran's recent RSC production) the idea of constant surveillance is ever present, and the use of dictaphones (occasionally adding bathos) cleverly roots us in the sterile, hostile world of Elsinore, and is the final feather in Polonius' cap.
I do not want to give anything away (although I now recall I had read something that mentioned it) but there is an ENORMOUS, stunning, astounding surprise which was so disturbingly well executed (I'm quite sensitive it has to be said) that I had to stifle a scream. All I can say is, I have never heard 'The time is out of joint' said by way of defence before, nor has '...It is a damned ghost that we have seen,/ and my imaginations are as foul/ As Vulcan's sithy.' ever seemed so prevalent. Just, please, watch it.
I would imagine I pick Hamlet up at least once a month, I have seen a fair amount of (great!) productions of it, but it felt like I was hearing it for the first time. So many obvious things in the text which I had stupidly never noticed before were brought to light beautifully and sensitively in a production that completely justified it's bold choices.
I was lucky enough to have a chat with Michael Sheen in the bar afterwards and he said, 'We didn't do anything for the sake of it.' and you can see that it's true. I waited until Sir Peter Hall (!!!) had congratulated him, and the odd people who had brought pictures of his own face for him to sign, and girls wanting pictures with him had had their fill before I subtly (or not so subtly) pounced. I'm sure I was probably more annoying than the crazy picture people, I certainly had more questions. But I feel if someone has produced something as extraordinary as that they fully deserve a congratulations and and thank you.
So listen chaps. And I don't say this lightly. If you want to see someone who brings all of the contradictory elements of Hamlet (and then some!) into one performance, celebrating the incongruous elements so what you are presented with is a rich, complex, constantly surprising display of humanity, then go and see this. He thinks on the line, does incredible things with the language, moves like you wouldn't believe, and produces some real mean fencing! I guarantee you ain't seen a Hamlet like it! The company is incredible, and if you are looking for that elusive 'devil archetype' -- look no further than James Clyde who is astounding Claudius in the shape of a consultant oozing competency, plus a little something nasty. And if I can't convince you, perhaps the image of Sir Peter Hall's standing ovation might persuade you.
And if that still doesn't do the trick, it's fricking funny aswell! Let be.
Michael Sheen is a genius!
An absolute fricking genius!
So not strictly monkey business but worth a punt anyway. With the Royal Court being so quiet this week, I'm squeezing in as much theatre as possible. Tonight...I saw... HAMLET at the Young Vic. If you have read any less than favourable reviews (they do exist-although God only knows why) then I urge you to ignore them. At least until you have seen it. Quite simply it is one of the best performances and productions I have ever had the privilege to see. Hat's off to Ian Rickson too. How brave. And completely justified. In my (very humble) opinion as impressive and rich as Jerusalem.
If anyone comes close to being a purest in Shakespearian land perhaps I do. By this I mean I believe in the text. That it provides you with all you need. I don't believe that this is reductive. The last thing you want to do is place shackles on this stuff. But rooting yourself in the text IS liberating because of it's richness. Often actors find an affinity with a certain line and run with it, and that's exciting and what a great way to begin. For instance Ralph Fiennes' starting point for creating Prospero was the repeated line 'No Harm', you hear of Richard III's based on 'bottled spiders' and 'loathsome toads'. And it seems that this production picked up and ran, literally, with the concept of Denmark as a prison; 'A goodly one in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons...'
Taking the rotting state of Denmark to heart we are based in a mental institution throughout (although this is surprisingly not intrusive) and lends itself to the frankly stunning performances from the company. Madness takes on a new significance, and Polonius' normally endearing rambles and amusing bouts of forgetfulness, now have a sinister quality as one becomes concerned with his senility in such a place.
As with many recent productions (most obviously Gregory Doran's recent RSC production) the idea of constant surveillance is ever present, and the use of dictaphones (occasionally adding bathos) cleverly roots us in the sterile, hostile world of Elsinore, and is the final feather in Polonius' cap.
I do not want to give anything away (although I now recall I had read something that mentioned it) but there is an ENORMOUS, stunning, astounding surprise which was so disturbingly well executed (I'm quite sensitive it has to be said) that I had to stifle a scream. All I can say is, I have never heard 'The time is out of joint' said by way of defence before, nor has '...It is a damned ghost that we have seen,/ and my imaginations are as foul/ As Vulcan's sithy.' ever seemed so prevalent. Just, please, watch it.
I would imagine I pick Hamlet up at least once a month, I have seen a fair amount of (great!) productions of it, but it felt like I was hearing it for the first time. So many obvious things in the text which I had stupidly never noticed before were brought to light beautifully and sensitively in a production that completely justified it's bold choices.
I was lucky enough to have a chat with Michael Sheen in the bar afterwards and he said, 'We didn't do anything for the sake of it.' and you can see that it's true. I waited until Sir Peter Hall (!!!) had congratulated him, and the odd people who had brought pictures of his own face for him to sign, and girls wanting pictures with him had had their fill before I subtly (or not so subtly) pounced. I'm sure I was probably more annoying than the crazy picture people, I certainly had more questions. But I feel if someone has produced something as extraordinary as that they fully deserve a congratulations and and thank you.
So listen chaps. And I don't say this lightly. If you want to see someone who brings all of the contradictory elements of Hamlet (and then some!) into one performance, celebrating the incongruous elements so what you are presented with is a rich, complex, constantly surprising display of humanity, then go and see this. He thinks on the line, does incredible things with the language, moves like you wouldn't believe, and produces some real mean fencing! I guarantee you ain't seen a Hamlet like it! The company is incredible, and if you are looking for that elusive 'devil archetype' -- look no further than James Clyde who is astounding Claudius in the shape of a consultant oozing competency, plus a little something nasty. And if I can't convince you, perhaps the image of Sir Peter Hall's standing ovation might persuade you.
And if that still doesn't do the trick, it's fricking funny aswell! Let be.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Clowning, carpet burns, and chest infections.
This Saturday saw a few of us back at the excetera theatre in Camden with Natalie for another brilliant 8 hours of movement class, and it was pretty intense. I got quite teary and emotional by the end, which was quite odd, but I sniffled quietly in the corner so hopefully it wasn't too disruptive.
This seems to be a week of illness in Earth company, with many people, myself included, battling chest infections (perhaps a contributing factor to the teary eyes) and other nasty winter lurgies. Poor old Stu put his back out playing tennis, the nutter! Others have had to deal with the pressure of prepping for drama school auditions this week, and that certainly takes its toll. But aside from this, Natalie is a genius, and Saturday was another amazing day of revelations. We all LOVE working with her, and can't wait for 'The Bacchae'.
I then hopped off, sweating and stinking, to see the final night of 'Shalom Baby' at Stratford East, where my very best friend was assistant directing. And this time there were tears for all the right reasons! A fabulously moving piece of theatre, which was simultaneously hilarious and harrowing, with beat poetry mixed in for good measure! A triumph and congratulations to all involved, especially my Royal Court buddy Nathan, who was a FABULOUS 'Slice', and assistant director, Charlotte Beynon. So very proud of you!
Sunday morning, bright and breezy, leaving Charl, and another friend of ours, comatsoed on my sofas after a well deserved night of celebrations, (I was very abstemious and left early) it was back to the rag factory for a day of clown technique with artistic director Steve Green, and movement with the lovely Charlene. We had our first taste of this last week, and it was safe to say we were all so excited to be getting back to it!
We began with Charlene and a concentration game, which frankly we are rubbish at! When I was at university we used to play a version called 'The hardest game in the world' so if you are familiar with that, then you know what I'm talking about. We are determined to get to 12 sequences round the circle. I think Charlene is dubious. We remain optimistic.
Then it was down to actual business. Last week we spend a lot of time working on ourselves, and this week we began partnering. Imitating the way your partner moves, the way they walk, the way the sit, stand, stand up, play with their hair, which way round they cross their legs, trying to be as specific as possible. I had been imitating Natalie for a while and when it was time to swap over I managed to forget how to walk, which can't have been very helpful to poor Nat. But I remembered in the end. Panic over. This was followed by mirroring exercises which ended up with total unity between the two partners, with no leader or follower, which is always quite odd, and very exciting. To round this off we spend a bit of time moving around different partners, trying to keep bodies touching at all times. If you are thinking 'raunchy', don't. Although dear Charlotte found it quite hilarious.
We then prodded and shoved our partners across the space, trying to make them get to the other side. Mai's advice 'go for the hips' seemed to work a treat. But then she is a bit of a genius when it comes to this stuff. Another fab session, and we all love Charlene's approach of 'No bullshit' with buckets and buckets of fun.
Quick break, bye bye and thank you to Charlene, and off downstairs with Steve for clowning. I absolutely love this, it's literally playtime and Steve is a brilliant teacher! Anyone who can give the direction "just kick the sh*t out of that mother-f*cker' is definitely a legend. What more could you want?
Last week we were working on 'tension states'. These are 1) Exhaustion 2) Liad Back 3) One thought to another 4) Neutral 5) Is there a bomb in the room? (my personal fave) 5a) Virgin Mary 6) There is a bomb in the room 7) Bomb's about to go off and 8) Rigamortis. The dots are all beginning to connect now, and everything that we have been doing with Natalie, Charlene, Steve and indeed Bikram are all beginning to come together. Especially the use of the breath, we will keep trying to unify all the elements.
Anyway this week we moved on to Archetypes. These are 1) The Fool, 2) The Lover, 3) The Trixter, 4) The Mother, 5) The Hero, 6) King/Queen, 7) The Devil. We split the group in half so half was doing and half was watching. There was then more space to explore these states, to find out where they sit, what they do to your body, and where they can go once you crank them up to100%, which is obviously hilarious. But beginning to tone them down to somewhere more naturalistic you can see how exciting that would be if someone entered the space like that. It was so interesting to watch people explore these and to see how transformative these states are. People produced really beautiful and surprising things and it was really delightful to watch. We eventually combined the archtypes with the tension states, eg) a Laid-Back-Trixter -- which Sam A created brilliantly, and hilariously in an improvisation in a doctor's surgery. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There are some ridiculously talented people in this company. We then moved on to Clown, beginning with making use of the neutral tension state, trying out a scene where B strangles A but both remain completely neutral. Paired with Maria we decided to 'go for it' which unfortunately ended with us tripping over Sam's legs (he was dead on the floor) and completely stacking it. We were both a bit into it and, according to bystanders, apparently 'fell in neutral' which might explain why I didn't hold out my hands to break my fall and how I ended up with a fairly hideous carpet burn on my elbow. Now that's dedication, surely!
We have begun to try and employ the dropping and clocking techniques we explored last week in improvisations. Personally I think Thea, Emma, Maxine and I DO create a fairly mean atom bomb and japanese washing machine! ;)
We've also started to work on pathetic and tragic clown. The preoccupation exercise we did right at the end of the day, where we threw a pebble up in the air but it didn't return back to earth certainly bothered me all evening. So much so that my housemate Laura, never one to shy away from a theatrical venture, plucked my pebble out of the air and threw it at me. Phew! After such a hectic two days, I believe my pizza, red wine and Sainsbury's finest, caramel shortcake bites were completely justified. Anyway, Bikram Yoga this morning should have sorted it out!
This seems to be a week of illness in Earth company, with many people, myself included, battling chest infections (perhaps a contributing factor to the teary eyes) and other nasty winter lurgies. Poor old Stu put his back out playing tennis, the nutter! Others have had to deal with the pressure of prepping for drama school auditions this week, and that certainly takes its toll. But aside from this, Natalie is a genius, and Saturday was another amazing day of revelations. We all LOVE working with her, and can't wait for 'The Bacchae'.
I then hopped off, sweating and stinking, to see the final night of 'Shalom Baby' at Stratford East, where my very best friend was assistant directing. And this time there were tears for all the right reasons! A fabulously moving piece of theatre, which was simultaneously hilarious and harrowing, with beat poetry mixed in for good measure! A triumph and congratulations to all involved, especially my Royal Court buddy Nathan, who was a FABULOUS 'Slice', and assistant director, Charlotte Beynon. So very proud of you!
Sunday morning, bright and breezy, leaving Charl, and another friend of ours, comatsoed on my sofas after a well deserved night of celebrations, (I was very abstemious and left early) it was back to the rag factory for a day of clown technique with artistic director Steve Green, and movement with the lovely Charlene. We had our first taste of this last week, and it was safe to say we were all so excited to be getting back to it!
We began with Charlene and a concentration game, which frankly we are rubbish at! When I was at university we used to play a version called 'The hardest game in the world' so if you are familiar with that, then you know what I'm talking about. We are determined to get to 12 sequences round the circle. I think Charlene is dubious. We remain optimistic.
Then it was down to actual business. Last week we spend a lot of time working on ourselves, and this week we began partnering. Imitating the way your partner moves, the way they walk, the way the sit, stand, stand up, play with their hair, which way round they cross their legs, trying to be as specific as possible. I had been imitating Natalie for a while and when it was time to swap over I managed to forget how to walk, which can't have been very helpful to poor Nat. But I remembered in the end. Panic over. This was followed by mirroring exercises which ended up with total unity between the two partners, with no leader or follower, which is always quite odd, and very exciting. To round this off we spend a bit of time moving around different partners, trying to keep bodies touching at all times. If you are thinking 'raunchy', don't. Although dear Charlotte found it quite hilarious.
We then prodded and shoved our partners across the space, trying to make them get to the other side. Mai's advice 'go for the hips' seemed to work a treat. But then she is a bit of a genius when it comes to this stuff. Another fab session, and we all love Charlene's approach of 'No bullshit' with buckets and buckets of fun.
Quick break, bye bye and thank you to Charlene, and off downstairs with Steve for clowning. I absolutely love this, it's literally playtime and Steve is a brilliant teacher! Anyone who can give the direction "just kick the sh*t out of that mother-f*cker' is definitely a legend. What more could you want?
Last week we were working on 'tension states'. These are 1) Exhaustion 2) Liad Back 3) One thought to another 4) Neutral 5) Is there a bomb in the room? (my personal fave) 5a) Virgin Mary 6) There is a bomb in the room 7) Bomb's about to go off and 8) Rigamortis. The dots are all beginning to connect now, and everything that we have been doing with Natalie, Charlene, Steve and indeed Bikram are all beginning to come together. Especially the use of the breath, we will keep trying to unify all the elements.
Anyway this week we moved on to Archetypes. These are 1) The Fool, 2) The Lover, 3) The Trixter, 4) The Mother, 5) The Hero, 6) King/Queen, 7) The Devil. We split the group in half so half was doing and half was watching. There was then more space to explore these states, to find out where they sit, what they do to your body, and where they can go once you crank them up to100%, which is obviously hilarious. But beginning to tone them down to somewhere more naturalistic you can see how exciting that would be if someone entered the space like that. It was so interesting to watch people explore these and to see how transformative these states are. People produced really beautiful and surprising things and it was really delightful to watch. We eventually combined the archtypes with the tension states, eg) a Laid-Back-Trixter -- which Sam A created brilliantly, and hilariously in an improvisation in a doctor's surgery. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There are some ridiculously talented people in this company. We then moved on to Clown, beginning with making use of the neutral tension state, trying out a scene where B strangles A but both remain completely neutral. Paired with Maria we decided to 'go for it' which unfortunately ended with us tripping over Sam's legs (he was dead on the floor) and completely stacking it. We were both a bit into it and, according to bystanders, apparently 'fell in neutral' which might explain why I didn't hold out my hands to break my fall and how I ended up with a fairly hideous carpet burn on my elbow. Now that's dedication, surely!
We have begun to try and employ the dropping and clocking techniques we explored last week in improvisations. Personally I think Thea, Emma, Maxine and I DO create a fairly mean atom bomb and japanese washing machine! ;)
We've also started to work on pathetic and tragic clown. The preoccupation exercise we did right at the end of the day, where we threw a pebble up in the air but it didn't return back to earth certainly bothered me all evening. So much so that my housemate Laura, never one to shy away from a theatrical venture, plucked my pebble out of the air and threw it at me. Phew! After such a hectic two days, I believe my pizza, red wine and Sainsbury's finest, caramel shortcake bites were completely justified. Anyway, Bikram Yoga this morning should have sorted it out!
'I got sat on... and NOT in the good way'
I did get sat on. By about nine people. Welcome to movement class at Fourth Monkey Theatre Company. These have been underway for a good few weeks now, and as our progress is apparently becoming tangible I thought it was high time some monkey or other charted it all down. So here it is.
The multiple sitting incident occurred after Natalia (our brilliant teacher) gave us the rather dangerous instruction, 'use each other as a surface, and keep your eyes closed.' So whilst the inevitable bruises are ripening, so is a pretty special feeling within the company. You would think standing on stage, alone bar an envelope dangling limply from your hand, and then being expected to move about with it evoking a poem you've just learned might be a mortifying experience. Well if you move like I do it is a bit, but equally the other people in the room make you brave enough to give it a damn good go! Our company ( namely 'Earth', one half of Fourth Monkey) are feeling pretty safe and comfortable with each other these days, which bodes well for our upcoming season, and proves irrefutably the benefits of ensemble. I feel perfectly happy now following my right elbow about the room and not feeling like a pratt, and looking about at various company members being led by their ears, or their little fingers I think everyone else is feeling pretty jolly too!
Movement is certainly not a strong point of mine, but thanks to Natalia and Charlene I think I am beginning to feel an improvement, or at least feeling more comfortable, which is extraordinary in itself! So we have also been exploring various parts of our bodies, what happens when your breath moves you, where an impulse might take you, moving in staccato, changing levels, attaching ourselves to each other, working with poems, working with objects, and most importantly working with each other. We aren't mental. I promise. There are some real movers and shakers in this company, and it is so exciting to watch! We are moving in a pretty special direction, with everyone being bold enough to give something new a go, and with such a talented bunch of people the results are stunning; what more could you want in a rehearsal room?
I should also mention, that we have been doing bikram yoga 3 times a week for a few weeks now, and oh my word we are all feeling the benefits of that. Even if in the bikram studio you think death is just round the corner. We all found the first session pretty tough/ hell on earth. I didn't realise shins were able to sweat. This becomes apparent however when you have to squeeze your face on your legs. Also when someone tells you to grab your elbows and you physically can't because they are so sweaty, you begin to think something ain't right. Having said that, I absolutely love it! Mentally, physically it is quite extraordinary.
The multiple sitting incident occurred after Natalia (our brilliant teacher) gave us the rather dangerous instruction, 'use each other as a surface, and keep your eyes closed.' So whilst the inevitable bruises are ripening, so is a pretty special feeling within the company. You would think standing on stage, alone bar an envelope dangling limply from your hand, and then being expected to move about with it evoking a poem you've just learned might be a mortifying experience. Well if you move like I do it is a bit, but equally the other people in the room make you brave enough to give it a damn good go! Our company ( namely 'Earth', one half of Fourth Monkey) are feeling pretty safe and comfortable with each other these days, which bodes well for our upcoming season, and proves irrefutably the benefits of ensemble. I feel perfectly happy now following my right elbow about the room and not feeling like a pratt, and looking about at various company members being led by their ears, or their little fingers I think everyone else is feeling pretty jolly too!
Movement is certainly not a strong point of mine, but thanks to Natalia and Charlene I think I am beginning to feel an improvement, or at least feeling more comfortable, which is extraordinary in itself! So we have also been exploring various parts of our bodies, what happens when your breath moves you, where an impulse might take you, moving in staccato, changing levels, attaching ourselves to each other, working with poems, working with objects, and most importantly working with each other. We aren't mental. I promise. There are some real movers and shakers in this company, and it is so exciting to watch! We are moving in a pretty special direction, with everyone being bold enough to give something new a go, and with such a talented bunch of people the results are stunning; what more could you want in a rehearsal room?
I should also mention, that we have been doing bikram yoga 3 times a week for a few weeks now, and oh my word we are all feeling the benefits of that. Even if in the bikram studio you think death is just round the corner. We all found the first session pretty tough/ hell on earth. I didn't realise shins were able to sweat. This becomes apparent however when you have to squeeze your face on your legs. Also when someone tells you to grab your elbows and you physically can't because they are so sweaty, you begin to think something ain't right. Having said that, I absolutely love it! Mentally, physically it is quite extraordinary.
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